The return from the Ash-Zone was not the triumphant march the Runt Squad had imagined. While they carried the glowing Magma-Core Crystal—a feat that should have earned them a week of rest—the atmosphere in the Obsidian Peak had curdled.
Nikolas walked at the head of the group, his ten-year-old frame looking small and fragile against the towering black basalt walls of the main corridor. He wasn't a "shifter" in his human state; he was just a boy with dark hair and eyes that saw too much. To the High-Class students, his human body was a mockery—a weak, fleshy shell that didn't belong in a fortress of fangs and scales.
[STATUS CHECK: HP 100/100]
[LEVEL: 6]
[NOTICE]: Strength (STR) and Agility (AGI) increased. Human vessel remains physically 10 years old. Transformation 'Wolf Form' efficiency: +15%.
Nikolas kept his gaze on the floor, hidden beneath the [Actor's Veil]. He felt the rush of power from his recent level-up, the way his muscles felt like coiled springs under his skin, but he let his shoulders slouch. He let his breath come in shallow, "exhausted" hitches.
Stay small, he told himself. The taller the blade of grass, the sooner the scythe finds it.
Toby watched Nikolas's back as they entered the Great Hall to turn in the crystal. He didn't have a system, and he didn't have magic, but he had the "Eye of the Forge." He could see the way Nikolas moved—the balance was too perfect, the recovery too fast.
He's hiding something big, Toby thought, his thick fingers twitching. And if he's hiding it, he's doing it to keep us alive.
Toby was a beast-kin hybrid, a mix of dwarf and something furred that had been lost to history. He was the "Smith" of the group, and as they reached the Golden Spire entrance, he saw the trouble waiting for them.
Standing in the center of the hall was Ignis Valerion, the heir to the Dragon House. He was sixteen, a young man who already radiated the oppressive heat of a living sun. Behind him stood two other dragons, their wings half-unfolded in a display of territorial aggression.
"The 'Lucky Runt' returns," Valerion sneered, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling. "I heard you found a Magma-Core, Salvatore. A task usually reserved for Silver-ranks and above."
Nikolas stopped, bowing his head. "We just followed the steam vents, my lord. The mountain was kind to us."
"The mountain isn't 'kind'," Valerion snapped, stepping forward. The floorboards beneath his boots began to smoke. "The mountain respects power. And I see none in you. You reached the summit first during the Sorting, and now you return with a Core? You're cheating, boy. You're using some Salvatore relic to mask your weakness."
Toby felt the heat rising in the room. He looked at Nikolas, expecting him to snap back, but Nikolas just stood there, looking like a scared ten-year-old.
"I challenge you," Valerion announced, slamming a fist against his chest. "A formal Gold-Rank Duel. Tomorrow, at high noon, in the Ash-Pit. If you win, I'll acknowledge your rank. If you lose... you leave the Academy in a box."
Toby's heart sank. A ten-year-old human against a sixteen-year-old Dragon? It wasn't a duel; it was an execution.
"I... I accept," Nikolas whispered, his voice trembling perfectly.
As soon as the dragons left, the squad retreated to a hidden corner of the lower workshops. Jax was frantic, throwing gears and copper wire onto a stone table.
"He's going to kill you, Niko!" Jax hissed, his hands shaking as he worked on a specialized project. "Valerion can breath blue-fire. Blue! Your human body will turn to ash before you can even shift into your wolf form."
"I know," Nikolas said, sitting on a wooden crate. He looked remarkably calm for someone who had just signed his death warrant.
"Then let us help," Jax said, holding up a pair of reinforced greaves he had been "tweaking" in secret. "I've been working on these. They have a built-in kinetic dampener. If you wear them under your trousers, they'll absorb at least one direct hit from a dragon's tail. And Toby is working on the cloak."
Jax didn't realize that Nikolas's [Inspection] was already scanning the greaves.
[ITEM DETECTED: JAX'S KINETIC GREAVES (PROTOTYPE)]
[QUALITY]: Common (Enchanted).
[EFFECT]: Reduces physical impact by 10%.
It was a drop in the bucket compared to the power of a Dragon Heir, but Nikolas felt a lump in his throat. His friends—humans and runts who had no systems and no "cheat codes"—were spending their only rest hours trying to build him a shield.
"Thanks, Jax," Nikolas said softly. "The greaves will help. A lot."
