The end-of-year holiday was a welcome relief.
For the first time in months, the students were allowed to leave the Academy grounds and return to their family homes.
Kaelen found himself back in the sprawling, high-altitude Veyron estate, but the quiet of the mountains didn't last long.
A digital ping on his new Catalyst Band revealed a message from Mina.
"Kael! My parents are heading to the Capital for a council meeting. Come with us? Leo and Sora are already here. We're going to the Grand Core Mall!"
The Capital, Aurelia Prime, was the beating heart of Earth—a city of white, sky-touching buildings and floating rivers sitting directly beneath the golden gaze of the Aurelian Singularity.
A Day of Wonders
Kaelen met his friends at the entrance of the Grand Core Mall, a structure so vast it had its own internal weather system and clouds.
It was a wonder in itself; the higher you went, the larger the floors became, designed like a massive inverted pyramid reaching toward the artificial sun.
Kaelen and the group decided to ascend and start their journey from the 90th floor all the way to the 100th.
Their first destination was the 90th-floor food court, where they fueled up on gourmet pizzas while watching indoor clouds drift past their table.
From the 91st to the 96th floors, they lost themselves in a shopping spree of high-tech gear and fashion.
On the 97th floor, they tested their nerves on a gravity-defying roller coaster that looped outside the building's glass hull.
The 98th and 99th floors were a quiet sanctuary for books and tools of daily life, where Kaelen browsed ancient technical manuals.
Finally, they reached the 100th floor: the movie theaters. It was a hyper-realistic experience that made them feel like they were part of the film.
Mina was so excited after the movie ended that she grabbed Kaelen's arm as they walked out.
"See?" Mina said, her eyes shining. "Success isn't just about combat or finance. It's about how much you love your thing. That idol sang her heart out!"
"It's about harmony," Kaelen agreed, though his eyes were scanning the crowds. He felt a strange, itchy sensation in his Crimson Thread.
The Distortion
As they took a shortcut through a high-end commercial alley to head back down—a path lined with shimmering holographic advertisements—the air suddenly curdled.
The golden light of the artificial sun seemed to bruise, turning a sickly purple.
"Do you feel that?" Leo asked, his orange thread flickering nervously.
Suddenly, the space in the center of the alley tore open into a jagged, violent portal.
From the darkness of the portal, a massive, tusked creature stepped out.
It was green-skinned, encased in crude, rusted metal armor, and carried a jagged blade that hummed with a dirty, stolen energy.
"An Orc," Sora whispered, her face pale. "From the Outskirts. They're universe-looters."
The creature was followed by three more. They weren't here to shop; they were here to harvest Ribbon-crystals from the storefronts.
The Stand
"Mina, Sora, Leo—run!" Kaelen commanded, his voice snapping them out of their shock.
"Find a security terminal and alert the City AI, QUEEN. Tell them there's a Dimensional Breach in Lane 4!"
"Go! I can see the portal's nodes. If it stays open, hundreds more will come through. I have to destabilize the nodes!"
Kaelen stood alone against the four giants. He was five years old, barely Level 20, facing creatures that were the equivalent of the Strand Phase.
He pushed his Catalyst Band to its absolute limit, forcing his Crimson Thread to vibrate at a frequency his young body wasn't ready for.
He used his force to jump over the Orcs, "grabbing" the edges of the portal in his mind to pull at the space nodes.
"Ugh!" Kaelen groaned, blood trickling from his nose. His nervous system felt like it was on fire.
The portal flickered and groaned like a dying beast. The Orcs turned, realizing their exit was being threatened by a tiny human child.
The Rescue
The lead Orc roared, raising its massive blade. It charged toward Kaelen, who was too exhausted to move.
He had successfully stalled the portal, but he was empty. He collapsed to his knees, his vision blurring.
Just as the blade began to fall, the sky screamed with the sound of breaking sound barriers.
[SECURITY ALERT: BREACH DETECTED. NEUTRALIZATION IN PROGRESS.]
The City AI, QUEEN, took control. Automated turrets hidden in the walls of the alley deployed, firing beams of paralyzing blue light.
But the real power arrived a second later.
A fifteen-meter-tall Loom-Phase Mecha crashed down from the sky, landing between Kaelen and the Orcs.
The machine was a blur of white and gold, its movements fluid and terrifyingly fast.
The pilot—a Level 200+ Master—didn't even use weapons.
The mecha simply swiped its hand, and the pressure of its Loom-phase aura crushed the Orcs into the ground, pinning them instantly.
"Spatial field secured," a voice boomed from the mecha's external speakers.
The pilot looked down at the small boy on the ground. "Impressive work, kid. You stopped the door."
"But you almost burned your soul out doing it. This was a small and sneaky portal, so you succeeded. Otherwise, you could have been sucked in."
After hearing this, Kaelen's world went dark as he blacked out.
The Recovery
The next thing Kaelen knew, he was waking up to the sterile, comforting scent of high-grade healing solutions.
He was in the Veyron Hospital ward in his family tower, specifically the Advanced Recovery Wing.
He looked up to see his mother, Lyra, hovering over him.
She wasn't just his mother right now; she was the Chief Medical Officer of the facility.
Her face was a mix of immense pride and terrifying motherly anger.
"Kaelen Alrin Veyron," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
"If you ever try to destabilize a dimensional portal by yourself again, I will lock you in a gravity-room until you're thirty years old."
"Did it work?" Kaelen rasped, his throat bone-dry.
"It worked," a voice said from the doorway. Mina was there, her eyes red from crying, followed by Alrin.
"The security service said you saved the lane. If that portal had stayed open for another minute, a War-Boss would have come through."
Alrin stepped forward, placing a heavy, grounding hand on Kaelen's shoulder.
He didn't scold him. He just looked at the medical monitors showing Kaelen's strained, but now-healing, thread.
"You acted like a Veyron," Alrin said quietly. "But your mother is right. Your body is still just a vessel of bone."
"You have the spirit of a warrior, but you need the strength to carry it."
Kaelen nodded, closing his eyes as the healing light washed over him.
He had seen the Orcs.
The world was much more dangerous than the Academy had let on, and he was more determined than ever to grow.