Hasib pushed everything he had into his legs, refusing to let Rocky slip past but it was already too late. Rocky had clearly been holding back for laps, hoarding his strength like a coiled spring, and the moment he released it there was nothing anyone could do to answer. He tore past Hasib without so much as a glance, already setting his sights on Lio ahead.
The whole field seemed to hold its breath, every eye locked on the widening gap.
Near the sidelines, the Principal lifted his magnifying monocle and turned it, not toward the runners, but toward the crowd itself, sweeping slowly across the rows of onlookers.
If you want to know how a race is really going, he mused to himself, don’t watch the runners. Watch the women in the crowd. Their faces never lie about who’s winning.
His gaze drifted past a cluster of gasping students and landed on a woman standing near the edge of the field mid-forties, perhaps, sharp-eyed, clearly a teacher by her posture alone.
He smiled.
Of course. Ma’am.
A fraction of a second later, something flickered at Rocky’s heels a faint shimmer of light, there and gone so fast Hasib almost convinced himself he’d imagined it. Then the wind seemed to bend around him, and he crossed the final stretch and the finish line in the same motion, leaving the rest of the field behind in a trail of dust.
One by one, the others staggered across the line after him, collapsing onto the grass, chests heaving, legs finally giving out now that there was nothing left to run for.
Sara shot to her feet, fist in the air. "YES! Rocky did it! I knew it!"
Beside her, Hina’s eyes drifted not toward the winner, but toward Hasib, still catching his breath a few feet away.
The Principal’s magnified eye caught the light, gleaming with something close to satisfaction.
"Rocky Liago," he murmured, almost to himself. "Progressing faster than I expected."
Yamin Sir raised a hand, calling the group back into order before anyone could fully catch their breath. "Take a short rest. After that, we move straight into the Nature of Metal assessment." His voice hardened slightly. "Fail this one, in any form, and you fail the entire selection. No exceptions."
Hasib went very still, listening with far more focus than he’d given anything else that day.
Sara jogged over and clapped Rocky on the shoulder. "Congratulations!"
He barely looked up from where he was catching his breath. "Thanks."
That was all. Sara’s smile faltered slightly at the lack of anything more, but she let it go.
A moment later, Hina appeared at Hasib’s side, offering him a small, genuine smile. "You did really well out there."
"Barely," he muttered, still trying to get his breathing under control. "Rocky wasn’t even trying for most of it."
"Still," she said. "You didn’t stop."
Once everyone had caught their breath, the group was led to a different section of the grounds, where a long table had been set with several distinct metals laid side by side, each one dull and unremarkable at first glance. Above the table, suspended on a thin stand, hung a smooth, rounded crystal colorless, waiting.
The students formed a line without needing to be told twice, murmuring nervously among themselves. Hasib fell into step beside Simon, both of them trying to work out what exactly they were about to do.
"Any idea what this actually tests?" Simon asked under his breath.
"Not a clue," Hasib admitted. "Feels like something out of an old story."
Ahead of them, Hina glanced back over her shoulder. "It’s supposed to reveal the hidden power inside us," she said quietly. "Whatever’s already there, underneath everything else."
"So it’s not something we can practice for," Simon said, a little uneasy.
"No," Hina said. "It just... shows what’s already true."
Before either of them could ask more, Yamin Sir’s voice carried over the murmuring crowd.
"As you can see, there are six different metals laid out here." He gestured toward the table. "Each of you will step forward, dip your hand in the water basin, and then place your palm on the metal. That’s all. The crystal above will respond or it won’t."
One by one, they began.
Lio went first, stepping up and dipping his hand into the basin before pressing his palm flat against the white metal.
Nothing.
He moved to blue. Nothing. Red. Still nothing.
His jaw tightened slightly, some of his earlier confidence dimming until he reached the green metal and pressed his hand against it.
The crystal overhead flared instantly, blooming a deep, vivid green that spilled light across the whole table. Lio’s eyes caught the glow and burned with the same color for a brief, striking moment before it faded.
He exhaled, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Green. I can work with green."
A ripple of quiet awe moved through the line.
Hasib swallowed hard, watching the crystal dim back to clear.
Which one’s going to light up for me?
Simon went next, and the crystal blazed blue almost the instant his palm touched the metal brighter and faster than Lio’s had, drawing a low whistle from somewhere down the line. He turned back toward Hasib, grinning. "Blue! Did you see that? That was fast, right? That means something, right?"