"They have to," Jax muttered, his eyes bloodshot. "Because I'm not losing another friend to a 'High-Class' whim. Not after Leo."
While Jax worked on the gear, Mina was in the center of the room, her iron scales fully deployed. She was the "Tank," and she was currently letting Toby hit her with a practice hammer to test the tensile strength of the "Ground-Dragon" skin.
"Harder, Toby!" she grunted.
Clang!
"Niko needs to know the limits," Mina said, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "If Valerion uses fire, I can't help him in the pit. But if he tries to crush him, maybe I can teach Niko how to 'Ground' the impact. He's so small... he's just a kid."
She looked over at Nikolas. In the dim light of the workshop, he looked even younger than ten. He looked like someone who should be playing with wooden toys, not fighting for his life in a volcanic fortress.
"Niko," Mina called out. "Come here. I want to show you how to tuck your chin when a heavy-hitter lunges. If you don't shift in time, your human neck is your biggest weakness."
Nikolas stood up and walked over. He let Mina push him around, let her "correct" his stance, and let her think she was teaching him. In reality, his [Combat HUD] was recording every bit of her advice, integrating her "Iron Skin" logic into his own maneuvers.
They're protecting a boy, Nikolas thought, his heart heavy with the weight of the secret. They don't know they're training a monster.
Nikolas sat alone in his Gold-rank room, the kinetic greaves and the flame-retardant cloak Toby had finished lying on the bed.
He didn't need them. At Level 6, his [Wolf Form] was already dense enough to withstand dragon-fire for a limited time. But he couldn't use his Wolf Form—not yet. If a ten-year-old "low-class" transformed into a Zenith Alpha on the first month, the Masters would dissect him before the sun went down.
He had to win this duel in his human body. Or at least, he had to win it with a "Partial Shift" that looked like a desperate, lucky mutation.
[SYSTEM PROMPT]:
[CRIMSON DEN: TIER 2 - ACCELERATED TRAINING AVAILABLE]
[TIME RATIO]: 6:1 (6 hours inside = 1 hour outside).
"Enter," Nikolas whispered.
The world dissolved. He was no longer in the stone room. He was in the Crimson Den—a vast, red-skied wasteland of his own subconscious. Here, he didn't have to slouch. He didn't have to pretend.
He stood tall, his muscles expanding as he triggered his [Wolf Form]. His skin didn't just grow fur; it became a midnight-black hide, his eyes turning into twin glowing embers of ruby light.
[ZENITH ALPHA FORM - PARTIAL SYNC: 15%]
He spent the next "six hours" (one hour of real-time) fighting holographic versions of Ignis Valerion. He died a dozen times. The dragon-fire was relentless. The dragon's tail was like a whip of jagged iron.
But every time he died, the System recorded the data.
[ANALYSIS]: Dragon Heir moves with a 0.5 second delay before breath attacks. Tail sweep follows a clockwise arc.
By the time he exited the Den, Nikolas was exhausted, but his eyes were sharp. He looked at the greaves Jax had made.
I'll wear them, Nikolas decided. Not because I need them to survive, but because they represent the only thing the High-Class doesn't have: a Pack.
Master Elias, the Archive Keeper, stood by the high window, his silver eyes fixed on the Ash-Pit below. Beside him stood Knight-Instructor Valerius, his arms crossed over his massive chest.
"You really allowed this, Valerius?" Elias asked, his voice like the rustle of old parchment. "A sixteen-year-old Dragon against a ten-year-old Salvatore? It's a slaughter. The Salvatore patriarch will have your head if the boy dies."
"The Salvatore patriarch doesn't care about this boy," Valerius growled. "He's a 'Runt.' If he dies, it's one less stain on the family name. But if he lives..."
"If he lives, he's not a Runt," Elias finished. "I saw him at the pillar. There was a ripple in the mana. It didn't feel like a wolf. It felt like something... older."
"The boy is a cipher," Valerius agreed. "The duel will force him to show his hand. If he has a relic, it will activate. If he has a hidden bloodline, it will shift. I want to see what happens when the 'Lucky Runt' is backed into a corner of fire."
[PERSPECTIVE: NIKOLAS — THE ASH-PIT (HIGH NOON)]
The heat in the Ash-Pit was staggering. It was a circular arena carved into the side of the volcano, the floor covered in a thick layer of grey ash that hid the jagged obsidian spikes beneath.
