The moment I stepped through the gates of Aethen Academy, I knew I had entered a world that played by different rules.
Everything felt more controlled here. The roads were cleaner, the buildings were larger, the mana in the air was denser, and even the students walking past me seemed to carry a kind of pressure that ordinary hunters never had. Some looked confident. Some looked nervous. Some looked like they had already decided they belonged here, long before they had even passed the entrance.
I had only been inside the academy grounds for a few minutes when the first announcement came.
A large screen lit up in the central courtyard, and the noise around me faded almost at once. Students stopped talking. Heads turned upward. I looked at the display and immediately felt the academy's intent.
They did not waste time here.
[Initial Trial Announcement]
[All candidates will participate in a team-based evaluation.]
[Team size: Three members.]
[Objective: Eliminate monsters within the trial zone.]
[Points will be awarded based on monster rank, contribution, and survival.]
[Top-performing teams will advance.]
A low wave of murmurs spread through the crowd.
"Three people per team?"
"That means if you get stuck with weak members, you're screwed."
"Is this a group trial or a death sentence?"
I kept my face still, but my mind had already started moving.
A team trial.
That was both good and bad.
Good, because it would let me hide my real strength a little longer while still showing enough to stand out. Bad, because the wrong teammates could create unnecessary trouble. In a place like Aethen Academy, a trial was never only about combat. It was also about judgment, cooperation, leadership, and how you handled people under pressure.
The screen changed.
[Team Assignments Will Now Be Displayed.]
A list of names appeared across the courtyard panels.
Students rushed forward immediately. Some were excited. Some looked irritated. Some stared at the screen as if they were praying not to be matched with a burden.
I approached at a slower pace.
When I found my team number, I stopped.
Team 17
Eren Vale
Liora Vance
Kael Draven
I stared at the names for a moment, not because I didn't understand them, but because I understood them too well.
Liora Vance was unfamiliar to me, which meant she was either someone who had risen after my first life ended or someone whose path had changed because of the regression. Kael Draven, however, was different.
I knew that name.
In my previous life, Kael Draven had become one of the finest guild leaders in the world. Not instantly. Not as a child prodigy who was handed success. He had grown through talent, effort, and an almost frightening ability to read people and turn opportunities into power. One day, he would stand at the top of one of the world's ten strongest guilds, and when he reached that level, people would speak his name with respect and caution.
And now he was standing here.
A candidate.
A student.
Still raw.
Still unrefined.
Still a little too young to hide what he would eventually become.
I looked up and found him near the other end of the courtyard, scanning the list with a calm expression. He looked like the kind of person who already knew his own value, but not in an arrogant way. More like someone who had quietly understood that the world would eventually have to make room for him.
That made sense.
People like him always gave off that kind of feeling, even before the world noticed them.
"Team 17."
I turned.
A girl had stopped in front of me. She looked around my age, maybe a little younger, with sharp eyes and a composed face that made her stand out even in a crowd full of talented candidates. Her posture was controlled. Her shoulders were relaxed. She carried herself like someone who was used to being watched and did not mind it.
"Eren Vale?" she asked.
I nodded once. "That's me."
She gave a small, almost thoughtful expression. "Liora Vance."
So that was her.
I studied her for a second.
She was not weak. That was obvious from the way she stood. She had balance, discipline, and confidence without visible arrogance. People like that usually had enough skill to avoid depending on luck. I respected that. The academy would be full of talented students, but not all talent was equal. Some people had strength. Some had discipline. Some had both. Liora looked like she had at least two of the three.
"We're teammates," she said.
"That appears to be the case."
A faint curve touched her lips. "You sound like you're not happy about it."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
I looked at her for a second longer than necessary. "And you?"
"What about me?"
"Are you happy about it?"
She held my gaze and then shrugged lightly. "I haven't decided yet."
That answer made me think she was a little smarter than most people would assume at first glance.
Before I could say anything else, another voice cut in.
"So this is Team 17."
I turned again.
Kael Draven had arrived.
He looked between the two of us with an expression that was calm but alert. He was not tall enough to be intimidating in the usual sense, but there was something about him that made people unconsciously take him seriously. He had the kind of face that would become famous later. The kind that people would remember when they saw it on news broadcasts, guild banners, or battlefield footage years from now.
