Ardyn Veylith was watching from above, his arms were crossed.

He had now stopped to pretend like he was watching it casually.

Each time Adam was using his power's, Ardyn felt an echo, a pull, it was faint, distant, but yet familiar at the same time.

It felt like dragon blood, but it was far more ancient than his one.

That thought alone was enough to unsettle him.

"A dragon pretending to be human," he murmured. "With such an ancient bloodline that even the council doesn't know of?"

One of the dragon attendants leaned closer, it was the one Adam battled before. "Should we inform them, the council?"

Ardyn just shook his head. "No, not yet."

His gaze then hardened.

"Let's see how far he can hide this."

***

The cult wasn't celebrating.

They weren't even rushing.

They were just waiting.

Deep underground, the robed figures were busy adjusting the conduits of corrupted mana, they weren't injecting power directly, but they were redirecting natural overflow that was from the competition above.

The fear. Ambition. Rivalry.

It all leaked downward.

Seal Integrity: 85%

A low hum was spreading through the whole chamber.

One of the cultists spoke quietly. "It seems the academy still hasn't noticed."

Another also replied, "They Won't. They might have already noticed. But they won't act until the threshold is crossed."

No names were being spoken.

There weren't any chants.

Only patience.

***

Adam was sitting alone in his dorm room that night, his eyes were closed, and his breathing was steady.

"I should check the system notifications I've been dismissing." He murmured.

[Ding!]

[Side Mission Completed: Become Number One In The First Phase Of The Competition]

[Rewards: +200 Stats, +15'000 SP]

[Side Mission Completed: Win The Second Phase Of The Competition As Number One]

[Rewards: +200 Stats, +15'000 SP]

"Looks like I gained a lot I should use all of them to raise my stats... Status."

---

STATUS SCREEN

Host: Adam von Athelion

Race: Primordial Royal Dragon

Age: 16

Level: 50 [500'000/1'000'000]

Class: Dragon Sovereign

Rank: A+

Talent: EX

Bloodline: Primordial Dragon Bloodline

Physique: Dragon God Physique

Affinity: Space, Ice, Fire, Wind

Title: Bastard Son, Dragon Sovereign, Dragon God's Heir, Child Of The Primordial

HP: 18'000 / 18'000

MP: 18'000 / 18'000 [+???]

[STATS]

Strength: 1'700 n 1'900

Speed: 1'750 'n 1'950

Stamina: 1'500

Constitution: 1'600 'n 1'800

Intelligence: 1'800

Free Stat Points: 0

SP: 80'000

[CLASS SKILLS]

• Dragon Sovereign's Swordsmanship (A+/EX Rank, Passive)

• Dragon Sovereign's Mana Cultivation (S Rank, 1st, 2nd of Four Pieces)

• Dragonic Summoning (SSS Rank, Active)

---

[SYSTEM SHOP]

[FUSION]

[SKILLS]

• Dragonis Swordsmanship (D Rank, Passive)

• Regeneration (SS Rank, Passive)

• Dragon Transformation (SS Rank, Active)

• Dragon Roar (SS Rank, Active)

• Dragon Breath (S Rank, Active)

• Partial Transformation (S Rank, Active)

• Sovereign's Aura (S Rank, Passive/Active)

• Space Slash (D Rank, Active)

• Collapse (S Rank, Active)

• Status Immunity (S Rank, Passive)

• ???

• Fire World Domain (S+ rank, Active)

• Ice Word Domain (S+ rank, Active)

• Wind World Domain (S+ rank, Active)

• Teleportation (SS rank, Active)

---

[INVENTORY]

• Sword of Bahamut (A Rank, Growth-Type Weapon)

• Dragon Sovereign Armor (A Rank, Growth-Type Armor)

• ???

---

"Okay good enough, even if I don't have back up stat points." He said. "After the third phase I'll gain more so that should be enough."

"Soon I might breakthrough to S-rank, doing that in my first year.... it must be due to my EX Rank talent."

Adam closed his status window and decided to meditate until the next day, he wasn't cultivating just meditating to calm his mind.

And tomorrow the next phase will begin.

***

The announcement for the next phase of the competition came at dawn.

Every screen that was across the academy lit up all at once, it the dorm halls, the courtyards, and even the floating sigils that were above the training grounds.

The was a familiar emblem of the Inter-Racial Competition were rotating slowly before they dissolved into text.

Phase Three: Survival Convergence

Duration: 72 Hours

Environment: Shared Gate Domain

Rules: Alliances are permitted. Elimination is by incapacitation or withdrawal.

