The battered sun crept across the morning sky, staining the academy's ancient stones with pale gold as the survivors of the Welcome Test trudged from the now-silent pit. The yard had emptied, but the tension lingered, thickening the air with a weight that pressed into every corner and crack. Kael Varyn blended into the thin line of students winding toward the south wing, his footsteps silent, his gaze steady.
No one addressed him directly. He moved on the edge of groups and conversations, a pale shadow amid wary glances—his coat still dusted with the last skirmish's debris, his posture unreadable. Yet he noticed the way certain glances slid past him now, as if the mind refused to grasp what the eyes perceived. The system's passive haze was stronger after the test: a shroud that dulled memory and blurred detail.
Fragments of conversation swept through the halls as instructor after instructor assigned them to new quarters.
"—He moved like a ghost—"
"Did you see that shield spell? I thought half of us were done for—"
"I heard someone got dragged under. Gone, just like that…"
A girl whispered, trembling, "Someone saved me. I didn't see their face—just… cold."
Kael passed a cluster gathered around the torch-lit notice board. Some survivors puffed up with pride, others secretly scanned for missing names—friends, rivals, would-be protectors. The void, ever present beneath Kael's skin, pulsed in quiet satisfaction. It was not hunger or malice, merely a dark and ancient certainty: the world always made room for shadows.
He found his assignment carved on a black slate—South Hall, Dormitory 5, Bed 12. The barracks were little more than a converted guard tower, its stone walls streaked with time and moss, windows set high and narrow against any would-be intrusion. As he dropped his bag (too light for comfort, still foreign on his shoulder) onto the straw-stuffed mattress, Kael let himself breathe, finally, in solitude.
He sank onto the bed, pulling the system interface forward with a deliberate thought.
[System: Status Screen]
Name: Kael Varyn
Title: Prince of Darkness (Hidden)
Level: 3 (Extra)
Race: Human (Unknown Affinity)
Void Bond: [Locked]
Strength: 12
Agility: 14
Endurance: 16
Intelligence: 18
Willpower: 22
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (D), Stealth (C)
Traits: Cold Presence, Void's Favor (Hidden)
APP: 0
Notes: New message detected.
A faint flicker sounded in his mind.
[System: Message Unlocked]
"You are the unnoticed hand. When chaos comes, your shadow will guide the storm."
Title effect: Those who look directly at you forget details. Rumors, however, persist.
Curiosity stirred. Was the system warning him? Or simply stating a truth buried in the very air? Kael smirked, then killed the interface.
Steps echoed in the corridor. Soon, the door banged open and a riot of new dormmates spilled in—most wounded, a few quietly cocky, at least one limping. Kael kept his silence, observing. They jostled, compared bruises, swapped stories about monsters in the pit and near escapes.
He caught snippets:
"Did anyone see Mordrel out there? Didn't even lose his hat—"
"—That freak with the silver hair? I heard he just stood still until it was over—"
"And the girl who almost lit half the yard on fire—"
Each tale grew more exaggerated in the telling. Absurd legends took root, chasing away fear with bravado. Not once did anyone mention the quiet boy with black eyes and a borrowed blade, slipping past disaster by standing perfectly still.
They saw what they wanted. The rest, the system erased.
The day blurred into evening. Kael let his mind drift, listening to the heartbeat of the academy beyond the stone—lectures drifting from torch-lit halls, feet pounding the sand of practice rings, someone crying softly behind a closed door. This world throbbed with life and ambition, its danger as intoxicating as its promise.
Before lights-out, the dorm mother arrived, stern and short, barking at them to mind the rules and beware night patrols around the south yard. She paused by Kael's bunk, her gaze lingering oddly long. He stared back, cold and flat. Whatever she thought, she did not voice it.
Night fell—thick and restless, alive with chatter and snoring. Kael, lying awake, let his hand slide under the thin pillow to grip the hilt of his new knife. He watched the shadows gather in the ceiling's corners, shapes curling and uncurling as if the void itself was stretching to greet him.
[System: Hidden trait unlocked — Serenity in Shadow]
He wasn't sure what that meant. But as old terrors and new ambitions circled his mind, Kael Varyn drifted off to sleep for the first time in this world, the taste of cold power teasing the edge of his dreams.
And beyond the windows, just out of sight, the night seemed to whisper a promise:
The Prince of Darkness walks among us.