The SSS Talent That Wasn't Supposed to Exist

ONE SENTENCE

The smell of engine oil and dull dust stung Arka's nose as he sat in a secluded corner of the basement cafeteria. In front of him lay a sheet of note paper filled with rows of formulas and logic diagrams. His thin-framed glasses slid down the bridge of his nose as his fingers moved quickly, spinning a five-hundred-rupiah copper coin on the wooden table.

Clink. Clink. Clack.

The coin came to a stop, showing the number side.

"This coin will land on heads," Arka said in the most convincing tone he could muster. He spun the coin again.

Tails.

Arka tried again, this time raising his volume. Still tails. He then whispered the same sentence to himself in his mind, focusing all his concentration and the remaining mana in his chest. The coin spun, then fell—once again on tails. He had tried fourteen times on his own, and the results relied purely on the ordinary laws of probability.

Arka leaned his back against the chair's headrest, letting out a long breath. His gaze drifted toward a group of students busy chatting a few tables away from where he sat.

It's not my own voice, Arka thought to himself. This Talent doesn't react to my personal willpower.

He recalled the incident in front of Archive Room B. At that time, he hadn't magically turned the magnetic locking mechanism directly. What happened was: he spoke a narrative, Budi believed it without hesitation, and the instant Budi accepted the lie as truth... reality shifted.

Arka tapped his pen against the table, connecting the logical patterns that were beginning to form clearly in his head. Storyteller—a storyteller couldn't work miracles if he spoke in an empty room without an audience. A story only had power when there was someone else listening to it, believing it, and allowing their perception to be influenced.

It doesn't create phenomena out of nothing, Arka thought, his eyes shining sharply behind his glasses. It bends the boundaries of possibility. Forcing a specific scenario to become more real through collective belief.

The more people believed a narrative he threw out, the greater the manipulation of reality his Talent could execute.

However, Arka soon exhaled skeptically. His faint smile faded. The principle sounded breathtaking on paper, but its technical limitations were utterly baffling. In a real world filled with speed-of-sound Hunters and mages capable of flattening mountains with lightning, an ability that required "persuading others" was far too slow and prone to failure. If the opponent didn't believe—or if he fought alone against a monster inside a dimensional rift without an audience—this Talent was nothing more than useless psychological manipulation.

Arka folded his note paper, tucking it securely into his jacket pocket. He took a sip of his half-empty cold coffee. The limitations of an F-Class were real. He was still too weak.

BZZZZZZ! BZZZZZZ!

The high-frequency, piercing sound of a siren suddenly cut through the noisy atmosphere of the cafeteria. The main overhead lights flickered rapidly before turning into a dull, wildly spinning red hue.

Every student in the cafeteria froze. A chilling silence enveloped the room, punctuated only by the echoing sirens that vibrated the window glass.

[LEVEL 3 EMERGENCY WARNING] [UNDOCUMENTED DIMENSIONAL RIFT DETECTED IN CAMPUS III AREA] [ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY TO THE SHELTER BUNKER]

The automated voice from the campus loudspeakers stuttered, distorted by unnaturally surging electromagnetic waves.

"A dimensional rift? Inside the campus area?!" a student exclaimed, pushing his chair over as he stood up in panic.

"Impossible! The campus space-time protective perimeter is always active!"

The cafeteria instantly devolved into mass chaos. Hundreds of students jostled against one another, sprinting toward the main exit. The distinct smell of panic—cold sweat and hysteria—rapidly filled the air. Arka stood up as well, trying to remain calm while observing the concrete walls of the building, which were beginning to show fine cracks like a spiderweb.

BZZZZT!

The air in the center of the cafeteria suddenly split vertically. A thick black line ripped open in thin air, emanating a stench of sulfur and rotted blood so intense that several students gagged and coughed. From behind the forcibly ruptured dimensional rift, a dense gray aura exploded outward, sending anyone standing nearby flying.

CRACK!

The rift tore wide open. A giant, pitch-black metallic claw with a surface covered in sharp, pointed scales gripped the edge of the concrete floor, shattering the ceramic tiles into pieces.

From the shadows of the rift, a creature crawled out. It resembled a giant ancient insect three meters tall, possessing six pairs of wildly vibrating, glowing red eyes and double mandibles dripping with thick acid that emitted smoke upon touching the floor.

[Unknown Creature Detected] [Mana Resonance: Danger Level High]

Hysterical screams tore through the air as the creature roared loudly, sending a deafening sonic wave that froze anyone who heard it in absolute terror.

Amidst the panic and chaos of students running aimlessly, Arka stood rigid behind a concrete pillar. His sharp eyes stared straight at the red-eyed monster, while his hands clenched tightly inside his pockets.

His theoretical experiment had just concluded... and his field test was forced to begin this very second.