The Grand Proving Grounds of Aethelgard Academy were a architectural masterpiece. It was large.
Today, the marble was humming. It was the day of the Great Arcane. This was the brutal, high stakes tournament designed to filter the thousands of third year students into a handful of elites who would represent the school in the Imperial Games.
For most, it was a dream. For David Silver, it was a logistical nightmare. He stood in the middle of the crowd and adjusted the collar of his uniform. He looked at the thousands of other students and felt a headache coming on.
"I just need to stay in the middle," David whispered to himself. "Not high enough to attract the Council’s scalpels, not low enough to get kicked out. Just a nice, lukewarm, forgettable average."
[System Note: Your current power level is roughly equivalent to a small volcano. ’Lukewarm’ is no longer a biological option.]
"Shut up," David muttered. He ignored the blue text in his vision and focused on the stage.
The amphitheater was packed with people. High above in the VIP boxes, Headmaster Hallowell sat with the Crescent Council. Their eyes were scanning the students like hawks looking for a rabbit.
David could feel Hallowell’s gaze lingering on him for a fraction of a second longer than the others. The Headmaster had not forgotten the Sage glass incident at the cliffside. David’s Static Core was starting to look like a very poor disguise.
"Silence!" the Proctor bellowed.
His voice was amplified by a Tier 6 wind spell. It hit the crowd like a physical wave. The Proctor was a tall man with a chest so broad it looked like he had swallowed a barrel. He stood on the central podium and glared at the teenagers below.
"The Sifting begins with the Trial of Resilience. Step into the Proving Circles!"
The marble floor erupted with light. It formed five hundred individual glowing rings. David stepped into his and felt the hum of the runes beneath his boots. This was the Aura of the Crescent.
It was a massive, school wide field of mana pressure that would gradually increase until only the strongest were left standing.
To David’s left, Sterling Greyjoy was already in his circle. He looked like a man who had been sculpted from gold and pure ego. He was not even sweating. He glanced at David and a cruel, sharp smile twisted his lips.
"Enjoy the floor, Silver," Sterling said. His voice was dripping with malice. "I have heard the marble is quite cold this time of year."
As the Proctor signaled the start, the air in the amphitheater grew heavy. It started as a gentle weight on the shoulders. It felt like wearing a heavy coat. For David, it was nothing.
His Toxin Sovereign physique and the remnants of the Void Rot had turned his body into something closer to obsidian than flesh. He stood there and felt the mana trying to press down on him, but his cells did not even flinch.
[Ding! Passive Resistance Activated: 100,000x!]
"Wait, wait! Tone it down!" David hissed.
It was too late. The multiplier did not just help him resist the pressure; it made the pressure look like a total joke. While other students around him were starting to grunt and brace their knees, David stood there with his hands in his pockets.
He looked like he was waiting for a bus that was five minutes late. He even yawned once, which caused a few nearby students to glare at him in disbelief.
Sterling Greyjoy was not happy. He was not content with letting the school’s field do the work. He reached into his belt and touched a small, blackened iron coin.
This was a Mana Gravity artifact. It was a restricted item and a gift from his father. It could triple the gravity in a localized area without alerting the Proctor’s sensors.
Sterling flicked his fingers toward David’s circle. He did it quickly, hoping no one would see the small movement.
The change was instantaneous. The air around David did not just get heavy; it turned into a solid block of lead. The gravity in his circle surged by ten times. The marble beneath his boots let out a sharp, ominous crack.
"Down you go, rat," Sterling whispered.
David felt the sudden spike. His knees buckled for a split second. The sheer force of the gravity threatened to pancake him into the floor. He felt like his bones were about to turn into powder. But before his shins could snap, the Aeon Catalyst roared to life!
[Extreme Gravity Detected.]
[Multiplier Triggering...]
[Physical Reinforcement: 100,000x!]
David’s muscles did not just strengthen; they became immovable. He stood upright. His spine snapped back into place with a sound like a whip crack. But there was a problem.
The 100,000x multiplier was so powerful that it created a physical paradox. To resist the gravity, David’s body was exerting such an intense and condensed mana field that it began to act like a vacuum.
He was not just resisting the weight. He was inhaling the mana of the gravity field to fuel his own reinforcement!
"Oh, no," David groaned. "I am doing it again."
Around him, the air began to swirl. The Aura of the Crescent was being sucked into David’s circle like water down a drain. The students in the neighboring circles suddenly found it easier to breathe. Their pressure was being siphoned away. David stood at the center of a swirling, invisible vortex of raw energy.
Across the amphitheater, in the circle reserved for the Silver Stallion clan, a girl stopped her own meditation. She had long, moonlight silver hair tied back in a high ponytail. She had eyes the color of a winter storm.
This was Rachel. She was a wonderfully blessed girl, and her uniform was tight enough to show she was quite endowed. Her clan was famous for their Spirit Sense. It was an ability to see the flow of mana in its purest form.
Rachel stared at David. To everyone else, David was just a kid standing stubbornly against the pressure. But to her spirit sight, David Silver was a black hole.
He was not just standing there; he was a literal vacuum. He was a gaping void in the reality of the amphitheater that was devouring the school’s mana by the gallon.
