The air in Combat Hall A didn't just feel heavy; it felt solid. It was as if the atmosphere had turned into lead, pressing down on Kai's shoulders with the weight of a collapsing building. Around the perimeter of Ring 7, the obsidian floor began to spiderweb with cracks, unable to withstand the localized atmospheric pressure generated by Brooks Vance.
Kai's knees buckled. His 6.35 Stamina was the only thing keeping his heart from flattening against his spine.
"You look a little stressed, Rowan," Brooks said, his voice carrying the effortless resonance of someone who had never had to struggle for a single scrap of power. He stood at the edge of the ring, one hand casually in his pocket, the other extended toward Kai, fingers splayed as if he were holding down a troublesome insect. "Is the air a bit thick for you? I can turn it up, but I'm afraid you might turn into a very sarcastic puddle."
"I've... had... worse... hugs," Kai wheezed. His lungs felt like they were being squeezed by a giant's fist.
[WARNING: Internal Pressure rising.] [Condition Met: Extreme Gravity Stimulus.] [Focused Breathing activated automatically.]
Kai forced a breath into his lungs. The golden mana from his Focused Breathing didn't just oxygenate his blood; it acted like a hydraulic system, reinforcing his joints and pushing back against the crushing force.
[Strength +0.001] [Stamina +0.001] [Growth Potential Progress: 0.12%]
"He's still standing?" someone in the crowd whispered.
"That's impossible," a B-Rank student from the elite track muttered. "Brooks is at 2x gravity right now. An F-Rank's bones should have snapped ten seconds ago."
On the dais, Headmaster Vance's face was unreadable, but his knuckles were white as he gripped the armrests of his chair. Beside him, the scouts were frantically tapping on their tablets. This wasn't just a sparring match anymore; it was a biological anomaly.
"Still talking?" Brooks' smile faded, replaced by a cold, sharp irritation. "Let's see how you handle three times the debt of the world."
Brooks closed his fist.
The gravity spiked. A visible ripple of distorted air slammed into Kai. The floor beneath his feet finally gave way, sinking three inches into the sub-flooring. Kai's vision went dark for a second as the blood struggled to reach his brain.
Think, Kai. Think. The blue status window was flashing red with "CRITICAL" warnings, but the golden screen behind it remained calm, scrolling through data like a high-speed processor.
[Adaptive Learner (Rank D) Active.] [Analyzing: Gravitational Vector Logic.] [Discovery: The pressure is not uniform. It flows in waves from the source.]
In that moment of near-unconsciousness, Kai didn't see a wall of force. He saw currents. He saw the way Brooks' mana moved through the air, creating high-pressure zones and low-pressure gaps. It was like standing in a turbulent river; if you fought the current, you drowned. If you moved with it...
Kai shifted his foot.
It was a tiny movement, barely an inch, but he stepped into a "dead zone" where two gravitational waves cancelled each other out.
The pressure on his chest vanished for a heartbeat. He took a massive, gulping breath.
"You missed a spot," Kai joked, though his voice was strained.
Brooks' eyes widened. "What?"
"The gravity," Kai panted, his eyes glowing with a faint, golden hue that he hoped the overhead lights would mask. "It's a bit... patchy. You might want to get that looked at. Maybe a mana-leak?"
Brooks roared, losing his composure. He lunged forward, his hand reaching for Kai's throat. "I'll crush you personally!"
This was the mistake Kai needed. By moving, Brooks had disrupted his own focus. The absolute field of gravity flickered.
Kai didn't retreat. He used his Adaptive Learner to mimic the way Brooks moved through his own field. Brooks wasn't affected by the gravity because he projected a "null-shell" around his own body.
[Movement Logic Copied: Null-Shell Step.]
Kai lunged forward. To the spectators, it looked like Kai had suddenly gained a burst of impossible speed. In reality, he had just figured out how to slide through the gravity instead of pushing against it.
He appeared inside Brooks' guard.
"Hi," Kai said.
He delivered a palm strike to Brooks' chest. He didn't use the full force of his E-Rank strength—that would be a dead giveaway. Instead, he used the momentum of the gravity itself, "hooking" his strike into the falling force Brooks was generating.
BOOM.
Brooks was sent staggering back, his own gravity field collapsing as his concentration broke. He hit the edge of the ring, his eyes wide with pure, unadulterated shock.
The hall fell into a silence so profound you could hear the hum of the mana-lights.
An F-Rank had just touched an A-Rank.
Elena Frost, standing at the edge of the adjacent ring, had her hand over her mouth. Her silver hair was frosted over, a sign that her emotions were causing her mana to leak. She looked at Kai, not with pity, but with a terrifyingly sharp realization.
He's not just lucky, she thought. He's rewriting the rules.
"You... you dared..." Brooks hissed, his face turning a blotchy, humiliated red. He wasn't injured, but his ego was bleeding out on the floor. "I'll kill you! I'll flatten this entire hall!"
