Chapter 7 007

Morning theory classes at the Talent Academy were held in large lecture halls on the third floor. Each class was divided by rank, which meant Kael had spent the past six months sitting in the lowest ranked classroom — a dull, poorly lit room at the end of the corridor that most instructors treated as an afterthought.

He arrived at the classroom door and pushed it open.

The room fell quiet the moment he walked in.

Every head turned. Twenty three students sat in tiered rows, and every single pair of eyes locked onto him with expressions ranging from disbelief to barely concealed fear. These were the same students who had laughed at him yesterday. The same ones who had watched Matthew Kane pour soda over his head and done nothing.

Kael walked to his usual seat at the back without acknowledging a single one of them.

Danny was already there, his repaired crutch leaning against the desk beside him. His eyes lit up the moment Kael sat down.

"I've been waiting all morning," Danny whispered urgently. "You said you'd explain everything."

"Later," Kael said quietly, pulling out his notebook.

"Kael."

"Later, Danny."

Danny huffed but said nothing more.

The classroom door opened and the theory instructor walked in. His name was Mr. Pond — a thin, pale man in his forties with round spectacles and a permanent expression of mild irritation. He was one of the teachers who had openly supported the mistreatment of low ranked students, believing that coddling the weak wasted the academy's resources.

He stopped the moment he saw Kael sitting in his usual seat.

Something flickered behind his spectacles. Not quite fear. More like the uncomfortable recognition of a man who had said things he might now regret.

He cleared his throat and opened his lesson notes without comment.

The class proceeded. Mr. Pond lectured on talent classification theory — the ranking system that divided awakened users from Bronze all the way up to the mythical Divine rank that no living person had ever achieved. Kael had heard all of it before, but today he listened differently. He was no longer a student absorbing information he had no use for. He was mapping it against his own system, measuring gaps, identifying targets.

Halfway through the lesson, the blue screen appeared quietly in the corner of his vision.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

[TALENT DETECTOR UPGRADE AVAILABLE]

[Talent Detector has reached sufficient usage milestones. Upgrade to Lv.6 is now available.]

[Upgrade Cost: 3 Talent Points]

[Lv.6 Effect: Talent Detector can now reveal hidden talent tiers and concealed abilities that users intentionally suppress.]

Kael kept his expression neutral. He confirmed the upgrade without hesitation.

[Talent Detector upgraded to Lv.6]

[Talent Points Remaining: 12/15]

Immediately his perception of the room shifted. It was subtle at first — like adjusting the focus on a lens. Then the information began layering itself over his vision automatically, tagging each student with a faint translucent readout visible only to him.

His eyes moved slowly across the room.

Most students were exactly what their official ranks suggested. Bronze and low Silver users with standard elemental or physical enhancement talents. Nothing surprising.

Then his gaze landed on a girl sitting two rows ahead and to the left. Her name was Lena Park. Officially ranked Silver 1 with a listed talent of basic wind manipulation — considered average at best.

But the readout above her head told a completely different story.

[Lena Park — True Talent: Storm Convergence Lv.3 — Suppressed]

Kael stared at the readout for a moment. Storm Convergence was not a Silver ranked talent. By every classification standard he had studied, a talent capable of convergence — pulling and combining elemental forces rather than simply projecting them — sat firmly in the Gold tier or above.

She was hiding it. Deliberately.

He filed the information away without reacting and continued scanning the room.

Two more students showed suppressed readings. One was concealing an enhanced reflex talent ranked significantly above his official Bronze standing. The other was masking what appeared to be a rare sensory ability that allowed perception beyond normal physical range.

'So the ranking system isn't just a measure of strength,' Kael thought. 'Some people hide what they really have. The question is why.'

The bell ending the class period rang before he could think further on it.

Students began filing out. Danny immediately turned to Kael with an expectant look.

"Now?" Danny asked.

Kael glanced around. The classroom was emptying quickly. Mr. Pond had already gathered his notes and left without a word to either of them, which was notable in itself given how freely he usually threw insults in Kael's direction.

"Walk with me," Kael said.

They moved into the corridor together, Danny keeping pace on his crutch. Kael kept his voice low as they walked.

"I'm going to tell you some of it. Not all of it. Not yet."

Danny nodded seriously. "Understood."

"Something activated during the fall yesterday," Kael said carefully. "A system. It gives me quests, attributes, abilities. The stronger I get and the more I complete, the more it unlocks."

Danny was silent for several seconds. Then he whispered, "Like a game."

"Exactly like a game."

"And the things you did to Matthew and Jobe this morning—"

"All of it came from the system, yes."

Danny processed this slowly, his expression cycling through disbelief, excitement, and finally a careful kind of seriousness that Kael respected. Danny was not a reckless person. It was one of the reasons Kael trusted him.

"Does anyone else know?" Danny asked.

"No."

"Are you going to tell anyone else?"

"No."

Danny nodded once. "Good. You shouldn't." He paused as they reached the stairwell. "What are you going to do with it?"

Kael looked ahead down the corridor, his expression calm and certain.

"Win the tournament. Level up. Drain every strong talent in this academy if I have to." He glanced at Danny. "And then go far beyond this place."

Danny was quiet for a moment. Then a slow grin broke across his face despite everything.

"Alright then," he said. "What do you need from me?"

Before Kael could answer, his system chimed.

TING!

[NEW OPTIONAL QUEST UNLOCKED]

[Uncover why a student is concealing their true talent.]

[Reward: 1 Bonus Talent Point per suppressed talent investigated. Hidden secondary reward upon completion.]

Kael glanced at the notification and thought immediately of Lena Park and the Storm Convergence readout hovering above her head in class.

He looked back at Danny.

"For now," Kael said quietly, "I need information on a student named Lena Park."