The silence that followed Ye Shenyue's departure was not the respectful hush of awe that had greeted her awakening. It was the hollow, dismissive silence reserved for the leftovers of a feast. To the three thousand students and the dignitaries on the dais, the "main event" had concluded. The A-Rank Frost Sovereign and the S-Rank Solar Knight had exited the stage, leaving behind the dregs—the orphans, the low-performers, and the "nobodies" who were expected to round out the F-Rank statistics.
I walked down the center aisle, my boots clicking rhythmically against the polished stone. The sound was lonely, amplified by the vastness of the Grand Hall. I could feel the gazes of the remaining students—heavy with boredom, some with a lingering, nasty traces of the mockery Shenyue had ignited.
I didn't look at them. I didn't look at the doors where the crimson hem of a silk dress had just vanished. My world had narrowed to a single point: the massive, translucent pillar of the Awakening Monolith.
As I ascended the steps to the dais, I felt the "Nature of All" system's ambient pressure. It was like walking into a thick, invisible tide. For others, this pressure was a test of endurance. For me, it felt like home. The obsidian ember in my chest, the dark thing that had followed me back from the void of my own death, began to spin. It wasn't resisting the Aether; it was pulling it in, like a gravitational singularity.
The proctor, a mid-level bureaucrat with a face like crumpled parchment, didn't even look at my file. "Student 0722, Ning Feng. Place your hand on the sensor. Be quick, we have five hundred more to process before the evening briefing."
I reached out.
My fingers were inches from the crystal surface when I felt it—a sudden, sharp resonance. The Monolith wasn't just a machine; it was a conduit connected to the core of the planet's Aether. As my skin made contact, the "Nature of All" didn't just scan me. It shivered.
The moment of contact felt like a lightning strike delivered in slow motion.
Usually, the Monolith would glow blue, then shift to the color of the student's rank. But when my hand touched the cold, jagged surface, the crystal went dark. Not a dull dark, but an Absolute Void. It was as if the pillar had become a hole in reality.
A low-frequency hum began to vibrate through the floorboards, a sound so deep it was felt in the marrow rather than heard by the ear. On the dais, Commander Wei leaned forward, his tactical exoskeleton whirring as it detected a massive surge in local Aetheric density.
'Synchronization initiated,' a voice whispered in the back of my mind—not the system's mechanical drone, but the resonance from the void.
The Monolith suddenly erupted. It didn't flash with light; it pulsed with a rhythmic, obsidian radiance that swallowed the shadows of the hall. The dark light reached the ceiling, forming a swirling nebula of purple and black energy that mimicked the great portal hanging over Jianghai City.
The proctor fell backward, his chair clattering to the floor. "What... what is this? The sensors are peaking! This isn't a standard Aetheric signature!"
Then, the "Nature of All" system bypassed the Monolith's physical speakers and projected its announcement directly into the air, the golden characters burning themselves into the retinas of everyone present.
[AWAKENING COMPLETE]
[SOUL ORIGIN: VOID-TOUCHED]
[RANK: S]
[CLASS: NIGHT OBSERVER (Support Type)]
The hall, which had been buzzing with the low chatter of bored teenagers, became a vacuum. The silence was absolute, broken only by the crackle of the dark energy dissipating back into the crystal.
An S-Rank.
In the history of the Jianghai Awakening Ceremonies, S-Ranks appeared perhaps once every five years. They were the apex predators of the human race. But an S-Rank Support? That was an anomaly that defied the standard doctrines of the military.
The Revelation of the Night Observer
As the dark light faded, a translucent screen manifested in front of my eyes. It was visible only to me—the divine ledger of my new existence.
[NATURE OF ALL – INDIVIDUAL STATUS PANEL]
* Name: Ning Feng
* Level: 1 (Exp: 0.00%)
* Class: Night Observer [S-Rank] (Unique Support Class)
* Title: The One Who Returned
* Rank: S
[ATTRIBUTES]
* Strength: 12 (Average Human: 10)
* Agility: 15 (Average Human: 10)
* Vitality: 14 (Average Human: 10)
* Intelligence: 45 (Average Human: 10) {S-Rank Bonus: +35 INT}
* Aether Capacity: 1,200/1,200 (Void Saturated)
[CLASS PASSIVES]
* Eye of the Abyss (Passive): You see the hidden truths of the world. All hidden traps, invisible enemies, and weak points of monsters/humanoid targets are highlighted in your vision.
* Omniscient Mapping: You possess a real-time, 3D mental map of your surroundings (Radius: 500m per level). This map ignores physical barriers and "Fog of War."
* Veil of the Void: In low-light conditions, your presence is completely erased from sensory detection (Thermal, Aetheric, and Physical).
