The announcement came just after midnight.
The academy's main speakers crackled to life, their deep chime echoing through every hall and room in the tower.
"Attention all candidates. The student known as Rin Kallvere has been identified as possessing Grey-level Authority. She will no longer attend the academy. Per directive of the Guild Council, she will be transferred to a specialized training ground outside standard Awakener jurisdiction. Further details are classified."
The voice cut out.
Silence followed, but it was the heavy kind that pressed on every ear.
Grey-level.
In the history of the academy, only four had ever been found. Rin was now the fifth.
Kael felt the air drain from his lungs. He looked at Brayk, then Liora. Both had the same stunned expression.
The door to their room opened quietly. Rin stepped in. She was smiling, but her eyes looked tired, as if she had been carrying the weight of a secret for far too long.
"I wanted to say goodbye before they move me," she said. Her voice was soft, steady, but each word seemed to stick in her throat. "I owe you the truth. My father… he owns half of the First Layer. Fifty percent. And my family… we are tied to the Council itself."
Brayk's mouth fell open. Liora blinked in disbelief.
"You?" Brayk finally managed. "You're—"
"Someone who is grateful to have fought beside you," Rin interrupted gently. She smiled again, this time more real. "Whatever happens next… thank you. For treating me like just another teammate."
They exchanged goodbyes, short but weighted with everything they could not say. And then she was gone.
The room felt too big without her.
---
The next morning, their final month of academy life began.
No one wasted time.
Brayk focused on his weakest point: agility. His days became a blur of speed drills, weighted runs, and combat simulations that left his armor streaked with dents.
Liora pushed her mana stamina to its breaking point. She used the artifact until her hands trembled, meditated until the world seemed to hum, and poured her will into every spell.
Kael, still restless from his performance during the evaluation, worked on raw strength. Lifting, striking, holding weights until his arms shook and his vision blurred.
Thirty days later, they met again in the training yard.
Brayk grinned. "Thirty percent improvement in agility. I can dodge faster than I can think now."
Liora's eyes glowed faintly, the sign of mana overflow. "My capacity… one million, two hundred fifty thousand points. About twelve hundred and fifty percent higher than before."
Kael flexed his hands, feeling the familiar weight of his power. "Strength… five thousand and fifty."
The reunion was loud, full of stories from their separate trainings.
---
By midday, they were at the receptionist desk, taking their official ability tests. After a quick scan and verification, each of them received their hunter cards — black and silver, the emblem of a recognized Awakener.
The first thing they did? Celebrate.
They found a bar in the Second Layer, the kind with polished counters and the smell of spiced meat in the air. Brayk ordered drinks almost immediately, to Liora's disapproval. She and Kael stuck to juice and light snacks, talking quietly while Brayk laughed too loud at his own jokes.
An hour later, they were dragging Brayk out into the cool night air. He stumbled, still grinning, and they half-carried him toward the city park.
They stopped under a wide, old tree whose branches swayed in the breeze. Stars cut the darkness above. The grass was cool beneath them.
They talked about the past. About the first day they met. About the portals. About the people they had lost and the people they had found.
When the air turned colder, they made their way to Brayk's house, the streets quiet around them.
---
Morning came with groans.
Brayk clutched his head, his voice rough. "Never… doing that… again."
Kael smirked. "You said that last time."
They didn't linger. The three of them headed for the Center, the heart of the guild mission system. Their goal was simple: fifteen missions completed, as fast as possible, to secure their official ranking.
How fast they finished would decide their place in the Awakener world.
The morning sun was barely up when they reached the Trisalia Guild Center. Glass walls reflected the golden light, and the automatic doors slid open to let them in. Inside, the place was alive—hunters in tactical gear clustered around digital mission boards, their voices mixing into the hum of a hundred conversations.
Kael, Brayk, and Liora strolled toward the nearest board, taking their time. The boards flashed with scrolling missions, each tagged with rank requirements, rewards, and party sizes.
"Some of these need fifteen people," Brayk said, squinting at one listing. "Too bad we're only three."
"Five," Liora reminded him. "The other two said they'd join if we found something good."
Kael scrolled through the listings with a finger swipe. "Doesn't matter. If it pays well and gets us closer to ranking, we'll make it work."
They were still chatting when the sound hit—boots pounding across the polished tile floor. Hunters poured in from outside, shouting to each other, making a beeline for the mission boards.
"What the—" Brayk started, but the rest was swallowed by the noise.
In less than a minute, missions started disappearing from the screens. Icons switched from green to gray as hunters claimed them. The rush was over as quickly as it began, leaving only a few sad listings that no one had touched in months.
One in particular caught Kael's eye.