Scoring: It will be based on survival, contribution, and by threat suppression.

A low murmur was spreading across the academy.

This was no longer about duels or even controlled matches.

This was a war simulation.

The gate has opened above the central arena.

Unlike the phases that have already ended, this gate was enormous.

It was wide enough to shallow the whole stadium. The interior was shimmering with unstable colors, the terrain was shifting even before entry.

Adam was standing with his faction, his eyes were fixed on the distortion.

"This isn't a natural gate," Katherine said quietly.

Azazel just cracked his neck. "Well none of them are, usually."

Adam didn't respond to their comments. His was more focused on the deeper terrain that was past the visible one, it was last the mana turbulence.

And there was something old inside the gate. And it was irritated.

And one by one, the factions were pulled in, they were scattered deliberately across the whole domain.

Adam's vision finally cleared, he now found himself standing on top of a fractured stone ridge, it was overlooking a ruined basin.

There were blackened structures that were jutted from the ground, they were like broken rotten teeth.

Ash was drifting through the air, yet the ground that he was standing on with his boots was cold.

Ice and fire mana were overlapping.

This was a bad sign.

Seal Integrity: 87%

The team didn't have to wait for long.

A roar was echoing through the whole basin, it was something massive that crawled beneath the collapsed tower, it had six legs, played with obsidian chitin, its eyes were burning with a dull crimson light.

"This is an A-rank monster," Katherine said sharply. "But this one is mutated, seems to be Mid A-rank approaching the Peak."

Adam just summoned his sword from his inventory. "Well it won't roar again, I'll make sure of that."

The fight was a bit brutal, but it wasn't hard to finish.

Adam was pinning down its movements using his spatial compression.

Azazel was burning through its exposed joints.

Bramdor was absorbing its counterattacks head-one, he used his equipment to counter every strike.

And when it fell, the ground twitched.

Adam then frowned.

"Fuck, seems like there's more of them."

And by the second hour of the clock, more factions began colliding.

Some of them cashed.

While others were negotiating to make temporary alliances.

Adam's group the encountered faction three, this one was led by an Elven spellblade named Faelir Moonbranch (A-rank). Their conversation was tense but brief.

"We don't really trust humans," Faelir said flatly.

Adam met his gaze calmly. "Then just leave. I don't care about you not trusting us."

Faelir frowned, he knew that having fraction seven fight together with them was the better option.

So they fought together anyway, because their survival demanded it.

***

Far below the battlefield.

Far beneath the whole gate domain, the seal was responding.

It wasn't violent, not yet at least.

With the constant suppression of monsters, the overlapping mana detonations, and the sustained output of the high-ranked awakened, all of it was fed downward, it was like pressure through a funnel.

The ancient runes dimmed.

The cracks were forming, they were not large, but they were enough.

Seal Integrity: 89%

A whisper was echoing through the dark.

It wasn't a voice, it was just a thought.

***

Ardyn was standing at the edge of the observation platform, his scales were faintly shimmering beneath his cloak.

The longer that Adam was battling, the clearer it became.

He was also a dragon.

But not a normal one, it was something ancient.

It was something that understood dominance the very same way the dragons did.

"Maybe this competition," he muttered. "Was a mistake."

***

The gate domain wasn't a true sun, but its light dimmed regardless.

The monsters were growing older.

The terrain was shifting.

Adam was standing watch while the others were resting, his sword was resting against his shoulder.

He now felt it clearly.

The pressure that came from below.

The thing that was waiting.

And for the very first time since he was in the academy, Adam had a feeling of anticipation.

It wasn't from fear.

It wasn't from recognition.

But from excitement, his primordial dragon bloodline was welcoming the challenge.

The first screams were echoing throughout the gate domain, it was long before anyone had understood what they meant.

These weren't the panicked cries of students that were caught off guard by the monsters.

These ones were sharp, they were cut short, they were severed mid-breath, it was like candles that were snuffed out by the unseen wind.

Adam had felt it instantly.

The air and twisted.

It wasn't from mana pressure.

It wasn't from killing intent.

It was from absence.

Adam straightened himself, his eyes were snapping towards the western ruins. "Okay everyone get up, we gotta go."

Selena was already on her gett, there was a look of concern on her face.

Bromdur was the one who rose next, runes were glimmering fairly on his equipment.

Katherine narrowed her eyes, sensing that something was wrong.

"So what is it?" Azazel asked.

Adam didn't answer him immediately, he just placed two fingers against the air.

The slave responded.

And then his expression hardened.

"A whole faction, just got massacred."

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