Brooks raised both hands, his mana flaring into a violet-black aura. The air began to scream as he prepared to unleash a wide-scale gravitational collapse—a move far beyond a "Duel of Honor."
"Brooks! Stand down!" Headmaster Vance shouted, standing up.
But Brooks wasn't listening. The shame of being touched by "trash" had snapped something in him.
Kai braced himself. He knew he couldn't survive this without going full E-Rank. The Adaptive Learner was already showing him the lethal vectors. He was prepared to reveal everything to stay alive—
Suddenly, a blur of silver and blue intercepted the space between them.
Elena Frost stood in the center of the ring, her Ice Empress talent flaring into full existence. A wall of crystalline, S-Rank ice erupted between Kai and Brooks, absorbing the gravitational surge with a series of sharp, rhythmic cracks.
"The duel is over," Elena said, her voice like a winter gale. She didn't look back at Kai, but her presence was a literal shield. "Brooks Vance, you've lost your composure. Under Academy bylaws, a Duel of Honor is forfeit if a participant uses lethal force in a non-lethal setting."
"Get out of my way, Frost!" Brooks snarled. "This is family business!"
"It's Academy business now," a new voice joined in.
One of the senior instructors, a B-Rank veteran named Commander Graw, stepped into the ring. He looked at Brooks with disappointment, then turned his gaze toward Kai.
Graw's eyes were like flint. He walked up to Kai, who was still catching his breath, his clothes tattered and his body bruised.
"Mr. Rowan," Graw said, his voice low and dangerous.
"Yes, sir?" Kai asked, slipping back into his sarcastic mask. "If you're going to give me a detention for scuffing the floor, I'd like to point out that Brooks started the landscaping project."
Graw didn't laugh. He reached out and grabbed Kai's shoulder. His hand felt like a vice. Kai felt a pulse of mana enter his body—a "Diagnostic Pulse" used by teachers to check for illegal stimulants or hidden artifacts.
Kai froze. If the pulse hit his core, it would see the E-Rank density.
[WARNING: External Diagnostic Pulse detected.] [System Mode: Stealth Cloak Initiated.] [Mana Density masked to Rank F.]
The pulse swept through him. Kai felt a cold shiver, but the golden screen remained steady.
Graw pulled his hand back, his brow furrowing. He looked at Kai's tattered blazer, then at the scorched ring, and finally at the scouts, who were whispering among themselves.
"Your mana is... still Rank F," Graw said, sounding genuinely confused. "But your physical displacement... the way you moved through a three-times gravity field..."
"I've been doing a lot of yoga, sir," Kai said, wiping a streak of soot from his nose. "Very intense yoga. It's all about the core strength. And I have a very stubborn core."
"Enough," Headmaster Vance called out, descending from the dais. He walked into the ring, his presence overshadowing everyone. He looked at his nephew, Brooks, who was being led away by other instructors, then he turned to Kai.
The Headmaster didn't look angry. He looked... intensely suspicious. He looked at Kai the way a scientist looks at a specimen that has just defied the laws of biology.
"The sparring session is concluded," Vance announced to the hall, but his eyes never left Kai's. "Mr. Rowan, you will report to the Faculty Research Office immediately after your classes. We need to... verify the stability of your Talent."
Kai felt a chill that had nothing to do with Elena's ice.
"Sure thing, Headmaster," Kai said, giving a mock-salute. "I've always wanted to be verified. Does it come with a blue checkmark?"
Vance didn't answer. He turned and walked away, but Kai could feel the weight of the man's suspicion like a physical burden.
As the students began to filter out of the hall, whispering and pointing at Kai, Elena stepped up to him.
"You're a fool," she whispered, her eyes darting toward the teachers. "I told you to take the loss. Now they're going to dissect your every move. They don't believe in 'yoga,' Kai."
"Maybe they should try it," Kai said, though his heart was still racing. "It's great for flexibility."
Elena grabbed his arm, her grip tight. "The Research Office isn't for verification. It's for investigation. They suspect you're a 'Rank-Fraud.' If they find out what you really are..."
"Then I guess I'll have to grow faster than they can investigate," Kai said, his voice dropping its sarcastic edge for a moment.
He looked toward the shadows of the library entrance. The violet-eyed janitor was gone, but the silver coin in Kai's pocket felt heavy.
[New Quest: The Inquisitor's Eye] [Objective: Hide your True Rank during the Faculty Examination.] [Failure Penalty: Immediate Expulsion and Talent Sealing.]
Kai looked at Elena, then at the golden screen that told him he was still 0.20% away from his next milestone.
"Hey, Elena?"
"What?" she snapped, clearly stressed.
"Thanks for the ice wall. It was... cool."
She blinked, her face turning a very faint shade of pink before she regained her frosty mask. "Don't get used to it. I just didn't want the floor to get any messier."
As Kai walked toward his next class, he felt the eyes of every teacher in the building on his back. The experiment was over. The hunt had begun.