The Central Assembly Wing was already filling by the time Elias and Kael arrived.
Rows upon rows of seats stretched across the vast hall, rising in tiers that curved toward a wide, elevated platform at the front. The architecture carried the same refined precision as the rest of the academy, but here, it felt heavier.
Students filled the seats in clusters, their voices weaving into a steady hum of conversation that dipped and rose as more arrived. Groups had already formed—some natural, some clearly pre-established.
Names were being exchanged.
Backgrounds implied.
Reputations quietly confirmed.
Elias moved past them without stopping.
His presence did not go unnoticed.
It never did.
Too tall to be normal.
Too mysterious to look away.
A few eyes followed him longer than necessary. A few voices lowered as he passed.
"…that's him."
"the scholarship student?"
"Yeah. And he's a C rank."
"What a waste."
He didn't need to hear the rest.
Near the center rows, Kael raised a hand slightly, signaling a spot beside him.
Elias took it.
The seat was comfortable.
Too comfortable.
For a place that felt more like a proving ground than a school.
_Screen._
The black panel popped open before his eyes. He stared at his information and a change made him squint.
"500,001?"
Kael's eyes slowly drifted to him.
The lights dimmed slightly. Not enough to darken the hall, but enough to command attention.
The conversations faded, one by one, until silence settled.
A figure stepped onto the platform.
His presence alone was enough to hold the room without effort. His gaze swept across the hall once, taking in every student seated before him.
When he spoke, his voice carried effortlessly.
"Welcome… to Rowen Academy."
A pause.
"You are here because you have been deemed worthy of investment. Some of you carry names that precede you."
A few subtle shifts among the crowd.
"Others… do not."
A softer shift.
"But understand this—"
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"—whatever you were before you walked through those gates has already begun to lose its value."
The words settled across the hall like a quiet verdict.
No one spoke, nor moved.
"You will be evaluated. And, if necessary—removed."
Elias sat still, his expression unchanged. The rest of the speech blurred behind his ears.
Seconds? Or minutes. He wasn't sure. The announcer left after the speech was over.
The hall never quite returned to noise after the announcement.
Even as conversations tried to rise again, they remained restrained, as though something unseen had settled over the room and refused to lift.
Then,
A presence stood up from the front rows, slow, and impossibly steady. His aura didn't crash into the room. It claimed it, pressing outward with quiet authority that made the air feel heavier with each passing second.
Conversations died mid-sentence.
He didn't rush, nor did he announce himself.
But attention followed him all the same.
Tall, composed, his uniform marked subtly different from the rest. His gaze swept across the hall once, not searching, not curious.
"…That's him."
"The president…"
"So it's true…"
"I heard that they are recruiting members for two empty spots."
The whispers were faint, careful not to carry too far.
His presence spoke louder.
"Orientation," he began, his voice calm, carrying just enough to reach the center rows without effort, "is usually where people decide who matters."
A faint pause.
"Let's not waste time pretending otherwise."
A ripple moved through the crowd.
He took a single step forward. His hand went into his shirt, and a key chain returned with it. He let the chain dangle between his fingertips.
"Anyone, whose energy can move this key will be recruited."
A surge of excitement rippled across the clearing.
"Just moving it?" A student asked.
The president smirked.
"You can all go at once."
And the pressure deepened. They glanced at themselves, and back at the still chain between his fingertips.
"How would you know who moved it?" Another student raised her hand.
A female student stepped forward, dressed differently from the other students. A council member.
"Our president can tell energies apart from each other." She smiled warmly.
The president didn't move. He quietly ordered.
"Release."
It wasn't a command shouted across the hall. The word settled, and the room responded.
One student moved first, almost instinctively, letting their presence seep outward, thin and unsteady.
Another followed.
Then more.
Across the hall, energy began to rise, uneven at first, then layering as more students joined in, each trying to establish themselves within the growing weight.
Some were controlled.
Some forced too much.
Some faltered immediately.
"…Too weak."
"…Unstable."
"…Trying too hard."
The judgments came quietly, but they came. The student council judged.
Kael exhaled softly beside Elias.
"…Yeah. That's the gap. I'm not even going to try."
Elias said nothing.
He felt it all.
The layered pressure pressing in from every direction, testing, measuring, probing for weakness.
It was chaotic. Somewhat.
A silent ranking. He remained still.
At first, it went unnoticed.
Then—
"…Wait."
A voice from somewhere to his side.
"He's not releasing anything."
Another glance.
Then another.
The attention shifted slowly.
"He can't?"
"C-rank, right?"
"That explains it."
A few quiet laughs slipped through, thin but sharp.
Kael leaned slightly toward him, voice low.
"You're attracting the wrong kind of attention."
Elias didn't respond. Instead, he stood up and began leaving. A few eyes followed him, but among those eyes were the worst type of attention to get.
The president's gaze shifted. It landed on Elias, steady and unreadable.
Their eyes locked for a moment, but Elias broke the contact first. He didn't stop.
He walked the length of the hall under the weight of every eye that chose to follow him, the pressure thinning with each step until it finally broke as he reached the exit.
The doors slid open, and he stepped through.
And the doors closed behind him.
Inside, the pressure settled again—but not quite the same. A few students found it harder to focus than before.
The key chain remained still, as though the energy interference were merely a farce before it.
The President's eye went towards the council member who had spoken earlier.
"Fayera."
She stepped closer.
"Yes, president?"
He asked, with his gaze still fixed on the door
"Who is he?"