The gates of the Academy did not open.
Thousands of students flooded the courtyard
Not walking.
Measuring.
Every glance like a blade.
High elves with silver eyes. Demi humans with crests burned into their skin. Nobles wrapped in enchanted coats that whispered with every movement. Some arrived escorted by guards who radiated battlefield experience. Others stood alone, projecting confidence loud enough to suffocate the air.
Danny shoved his hands into his pockets.
"so..this is what boredom feels like"
He smiled faintly.
No one noticed him
Except..
The one standing at stage.
Exactly how he liked it.
A surge of pressure exploded nearby.
A boy with a jeweled collar released a wave of mana like a beast. Students staggered back. A few collapsed to their knees. Gasps rippled through the crowd.
The boy laughed.
Then his nose started bleeding.
Then his eyes rolled back.
Collapsed, his face hit the floor.
Silence.
A teacher standing nearby didn't even glance down.
No one help him.
The message was clear,
Weakness is self inflicted.
Danny stepped over the unconscious noble.
"Efficient," he muttered.
A bell rang.
Not loud.
But the world obeyed it.
Every voice died.
Every head turned.
Yet the entire courtyard felt smaller.
Professor Vyr.
His eyes swept the students once.
That was enough.
"You were born into titles," he said calmly. "You will die without them."
The words didn't echo.
They sank.
"In this academy, rank replaces blood. Talent replaces heritage. Survival replaces pride."
A girl fainted.
No one reacted.
Professor Vyr raised one of his hand. A small circle formed above his palm, simple, clean, harmless looking.
He closed his fingers.
The courtyard floor split open in a straight line that ran for fifty meters.
No explosion.
No sound.
Just precision.
The students stared.
Danny tilted his head.
"Ah… interesting."
The man wasn't showing power.
He was showing control.
That was rarer.
Behind the professor, the sky shimmered. A massive magic screen ignited to life , the Screen of Legends.
Images rolled across it:
Graduates champions. Elite squads returning from war. Students standing over monsters taller than buildings.Their names carved in gold.
A future being advertised.
The crowd leaned forward.
Then the screen flickered.
One frame slipped through.
A class photograph.
Twenty students.
Every face scratched out.
The label under it glitched:
(*CLASSIFIED INCIDENT*)
The image vanished instantly.
Murmurs erupted.
Professor Vyr did not turn around.
But his gaze shifted slightly.
Straight to Danny.
Just for a heartbeat.
Danny met his eyes.
He didn't look away.
The professor looked.. satisfied.
The screen resumed normal programming as if nothing happened.
Orientation ended without applause.
Students were handed glowing tags , temporary rank markers. Numbers burned into the crystal.
Danny glanced at his.
Average.Perfect
He walked with the dispersing crowd toward the dormitories. Laughter, bragging, threats, alliances already forming. The academy was a battlefield disguised as a school.
Halfway down a corridor, he stopped.
There.
Under the polished stone.
A ritual circle.
Almost erased.
Lines carved shallow enough to escape normal detection. Old. Careful. Hidden.
Not academy standard.
Not official.
Someone had smuggled in.
Danny stepped over it casually, expression unreadable.
But his eyes sharpened.
"So they're already here."
Not the school.
Not the teachers.
An intruder.
A parasite hiding inside a fortress.
His smile returned , small, private.
The academy wasn't rotten.
It was being hunted.
And someone inside didn't even know yet.
For the first time since entering..
He felt entertained.