I got into the evaluation van without saying much.
The inside of the vehicle felt too clean for a place that had just passed through a disaster zone. The air smelled faintly of metal, disinfectant, and mana purification oil, the kind used in official response units to prevent contamination from unstable Gates. The seats were lined in dark synthetic leather, and the walls were fitted with narrow strips of silver light that made everything inside look colder than it really was. Captain Rina Valez sat across from me with a tablet in her hand, while the silver-trim Hunter from earlier stood near the rear door, talking quietly into a communicator. Neither of them seemed in a hurry to speak to me, which only made the silence feel more deliberate.
I sat back in my seat and looked out through the tinted window as the Central District slowly moved away behind us. Emergency lights still flashed in the distance. I could see police barriers, scattered medics, and the last signs of the chaos that had almost swallowed the street. The Gate itself was no longer visible from here, but I could still feel its residue in the air, that faint pressure that always lingered after a rupture. Even now, my body remembered the battle. The ache in my arm was minor, but the pressure inside my chest was not. The rank update from F to E had already happened, and I could feel the difference. My senses were sharper. My body moved a little more freely. Mana felt easier to grasp now, like I had stepped one inch closer to a door that had once been too far away to reach.
Still, none of that was what held my attention.
What mattered more was the feeling that I was being measured.
Captain Valez broke the silence first.
"You've been unusually calm," she said, without lifting her eyes from the tablet.
I kept my gaze on the passing city. "Would it help if I panicked?"
"No," she replied. "But it would be more natural."
I let out a slow breath. "I already used up the rest of my energy in the district."
That made the silver-trim Hunter glance at me from the back door, though he did not speak.
Captain Valez finally looked up. Her expression remained composed, but I could tell she was trying to decide what kind of person I was. "You killed a commander-class creature alone," she said. "You stabilized the relay, prevented the Gate from expanding further, and your rank increased during the fight. Those are not things I can simply ignore."
"I'm not asking you to ignore them."
"No," she said, "you're not."
The van turned onto a wider road, and the glowing signs of the branch building district came into view ahead of us. I recognized the layout from my first life, though it felt different now because I was seeing it much earlier than before. In the future I remembered, this branch had become a crowded place of interviews, rankings, guild negotiations, and public response work after the Gate disasters started escalating. Right now it still looked organized, almost calm, like a fortress waiting for the storm to become permanent.
Captain Valez kept speaking. "The official report will need to be filed before the end of the day. Your rank update will be registered, and your performance in the district will be entered into the city archive."
"Fine."
"But the branch head wants to see you personally," she added.
That made me turn slightly.
Her eyes stayed on mine. "You got his attention."
I had expected that. A man who ran an entire branch could not ignore a Hunter who had performed far beyond expectation. More importantly, I had already seen enough to know that my abilities would not stay hidden for long. The moment I killed the commander unit, I became someone they would want to evaluate, study, and probably control.
I leaned back in the seat. "Am I in trouble?"
Captain Valez studied me for a moment before answering. "Not yet."
That was the kind of answer that made me want to smile and frown at the same time.
The van slowed as we entered the branch compound. Security barriers lifted after the escort code was verified, and the vehicle rolled into a paved courtyard surrounded by reinforced walls and high mana lamps. The building ahead was large, modern, and heavily secured, with layered glass, thick steel frames, and several Hunter insignias mounted along the outer walls. A place like this was meant to project authority. It did. It also projected the kind of quiet tension that came from too many important people hiding behind locked doors.
The van stopped near the side entrance.
Captain Valez shut her tablet and stood. "Come with me."
I followed her outside.
The air here was cleaner than the district, but not by much. I could still smell smoke clinging to my clothes and faint traces of monster blood on the blade at my side. Several lower-ranking branch workers glanced at me as I passed. Some looked curious. Others looked startled, probably because I was walking beside Captain Valez instead of in handcuffs or under guard. One or two clearly recognized the result of the district response and started whispering before we had gone ten steps farther.
That was expected.
When something unusual happened, rumors always came faster than truth.