"Sure," Hasib said, only half paying attention, his eyes still fixed on the table.
Another student went after him, and the crystal answered in a soft, warm pink, drawing a delighted little laugh out of her. Then it was Hina’s turn, and the moment her fingers touched the metal, the crystal glowed a clear, gentle sky-blue, the color settling calmly in her eyes as she looked up.
"Sky-blue," she said softly, almost to herself, like she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not.
Then Rocky stepped forward.
The instant his hand met the first metal, the air around the table stirred faint at first, then rising into a genuine, swirling gust that tugged at everyone’s clothes and hair. Students stumbled back a step, startled. The Principal and Yamin Sir exchanged a quick, loaded glance.
Just as I expected, the Principal thought, watching the wind curl tighter around the boy.
Behind him, Madam Habi let out a soft, pleased breath. "They really are growing up so fast."
"You’ve clearly done your job well, Madam Habi," Yamin Sir said, glancing sideways at her.
A faint blush rose in her cheeks, her voice catching slightly. "Oh,stop it. It’s nothing."
Somewhere in the line, someone whispered, "That’s Rocky Liago, right?"
"The Liago bloodline," another voice murmured back. "That would explain how perfect that was."
Rocky said nothing, simply pulling his hand back and stepping out of the settling wind, expression as unreadable as ever.
Then it was Hasib’s turn.
His hand trembled slightly as he dipped it into the basin, the cold water doing nothing to steady his nerves. He pressed his palm against the white metal.
Nothing.
Blue. Nothing.
Green. Nothing.
Pink. Nothing.
Sky-blue. Still nothing.
His stomach twisted.Five down. Just the one left.
Does this mean it’s not real? Does this mean the dream isn’t real that I’m never going to become a Legendary Warrior?
He squeezed his eyes shut.
No. I won’t let it end here.
In the darkness behind his eyelids, a familiar translucent screen unfolded, cold blue script glowing against the black.
[OPEN REWARD?]
[Yes / No]
Hasib’s breath caught.
...Is this it? Is this the System showing me the way?
"...Yes," he murmured, barely audible.
The moment the word left his mouth, his eyes snapped open, and before he could second-guess himself, he reached out and pressed his palm flat against the red metal.
The crystal above didn’t turn red.
It turned black a thick, spreading darkness that swallowed the light entirely and then, with a sound like a knuckle cracking, it split apart, shattering into fragments that scattered across the table.
For a long moment, nobody moved.
Then the murmuring began and it spread fast, especially among the local families gathered at the edges of the field, voices rising sharp with alarm.
"That’s not natural..."
"Demon’s power. It has to be..."
"That boy is a bad omen. A disaster waiting to happen..."
"Hey!" Sara’s voice cut through the noise, sharp and immediate. "It’s a test. That doesn’t make him anything."
"Yeah," Simon added, stepping half in front of Hasib without quite seeming to realize he’d done it. "Back off."
Lio said nothing, but he moved a step closer too, arms crossed, jaw set.
Even Rocky, further back, watched the crowd with a flat, unimpressed stare that made more than one person falter mid-sentence.
The Principal’s expression didn’t change on the surface, but behind his magnified eye, something calculating shifted into place.
This is going to be difficult, he thought. I’ll admit, I’m surprised. I’ve never seen a reaction like that before not once.
Even so, he held his composure, stepping forward to address the gathering crowd though the locals were in no mood to be reasoned with. Voices rose louder, demanding Hasib be declared an immediate failure, that he be removed from the grounds, that the entire selection be moved elsewhere before whatever that was could spread any further.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the Principal did the exact opposite of what they wanted.
"Everyone not directly involved in this selection," he said, voice cutting cleanly through the noise, "will leave the grounds. Now."
The crowd faltered, stunned into silence, before slowly, reluctantly, beginning to disperse.
Yamin Sir turned to the remaining students. "Results will be posted tomorrow. Until then, wait."
By the time the students filed out that evening, something in the way people looked at Hasib had shifted quiet stares that lingered a beat too long, conversations that dropped the moment he walked past.
Hina didn’t look at him any differently. Neither did Sara, Simon, or Lio.
Even Rocky, saying nothing as always, offered him the same short nod he gave everyone else.
But the rest of the field had already made up its mind.