I Awakened The Most Powerful System

Chapter 10

Ten

Before going to bed, Rhys picked up his phone and immediately noticed the flood of missed calls and unread messages waiting for him. Every notification carried the same concern, the same question, all circling back to his sister’s disappearance.

He scrolled past them without opening a single one, deliberately leaving them unread.

His attention shifted to something else.

The channel he had created barely an hour earlier had already gained fifty subscribers. Five comments sat beneath his first vlog. For a brand new channel with no promotion, the growth was unusually fast.

It did not take long to understand why.

Violet’s disappearance was trending across social platforms, and the shared surname was driving curious viewers to his page. Whether they came out of concern or morbid interest did not matter. Traffic was traffic.

Three of the comments asked directly about Violet, probing for details and answers he did not have. The remaining two praised the vlog and expressed interest in following his journey.

Rhys locked his phone and set it aside, forcing himself to think clearly.

School ran from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon. His system routine, when added up, demanded eight to nine hours each day. There was no room for wasted time.

He needed a plan.

After carefully mapping out his schedule, he decided to split his workload. Half of the physical training would be completed before sleep. The reading assignments could be done during school hours. Filming would be tricky inside a school environment, but he could simply record himself later, recreating the reading sessions. Acting it out would take only a few minutes.

If everything went smoothly, he could finish the remaining workout and video editing between three and seven in the afternoon. That left a buffer window in case something went wrong and still allowed time for schoolwork.

It was a brutal schedule.

But Rhys had already committed himself to completing every single day of the ninety day challenge.

Without hesitation, he began his workout, pushing himself for another two hours until exhaustion finally dragged him to bed.

---

The next morning, Commodore High School buzzed with an energy Rhys felt the moment he stepped through the gates.

Students turned toward him immediately.

Whispers spread. Eyes followed.

Some faces held sympathy. Others showed thinly veiled excitement. A few even looked pleased, drawn to the drama of his situation rather than concerned for him.

Just as he had expected, people crowded him, asking questions about Violet.

Rhys did not engage.

Since he had awakened the previous day, protocol required him to report his status to the school immediately. Instead of attending homeroom, he headed straight to the principal’s office.

“Rhys, my boy,” the principal said gently when she saw him. “I am so sorry about your sister. Are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” Rhys replied calmly. “Thank you for asking, ma’am.”

His face betrayed nothing.

Some people wore their emotions openly, their lives written plainly across their expressions. Rhys had never been one of them.

Even as a child, he rarely showed what he truly felt to outsiders. After losing his parents, that restraint hardened into something colder. He learned to speak carefully, respond calmly, and reveal nothing.

One mistake is all it takes.

That was what his father had drilled into him repeatedly.

One careless tweet. One angry insult. One reckless fight. One moment of lost control.

Any of those could destroy a life, especially for people without power or privilege.

As a child, Rhys had not fully understood the weight of those words. As he grew older, and as he saw how cruel the world could be, he learned the lesson well.

Emotion was weakness.

Now, even as anger, fear, and grief churned violently beneath the surface, he maintained his composure, presenting the same steady version of himself to the world.

“How can I help you today?” Principal Caterina asked.

“I’m here to register as a Ascender,” Rhys said. “I turned eighteen on January first, and I awakened that day.”

Her eyes widened.

“The same day your sister was taken?” she asked slowly. “Just like Violet. Awakening alongside tragedy.”

She seemed to be searching for a pattern.

Rhys offered no comment on her speculation. He answered her questions politely as she completed the required paperwork.

Because he had no history of disciplinary issues, the process was swift. The principal issued his No Objection Certificate immediately. Had he been a problematic student, the school would have been required to send him for behavioral evaluations before approving his status.

The rule was relatively new, implemented after a rise in Ascenders turning to crime. The government had decided to screen early signs of instability before granting access to power.

None of that applied to Rhys.

With his registration complete, everything was in place.

As long as he graduated, he would receive his license and earn the right to enter the Tower.

And with that, the next phase of his life began.