The first week at the Exalted Academy of Valerius was not a tale of glory, but one of grinding monotony and stinging isolation. For Leon Lancaster, every day followed a rhythmic, brutal pattern. He was a ghost in the hallways, a "golden husk" that people looked at with brief wonder before turning away in mockery once they remembered his Rank F status.
But Leon didn't care. The blue screens were the only company he needed.
The Lecture of the Elements
On Tuesday, Class E-7 was marched to the Great Lecture Hall—a towering amphitheater of stained glass and ancient oak. They sat in the "Pit," the lowest tier of seats, while the elite classes sat high above.
The lecturer was Grand Alchemist Elara, a woman from House Thorne whose fingers were permanently stained a deep indigo from potion-making.
"Aura is not just strength," she lectured, her voice magically amplified. "It is the interaction between your internal mana and the world's resonance. Those of House Solari weave fire into their blades because their spirits are attuned to the sun. Those of House Thorne use the shadows because their blood is cooled by alchemical toxins."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the students. "Without a core, you are merely a physical object. A rock. A tree. A commoner."
High above, in the Class A balcony, Isabella Solari—the heiress of the Solar Flare family—leaned her chin on a gloved hand. She was breathtaking, with hair like spun copper and eyes that seemed to hold a literal flame. Beside her, other nobles were laughing at a joke, but Isabella's gaze drifted down to the Pit.
She spotted Leon. He wasn't slouching like the other E-Rankers. He was sitting perfectly upright, his blonde hair catching the dim light, his expression one of intense, almost terrifying focus. He wasn't taking notes on Aura; he was watching the way Elara moved her hands when she channeled mana.
He looks like a king in exile, Isabella thought, a flicker of curiosity piercing her usual boredom. But the reports say he's a Null. A pity. A face like that deserves a better soul.
She looked away, but the image of his cold, blue eyes remained etched in her mind.
The Midnight Grind
While the other students slept or sneaked out to taverns, Leon was in the forest clearing behind the E-7 dorms. The System had issued a new Daily Quest.
[Daily Quest: The Foundation of the Sovereign]
Push-ups: 200/200
Running: 10km / 10km
Sword Forms: 500 / 500
Status: Complete.
[Rewards: +1 Strength, +1 Stamina, +1 Agility]
Leon collapsed onto the grass, his chest heaving. His body was changing rapidly. The softness of the village boy was gone, replaced by cords of lean, hard muscle that felt like tempered steel.
[Status Window]
Strength: 15 (+1)
Agility: 17 (+1)
Stamina: 8 (+1)
Intelligence: 12
Unallocated Stat Points: 2
He felt a strange sensation in his chest—the relic, the jagged shard he had absorbed, was pulsing. It wasn't giving him Aura. It was doing something else. It was consuming the ambient mana in the air and storing it in his marrow, rather than a "Core."
[Passive Skill: Cold Heart (Rank D) - Triggered]
Emotion suppressed. Focus heightened.
Leon stood up and gripped his sword. He didn't feel the cold. He didn't feel the loneliness. He only felt the edge of the blade.
The Academy Library was a labyrinth of infinite knowledge, guarded by a stone golem and a librarian who was rumored to be three hundred years old. Leon spent his few free hours here, not looking for books on magic, but for history. If he had no talent, he would have knowledge.
As he wandered through the Restricted History section—which he'd sneaked into using a side vent he discovered—he felt a sharp tug in his chest.
[System Notification: Resonance Detected.]
[Direction: North-North-East. 15 Meters.]
Leon followed the pulse. He found himself in front of a shelf of crumbling ledgers from the "Era of the Shattered Crown." Behind a thick tome bound in dragon-hide, he found it.
A small, silver ring engraved with the same runes as the shard in his chest.
[Relic Found: The Eye of the First King (Fragment)]
[Integrating...]
Suddenly, his vision shifted. The library didn't look like stone and paper anymore. He saw flows. He saw the ripples of mana in the air, the way the torches flickered with elemental energy, and the way the students in the distance glowed with their respective Aura colors.
"What is this?" Leon whispered.
[The Eye of the First King (Active): Allows the Host to see the 'Flow' of all techniques. Weak points are highlighted in Red.]
He turned around and saw a figure standing at the end of the aisle. It was Isabella Solari. She had been looking for a specific scroll on Sun-Breathing, but she stopped when she saw Leon.
In Leon's new vision, she was a blinding sun. Her Aura was a roaring inferno of gold and orange. But, near her shoulder, he saw a small, flickering Red Dot.
An instability in her flow, Leon realized. She's pushing her magic too hard. Her left shoulder... it's a blind spot.
Isabella narrowed her eyes. "You again. The commoner from the Pit. This section is off-limits to your class."
Leon didn't bow. He didn't stammer. He simply slid the silver ring onto his finger and watched it disappear into his skin.
"Knowledge doesn't recognize Class rankings, Lady Solari," Leon said, his voice calm and melodic. "Though, if I were you, I would be more careful with the third movement of the Solar Flare style. Your left shoulder is lagging behind your mana output. It will cause a backlash eventually."
Isabella froze. Her heart skipped a beat. How could he know? She had been feeling a dull ache in her shoulder for weeks, a secret she hadn't even told her father.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her hand moving toward the hilt of her rapier.
Leon simply turned and walked away into the shadows of the library stacks.
"Just a Null," his voice floated back to her.
[System Notification: Level Up!]
[Level: 3]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 7]
Leon smiled in the dark. The "Trash Class" was about to become the most dangerous place in the Academy.