The whole of Classroom 5 stood at the base of a ragged mountain, clouds rolling low and thick over jagged cliffs as if the sky itself was warning them not to enter.
The F+ Rift shimmered faintly in the center of the canyon, its edges crawling with static. And surrounding it—giant beetles the size of motorcycles clung to the rocks and ground, their chitinous shells gleaming black-blue in the morning sun.
[Riftborn Identified – "Dustback Beetloid"]
Threat Tier: F-
Kai adjusted the strap of his pack and tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade. He wasn't trembling, not because he wasn't nervous, but because he'd already burned through his nerves before sunrise.
And as the wind howled through the mountain pass, four people broke from the pack and walked toward him.
"Hey, Kai. Be careful. Don't die, alright?" Reinhardt clapped him on the shoulder like an older brother who knew death too well. He was Rank 4, calm, composed, the kind of guy who never showed fear even when standing in front of a monster.
"I won't," Kai said, because he couldn't afford to.
"Hey, uh… do you remember me?" The second guy scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm the guy you helped train yesterday. I'm Emric."
Kai gave him a nod. "Yeah. You did great for someone scared of his own punch."
Emric laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
Then someone else stepped forward. His eyes were sharp, his uniform ironed, and his tone came with the kind of confidence only nobles carried. "So you're the new guy. You're a noble too, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Kai answered, not bothering to elaborate.
"I'm Reno Varnier," the guy said, folding his arms. "Third son of House Varnier, noble line of Vienna. But, uh… don't expect me to act stuck-up, alright? I just want to see what another fallen noble can do."
And then—someone burst into their little conversation like a cannonball.
"HELLOOO, WEAKLING!" a loud voice rang out as a girl jumped in front of him, throwing her arms wide like she'd just been announced on stage. "I'm Freya Li Tanya, the strongest in Classroom 5! HAHAHAHA!"
She was short, had blazing orange hair tied in a wild bun, and wore gauntlets that looked heavier than her entire frame.
Kai blinked. "You're Rank 1?"
"No, I'm Rank 2," she grinned, flexing. "BUT THE RANK 1 GUY IS BORING, SO I COUNT AS THE MAIN CHARACTER HERE!"
"You're not," Reno muttered.
"SHUT UP, BACKGROUND CHARACTER," Freya fired back without missing a beat.
Kai just stood there as the four of them bickered, realizing this classroom wasn't filled with nobodies—it was just full of underdogs who hadn't gotten their chance to climb yet.
And now, they were walking into a Rift where they'd either rise—or never come back.
Classroom 5 charged in together, the ground trembling under their feet as the giant beetles roared and lunged forward.
Kai moved with sharp precision, Sekh flickering around his arm like a living blade, slicing through a beetle's thick shell before it could swing its massive pincers.
Freya was everywhere at once, her parasite forming heavy gauntlets that smashed through armored legs and sent monsters flying.
She laughed loud, roaring with every hit as if this fight was the best game she'd played all year. "WEAKLINGS!"
Reno stayed back, his parasite a slick shadow creeping along his arms, letting him melt into darkness to strike unseen.
He popped out from the shadows, stabbing beetle eyes and making them flinch and stumble.
Emric flapped his arms, then suddenly dozens of pigeons burst out from his back and swirled into the air, screeching and dive-bombing the beetles' faces.
His parasite was a swarm-controller, able to turn into birds or command them at will.
Those pigeons pecked and clawed, distracting the beetles while the others struck.
Reinhardt stood firm, a living shield wrapped around him as his parasite morphed into thick metal plates covering his arms and chest.
He blocked giant pincers with brute strength, then pushed the beetle back to let Kai land the killing blow.
The whole Classroom 5 fought as one, coordinated and fast, with screams, clashes, and the heavy thud of bodies hitting the rocky ground. No one held back, not even the weakest, because survival wasn't just about power—it was about teamwork.
Kai ducked under a snapping claw, Sekh slashing a beetle's wing mid-air, then twisted and ran toward the next target.
He could see the fight all around him: people controlling parasite beasts, others shifting into monstrous forms or summoning blades made of gene energy.
The rift pulsed with energy, but Classroom 5 pushed forward until every giant beetle lay broken or fleeing.
Kai wiped sweat from his brow. Not bad for the lowest class.
Emric landed beside him, pigeons fluttering off his arms like scattered leaves. "We did it… together."
Kai nodded and glanced back. This was just the beginning, and if they kept fighting like this, maybe Classroom 5 could rise after all.
Kai walked past the steaming beetle corpses and crouched near the ones he personally killed.
He placed his hand on each of them, and without drawing attention, began devouring their gene fragments.
One by one, the genetic energy flowed into Sekh, and he felt the surge crawling beneath his skin like static snapping through his nerves.
[F- Gene Fragment Acquired – "Chitin Flake Sheath"]
[F- Gene Fragment Acquired – "Mandibular Twitch Reflex"]
[F- Gene Fragment Acquired – "Olfactory Pit Node"]
[F+ Gene Fragment Acquired – "Vibrashell Pulse Gland"]
[F+ Gene Fragment Acquired – "Burrowspike Ankles"]
[E- Gene Fragment Acquired – "Ironhorn Ridgeplate"]
Still no rare! He sat down near a boulder once it was done and sighed, letting the exhaustion settle in.
