The summons arrived at 10:47 PM.
Not through a public notice.
Not through the bracelet.
Through a direct message.
REPORT. SHADOW SECTOR. LEVEL -2.
INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT.
Kael read it once.
Then deleted it.
Too soon, he thought.
But inevitable.
The Shadow Sector did not appear on official maps.
An underground corridor, flickering lights, walls smooth as if they had been polished to erase all traces.
A door was waiting for him.
It opened without a sound.
Inside, a bare room.
A table.
Two chairs.
And one person.
Not Arden.
Not Maera.
A woman in her forties, dark hair tied back, a uniform with no insignia.
"Sit down, Kael."
She didn't ask his name.
Kael sat.
"My name is Irena," she said. "I'm not an instructor."
Silence.
"I'm not here to evaluate you," she continued. "I'm here to understand why you're here."
Kael folded his hands.
"I passed the tests."
Irena smiled.
"Barely."
Kael didn't reply.
The table lit up.
Data. Charts. Behavioral tracking.
"Do you know what this is?" Irena asked.
"A profile."
"No," she said. "It's a discrepancy."
Kael tilted his head by a few millimeters.
"Your physical performance is below projected potential.
Your social choices reduce visibility.
Your strategic decisions…"
She paused.
"…are consistent with Class B students."
Silence.
"And yet you're in E."
Kael spoke softly.
"Maybe the model is wrong."
Irena stared at him.
"The model is never wrong. People lie."
She changed the screen.
A grainy image appeared.
A poor district. Shacks. Alleys.
Kael didn't react.
"Do you know where this was taken?" she asked.
"Many places look like that."
She scrolled.
A child. Dirty. Alert eyes.
Kael.
Younger.
A long silence.
"That child," Irena said, "solved a logistical problem that shut down a local criminal network. At ten years old."
Kael breathed slowly.
"He got lucky."
Irena shook her head.
"He had method."
Another screen.
A man.
Elegant. Calm gaze.
The traveler.
The adopter.
Kael clenched his fingers.
"Do you know what interests me?" Irena said. "Not your past. But who saw it."
Kael looked up.
"Why now?"
Irena smiled.
"Because someone asked whether Valencrest was wasting a resource."
Silence.
"A resource?" Kael repeated.
"Yes. You."
Irena stood up.
Walked behind him.
"Your adoptive family," she said. "Two step-siblings. High performance. Ambitious."
Kael didn't move.
"One of them is in Class A."
Pause.
"The other… is aiming for S."
Kael spoke, his voice neutral.
"We're not a close family."
Irena stepped back in front of him.
"No. You're an experiment."
"This assessment won't affect your ranking," she said. "For now."
Kael nodded.
"But it will affect who's watching you."
She leaned in slightly.
"The question is: how long do you think you can choose when to lose?"
Kael met her eyes.
"Until it's convenient for me to win."
Irena smiled.
"Correct answer."
When Kael left, the corridor felt shorter.
Or maybe he was walking faster.
The bracelet vibrated.
PROFILE UPDATE: LOCKED
No details.
Only one new entry.
STATUS: RESTRICTED OBSERVATION
Above ground, Arden received the report.
Read it in silence.
Maera approached.
"So?"
Arden closed the file.
"He's not a student."
Maera sighed.
"Is it worse?"
Arden shook his head.
"He's an independent variable."
That night, Kael stared at the ceiling.
For the first time since arriving at Valencrest, he wasn't planning.
He was evaluating.
They've connected the data, he thought.
Now I have to change pace.
In the darkness, a thought crossed his mind.
If I rise…
who will fall in my place?
Valencrest didn't wait for answers.
It demanded them.
End of Episode 9.