For now, though, he was just another candidate.
He glanced at the team list once more, then at us.
"I'm assuming introductions are unnecessary," he said.
Liora crossed her arms. "That depends on whether you're a decent teammate."
Kael didn't seem offended. "I'm usually decent when the people around me don't waste time."
I almost smiled at that.
Liora noticed.
"So you do react," she said.
I looked at her. "Only when it matters."
That earned me a brief pause from both of them.
I could already see the shape of the dynamic forming.
Liora was observant and not easy to rattle. Kael was sharp and slightly too composed for a first-day candidate. And me… I was the one standing in the middle, trying to avoid becoming the center of attention while somehow attracting it anyway.
The academy was already becoming annoying.
A loud chime sounded overhead.
The courtyard screen changed again.
[All teams will now proceed to the trial zone.]
[Final instructions will be given at the entrance.]
The crowd moved almost at once.
I walked with Liora and Kael toward the trial path, though "walked" was generous. The entire group of candidates was being guided through a long stone corridor that led out of the academy's main grounds and into a massive open field beyond the outer training zone. The further we went, the more I could feel the mana pressure building in the environment. This wasn't a normal test field. It had been altered. Either by illusion arrays, mana constructs, or something worse. Aethen Academy was clearly not interested in making this easy.
The entrance of the trial zone stood ahead like the mouth of a giant mechanical beast.
A staff member in a black academy uniform waited there with a tablet in hand. He did not look impressed by the candidates gathering before him. In fact, he looked like the kind of person who had seen too many talented people fail to react to anyone's nerves.
He raised one hand and spoke.
"Listen carefully."
The crowd quieted.
"This is your first trial at Aethen Academy. You will enter in teams of three. The trial zone has been seeded with mana-born monsters of varying strength. Your objective is simple: eliminate as many as possible and survive until the trial ends."
A few students exchanged tense looks.
The staff member continued. "Points will be awarded based on monster rank, damage contribution, speed of execution, teamwork, and survival quality. Killing alone is not enough. If your team cannot coordinate, that will be reflected in your score."
Someone in the back muttered, "So basically, don't drag your teammates down."
The staff member ignored it.
"Certain areas contain stronger monsters. Certain routes contain higher point opportunities. Certain traps contain environmental hazards. We will not be explaining which is which. If you cannot adapt, you do not belong here."
I listened carefully.
That was useful.
Not because the rules themselves were hard to understand, but because the academy was already showing its hand. They didn't want passive students. They wanted judgment, pressure, and adaptation. They wanted to see who broke and who kept moving.
The staff member looked down at the tablet once more, then said, "You will receive no rescue unless the situation becomes lethal. Your team is your support. Your team is also your limitation. If a teammate dies, the points for the team may still be counted, but your result will be heavily affected. Do you understand?"
A chorus of hesitant yeses answered him.
I did not speak.
The staff member finished with one final line. "Enter when the gates open. Your trial begins the moment your feet cross the threshold."
He stepped aside.
The iron gates before us began to rise.
I felt my pulse steady.
Liora glanced at me. "You're awfully calm."
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"About how bad the monsters are going to be."
Kael looked ahead. "That's one way to put it."
The gates opened fully.
Beyond them stretched a wide, broken expanse of land that looked like a mix between a ruined forest and a training simulation. Trees stood in irregular clusters. Stones jutted from the ground. Areas of low fog drifted near the edges. Farther in, I could already sense the faint residue of monster mana.
The trial zone was real.
Not just a projection.
Not just an illusion.
A controlled monster field.
The kind of place where students would be forced to prove themselves under pressure.
I stepped through the gate.
Liora followed.
Kael came after her.
The moment all three of us crossed the threshold, the gate behind us shut with a deep metallic sound.
And the trial began.
For a while, we moved in silence.
The terrain was rough enough to force attention. Broken roots. Loose stone. Narrow paths that could easily trap an inattentive person. I kept my breathing even and my senses open. The first monsters would not be far. That was the nature of trials like this. They always placed the simplest threats near the start to give weaker candidates a false sense of confidence before introducing larger dangers later.
