The underground training bay was a raw concrete bunker, lit by fluorescent humming tubes that buzzed like dying insects. The air was a sharp cocktail of old sweat, oxidized iron, and the ozone of the System's electrical discharges. Down here, time wasn't measured in hours, but in bruises.
Raven was on the ground. For the hundredth time that morning.
His lungs burned as if he had swallowed live coals. Every fiber of his muscles screamed for a truce he knew wouldn't come. For the past two months, Sarah had treated him like a piece of raw scrap metal that needed to be hammered until the impurities flaked off. With every blow he failed to predict, every fall onto the cold concrete, Raven's frustration mounted, but his body adapted. His "Stone Skin" now surged almost reflexively—a biological response to the constant abuse.
"On your feet, sack of potatoes," Sarah's voice cracked. She didn't even sound winded, her boots tapping rhythmically on the floor as she circled Raven's fallen form. "You harden your skin, but you forget to harden your will. If the enemy knocks you down and you stay there admiring the floor, you're already dead."
Raven stood up, trembling. Sweat stung his eyes. "I'm trying... but you move like you know where I'm going to be before I even decide."
Sarah stopped, observing the tremor in his arms with analytical coldness. "Using a System skill, Raven, isn't like pressing a button in a video game. It's like using a bodily organ. You don't think to breathe, you just breathe. But if you try to hyperventilate for an hour, your lungs will burn. It's the same with me." She tapped her temple. "My one-second foresight looks like a 'cheat' to you, but if I try to process the future more than a hundred times in a row without a break, my brain fries. The headache is so sharp I'd rather take a bullet to the leg. It's all training and cost."
She took two steps forward, closing the distance. "The simpler the skill, the lower the cost. That's why your 'Stone Skin' interests me. It's simple, raw. To the System, it's a low-processing skill, but it's powerful because you only feel the pain of the constant material shift. You don't have the mental cost that I or Kael have. You're a diesel engine: ugly, loud, but you don't stop for anything."
Meanwhile, in the upper levels of the Division, the air was climate-controlled and smelled of expensive coffee. Augusto Brandt, the Regional Director of the Division, watched the monitors with an expression of authoritative boredom. Beside him, Kael adjusted the bracers of his ceremonial armor.
"He's an unstable asset, Augusto," Kael said, his voice polished. "Helena says he has 'hidden potential,' but all I see in the reports is a lazy D-Rank who got lucky against a beetle. The Division's image depends on inspiring heroes, not unpolished rocks."
Brandt spun in his leather chair. "Exactly why, Kael. If he's useful, we polish him. If he's a defect, we discard him. Go down there. Run a sparring session. Show him the distance between effort and innate talent." The Director looked at Helena, who was waiting by the door. "Helena, go with him. Ensure the situation doesn't spiral. If Kael gets too carried away, calm things down. We don't want a broken asset before the next screening."
Helena simply nodded, her gaze impenetrable. She knew Kael's ego and Sarah's brutality. She knew that mixture would be volatile.
The heavy hangar door ground open with a metallic thud. Kael entered, followed by Helena. The "Golden Hero" wore a polymer tactical suit that highlighted his statue-like physique. He walked with the arrogance of someone who had never had to wipe his own blood off the floor.
"Sarah," Kael said, in that magnetic voice. "I heard you were wasting your talent on a 'defective' D-Rank. Command wants me to test his progress. A light sparring session with an elite B-Rank should wake him up to the reality of the top tier."
Sarah narrowed her eyes, halting Raven's training with a sharp gesture. "He's not ready for a B-Rank, Kael. And you're not ready for what I teach here."
Kael laughed. "Please, Sarah. I'm a B-Rank with A-Rank potential in months. What could an ex-legionnaire with a D-Rank power teach me? Your '1-Second Foresight' is useful for avoiding rain, not for facing my lightning."
Sarah unwrapped the bandages on her hands and redid them, tighter. "Light sparring, then? Come on, 'Hero.' Show the kid how a B-Rank moves."
Kael stepped into the combat circle. Blue sparks began to dance between his fingers, snapping with the sound of electric whips. "Go ahead, Sarah. I promise not to fry you."
Kael lunged. He was fast, propelled by electrical discharges in his legs. He threw a punch charged with high voltage—a strike meant to paralyze anyone's nervous system. Raven, watching from the sidelines, could barely follow the movement.
But Sarah didn't need to follow the movement. She was already there. At the exact millisecond, she tilted her head. Kael's fist grazed past, hitting only air. Before he could react, Sarah delivered an open-palm strike to his elbow, using the boy's own inertia against him. The sound of bone snapping echoed through the silent hangar.
Kael let out a gasp of surprise, but Sarah was a storm of efficiency. She grabbed Kael's wrist, pivoted her body, and applied an armbar while kicking the back of his knee. The "Golden Hero" kissed the concrete with a dull thud. Sarah didn't let go. She pressed Kael's face against the cold floor.
