022 THE STOLEN RING
Damen walked toward the principal's office, summoned for a meeting.
The hallway outside buzzed with activity—people he'd never seen before filled the space. He frowned, assuming he'd have to wait in line.
"Damn it… this is going to eat up my whole afternoon," he muttered under his breath.
But before long, the secretary glanced up and waved him over.
"Damen, go right in. The principal is waiting for you," she said.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, straightening his posture as he entered.
The office was even more crowded than the hall. Teachers, administrators, and strangers stood around chatting. Among them, he spotted Miss Poney.
"That woman's going to cause me trouble again?" Damen thought, bracing himself.
But to his surprise, Miss Poney approached with a beaming smile instead.
"Congratulations, Damen! You scored a perfect mark on the aptitude test. Only four people in all of Melrose City this year achieved this," she said warmly.
Damen blinked, stunned by her sudden shift in attitude. The same woman who had dismissed him now acted as though he were royalty.
"So that's how it is," he thought. "In this world, strength and success always have the final word."
"Uh… huh," he replied, still processing.
"Oh, Damen, over here," Principal Dean called from across the room.
He gratefully escaped the awkwardness with Miss Poney and crossed to the principal.
"Yes, Principal," he greeted respectfully.
"Damen," Dean said with a smile, "these are recruiters from various high schools. They're here to meet you personally and discuss admission options."
A tall man stepped forward first, with his hand extended.
"Hi, Damen. I'm Stone from Melrose High School No. 11. We're one of the top Meta High Schools in the city. We can offer you a full scholarship with unlimited access to our training facilities. Ninety percent of our graduates go on to become Heroes—some even Superheroes," he said with a confident smile.
Before Damen could respond, another man shouldered his way in.
"I'm General Kang from the Military High School of Melrose," he declared.
"We offer a full scholarship, a starting salary, and unlimited training resources. Our graduates become leaders—the pillars of society. Even the city's governor is an alumnus."
One after another, recruiters took turns presenting their offers.
"Thanks for the offers," Damen said politely, again and again. "I'll think about it."
He couldn't help adding under his breath, "My theory exam results aren't even out yet… but look at this. Nobody cares about theory…they only care about aptitude and Meta scores."
The afternoon stretched into evening.
Damen was exhausted but exhilarated.
All his life he'd been looked down on by his family and society, treated like trash. Now he was being courted like a prodigy, a godsend.
He thought back to the start of it all—the DemCoin mining app.
It was a real puzzle. "Who gave me that phone?" he wondered. "It definitely didn't come from the school."
Maybe someone had been helping him in secret all along, answering his unspoken pleas.
A guardian angel? But then he thought of how the app hurt people.
"No," he decided. "Not an angel. A guardian devil is more likely."
-----
When the meeting ended, Damen found Mikey waiting outside the principal's office.
"Mikey, why are you still here?" Damen asked.
Mikey looked down, sadness clouding his face. He hesitated before speaking. "Damen… I don't think I'll be joining you in high school."
With his results, Damen could get into any high school in the city. To him, it didn't matter which one he attended.
Mikey, on the other hand, was his best friend—his only friend.
"Where are you going?" Damen asked quickly. "I'll come with you. I can enroll in any school I want."
Mikey forced a smile, tears welling in his eyes.
"Of course you can. You're a genius. But where I'm going… you can't follow."
Damen's chest tightened. "Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving the city," Mikey said softly. "And I probably won't come back."
The words hit Damen like a stone.
He hadn't expected this. His only friend—leaving. Just like that. The world suddenly felt much emptier.
Still, he swallowed his disappointment and forced himself to smile.
"I can't leave Melrose City right now," he said. "But one day I will. And when I do… I'll find you. We're friends forever, no matter where we end up."
Mikey wiped his tears and nodded. "You're right."
He sent a contact file to Damen's phone. "That's how to reach me in Solar City."
Damen saved it.
Without another word, Mikey turned and walked away.
Damen watched him go, his heart heavy, as if an entire chapter of his life had quietly closed. Everyone he cared about was gone now.
He was alone.
Yet somewhere beneath the weight of loss, something else stirred.
A future.
He had perfect grades. A secret DemCoin mining app running quietly in the background.
And a path forward—one he would walk by himself.
------
Damen left the school grounds. For most students, that meant going home. But he had no home waiting for him.
"Huh… right. Forgot I don't even have a place to go," he muttered bitterly, hands stuffed in his pockets as he wandered aimlessly.
Lost in thought, he drifted into one of the alleys behind the school—the same alley where he had taken down Stephan King and his gang.
The air there was colder, heavier, carrying the stench of smoke and rust.
Then, a prickle ran down his spine.
His senses had sharpened ever since his Meta and Command scores improved. He froze, instantly aware of danger.
He sensed several figures lingered up ahead.
Damen slipped behind a tree, narrowing his eyes.
"This is the third time Big Boss asked us to check this dump. There's nothing here but a broken road," one of them complained.
"Gangsters," Damen thought grimly. "And they're searching for something."
"Mad Cat's been dead a long time," another said. "Anything he had is probably gone."
"Shut up," their leader snapped.
"The night Mad Cat died, he was with Stephan. This was Stephan's hideout. There has to be a connection. Big Boss wants this for a reason."
Damen's pulse quickened. "Mad Cat? What could they want from him?"
He remembered checking the body himself. Aside from a few Aur cards and worthless junk, Mad Cat had nothing of value.
Then it hit him.
"The ring," Damen whispered to himself. "Could that be it?" Mad Cat had a ring on him which looked expensive. Damen kept it.
Questions raced through his mind.
"What does the ring do? Why is it so important? Could it be… a treasure?"
Damen was just about to slip away when more footsteps echoed into the alley.
"Did you find it?" A bulky man stepped forward, his chest half-bared beneath leather straps. Behind him came a pack of thugs and a few scantily dressed women, likely dragged in from a local bar for show.
"Big Boss, we found nothing," one thug reported nervously.
"Nothing?" the man roared. "Idiots! I've sent out half the city, and none of you can find a damned ring?"
"Maybe another gang already took it," someone muttered.
"Impossible," Big Boss snapped. "I spoke to every rival gang myself. None of them killed Mad Cat. This wasn't their work."
A sudden gust whipped down the alley, making Damen's hair stir.
In the blink of an eye, several knife-wielding thugs materialized around him, cutting off every escape. They'd used Flash Dash—the same trick Mad Cat had pulled.
Damen's pulse spiked.
Big Boss turned and narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
Damen raised his hands and forced a shaky laugh. "I—I'm just a middle school student. Took a wrong turn after class and came here… that's all."
"He's just a kid," one of the thugs said, noting Damen's school uniform.
But Big Boss's scowl didn't ease. His instincts told him not to trust so easily.
"He heard us talking, we can't let that out in the open," he growled. "Kill him."
"What?!" Damen shouted. "You're gonna kill me for no bloody reason?!"