The walk from Combat Hall A to the main building was the longest three hundred yards of Kai Rowan's life. Usually, he was a ghost in the hallways—a background character whose only contribution to the school's ecosystem was the occasional sarcastic remark in the back of a history lecture.
Now, the silence followed him like a physical entity.
As he stepped through the glass double doors, the whispering started. It wasn't the quiet, muffled kind of whispering; it was the sharp, frantic buzzing of a hornet's nest that had just been poked with a very large, very "F-Rank" stick.
"Did you see his eyes?" a B-Rank girl from the elemental track whispered as Kai passed, her voice carrying across the lockers. "They said he moved through Brooks' gravity like it was water. My brother is a C-Rank and he can't even lift his arm in that field."
"He's using an artifact," a boy next to her replied, his voice dripping with envy. "There's no other way. An F-Rank talent is basically a biology error. He probably found a Rank-Breaker stone on the black market."
Kai kept his gaze fixed ahead, his internal monologue running at double speed thanks to Tireless Mind.
An artifact? I wish. I'm currently being powered by three hours of sleep and a stolen apple. If I had a black-market stone, I'd have used it to buy a better rug for my apartment first.
The social hierarchy of Northwood Academy, which had been as rigid as a diamond for decades, was suddenly showing cracks. In the cafeteria, the "Elite Row" was quiet. The A and B-Rank students were huddled together, looking at the leaderboard with suspicious glares. Kai's name was still at the very bottom, but it felt like the number '500' was glowing with a mocking intensity.
"Kai! Kai, wait up!"
Leo caught up to him near the library, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost, or perhaps several ghosts performing a synchronized dance routine.
"Man, you are officially a legend," Leo panted, gripping Kai's shoulder. "And by 'legend,' I mean you're probably going to be assassinated by a jealous senior before lunch. Do you have any idea what people are saying? There's a thread on the school forum with three thousand replies. Half of them think you're a secret government agent, and the other half think you're a high-functioning illusionist."
"And what about the half that thinks I'm just an incredibly gifted yoga enthusiast?" Kai asked, slipping into his usual mask.
"That's not even a half, Kai! That's just you!" Leo looked around frantically. "The teachers are in a frenzy. I saw Commander Graw and three other instructors heading toward the Research Office with a box of mana-dampening cuffs. They're looking for 'Rank Fraud,' man. That's a ten-year sentence in a mana-nullification prison."
Kai felt a prickle of sweat on his neck. The "Inquisitor's Eye" quest was still ticking in his vision.
[Current Objective: Hide your True Rank.] [Faculty Research Office Appointment: 60 Minutes Remaining.]
"I'll be fine, Leo," Kai said, though his heart was thumping a rhythm that suggested otherwise. "The system checked me. I'm still F-Rank on the scanners. You can't arrest someone for being surprisingly good at not falling over."
"They can if you're an F-Rank who just punched a hole in an A-Rank's ego!" Leo hissed. "Just... be careful, okay? I can't be the only 'Normal' left in this school. It's lonely at the bottom."
Kai managed to shake Leo off and duck into the "Ancient Lore" section of the library, hoping for a few minutes of peace before the "Inquisition" began. But as he turned the corner past the dusty volumes on mana-vein theory, he found the path blocked.
Elena Frost was leaning against a bookshelf, her silver hair casting a faint blue glow against the dark wood. She didn't look angry, but she looked intensely, dangerously focused.
"You're a terrible liar, Kai Rowan," she said, her voice a cool breeze in the stagnant air of the library.
"And you're a terrible stalker, Elena. I can feel the temperature drop every time you're within twenty yards. You're like a human GPS for winter."
Elena stepped forward, her blue eyes searching his face. She wasn't looking at him as a student anymore. She was looking at him as a puzzle she was determined to solve.
"I watched the recording of the duel," she said. "Frame by frame. You didn't just 'move' through the gravity. You mimicked the pressure-nullification pulse Brooks uses. That's not 'yoga.' That's high-level mana-logic mimicry. That's a D-Rank skill at minimum."
Kai felt the golden screen in his mind pulse with a warning.
[Adaptive Learner (Rank D) - Logic Leak detected.]
"Maybe I'm just a fast learner, Elena," Kai said, his voice dropping the sarcasm. "Is that a crime? To be better than people expect?"
"In this world? Yes," Elena countered. She reached out, her fingers brushing the tattered sleeve of his blazer. "The system is built on the idea that your potential is a fixed number. If you can change that number... you aren't just a student. You're a threat to the entire social order. The Headmaster isn't bringing you to the Research Office to 'verify' you. He's bringing you there to find the 'glitch' and fix it."
"And if there is no glitch?" Kai asked, meeting her gaze. "What if the system is the thing that's broken, not me?"
Elena stared at him, her expression softening for a fraction of a second. She seemed to be weighing his words against eighteen years of indoctrination.
"If that's true," she whispered, "then you're in more danger than you can imagine. The Research Office uses a 'Pulse-Core' scanner. It doesn't just check your mana density; it checks your soul-resonance. It's impossible to hide your rank from it."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, crystalline vial filled with a swirling, translucent liquid.
"Drink this," she said, thrusting it toward him. "It's a 'Frost-Vein' suppressant. It'll temporarily chill your mana channels and slow your core's rotation. It'll make you look... stagnant. Even to the Pulse-Core."
