[Several days later — Grand Trial examination grounds, outskirts of Verdant City]
Golden light erupted from Ethan’s pores, swirling into a violent vortex centered in his palm. He didn’t care that his target was a Level 33 Goblin Champion, or that two seasoned proctors had already done the heavy lifting. He wasn't here to play fair; he was here to win.
The air hummed with the resonance of a Forbidden Incantation.
"Eternal Aurum Lance!"
Space fractured as an ancient, weathered spear of solid gold manifested in his grip. It radiated a heavy, primordial pressure that made the surrounding air feel thick. Ethan didn't hesitate. With a guttural grunt, he threw his entire weight into a spear-fist thrust. The lance whistled through the air, a golden streak that bypassed the Champion's tattered defenses and punched a hole straight through its skull.
The massive beast went limp instantly, its life force extinguished before it even hit the dirt.
[Party Kill Confirmed: Level 33 Goblin Champion. 220 XP awarded. Item Gained: Symbiosis Sigil.]
"A drop?" Ethan blinked, the golden light fading from his eyes. Monster drops were notoriously rare—statistically negligible in a chaotic environment like this. To see a Sigil materialize from the Champion’s dissipating corpse was a stroke of absurd luck.
But he didn't have time to celebrate. He snatched the loot and bolted.
"Are you fcking kidding me?!" a roar echoed from behind. The proctor holding the heavy axe looked like his head was about to explode. His face turned a shade of purple that matched the bruises on the dead goblin. "Who the hell are you? What department? You don't just swoop in and poach a Level 33 kill!"
Ethan didn't look back. He was already thirty yards away, weaving through the scorched trees.
"Just a Good Samaritan!" Ethan shouted over his shoulder.
"Good Samaritan my ass!" the axe-wielder screamed, lifting his weapon to give chase.
His partner grabbed his shoulder, holding him back. "Forget it. We have a perimeter to maintain. Look at the chaos—protecting the students comes first. I saw his face. We’ll find the little rat later and settle the bill."
"Unbelievable," the axe-wielder spat, pacing like a caged tiger. "We’re all proctors here. There’s a code! You don’t steal a colleague's kill!"
Unbeknownst to them, the "colleague" had already doubled back. Behind a dense thicket, Ethan shed the stolen uniform and proctor ID, leaving them next to the unconscious man he’d borrowed them from. He pulled the Veilshift Mask from his face, feeling the magical tension release. As long as he wasn't wearing that face, those two could search for a century and never find him.
Finally safe, he pulled out the newly acquired loot.
[Symbiosis Sigil: "Hand in hand, life for life." When two Awakened within 10 levels of each other lock fingers and activate the Sigil, all XP earned by either party is fully shared for the next six hours. Note: Can only be linked with one person at a time.]
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. This was a game-changer. He’d planned to ditch Kieran the second the kid hit Level 10, but with this, even Kieran’s clumsy kills would feed Ethan’s growth.
"Locking fingers, though?" Ethan muttered, a grimace flickering across his face. "That’s... intimate."
He found Kieran a few minutes later, and the sight was pathetic. The boy was shrieking, running for his life from a Level 13 Anubis Wraith-Guard. The creature was a nightmare of black smoke and rusted, dust-caked armor, its hollow eyes glowing with a malevolent chill.
Kieran’s face lit up when he saw Ethan. "Ethan! You’re alive! Did the Champion get you? Where is it?"
"Relax. The proctors handled it," Ethan lied smoothly. He stepped forward, reaching out with his hand. Before Kieran could react, Ethan’s fingers slid between his, locking them in a tight, firm grip.
Kieran froze. His pupils dilated, and his entire body went rigid. He’d held hands with plenty of girls, but this—this firm, snake-like grip from a man—was a first.
Even the Anubis Wraith-Guard paused, its smoky head tilting as if trying to process the sudden display of affection on the battlefield.
Kieran’s Adam's apple bobbed. He looked at Ethan, then at their joined hands. Oh god, he thought. Ethan didn't look at a single maid back at the house... Is this why? Is he... into this?
He thought about how Ethan had saved his father. How Ethan had refused to leave him behind. How Ethan had just risked his life to draw away a Level 33 monster. A wave of misplaced, emotional gratitude washed over him.
"Ethan," Kieran whispered, his voice trembling with newfound realization. "I’m sorry I’m a guy. If I weren't, I’d marry you on the spot."
Ethan stared at him, dead-eyed. "Shut up."
He slammed the Sigil's activation. A faint pulse of energy linked their souls, and Ethan immediately shoved Kieran away with enough force to send him stumbling.
"Get away from me. Far away."
Before the Wraith-Guard could recover from its confusion, Ethan swung the Starfall: Heavenscar. A crescent of starlight tore through the air, shattering the rusted armor and evaporating the smoke beneath. The creature vanished into a pile of scrap.
[XP Shared: 140 points awarded to Ethan and Kieran.]
[Mental Resistance: 54]
[Block Rate: 16%]
"Wait... the Symbiosis Sigil?" Kieran gasped, his fear replaced by greed. "Where did you get this? You can't even buy these on the black market!"
"Doesn't matter. We’re splitting up," Ethan said, already turning away. "The Sigil works at a distance. Go kill things. I’ll do the same. Let’s maximize the timer."