Captain Valez led me through a secure hallway with bright overhead lighting and polished floors that contrasted sharply with the chaos I had just left behind. We passed evaluation rooms, data offices, and a sealed hallway that likely led to the branch director's office. The deeper we went, the quieter everything became. I could feel the pressure of authority in the building now, the kind that came from people with rank, influence, and the ability to make decisions that affected a city without ever stepping into the street.
We stopped outside a heavy door with an official seal.
Captain Valez gave the door panel a short scan and then looked at me. "Before you go in, there are a few things you should know."
I waited.
"The branch head doesn't waste time," she said. "He's direct, and he'll ask questions you might not want to answer. If you try to dodge everything, he'll know. If you lie badly, he'll know. If you know something you shouldn't, he'll notice that too."
I looked at her. "That supposed to comfort me?"
"No," she said. "It's supposed to prepare you."
That was fair enough.
She folded her arms. "Also, don't mistake his politeness for friendliness. He's interested in results. If he thinks you're useful, he'll help you. If he thinks you're dangerous and unstable, he'll still help you, but only because he wants to keep the dangerous thing where he can see it."
I stared at her for a moment.
She didn't look like she was joking.
I let out a quiet breath. "So this is a warning."
"It is."
"Noted."
Captain Valez pressed a hand to the panel. The door unlocked with a soft hiss and slid open.
The office beyond was larger than I expected.
It was not extravagant, but it was built to feel important. A wide desk sat near the far wall, flanked by wall screens showing city reports, Gate mapping data, and branch communication logs. Shelves of physical files lined one side of the room, while a large window on the opposite wall overlooked part of the city. The man standing near that window turned slowly when I entered, and in that movement alone I could tell he was not someone to underestimate.
He was older, probably in his late forties or early fifties, with short gray hair and a posture that made him look more dangerous than he probably needed to be. His face was calm, but there was a sharpness in his eyes that came from years of making decisions people had to obey. He wore a branch head's coat with a silver insignia across the chest, and when he looked at me, it was with the expression of someone studying an object that had unexpectedly moved.
Captain Valez remained by the door after bringing me in.
The branch head spoke first.
"Eren Vale."
His voice was deep, measured, and completely steady. "Sit down."
I did not move right away.
He noticed that, of course.
A faint line appeared near the corner of his mouth, though it was too small to call a smile. "You can refuse if you want to. It will not change the conversation."
I accepted the chair opposite his desk and sat down.
That seemed to satisfy him.
He returned to the desk, opened a folder, and glanced over the papers inside with calm precision. I recognized the kind of file he was reading without needing to see the details. It was probably the district report, the combat summary, the rank adjustment, and the notes from the evaluation room. Maybe even more than that. People at his level rarely saw only one version of the truth.
He looked up. "Your record before today was ordinary. Average awakening. Low practical rank. Minimal branch activity. No guild affiliation. No notable combat statements."
I remained quiet.
He continued, "That changed in less than one hour."
Captain Valez watched from the side of the room, arms folded, saying nothing.
The branch head tapped the folder once. "You killed a commander unit. You stabilized a mana relay. You prevented the Gate from escalating. And your rank rose in the middle of the incident."
I leaned back slightly in the chair. "That seems to be what the report says."
His eyes narrowed, but only slightly. "I'm not asking you to repeat the report. I'm asking you whether you understand what this means."
I looked at him. "It means you don't trust the result."
"Correct."
That honesty made the room feel a little colder.
He set the folder down and studied me directly. "Your current rank is E. That is official now. But E-rank is not high enough for me to authorize you into regular multi-dungeon raids or high-risk support contracts, not under standard rules."
I already knew that would become a problem. Hearing it from him made it official in the worst way.
He went on, "If I send you into advanced operations now, I will have to justify it to the registry, the guilds, and probably the city council if anyone asks. And they will ask, because people are already aware of your performance."
Captain Valez spoke then. "He's too capable to stay in low-risk work."
The branch head nodded. "Exactly."
He leaned forward slightly, placing his hands together on the desk. "That creates a practical issue. You are strong enough to be useful, but not officially ranked high enough to be deployed wherever I'd actually want to send you. In other words, your current classification is holding back your growth."
That was the first truly important statement he had made.
I watched him carefully.
