The atmosphere inside Iron Gate Academy had begun to change around Ryan. It started with whispers and stares whenever he walked back into the hall.Three days ago, most Tier Two students barely knew his name, and the few who did only recognized him as the Tier Three student who disrespected them by training with them. Some mocked him openly while others dismissed him entirely, convinced he would eventually disappear like countless weak students before him.But now, Ryan no longer felt like prey.That realization alone changed the way he carried himself.“Again!”Instructor Keal’s voice thundered across the hall.Ryan moved instantly, blocking a strike from another student before sweeping his leg out cleanly beneath him. The boy crashed onto the mat with a grunt while the surrounding students winced.Odessa’s training had changed him.Not physically alone but mentally.Keal studied him before speaking again. “You disappeared from training this week,” he muttered. “And somehow your comb

Heavy silence suffocated the air, and Mr. Wilson stared at him blankly as if he had muttered something he couldn't comprehend. “Excuse me?” “The watch is worth sixty million,” Ryan repeated. The instructor slowly sat back down before raising his head to stare at Ryan again. “You’re telling me that you brought a sixty-million-dollar watch into a student dormitory?” Ryan looked away as several thoughts roamed through his mind. “It wasn’t supposed to stay there.” Mr. Wilson rubbed both hands across his face. “Ryan—” “You don’t understand,” he interrupted. “No,” Mr. Wilson interrupted. “I definitely don’t.” Ryan’s frustration rose again. “I need it back, and you think I don’t understand that, and you’re treating it like jewelry!” “Because it is $60,000,000 in jewelry!” Ryan nearly snapped. “It’s more than that.” Mr. Wilson narrowed his eyes carefully, now his curiosity making his entire features. “What exactly are you not telling me?” Ryan stayed silent because he couldn’t expl

The sound of hurried footsteps roams through the long hospital corridor, enough to rattle the silence that had settled over the private wing during the early hours of the morning.Doors cracked open one after another as curious nurses and exhausted patients peeked out, searching for the source of the commotion. Inside one of the private rooms, the pale morning sunlight forced its way through the half-drawn curtains, pouring over the white sheets and sterile walls with an almost painful brightness.Marcus let out a groaned as his head felt unbearably heavy, as though someone had forced molten iron into his skull while he slept. The space between his brows tightened the moment the sunlight struck his eyes. He instinctively tried to turn away from it, but even that simple movement sent a sharp ache through his shoulders and ribs.A low beep echoed beside him, and Marcus slowly forced his eyes open.At first, the room appeared distorted and blurry, and the white ceiling above him spun be

Conversations nearby slowly faded as curious gazes shifted toward the confrontation forming near the entrance.Adam stared at Ryan with his forehead knitted so hard that even the students standing feet away could already predict trouble, and not even the music drifting through the grand hall did anything to soften the tension between them. Ryan could see it in Adam's eyes. He was watching him. Unlike the lower-ranked students who usually lowered their heads whenever he appeared, he remained still with no attempt to apologize for existing in the same space as him.Adam, who had spent years inside Iron Gate Academy building a reputation strong enough to make weaker students avoid eye contact due to fear, saw a tier three student standing before him with none of their usual experience, and that only irritated him more.“Ryan, you came!” a sudden cheerful voice interrupted before Adam could make any move. Both boys turned at the same time toward Ruby, who walked gracefully through the c