The final echoes of the declaration died away, plunging the observation room back into a heavy, suffocating silence.
Three tons!
The number hung in the air, bordering on absolute madness.
It suddenly made sense how Reed Newt had wiped out fifteen sea monsters in a single breath, rocketing straight into second place on the regional leaderboards.
After what felt like an eternity, one of the tutors cleared his throat, offering a hesitant reminder.
“Reed Newt…
seems to have shattered our school’s all-time ranking record.”
The realization hit the room like a physical shock wave.
It was true.
Valley View Academy’s highest historical placement in the standings had been a distant third place.
By surging into second, Reed Newt had single-handedly rewritten the academy’s history books.
Yet, looking around the room, not a single face wore a smile.
Reed Newt hadn’t conquered the rankings through the glorious path of an evolutionary; he had done it with crude, unstable black powder.
While every soul across Terra was pouring their life’s effort into unlocking Extraordinary evolution, Reed Newt was violently turning back the wheel of history, forcing a technological renaissance through sheer stubbornness.
Because the rules of the Endless Sea strictly barred any outside technology, he had simply crafted it from scratch on site.
He started with crude stone tools and ended up mixing tons of gunpowder.
“What a tragic waste of natural talent,” Meinhard Janek sighed, shaking his head.
A deep, sorrowful pity weighed on his chest as he looked at the display.
“To possess such innate potential, only to burn it all on primitive machinery…”
He was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt: had Reed Newt directed that brilliant mind toward the evolutionary path, his future achievements would have shaken the realm.
“Principal!
An urgent summons from the Mayor, you are requested at the Town Hall immediately!” The sudden shout snapped the heavy mood as a young mentor burst into the room, out of breath.
Meinhard Janek froze, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.
The City Hall was the undisputed seat of power in the region, standing toweringly above all academic institutions.
Its head, Wisław Zackery, was a feared ninth-rank Island Holder who had carved out a domain of absolute dominance across the Endless Sea.
His personal strength was terrifyingly vast.
At the City Hall, Meinhard Janek lost no time heeding the summons.
Stepping into the hall, he spotted a middle-aged man draped in simple, unadorned robes, standing with his hands folded behind his back, gazing out over the courtyard.
“Greetings, Mayor,” Meinhard Janek offered, lowering his head in a respectful, measured salute.
“Sit,” the man replied, turning around with a faint, unreadable smile.
He bypassed all pleasantries.
“I won’t waste your time with empty diplomatic talk.
The reason I called you here so abruptly…
is the anomaly on the scoreboard.”
He paused, his gaze sharpening slightly.
“Tell me…
has your academy produced a once-in-a-generation genius?”
Not long ago, while handling regional affairs, Zackery had caught sight of a sudden, unnatural spike on the leaderboards.
A student from Valley View Academy had slain fifteen sea monsters in a single instance, leaping directly to second place.
Had it been a slow, methodical climb, it wouldn’t have earned a second glance from the city lord.
Slaying fifteen beasts at once yielded a massive score, a feat typically reserved for second-stage evolutionaries.
And considering the trial had only entered its second day, Zackery was convinced of his deduction: a true monster had awakened in his city.
Under his intense gaze, Meinhard Janek’s expression turned extraordinarily awkward.
“Ah…
You overestimate us, sir,” he stammered defensively.
“Our cohort this year is painfully average.
There really are no grand geniuses…”
“Principal Janek, there is no need for such paranoid secrecy,” Zackery interrupted, waving a dismissive hand.
“I give you my personal word that no faction in this city will dare target your prodigy.
In fact, I am prepared to take him in as my personal disciple and lavish him with resources.”
Meinhard Janek swallowed a bitter smile.
Backed into a corner, he had no choice but to bite the bullet.
“Mayor, I fear there has been a massive misunderstanding,” he admitted softly.
“The only student in our ranks with exceptional talent…
is Rudyard Wilf, and he currently sits at fourteenth place.
He is hardly a peerless genius.”
If Reed Newt had reached second place through proper evolutionary prowess, Meinhard would have shouted it from the rooftops.
But the actual method Reed Newt had used was so absurd that Meinhard could barely bring himself to utter it.
“Meinhard Janek!” Zackery’s voice dropped an octave, his expression instantly darkening.
“Do not play the fool with me!
Who cares about Rudyard Wilf?
