The next morning came quickly, and the academy was again in chaos.
The sky outside was still dim, and faint cracks glowed in the sky. Students walked toward the courtyard, some yawning, some half asleep, but everyone knew a new day meant new challenges.
Today was Special Lecture Day.
And Special Lecture Day always meant only one thing.
Something dangerous was going to be shown.
Some recruits whispered as they walked toward the laboratory.
"What would they show us today?"
"Maybe weapons."
"No... I don't think so because last year's group was shown a head of the preserved beast."
Someone gulped.
"What... Preserved beast head, are you serious or joking?"
"That's what I heard from seniors."
Kaen walked with Riku, Darren, Draxion, and Fin. Kaen was quiet. He didn't sleep peacefully last night, and even though he didn't remember anything about the dream, he felt something strange inside him, like a fire that was not burning but wanted to be.
Riku walked beside, pretending to act normal, but she kept glaring at his chest where the mark glowed last night.
She didn't tell about it to anyone, not even his friends.
She was not ready for it yet.
Fin stretched his arms and smiled.
"Chill, guys, it's just a lecture, not a fight."
He looked confident but his words were not.
The closer they got to the laboratory, the air around them felt heavy like fear itself had surrounded them.
When they entered the laboratory all stopped talking.
The room was dark except for glowing lamps placed around a large metal table in the center. Behind the table stood a tall man with grey hair, sharp brown eyes, and a calm face.
Professor Norin.
People whispered his name like talking about a legend.
Someone whispered that he survived ten solar beast hunts. Some say he fought a beast thrice taller than him with no weapon. Others said he saved three recruits from the collapsing ruin during the attack.
No one knew the real truth about him but everyone respected him.
"Good Morning," he said his voice quiet and firm. The student fell silent as he spoke.
"No training today. No drills. No fight practice."
He paused and looked at their face, excited and relaxed, as there was no practice.
He continued "But today you will learn about whom you are fighting."
As he clapped the assistant removed the large red cloth from the metal table.
The whole group reacted with surprise, their breath was shocked.
Inside the tank of thick glass float pieces of beast.
A heart huge enough to be human-sized. It pulsed slowly as if it were alive. A faint light flickered through the cracks that ran across its surface like lightning trapped under the skin.
Kaen's chest felt heavier. The mark looked similar to his chest.
He swallowed.
Riku looked at Kaen, the mark remembered her from last night.
Next to it floated bone plates thick, dark, and fused with shiny fragments like metal fallen from the sky.
Another tank held huge lungs that were twisted and filled with hardened, crystal-like ash.
Someone from the back whispered. His voice shaking.
" Were these real..?"
Professor Norin nodded once.
"Yes. Each part belonged to a Primordial Beast. Each one killed hundreds of soldiers. Each one survived long enough to learn."
He walked slowly towards the tank, hand behind his back.
"These creatures are not natural. They are not animals. They do not follow instincts."
He looked at them his eyes sharp and cold.
"They adapt."
He picked up a metal pointer and tapped gently on the tank holding the giant heart.
" When you fight a beast it watches you. It learns your movement after the first strike."
Tap.
" It learns that you repeat attack after the second strike."
Tap.
"And after three..."
He stopped tapping.
" He already knows how to kill you."
Silence spread across the room.
One student at the back raised his hand. His hand trembled.
" So they evolve? Like over time?"
Professor Norin looked at him with a serious expression.
"No. And that is the frightening part about it."
The students came closer.
"Solar Beasts do not evolve over generations."
His voice lowered.
" They adapt in seconds, even before you can react to them."
Few students trembled.
"So there is no perfect technique," he continued. "No permanent strategy. The moment you believe you understand them… you are already lost."
He walked toward another tank with bone plates.
"These plates are hard. Bullets barely scratch them. Normal swords will break. Cannonballs hardly affect them."
He tapped the pointer at the small gap between two plates.
" But here the same gap between the plates is their weakness. Strike here, disrupt its nerve flow, and leave the beast stunned for three seconds."
He raised three fingers.
" Three fingers will decide whether you live... or rot."
The next tank revealed dark, rope-like muscle fibers.
"These are the tendons. Stronger than steel, but vulnerable when stretched."
Fin whispered to Kaen quietly.
" So these mean we need to attack when the jump or attack."
Kaen nodded slowly.
Riku listened carefully, her eyes fixed and focused.
Draxion looked at the tank, studying its anatomy.
Professor Norin then pointed to faint marks on the bone.
"These cracks are fragments of star metal fused into the beast's body. This makes them resistant to cold and steel… but weak to controlled heat."
One student raised his hand and asked.
" What type of heat?"
Norin smiled. It doesn't look like a normal smile. It looked like a warning.
"Solar flames."
Kaen felt a sensation in his body.
He curled his finger and clenched his fist.
"Weak points exist. But only if you stay calm enough to see them. One wrong move and it's all over for you."
He turned off the lamps, letting only a faint glow from the organ light up the room.
"Do not underestimate these creatures."
His voice was firm and loud.
"They are not beasts."
He looked at every student slowly, deliberately.
"They are living disasters."
A cold shiver ran through everyone's spine.
Kaen's heart felt heavy.
Fin quietly whispered, "This is going to be harder than I thought."
His eyes moved over each student, slow and steady.
Riku didn't say anything; her eyes were focused on the tank. But inside she carried silent fear.
What if Kaen is becoming something close to this?
She didn't look at him but stayed beside him.
Professor Norwin clapped once.
The sound echoed across the lab.
"Class dismissed."
Students began leaving the lab whispering nervously, some with pale faces and some with shaky hands.
Kaen stayed behind for a moment eyes focused on the glowing heart.
Something about it felt familiar.
Fin gently pushed him.
" Hey, are you okay?"
Kaen nodded.
"Yeah just thinking about something."
Riku walked beside them without a word.
Outside the fracture mark glowed.
The world felt different now.
More dangerous
More real.
The mark on Kaen's chest pulsed again as if responding to an unsolved question.
Like an answer.