The entrance exam ended before sunset.
Surviving candidates were escorted back through the gate in groups — some walking, some being carried by instructors, most of them quieter than they'd been going in. The exam had been harder than expected. Everyone knew it. Nobody was saying it loudly yet.
Lysander walked near the back of one of the groups, head down, listening.
The whispers had already started.
"Did you hear? Someone killed the boss monster alone."
"That's impossible. It was an E rank boss in an F rank gate."
"I'm telling you, someone did it. The instructors found the body."
"How does someone even do that at our level?"
No one had an answer for that.
He exhaled quietly through his nose. Please stop guessing.
The massive gates of Eclipse Hunter Academy opened slowly ahead of them. Black stone towers rose on either side, flags bearing the academy crest moving in the wind above. For most of the candidates this was the beginning of something. For Lysander it was just the next problem to navigate.
Inside the courtyard, the instructors gathered everyone together. A tall man stepped forward onto a raised platform.
"The entrance examination is complete. Results will now be announced."
A large crystal screen appeared above him, names forming in rows of glowing silver text. Candidates who hadn't made the threshold were dismissed quietly. The rest were ranked.
Names appeared one by one. Lysander watched without expression.
Caelum Draven — Rank C.
Murmurs spread through the crowd. C rank at entrance was uncommon enough to be notable.
Elara Moonveil — Rank C.
No surprise from the people near Lysander. She was known before the exam even started.
Leon Valerian — Rank B.
The courtyard went genuinely quiet for a moment. Then erupted. B rank at entrance. The instructors on the platform exchanged looks. Leon, standing somewhere ahead in the crowd, scratched the back of his head.
More names. More ranks. Then —
Lysander Vale — Rank E.
A few candidates near him glanced over briefly, then looked away. E rank was acceptable. Respectable enough not to be dismissed. Unremarkable enough not to be remembered.
Exactly right.
He exhaled slowly.
Then the system appeared quietly in his vision.
ABYSSAL SYSTEM — UPDATE
Fate Deviation Recorded
Event: Ashfang Wolf King — candidates survived.
Reward: Lightning Element Fragment
A surge of energy moved through him — sharp and electric, nothing like the void energy he'd felt from Kagekiri. This was different. Faster. Less patient. It crackled briefly across his fingertips and then settled, threading itself into his mana channels like something finding a place it recognized.
He closed his hand slowly. The sparks were gone but the feeling remained — a new current running underneath everything else, waiting.
Lightning.
That would make things significantly easier. A public element. Something people expected from a swordsman. Something that explained fast movement and precise strikes without anyone needing to look closer.
He closed the system window.
A calm voice carried across the courtyard from the direction of the academy stairs.
"Welcome to Eclipse Hunter Academy."
The crowd turned. A young woman descended the steps — third year, dark brown hair, sharp hazel eyes that moved across the gathered candidates with the unhurried assessment of someone who had done this before and already knew what she was looking for. Lightning energy moved quietly around her presence, controlled enough that most people probably wouldn't notice unless they knew what to look for.
Seraphina Solari. Student council president.
Her gaze swept the crowd. When it reached Lysander it paused — not dramatically, barely a fraction of a second, the kind of pause that most people in a crowd would never catch. Then it moved on.
But the slight crease between her brows remained.
Strange.
She filed it and kept walking. Whatever that student's presence was — unstable in a way she couldn't immediately categorize — it was worth noting.
Behind her the academy doors opened fully.
The first year had officially begun.