Third-Person POV
Riyan sat in his room, curtains half-open, evening light bleeding through in thin, amber streaks. Outside, the city hummed—traffic, voices, the distant clatter of construction. He barely heard it. His mind was elsewhere.
The trial was done. Iris walked free. The academy handed them seventeen days off, supposedly to "let things cool down." What they really meant was: Get these kids out of here before something else explodes.
Seventeen days. Seventeen days stuck managing Raven, Livia, Ava, and Iris in a place called Fers Domain.
He exhaled hard, dragging a hand through his hair. "I should check the Store. Stock up on something useful. Because I'm not the protagonist. I don't have plot armor."
He paced, footsteps muffled on the carpet. No mysterious old masters were going to swoop in and save him at the last second. No beautiful stranger with ancient cultivation techniques. No convenient power-ups disguised as "destiny."
