All Chapters of MICHAEL SULLIVAN: NEW DYNASTY : Chapter 161
- Chapter 170
177 chapters
XXVIII
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
XIX
Carter spent most of the next day trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do at Raina's livestream event. The Protocol kept counting down the hours like a bomb timer. Fourteen hours. Twelve hours. Ten hours.By six PM, Carter was a nervous wreck. He'd skipped dinner because his stomach was in knots. He'd tried to research Raina, learn everything he could about her, but the Protocol already had all that information loaded. Raina Volkov, Gold Class, Rep 18,300, performance content specialist with 1.2 million external followers. She was essentially royalty at Star Academy.And Carter was expected to create a viral moment at her event. Whatever the hell that meant.Felix found him in the Bronze common room at six thirty, pacing back and forth."You look like you're about to throw up," Felix said as he sat down on one of the worn couches."I might," Carter admitted. "I have to go to this thing tonight. Raina's livestream."Felix's eyebrows went up. "Raina Volkov? The Raina Volko
XXX
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.
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Carter's phone wouldn't stop going off. He'd silenced it twice already but the notifications just kept coming, the vibrations making his bunk shake slightly every few seconds. Finally, at seven AM, he gave up trying to sleep and checked it.One hundred and forty-seven messages. Fifty-three missed calls. His social media mentions had exploded into the thousands. The kiss video had been shared, remixed, memed, and analyzed from every possible angle. Someone had even created a slow-motion version with dramatic music.Carter scrolled through the comments, his stomach sinking with each one.@senpaiSlayerXD: "Owen Grace is a legend."@uwuReaper88: "Vivienne wanted it, you could see it in her eyes."@gigaChadNoJutsu: "Derek's gonna beat his ass."@copeArcane420: "This is what desperation looks like."@bronzeGoblin: "Bronze class trash trying to stay relevant."@shipperShogun77: "I ship it. Owen and Vivienne forever."@toxicTsundere99: "He literally assaulted her on camera."@PlaybackMaestro:
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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
XXXIII
Professor Reeves was mid-sentence, explaining something about social capital metrics, when every screen in the classroom flickered and went dark. Students looked up from their notes. The projector shut off. Then the screens came back to life, displaying the Star Academy seal.Dean Morrison's face appeared on every monitor."Students of Star Academy," Dean Morrison said, her voice cutting through the sudden silence. "We have an important announcement regarding this semester's Inter-Academy Competition."The classroom went completely still. Carter felt his stomach drop. The Protocol immediately began logging data but offered no context."As many of you are aware, Star Academy has competed in the Inter-Academy Competition for the past twelve years," Morrison continued. Her expression was grave, controlled. "For ten of those years, we dominated. We were the standard by which other institutions measured themselves."She paused, letting that sink in."However, the past two competitions have
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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
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Carter woke at five thirty for his training session with Tyler. His body ached from yesterday's workout but the Protocol's mandatory training quest didn't care about pain. Miss a day and he'd lose access to all subroutines for thirty days. He couldn't afford that, especially not with The Crucible approaching.He dragged himself out of bed, pulled on workout clothes, and headed down to the Bronze gym. Tyler was already there, warming up with jump rope. Demo sat on a weight bench nearby, scrolling through his phone. They both looked up when Carter walked in."You're late," Tyler said, not stopping his jump rope rhythm.Carter checked his phone. Five thirty-two. "By two minutes.""Late is late," Tyler said. "Drop and give me twenty."Carter bit back a response and got down to do pushups. His arms shook by the fifteenth rep. Tyler watched without sympathy."Pathetic," Demo commented from his bench. "How are you going to survive The Crucible when you can't even do twenty pushups?"Carter f
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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
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The second team meeting was scheduled for Tuesday evening. But before that, Carter had to survive a full day of classes where everyone knew about Team Phoenix's disaster meeting.In Ascension Theory, Professor Kane called on Carter three times. Each time with questions designed to humiliate him in front of the class."Mr. Grace, explain the strategic value of sacrifice in competitive scenarios."Carter stood. "Sacrificing weaker team members can preserve stronger ones. But it also destroys team morale and creates distrust.""Incorrect. The strategic value of sacrifice is absolute. Weak members are liabilities. Eliminating them early improves overall team performance. Sit down."Carter sat. Around him, students whispered and laughed.Raina was in that class. She didn't laugh, but she didn't defend him either.After class, Carter tried to catch up with her in the hallway."Raina, wait."She stopped but didn't turn around. "What do you want?""I want to talk about the team. Abo