"Your power is vast, Kael. But you rely so much on your Rank that you forgot how to fight when power fails." Sarah whispered in his ear. "I spent ten years in the Foreign Legion hunting men who had nothing but knives and hate. I see one second into the future. And in that second, I see that you're just a spoiled brat playing with static."
She released him with a contemptuous shove. Kael stood up, panting, his nose bleeding. Humiliated, he left without looking back, followed by a silent Helena.
Hours later, in his luxury private quarters, Kael sat on the edge of his bed, hands buried in his hair. The mirror in front of him reflected the bruise beginning to darken on his perfect face.
"It makes no sense..." he whispered to the empty room. "I'm a B-Rank. I have the System on my side. How could that... that D-Rank woman touch me? How could she be faster?"
He punched the nightstand, feeling a dull rage grow. The pain in his elbow reminded him of every second of that fight. To the world, he was the future. To Sarah, he was nothing but dust. The martyrdom of his own incompetence was a poison he didn't know how to swallow.
Back in the hangar, silence had returned. Raven and Sarah sat on the floor, leaning against an iron beam. Sarah tossed the dented metal canteen to him. Raven caught it mid-air and took a long gulp of the lukewarm water that tasted like iron.
Raven looked at his hands, which were slowly returning to the state of flesh but maintained a cold numbness. "I spent my whole life being the Atlas of my own world, Sarah," he said, his voice low. "My parents, my sister, the bills piled on the table... I was the pillar. I took any job, swallowed every insult. I adapted to everything just to survive, because if I faltered, their world collapsed."
He gave a bitter sigh, looking up at the raw ceiling of the hangar. "The System appeared and gave people powers at different times. Some awakened through glory or fear. I awakened when I realized that if the world finally ended, I would have peace." He laughed without humor. "But the world didn't end. It just got heavier. So now I fight to be lethal enough to solve any problem in seconds. I want to trade 'surviving' for 'living.' And for that, I need no one else to have the power to bother me."
Sarah fell silent for a long time, watching Raven as if seeing a distorted reflection of herself. "Yeah... we aren't so different," she said, her voice in a tone Raven hadn't heard before. "However, when the world demanded that I sustain it, I simply chose to live my life. That's why I went to the Foreign Legion. I preferred fighting a war that wasn't mine over carrying a weight that didn't belong to me."
"Good to know I'm not the only selfish one in the room," Raven commented, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Maybe we should start a club. 'Atlas Anonymous.' The first rule is not carrying anything heavier than a remote control."
Sarah let out a short, genuine laugh, joined by Raven. For a brief second, the weight of the world felt a little lighter inside. But the second passed.
"Club denied, D-Rank," Sarah regained her brisk posture in a blink. She stood up and, before Raven could finish putting the cap back on the canteen, she grabbed him by the collar and hurled him with absurd technical force toward the center of the concrete arena. "Back to work. If you want peace, learn to silence those who try to take it from you."
Raven rolled on the floor, feeling the impact vibrate through his bones, and stood up gritting his teeth. "I thought the emotional venting part came with a ten-minute break," he grumbled, activating Stone Skin as Sarah lunged like a bolt of lightning for the next round.
One month later...
Raven stood in the center of the hangar, alone. His body was no longer the same. The laziness was still there, but now it was a lethal laziness. He moved with a terrifying economy of energy. Sarah's training had forced the System to recognize his technical mastery. Suddenly, his vision was flooded by overlapping blue windows.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION] Combat Mastery Training (Sarah Module) Completed.
[SKILL STATUS – UPDATE]
Resistance: Stone Skin (Active): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Dash (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Muscle Power (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Structural Integrity (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Reaction Time (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Motor Coordination (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Reflexes (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Instinct (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Insect Slayer (Unique Passive)
Vitality Recovery (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Sensory Perception (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
Kinetic Efficiency (Passive): Level 10 [MAX RANK D]
[SPECIAL CONDITION MET] "The Perfect Foundation": The host has reached the maximum limit of 10 simultaneous skills at D-Rank.
[CLASS EVOLUTION INITIATED] Calculating biological compatibility... Evaluating combat records against C-Rank and B-Rank...
[SYSTEM: RANK UPGRADE AUTHORIZED]
Host Threat Level possible update: D-RANK —> C-RANK
Specifications to Rank Up:
D-Rank Cores: 1/10
D-Rank Skills: 10/10 (Max Level reached)
New C-Rank skills will be unlocked. Resistance: Stone Skin may evolve into Resistance: Metallic Skin.
Raven felt a massive pressure in his chest, as if his skin were being forged again in a high-pressure furnace. When he opened his eyes, the grey of his skin was turning darker, like iron ore.
Sarah was leaning against the wall, watching him. She didn't need to see the screens to know what had happened. "Finally," she said, tossing him a towel.
Raven let out a long sigh, wiping his face. "I just wanted a vacation..." he grumbled, but there was a new glint in his eyes. "But I guess solving problems fast so I can sleep is the only way, isn't it?"
"Exactly," Sarah smiled—a smile that promised a lot of pain. "Get ready. the South Sector was just a walk in the park compared to what's coming next."