[ACTIVE SKILLS]
* Skill 1: [Target Designation - Mark of the Night]: Tag a target. For the next 10 minutes, all allies gain +50% Accuracy and +30% Critical Damage against the marked target. The target's defense is reduced by 25%.
* Skill 2: [Synchronized Vision]: You can share your 'Eye of the Abyss' vision with up to 5 party members, granting them your perception of weak points and hidden threats.
[SYSTEM NOTE]: A Support who watches from the darkness. You do not lead the charge; you dictate the outcome of the war before the first blow is struck.
---
The reaction was delayed by exactly three seconds. Then, the Grand Hall exploded into a cacophony that nearly shook the banners from the walls.
"S-RANK! HE AWAKENED AN S-RANK!"
"Ning Feng? That orphan? The one who works as the floor-cleaner?"
"Wait, 'Night Observer'? It's a Support class! But it's S-Rank! Do you realize what that means? An S-Rank Observer is worth ten S-Rank Warriors in a high-level dungeon! They are the ultimate strategists!"
The students who had been mocking me moments ago were now pushing forward, their faces twisted with a mix of shock, jealousy, and a sudden, disgusting desire to curry favor.
Zhao Kai, the B-Rank 'Thunder-Caller' who had offered to let me clean his stables, stood frozen in the middle of the aisle. His face was a sickly shade of grey. His B-Rank status, which had made him feel like a god minutes ago, was now utterly eclipsed. In the hierarchy of the Awakened, an S-Rank was a king; a B-Rank was merely a knight.
"This has to be a mistake!" someone yelled from the back. "Look at him! He's malnourished! How can an orphan have that much Aetheric potential?"
But the system did not make mistakes. The golden characters were still hovering in the air, a testament to my new reality.
Heavy footsteps thudded across the dais. The hum of the tactical exoskeleton grew louder until it was right behind me.
I turned slowly.
Commander Wei was no longer standing behind his podium. He was standing right in front of me, his massive frame casting a shadow over my smaller, gaunt form. Up close, I could see the scars of a hundred battles on his face, and the sharp, calculating light in his eyes.
He looked at the display, then he looked at me. His expression, which had been a mask of professional boredom for hours, broke into a wide, predatory grin.
"S-Rank Night Observer," Wei rumbled, his voice echoing through the silent-once-more hall. He didn't offer a polite handshake. He reached out and gripped my shoulder with a hand that felt like an iron vise.
It wasn't an aggressive gesture; it was a claim. "In twenty years of service, I have seen exactly three S-Rank awakenings in this sector. Two were Combatants. One was a Healer. But an Observer... a 'Night Observer'..."
He turned to the proctor, who was still scrambling to his feet. "Notify the Ministry of Defense immediately. Lock down this student's records. He is no longer a 'Commoner.' Under the Emergency Awakening Act, Ning Feng is now a Grade-1 National Strategic Asset."
The Commander then turned back to me, his grip tightening slightly. "Congratulations, Ning Feng. You've just become the most sought-after man in Jianghai City. Every guild from the Heaven's Reach to the Crimson Cross will be at your door by nightfall. They will offer you gold, women, and palaces."
He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone that only I could hear. "But remember who was here when the light hit the stone. The military has a place for a man with eyes like yours. We don't just give you a decent meal, son. We give you the power to see the world for what it really is: a battlefield where only the smartest survive."
I looked into the Commander's eyes, and for the first time, I didn't see an authority figure to be feared. I saw an opportunity to be exploited.
"Thank you, Commander," I said, my voice steady, betraying none of the cold, dark satisfaction swirling in my gut. "I look forward to seeing what the world looks like through the Battlefield."
---
Outside the hall, I knew the silver sports car was likely already miles away, heading toward some luxury restaurant where Li Wei and Ye Shenyue were celebrating her "ascension" to A-Rank.
Shenyue would be sipping expensive wine, her mind filled with visions of her future as an 'Ice Mage.' She had walked away thinking she had left me in the dirt, a "dead end" in a world of moving targets. She had mocked my poverty, my lack of background, and my supposed worthlessness.
She didn't know.
She didn't know that the "Support" she had discarded was now the very thing her "S-Rank boyfriend" would need to survive in a high-tier raid. She didn't know that while she is an A-Rank 'Treasure,' I am a S-Rank 'Sovereign.'
As the Commander led me toward a private exit—guarded now by soldiers who stood at attention as I passed—I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a darkened window.
My eyes were no longer just brown. Deep within the iris, a faint, obsidian ring pulsed with a rhythmic, dark light.
'You were right about one thing, Shenyue,' I thought, the dark smile from my room returning with a vengeance. 'We are worlds apart now.'
In the previous life, she was the one who left me to die in the rain. In this life, I would be the one watching from the shadows as her world turned to ice—and then shattered.