On the abandoned street, the F-grade Obsidian Spear moved through Kael’s hands like a black dragon twisting through the air.
Its movements were fast.
Precise.
Fluid.
Every thrust carried tremendous force.
Then….
Kael suddenly stopped.
The spear went from extreme motion to complete stillness in an instant.
Hisssss….
The friction between the spearhead and the air had generated so much heat that a faint wave of steam rose from the black metal.
Kael stared at the weapon in his hands.
His eyes were filled with excitement.
“With this level of Spearmanship…”
“I can kill a Tier One Ferocious Beast.”
Before today, Kael had believed that his greatest advantages were his Physique and Spirit.
He had considered Spearmanship a secondary skill.
But after using the Deep Blue System to advance his Spearmanship, he realized how wrong that assumption had been.
Advanced Spearmanship was on an entirely different level.
His spear-thrusting speed had more than doubled.
But speed wasn’t even the most important improvement.
His understanding of the weapon had undergone a fundamental transformation.
Every movement felt natural.
Every technique was deeply ingrained.
He understood how to attack.
How to defend.
How to redirect force.
How to control distance.
How to exploit openings.
No matter what kind of opponent stood before him, he could almost instinctively find the most effective way to deal with it.
A Tier One Ferocious Beast might possess a physique several times stronger than his own.
But in front of Advanced Spearmanship…
Its superior physical strength wouldn’t necessarily matter.
Kael could use his reach, technique, timing, and precision to dismantle it piece by piece.
“Spearmanship is much more important than I thought.”
He glanced at the Deep Blue System.
The price of advancing Spearmanship to Advanced had been considerable.
200 Ability Points.
His previous total had been 213.
Now…
Ability Points: 13
Kael couldn’t help sighing.
“Only thirteen left.”
He shook his head.
“If I had more Ability Points, I’d really like to see what Master-level Spearmanship is capable of.”
The thought alone made him curious.
Beginner.
Intermediate.
Advanced.
Master.
Grandmaster.
Perfection.
Kael couldn’t imagine what kind of terrifying combat ability existed at the higher levels.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t test it yet.
He opened the examination map.
His white marker was now approaching the boundary between the green Outer Region and the yellow Middle Region.
Kael estimated the remaining distance.
“About thirty minutes.”
He looked toward the deeper part of the ruins.
“The Middle Region contains peak unranked Ferocious Beasts and Tier One Ferocious Beasts.”
“Once I get there, the rate at which I earn Ability Points should increase significantly.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
That was exactly what he needed.
Grayridge Town had once been a relatively modern settlement.
Although it had been destroyed decades ago, its original infrastructure was still recognizable.
The town had been divided into residential and commercial districts.
Cement buildings lined the streets.
Apartment blocks stood among abandoned houses.
Broken roads stretched between the ruins.
The passage of time, combined with years of exposure to Ferocious Beasts, had transformed the settlement into something resembling a dead city.
Kael was currently passing through what had once been a suburban residential district.
Most of the buildings here were six stories tall.
More than half had collapsed.
The remaining structures were badly weathered, with broken windows and crumbling walls.
Weeds had grown through cracks in the stone roads.
Trees had pushed their roots through abandoned sidewalks.
The entire area was silent.
Almost too silent.
Kael had just finished another battle.
He wiped the blood from the spearhead and prepared to continue toward the Middle Region.
Then….
Figures appeared at the far end of the street.
Kael stopped.
There were five people.
Three girls.
Two boys.
The person leading them was a tall young woman wearing a silver-white combat suit.
Kael immediately recognized her.
Emily Foster.
His class representative.
The same person who had invited him to join her team before the examination began.
Emily also noticed him.
Her eyes widened.
“Kael?”
Surprise immediately turned into delight.
She quickly walked toward him.
“Kael!
I didn’t expect to find you here.”
The other four members of her team followed.
Their expressions were equally surprised.
Kael smiled.
“Emily.”
This was the first time he had encountered someone from his own class since entering Grayridge Town.
The candidates he had encountered earlier had all been from other schools or other classes.
Seeing a familiar face in this dangerous place was unexpectedly pleasant.
Emily looked around.
Then she realized something.
“Are you alone?”
Kael nodded.
“Yeah.”
Her eyes widened.
“You came all the way here by yourself?”
“It’s more convenient that way.”
Kael answered honestly.
Emily looked at him for several seconds.
Then she suddenly smiled.
“That’s impressive!”
She raised her thumb.
“We only managed to get this far because of Chloe’s ability.”
She pointed toward a petite girl standing behind her.
The girl looked slightly embarrassed and nodded.
Her name was Chloe Bennett.
She had awakened a D-rank Support-type ability called Quickstep.
When activated, Quickstep could increase the movement speed of herself and nearby teammates.
It wasn’t a particularly powerful combat ability.
But in an examination like this, it was extremely useful.
