Chapter 5 — The Weight of C-Rank
Kairo felt it before he understood it.
The pressure didn't crush him. It didn't suffocate or threaten. It simply existed, like gravity suddenly deciding to remind him it was there.
He froze mid-step.
Around him, the academy courtyard buzzed with activity—students sparring, instructors shouting corrections, weapons clashing—but all of it dulled, as if sound itself had been pushed a step farther away.
Then he saw her.
She stood near the central training ring, arms crossed, posture relaxed. No armor. No visible weapon. Dark hair tied back loosely, eyes half-lidded in mild boredom.
Instructor Seris Vayne.
C-Rank.
Kairo swallowed.
So this is the difference, he thought.
He had fought E-Rank beasts. He had survived D-Rank betrayal. He had stolen power and integrated it into himself.
None of that prepared him for this.
Seris wasn't doing anything.
She wasn't releasing aura. She wasn't threatening anyone.
And yet—
Every instinct in Kairo's body screamed danger.
Not imminent danger.
Absolute danger.
This was the first time since awakening the Death's Ledger that Kairo felt something close to fear—not of dying, but of realizing just how small he still was.
He forced himself to keep walking.
Invisible. Unimportant. Unblessed.
That was the role he needed to play.
As he passed the ring, a group of second-year students sparred under Seris's watchful gaze. One lunged clumsily, overcommitting.
Seris moved.
She didn't step forward.
She appeared beside him.
Two fingers tapped the student's shoulder.
The student froze.
Then collapsed.
No blood. No visible injury. Just unconsciousness.
"Again," Seris said calmly.
The pressure receded slightly as she turned away.
Kairo exhaled slowly, only now realizing he'd been holding his breath.
"C-Rank," he whispered. "Advanced."
The ranking screen flashed in his memory.
C-Rank — Advanced
• Specialized or synergistic abilities
• Often define combat roles
• Rare outside noble families
That description suddenly felt laughably inadequate.
Advanced wasn't the right word.
Refined was.
The rest of the day passed in a haze.
Kairo attended lectures on blessing theory, listened to instructors explain synergy combinations and bloodline inheritance, all while replaying Seris's movement in his head.
No wasted motion.
No hesitation.
No reliance on brute force.
"She didn't overpower him," Kairo muttered later that night. "She bypassed him."
That was the key.
D-Rank fought with strength.
C-Rank fought with control.
And above that?
He didn't even want to imagine yet.
The opportunity came sooner than expected.
Three days later, the academy issued a field assignment.
Not a training exercise.
A real one.
A mining settlement near the eastern ridge had gone silent. Scouts reported abnormal beast activity—organized movement, territory displacement.
Threat assessment: C-Rank anomaly possible.
Student involvement was optional.
But rewarded.
Kairo read the notice twice.
Then a third time.
Optional meant volunteers.
Volunteers meant ambition.
Ambition meant exposure.
And exposure meant opportunity.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
"This is stupid," he whispered.
And then—
"F*ck this is perfect."
He signed up under the lowest priority category.
Support role. Porter. Logistics assistant.
Unblessed.
Invisible.
The team composition was announced the next morning.
Two instructors.
Four upper-year students—one confirmed C-Rank, three high D-Rank.
And five lower-years.
Including Kairo.
Renn Valis was not among them.
Good.
Kairo didn't need emotional variables right now.
He needed data.
The journey took half a day.
As the settlement came into view, the smell hit them first.
Rot.
Smoke.
Something metallic and wrong.
The buildings were intact. No fire damage. No signs of battle.
Just… absence.
"Spread out," one instructor ordered. "Pairs."
Kairo was assigned to the rear group with a D-Rank upper-year named Calen.
Calen didn't acknowledge him.
Fine.
They moved cautiously through the outer structures. Doors ajar. Tools abandoned mid-use.
Kairo's instincts screamed again—but not like with Seris.
This was different.
This was predatory.
They reached the central square.
That's when it happened.
The ground moved.
Not shook.
Moved.
Stone buckled upward as something massive forced its way out from beneath the earth.
A creature emerged—long, segmented, plated with dull brown chitin. Its body was thick as a wagon, its maw ringed with grinding mandibles.
A burrower.
C-Rank.
"Formation!" someone shouted.
Too late.
The creature struck.
Calen barely raised his weapon before the burrower slammed into him, sending him flying into a wall with a sickening crack.
He didn't get back up.
Kairo moved before he thought.
Enhanced Reflexes kicked in, dragging his body sideways as the burrower's tail smashed down where he'd stood a heartbeat earlier.
Stone exploded.
Dust filled the air.
Kairo hit the ground hard, Steel Skin absorbing the worst of it—but pain still flared.
Alive.
Still alive.
The fight erupted around him.
Upper-years engaged. Instructors shouted commands. Spells flared.
Kairo crawled behind a broken pillar, heart hammering.
This is it, he thought.
This is the gap.
The burrower moved with terrifying efficiency. It didn't thrash. It didn't rage.
It executed.
Every strike was lethal.
A D-Rank student misstepped—gone.
Crushed.
The instructors fought back, coordinating, forcing the creature away from the remaining students.
Kairo watched.
He learned.
Timing. Angles. Weak points.
And he felt it.
The pull.
The temptation.
If he died here—
No.
He crushed the thought.
Not yet.
Not blindly.
Not wastefully.
A scream tore through the square.
One of the instructors fell, impaled through the leg.
The burrower reared back.
This was the moment.
Chaos.
Blood.
Fear.
Kairo's breath steadied.
If I die here, he thought, eyes locked on the creature…
C-Rank fragment.
But at what cost?
He looked at the fallen bodies.
At Calen.
At the students who hadn't even understood how they'd died.
Mental strain surged.
The system pulsed faintly, almost… cautiously.
Kairo made his choice.
He ran.
Not away.
Toward the instructors.
He shouted—a warning, a distraction, anything.
The burrower turned.
Its attention snapped to him.
For one terrifying second, its massive form loomed overhead.
This was it.
The edge.
Kairo met its gaze.
And stepped aside.
The instructors struck together, coordinated, brutal.
The burrower screamed—a grinding, ear-splitting sound—and collapsed.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Broken only by labored breathing and distant settling rubble.
Kairo fell to his knees.
Alive.
Again.
No restart.
No fragments.
Just shaking hands and a racing heart.
The instructors looked at him.
Really looked at him.
"You," one said slowly. "What's your name?"
Kairo swallowed.
"Kairo."
The instructor nodded.
"You have good instincts," he said. "For an unblessed."
Kairo lowered his head.
Inside, his thoughts were clear.
Now I understand.
C-Rank isn't something you farm.
It's something you prepare for.
He walked back toward the academy with the survivors, every step heavier than the last.
Behind his eyes, the ledger remained empty.
But no longer impatient.