The Crimson Hall was suffocating. The air was thick with the scent of expensive perfumes from the noble students and the underlying metallic tang of raw mana being channeled into the testing stone.
Kaelen Vance stood in the long line of seventeenth-year-olds, his face a mask of calm. But inside, his mind was a battlefield. Every time he glanced at the royal dais and saw Elara—young, vibrant, and alive—a surge of protective fury boiled in his chest. In the future he came from, she had died in his arms, her golden radiance extinguished by the Void Emperor.
Not this time, he vowed. This time, I will be the one who stands between you and the darkness.
"Move it, commoner!" A sharp shove against his shoulder broke his train of thought.
Kaelen didn't stumble. His body, though young, moved with the ingrained reflexes of a master swordsman. He shifted his weight, and the boy who had pushed him—a tall, arrogant noble named Silas—nearly lost his balance.
"Watch where you're going, Vance," Silas hissed, his face reddening. Silas was the son of a minor Baron and had spent three years at the academy making Kaelen's life a living hell. "You're blocking the path for your betters. Why are you even in this line? Everyone knows your mana circuits are as clogged as a sewer pipe. You'll be lucky if the stone even flickers."
The surrounding students, mostly minor nobles, chuckled. They remembered Kaelen as the quiet, hardworking boy who could barely light a fireplace with his magic.
Kaelen looked at Silas. In his past life, he would have looked at his boots and apologized. Now, he looked directly into Silas's eyes. It was a cold, predatory gaze that stopped the laughter in the hall. It was the look of a man who had killed demons three times Silas's size.
"The only thing that's clogged, Silas, is your brain," Kaelen said, his voice quiet but carrying a strange authority. "Move before I move you."
Silas froze. He wanted to shout, to strike out, but something about the steel in Kaelen's sea-storm eyes made his blood run cold. He stepped back, muttering a curse under his breath.
The Test Begins
"Next! Kaelen Vance!" the instructor shouted.
The hall went silent. Even Princess Elara, who had been half-distracted by a report from her guards, leaned forward slightly. She sensed a shift in the atmosphere, a sudden pressure in the air that shouldn't be coming from a 'rank-D' student.
Kaelen stepped onto the raised platform. The Aurelius Stone stood before him, a jagged, six-foot-tall crystal that hummed with ancient energy. It was designed to measure three things: Mana Quantity, Mana Purity, and Elemental Affinity.
Most students managed a 'Blue' glow (Low) or 'Green' (Average). Only a rare few, like the Princess, could turn it 'Gold.'
Kaelen reached out. But he didn't just touch the stone. He began the 'Sovereign's internal Pulse'—a breathing technique he had discovered in the ruins of the Sun Goddess's temple years into the future. It was a technique that didn't just use the mana in the air; it pulled the dormant energy from the very cells of his body.
The moment his skin touched the cold crystal, Kaelen felt the stone try to probe his circuits.
You want to see what's inside? Kaelen thought with a grim smile. Then behold the soul of a Sovereign.
He released the dam.
For three seconds, there was absolute silence. Then, a low vibration started under the floor. The chandeliers in the hall began to rattle. The blue light of the stone didn't just brighten—it turned a blinding, violent Silver.
Crrraaaack!
A fissure appeared on the surface of the indestructible stone. Then another.
"Back away!" the Headmaster shouted, rising from his seat.
A pillar of silver lightning erupted from the crystal, shooting straight up into the vaulted ceiling. It shattered the stained-glass windows, raining colorful shards down like diamonds. The pressure in the room was so high that students in the front row were forced to their knees.
Kaelen stood at the center of the storm, his dark hair whipping around his face. His silver mana wasn't just magic; it was Divine Essence, the power of the Gods that he had touched during the Chronos Rite.
As the light finally died down, the hall was left in a stunned, suffocating silence. The Aurelius Stone, which had stood for five hundred years, was now covered in cracks, its core glowing with a soft, pulsing silver light.
The instructor's clipboard fell from his trembling hands. "Mana Quantity... Immeasurable. Purity... Perfect. Affinity... Lightning and... something else. Something I've never seen."
Kaelen pulled his hand back and looked toward the royal dais.
Princess Elara was standing now, her hands gripped tightly on the railing. Her eyes were wide, reflecting the silver glow of the boy on the platform. For the first time in this life, she truly saw him.
Kaelen didn't wait for the applause or the questions. He turned and walked off the stage, past the trembling Silas, and straight toward the exit.
"Vance! Where are you going?" the Headmaster called out, his voice a mix of awe and suspicion.
Kaelen stopped at the door, glancing back over his shoulder. "The test is over, isn't it? I have a lot of work to do."
As he stepped out into the sunlight, Liora ran up to him, her face pale. "Kaelen! What was that? You... you almost blew up the hall! Since when do you have silver mana?"
Kaelen looked at his childhood friend and felt a rare, genuine smile touch his lips. "Since I decided that I'm tired of losing, Liora. Get ready. The world is about to get very loud."
But as he walked, Kaelen felt a sharp pang in his chest. Forcing his young body to channel Divine Essence had a price. His mana circuits were screaming in agony. He needed a Spirit Herb to heal, and he knew exactly where one was hidden—in the Forbidden Forest behind the academy.
He also knew that Silas and his cronies wouldn't let this go. They would come for him tonight, thinking his 'freak accident' had left him weak.
Let them come, Kaelen thought, his eyes sharpening. The Silver Lion is no longer in a cage.