[Hard-Level Dungeon - Emergency Extraction Point]
Li Wei's scream echoed through blood-soaked corridors as another razor-clawed beast lunged from the shadows. His "protector" - supposedly an elite assassin - barely managed to deflect the attack, dark blood streaming from multiple wounds.
"This isn't supposed to be happening!" Li Wei's voice cracked with terror. "This was meant to be routine!"
How did everything go so wrong?
The dungeon was a nightmare maze of enhanced monsters and death traps. Every corner held something designed to kill, and they were losing ground fast.
His bodyguard grunted, pushing him back as three more creatures emerged. "Young Master, we need extraction. Now."
ROARRR.
A massive shadow fell over them both.
---
[Control Room - Trial Dungeon Facility]
"ABORT THE MISSION!" Elder Jin's voice cracked like a whip across the control room. "Get Li Wei out of there immediately!"
Technicians scrambled at their consoles, emergency protocols flashing red across every screen.
[EMERGENCY EXTRACTION: INITIATED]
[PARTICIPANT: LI WEI]
[STATUS: CRITICAL CONDITION]
Elder Lian watched the biometric readings with growing horror. "His vitals are dropping fast. If we don't extract him in the next sixty seconds..."
"I don't care about the cost," Jin snarled. "Use the emergency portal. Now."
This is a disaster. Complete, uncontrolled disaster.
The main screen showed Li Wei's pale, terrified face as a rescue portal opened beneath him. He fell through, leaving behind the death trap meant for someone else entirely.
Jin's hands shook with barely contained rage. Their perfect plan had backfired spectacularly, and now Li Wei - their golden boy - was broken and traumatized.
If this was luck, I'll eat my own robes. But if it was planned...
The thought sent ice through his veins.
---
[Emergency Council Chamber - One Hour Later]
The emergency meeting was chaos barely contained by protocol. Elder Jin stood at the head of the table, his hawk-like features twisted with cold fury.
"The Family Head Competition is hereby cancelled," he announced, voice cutting through the murmurs. "Effective immediately."
Shocked whispers erupted from the assembled family members.
"The escalating dangers have proven too severe for our young masters to handle safely," he continued, the lie tasting like ash in his mouth.
Escalating dangers, What a joke. The only danger here is that street rat turning our own schemes against us.
Elder Lian nodded grimly. "Li Wei's condition proves the trials have become too unpredictable. We cannot risk further casualties."
Rather end the competition entirely than risk Vorn winning the next round.
Vorn sat in his designated chair, face a mask of perfect calm. Internally, cold satisfaction coursed through him like ice water.
They'd rather admit defeat than face me again, Pathetic seeing they caused all this mess.
Him not realizing how much of his emotions had been lost thought
As the meeting concluded and family members began filing out, Vorn rose and walked toward the exit. The moment he moved, every elder's enhanced senses automatically reached out to scan him.
They felt... nothing.
Not weak mana, not suppressed aura, not even the baseline life force every human possessed.
Absolute emptiness. Like he didn't exist on any magical or energetic level.
Elder Jin's face went pale. What in the seven hells...
Elder Lian's sharp intake of breath was audible. The other elders exchanged uneasy glances, suddenly afraid to look directly at him.
He's there. I can see him. But my awakened senses say there's nothing.
[ABSOLUTE ADAPTATION: PASSIVE CAMOUFLAGE ACTIVE]
[DETECTION PROBABILITY: 0%]
[AWAKENED SENSES: UNABLE TO REGISTER USER]
Vorn walked past them without a glance, leaving behind a room full of the most powerful people in the family staring at empty air where he'd been standing.
Perfect.
---
[Outside the Family Estate]
The afternoon sun cast long shadows across manicured grounds as Vorn approached a sleek, high-end sedan. His enhanced hearing picked up conversations from groups of young masters lounging near the estate's fountain.
As he passed them, something remarkable happened.
They didn't look at him. Not once.
Before his evolution, every young master had tracked his movements with barely concealed hostility. Now they chatted among themselves, completely ignoring his presence.
They can't sense me anymore. To their awakened senses, I'm just... background noise. A normal human not worth noticing.
