Librarian of the Void

8: First Practical Lesson

The training hall had been built to make students feel weak.

Leo decided that was the only explanation for the enormous iron doors, the dark walls, and the twenty combat platforms arranged beneath a ceiling full of observation crystals. Every platform had a different testing device. Some measured strength. Others measured speed, mana output, balance, or reaction time.

At the centre of the room, a large display listed the order of assessment.

Leo was number forty-three.

That was almost comforting. He had time to watch other people embarrass themselves first.

Hannah went early.

Her assessment was not subtle. She stepped onto the strength platform, activated Iron Vanguard, and punched a metal pillar hard enough to make the measuring crystal flash orange.

[Strength output: Above recommended first-year standard.]

The students watching from the edge of the hall cheered.

Hannah looked at the result and nodded like the pillar had finally done its job.

Leo clapped politely.

"You are not jealous?" Claire asked.

"I am deeply jealous. I have always wanted to punch architecture."

Claire’s class was tested next. She created a translucent barrier around herself and another student. The barrier absorbed three simulated attacks before breaking. Her output was average, but her control was excellent.

[Defensive efficiency: High.]

Claire stepped off the platform looking pleased.

Leo was happy for her. He was also thinking about how his own test might involve being asked to identify the correct shelf while something tried to kill him.

The students with flashy classes performed well. Flame attacks scorched targets. A spear user shattered a stone block. One student summoned a small wolf made of blue light and spent half the test trying to keep it from biting the instructor.

Owen’s assessment was quiet.

He stood on a platform covered in moving symbols. The symbols changed every second, and he answered each one before the display finished shifting. His score climbed steadily.

[Analytical response: Exceptional.]

[Combat prediction: High.]

[Class value: A]

Owen stepped off the platform without celebrating.

Leo did not like how competent he seemed. Competent people made it harder to hide.

Finally, a bell rang.

"Leo," called the instructor.

Leo walked toward the empty platform.

The instructor was a tall man named Martin. He had a scar across his chin and the exhausted look of someone who had watched too many teenagers activate fire inside enclosed rooms.

"Place your hand on the assessment crystal."

Leo did.

The crystal remained grey.

A status window appeared above the platform.

[Class function scan initiated.]

[Combat function: None detected.]

[Support function: None detected.]

[Information function: Partial.]

[Additional function: Locked.]

A few students started laughing.

Martin looked at the window and frowned. "Try again."

Leo pressed harder.

The crystal stayed grey.

"It does not respond to pressure," Martin said.

"We have that in common."

The instructor did not react. He pointed toward the next station.

"Strength test."

Leo stood before the metal pillar.

The instructor adjusted the crystal beside the station. "Use your class if it has an activation function."

Leo considered explaining that his class had only shown him locked doors, incomplete records, and a warning about being unprepared. He decided that would sound less impressive than silence.

"I will use my fists," he said.

"That is acceptable."

Leo punched it.

The pillar did not move.

[Strength output: Standard unawakened range.]

Somebody behind him snorted.

"Agility test."

Leo ran across the marked floor. He was not slow, but the other awakened students had already made normal human movement look embarrassing. His time was ordinary.

"Vitality test."

A padded hammer struck his chest.

Leo fell backward and stared at the ceiling.

[Impact tolerance: Standard unawakened range.]

He sat up.

"Can I take that one again? I think I was emotionally unprepared."

Martin pointed toward the next station.

"Reaction test."

Five lights appeared around Leo. They flashed in random order. He hit the first three correctly, missed the fourth, and hit the fifth half a second after it vanished.

[Reaction score: Average.]

Then came the final station.

A grid of symbols filled a glass display. Each symbol represented a known skill category, a monster type, or a dungeon hazard. Students were expected to identify them quickly.

Leo looked at the grid.

At first, the symbols seemed random.

Then he noticed that four of them repeated at equal intervals. Two were slightly misaligned. One was not a symbol at all but a damaged copy placed over another mark.

He pointed to the corner.

"That one is a false entry. It is hiding the lower part of this symbol. The third row repeats the same pattern, but the sequence is missing a fourth marker."

The hall became quiet.

Martin leaned closer to the display.

"How did you identify that?"

Leo shrugged. "The spacing was bad."

He did not mention that the wrong symbol had felt similar to the grey book. A thin vibration had appeared behind his eyes when he looked at it, like the beginning of a System notification.

Owen stepped closer to the platform.

"The display is not supposed to contain damaged data," he said.

"Maybe it got bored."

Martin reset the display. The symbols changed.

This time, Leo slowed down instead of answering immediately. The symbols were not just pictures. Each one contained tiny breaks where the System had failed to render the original data. The damage formed a repeating pattern across the display, almost like somebody had copied an old record and then tried to paint over the same section.

He pointed out two false categories and one hazard label that had been replaced with an empty space. The longer he looked, the stronger the pressure behind his eyes became. His fingers tingled, and the grey book hidden in the staff locker seemed to answer from somewhere far away.

Then the display changed.

Leo found three more irregularities before the instructor stopped the test.

[Pattern recognition: Exceptional.]

[Information processing: Partial activation.]

[Unregistered skill interaction detected.]

The final line appeared for less than a second.

Leo saw it.

Owen saw it too.

The display shut down.

Martin turned toward the other instructors and spoke quietly. Leo could not hear the words, but their faces changed. He suddenly wished he had pretended not to notice the symbols.

A score appeared on the main board.

[Physical output: Low.]

[Combat potential: Undetermined.]

[Pattern recognition: High.]

[Overall evaluation: Pending class clarification.]

The students began talking again.

Leo stepped off the platform. Hannah was waiting near the wall.

"You knew the display was wrong," she said.

"I guessed."

"You guessed four times."

"I am gifted at guessing."

She looked at the status board, then back at him. "Your class is not normal."

"Neither is the cafeteria soup. We have covered this."

Hannah did not smile.

Owen walked past them, close enough for Leo to hear him speak.

"Unrecognised does not mean harmless."

Leo turned.

Owen had stopped near the exit. His face remained calm, but his eyes were fixed on Leo’s status window.

The System opened another message.

[Incomplete record interaction detected.]

[Source: Unknown skill remnant.]

[Progress: 0.00%]

Leo closed the window quickly.

That was when he noticed something tucked inside his assessment folder.

A torn piece of paper.

It had not been there when he entered the hall.

Leo remembered the folder being empty when Martin handed it to him. He checked the edge of the paper without touching the writing. No staple marks. No ink smear. No sign that it had been slipped between the pages by accident.

The sheet had appeared after the damaged symbols reacted to his class.

That was not a coincidence.

Leo folded the folder closed and carried it beneath his arm. The training hall suddenly felt too bright, and every observation crystal looked like an eye.