The bell rang at exactly noon.Across the enormous Awakening Hall, thousands of students fell silent.Kael Rowan stood among them, his hands buried deep inside the pockets of his black uniform jacket.Above the circular stage, a massive crystal suspended from the ceiling began to glow.Blue.Then silver.Then a blinding white.A murmur swept through the crowd.“It’s starting.”“My heart is going to explode.”“Do you think I’ll get a combat class?”“My brother got a Legendary System last year.”“Lucky bastard.”Kael heard every word.He tried not to let any of it reach him.Today was supposed to be the most important day of his life.Every eighteen-year-old in Elarion eventually stood beneath the Awakening Crystal. The System would then appear, determine their initial potential, and reveal the path they would follow.Some received swords.Some received magic.Some awakened abilities nobody had ever seen before.And once the System appeared, their lives changed forever.Kael had spent t

The training facility was nearly empty by sunset.Kael sat on the wooden bench beside the sparring ring, his notebook balanced against one knee.Across from him, two newly awakened students were fighting.One carried a sword.The other had awakened a reinforcement-type System.Their movements were fast, but not unpredictable.Kael watched the swordsman raise his weapon.The boy's right shoulder lifted.His front foot shifted.Kael wrote it down.Sword strike: shoulder rises before attack.The swordsman swung.His opponent blocked.Steel struck steel.The reinforcement user stepped backward and activated his skill.A faint golden glow covered his arms.[Skill: Physical Reinforcement.]The boy's muscles tightened.He rushed forward.Kael's pencil stopped.There.The boy always activated his skill before charging.Always.Kael flipped to another page.Activation habit: skill before attack.The fight continued.The swordsman eventually won.The other student dropped to one knee, breathing

The next morning, Kael woke before his alarm.For several seconds, he stared at the ceiling.His entire body hurt.His ribs ached whenever he breathed too deeply. His left shoulder felt stiff, and there was a dull throb behind his right eye where Darius's fist had caught him yesterday.Kael slowly sat up.“Damn.”He pressed a hand against his ribs.Pain answered immediately.It would have been easy to stay in bed.Nobody would blame him. He had spent weeks training, only to discover that the distance between him and a real System user was far larger than he had imagined.Darius hadn't even needed his strongest abilities.Kael had barely survived a few minutes.But instead of discouraging him, the memory made something inside him restless.He reached for the notebook beside his bed.The last page contained yesterday's observations.Darius Black.Strength Gap: Extreme.Objective: Close the gap.Kael stared at the words.Then he turned the page.Underneath, he wrote:What did I do wrong?

By the following morning, Kael had become a problem.Not a powerful one.Not yet.But a problem people had started talking about.The training facility was louder than usual when he walked in.Conversations stopped for a second.Then resumed in whispers.“That’s him.”“The Systemless guy.”“He beat Marek yesterday.”“Marek used his enhancement skill.”“I heard Kael predicted the activation.”“That doesn't make sense.”Kael kept walking.He had learned something about attention.It was easy to ignore when nobody cared about you.It became much harder when everyone suddenly did.He dropped his bag beside the training mat and opened his notebook.Marek's fight was already yesterday's problem.Today, he needed a new one.He started stretching.A voice came from behind him.“So.”Kael looked over.Marek stood there, holding two bottles of water.“You're famous now.”Kael took one.“I'd rather not be.”Marek laughed.“Too late.”Kael opened the bottle.“What are people saying?”“That you're