"What is he?" Rachel thought. Her heart skipped a beat. "He is not a Tier 1. He is not even a Tier 5. That vacuum... it is like he is eating the world."
Sterling Greyjoy’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He was pumping mana into his gravity artifact. His face was turning red with the effort, but David was not falling. In fact, David was looking at him with an expression that was just vaguely annoyed.
"Is that all you have got, Sterling?" David asked.
His voice was calm despite the ten times gravity crushing his circle. "I have had more pressure from a tight pair of boots."
Sterling let out a strangled roar of frustration. He pushed the artifact to its limit. The blackened coin turned red hot. The gravity around David surged again.
The marble floor finally gave way. A three foot crater formed around David’s boots as the stone was crushed into powder. BAM! The sound echoed through the hall.
But David did not sink. He hovered. His body was so reinforced and his mana was so dense that the gravity could not even find a way to grip him. He was effectively floating on a cushion of his own absurd power. He looked like a statue made of indestructible metal.
[Warning: Mana Vacuum reaching critical levels.]
[Suggestion: Release 5% of stored energy to avoid ’Atmospheric Collapse’.]
"Five percent? Are you crazy? I will kill everyone!" David barked in his mind.
[Correction: Release energy as ’Internal Heat’. You will look like you’re just very, very sweaty.]
"Fine! Do it!"
David’s body suddenly emitted a low, vibrating hum. A wave of heat rolled off him. It shimmered in the air. To the spectators, it looked like David was struggling. His face was flushed and steam was literally rising from his shoulders.
"Look! He is at his limit!" a sycophant behind Sterling cheered. "Sterling is crushing him!"
Headmaster Hallowell leaned forward in his box. His eyes were narrowed. "He is standing in a ten fold gravity well," Hallowell whispered. His voice was trembling with a mix of awe and suspicion. "The floor is turning to dust, but the boy has not moved an inch. And that heat... that is not mana exhaustion. That is pure, excess energy being vented."
Hallowell looked at the council member next to him. "Check the Silver boy’s record again. Now."
In the circle, Sterling’s artifact finally reached its breaking point. With a sharp ping, the blackened coin shattered into a dozen useless pieces. The sudden release of gravity caused a backlash. It was a shockwave of mana that sent Sterling stumbling backward. He nearly fell out of his own circle!
The pressure of the Aura of the Crescent began to fade as the Proctor signaled the end of the first round. Of the five hundred students, only fifty were still standing. David was one of them. He was standing in the center of a pulverized marble crater and looked like he had just finished a light jog.
"Trial of Resilience: Concluded!" the Proctor announced.
David stepped out of his crater and tried to look exhausted. He wobbled his legs a bit. He wiped some of the heat steam off his forehead. He let out a long and fake dramatic sigh. "Oh, man. That was... phew. So heavy. I almost did not make it."
[System Note: Your acting is Tier 0. Even the marble is judging you.]
"Shut up," David thought. He ignored the system and walked toward the exit.
As he walked toward the rest area, a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see Rachel standing in his path. She was taller than he expected. Her silver stallion uniform was crisp and intimidating.
She was a very endowed girl, and she glared at him with those cold eyes. She did not look at his face; she looked at his chest. Her eyes were still shimmering with the remnants of her spirit sight.
"You are a vessel," Rachel said. Her voice was like ice.
David blinked. His loser mask almost slipped. "A what? A vessel? Like for water? I think you have got the wrong guy. I am David. David Silver. The guy with the clogged core? You probably saw me almost fail back there. It was very scary!"
Rachel stepped closer. She leaned in until her nose was inches from his. She did not smell like perfume; she smelled like ozone and cold steel. "I saw you create a vacuum that almost drained the Academy’s power grid. I saw you eat a Tier 5 gravity artifact like it was a snack. You are not David Silver, the loser. You are something else."
David gave his best "I have no idea what you are talking about" smile. "I think you have been meditating too hard, Rachel. The heat probably messed with your eyes. I am just lucky. My family has very dense bones. It is a Silver trait. We are very heavy people!"
Rachel did not blink. "I will be watching you, Silver. And if you are what I think you are... the Imperial Games will be the least of your worries."
She turned and walked away. Her ponytail swayed with predatory grace.
David watched her go. His heart finally started to hammer against his ribs. A vessel? What the hell was a vessel? He had never heard that word used for a person before.
[Analyzing ’Watcher’ Terminology...]
[Detection: Rachel belongs to the Order of Solace. They hunt ’Vessels’—reincarnated entities of world-ending power.]
"World ending power?" David whispered. His eyes widened. "Me? I am just a guy who wanted to light a campfire!"
[Relatable Humor: To the Order of Solace, you are not just a campfire. You are the sun. And they are the ones who want to blow it out.]
David looked back at the High Table. Hallowell was already talking to an Inquisitor. He looked at Sterling, who was receiving a new artifact from a servant. He looked at Rachel, who was still watching him from across the grounds.
The Great Arcane Sifting was just getting started. David Silver had a terrifying realization. Staying low profile was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done. Because when you are a black hole, everyone eventually notices the light you are eating.
He sighed and hoped the next round would be easier, but he knew he was just dreaming. He was in deep trouble now. He just hoped his system would not make him explode before the day was over.