The gray-black energy continued to gather around Kyle at the center of the formation.
At first, there had only been a few faint wisps, but as the awakening formation continued to operate, they quickly spread along the patterns beneath his feet.
Even the silver-white light that had filled the formation began to dim under their influence.
A cold wind suddenly swept across the training grounds.
The students standing closest to the formation noticed it first and instinctively pulled their shoulders in.
“Why did it suddenly get so cold?” “It was fine just a moment ago.” “Don’t tell me this is because of Kyle’s awakening.” As the students began to talk, the light around them started to change.
The clear sky had darkened without anyone noticing.
Gray clouds slowly gathered in the distance and spread across the academy, gradually blocking out the sunlight.
Within moments, a shadow seemed to have fallen over the entire training ground.
That immediately caught everyone’s attention.
Erin’s awakening had also produced an obvious phenomenon.
Flames, frost, and lightning had appeared one after another when she awakened as an Elementalist, and that alone had been enough to show the difference between a Rare Class and an ordinary one.
What was happening around Kyle, however, was different.
His awakening phenomenon wasn’t limited to the formation.
It was beginning to affect the surrounding environment as well.
The professional overseeing the ceremony had clearly noticed the same thing.
He quickly checked the formation, and after confirming that every pattern was operating normally, his expression became even more serious.
“Principal.” Edmund immediately looked at him.
“Is something wrong?” “The formation is fine.” The man shook his head and looked back at Kyle.
“Everything is operating normally.” The surprise in Edmund’s eyes deepened.
If there was nothing wrong with the formation, then everything happening around them could only have been caused by Kyle’s awakening.
His expectations rose.
Erin had already given the academy a Rare Combat Class today.
Was there really going to be a second one?
Judging from the phenomenon alone, whatever Kyle was awakening might be even more unusual than they had expected.
Kyle himself had no idea what was happening outside the formation.
From the moment the awakening began, the sounds around him had seemed to grow more distant until they disappeared completely.
Everything before his eyes sank into darkness.
There was no light and no sound.
The silence around him was almost unnatural, yet Kyle didn’t feel afraid.
Instead, he could sense something deep within the darkness.
Something was slowly waking up.
More importantly, he could feel a strange connection forming between himself and whatever was out there.
The feeling was unfamiliar, yet somehow natural, as though those unknown beings had always been meant to answer his call.
A faint blue light suddenly appeared in the distance.
Kyle looked toward it.
Before he could make out what it was, another blue light appeared farther away, followed by a third and a fourth.
More and more began to appear.
At first, there were only a few scattered points in the darkness, but within several breaths, countless blue lights had spread across everything in front of him.
Only then did Kyle finally see what they were.
They weren’t lights at all.
They were blue soul flames burning inside empty eye sockets.
A faint cracking sound came from the darkness.
Kyle turned toward it.
A pale skeletal hand slowly emerged, its fingers pressing against the ground.
A moment later, an entire skeleton pulled itself upright.
The blue soul flames in its eye sockets flickered slightly.
Then more sounds came from every direction.
One skeleton after another rose from the darkness.
A second.
A third.
A tenth.
Soon, pale figures filled the darkness beneath the glow of countless blue soul flames, stretching so far into the distance that Kyle couldn’t see where they ended.
None of them made a sound.
They simply stood there.
Then, as though they had sensed something, every skeleton turned its head at almost the same time.
Countless pairs of burning blue eyes settled on Kyle.
He stood where he was and looked back at them.
Strangely, he still felt no hostility.
If anything, the moment their attention fell on him, the faint connection he had sensed earlier became much clearer.
At that moment, a series of messages appeared directly in his mind.
[Class Awakening in progress…] [Class traits confirmed…] [Class compatibility established.] [Class confirmed.] Kyle’s expression shifted slightly.
Outside, the awakening formation suddenly shook.
A deep hum spread across the training grounds.
The gray-black energy that had been moving slowly through the formation surged upward and completely surrounded Kyle.
The cold became noticeably stronger.
Several students near the front instinctively stepped back.
The clouds overhead had grown thicker as well, and the last traces of sunlight disappeared behind them.
Cold wind swept through the training grounds, stirring dust from the ground and tugging at everyone’s uniforms.
“Isn’t this a little too much?” “Even when Erin awakened as an Elementalist, the phenomenon didn’t spread this far.” “What kind of class is Kyle awakening?” “The class information hasn’t appeared yet.
