The adrenaline leaked out of Kaelen's veins slowly, like sand draining from a cracked hourglass. By the time he limped out of the Grand Hall, the cheers, murmurs, and echoes of the fight felt miles away. His arm throbbed, each heartbeat sending a pulse of pain up to his shoulder. His ribs felt as if someone had stuffed burning coals beneath them. His legs wobbled under his weight. Every pain reminded him that bravery was one thing… the skill to back it was another.
He had a fast healing speed, but speed wasn't regeneration. The fractures still hurt crazily.
He ducked into the first silent corner he found... a narrow walkway behind one of the glass ridges that connected two wings of the academy. Students rarely came here. Perfect.
"Shit," he hissed as he pressed his back against the wall and exhaled shakily. "Stupid… that was stupid," he murmured, even though he knew he didn't regret it. Not really.
He lifted a trembling hand.
"Status." He called out.
The blue holo-interface came to life in front of him.
[Quest Complete: Defend The Boy]
Rewards:
+10 XP | One random skill upgrade |
New Skill Unlocked:
[Host Status]
[Name: Kaelen Burn]
[Class: Chrononaut ]
[Race: Human]
[Title:None]
[Energy Level:
[Point Stage: Bond stage]
[Classification:
[Ability Grade:
[Base Level: 6 ] <720 / 1300 XP>
[System Level: 4] <320 / 1200 XP>
[HP: 250/250]
[A.E:270/270]
[Strength: 45]
[Stamina: 40]
[Perception: 35]
[Defense: 36]
[Agility: 38]
[Vitality: 51]
[Intelligence: 55]
[Stat point: 24]
Abilities
Time Authority — Tier 1 Lv. 1
Spatial Authority — Tier 1 Lv. 1
Active Skills
Flash Step Lv. 1 | Spatial Lock Lv. 1 | Spatial Warp Lv. 1 | Temporal Drag Lv. 1 | Temporal Lock Lv. 1 | Aether Manipulation Lv.1 | Spatial Lance Lv.1
Passive Skills
Chrono‑Perception Lv. 1 | Spatial Awareness Lv. 1 | Analytical Scan Lv. 1 | Energy Resonance Lv.1 | Aether Regeneration Lv.1 | Health Regeneration Lv.1
[Daily Mission]
Objective: 10 Push‑Ups | 1 Mile Run | 10 Pull‑Ups
Reward: +30 XP (Base and System) | +1 Stat Point
Penalty for Failure: Stat Reduction (‑1 Random Stat) | System Instability +5%
[ Quest Assigned– Break through the latent level in a week]
[5 Days, 4 Hours, 41 Minutes]
Rewards: 100xp | 5 Stat Points | 1 random skill upgrade.
Penalty for failure: Base Level deduction –one | Ten random Stat Points deduction.
He focused on the skill upgrade first. A small window slid forward.
[Random Skill Upgrade]
Aether Manipulation –> Lv.2
[Aether Manipulation Lv. 2: Consciously manipulate aether in the body or environment to coat objects(enhance strikes and reinforce defenses) form constructs. He blinked.
"Oh. That's… that's actually good."
Aether Manipulation; the skill he used in the moment of need. He'd barely managed to wrap aether energy around his arms during the fight.
He opened the next window.
[Spatial Lance – Lv.1:Create a condensed spatial tear in the form of a lance-shaped projection. High piercing potential. Kaelen stared.
His fingers twitched, itching to test it. He could imagine the shape of it already; something razor-thin and hungry. But his arm was a swollen bruise right now.
Between his cracked arm and everything else that hurt, he doubted he could hold a basic thread of aether, let alone form a spatial lance. He didn't also want to cause an irreversible damage with a skill he's just getting.
He let out a slow breath and pressed a palm against the wall to steady himself.
"Alright… infirmary first. Then I'll try not to die experimenting later."
He pushed himself off the wall and began limping down the hall again. He doesn't know where the infirmary is, but he has to make guesses.
...
He was halfway across the sky-bridge when hurried footsteps pattered behind him.
"Um—excuse me! Mr–, sir—wait!"
Kaelen turned. It was the boy from the fight. He looked even smaller up close, drowning in a slightly oversized academy jacket. His eyes were wide, filled with a mixture of awe and lingering fear.
"It's just Kaelen," he said automatically.
The boy flushed crimson. "Right. Kaelen. I'm Daniel. Daniel Voss. First-year, tech-scholarship. I—I wanted to say thank you. Properly."
Kaelen managed a half smile; it hurt. "You already did."
"No, I mean—" Daniel swallowed. "Jax's group, they've been shaking down scholarship kids for meal credits and even lying to get things from us. No one stood up. You did. And you didn't even know me."