The monster I am asking about is Reed Newt!”
A suffocating aura erupted from Zackery, crashing over Meinhard like an ocean wave.
Though Meinhard was a formidable seventh-stage evolutionary, under the raw weight of a ninth-rank master, he felt as helpless as a frail chick before a storm.
“Sir, please stay your wrath!” Meinhard gasped, his face draining of color as he blurted out the truth.
“It is not that I am hiding him, it is just that…
the reality is absurd!”
He hastily recounted the entire ridiculous sequence of events: how Reed Newt had spent his time gathering raw mineral deposits and crafting three whole tons of gunpowder to blow up the trial zone.
“Fabrications!
Complete nonsense!” Zackery barked, his eyes cold with disbelief.
“Do you take me for an idiot?
The fundamental laws of that place reject modern technological approaches!
Bringing refined tech inside is impossible, let alone three tons of explosive powder!”
Meinhard wiped the cold sweat pouring down his forehead, feeling utterly wronged.
“He didn’t bring it in, Mayor!
He gathered the raw sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal from the island environment and manufactured it on the spot!”
Zackery’s brows furrowed deeply.
The chemical formula for gunpowder might be straightforward, but harvesting, purifying, and mass-producing three whole tons out in the wild was a task no ordinary student should be capable of handling.
“If you remain doubtful… see for yourself,” Meinhard pleaded, raising his hand to manifest a glowing projection of Reed Newt’s island territory, a privilege reserved exclusively for school principals during evaluation periods.
A second later, the Mayor froze, completely dumbfounded.
The young man in the crystal projection possessed not a single trace of cosmic energy or spiritual aura.
He looked completely ordinary.
No, he was, quite literally, a completely unawakened mortal!
He hadn’t even crossed the threshold of a first-stage evolutionary!
And right at that moment, this unawakened mortal was sprinting across the jagged coastline like a madman, yelling at the top of his lungs to draw the attention of every monster on the beach.
Gradually, a terrifying swarm of over forty sea monsters formed behind him, their bloodthirsty roar echoing through the projection as they closed in on his position.
“Has he lost his mind?!” Zackery’s eyes shrank.
A mere unevolved kid actively taunting a horde of sea beasts?
Even if sea monsters were low-level threats, provoking forty of them at once was suicidal.
Even a seasoned second-stage evolutionary wouldn’t dare pull a stunt that reckless!
Yet, what unfolded next shattered all established logic.
Just as the tide of howling beasts converged on Reed Newt’s position, ready to tear him limb from limb, a sound like tearing thunder split the sky.
BOOM!
A hundred yards ahead of the running youth, a towering plume of black smoke erupted into the heavens, coalescing into a mini mushroom cloud that swallowed the landscape in fire and shockwaves.
The forty-plus sea monsters caught in the blast radius didn’t even have time to scream; their massive bodies were torn apart instantly, shredded into gory rain that blasted across the shoreline.
Not a single beast survived whole.
“Was that…
gunpowder?” Zackery swallowed hard, his throat dry as he turned slowly toward the principal.
“It…
should be,” Meinhard offered weakly.
“Standard black powder doesn’t possess that kind of concentrated destructive force,” Zackery muttered, his brow furrowed in disbelief.
The raw output of that explosion was easily comparable to a full-force blow from a peak second-stage combatant.
It was unnerving.
Meinhard surveyed the crater-pocked landscape on the screen and added quietly, “Well…
ten tons of tightly packed powder concentrated in a single bottleneck would yield roughly that level of yield.”
Zackery stared at him, entirely speechless.
Ding!
At that exact moment, the regional leaderboard updated again.
Reed Newt, who had been sitting comfortably in second place, surged upward once more, instantly dethroning the top-ranked student of the Cypress Institute.
With fifty-nine confirmed monster slays to his name, his score now sat far ahead of the competition.
It took several long moments for Zackery to regain his composure.
He blew out a slow breath, waved a tired hand, and muttered, “Fine.
I have seen enough.
You may leave.”
“Then…
regarding the matter of taking him on as your disciple?” Meinhard asked, peering up cautiously.
The question instantly blew away Zackery’s composure.
“Get out!” he roared.
Meinhard pulled his head back into his shoulders, suddenly realizing he had severely overstayed his welcome.
Without another word, he turned on his heel and beat a hasty retreat out of the City Hall.