"Sit down. Today's lesson will be something that will change your lives!"
A new teacher stepped onto the stage, his words calm yet carrying a domineering weight that commanded instant obedience.
Unlike the general-type teacher from the previous day, this man looked more like a refined, high-ranking bureaucrat, wearing a crisp, ivory coat over a dark tactical suit. The chatter in the room died instantly as everyone moved to their seats.
John had slipped into his usual spot at the back twenty minutes before the teacher arrived. Luke was already there, waving him over. The tall student began talking about various academy rumours, but John barely heard a word. His focus was locked on the door.
Finally, she entered. The brown-haired girl walked in.
"Her?" Luke whispered, noticing John's intense gaze. "That's Cissel. She's a cold-blooded btch! I tried to introduce myself after the admission test, and she just glared at me like I was a piece of trash and walked away without a single word. Don't waste your time; she's got a heart of ice."
"Cissel," John repeated under his breath. He had a name now. 'I'll find your file tonight, Cissel, and I'll dig up everything you're trying so hard to hide.'
As if she possessed psychic powers, Cissel's head snapped toward the back of the room. She pinned John with a threatening, razor-sharp glance. The timing was so perfect that it startled him. Was it just a high-level intuition, or was she actually able to read minds?
However, the arrival of another student drew her attention away from him. Ricky entered the classroom, moving with his usual unsettling composure. Cissel didn't play favourites; she shifted her icy glare to Ricky, treating him with the same hostility she had shown John. Ricky, for his part, simply ignored her, taking a seat among the elites.
"Look who decided to crawl out of the infirmary," Luke muttered in a purposefully loud, mocking tone.
Alfred had appeared at the door, trailing behind the elite group. He looked terrible, with several thick bandages wrapped around his forearms and head. He tried to glare back at Luke, but the moment his eyes met John's calm, steady gaze, he flinched and hurriedly looked away.
The group retreated to the furthest possible corner of the room, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the "zero-score" monster.
"Today's lesson will be about this."
The teacher didn't waste time on pleasantries. He reached into a small, padded bag and pulled out a glass bottle. It was small enough to fit in a palm but large enough to be placed in a pocket. Inside, a shimmering blue liquid.
John's breath halted. The liquid was a perfect match for the substance in the shot Mark had given him, the lethal shot. The same hue, the same ethereal glow.
"This," the teacher said, holding the bottle aloft, "is the superpower-unlocking magic potion. Or 'The Miracle,' as many of you likely know it."
John's eyes went wide. 'The Miracle.' Mark had used that exact nickname. A cold shiver ran down John's spine. His past experience with that blue shot had been a nightmare.
'It can't be the same, right?' he wondered, his mind racing. Was the potion in the game a representation of the drug in the real world, or were they one and the same?
"Can anyone tell me what this potion does?"
Unlike the previous teacher's monotonous data dump way of teaching, this teacher preferred interaction. He scanned the room, inviting participation to keep the students on their toes.
Hands shot up across the room, including Luke's. The tall boy practically vibrated with the need to be called on.
The teacher pointed to a student in the front row. The girl stood up and answered with confidence: "It is used to unlock the human potential—the dormant genes—enabling us to manifest and control superpowers."
"A solid answer," the teacher nodded, swishing the blue liquid gently. "This precious baby can open your genetic locks. However, despite the nickname, it is not pure magic. One must possess the right dormant genes to begin with, or this potion is a total waste."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the students. "That is why the Azure Academy exists. We only select individuals who have the inherent potential to undergo the 'Awakening.' Anyone sitting in this class today can consider themselves part of the luckiest one percent of the human population."
'Liar!' John remarked internally, a sneer forming in his mind.
The teacher's speech was filled with the kind of high-stakes talk meant to inspire loyalty, but John saw through it with ease. 'Potential? Genes? Luck? This is all a lie. Everyone here is just a compilation of code. You don't need "luck" to have powers; you just need the right codes.'
He didn't want to keep looking at that potion, yet his hacker's curiosity won. He decided to give the potion a deeper look. He activated his Frame Recognition ability, and the hidden truth of the "Miracle" was laid bare.
'Just as I imagined!' The potion wasn't just liquid; in his vision, the bottle was packed with the same shimmering codes he had spotted within himself, Cissel, Ricky, and the teachers.
It was a concentrated dose of the special codes. He could tell that by consuming or injecting this substance, a person would obtain a superpower at once.
The special codes within the bottle were white. John then shifted his gaze to examine the body of the teacher.
The special codes within the man were far more numerous than anything John had seen before, outclassing even the teacher from yesterday. Before he could dive into a closer analysis, the teacher's voice rang out, pulling everyone's focus.
"Let me show you what I mean," the teacher said. He didn't stop at just explaining the potion; he decided to provide a live demonstration.
Suddenly, the teacher activated his shimmering codes. Within John's vision, the codes inside the man's body flared. They weren't just shining brighter; they were humming like a swarm of bees.
There was a distinct rhythm to their movement. John watched, mesmerised, wondering if his own white codes performed the same synchronised dance whenever he triggered an ability.
'He is far stronger than I,' John realised instantly. The intensity of the teacher's light was blinding, the humming rhythm radiated a dreadful pressure, and the colour was a deep, electric blue that made John's white codes look like dim embers by comparison.
'So when someone with these codes activates their powers, the codes brighten and move in a specific rhythm... Interesting.' John made a mental note.
While John saw the mechanics, the rest of the class saw a display of raw, terrifying majesty. Arcs of blue lightning began to dance wildly around the teacher's body. It gave everyone a scare; in that moment, the refined teacher looked as deadly as a primordial monster.
"Now, let's talk business, shall we?"
The teacher retracted his power as quickly as he had summoned it. The wild lightning vanished instantly.
"To gain one of these miraculous drugs, you will need to gather one thousand points over your academy years. However, I am prepared to offer one of you one-fifth of that total sum right now. It will go to the winner of a sparring competition between everyone in this class."
The words landed like a bomb. A collective hiss of surprise and shock filled the classroom. The teacher smiled in satisfaction at the chaotic response. "Now, let's head to the sparring hall. Follow me!"
The teacher didn't wait for a second, and neither did the students. They scrambled out of their seats, following him with a mixture of greed and nervous excitement.
Luke was no exception, his eyes wide with the prospect of the 200-point prize. John had to endure a few minutes of Luke's hyperactive chatter as they moved to a different building.
During the walk, John scanned his surroundings. As he expected, Cissel and Ricky showed no excitement at all. Cissel walked with her usual cold detachment, while Ricky maintained a mask of calm indifference. They already had their special codes; they didn't need the potion as much as the others did.
"Now, let's set some rules," the teacher announced as they entered a sparring hall.
It was a massive, spacious arena, far larger than the testing room John had first appeared in. The teacher stood in the centre of the reinforced floor, motioning for the students to move the training dolls and equipment to the side.
"No killing is allowed, and no use of weapons of any sort. If you are a lucky bastard who has already unlocked a portion of your potential, you can use your special powers in the fight.
A match is over whenever one participant loses consciousness or forfeits. Once challenged, you cannot say no.
You cannot fight the same person twice, and you cannot issue a challenge after suffering two consecutive losses—though you can still receive them from others. As for scoring: three points for a win, while a defeat results in a minus one point."
The teacher paused, letting the competition system sink into their minds, before adding a final, stinging motivator.
"The student with the highest score wins the points toward the potion. In return, the student with the lowest score will be assigned as the night guard for three whole buildings tonight!"