"Thank you," Daniel blurted out, bowing his head slightly. "I'm really… grateful …"
He thrust the tablet he was holding forward like an offering. "I pulled the security footage before it gets scrubbed. Edited out your face mostly... blurred it from the system. If you need proof, incase you get called for fighting, for me that is, or—or anything."
Kaelen stared. "You hacked academy security in ten minutes?"
Daniel's ears went red. "Six minutes, forty-three seconds. The encryption's laughable if you know old Union backdoors." He hesitated, then added in a rush, "Also I can track where jax usually hangs out after classes. If you want to… avoid him. Or not avoid him. Whatever."
A laugh slipped out of Kaelen before he could stop it; it turned into a cough that made his ribs scream. "You're a terrifying little gremlin, Daniel Voss. Saying the school's security system is laughable at, makes me think carefully of who i offend."
Daniel beamed like he'd been titled.
"I'm also on scholarship" Kaelen said, a sense of camaraderie blooming. "The Merit Admission."
Daniel's face brightened instantly. "Really? I had a feeling. You don't walk ike someone who comes from the Upper tiers."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Kind of?"
Kaelen chuckled despite the pain.
"Well... I will take it with a gracefully then." Kaelen said with a wry smile.
"Glad you are..."
"Look," Kaelen said, "I've got to get healed before I fall over. Will you show me the way to the infirmary?"
"My pleasure."
They fell into step. Daniel had to half-jog to keep pace with Kaelen's limping stride.
"So," Kaelen said, "What's your trait?"
"I'm null," Daniel answered without shame. "No active aether veins. But I can read raw code flux like sheet music. They let me in because I rebuilt the eastern barrier grid when I was fourteen. Saved the town three million credits."
Kaelen whistled. "So you're a potential power-house, yet the academy let you get bullied. Pathetic."
Daniel ducked his head, pleased." The world was never nice to nulls'."
By the time they reached the Medical Wing, Kaelen had learned three things—
Daniel knew every rumor worth knowing.
He was lonely.
He'd decided Kaelen was his new hero, which was equal parts flattering and terrifying.
...
The walk to the infirmary wasn't short, and Kaelen's injuries weren't subtle. His healing factors was what was holding him. By the time he reached the central yard again, whispers trailed him like shadows.
"There he is—"
"That's the guy who fought an Enhancer—"
"Is he stupid or fearless?"
"I heard he broke through Bond stage in a day—"
"No way. That's impossible."
"Isn't that the guy from class V-1?"
"The one Professor Nyra called remarkable."
"That makes him even scarier."
Kaelen tried to tune them out, but the sound of gossip spread like wildfire in the academy. Every passing group had something new to say.
"Did you see the way he blocked that punch?"
"He didn't block it, his arm snapped—"
"Where you there?"
"Yes, i was."
"Still counts!"
"Is he suicidal?"
"I think he's brave."
"He only got lucky."
"Hehe, you're just jealous you can't fight."
"No, i bet i can deal with him."
Kaelen gritted his teeth. The attention was suffocating. The stares were annoying.
A girl walking by muttered to her friend, "Anyone who jumps in like that on just the fifth day is either destined for greatness or destined for a coffin."
"Or both," the friend whispered back.
Wonderful.
Exactly what he needed; a reputation he didn't understand and didn't ask for. Whether they admired him or doubted his intelligence, they were all looking at him like he was some sort of unexpected event. Something to speculate about.
He hated it.
By the time he reached the infirmary doors, his patience was thin but more important matters were pressing, his ribs are really screaming currently.
"Well, thanks Daniel."
"It's—it's the least i could do. You saved me after all. I will always be at your service." Daniel gave an exaggerated salute.
Kaelen mustered his strength to chuckle lightly. "Don't stress it."
...
Inside, the healing hall was quiet. Rows of empty beds lined the space, soft lights pulsing faintly above each one. A medic in a pale-blue coat approached him immediately.
The healer at the infirmary was a woman whose body screamed discipline and strict but her expression spelled gentle. She had silver runes on her forearms and a vine woven hair; a Biomancer of the mage-class.
She took one look at his arms and sighed. "Sit. Now."
He didn't argue.
She clicked her tongue at the injury as she examined him.
After she finished examining him, she placed her hands over his arm. It was glowing with a soft green light as they hovered over his arm. "Clean fracture. The ulna is a mess, and you have three broken ribs." she stated. "Your vitality is high, though. You are already healing fast from my examination. I will have to accelerate your healing to catalyze the process and similute regeneration, but it will drain your energy. You'll be sore, but functional in an hour. Fully healed by tomorrow."