Liora walked slightly to my left, glancing toward me now and then.
Kael stayed a few steps ahead, scanning the terrain with the posture of someone who understood that the first mistake in a place like this would be the last.
After several minutes, I heard it.
A low scraping sound from the brush ahead.
I stopped immediately.
Liora noticed and halted a second later. Kael also stopped, eyes narrowing.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
"Something's moving," I said.
Kael looked in the direction I was facing. "I heard it too."
The bushes in front of us rustled again.
Then a creature stepped out.
It was about the size of a large wolf, but its shape was wrong. Its forelegs were too long. Its shoulders were too high. Its skin looked like it had been stretched over exposed muscle, and its mouth was too wide for its skull. It had black-green eyes and a body covered in hard, bark-like plates.
Liora frowned. "That's not a normal forest beast."
"No," I said. "It isn't."
Kael's hand moved toward his weapon. "Trial monster?"
"Most likely."
The beast lowered its head and sniffed the air once. Its gaze locked onto us, and then it lunged.
Liora moved first.
Fast.
Her body twisted to the side, and she struck the beast's shoulder with a clean, controlled hit that knocked it off its line. The impact didn't kill it, but it was enough to shift its balance. Kael followed almost instantly, moving from the left and slashing across the creature's exposed side. I could see it clearly now. He wasn't just reacting. He was already reading the rhythm of the attack and positioning himself for a finish.
Good.
That future potential was real.
The monster snarled and tried to recover.
I stepped in and cut down.
My sword went straight through the beast's neck.
The body hit the ground, twitched once, and stopped moving.
A system notification flashed before my eyes.
[Trial Monster Eliminated]
[Points Acquired]
The other two did not see the message, but they saw the kill.
Kael looked at me briefly.
Liora did too.
Neither said anything right away.
Then Liora spoke first. "That was clean."
"It was one monster."
"Yes," she said, "but still clean."
Kael gave a small nod of approval. "You were waiting for the opening."
I sheathed my sword. "That's usually the safest way to kill something."
Liora looked at me a little differently after that.
I noticed it.
Not because I was trying to, but because people gave themselves away in small ways when they became interested. Her eyes held on me a fraction longer than before. She was not being obvious, but there was a shift. She was studying me now, not just as a teammate, but as a person.
That was a problem.
Not because I disliked attention from a woman.
Because attention was dangerous.
And because her curiosity felt a little too close to interest.
We moved forward again.
This time, I took point for a few minutes. I didn't announce it. I just did it. Neither of them objected, which told me they were smart enough to recognize when someone was better positioned to lead a path. The trial zone opened into a wider stretch of forested terrain with a broken stone ruin in the distance. There were signs of movement everywhere, though nothing large enough to attack yet.
Then I saw another group.
Three candidates from a different team were already fighting two monsters near a low stone ridge. One of them was clearly struggling, his movements too wide and his breathing too panicked. The other two were holding the line, but just barely.
Liora slowed. "Should we help?"
Kael looked at the fight and then at me. "Depends. We lose time if we engage."
"People are dying in the trial zone," she said.
Kael's answer was instant. "That doesn't mean we save everyone."
Her eyes narrowed. "That sounds cold."
"It's realistic."
I listened to them argue for a second and realized both of them had a point.
That was the kind of problem that created better hunters and worse people.
I looked at the team ahead of us. The weakest candidate was about to get struck from the side. If he went down, the whole team would probably collapse, and the monsters would move on to the others. That would mean more wasted time, more noise, and more competition.
I stepped forward before the argument could continue.
"We help."
Kael looked at me. "Why?"
"Because wasting time watching them fail would be slower than ending it now."
That made Liora glance at me, a little surprised by the simplicity of the answer.
Kael considered it for half a second, then shrugged. "Fine."
We moved in.
The other team barely noticed us until I cut one monster down from the side. The creature fell, and the panicked candidate nearly stumbled backward in shock. Liora took the second beast with a precise strike that ended its movement before it could swing again. Kael moved like he had already predicted the counterattack, hitting the exposed gap after the monster tried to turn.
