The Awakening Plaza was louder than Kobby expected.
Thousands of voices blended together—excitement, fear, arrogance, desperation. Above them all loomed the Class Gate, an enormous obsidian arch carved with symbols no modern scholar could fully translate. Its surface rippled like black water, reflecting not faces, but possibilities.
Kobby stood near the back of the line.
He didn't talk. He didn't laugh.
His fingers were wrapped tightly around the old iron necklace beneath his uniform. It was scratched, ugly, and worthless to anyone else—but to him, it was everything his parents had left behind before disappearing into a gate five years ago.
"Relax," a voice said mockingly from behind him. "If you awaken something useless, you can always clean gates instead."
Kobby didn't turn.
He already knew who it was.
Leon Vire, top combat student, heir to a famous S-Rank hunter family. Broad shoulders, confident smile, and eyes that looked down on everyone else.
Leon leaned closer. "Let me guess. You're hoping for a Tracker class so you can play detective with your dead parents?"
That got a reaction.
Kobby's jaw tightened—but he said nothing.
"Next—Leon Vire!"
The gate flared brilliantly.
> Class: Blade Emperor
Rank: A
The plaza exploded in cheers.
Leon turned, smirking as he walked past Kobby. "Try not to embarrass yourself."
Then—
"Kobby Rell."
The cheers faded.
Kobby stepped forward, heart pounding as the obsidian surface rippled beneath his hand.
The gate hesitated.
A dull, unstable gray glow seeped out.
> Class: Adaptation
Rank: F
Silence.
Then ridicule.
"F-Rank?" "Adaptation isn't even a real class." "Why is he still standing there?"
Kobby felt every word like a blade.
As guards began moving toward him, the world froze for just a moment.
A system message appeared—for his eyes alone.
> Warning: Class Information Sealed
Survival Required
Evolution Locked
The gate pulsed once.
Not mockingly.
Almost… knowingly.