How would anyone know?” The students kept their voices low, but no one looked away from the formation.
It was obvious that Kyle’s awakening was unlike anything they had seen so far.
The problem was that no one knew what it meant.
At the front of the crowd, Erin stood still, watching him.
The excitement from her own awakening had faded from her face.
Not long ago, she had awakened the Rare Combat Class, Elementalist.
When she first saw her class, she had genuinely thought that this time, she had finally beaten Kyle.
For three years, whether it was theoretical exams or practical courses, whenever there was a ranking, Kyle had almost always been above her.
The difference between them was never large.
Sometimes it was frustratingly small.
But no matter how hard she tried, she had spent three entire years unable to close that final gap.
That was why today’s awakening mattered so much to her.
Academic performance had nothing to do with what class a person would awaken.
If there was ever going to be a chance for her to beat Kyle, this was it.
And she had awakened a Rare Class.
Yet now…
Erin looked up at the sky, which was almost completely covered by gray clouds, then turned her attention back to the formation.
Gray-black energy surrounded Kyle, and even the formation’s silver-white glow had been dimmed by it.
If she judged only by the scale of their awakening phenomena, there was no comparison between them.
Erin tightened her fist.
“It’s just a bigger phenomenon…” A girl beside her heard the comment and glanced over.
Erin didn’t notice.
Her eyes remained fixed on Kyle, as though she were competing with him even while he stood inside the formation.
“The result isn’t even out yet.” “We still don’t know who’s going to win.” She pressed her lips together, refusing to look away.
“I won’t lose to you.” Almost as soon as she finished speaking, a clear vibration came from the formation.
The gray-black energy stopped spreading.
A moment later, it began rushing back toward the center as though something were pulling it in.
Within several breaths, most of the energy that had filled the area disappeared, and the phenomenon in the sky stopped spreading as well.
The conversations around the training grounds gradually died down.
Everyone knew the result was about to appear.
The teacher responsible for recording the awakened classes stared closely at the crystal tablet in his hands, waiting for the information to update.
A moment later, a new line appeared.
[Hidden Combat Class: Necromancer] The training grounds fell silent.
Many of the students stared at the words with confused expressions.
“Necromancer?” Someone finally read the unfamiliar name aloud.
“What kind of class is that?” “I’ve never heard of it.” “It’s a Hidden Class, so it must be rare, right?” “That whole phenomenon came from this class?” The questions quickly spread through the crowd.
Unlike Erin’s Elementalist, Necromancer was a class that most of the students had never even heard of.
Edmund frowned slightly as well.
He had been the principal of Westport First Academy for years and naturally knew far more about different classes than an ordinary student, but even his knowledge of Necromancers was limited.
“A Hidden Class…” Edmund repeated the words quietly.
A Hidden Class wasn’t necessarily the same thing as a Rare Class.
Some Hidden Classes were extremely powerful, possessing abilities and growth potential far beyond ordinary classes.
Others suffered from limited skills, difficult growth requirements, or restrictions that made them far less impressive in practice.
The words “Hidden Class” alone weren’t enough to determine how strong a class truly was.
Still, after witnessing an awakening phenomenon that had affected almost the entire training grounds, it was difficult to believe that Kyle’s class was ordinary.
Erin had seen the result as well.
“Necromancer…” She quietly repeated the name.
It was completely unfamiliar to her.
At the very least, she couldn’t remember ever seeing it in any of the academy’s class materials.
Her clenched hand slowly relaxed, only to tighten again a moment later.
Unknown didn’t mean stronger.
Her Elementalist was a genuine Rare Combat Class.
Until she saw what Kyle’s class could actually do, she wasn’t going to admit defeat simply because he had awakened a Hidden Class she had never heard of.
That thought quickly restored her confidence.
At the center of the formation, Kyle finally opened his eyes.
As his awareness returned, the sounds of the training grounds reached him again.
The first thing he saw was the class information floating in front of him.
[Class: Necromancer] Kyle studied it quietly for several seconds.
Necromancer.
Judging from the name, it was probably a summoning-type Combat Class related to the undead.
As for what it could actually do, he would have to check his class skills first.
Kyle was just about to open his status panel when another message appeared in front of him.
This one was visible only to him.
[Class Awakening complete.] [Activating Special Talent…] A flash of brilliant golden light crossed his vision.
[Divine Talent successfully activated.] For the first time since entering the formation, Kyle’s calm expression noticeably changed.
A Divine Talent?