Sewage Cleaning – First Layer
Reward: Standard guild pay. Hazard: Contamination, possible monster nests.
Liora wrinkled her nose. "Three months and no one's taken it? That says everything."
"It's this or nothing," Kael said flatly. "We wait for something better, we'll be here for weeks."
Brayk groaned, rubbing his face. "Fine. Let's go smell like garbage."
They claimed the mission at the reception counter. The clerk, a woman in a sleek black guild uniform, glanced at the screen, raised one eyebrow, and gave their papers a digital stamp. "Your funeral," she said, handing the tablet back.
The First Layer's main sewage access wasn't far, just past a row of run-down apartment blocks. They found the entrance behind a chain-link gate, sealed with a rusted lock that snapped easily. The moment they pushed open the steel hatch, the smell hit—a dense, humid wave of rot that clung to their skin.
They climbed down the metal ladder, boots splashing into ankle-deep water mixed with floating scraps from the city above. The concrete walls sweated moisture under the dim glow of flickering maintenance lights.
They'd gone only a hundred meters before the first monster showed itself.
The sewage bulged, rising like something alive. Black sludge twisted together, glowing faintly from deep inside. A mouth tore open in the mess, jagged teeth slick with filth.
"A monster dump," Liora muttered.
Kael had heard the term—energy crystals that ended up in the sewers acted like a battery. Trash and waste gathered around it until it became a creature. The longer it grew, the nastier it got.
They moved instantly.
Brayk charged in, water spraying around him as his blade sliced deep into the sludge. Liora stayed back, a magic circle flashing to life under her boots before she hurled a sphere of compressed mana. It hit with a burst of steam, burning away part of the creature's body.
Kael lunged, boots gripping the wet concrete as he vaulted onto the monster's side. His blade punched into the core, metal scraping against something solid.
The thing screeched, its body breaking apart in chunks. Kael's hand found the crystal—smooth, cold, and pulsing faintly with light.
As soon as he tore it free, the sludge collapsed into the water, lifeless.
He stared at the shard in his palm. This was only the first. Deeper inside, there would be more crystals… and the monsters guarding them would not be this weak.
Each step sinking them further into the stale heat and stench. The air grew heavy, carrying a low, rumbling sound from somewhere ahead. It was not the slosh of water or the scuttle of sewer beasts. It was something alive. Something waiting.
Kael slowed his pace, eyes narrowing as the vibrations grew stronger. Brayk shifted his grip on his blade. Liora's mana flared faintly at her fingertips.
The tunnel widened into a chamber where the shadows seemed to bend away from the center. From the murky water rose a figure, but not like the monsters they had fought before. Her body shimmered like liquid silver, yet her eyes glowed with an intelligence far beyond a beast.
"Just another trash spawn," Brayk muttered, stepping forward.
They attacked without hesitation. Blades slashed, magic burned the air, yet not a single strike connected. The figure moved with an elegance that defied physics, flowing between their attacks as if the world itself bent to her will.
She stopped, her voice ringing clear in their minds. "My name is Eva. Short for Evade. I am not what you think."
Kael's sword froze mid-swing. Liora blinked, lowering her hands.
Eva's gaze softened, though there was weight behind it. "Once, I was a spirit that protected this world. I kept its balance, guarding against those who would destroy it. But a masked figure hunted me, and I fled… until I fell here, to this place of rot."
Her eyes flicked toward Kael. For the briefest moment, surprise crossed her face. "The vessel I need is here. One who can resist the temptation to bring ruin."
They had no idea what she meant, but before they could speak, she raised her hand. "Come closer, all three of you. I will give you a gift."
Something in her voice made it impossible to refuse. They stepped forward. One by one, they placed their hands in hers. The touch was warm, almost too warm, and then light exploded around them. It was so bright they had to close their eyes against it.
When the light faded, Kael collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Kael!" Liora caught him, but he was already unconscious. They had no choice but to drag him out of the sewers and rush him to the nearest hospital.
Brayk went back to the guild to claim the reward, tossing the mission tablet onto the receptionist's counter. "Sewage job done," he said, still catching his breath.
The clerk only raised an eyebrow. "Told you it would be your funeral."
While Brayk handled the paperwork, Liora remained at the hospital, refusing to leave Kael's side.
One week passed before his eyes opened.
During that time, Brayk and Liora had taken on mission after mission, pushing themselves to complete the fifteen they needed for ranking. By the end of the week, both stood in the guild hall with their new status. Liora wore the badge of Gold Rank One. Brayk had reached Gold Rank Three.
Their next step was clear. They would report to their assigned guild team. Whether it was fate or misfortune, the moment they set foot in that meeting room, they would discover just how much their lives had changed since meeting the spirit in the depths.