The sun had barely begun to bleed over the horizon when Kaito's alarm shrieked. His body felt heavy, a dull ache lingering in his joints despite the high-grade stabilizer Seraphina had given him. He looked at his hands; they were steady, but the skin was calloused and marked with the faint, fading scars of the Sixth Floor.
He didn't have time for a slow breakfast. By 07:45, he was standing at the entrance of Training Hall Zero—a secluded, reinforced bunker deep beneath the Academy.
The doors hissed open. The hall was massive, a sterile expanse of white tiles etched with Mana-dampening runes. In the center stood Seraphina. She had traded her instructor's coat for a form-fitting black combat suit that emphasized her athletic build. Her crimson hair was tied back in a severe, practical knot. In her hand, she balanced two wooden training swords.
"You're three minutes early," she said, her voice echoing in the vast space. "Good. It means you're either eager to learn or too stupid to be afraid."
Kaito walked toward her, Luna following at his heels. The fox looked around warily, her ears flattened. She could sense the sheer density of Seraphina's A-Rank aura, even when it was suppressed.
"Store the fox," Seraphina commanded.
Kaito blinked. "What? Luna is my partner. We fight together."
Seraphina moved. It wasn't a dash or a blink; it was a transition of space. One moment she was ten feet away; the next, the tip of her wooden sword was resting against Kaito's Adam's apple.
"In a real war, the first thing an assassin does is separate a Tamer from their beast," she said, her emerald eyes cold and inches from his. "If you can't survive for sixty seconds without her, you aren't a B-Rank Hunter. You're a liability. Store. Her."
Kaito gritted his teeth and nodded. With a flick of his mind, he recalled Luna into the system space. The hall felt suddenly, oppressively empty.
Seraphina tossed him the second wooden sword. It was weighted with lead, much heavier than a standard practice blade. "Today, we don't use the System. No stats, no skills, no Mana-cheating. We use physics."
[System Warning: Mana-Dampening Field Active]
[All Active Skills: Locked]
[Physical Stats: Normalized to Level 1 Baseline]
Kaito felt the sudden drop in his power like a plunge into icy water. His Strength (680) and Agility (650) were gone. He felt slow, weak, and dangerously human. He gripped the heavy wooden sword, his breath hitching.
"The B-Rank rank you just achieved is a curse, Kaito," Seraphina said, circling him like a wolf. "It makes you think you're fast. But you aren't fast; your stats are fast. Your brain hasn't actually learned how to track a blade; it's just letting the System's auto-reflexes do the work. I'm going to untether you from the machine."
She lunged.
It was a simple thrust, but without his Agility stats, it looked like a lightning bolt. Kaito barely managed to parry, the impact vibration traveling up his arm and numbing his shoulder.
"Too slow," she whispered.
She spun, her leg sweeping Kaito's ankles. He hit the floor hard, the wind knocked out of him. Before he could recover, the wooden tip was at his throat again.
"Again."
For the next four hours, the hall was filled with the sound of wood striking wood—and wood striking bone. Seraphina was relentless. She didn't use her A-Rank strength; she matched his baseline, yet she dismantled him with terrifying ease. She exploited every gap in his stance, every hesitation in his eyes.
"You're telegraphing your moves," she critiqued, striking him across the ribs. "You look where you want to hit. Your shoulders tensed before that swing. A child could read you."
Kaito scrambled up, sweat pouring down his face, his chest heaving. "It's... harder... without the interface."
"The interface is a crutch!" Seraphina snapped, her eyes flashing with a sudden, fierce intensity. She dropped her guard for a second. "When I was in the Northern Rifts, we fought in 'Dead Zones' where Mana didn't exist. My partner relied on his system. When the dampener hit, he froze. He couldn't remember how to move his own legs without a skill assist."
Her voice softened, a shadow of grief passing over her face. "I watched him get torn apart because he was a 'Level 50' who didn't know how to throw a punch. I won't let that happen to you."
Kaito looked at her, seeing the raw honesty behind her brutality. She wasn't doing this to bully him; she was doing it because she was terrified for him.
"I get it," Kaito said, wiping blood from his lip. He took a fresh stance, one lower and more balanced. He stopped looking at her sword and started looking at her center of gravity—the way her hips shifted before a strike.
They clashed again. This time, Kaito didn't try to be fast. He waited. When Seraphina lunged, he didn't parry; he stepped into her guard, using the weight of the lead-filled sword to deflect her aim by just an inch. He swung upward, the wooden blade stopping just short of her chin.
Seraphina froze. The silence in the hall was absolute.
A slow, genuine smile spread across her face—not the predatory smirk from before, but the look of a teacher who had finally found a spark of genius.
"Better," she whispered. "Much better."
She stepped back, sheathing her practice blade behind her back. "That's enough for today. Your body needs to process the muscle memory. Go to the showers. Then, meet me in my office. We need to discuss the Void-Slayer Katana and that egg."
As Kaito headed toward the locker room, his muscles screaming, he felt a strange sense of accomplishment. He was Level 30, but for the first time, he felt like the power belonged to him, not the System.
q
An hour later, Kaito walked into Seraphina's office. It was a stark contrast to Haruto's ancient, book-filled room. This was a command center. Holographic maps of the world's Rifts flickered on the walls, and a rack of high-tier rapiers stood in the corner.
Seraphina was sitting behind her desk, a cup of black coffee in her hand. She looked up as he entered, her gaze lingering on the way he carried himself—the slight change in his posture, more grounded and alert.
"The Void-Slayer Katana," she began, gesturing for him to sit. "It's a Star Rank 5 weapon. Even most B-Rank veterans can't handle the 'Gravity Rend' it produces. It would drain your Mana in seconds."
Kaito summoned the icon in his interface. "It's sealed. I can't even draw it."
"It's sealed because your soul hasn't synchronized with the 'Void' element yet," Seraphina explained. She leaned forward. "To break the seal, we need to go to a 'Grey Zone'—a place between rifts. But we can't do that yet. Not with the Eclipse Order sniffing around."
She pointed to the bag on the chair next to him. The Unidentified Egg was pulsing a deep, vibrant violet now.
"The egg is reacting to your growth," she said. "It's a 'Sovereign-Class' soul. Whatever is inside is meant to lead, not follow. If you want to tame it as your second beast, you need to prove your dominance. Not through levels, but through will."
Kaito looked at the egg. He could feel it—a faint, rhythmic heartbeat that seemed to challenge his own.
"I'll be ready," Kaito said firmly.
Seraphina watched him for a long moment. The sunset through the office window cast long shadows across the room, turning her crimson hair the color of drying blood.
"You have a long way to go, Kaito. But for a 'panicked rabbit,' you're starting to show some teeth." She stood up and walked around the desk, stopping just in front of him. She reached out, her thumb brushing the small bruise on his jaw from their sparring. "Don't die on me. It would be a waste of a good training session."
Kaito felt his heart skip a beat—this time, it had nothing to do with Mana or stats.
Kaito yamada
Level: 30 (B-Rank Initial)
Hidden Stat Gained: [Martial Intuition: Level 1] (Increases combat effectiveness when skills are disabled).
Physical Condition: Heavily fatigued, but muscle memory is refining.
Relationship Status: Seraphina's "Partner-in-Training" (Trust Level: Slightly Increased).
The Unidentified Egg
Synchronization: 18.2%
Aura Change: Transitioned from 'Hungry' to 'Resonant'.