Thousands of students lined the upper tiers, their voices a dull roar of anticipation.
"Kill the runt!" someone shouted.
"Show him the fire, Valerion!"
Nikolas stepped into the pit. He looked tiny. He wore his standard Academy tunic, with Jax's greaves visible beneath his trousers and Toby's heavy, grey cloak draped over his shoulders.
Opposite him, Valerion was already shifting. His skin was turning into ruby-red scales, his jaw elongating, his eyes glowing with a predatory yellow light. He looked like a god of destruction.
"Final words, Salvatore?" Valerion hissed, smoke curling from his nostrils.
Nikolas looked up. For a split second, he stopped pretending. He didn't slouch. He didn't look scared. He looked directly into the Dragon's eyes, and for the first time, Valerion felt a shiver of genuine, cold dread.
"Don't miss," Nikolas said.
The bell tolled.
Valerion didn't hesitate. He took a deep breath, his chest expanding like a bellows, and unleashed a torrent of blue-white fire that turned the ash into molten glass.
Nikolas didn't run. He didn't hide. He moved.
[SKILL ACTIVATION: VANGUARD'S REFLEX]
[SKILL ACTIVATION: SHADOW-STEP (RANK 1)]
To the crowd, it looked like Nikolas vanished into the fire. A collective gasp went through the stadium. But a second later, a small, dark shape erupted from the smoke, flying through the air with impossible speed.
Nikolas wasn't shifted. He was still a ten-year-old human. But he was moving at Level 6 agility.
He landed on Valerion's back.
"What—!?" Valerion roared, trying to shake him off.
Nikolas grabbed the Dragon's neck, his fingers digging into the gaps between the scales. He felt the heat searing his palms, but the [Alpha Buff] held his pain at bay.
He didn't use a knife. He didn't use a spell. He used the one thing Jax and Mina had taught him: Leverage.
He drove his elbow into the soft spot behind the Dragon's jaw—the exact point Mina had told him was the "Vulnerability of the Throat."
Valerion's fire caught in his throat. He choked, the blue flames sputtering. Nikolas used the momentum to kick off, spinning in mid-air.
As he fell, he activated a Partial Shift.
Only his right arm changed. It didn't grow fur, but it surged with a terrifying, dark-red energy. To the Masters in the tower, it looked like a desperate burst of "Blood-Burst" magic—a common Salvatore trait.
He struck Valerion in the chest.
BOOM.
The shockwave cleared the ash from the pit. Valerion, a sixteen-year-old Dragon, was sent skidding backward across the floor, his scales cracked, his breath gone.
Nikolas landed on his feet, his arm returning to normal before anyone could see the claws. He was gasping, his face pale, his "human" body trembling from the strain.
The stadium was silent.
Valerion struggled to his feet, his pride wounded worse than his chest. "You... you little... I'll burn the whole mountain down!"
He prepared for a second, larger breath attack, his wings unfurling to their full extent.
"Enough!"
Knight Valerius leaped from the tower, landing between the two boys with the force of a falling meteor. The shockwave of his landing extinguished Valerion's fire instantly.
"The duel is over," Valerius barked, his eyes fixed on Nikolas. "Salvatore landed a clean blow. By the laws of the Academy, his Gold Rank is confirmed."
Valerion snarled, but he knew better than to challenge a Knight. He shifted back into his human form, spitting blood onto the ash. "This isn't over, Salvatore. You got lucky. Again."
He stormed out of the pit, his followers trailing behind him in shocked silence.
Nikolas stood there, his legs shaking. He saw the Runt Squad leaning over the railing, Jax and Mina screaming his name, Toby pumping a fist in the air.
He had won. But as he looked up at the Master's tower, he saw Master Elias staring at him with an expression that wasn't admiration. It was curiosity.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]:
[QUEST COMPLETE: THE DRAGON'S CHALLENGE]
[EXP GAINED]: 800 EXP.
[LEVEL UP!]: Level 7.
[WARNING]: Your 'Partial Shift' has been recorded. The Masters will now monitor your bloodline for 'Anomalous Growth'.
Nikolas walked out of the pit, his small hand gripping the cloak Toby had made for him. He had protected his secrets, and he had protected his rank. But he knew the "Runt" label was gone forever.
Now, he was something much more dangerous: a Threat.
"Good job, Niko," Kael's voice echoed in his mind as the squad rushed toward him.
"Yeah," Nikolas whispered