Harry watched the tunnel where Gareth's group had disappeared, counting to sixty in his head to ensure they were truly gone. When no sounds of return echoed through the cavern, he finally allowed himself to relax slightly."We've accomplished the main objective," Harry said, turning to Yona and Ben. "Resources, materials, combat experience. We could leave now with more than we hoped for.""But?" Yona prompted, recognizing the hesitation in his voice."But there's something deeper in the cavern. Rose can sense it—some kind of concentrated energy signature." Harry glanced at Rose, who nodded confirmation. "It might be nothing. Might be a powerful monster we should avoid. Or it might be something significant."Ben wiped sweat from his forehead, the heat still oppressive despite hours of acclimatization. "How deep are we talking?""The cavern's deepest accessible point," Harry admitted. "Based on what I'm sensing through Rose, it's at least another kilometer down. Potentially Level 25 or

Ben had moved to the Evolution Stones, examining them with wonder that bordered on disbelief. "These alone are worth over a million denars on the legal market. On the black market where supply is limited, probably double that. We just found a fortune."But Harry was focused on the Ancient Tome, drawn to it by instinct. He opened it carefully, the preserved leather yielding smoothly to reveal pristine pages despite being decades old.The first page contained a handwritten note in elegant script, each word carefully inscribed:To whomever finds this:If you are reading these words, it means Holy Mountain Academy has fallen further than we feared during our darkest moments. These supplies were gathered and hidden during the early days of the Great Demon Invasion, meant for emergency use if our defensive lines broke and we needed to establish fallback positions.But if you have found this cache, it means the battle is over—for better or worse. If the academy still stands, however weakly,

Rose closed her eyes and placed her small hands on the first stone. Immediately it began to glow with increasing intensity, hairline cracks spreading across its crystalline surface as stored energy flowed into her body like water breaking through a dam.Her form became translucent, light and shadow warring beneath her skin in patterns that hurt to watch. She reached for the second stone without opening her eyes, guided by instinct, and its silver-white energy joined the golden flow.Then the third stone, and suddenly all three shattered simultaneously.A pillar of energy erupted from Rose's body with the force of a volcanic eruption, punching through the Evolution Chamber's reinforced ceiling as if it were paper. The beam shot into the sky above Holy Mountain Academy, visible for miles in every direction—half brilliant gold like captured sunlight, half absolute darkness like a tear in reality itself.The two forces spiraled around each other in a cosmic double helix, neither dominatin

His Earth Bear roared in response, caught up in its master's enthusiasm.The energy phenomenon rippled outward, far beyond Holy Mountain's crumbling walls.In the city's Beast Master Monitoring Station—a facility maintained by the Federal Beast Management Bureau to track dangerous evolution events—alarms suddenly blared with urgent intensity.Technicians scrambled to their monitoring crystals, pulling up data that made their faces go pale."Silver Rank evolution detected," one technician announced, her voice climbing with confusion. "But the power signature is wrong. It's reading at levels that should belong to a Level 30 or higher beast, not a newly promoted Level 21."Her supervisor leaned over the scrying display, studying the energy graph with growing disbelief."Location?""Holy Mountain Academy," the technician replied, checking twice to confirm. "The failing school on the east mountain ridge.""Holy Mountain?" The supervisor frowned. "They haven't had a significant evolution in

Richard Stone stood frozen, his weathered hand gripping the edge of a dusty equipment table as Harry's words echoed through the Evolution Chamber. The old professor's mind raced through implications and consequences like a strategist planning a campaign where every move could mean victory or annihilation.If Harry won—if he actually defeated Elena Frost in public combat broadcast across the federation—Holy Mountain's reputation would skyrocket overnight. Applications from talented students would flood in, government funding might resume, donors who'd abandoned them decades ago might return with guilt-driven generosity.The academy could truly begin rebuilding instead of just surviving.But if Harry lost... Richard's stomach clenched at the thought. If Harry was defeated, especially if Elena's team exposed him as having used forbidden enhancement techniques or illegal materials during the fight, Holy Mountain would be destroyed completely.The mockery they faced now—the hashtags, the j