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The sterile chill of the medical bay was a welcome counterpoint to the lingering ozone smell clinging to Kael's skin and the deep ache in his muscles. The drone finished sealing the minor electrical burns on his palms – souvenirs of pushing his declared Lightning affinity to its absolute Grade 1 limit. **ENG: 28/120.** The Crucible hummed a subdued but triumphant tone.
**COMBAT RESULT: VICTORY.**
**RANK CHANGE: 302 → 230.**
**EXP GAINED: 90.**
**LEVEL: 10 → 11! (200/1200 EXP)**
**GRADE 2 PROGRESS: 73% → 83%**
**NEW UNALLOCATED POINTS: 5.**
**NEW SKILL POINT ACQUIRED.**
The notifications scrolled across his vision, a cascade of hard-won rewards. Rank 230. Not elite, but firmly out of the gutter. Level 11. Progress. He allocated his points immediately: **AGI: 14 → 15** (Faster reactions, better evasion), **VIT: 17 → 18** and Strengh to 13 (Greater resilience, faster recovery). He felt the subtle surge of enhanced potential flow through him.
The Skill Interface flickered open. He had choices:
* **Chain Arc (Lightning - Active):** Allows Bolt to arc to one additional target (50% damage). Cost: 250 EXP. *Synergy: Crowd Control.*
* **Blink Step Efficiency (Space - Passive):** Reduces Blink Step cost by 25% (from 5 ENG to 3.75 ENG). Cost: 200 EXP. *Synergy: Sustain, Evasion.*
* **Foresight Clarity (Time - Passive):** Slightly improves image clarity and reduces mental strain of Foresight. Cost: 150 EXP. *Synergy: Prediction, Efficiency.*
* **Energy Reserves (Passive):** Increase Base ENG by 25. Cost: 300 EXP. *Synergy: All Abilities.*
He chose **Blink Step Efficiency (200 EXP)**. Sustained evasion was crucial for survival using only Lightning. The reduced cost meant more micro-movements, more escapes. **EXP REMAINING: 0/1200.**
The med-bay door hissed open. Jacob Stone filled the frame, his usual scowl softened by a hint of grudging respect. Maya darted in past him, a whirlwind of excitement.
"Sparky! You did it! Rank 230!" Maya crowed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "That last dodge-and-zap! Pure gutter-rat genius! Rourke looked like he'd been hit by a grav-hammer!"
"Told you Steel was solid," Jacob rumbled, leaning against the doorframe. "Took him down clean, James. Mostly. Those burns gonna slow you down?"
"Minor," Kael replied, flexing his bandaged hands. "VIT 18 handles it."
"Eighteen?" Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Climbing fast, aren't you? Ember won't like that." His gaze sharpened. "He was watching. Closely. So was Spark. Looked pissed you didn't get melted."
"Ember can simmer," Maya declared, waving a dismissive hand. "Kael's on the move! Next stop, Top 200! Maybe challenge that smug wind-user who keeps trying to blow my hair into knots..." She trailed off, her eyes widening as she looked past Kael's shoulder.
Klea Storm stood silently in the corridor outside the med-bay, her presence instantly lowering the room's temperature. Her ice-blue eyes were fixed on Kael, intense and unreadable. Maya and Jacob exchanged a loaded glance.
"Right," Maya said, suddenly brisk. "Med-bay's boring. Jacob, show me that new earth-shaping drill you mentioned! Kael, rest up! Don't do anything... sparky!" She practically dragged the grumbling Jacob away.
Klea stepped into the med-bay, the door sliding shut behind her. The silence stretched, thick with the hum of medical equipment and the chill radiating from her. She stopped a few feet from Kael's treatment bed, her gaze sweeping over his bandaged hands, the lingering fatigue in his posture.
"Rourke Steel possesses excellent defensive discipline," she stated, her voice cool, clinical. "His metal latticework was Grade 1 optimal. Penetrating it with controlled Lightning bursts... was statistically improbable." She tilted her head, a silver strand catching the light. "Yet you did it. Through superior agility, timing, and..." she paused, "...unanticipated endurance. Your vitality rating is notably high for a newly manifested Lightning wielder."
Kael met her gaze, keeping his expression neutral. "Warrens conditioning. Teaches you to take hits and keep moving."
"Indeed," Klea murmured, her eyes narrowing fractionally. "And your evasion patterns during the final assault. There were moments... micro-shifts... that defied standard kinetic prediction. Almost as if..." She took a single, deliberate step closer. The chill intensified, a physical pressure. "...you anticipated the strike vectors a fraction *before* they manifested."
Kael's heart thudded against his ribs. She'd seen it. The microseconds where **Foresight** had almost leaked through, guiding his dodges beyond normal perception. He clamped down hard, forcing pure Lightning energy to crackle faintly around his knuckles – a visible, declared reason for his reactions. "Reflexes honed in the Warrens, Rank 3. You learn to read intent, not just motion."
