Kobby was transferred to the Lower Track before noon.
No ceremony. No guidance counselor.
Just a clipboard shoved into his hands.
"Dorm C-17. Curfew at nine. Gate participation optional but discouraged," the administrator said without looking up. "Try not to die."
The hallway buzzed with whispers as he passed.
F-Rank.
Adaptation.
Useless.
But not everyone looked at him with contempt.
From the training balcony above, a girl with silver hair and sharp eyes watched silently.
Iris Vale.
A C-Rank Mage prodigy.
Unlike Leon, her gaze wasn't mocking—it was curious. Calculating.
"He survived the gate's hesitation," she murmured. "Strange."
Meanwhile, Leon sat among the elite students, laughing loudly.
"Adaptation?" he scoffed. "That class doesn't grow. He'll wash out by midterm."
That night, alone in his dorm, Kobby activated his status window.
> Name: Kobby Rell
Class: Adaptation (F)
Level: 1
Status: Unstable
No skills.
No stats.
Just a single line pulsing faintly.
> Survive.
Kobby lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"If you're really watching," he whispered to the unseen system,
"then don't blink."