The battle ended almost immediately.
The other team stared at us.
The one who had been panicking looked at me, then at the dead monsters, then back at me again with wide eyes.
"Who are you people?"
"No one important," I said.
Liora made a faint sound that might have been a laugh.
Kael glanced at me. "That was unnecessary."
"It was efficient."
"That's not what I said."
"No," I replied, "but it's what mattered."
Something moved in Liora's expression then.
I saw it because I was watching her side of the line.
She was looking at me differently now.
Not just curious.
Interested.
It wasn't loud or dramatic, and she certainly didn't say anything out loud, but her attention had shifted. Cold, controlled, efficient men apparently caught her interest faster than she expected. That was inconvenient for me and useful for the story both at once, because I needed allies, not distractions, but I also couldn't pretend I didn't notice the way her eyes lingered on me when I spoke.
Kael broke the silence by looking at the other team and saying, "Move. The longer you stand here, the more monsters will be drawn to this location."
That snapped them out of their confusion.
They thanked us awkwardly and hurried off.
Liora watched them go, then turned back to me. "You didn't hesitate."
"No."
"Most people would have."
"Most people like being slow."
That got another small smile from her.
I pretended not to notice.
The trial continued deeper into the zone, and the monster density increased exactly as I expected. We encountered smaller packs first, then stronger isolated creatures, then a pair of beasts that required proper coordination to bring down cleanly. Kael showed more tactical awareness than most students would ever have at his age. Liora adapted quickly, and her combat style was precise enough to tell me she had trained seriously before entering the academy. And me… I kept myself steady, quiet, and efficient.
I also kept my rank hidden.
That was important.
They both knew I was good. That much was obvious by now. But they did not know that I was only E-rank. They did not know because I did not act like it. I had no reason to tell them. In fact, it was better if they assumed I was simply stronger than average. That would make them underestimate the real source of my ability and overestimate the wrong things.
Which was exactly what I wanted.
At one point, we reached a large clearing where the ground had been torn open by something that had clearly been set loose ahead of us. The remains of monster tracks crossed the soil in several directions. A pair of academy markers stood at the edge of the clearing, half broken.
Kael stopped and looked around. "Something stronger came through here."
Liora's eyes narrowed. "A trial monster?"
"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe not."
She looked at me. "What do you mean by that?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Because I had felt it.
A pressure deeper in the field. Not just regular monster mana. Something else. Something heavier. It reminded me too much of the way a stronger beast would feel just before it broke through in a real Gate incident.
That should not have been here.
Not at this stage.
My eyes moved to the far side of the clearing.
There.
Behind a cluster of broken stones, I could see a shape shifting in the shadows.
Then the system flashed.
[Warning]
[High-Value Trial Target Detected]
[Hidden Condition: Available Only to Eren Vale]
I froze for half a second.
Neither Liora nor Kael noticed the message, but they noticed my reaction.
Liora frowned. "What is it?"
I stared at the shadow in the clearing and answered with complete honesty.
"Something that shouldn't be here."
Kael stepped beside me. "Monster?"
"Yes."
Liora's hand tightened around her weapon. "How strong?"
I took one slow breath.
Then I said, "Stronger than anything we've seen so far."
Kael looked at me sharply. "You're sure?"
I didn't answer that.
Because the shadow finally moved.
And in that moment, I knew the trial had just become very different from what the academy staff had announced.
The creature stepped into the light.
It was larger than the others, with a body built like layered armor and a head too narrow for its bulk. Its limbs moved with a slow, deliberate heaviness that made it look more like a commander than a beast. Its eyes were pale and empty, and a low growl rolled out of its throat as it fixed its attention on the three of us.
Liora went still.
Kael's expression sharpened.
Neither of them had seen a monster like this in the trial briefing.
Which meant they were both about to realize something was wrong.
"Eren," Liora said quietly, "that thing doesn't look normal."
"No," I said, drawing my sword. "It doesn't."
And then I looked at the monster, felt the authority inside me stir once again, and understood that this trial would decide more than points.
It would decide whether the academy noticed me as a promising student…
or as something they would eventually be afraid to let grow.