Klea didn't blink. The faint crackle of his Lightning reflected in her glacial eyes. "Intent. Motion. And something else. Anomalous sensor readings during your scanner registration. Near-spatial distortions during Spark's assault. Reflexes that border on precognition." Her voice dropped to a whisper colder than space. "You are a statistical outlier, Kael James. A series of improbable events wearing fatigues."
Kael held her stare, the Crucible screaming warnings: **CONCEALMENT UNDER DIRECT ASSAULT. SUSPICION AT CRITICAL LEVELS. MAINTAIN PRIMARY NARRATIVE.** He poured willpower (**WIL 18**) into his voice, making it steady. "The Academy monitors everything, Rank 3. If I were an anomaly, wouldn't they have Removed me already? Maybe I'm just... lucky."
A flicker of something – frustration? – crossed Klea's perfect features. The ice seemed to deepen around her. "Luck is chaos. Order abhors chaos." She leaned in, the scent of frost and something strangely clean filling Kael's senses. "They are watching, James. More closely than you know. Proctor Thorne. Proctor Varrus. And others. Your 'luck' has an expiration date." She straightened, her composure flawless once more. "Do not mistake my observation for concern. Understanding variables is essential for predicting outcomes. And you," her gaze swept over him, lingering for a heartbeat too long on his face, "are an increasingly unpredictable variable."
She turned to leave, then paused at the door. "Your control against Steel was... adequate. For Rank 230." It was the faintest hint of acknowledgment, almost buried under the ice. Then she was gone, leaving Kael alone with the sterile chill and the unsettling warmth her proximity had sparked deep in his core.
The Crucible's analysis was grim: **KLEA STORM SUSPICION: 95%. ACADEMY OVERSIGHT: HEIGHTENED (THORNE, VARRUS CONFIRMED). RISK OF EXPOSURE: CRITICAL.**
**RECOMMENDATION: ACCELERATE GRADE 2 ASCENSION. INCREASE COMBAT PROWESS (DECLARED). UTILIZE NEW RANK FOR RESOURCE ACCESS (ADVANCED SIMS, TUTORIALS).**
Kael looked at his bandaged hands, then at the blue status screen hovering before him:
---
**<<< STATUS >>>**
**HOST:** Kael James
**SYSTEM:** War God's Crucible (Initiate Phase)
**AUTHORIZATION LEVEL:** Initiate (1)
**COMBAT GRADE:** 1
**LEVEL:** 11
**EXP:** 50/1200
**ENG:** 28/120 *(Regen Active)*
**RANK:** 230
**<<< ATTRIBUTES >>>**
**STR:** 12 | **AGI:** 16 | **VIT:** 18
**PER:** 15 | **WIL:** 18 | **ENG:** 28/120
**<<< ABILITIES >>>**
**- Lightning:** Manifested (Grade 1 - Declared)
**- Space:** Manifested (Grade 1 - Hidden)
**- Time:** Manifested (Grade 1 - Hidden)
**<<< SKILLS >>>**
**- System Synchronisation:** Lv. 1
**- Energy Sense (Passive):** Lv. 1
**- Foresight (Time - Active):** Lv.1 (Cost: 4 ENG/sec)
**- Blink (Space - Active):** Lv.1 (Range: 5m, Cost: 15 ENG)
**- Blink Step (Space - Active):** Lv.1 (Range: 1m, Cost: **3.75** ENG) *[Efficiency Passive]*
**- Bolt (Lightning - Active):** Lv.1 (Range: 10m, Cost: 20 ENG)
**<<< OBJECTIVES >>>**
**- Immediate:** Achieve Grade 2 Combatant (Level 15) (83%)
**- Critical:** **Maintain Concealment** (Klea/Thorne/Varrus Scrutiny: Extreme)
**- Leverage Rank 230:** Access Advanced Training Modules
**- Counter Ember's Threat:** Prepare for Inevitable Challenge
**- Unlock System Origin Data:** (Grade 3) (27%)
---
Rank 230 was a foothold. Level 11 was progress. But the walls were closing in. Klea Storm was a glacier slowly revealing hidden fissures of awareness and something dangerously warmer. The Academy's gaze was sharpening. Ember's malice was simmering. And the legacy of Kaelos, the fallen War God, was a ticking bomb within him.
Kael James pushed himself off the med-bay bed. Rest was over. He needed to train harder, climb faster, and become strong enough – within the limits of his Lightning mask – to survive the scrutiny rapidly converging on the unpredictable variable known as Rank 230. The Crucible demanded it. Survival demanded it. The path ahead was steeper and colder than ever.