On the other side of the room, the hierarchy of Seven Dorm was being dismantled with surgical precision. Leo lay on the floor, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he struggled to push himself up. He was a mosaic of bruises—wounds on top of wounds—but his eyes held no resentment. Instead, he looked at Julian with a strange sense of relief.
"Julian... I can't beat you," Leo wheezed. "And I doubt Caleb can either. From now on, you're the Boss of Seven Dorm."
Julian's face remained a mask of calm. "I told you, I didn't come here to fight, and I certainly don't want to be 'Boss'."
Leo's expression turned uncharacteristically grave, the purple bruising on his cheeks making his sternness look almost comical. "Julian, it's not just a title. It's the rule. We work-study students are the poorest, most powerless group in this academy. The teachers might ignore us, but the 'noble' self-funded students? They hunt us for sport."
He wiped sweat from his brow. "They have backings. The teachers might scold them, but they never punish them. Our only defense is unity. Our strongest member has to be the leader—the one who earns our respect, but more importantly, the one who protects us all."
Julian frowned. He had hoped to escape the petty politics of his past life, but the logic was sound. Being a loner invited more trouble than it solved. "If someone tries to bully us, I won't stand by," he said quietly. "But don't call me 'Boss'. I'm not used to it."
Caleb, meanwhile, wasn't listening. He was staring at the dormitory door. He knew the timing. He knew the script.
Right on cue, a young girl with a long, braided ponytail that reached her waist skipped into the room. She was bright-eyed and looked around with a fearless, curious energy.
"Is this Seven Dorm?" she asked, her voice clear as a bell.
Caleb took a steadying breath, his heart racing. Julian is here. Lyra has arrived. The gears of fate are officially grinding.
Every boy in the room turned to stare. Julian, usually so composed, felt a flush of heat rise to his neck. He turned to Leo, his voice hushed and incredulous. "Does the academy not separate the dorms by gender?"
Leo gave him a flat look. "We're work-study students, and we're kids. The academy isn't going to waste resources on 'special' treatment." Then, his eyes gleamed. "Hey, Julian! You're the Boss now. Go on—give her the welcome. Show her who's in charge!"
Julian looked at the girl and felt a sudden, sharp reluctance. He could trade blows with a tiger-spirited brawler like Leo, but hitting a girl felt... wrong.
Before he could argue, Lyra walked straight up to the group, a sweet, mischievous smile on her face. "My name is Lyra—Lyra like the constellation. Mind moving out of my way?"
Leo nudged Julian again, whispering about "tradition." Julian sighed. He decided he would just go through the motions—no heavy hits, just a quick demonstration.
"My name is Julian," he said, stepping forward. "Spirit: Blue Silver Grass. Rank 10 Spirit Scholar. I am... the dorm head. The rule of Seven Dorm is that newcomers must show their spirit's strength."
Lyra looked at Leo's bruised face, then at Caleb's swollen eye. She laughed, the sound bright and musical. "Oh, I see how it is! I won't be polite then!"
She tossed her uniform to the side. "Lyra. Spirit: Rabbit. Rank 10 Spirit Scholar!"
She moved before the last word left her lips. Her right leg snapped out, her toe aimed precisely at Julian's chin.
Julian's eyes widened. Another Rank 10? The speed of her kick was incredible. He twisted his body, his hand shooting out to catch her ankle while simultaneously preparing a "should-check" to knock her back. He was holding back, his movements measured and careful.
It was a fatal mistake.
Lyra didn't retreat. She used his grip as a pivot point, her body twisting in mid-air with the fluidity of water. In a blur of motion that left the onlookers dizzy, she coiled her legs around Julian's neck. Using her entire torso as a lever, she arched her back like a drawn bow and hurled him across the room.
THUD.
Julian hit the floor hard, the breath leaving his lungs in a sharp gasp. Lyra landed on her feet with the grace of a cat, not a hair out of place.
The room was dead silent. Julian, the "undefeatable" Rank 10, had been tossed like a ragdoll.
Caleb watched the exchange with a mix of awe and frustration. I really should have taken a Tai Chi class in my old life, he thought. Against these two, I'm just a bag of experience points waiting to be claimed.
Julian scrambled up, his gaze fixed on Lyra. "You're a Rank 10? Are you... Innate Full Spirit Power too?"
Lyra giggled, her eyes dancing with triumph. "That's right! Want to go another round?"
Julian shook his head, his palm glowing as he summoned his Blue Silver Grass. A thin, delicate vine appeared in his hand. "My spirit is a plant; yours is an animal. I'm already at a disadvantage. You win. You're the Boss now."
Lyra pouted slightly. "If I'm the Boss, then my first order is this: no one calls me 'Boss'. It makes me sound old! You'll call me Big Sister Lyra."
The boys, terrified by the violence they'd just witnessed, shouted in unison: "Yes, Big Sister Lyra!"
Leo was reeling. Last year there were zero geniuses; this year, two Innate Full Spirit Powers had dropped into his lap. He looked at the two of them, then his eyes drifted to Caleb. "Is Blue Silver Grass the new meta? We have a Rank 3 and a Rank 10 in the same room."
The attention of the dorm shifted to Caleb. He took it as his cue. He raised his right hand, triggering his spirit power. A vine erupted from his palm—but where Julian's was thin and ethereal, Caleb's was thick, dark, and stood upright like a pillar of thorny emerald.
"This is my spirit," Caleb said, leaning into the lie. "A Mutated Blue Silver Grass."
He knew the people of Soul Land were superstitious about mutations. As long as he kept calling it that, his system-driven evolution would look like a natural phenomenon.
Lyra skipped over, her eyes wide as she compared the two plants. She poked Caleb's vine with a curious finger. "Whoa! Your grass is huge! It's way bigger and tougher than Julian's!"
Caleb smiled modestly, but internally, he was grinning. That's right, Big Sister. Just keep thinking it's a mutation.