Three days after Kael arrived at the Academy, the summons came.
All of ClassC was gathered in the lower training hall, a wide underground arena lit by dull, floating crystals. The air was tense. Even the stone walls seemed to listen.
Instructor Vale, a tall man with deep scars across his arms, stepped forward. He wore no armor. Just simple black robes and a sharp gaze that cut through silence.
"Trial begins at dawn," he said. "You all will enter the Shadow Vaults."
A murmur rippled through the students.
Kael watched closely.
Ryne's smirk disappeared.
Lior went pale.
Even Aerin narrowed her eyes.
"ShadowVaults?"
Kael had read the name once, briefly— on a scroll in the archives. It was a place under the Academy. Not a training ground but a remnant of the past.
Something older than the city itself.
Something buried.
---
Vale continued. "This is your first official test. Survival, cooperation, core control. All will be measured."
A student in the back raised a hand. "What if someone gets hurt?"
"You will."
The instructor's voice never changed.
"Some of you may not return. That is the point."
Silence followed.
Then he threw down a bag of black stones.
"Each of you take one. These are your trial markers. If you lose yours, you fail. If you die, you fail harder."
He didn't smile.
"Get some rest tonight, You will enter the Vaults tomorrow."
---
That night, Kael lay awake.
"A test… but not just a test."
The timing was too close.
First the Echo.
Then the Academy summons.
Now a trial in a sealed place full of shadow magic?
He opened his palm and stared at the black stone. It pulsed faintly.
---
[ SYSTEM UPDATE ]
[ New Objective Added: Survive Shadow Trial ]
[ Bonus Objective: Unlock Core Advancement Potential ]
[ Reward: Skill Slot Expansion – 1 ]
[ Threat Level: Moderate to High ]
[ System Suggestion: Minimal Exposure of Unique Abilities ]
---
Kael nodded to himself.
No mistakes.
No slips.
Just survival.
---
At dawn, Class C assembled at the shadow Vaults Gate.
It stood deep beneath the Academy— twin steel doors marked with runes that flickered as if resisting the very idea of being opened.
Instructor Vale waited beside them.
"You'll be in teams of three," he said. "Groups assigned by draw."
Kael hated that.
But he said nothing as Vale pulled tokens from a bag.
"Team One: Ryne, Lior, Kael."
Kael blinked.
Ryne grinned, tossing her dagger in the air. "Well, well. Looks like I'll get to see if the quiet one's worth anything."
Lior looked like he might faint.
---
The doors groaned open, and darkness rolled out like smoke.
One by one, the teams stepped inside.
---
Inside the Vaults the atmosphere were cold.
Winding tunnels. Stone walls that whispered. Cracked floors with broken symbols glowing under dust.
It wasn't just physical darkness.
It crept under your skin. Into your thoughts.
Kael led the group, silent but alert. His spear was ready. His system pulsing gently, helping him scan movement and energy shifts.
Ryne followed close, watching their flanks. She was sharper and smarter than she acted.
Lior, trembling, clutched a charm to his chest, whispering a protective spell.
Then it began.
---
The first creature attacked without sound.
A black form dropped from the ceiling, mouth wide with jagged teeth and no eyes.
Kael spun, slammed his spear upward, and drove the point through its skull.
It melted into smoke.
Lior gasped. "What was that?"
"Wraithspawn," Kael muttered. "We'll see more."
---
An hour passed. Then two.
The Vaults didn't end.
Sometimes, the path shifted. Sometimes they circled back to rooms they'd already crossed.
Time felt... wrong.
Kael began to feel pressure in his chest. Not from fear, but from something else.
Something was watching.
They reached a wide chamber lit by a single torch on the far wall.
A long bridge stretched across a black pit.
Kael paused.
"This is a trap," he said.
Ryne nodded. "I can feel it too."
"Illusion?" Lior asked.
"Maybe," Kael replied. "Or worse."
They stepped carefully onto the bridge.
Halfway across, it shattered.
---
Kael fell first.
He twisted mid-air, grabbed the edge with one hand, and caught Ryne's wrist with the other as she slid toward the drop.
Below, the dark moved.
Shapes shifted. Eyes opened.
Ryne cursed. "Pull, dammit!"
Kael gritted his teeth and hauled her up. Lior screamed from above, throwing down a rope.
They made it back onto the ledge, breathing hard.
"You saved me," Ryne said, almost surprised.
Kael didn't answer. He was staring at the pit.
The things below were gone.
But something else was rising.
---
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
[ Void Entity Detected ]
[ Class: Unknown ]
[ Recommendation: Evade ]
[ Bonus Unlock Available if Defeated ]
---
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Bonus unlock?"
Then the stone cracked.
A long, inky-black claw reached over the edge, followed by a head with no face—just a spiral of shifting mouths.
Ryne threw a dagger.
It passed through.
Lior screamed a binding spell. It fizzled on contact.
Kael stood still.
Then he activated his skill.
[Flame of the Forgotten – Tier 1]
His body lit with blue fire— soft, but intense.
He launched forward, sliding under the beast's lung, and stabbed the spear straight into its throat.
It screamed—not in sound, but in thought.
Kael winced. Blood ran from his nose and ears. But he kept pushing.
With a final surge of flame, the creature shattered.
---
[ ENTITY DEFEATED ]
[ Bonus Unlocked ]
[ New Passive skill: "Void Sense" – Grants early detection of spatial anomalies and void-class enemies. ]
[ Core Synchronization Increased: +4% ]
[ Bloodline Reaction: Stabilizing...]
---
Kael staggered, breathing hard.
Ryne stared at him.
Lior's hands were shaking.
"I thought you were weak," Ryne whispered.
Kael wiped the blood from his mouth.
"I'm not."
---
They found the exit not long after.
As the Vault doors reopened, Instructor Vale stood waiting.
Half the teams had returned.
The other half… didn't.
Vale looked at them, then at Kael.
"You didn't just survive," he said. "You adapted."
Kael said nothing.
But in his mind, a single thought remained:
"They're still watching. But now they're taking me seriously."
And that was a good start.