The following day, news about Nathaniel getting kicked out started circulating among the Red Palace students.
Students began investigating why such a promising talent had been expelled—especially since he had started at inner rank 500 in the Red Palace and climbed to rank 370 in less than a month.
The attention shifted from Nathaniel to Erik. The awakener was no stranger to being the subject of rumors—in high school, people addressed him as a loser and failure.
But everything changed when he awakened, becoming an instant sensation not just at Thornton High School but across the entire nation, as he was the only living awakener in the country.
This meant that once he joined the Red Palace, words about him spread to every student. Of course, the higher-level students didn't care, but were still curious about him.
They were initially disappointed to find he wasn't notably strong, although he had only started training and sparring some months before.
