The heavy, reinforced doors of the West Gymnasium hissed shut, sealing out the echoes of Headmaster Vance's departing footsteps. The silence that rushed back in was cold—literally. Elena's lingering mana had turned the air into a shimmering haze of frost, and the shattered fragments of the violet-eyed man's mask lay on the floor like cursed glitter.
Kai Rowan stood in the center of the wreckage, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He was trying very hard to look like a guy who wasn't currently having a minor existential crisis, but the golden screen in his vision was making that difficult.
[New Quest: The Sector 7 Gauntlet] [Time Remaining: 47 Hours, 58 Minutes.]
"Sector 7," Kai muttered, the word tasting like lead. "I've heard of that place. Isn't that where the school sends the seniors when they want to remind them that death is a very real possibility?"
Elena stepped toward him, her silver hair catching the dim emergency lights. "It's a Grade-B Forest Dungeon. Usually, it's restricted to teams of at least three B-Rank students. Sending the entire first-year class there—including the F-Ranks—isn't just a test. It's a massacre waiting to happen."
"Vance isn't looking for a test," Kai said, his eyes narrowing as he looked toward the door where the Headmaster had vanished. "He's looking for a filter. He wants to see who breaks under pressure and who… well, who does what I did."
Elena's gaze dropped to the floor, where the frost was slowly beginning to melt. "He knows, Kai. He doesn't know what you are yet, but he knows you're not the 'Burnout' the scanner suggested. The Sector 7 test is designed to force your hand. In a dungeon like that, you can't hide behind sarcasm or lucky footwork. You either use your power, or you get eaten."
"And if I use my power, I get 'harvested' by the Snake or dissected by the faculty," Kai finished. He let out a long, weary breath. "It's a classic win-win situation. Except for the part where I potentially die in both scenarios."
"What are you going to do?"
Kai pulled up his status window, the gold interface shimmering only for his eyes.
[Name: Kai Rowan] [Rank: E (Accelerated Growth)] [D-Rank Progress: 14.82%] [Adaptive Body: Grade D (8.1%)]
"I have forty-eight hours to bridge a gap that should take three years," Kai said, his voice dropping its joking tone. "If I go into Sector 7 as an E-Rank, I'm dead. The boss of that forest is a Shadow-Stalker—A-Rank in speed, B-Rank in lethality. I need D-Rank. I need the stat jump that comes with it."
Elena looked at him, her blue eyes searching his. She seemed to be doing her own set of internal calculations. "Even with your... whatever this is... jumping a rank in two days is impossible. The mana density required for D-Rank is three times that of E-Rank. Your channels will burst."
"Then I guess I'd better find some very sturdy pipes," Kai said, flashing a quick, reckless grin. "See you in class, Ice Queen. I've got some very intense loitering to do."
The next twenty-four hours were a blur of high-intensity insanity.
Kai didn't go to his classes. He didn't even go back to his dorm. He knew the faculty were watching the dorms, waiting for him to slip up. Instead, he headed deep into the Academy's archives—the "Dungeon Records Section."
Thanks to his Tireless Mind passive, Kai was able to process information at a rate that would have made a supercomputer sweat. He wasn't just reading; he was absorbing the movement patterns of every recorded monster in Sector 7.
He studied the topography: the bioluminescent moss that drained mana, the "Snare-Vines" that reacted to thermal signatures, and the Shadow-Stalker's hunting cycle.
[Action: Tactical Data Absorption] [Intelligence +0.02] [Growth Potential EXP +0.15%]
But data wasn't enough. He needed the physical stimulus.
Kai retreated to the "Old Yard" at midnight, the cracked concrete and rusted iron his only witnesses. He pushed his body into a state of absolute exhaustion, using Focused Breathing to keep his heart from exploding as he performed mana-circuits while carrying three-hundred-pound rusted weights he'd scavenged from the junk pile.
[Strength: 6.65] [Stamina: 6.55] [Agility: 6.45] [D-Rank Progress: 28.50%]
"Too slow," Kai wheezed, his muscles screaming in protest. He dropped the weights, the sound echoing through the empty yard. "At this rate, I'll hit D-Rank in a week. I have twenty-four hours left."
He sat in the center of the yard, the silver coin from the Snake organization sitting on the concrete in front of him. It was cold now, but it felt... hungry.
The world doesn't give you what you want, Kai thought, remembering the violet-eyed man's words. It gives you what you're strong enough to take.
He closed his eyes, attempting to force his mana core to rotate faster. He wanted to mimic the S-Rank density he'd felt from Elena, to use his Adaptive Learner talent to copy the very essence of high-tier power.
A sharp, stabbing pain flared in his chest.
