Training ended without announcement.
There was no final lesson. No final strike. No final command.
Only a door.
Unlocked.
Ethan stood in his room, his Ten active, his awareness expanded. He had already sensed the difference before he saw it. The absence of structure. The absence of confinement.
Permission.
He stepped forward.
The door opened without resistance.
The hallway beyond was the same—and completely different.
Before, it had been a boundary.
Now, it was a path.
He walked.
No guards followed him.
No one stopped him.
For the first time since awakening in blood and smoke, his movement was not controlled by others.
It was controlled by him.
His aura remained contained under Ten. His presence stable. Silent Authority rested within him, defined but inactive.
He reached the end of the corridor.
Another door.
Larger.
He stopped in front of it.
He felt it.
Presence.
Beyond it.
Not one.
Several.
Stronger than before.
Different.
Not trainees.
Users.
Real ones.
He activated Gyo instinctively.
Focused his aura into his eyes.
He saw it immediately.
Aura beyond the door. Dense. Stable. Individual. Each presence distinct, defined by its own structure.
The world outside was filled with Nen.
He understood now.
He had never been alone.
He opened the door.
Light entered first.
Natural light.
Not artificial.
Not controlled.
Real.
It did not blind him.
His eyes adjusted.
His aura remained stable.
He stepped outside.
Air moved differently.
Not filtered.
Not contained.
Alive.
He stood in an open space surrounded by concrete and distance. The facility extended behind him—silent, cold, functional.
Ahead—
The world.
Uncontrolled.
Unpredictable.
Real.
He felt them immediately.
People.
Their aura faint. Untrained. Unaware.
Ordinary.
And among them—
Others.
Users.
Hidden.
Defined.
He activated In instinctively.
His aura disappeared.
He became invisible to perception.
Not gone.
Hidden.
He stepped forward.
No one reacted.
No one noticed.
He existed without being seen.
Silent Authority remained within him.
Ready.
Defined.
For the first time since entering this world—
Ethan Crowe was no longer inside training.
He was inside reality.
And reality—
Would now respond to him.