Ethan vanished into the ruins, a whirlwind of steel and starlight. With the proctors holding the perimeter against the high-level threats, nothing over Level 25 could get near the examinees. For Ethan, this wasn't a test; it was a harvest.
He moved with cold, mechanical efficiency. He didn’t need his Forbidden Incantations for the small fry. Between the Lifespan Swordsmanship and the massive +300 Strength buff from the Starfall: Heavenscar, he was a god among insects. To keep from drawing too much attention, he played a part: he’d one-shot the weak ones, but "struggled" for a few seconds against the higher levels before delivering a fatal blow.
Whenever he took a scratch, he’d use the healing properties of the Yin-Yang Bracelets to mask the activation of his Undying Constitution. He was a perpetual motion machine of death.
Miles away, Kieran stood in an open field, watching his level bar tick up like a broken stopwatch. He wasn't even fighting. He was just standing there, watching the numbers climb.
"So this is what it feels like," Kieran whispered, awestruck. "Ethan is the one doing all the heavy lifting, and I’m just... here." He felt like a spoiled prince being carried through a warzone by a one-man army.
"Run! The Bloodrage Minotaur is right on our heels!"
"I don't need to outrun the bull! I just need to outrun you!"
Panic had seized a group of a dozen examinees. They were sprinting toward the trial entrance, their faces pale with terror. Behind them, a three-meter-tall mountain of muscle and red fur roared, brandishing a massive double-edged axe. Its skin looked like blood-soaked granite, and its Level 15 aura felt like a physical weight.
Bringing up the rear was a young couple, Finn and Gemma, their hands tightly interlocked.
Gemma’s foot caught a gnarled root. She cried out, hitting the dirt hard.
"Gemma!" Finn skidded to a stop, his face twisting in agony.
The Minotaur was closing in. If he stayed, he’d be disqualified—or worse. If he ran, he’d make it to the portal. The calculation took less than a second.
"Finn, just go!" Gemma sobbed, looking at the looming shadow of the beast. "Save yourself!"
"I'm so sorry!" Finn turned and sprinted away, not looking back once.
Gemma’s heart shattered harder than her ankle. She closed her eyes, waiting for the axe to fall, accepting the end of her dreams.
Then, a voice rang out—sharp, annoyed, and strangely misplaced.
"God, I hate these NTR subplots. Bull-men are the worst."
Flash.
A cold, starlight-infused blade carved through the air. Ethan Lyle didn't even break his stride as he passed. The Minotaur was cleaved perfectly in two, its massive body falling in two symmetrical halves before the blood could even spray.
Gemma stared, her breath hitching as she watched the boy with the starlit sword disappear into the trees without a second glance.
"Gemma! You're okay!" Finn came running back, his face full of fake relief, reaching out to hug her. "Thank god someone killed it! We can still make it to the same university!"
Gemma shoved him away, her eyes cold enough to freeze hell.
"Actually," she said, her voice trembling but firm, "I don't think I want to go to the same school as you anymore. Find someone else to abandon, Finn."
She turned her back on him and limped toward the portal alone.
Similar scenes played out across the entire sector. A Level 12 ram-type monster was about to gore a student when a voice whispered, "Medium-rare with a bit of salt..." before a blade lopped its head off. Students being hunted by shadows suddenly found their pursuers sliced to ribbons by an invisible gale.
On the city walls, Principal Gao and the city officials were staring at the monitors in stunned silence.
The Grand Trial was an annual event, but they had never seen anything like this. Usually, the top tier of students would fight their way to the entrance. They had never seen a student treat the exam grounds like a janitor cleaning a hallway.
"If only he wasn't a Forbidden Incantator," one official sighed, shaking his head. "With that level of dominance... he’d be a legend. A true dragon."
"At least he's clearing the path," Gao noted. "Our passing rate this year is going to be record-breaking. The boy is a one-man escort service."
By 4:00 PM, the outskirts were eerily quiet. A group of "tactical" students who had waited until the last minute to leave the city walls stepped out, weapons drawn.
"See?" their leader smirked, fanning himself. "I told you. Let the idiots go first and clear the monsters. Now we have a clear path to the entrance."
They walked five miles without seeing so much as a stray cat.
On the other side of the zone, Ethan stopped. He looked around. The map was empty. Every red dot on his internal radar had been extinguished. He’d reached Level 18, but the XP requirements for Level 19 were staggering.
[Name: Ethan Lyle]
[Class: Forbidden Incantator]
[Level: 18 (1%)]
[Strength: 180 (+300)]
[Agility: 270]
[Spirit: 540 (+659)]
[Resistance: Physical 17% / Magic 26%]
[HP Regen: 3.7/sec]
"Diminishing returns," Ethan sighed. Hunting the last three hidden monsters wasn't worth the time. "Time to go inside."
He stepped toward the massive gate of shimmering light. The portal hummed with the vibration of high-tier spatial magic. As he crossed the threshold, the world dissolved into white noise and refracted color.
When the light faded, Ethan found himself standing on a colossal Ashstone Plaza. Ten towering pillars rose into the clouds around the perimeter, each etched with glowing, ancient runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. In the center stood a monolith carved with five massive words: THE GRAND TRIAL ARENA.
Ethan looked around, and for the first time, his composure wavered. The plaza was a sea of humanity—thousands upon thousands of Awakened from across the region, all gathered in one place.
"Well," Ethan muttered, his hand tightening on his sword. "That's a lot of competition."