The realization brought cold, logical satisfaction. His Absolute Adaptation wasn't just enhancing his body - it was making him invisible to the very detection methods that defined this world's power structure.
I'm a ghost walking among giants who can't see me.
He slid into the sedan's leather interior, mind already calculating the strategic advantages of his new invisibility.
---
[Inside the Sedan - En Route]
RING.
His phone buzzed with Master Li's number.
"Vorn," Master Li's voice sounded tired, strained. "There's been a change of plans. You've been accepted to Asteria Academy."
Vorn's enhanced mind immediately processed the implications. "The magic academy? I didn't apply there."
"No, you didn't. The elders arranged it. They say it's an honor - only the most gifted young Awakeners receive placement there." Master Li's pause spoke volumes. "You leave tomorrow."
Now I get it, Isolation tactic. Remove me from family protection, put me in neutral territory where they have plausible deniability for whatever happens next.
"I understand," Vorn said simply.
"Be careful there, son. Asteria is neutral ground, but neutrality can be bought. Trust no one."
The line went dead.
[QUEST UPDATE: SURVIVE ASTERIA ACADEMY]
[NEW ENVIRONMENT: ELITE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION]
[POLITICAL STATUS: ISOLATED FROM FAMILY PROTECTION]
[OBJECTIVE: MAINTAIN COVER WHILE GROWING STRONGER]
---
[Asteria Academy Gates - Next Morning]
The academy was a marvel of architectural ambition. Soaring spires reached toward clouds, their surfaces gleaming with integrated mana crystals. Floating walkways connected buildings that defied conventional physics. Gardens where magical plants swayed without wind stretched between dormitories housing the elite of the awakened world.
This was where the children of the most powerful families learned to wield forces that could reshape reality.
Vorn stepped out of his sedan, a simple black suitcase in hand. His enhanced senses immediately catalogued the environment - mana density off the charts, multiple high-level auras, security systems that could probably level city blocks.
Neutral ground, hmm
Other students moved across the grounds in small groups, their expensive clothes and casual displays of power marking them as aristocracy. Floating books, conjured lights, weapons that materialized and vanished at will.
A playground for the privileged.
Three figures caught his atytention immediately.
Near the main entrance, a young man with unassuming features sat reading under a tree. Brown hair, simple robes, nothing remarkable about him. But Vorn's enhanced perception noticed something others missed - the way mana flowed around him like a living thing, responding to his presence without conscious direction.
Rei has to be from a traditional magic clan, deep instinctual connection to mana.
Across the courtyard, another student was putting on a show. Blonde hair, expensive clothes, summoning multiple weapons simultaneously while a crowd of admirers watched. His techniques were flashy, powerful, but inefficient.
Kael, nouveau riche show-off. All style, questionable substance.
And watching it all from the academy's central tower was a figure in flowing robes. Too distant to make out features, but the aura was unmistakable - ancient, powerful, completely controlled.
The Headmaster. Guardian class. Reputation for impartiality.
[NEW CHARACTERS DETECTED]
[REI: ELEMENTALIST - TRADITIONAL MAGIC BACKGROUND]
[KAEL: WARRIOR - COMPETITIVE, FLASHY TECHNIQUES]
[HEADMASTER: GUARDIAN - UNKNOWN LOYALTIES]
Vorn walked through the gates, his unreadable presence moving like a ghost among giants. Students passed him without a second glance, their awakened senses registering nothing worth their attention.
I'm invisible to them. Should I play invisible man game.
The academy's grand entrance hall bustled with activity - new students receiving room assignments, upperclassmen demonstrating casual mastery of advanced techniques, faculty members whose mere presence made the air hum with restrained power.
And through it all, Vorn moved unnoticed.
This is going to be interesting.
A student orientation packet materialized in his hand, delivered by floating magic. His room assignment, class schedules, academy rules - everything needed to begin his new life among the elite.
[CURRENT STATUS]
[LEVEL: 5]
[LOCATION: ASTERIA ACADEMY]
[COVER STATUS: PERFECT]
[EMOTIONAL CAPACITY: 87% (DECLINING)]
[ADAPTATION: ONGOING]
The next phase of his evolution was about to begin.
In a place where power was everything, he would learn what it meant to be truly invisible.