---
Forest of Trials - Exit Point
Students stumbled out of the forest like refugees from a war zone. Mud-caked faces, torn clothes, exhausted gasps echoing across the exit clearing. Some carried injured classmates. Others emerged alone, wild-eyed with the kind of terror that only comes from facing death and barely surviving.
Pathetic.
Vorn stepped out of the treeline looking like he'd taken a casual stroll through a park. Not a single stain on his clothes, not one hair out of place. His breathing was steady, calm. While others collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, he stood with perfect posture, hands clasped behind his back.
The contrast was unsettling enough that nearby students actually stepped away from him.
Unconscious recognition of a superior predator.
"Is he even breathing hard?" one girl whispered.
"How is he so clean?" another muttered.
Vorn ignored them, his enhanced hearing tracking conversations across the clearing. Seventeen students had made it out. Three were missing - either still lost in the maze or eliminated by creatures beyond their ability to handle.
Standard attrition rate for this type of trial.
[TRIAL COMPLETION STATUS]
[SURVIVORS: 17/20]
[ELIMINATION RATE: 15%]
[PERSONAL PERFORMANCE: OPTIMAL]
---
Results Announcement Platform
The Headmaster materialized on a raised platform carved from a single piece of obsidian. His presence alone commanded silence from the exhausted students.
"The Forest of Trials has concluded," his voice carried across the clearing without amplification. "Some of you have proven worthy of continuing your education here. Others have not."
He gestured, and holographic displays appeared showing student performance metrics. Names, completion times, combat efficiency ratings.
"Those whose names appear in red have failed to meet academy standards. Transport will return you to your families within the hour."
Five names glowed crimson. The students attached to those names looked devastated - their dreams of elite education crumbling in real-time.
Harsh but necessary, makes sense.
"The remaining students will be assigned to masters based on your awakened classification and demonstrated abilities."
The Headmaster's gaze swept across the survivors, pausing momentarily when it reached Vorn. A flicker of confusion crossed his features before he continued.
"Rei Matsumoto - assigned to Master Valdris of Elemental Studies."
The quiet boy with instinctual fire control nodded respectfully.
"Kael Thornfield - assigned to Master Drakon of Combat Arts."
The flashy blonde straightened with obvious pride.
One by one, students received assignments to prestigious masters representing the pinnacle of their respective fields.
Then came the anomaly.
"Vorn Xiaotian." The Headmaster's pause was almost imperceptible. "Assigned to Master Hajime of Physical Conditioning."
Confused murmurs rippled through the crowd. Physical Conditioning wasn't a real discipline - it was where they sent the unawakened. The baseline humans who somehow ended up at an academy for magical elites.
It feels more like a demotion, perfect.
Several students shot Vorn pitying looks. Others smirked, assuming he'd been correctly identified as the weak link.
Vorn's face remained perfectly neutral, but internally, cold satisfaction flowed through him.
New opportunity. New advantages to discover.
[ASSIGNMENT RECEIVED: MASTER HAJIME]
[CLASSIFICATION: PHYSICAL CONDITIONING]
[STUDENT PERCEPTION: DEMOTED/WEAK]
[ACTUAL STATUS: PERFECT COVER]
---
Physical Training Facility - East Wing
The training facility was notably separate from the main academy buildings. Practical, utilitarian architecture rather than the magical grandeur of the other wings. No floating crystals, no enchanted decorations - just equipment designed for pushing human limits.
Master Hajime was waiting inside.
He looked like a mountain compressed into human form - broad shoulders, scarred hands, completely bald head marked with faded tattoos. Maybe fifty years old, but moving with the controlled power of someone who'd spent decades perfecting his body.
"So you're the anomaly," Hajime said without preamble. His voice was gravel and authority. "The kid who completed the forest trial without registering a single biometric spike."
Vorn met his gaze steadily. "I completed the trial."
"That's not what I asked." Hajime circled him slowly, evaluating. "Stand straight. Shoulders back. Show me your natural stance."
Vorn complied, and something shifted in Hajime's expression.
"Interesting. Your posture's perfect without conscious thought. Muscle tension distributed optimally. Balance centered." He stopped directly in front of Vorn. "Most people take years to develop that kind of body awareness. You have it naturally."
He sees what others miss,This could be useful.
"Tell me, kid - when you move, do you think about each motion, or does your body just... know?"
The question was more loaded than it appeared. Vorn considered his response carefully.
"My body adapts," he said simply.
Hajime's eyes sharpened. "Adapts. Not learns - adapts."
A long moment of silence stretched between them.
"Most masters here teach students to channel mana, cast spells, wield magical weapons," Hajime said finally. "I teach something different. Something older."
He walked to a rack of equipment - not magical artifacts, but simple tools. Weights, resistance bands, balance apparatus.
"Internal energy cultivation. Drawing power from within rather than channeling it from outside sources. It's not flashy. It's not fast. But it's undetectable."
Undetectable. Now that has my attention.
"The awakened assume all power comes from mana manipulation. They scan for auras, energy signatures, magical resonance." Hajime's smile was sharp. "They never look for someone who's transcended those limitations entirely."
He picked up a simple iron bar, holding it casually. Without warning, he squeezed. The metal crumpled like paper in his grip.
"This is what disciplined internal cultivation can achieve. Raw physical enhancement that bypasses every detection method the awakened rely on."
Vorn's mind raced with possibilities. This was exactly the kind of training that would complement his Absolute Adaptation.
"How long would this training take?" he asked.
"For most people? Decades. Maybe a lifetime." Hajime studied him with those penetrating eyes. "For someone whose body already understands adaptation... we'll find out."
He tossed the crumpled iron bar at Vorn's feet.
"Training begins tomorrow at dawn. Don't be late."
[NEW MASTER ACQUIRED: HAJIME]
[TRAINING FOCUS: INTERNAL ENERGY CULTIVATION]
[DETECTION PROBABILITY: 0%]
[SYNERGY WITH ABSOLUTE ADAPTATION: HIGH]
---
Academy Monitoring Room - Same Time
The Headmaster stared at Display Seventeen, frustration etched in his features. The screen showed clear visual tracking of a student moving through the forest, but every other reading was null.
"Run the diagnostic again," he ordered.
"Sir, this is the seventh diagnostic. All equipment is functioning perfectly."
The aide pulled up comparison data. "Every other student shows normal biometric patterns. Heart rate, mana expenditure, stress responses - all within expected parameters."
"And this one?"
"Nothing. The space appears empty to our sensors, but the cameras clearly show a student present."
The Headmaster's jaw tightened. In thirty years of running this academy, he'd never encountered anything like this.
"What was his assignment?"
"Master Hajime, sir. Physical Conditioning."
"Hajime..." The Headmaster's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Interesting choice by the sorting algorithm."
Or perhaps not a choice at all. Perhaps the only master who might understand what we're dealing with.
On the screen, static continued flickering where impossible readings should be.
[HEADMASTER'S SUSPICION: ELEVATED]
[INVESTIGATION STATUS: ACTIVE]
[CLASSIFICATION: PRIORITY ANOMALY]
"Keep monitoring. And schedule a meeting with Master Hajime. I want to know everything about his new student."
In the forest-turned-graveyard behind them, silence had returned. But in the academy's halls, a new kind of hunt was beginning.
[CURRENT STATUS]
[LEVEL: 5]
[EXP: 378/500]
[EMOTIONAL CAPACITY: 79% (DECLINING)]
[NEW TRAINING PATH: INTERNAL CULTIVATION]
[ACADEMY STATUS: UNDER INVESTIGATION]
Vorn had found his perfect hunting ground.