"That's fine. Please," Kaelen said.
The process was a strange mixture of an intense cold deep, cellular itching, and exhaustion. When she was done, the sharp pain was gone, replaced by a heavy, bruised soreness and fatigue.
"Rest. No strenuous activity for at least twelve hours," the healer ordered.
"May i ask why i feel this fatigue?"
"You were already healing fast, well and OK on your own. But you weren't regenerating, and that's what we just did. Pushing the cells and hastening them will make you feel fatigue when they're done healing." She continued. "It's rushed afterall."
Kaelen thanked her and left.
When he stepped back into the corridor and was headed back to his dorm, the academy had already rewritten the story.
Two second-years near the fountain."...heard he blocked three hits bare-handed—"
"Heard he is a pyromancer."
"Heard he was hot."
"Well, he was nerdy."
"You weren't there..."
"She has a reliable source of info—"
He was literally walking pass them yet they can't identify him. Rumors really were crazy
A cluster of girls by the notice board: "... I heard Riven personally intervened, did you see?"
"Just what influence does Riven and Elai hold?" He thought to himself.
The rest of the journey was silent. The whispers were less as the student body became engrossed in afternoon classes and activities. He still had a class, but he was feeling sore and needed to rest. By the time he reached the familiar silence of his room, the fatigue from the healing had sunk deep into his bones. He collapsed onto his bed, his metal gear shaped pendant swayed following his movements. He fell into a dreamless, exhausted sleep.
...
He woke hours later to the soft glow of the academy night-lights filtering through his window. His body still ached, but it was a manageable ache. His mind, was clear and restless.
The events of the day replayed in his head as he managed to sit up.
Kaelen thought."I have to continue my meditation."
He sat cross-legged on the floor, he felt the cool metal of the gear pendant against his chest.
He closed his eyes and breathed, not just with his lungs, but with his entire existence. He reached for the aether within him as he imagined every aether vessel and the three points.
With [Energy Resonance Lv.1: Improves understanding and harmony with aether/energy flows, reducing skill costs by 5% and increasing A.E. regeneration by 10%. No active cost.] the aether in his body wasn't just a formless poo, it was guided.
Some of his aether veins felt wide and clear, the energy was flowing through them like a swift, deep current. Others were narrower, almost clogged, the aether moving through them in a sluggish, resistantly. This was the "clogging" Sera had mentioned. This was what held people back. He really could sense better now.
He applied his [Aether Manipulation Lv.2.]
His manipulation previously was something to laugh at. He guided it but he really felt the difference now. It's like the system was just conveniently helping him. He was really lucky to have broken through to the bond point.
He left the three points for now and focused on a simple circulation. He focused on a clogged pathway in his left arm, one that felt like a narrow, blocked creek. Gently, with an intention that was more about persuasion than command, he directed the flow of aether towards it.
The resistance was immediate, a psychic friction that made his body ache. It should have felt like a solid wall, but it felt more like dense mud. He pushed, not with force, but with persistent, focused pressure. His skills aether manipulation and energy resonance did the fine work, providing a perfect synergy.
He breathed in, and on the exhale, he imagined the aether as water, patiently wearing away at the obstruction.
He spent what felt like an hour just on that one tiny section, patiently clearing the way. The strain he felt was even more minimal compared to when he broke through to the bond point.
He shifted his focus to other points doing the same and spent over three hours. He might have wasted time on miniscule things but the reward was clear according to the system.
He finally opened his eyes, and was covered in beads of sweat. He constructed a thread of aether. At Level 1, forming a simple ribbon had been taxing for him. The aether was still unstable. Now, he willed it into being.
He shaped it, not just into a ribbon, but into a simple cube. The edges were sharp, the surfaces smooth planes of condensed energy. He morphed it into a sphere, then a complex, interlocking set of rings. Each transformation was smoother, more precise. The control was intoxicating. This was the foundation. This stability was what would make his understanding broader and all his skills more potent.
He let the aether dissolve and turned his attention outward. He pushed his awareness beyond the confines of his body, using Spatial Awareness with his heightened perception. He could feel the aether in the room now; not just as a vague ambient hum, but as a gentle, flowing current. He could sense the powerful, regulated streams running through the walls, the faint, sleeping auras of other students in nearby dorms, the intricate web of energy that was the academy itself.
Aether wasn't just a label; it was a fundamental shift in his relationship with the energy that made this world. He really is starting to understand those patterns point.
He sat there, immersed in this new, profound connection.
Power is nothing without the will to use it, and the discipline to control it. I have the will. Now, I will forge the discipline.