Carter lay on his bunk at two in the morning, staring at the ceiling while his roommates slept around him. Tyler was snoring softly in the bunk above. Demo muttered something in his sleep about explosives. Alexander was curled up facing the wall. Kevin still had his headphones on, passed out in his gaming chair. Omar was the only other person awake, sitting by the window with a small reading light, that damn book open in his lap.Carter's head throbbed with a dull ache that had become constant over the past few days. The Protocol hummed in the background of his consciousness like white noise he couldn't turn off. Carter sat up slowly, careful not to wake Tyler above him. He swung his legs over the side of the bunk and pressed his palms against his temples. The headache was getting worse.A new notification appeared in his vision.SYSTEM MESSAGE: ADAPTATION COMPLETE. USER SURVIVAL PARAMETERS PRIORITIZED. PROTOCOL HAS EVOLVED TO MAXIMIZE HOST SUCCESS PROBABILITY.Carter's blood ran col

Carter didn't remember how he got behind the dumpster. One moment he was sitting against the tree, the next he was waking up to Demo's face looming over him in the dark."Yo, Grace," Demo said, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up, man. You look like death."Carter tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. His head exploded with pain and he fell back against the metal dumpster with a groan."What happened to you?" Demo asked, his usual mocking tone replaced with something that might have been actual concern."Ran from Derek Winters," Carter managed to say. His mouth tasted like copper and his tongue felt too thick. "Needed to rest.""Rest? Dude, you passed out behind a dumpster. That's not resting, that's dying," Demo said. He pulled out his phone and started texting someone. "I'm getting you to medical. You're all kinds of messed up.""No, I'm fine," Carter protested weakly. He tried to stand and his legs wouldn't cooperate. His whole body felt like someone had beaten him with hammers.

Carter was sitting in his bunk after the Q&A filming, exhausted and sore, when the Protocol generated a new notification. This one was different from the quests. MANDATORY TRAINING PROTOCOL INITIATEDDURATION: 30 DAYSOBJECTIVE: PHYSICAL CONDITIONING TO SUPPORT ENHANCED FUNCTION USAGEDAILY REQUIREMENTS:- 5:00 AM WAKE UP- 90 MINUTES HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING- MEAL PLAN ADHERENCE (4,000+ CALORIES/DAY)- WEEKLY PROGRESS ASSESSMENTSFAILURE CONSEQUENCES: LOSS OF ALL SUBROUTINE ACCESS FOR 30 DAYSCarter stared at the message. Waking up at five am everyday? Ninety-minute training sessions, for every single day for a month? And if he missed even one session, he'd lose access to Neuro Surge, Cold Authority, Overdrive, all of it.The Protocol was forcing him to get stronger. Building his body to handle the enhanced functions better. It made sense, logically. If he was going to keep using Overdrive and the other abilities, he needed the physical foundation to support them.But the timing was

The Bronze common room was packed with anxious students, all talking over each other, but Isla had claimed a corner table that was relatively quiet. Carter sat down across from her, Felix, and Omar. Isla's laptop displayed multiple browser tabs, each one showing different information about The Crucible."Okay," Isla said, pulling up a document. "I've been digging into this for the past hour. The Crucible isn't just a competition. It's warfare."Felix leaned forward, his face pale. "Warfare how?""Students are divided into mixed teams," Isla explained, scrolling through her notes. "Gold, Silver, Bronze all forced to work together. Then they're put through increasingly dangerous tasks over seven days. Physical challenges, strategic competitions, survival scenarios. The teams compete against each other for points, but it's not just about winning challenges."Omar, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up. "It's about elimination."Isla nodded. "Exactly. Teams can eliminate members

The notifications went out at exactly 8 AM on Monday morning. Carter was in the Bronze dining hall eating breakfast when his phone vibrated. The message was from the academy's official system:"CRUCIBLE TEAM ASSIGNMENTS NOW AVAILABLE. CHECK YOUR STUDENT PORTAL FOR DETAILS. MANDATORY TEAM MEETING TONIGHT AT 7 PM. LOCATION WILL BE SENT TO TEAM LEADERS."Around him, students pulled out their phones simultaneously. The dining hall erupted in noise. People shouting, cursing, celebrating, panicking.Carter opened his student portal with shaking hands. The page loaded slowly. Then his team assignment appeared:TEAM PHOENIXTEAM LEADER: TO BE DETERMINEDMEMBERS (15 TOTAL):PLATINUM CLASS:- ALEX RIVERS (Rank 11, Rep: 51,200)- KIRA SATO (Rank 10, Rep: 52,800)GOLD CLASS:- RAINA VOLKOV (Rep: 18,300)- JACKSON WRIGHT (Rep: 17,600)- MARCUS VALENTINE (Rep: 16,900)- SOPHIE CHEN (Rep: 16,200)SILVER CLASS:- DEREK HOLMES (Rep: 9,800)- NATALIE PARK (Rep: 9,200)- JAMES OKONKWO