The Royal Awakening Academy was exactly as Caelum remembered—arrogant, cold, and divided by rank. As he walked through the stone corridors, the familiar whispers followed him like a plague.
"Look, it's the F-Rank trash," someone snickered.
Caelum didn't even turn his head. In his past life, these insults would have stung. Now, they were just background noise. He had seen gods bleed; the barking of children meant nothing to him.
[NOTICE: SCANNING ENVIRONMENT...]
[DETECTION: 142 WEAK MANA SIGNATURES. 1 SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR (LEVEL 45).]
Caelum stood in the center of the training hall, where the heavy iron doors suddenly burst open. A group of men in silver robes—the Academy Sentinels—marched in, led by a tall woman with eyes as sharp as ice. It was High Mage Elara, the woman who, in Caelum's past life, had been the one to sign his exile papers.
"Who caused the mana surge during the test?" Elara demanded, her mana radiating like a physical pressure that made the other students gasp for breath.
Instructor Kael pointed a shaking finger at Caelum. "Him. Caelum Thorne. An F-Rank who just... broke the testing pillar."
Elara's gaze locked onto Caelum. She raised her hand, and a circle of complex geometric runes appeared in the air. "Identity Verification Scan. Execute."
A beam of blue light shot toward Caelum. In his past life, this scan would have revealed every secret of his mana core. But now, he saw the code behind the light.
[ACTION: ACTIVATE 'GHOST ENCRYPTION' BUG]
[SIMULATING DATA: MASKING TRUE MANA DENSITY...]
The blue light hit him and stayed there. The runes in the air began to spin frantically, turning from blue to a deep, warning red.
"What is this?" Elara muttered, her composure breaking. "Why can't the scan read him? It's like... there's a hole in the world where he should be."
Caelum took a step forward, the pressure of Elara's mana not affecting him in the slightest. "You're looking for a mage, High Mage Elara. But maybe you should be looking for a ghost."
He leaned in closer, whispering only for her to hear, "The System has a backdoor, Elara. And I'm the one holding the key."
Before she could react, Caelum turned and walked out of the hall. He didn't need to stay. He had already planted the seed of fear.
As he stepped out into the sunlight, a new notification flashed before his eyes:
[GLOBAL QUEST TRIGGERED: THE KING'S RETURN]
[OBJECTIVE: REACH LEVEL 20 WITHOUT BEING DETECTED BY THE OVERSEERS]
[REWARD: UNLOCK 'SYSTEM DELETION' PERK]
Caelum looked at the sky and smiled. The gods thought they were playing a game. They didn't realize he was about to uninstall it.