Ten years in the Veridian household had taught me one vital lesson: normalcy was a lie, and my family was its most dedicated practitioners. By the time I hit double digits, my [Molecular Architect] system had evolved from a simple scanner into a full-blown analytical engine. I wasn't just seeing elements; I was seeing the "code" of the world, and it looked remarkably like a complex data stream.
On the morning of my tenth birthday, the notification I had been waiting for finally flickered into existence.
[MAIN QUEST: The Hidden Scholar]
Objective: Enroll in the Royal Academy of Elemental Science.
Condition A: Pass the entrance exam with a "Mid-Tier" score.
Condition B: Do not exceed a 0.05% display of your actual Aether Capacity.
Reward: Skill Book [Kinetic Thermodynamics: The Law of Conservation].
Failure Penalty: Forced "Training" with Grandfather Thorne (48 hours).
I shuddered at the penalty. Two days with Thorne meant dodging "invisible" sword strikes while trying to prune roses. I'd rather face a dragon.
"Cyrus! The carriage is here!" My mother's voice rang out from the foyer.
Seraphina Veridian looked every bit the graceful noblewoman in her forest-green gown. But my System gave me the real data: she was currently maintaining a "Low-Output Aura" that was still denser than the atmospheric pressure on Jupiter. She walked over and adjusted my collar, her touch light, yet I could feel the dormant heat within her.
"Remember, darling," she whispered, her eyes twinkling with a dangerous mirity. "Don't stand out too much. We Veridians like our privacy. If someone bothers you, just... be polite."
"And if being polite doesn't work?" I asked, knowing the family's definition of "polite" usually involved a shallow grave.
"Then ensure there are no witnesses," she smiled.
My father, a man of few words and even fewer visible weaknesses, handed me a small, wooden trunk. It looked like an ordinary student's kit. "Tools," he said simply. "For your... chemistry."
The journey from the Veridian estate to the Royal Capital took three days by carriage. To any observer, we were a minor noble family traveling in a sturdy, unadorned coach. But inside, the air was thick with enough latent energy to level a mountain range. My father sat across from me, reading a book on "Basic Botany" that was actually a coded ledger of the world's mana-veins.
"Remember, Cyrus," he said, not looking up. "The Academy is a petri dish. It is full of bacteria trying to look like apex predators. Don't be the antibiotic that kills them all on the first day. Just... blend in."
I nodded, pulling up my status to ensure my "Disguise" was active.
[ANALYTICAL DASHBOARD: LIVE FEED]
Current Identity: Cyrus Veridian (Student Candidate)
Active Buff: [Veridian Shroud - Rank 4]
Effect: Masks 99.8% of internal Aether fluctuations. Displays 'Average' talent to external scanners.
Aether Purity: 1.05%
Mana: 920
Intelligence: 52
"I know, Father. I'll be a 'B-Rank' student. Perfectly forgettable," I replied.
The Royal Academy of Elemental Science was a marvel of architectural arrogance. White marble spires pierced the sky, each tipped with a conductor that pulled ambient mana from the clouds. Thousands of ten-year-olds stood in the Great Hall, a sea of silk, velvet, and anxiety.
"Welcome, candidates!" a voice boomed. A man in silver-and-gold robes stood on a central dais. This was High Proctor Valerius. My system immediately pinged a warning.
[Warning: High-Level Entity Detected]
Identity: Valerius the Eternal (Level 142)
Trait: [Aura Sight - Grandmaster]
Action: Strengthening [Veridian Shroud] to prevent soul-scanning.
"Today's Practical Exam is simple," Valerius continued. "Magic is not just about force; it is about interaction. Before each of you is a basin of water and a five-ounce crystal of Condensed Mana-Salt. You have sixty seconds to dissolve it. The more 'pure' your dissolution—meaning the less heat or noise you generate—the higher your score."
The hall erupted in the sound of chanting and the smell of ozone. To my left, a boy from a High Duchy was roaring, his hands glowing a violent orange. His basin was boiling, steam hissing as he literally cooked the salt into submission.
"Rank C! Too much waste heat!" the assistants shouted.
I looked down at my own basin. To the naked eye, the Mana-Salt was a jagged, translucent rock. I activated [Atomic Sight].
The world shifted. The water in the basin became a chaotic dance of H_2O molecules, and the salt became a rigid, beautiful lattice of Na^+, Cl^-, and highly unstable Mana clusters. In this world, "mages" tried to smash the lattice with raw power. As a chemist, I knew that was the most energy-expensive way to do it.
[System Prompt]: Identify Catalyst?
Current Mana: 920/920
Target: Breaking Lattice Energy (\Delta H_{lattice}).
Solution: Polar Solvation.
I didn't chant. I didn't glow. I simply dipped my index finger into the water. Instead of pushing "fire" or "force," I used my Aether to manipulate the dipole moment of the water molecules. I turned the water into a "super-solvent" by aligning the molecules to surround the Mana-Ions with surgical precision.
I was creating Hydration Spheres.
The salt didn't crack. It didn't hiss. It simply... vanished. It looked like a sugar cube falling into hot tea, but with zero movement. In less than ten seconds, the water was perfectly clear and saturated with mana.
"Finished," I whispered.
Proctor Valerius, who had been watching the high-profile nobles, paused. He walked over to my station, his brow furrowing. He looked at the basin, then at me.
"Candidate 402... Veridian?" He reached out, his hand hovering over the water. "There is no thermal residue. No acoustic vibration. Did you even use magic, boy?"
"I just... asked the water to make room, sir," I said, putting on my best 'innocent child' face.
[NOTIFICATION]
Hidden Quest Objective Met: Perform "Perfect Solvation."
Reward: +250 EXP, +2 Intelligence.
Current Level: 13 [Exp: 700/1300]
Valerius dipped a testing rod into the water. It glowed a steady, calm blue. "100% saturation. Efficiency: 99.9%. This is... unusual. It lacks the 'will' of a warrior, but the technique is... clinical."
"A 'B-Plus', then?" I asked hopefully.
"I cannot give a 'B' to a perfect score, even if it was boring to watch," Valerius muttered, scribbling on his clipboard. "Rank A-Minus. Move to the next hall."
As I turned to leave, I felt a piercing gaze on the back of my neck. I looked over and saw a girl with hair the color of moonlight and eyes like frozen amethysts.
[Target Identified: Princess Elara von Heist]
Trait: [Truth Seeker]
Observation: She noticed the water didn't ripple. She is calculating the entropy of your reaction.
She didn't smile. She just watched me with the intensity of a predator who had just found a very interesting beetle. I realized then that my "blend in" plan was already failing. In a world of loud, exploding magic, my "silent chemistry" was a different kind of loud.
I walked toward the dorms, the System flickering one final message for the day.
[NEW QUEST: The Hidden Threat]
Description: Something is "wrong" with the Academy's basement. The molecular stability of the foundation is decaying at a rate of 0.01% per hour.
Reward: Unlock [Data Analytics: Structural Forensics].
I sighed. "Can't I just have one day where I'm not analyzing the end of the world?"