Ren woke up before his alarm, which immediately felt like a mistake.
The light above his bed flickered three times before stabilizing, as if deciding whether he was worth the effort. The digital clock on his wristband froze for a few seconds, then jumped ahead to 06:07.
"Guess we're skipping 06:05 today," he muttered.
Dormitory E's power grid had the same personality as its residents: underfunded and unmotivated. He got dressed, stuffed the regulation manual into his bag, and left before the system decided to crash completely.
Class: Mana Theory 101
Professor Virel stood at the front of the hall, scribbling waveforms on a holo-board that buzzed faintly with static. Her patience level appeared inversely proportional to the students' comprehension.
"Mana," she said, "isn't energy. It's order. Every individual has a mana signature — a frequency pattern that can be identified, tracked, and, in emergencies, weaponized."
Half the class scribbled notes they didn't understand. The other half were scrolling on their wristbands under the desk.
"Ardyn," she said suddenly. "Step forward."
Ren blinked. "Why?"
"Demonstration."
He obeyed. Virel held a handheld scanner over his wristband.
The crystal in its handle glowed faintly, then flickered once.
And died.
The screen projected behind her blinked out too, followed by a low groan from the ventilation system. The room dimmed for a second before everything rebooted.
"System malfunction," Virel said, flatly. "Return to your seat."
Ren did as told. A few students turned to look at him like he'd unplugged the sun.
Someone whispered, "Did he just break the scanner?"
Fantastic, he thought. Now I'm technically an electrical hazard.
Lunch Break
By the time class ended, word had already spread. Apparently, Ren "short-circuited" the projector, the mana crystal, and, depending on who was talking, possibly an entire district.
He ate lunch outside under the half-dead crystal tree again, watching drones paint advertisements across the sky.
His wristband buzzed once.
[Observation Tag Active]
He stared at the screen. "Observation?"
The band buzzed again and flashed Error.
He smirked. "Yeah, same."
The Library
The Academy library was his favorite place — quiet, mostly empty, and full of books that didn't care who you were as long as you returned them on time.
He settled in with an old tablet and searched "Mana Null Cases." The results loaded for a second, then his access was revoked.
He tried again.
Denied.
I get it, he thought. Even the search engine thinks I'm hopeless.
He was about to give up when someone sat across from him.
Silver-white hair, crisp uniform, star emblem glowing faintly on the chest. Elise.
"You were in Mana Theory," she said.
"Was I?"
"You fried the scanner."
"It was mutual."
A tiny smile pulled at her mouth before she straightened again.
"You're not synced to the academy's mana grid. That's why your devices are bugging out. The system thinks you're… well, an error."
Ren leaned back. "Good to know the system and I agree on something."
"I wasn't insulting you."
"That's new."
She sighed. "You might want to visit the calibration labs. They can adjust your tag frequency before you start interfering with—"
The library lights flickered.
Elise stared at the ceiling, then at him. "…Never mind."
"It's a talent," Ren said.
She closed her datapad, stood up, and said,
"You're strange, Ardyn. But strange doesn't always mean useless."
Then she left, the faint scent of ozone trailing behind her.
Ren sat there a moment longer, looking at his wristband again.
[Observation Tag Active]
He sighed. "Of course it is."
Evening
He returned to his dorm late, the hall quiet except for the hum of the mana field. He plugged in his wristband charger; the screen blinked once and turned black.
He laughed under his breath. "Even the charger gave up."
He lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling crack that ran like a line across the sky.
Everyone here's trying to shine.
I'm just trying not to short-circuit the place.
Then, almost gently, he drifted off.