Kai looked at the vial, then at Elena. "Why are you helping me? I'm the 'trash' that made your elite circle look bad today."
Elena turned away, her silver hair swaying. "Because for the first time in my life, I saw someone look at an S-Rank and not look afraid. I want to see how far that 'potential' actually goes. Now go. You're late for your appointment with the Inquisition."
The Faculty Research Office felt more like a sterile operating room than an office. It was filled with humming mana-scanners, glass tubes filled with glowing fluids, and a central chair that looked like it belonged in an electric chair museum.
Headmaster Vance was there, along with Commander Graw and a woman in a white lab coat with eyes as sharp as scalpels.
"Sit, Mr. Rowan," Vance commanded, his voice echoing in the metallic room.
Kai sat. He'd drunk Elena's suppressant, and his insides felt like they'd been dipped in liquid nitrogen. Every heartbeat felt sluggish, and his golden screen was flickering with a "SYSTEM UNDER-CLOCK" warning.
"We are going to perform a deep-scan of your talent core," the woman in the lab coat said. "Please remain still. The Pulse-Core is very sensitive to... inconsistencies."
The rings around the chair began to spin. A beam of white light hit Kai's chest, and he felt a sharp, intrusive pressure against his mind. It was the same "Diagnostic Pulse" Graw had used, but a thousand times more intense. It felt like a rake being dragged across the surface of his soul.
[WARNING: EXTERNAL PENETRATION ATTEMPT.] [Stealth Mode: Under-Clock active.] [Mana Density: 0.05 (Rank F Equivalent)]
Kai gritted his teeth, his hands gripping the armrests. He felt the suppressant working, dampening the golden heat of his evolution.
The spinning rings slowed down. A series of graphs appeared on the holographic wall.
"Density is... extremely low," the woman said, her brow furrowing. "It's consistent with an F-Rank. Below average, even."
"And the resonance?" Vance asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Flat," she replied. "There's no sign of the 'Exponential Curve' associated with high-growth talents. It's a stagnant core."
Commander Graw stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Kai. "Then explain the duel. Explain how he moved through an A-Rank gravitational field."
"Adrenaline?" the woman suggested, looking at Kai with pity. "In some rare cases, extreme life-threat can cause a temporary 'Status-Flash,' where the body burns through its entire future potential for a few seconds of peak performance. It's why his core looks so drained now. He likely won't see another 0.01% gain for twenty years."
Vance walked up to Kai, leaning in so close Kai could smell the expensive tobacco on his breath. "Is that the truth, Mr. Rowan? Did you burn your entire future just to win a school-yard scrap?"
Kai looked up, his eyes glazed and tired, playing the part of the "broken" genius perfectly. "I... I just didn't want to get squashed, sir. I didn't think it would... cost me everything."
Vance stared at him for a long, agonizing minute. Then, he let out a short, dismissive breath.
"Get him out of here," Vance said to Graw. "He's no longer an anomaly. He's just another 'F-Rank' tragedy. His tactical scores are still valid, but don't waste any more combat training on him. He's effectively burned out."
[Quest Completed: The Inquisitor's Eye.] [Reward: Stealth Mode Mastery.]
Kai was led out of the office, his legs shaking. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, he slumped against the wall, the cold from Elena's potion finally beginning to fade.
I did it, he thought, a weak smile touching his lips. They think I'm dead weight. I'm invisible again.
That night, Kai went back to the Old Yard. He needed to flush the suppressant out of his system and get back to the grind. The "Survival of the Fittest" quest was still ticking, and he had nineteen days left to hit D-Rank.
[Current Rank: E] [Strength: 6.40] [Agility: 6.35] [Intelligence: 7.20]
"Focused... Breathing..." Kai whispered, settling into a meditative stance.
He began to cycle his mana, pushing it through the channels that had been chilled by the Frost-Vein liquid. At first, it felt like fire through ice. He felt the golden heat of his evolution beginning to flare up again, his heart drumming a powerful, rhythmic beat.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
He began a set of 'Shadow Sparring,' mimicking the movement logic he'd copied from Brooks.
"Null-Shell... Step," he grunted, sliding his foot across the concrete.
Suddenly, a white-hot spike of pain driven straight through the center of his skull.
Kai gasped, his knees hitting the concrete. It wasn't the "evolution heat." It was different. It felt like a jagged piece of glass was being twisted in his brain.
[WARNING: UNKNOWN INTERFERENCE DETECTED.] [Data Corruption in 'Adaptive Learner' skill.]
Kai clutched his head, his vision blurring. A series of distorted images flashed before his eyes—a snake eating its own tail, a library shelf, and a pair of violet eyes that seemed to be laughing.
"Not... now..." Kai groaned.
The pain intensified. A high-pitched ringing filled his ears, and he saw his golden status screen begin to flicker and distort, the letters turning into a language that looked like ancient, bleeding runes.
[System Error: Origin Memory Leak.] [Hidden Variable: 'The Forbidden Talent' is awakening.]
Kai tried to stand, but his body wouldn't obey. He felt a warm trickle of blood from his nose.
The last thing he saw before the world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of pain was a notification that didn't come from his talent, but from something buried much deeper.
[Target Identified. The Harvest begins in 24 hours.]
Kai collapsed onto the concrete, the "Old Yard" fading into darkness as the mysterious headache turned into a silent, screaming void.