He continued, "If I let you stay here and do standard branch work, you'll either stagnate or become frustrated. If I push you directly into dangerous raids without the proper authorizations, I create a political and legal problem. Neither option is good."
I understood where he was going before he said the next sentence.
That did not make the sentence any less important when it came.
"There is, however, one place where someone with your potential could be placed properly," he said. "A place that exists precisely for cases like yours."
The room became quiet.
I already knew what was coming, but I let him say it.
He spoke the name with enough weight to make it sound less like a school and more like a title.
"Aethen Academy."
Even though I had expected it, the name still landed hard.
The world's only hunter academy.
In my first life, it was a place I had heard about constantly but never touched. A place where powerful awakeners, gifted heirs, and top candidates were trained under heavy competition. A place where the strongest young hunters were sorted, sharpened, and prepared for the world's brutal future. A place surrounded by rumors, military interest, guild politics, and the kind of prestige that only came from producing monsters of human talent.
The branch head watched my reaction carefully.
"Aethen Academy can give you structure," he said. "Training, resources, combat exposure, academic support, and access to talent that you will not find in ordinary branch work. More importantly, it can give me a way to place you somewhere where your growth can be monitored instead of wasted."
There it was.
The real reason.
Not kindness. Not reward. Not charity.
Observation.
Containment.
An opportunity wrapped inside a cage.
I respected it more for that.
Captain Valez stepped slightly to the side. "It also gives the academy a chance to evaluate your growth under controlled conditions."
"And the branch a chance to keep an eye on me," I said.
The branch head did not deny it.
"No one in my position would ignore a Hunter like you," he said. "You're an anomaly. The cleanest decision is to place you somewhere that has both the means to develop you and the structure to keep you from becoming a problem too early."
I met his eyes steadily. "You think I'm a problem."
"I think," he said, "that you are far beyond what your current rank should allow, and whenever that happens, either the system is wrong or the person is dangerous."
That was blunt enough to make me almost smile.
He leaned back in his chair. "If I were to speak more honestly, I would say this: your performance suggests potential that should not be left alone. If you keep growing outside a proper framework, people will start making moves on you. Guilds. Private sectors. Unofficial groups. Some might try to recruit you. Some might try to control you. Some might try to remove you."
That was the most useful thing he had said so far, because it confirmed what I already suspected. My abnormal growth had already pulled me into dangerous territory. Aethen Academy would not solve that, but it would give me a platform to grow while forcing the right kind of people to notice me.
And that was exactly what I needed.
"Why would Aethen Academy accept someone at my rank?" I asked.
"Because rank is only one factor," he replied. "Potential is another. Combat output is another. Behavioral adaptability is another. Your situation is unusual enough that it will be reviewed directly."
Captain Valez added, "The academy doesn't only take the strongest. It takes the ones with the potential to become something more."
The branch head nodded once. "Your growth rate has already proven that you are not ordinary. If we send you there, you'll have access to training and opportunities that the branch cannot provide. If we do not, you will remain underused until your value becomes a liability."
I understood the logic.
I also understood the trap.
If I entered the academy, I would be watched. Tested. Compared. Surrounded by people with ambition, talent, and hidden motives. But that was not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it might be exactly what I needed. If I could rise quickly in a place full of hunters my age, then I would have a reason to grow publicly while hiding the deeper truth of what I was becoming.
I crossed one leg over the other and looked at the branch head. "And if I refuse?"
"Then you stay with the branch," he said, "and I'll have to find a way to explain why someone with your profile is not being used properly. You will still be watched, but less effectively, and you will not be able to enter certain high-level operations legally."
That sounded like a very official way of saying I would be wasting time.
I did not like wasting time.
Especially not now.
The branch head seemed to read my expression correctly. "You're thinking about it."
"I'm considering the fastest path to growth."
"That would be the academy," he said.
"Probably."
He gave a short nod. "Then here's the condition. I can recommend you for provisional academy entry. However, recommendation is not acceptance. You will still need to pass the academy's entrance evaluation."
I narrowed my eyes. "How difficult is it?"
Captain Valez answered this time. "Very."
"That's not helpful."
"It's accurate," she said.
