The clouds parted like silk being drawn aside by unseen hands.
From the prow of the skyship, a floating leviathan carved from arcsteel and runed wood, the boy stood silently, watching the world unfold beneath them.
Below, nestled in the embrace of mist-wrapped peaks, was a city that shimmered with impossible beauty. Sapphire-roofed towers spiraled toward the heavens. Aqueducts of glowing water threaded between platforms like silver veins. Bridges hummed with arcane light, suspended in mid-air with no visible support.
This was no mere academy.
This was a kingdom of miracles—Thalorion Arcanum, the most prestigious magical institution in the world.
A girl standing beside him glanced sideways. "Impressive, right?"
The boy said nothing.
He stood tall, quiet, with storm-gray hair cascading to his shoulders. A single streak of electric blue ran through the bangs across his cheek. His face was all sharp angles and symmetry—too perfect, like it had been designed rather than born.
But it was his eyes that truly unsettled people.
Silver. Tempered glass.
And buried deep within, if the light hit just right—golden flickers, like sparks behind glass.
"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked, trying to fill the silence. "First time seeing Thalorion?"
"…Yes," he replied after a moment.
His voice was calm, neutral. Every word was carefully measured.
"I'm Veylina," she added with a nervous smile. "I'm a second-term applicant. You?"
There was a pause before he answered. "Zevir."
She tilted her head. "Zevir… that's a cool name."
He offered no reaction.
Veylina scratched her cheek. "You're not really the chatty type, huh?"
He turned slightly to her. "You're from Class B, right?"
Her jaw slackened. "Wait—how did you—?"
Zevir's eyes flicked back to the academy far below. He didn't answer.
He already knew.
He always knew.
People's faces rarely told the full story. But their thoughts? Those were as loud as thunder to him.
Mind-reading. A power he'd awakened the moment before his death in another world.
He had learned quickly: most people lied with their mouths, but their minds screamed the truth.
As the ship began to descend, the grand floating academy unfurled in detail.
Banners bearing the crest of Thalorion—a phoenix encircling a crown of spellforged light—snapped in the wind. Spell-screens flickered in the air, announcing semester schedules in a dozen languages.
Down below, a circular platform of silverstone pulsed as the landing array activated. Students crowded its edges—demons in ceremonial garb, elven mages, beastkin in armor, even dragonblood nobles whose very presence bent the air slightly.
"This place is insane…" Veylina whispered. "They say even the worst student here could flatten a city wall."
The boy beside her remained expressionless.
He wasn't here to marvel.
He was here for something else.
[Arrival – Groundside]
"Here," Veylina said, handing him a translucent blue crystal. "Your identity shard. It's linked to your mana signature and soulprint."
Zevir took it silently. The moment it touched his palm, it dissolved into shimmering particles and sank into his skin.
"You're in—wait… S-Class?" Veylina blinked in disbelief. "No way."
Zevir simply nodded.
"But that's… how?! That class is for people who scored above 95 in all five combat placement trials. And you weren't even here last term!"
"The Academy made an exception," he replied.
Veylina opened her mouth, then shut it again. "Okay. That's… insane. You must've done something really special to get in."
He didn't answer.
But the truth was simple.
They hadn't accepted him because he was promising.
They'd accepted him because the evaluators saw what happened when he uses his talent for just six seconds during his entrance exam.
And they were afraid.
⸻
"You'll be staying in the east tower," Veylina said quickly, trying to recover. "S-Class dorms are individual and guarded. Oh! And your class gets access to the Forbidden Archives too—"
"Thank you," Zevir said suddenly.
Veylina blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift in his tone.
He turned away, about to leave.
But she couldn't stop herself."Wait. I didn't explain everything."
Zevir paused—just for a moment.
"I already know."
And then he was gone.
Left standing alone, Veylina felt a strange chill crawl down her spine.
Others here wore their pride like armor—confidence, arrogance, loud and bold.But he moved differently.A silence followed him, quiet and heavy, like a shadow hunting the light.
In a world ruled by power, where strength decided fate, she knew one thing for certain—
He was far more dangerous than anyone had dared to imagine.