The moment the System notification bled into his vision, Orion tuned out the arena entirely. That alone was an unprecedented shift in his behavior.
On the combat field below, Selene and Rhett had just assumed their starting stances, drawing the rapt attention of nearly the entire student body. The first-ranked combatant against the eighth-ranked—it was a highly anticipated spectacle with a guaranteed, messy outcome for anyone named Rhett Blackthorne. Under normal circumstances, Orion would have studied the exchange. Instead, his gaze was methodically sweeping the crowd.
Thousands of faces spanned the stadium tiers. Hundreds of distinct mana signatures flared and flickered in his senses amidst a deafening wall of crowd chatter. Somewhere hidden within this chaotic sea of sensory data, someone was watching him. This wasn't a casual glance born of curiosity; it was an intentional, calculated surveillance. The distinction mattered immensely.