[Warning: Core Instability.] [Current Body Rank (E) cannot sustain S-Rank rotation logic.]
"Dammit," Kai spat, coughing up a small fleck of blood. "Come on. Just a little more."
"You're going to kill yourself before the monsters even get a chance."
Kai's head snapped up. Elena was standing at the edge of the yard, her silver hair glowing like a beacon in the moonlight. She was wearing a dark training suit, and for once, she didn't look like a distant goddess. She looked… determined.
"Elena," Kai panted, wiping the blood from his lip. "What, did you miss my charming personality? Or did you come to watch the F-Rank crash and burn?"
"I've been watching you for three hours," she said, stepping into the yard. Her presence brought a wave of cool air that soothed his overheated skin. "You're trying to copy the rotation of my core. You're insane. My core is built for S-Rank mana. If you succeed, you won't evolve—you'll detonate."
"I'm running out of options," Kai said, standing up on shaky legs. "The school wants me to fail. The Snake wants me to be 'harvested.' I can't stay at E-Rank."
Elena walked right up to him, stopping only an inch away. In the quiet of the night, Kai could hear the faint, crystalline hum of her power.
"The reason you can't hit D-Rank isn't because you lack the effort," she said, her voice surprisingly soft. "It's because you lack the stimulus. Your 'Growth Potential' is like a muscle—it needs a weight it can't lift to force it to adapt."
She raised her hand, and the air around it suddenly shattered into thousands of tiny, floating ice needles.
"My ice isn't just cold, Kai. It's dense. It's structured. If you want to jump a rank, you need to survive someone who isn't holding back."
Kai looked at the needles, then at Elena. "You're suggesting... you and me? Right here?"
"Integrated sparring was just a game," Elena said, her blue eyes flashing with a sudden, competitive fire. "If you want to reach D-Rank, you need to experience the pressure of a real battle. I won't kill you, but I won't make it easy either."
Kai felt his heart skip a beat—half from terror, half from a wild, adrenaline-fueled excitement. His golden screen began to pulse.
[Condition Met: S-Rank Combat Stimulus Detected.] [Growth Potential Multiplier: 5.0x (Temporary)]
"Elena Frost, the Ice Empress, acting as a personal trainer for the school's biggest loser?" Kai grinned, despite the blood on his teeth. "Your fan club is going to have a collective heart attack."
"They won't know," Elena said, her aura flaring until the ground beneath her was solid ice. "But after tomorrow, everyone will know that Kai Rowan isn't someone to be underestimated."
She settled into a combat stance, her silver hair whipping in the cold wind she'd created. "I'll give you twelve hours. If you haven't evolved by dawn, you're on your own in Sector 7."
Kai dropped into his own stance, his Adaptive Learner and Focused Breathing ready to fire. The golden screen in his vision flared with a new, aggressive quest.
[New Sub-Quest: Survive the Empress] [Objective: Endure 12 hours of S-Rank Sparring.] [Reward: High-Speed Evolution to D-Rank.]
"Twelve hours?" Kai asked, his sarcastic smirk returning in full force. "Ice Queen, I'm an F-Rank. I've survived eighteen years of being ignored. I can survive a little snow."
Elena didn't respond with words. She responded by launching a barrage of ice needles that tore through the air with the speed of bullets.
Kai ducked, the cold singeing his ear.
"First lesson," Elena's voice echoed through the yard. "Stop talking and start moving."
As the first hour of their secret training began, Kai realized that this wasn't just a spar. It was a forge. And Elena Frost was the hammer.
[Growth Potential Progress: 29.10%... 29.50%... 30.00%...]
The counter was moving faster than it ever had before. But as Elena's ice-blades began to rain down with lethal precision, Kai had only one thought.
Would you like me to...
Wait.
Elena stopped her next attack, her hand glowing with a lethal, condensed mana-orb. She looked at Kai, who was battered and bruised but still standing.
"You're adapting too fast," she whispered, her voice filled with a mixture of awe and concern. "Kai... if you keep this up, you won't just hit D-Rank. You might break the system entirely."
She paused, looking toward the Academy towers where the Headmaster was undoubtedly watching the sensors.
"I have a way to hide your evolution during the test," she said, her eyes meeting his. "But it requires me to do something... unconventional."
Kai wiped sweat from his eyes. "How unconventional?"
Elena took a step closer, her aura narrowing until it only surrounded the two of them.
"I can link our mana-signatures," she said. "It will make the sensors think your power is just a reflection of mine. But it means we have to stay within ten yards of each other for the entire dungeon."
Kai stared at her. "A forced partnership? With the school's most popular girl? My reputation will never recover."
Elena didn't smile. "This isn't a joke, Kai. If we do this, my rank is on the line too. Do you want my help or not?"