"How strong are we now?" he asked quietly.
Sekh's voice echoed inside his mind, smooth and calm. "You're stronger than before, that's for sure. But if you want numbers, you're gonna have to wait. The academy restricts Gene Scanners for students at your level, remember? No outside scans allowed unless you're ranked or permitted by instructors."
"Tch... figures."
"Still... do you want honesty, Kai? Out of all the hosts I've had over the centuries, you're the slowest to evolve."
Kai frowned. "You're really building my confidence here."
"But also the most promising," Sekh added, sharper now. "You're slow because you're stubborn, and cautious, and careful. And that might just be what gets you further than all of them. I'm actually excited, you know. I haven't felt this in centuries."
Before Kai could respond, Reno and Freya ran up to him from the other side of the battlefield. Reno still looked half-asleep, but there was a twitch in his eye that said something was wrong.
"There's another wave coming," Reno said. "Single creature this time."
"It's a giant beetle," Freya added, already cracking her knuckles. "It's bigger than the rest."
Then out of nowhere, Emric appeared—literally. His body morphed into shape from a flock of pigeons that landed beside Kai, feathers fading into clothes. The kid rubbed the back of his neck and looked down.
"Uhm… also… you should know…" Emric mumbled. "The Rank 1 of our class... he could beat that thing alone. I mean—yeah—it's an F+, so it's not like, impossible. But still... he's strong."
"Stronger than Freya?" Kak raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, yeah," Freya nodded. "Probably stronger than all of us."
Kai didn't say anything. He just stared toward the rift's edge, where the air started to shimmer again.
The second wave was coming. And this time, they'd see what kind of people Classroom 5 really had.
The ground rumbled before the second wave even started.
Everyone in Classroom 5 turned toward the rift, and they saw it—no, felt it—before it came. A sickly green ripple cracked open the sky above the mountain, and from it burst a screech that tore through the bones of every unprepared rookie in the team.
The giant beetle was massive, armored like a living tank.
Its six legs cracked stone just by walking, and each movement was backed with the weight of a collapsing car.
Its carapace shimmered with purple veins, and green mucus dripped from its jagged mandibles.
[Riftborn Identified – "Ridgejaw Platedon"]
Threat Tier: E-
It's gigantic!
"Positions!" Freya yelled, but her voice cracked halfway.
The entire class rushed to engage. Kai stayed back, watching.
Reinhardt moved first, his parasite forming a steel-like exoskeleton across his arms. He punched toward the beetle's eye, but it didn't even blink—it just swatted him midair like he was a fly.
Freya leapt in with a war cry, her parasite thickening her muscles into coiled springs.
She crashed into the beetle's shoulder, managed to crack a bit of its shell—then the beast spun, slammed her to the dirt with its spiked back leg, and kept walking like nothing happened.
Reno fired a bolt of blue energy from his parasite's core—missed.
A girl in the rear tried to freeze it using frost spores. But it didn't work.
Panic began to set in.
Emric flung his pigeon clones at the beetle's eyes, using their flurry as a distraction. But even those were crushed midair by a twitch of its antennae.
It hadn't even broken into a run yet. It was just walking forward, step by deliberate step, and it was still beating them.
And then it rampaged.
The beetle let out another scream, reared back on four legs, and slammed its entire body forward. The ground exploded. Students were thrown left and right.
In a few seconds, nearly everyone was down or scrambling to crawl away.
I have no choice... Kai gritted his teeth. He stepped forward.
But then everything went silent.
Footsteps echoed from the trees behind them. Calm, precise, steady. The air chilled, not from temperature—but from pressure.
The beetle turned to the sound.
From the brush emerged a boy about their age. White jacket, hands in his pockets. His hair was dark gray, and his eyes were half-lidded like he hadn't slept in years. On his chest, a black metal badge: 5.
"Move," the boy said, barely above a whisper.
Everyone stared.
He stepped past Kai. The beetle screeched and charged.
He didn't even flinch.
When the beetle slammed forward, the boy vanished. Just disappeared. A blink later, he was already under it.
He tapped the beetle's front leg with his palm—and a spike of black crystal exploded out of the ground beneath it, piercing the joint.
The beetle stumbled.
The boy raised a hand, and a hundred thin crystalline needles shaped like feathers hovered around him.
"Don't move," he said, and flicked his finger.
The feathers spun like drills, carved through the beetle's underbelly, and severed every tendon in its legs in perfect rhythm. It collapsed, screaming.
He didn't even stop walking.
The beetle rolled over, trying to crush him. But he just vanished again. Reappeared standing on its head. Calm.
Then he raised two fingers, and the crystal feathers swarmed down like a guillotine storm, drilling into the beetle's skull. It let out one last screech, then dropped.
He's strong... The boy stepped off its twitching corpse.
"Training quota complete," he said.
Then he turned to the class, most of whom were still on the ground in shock.
"Next time, try not to all die before the main dish shows up," he muttered, then yawned. "Later."
And just like that, the rank 1 of Classroom 5 walked away, hands still in his pockets.