027 META HIGH SCHOOL NO.2
The boy's eyes narrowed when he saw them.
"Zairgid Aukuoma? You don't need to use this place. You've got better equipment than all of us! Why steal our resources?" he screamed.
Meditating inside the Meta-Amplifying Room was one of the most valuable resources the school offered. It was the fastest, most reliable way to sharpen one's meta aptitude, so every session was treasured by the students.
Because the chamber had limited seats, student access was strictly rationed. Every hour counted.
But Damen's case was different.
He held an unlimited pass—a privilege that let him stay as long as he wished. Word of it spread quickly through the student body, and envy soon followed.
Many who struggled to secure their allotted time began to simmer with resentment, their jealousy quietly building into unrest.
Zairgid slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet. His voice was calm, but carried sharp weight. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?"
"I… I'm Kalem Veyran," the burly student stammered.
Zairgid's expression turned cold. "House of Veyran? Why would the Veyran family beg for scraps here? Are you one of their bloody bastards?"
"Me… me…" Kalem faltered, his face burning with humiliation.
Zairgid's words hit home.
The Veyran family was a major family, and their heirs do not need the equipment in school, but Kalem was a bastard child of the Veyran bloodline, given little recognition and fewer resources.
That was why the school's facilities mattered so much to him—his family had denied him access to their own equipment.
Damen overheard the exchange and recognized the name Veyran immediately. He'd once crossed paths with a girl from that family.
Setting the thought aside, he leaned toward Zairgid. "Hey buddy, do you have an unlimited pass too?"
Zairgid smiled faintly, almost sheepish. "No… but I rarely use this place. Think of it as payback for all the times I left my slot unused."
Damen didn't press the issue, but Kalem and his followers weren't about to let it slide.
"And you—who the hell are you?" Kalem sneered, turning his scorn on Damen. "You're not an Aukuoma. What right do you have to hog our amplifying time?"
Damen simply pointed to himself. "Me? I've got an unlimited pass."
A murmur rippled through the students.
"Unlimited pass?" they whispered among themselves.
"How can that even exist?" Kalem shouted in disbelief.
"It's true," one of the guards confirmed reluctantly. "He's been granted unlimited access to the Meta Amplifying Theatre."
"That's so unfair!" the students protested.
Zairgid's expression hardened. "This guy Kalem is a troublemaker. If we don't put him in his place now, he'll just keep hounding us."
He stepped forward, ready to fight.
But Damen placed a hand on his shoulder. "No need. He's after me, not you. I'll deal with him."
Zairgid frowned. "Really? You only just graduated Middle High. Have you even trained in meta skills yet? Kalem may be a bastard but he has family training… he's not some pushover."
"I'm not a pushover either," Damen said coolly. A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Besides my godly stats, I'm godly also."
Kalem snarled. "You bastard! Don't hide behind guards, face me yourself!"
"I was hoping you'd say that," Damen replied.
Kalem charged with a roar. "You've never tasted death—I'll show you!"
The crowd braced for their impact and made way for their clash.
But in the blink of an eye, Kalem's body was hurled across the chamber, slamming into the far wall with a bone-cracking thud. He crumpled to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth, his back bent at a sickening angle.
Damen just reached the spot Kalem was before and stood there still.
Zairgid rushed over, wide-eyed. "What meta skill was that? I've never seen anything like it."
Damen grinned. "I call it… Bull Smash."
In truth, there was no such skill.
Damen had combined Flash Dash with his Summon Shield through training, activating his shield while he flashed. This turned his charge into an unstoppable shield slam that Kalem couldn't endure.
Zairgid's gaze lingered on Damen with newfound respect. "No wonder you were last year's top scorer… with perfect marks. You are a true genius."
Damen turned toward the exit.
He already lost interest in the place. Compared to the advanced meta amplification gear at Heroes' Gym, the amplifier here felt weak, almost worthless.
"The unlimited pass is a dud," he muttered. "Not worth coming back here again."
Damen and Zairgid stepped past Kalem Veyran's crumpled body while the guards stood frozen in shock. Foam dribbled from Kalem's mouth as the paramedics were hastily summoned.
Damen didn't so much as glance back while the rest of the students watch him go…stunned and shocked. They've never seen a student fight so viciously.
And after flattening Kalem in a single move, Damen knew he owed no explanation. Kalem was the one who must explain – "Why is he so weak?"
Here, power was the only law that mattered.
He strode out of the chamber with steady, unhurried steps, unconcerned about the fallout of what he had just done. In this school, there were no apologies for strength—
-Only respect for it.
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The next day was Orientation Day for the newly admitted students. They were gathered on the vast practice field, where a temporary stage had been erected for the event.
The principal stepped onto the stage and addressed the crowd.
"Welcome to Melrose Meta High School No. 2. I am your principal, Fayram Misk. Before we continue, let me explain how our school works. High School here is very different from Middle School. There are no 'year levels' and no fixed duration. If you are a genius, you could graduate after just one semester. At the end of every semester, all students are tested. Those who fail to meet the minimum requirement will be expelled. Those who exceed a threshold will graduate."
Damen finally understood what it meant to be in this kind of school.
Aside from the mandatory theory courses in the first few months, the rest of a student's time here was consumed by relentless training.
The true goal wasn't academics—it was raising their aptitude scores, especially their Meta scores. Once a student reached the required threshold, they could graduate and claim the title of "Hero."
There was no hierarchy of seniority in this school.
Some students had been here more than a decade without qualifying to graduate, while others managed it in a single year.
This was not a school for learning knowledge—it was a forge for superpowers.
Suddenly, the orientation was disrupted when someone screamed out, "I want to challenge Damen Dark."
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