Aeren and Lyra stood looking at each other, the silence between them as heavy as a stone. Lyra's mind raced, searching for an explanation for the unresponsive System. A dozen questions, frantic and desperate, spun in her head. Was this some kind of final test? Or had the Academy's legendary System—the very foundation of their education—truly broken?
"What are you going to do?" Lyra asked, her voice cracking with the strain. "If you can't input your mana, can the Academy even accept you as a student?"
Aeren's calm was a stark contrast to her panic, and it was beginning to get on her nerves. "We'll have to find someone who knows more about the System than we do," he said, as if stating the obvious.
"How?" she countered, throwing her hands up in frustration. Her fingers trembled. "The instructors are gone, and we don't know where the upperclassmen are! We can't just wander around looking for a senior student to help us!"
Aeren knew she was right, but his mind had already moved on to a different problem. He had accepted the fact that his mana was undetectable by the System. It wasn't a problem to begin with. He looked at Lyra, who was still trying to find a solution to a problem that, to Aeren, didn't matter.
"Let's go," he said, his voice flat. "You look exhausted. We'll find a way later. When I meet someone from the Academy, I'll ask them about it. It's not worth losing sleep over."
As they turned to leave, Lyra suddenly stopped, her eyes wide with a flicker of memory. "Wait," she said. "I don't know if it will help, but I know a senior from the second year."
"Do you know where we can find him?" Aeren asked, an almost imperceptible shift in his focus.
Before she could answer, a figure appeared out of thin air, his presence so subtle and powerful that neither of them had seen him approach. He was a young man, seemingly in his twenties, with a quiet, knowing smile that made him look like he held all the world's secrets. He stopped a few feet away, his gaze fixed on Aeren as if he were a puzzle to be solved.
"You're Aeren Drevin, correct?" he asked, his voice smooth and commanding.
Aeren simply nodded. "Yes. Who are you?"
The man's smile widened. "My name is Valerius. I'm the principal of this academy, and I've come to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."
Lyra gasped, her eyes wide with shock. A man who looked like he was barely out of his teens was the principal of the most prestigious academy in the kingdom? The power he radiated was so immense it made the air around them feel heavy.
Aeren, unfazed, spoke before the principal could continue. "You came at the right time. I got this System from the Academy, but it might be broken. It's not taking my mana."
Principal Valerius looked from Aeren to the inert black orb. "You're mistaken," he said, his voice holding a tone of absolute certainty. "A System cannot be broken if it has already identified you. This has never happened before. Try to input your mana again."
Aeren held the orb in his hand, a strange, silent object that was supposed to be his key to the Academy. He began to feed his mana into it. Valerius watched, his expression turning from certainty to a deepening confusion. He felt nothing. A complete void where mana should have been flowing.
"The problem isn't the System," Valerius said, shaking his head. "It's you. Your mana is so thin the System can't even sense it. How did you pass the test?"
Lyra, stunned, looked from the principal to Aeren. "How can a student join the Academy without a System? It holds all our information, gives us quests, and tracks our rank. Wouldn't that put Aeren at a huge disadvantage?"
Valerius looked at her, a hint of a smile on his face. "You're right. But this is an isolated incident. We'll simply send him messages through the Academy's authority System. Sending a message to a single student is no big deal."
He turned back to Aeren, his expression now serious. "I wanted to ask you something. You were a butler at House Verdan, weren't you? I heard something happened to the family, and Isolde was traumatized, barely able to come to the Academy."
"I don't know anything about that," Aeren said, his expression blank. "I left House Verdan years ago. It must have happened after I was gone."
Valerius's brows furrowed. "But you were there when they went to rescue their people, weren't you? At the... Ghost Manor?"
"Yes," Aeren confirmed. "I went with them."
Valerius leaned forward, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. He had a hint from Eldric's letters of a mysterious "he," and he had hoped this child would have a lead. "Did you see anyone there? Someone strong enough to destroy the entire Verdan family and fill them with fear?"
Aeren's hand went to his chin. He remembered the sickening rhythm of the butcher's blade, the rolling heads. "No," he said, after a moment's thought. "I didn't see anyone who looked strong to me."
Valerius's shoulders slumped in disappointment. He had expected so much more from a child who had survived that place. "Alright. Do your best in the Academy. Work hard." And with that, he vanished into thin air, leaving no trace he had ever been there.
Lyra stared at the spot where the principal had stood. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground, a cold sweat breaking out all over her body. Her skin was clammy, her heart a frantic drum against her ribs. She was so terrified she could barely speak.
"What's wrong?" Aeren asked, looking down at her, a hint of genuine confusion in his voice. "It looks like you just fought someone with all your strength."
"Fuck you, you bastard!" Lyra cried, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and rage. "You're the reason! I was speaking so casually to someone so powerful, and you're just asking 'what happened'? Do you have any idea who that was?"
"No," Aeren said, his expression completely serious. "I don't."
Lyra slapped her forehead in exasperation. "Of course not! If you did, you wouldn't even be able to talk!" she shouted. "Do you know who he is? He's one of the three strongest people in all of Veryadias!"
Aeren's eyes showed a flicker of curiosity, the only outward sign of his internal thoughts. "Oh," he said quietly. "Is that all he is?"
Lyra stared at him in disbelief before turning and storming off, her angry shouts echoing behind her as she stomped toward the Academy gates. Aeren, completely unfazed, simply jogged to catch up, his calm presence only fueling her fury.
Later that night, Aeren returned to his café, expecting to find it in ruins again. To his surprise, it was completely untouched.