The branch head finally allowed the faintest trace of amusement into his expression. "Aethen Academy does not accept people just because they are recommended. It tests them. It rejects many. Some who enter never make it through the first phase. It is the kind of place that forces weakness into the open."
That sounded like the perfect place for me.
The kind of place where strength could be built fast, rivalries would form naturally, and hidden abilities would become valuable instead of suspicious, at least for a little while. I could already see why the branch head wanted me there. Aethen Academy would give me food, training, mana exposure, resources, and competition. More importantly, it would put me in a place where I could keep growing without having to explain every step to the branch.
A soft system pulse stirred inside me.
For a brief second, the blue window flashed across my sight.
[New Branch of Fate Detected]
The message vanished almost immediately, but it was enough.
The path had changed.
Again.
The branch head did not see the message, obviously, but he must have noticed something in my expression. "Well?"
I looked at him.
Then at Captain Valez.
Then back to the branch head.
"I'll go," I said.
The room stayed quiet for a moment after that.
Captain Valez gave a slight nod, as if she had expected it.
The branch head remained calm. "Good."
I added, "But don't mistake that for agreement with being controlled."
That earned me a sharper look from him, though not an angry one.
"Of course not," he said. "If you were foolish enough to be easy to control, you would not have survived long enough to sit in my office."
That answer, more than anything else, made me trust him a little more than I expected.
He reached into the folder and pulled out several papers, then slid them across the desk toward me. "These are your provisional recommendation forms. The branch has already prepared a special intake request. If the academy approves it, you'll be transferred to their entrance track in three days."
I took the papers and glanced at the top page.
Aethen Academy.
The name looked different when it was printed in black and white, like a real destination instead of a rumor.
Captain Valez spoke again, her tone practical. "Until then, keep a low profile. Your district incident already drew attention. People will start asking questions, and most of them will not ask out of genuine curiosity."
"I know."
"Good," she said. "Because once the academy opens its doors to you, things will move much faster."
I looked up from the papers. "Faster how?"
The branch head answered before she could. "Rivals. Teachers. Internal ranking. Combat groups. Social pressure. Political interest. The academy is not just a school. It is where the strongest young hunters are sorted into futures."
He paused for a moment and then added, "Some become heroes. Some become leaders. Some disappear into organizations that never appear in public reports. And some become monsters."
That last word hung in the air for a second longer than the rest.
I did not look away.
The branch head watched me carefully. "Be careful which path you end up walking."
I closed the folder and stood up. "That depends on whether anyone tries to stand in my way."
The branch head's mouth curved faintly. "That attitude will either keep you alive or get you killed."
"Probably both," I said.
Captain Valez gave a brief exhale that might have been a laugh if she had wanted it to be.
The atmosphere in the room loosened a little after that. Not much. Just enough for the formal part of the meeting to end. The branch head gave me a final nod, and Captain Valez walked me back to the door after the papers were signed and stamped. The silver-trim Hunter by the side remained quiet the whole time, but I could feel his eyes on me as if he were memorizing my face for future reference.
When we reached the hallway, Captain Valez stopped beside me.
"This is your chance," she said.
I looked at her.
"Aethen Academy is not a reward," she continued. "It is not a safe place, and it is not going to make your life easier. But if you want to rise, it's the right place to do it."
I folded the papers under one arm. "You sound like you've seen what happens there."
"I have," she said.
Then, after a small pause, she added, "And I think you'll either fit there perfectly or break half its assumptions."
That was the closest thing to encouragement I had heard from her.
I nodded once. "That's enough for me."
She gave me a long look, then stepped back toward the office. "Report back once the academy confirms your intake."
"I will."
She turned away, and I stood in the hallway for a few seconds after she left.
Three days.
That was all I had before the next step began.
I looked down at the academy recommendation papers in my hand and felt a strange, quiet satisfaction settle in my chest.
The branch had noticed me.
The world had noticed me.
And now the world was sending me where the strongest young hunters were forged.
Aethen Academy.
If I was going to become strong enough to stand above betrayal, monsters, and the future itself, then that was where I would begin.
I tucked the papers away and started walking.
The academy was waiting.