It allowed Emily’s team to move quickly through the Outer Region while avoiding unnecessary battles.
Kael nodded.
“That’s a useful ability.”
“Yeah.”
Emily smiled.
“We’ve been pretty lucky too.
Most of the Ferocious Beasts we encountered weren’t particularly strong.”
Kael smiled.
“I’ve had decent luck as well.”
He didn’t explain further.
There was no need.
The truth was that the beasts he had encountered had simply been unlucky.
Kael and Emily exchanged a few more words.
Then Kael glanced at the time.
The examination had a strict time limit.
Every minute mattered.
“Emily, we should keep moving.”
“Let’s talk after the examination.”
Emily nodded.
“Of course.”
“Good luck, Kael.”
“You too.”
Kael turned around.
Then he disappeared down another street.
Emily watched him leave.
A strange sense of relief filled her heart.
She had always considered Kael unfortunate.
He had lost both parents at a young age.
He had awakened only an E-rank ability.
And now he had chosen to enter the most dangerous examination available to high school students.
She had been worried that he might not survive.
But seeing him standing there, alive and apparently capable of reaching this deep into the examination area…
She felt relieved.
“I really didn’t expect him to make it this far.”
Emily quietly murmured.
“Maybe he really did have his reasons for entering the Combat Examination.”
“Captain!”
A voice suddenly came from behind her.
Emily turned.
One of her teammates was crouching beside something lying on the road.
“Come take a look.”
“There seems to be a dead Horned Rhino here.”
Emily walked over.
The enormous corpse lay beside the broken road.
At first, none of them had paid much attention to it.
They had assumed that another group had killed it earlier.
But after taking a closer look…
Something seemed wrong.
“This thing died recently.”
One of the boys crouched down and examined the wounds.
“The blood hasn’t dried yet.”
“Probably only a few minutes.”
Another student pointed toward the body.
“There are wounds all over it.”
“But the fatal injury…”
He looked toward the head.
“It’s here.”
The group examined the wound carefully.
A long, narrow penetration mark had passed through the Rhino’s eye socket and into its brain.
The shape was unmistakable.
One of the boys frowned.
“That looks like a spear wound.”
Emily’s expression changed.
“A spear?”
The others nodded.
“Definitely.”
“It was killed by a long-handled weapon.”
Emily’s eyes slowly widened.
She suddenly thought of Kael.
The Obsidian Spear on his back.
His calm expression.
The direction in which he had just left.
A possibility emerged in her mind.
But it seemed too absurd.
One of the boys noticed her expression.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking Kael killed this?”
The others looked at her.
The boy immediately shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
“A Horned Rhino is extremely difficult to deal with.”
“There are five of us, and we only dared to fight one because we have the numbers.”
“An E-rank Awakener killing one alone?”
He laughed.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Emily didn’t answer.
She simply looked at the corpse.
She wasn’t convinced.
But she also wasn’t ready to make such an outrageous assumption.
“Whether Kael killed it or not…”
One of the boys suddenly raised his smart watch.
“We can check his score.”
Everyone turned toward him.
He activated the examination ranking.
The virtual display appeared.
He quickly searched for Kael’s name.
Then…
His expression froze.
“…What?”
Emily frowned.
“What happened?”
He didn’t answer.
He simply stared at the screen.
Then he rubbed his eyes.
Hard.
He checked again.
His expression became even more shocked.
“Rank…”
He swallowed.
“Rank forty-six.”
Everyone stared at him.
“What?”
“Whose rank?”
“Kael’s.”
The boy turned the display toward them.
The ranking was clearly visible.
Redhaven City Combat Examination Ranking
46th – Kael Veyron – 256 points
Rivergate High School
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Emily’s eyes widened.
Her normally gentle expression was replaced by pure disbelief.
“Kael…”
“Rank forty-six?”
The others crowded around the display.
“Are you sure?”
“Check it again!”
The boy immediately refreshed the ranking.
The number didn’t change.
46th.
Kael Veyron.
256 points.
One of the students stared at the screen as if he had seen a ghost.
“He’s actually in the top fifty?”
“An E-rank Awakener?”
“How?”
Another student shook his head repeatedly.
“I must be reading this wrong.”
“Maybe the ranking system made a mistake.”
The boy holding the watch quickly checked again.
“No mistake.”
“It’s definitely him.”
Emily remained silent.
She stared at Kael’s name.
Then she looked toward the direction in which he had disappeared.
A question slowly formed in her mind.
How did he do it?
More than three hours had passed since the examination began.
Most E-rank Awakeners should have already been eliminated from the more dangerous regions.
Yet Kael hadn’t simply survived.
He had advanced deep into the examination area.
And now…
He had accumulated 256 points.
Enough to place him among the city’s top fifty candidates.
Emily’s expression became complicated.
She suddenly remembered their conversation before the examination.
Kael had said he wanted to fight alone.
At the time, she had thought he was simply being stubborn.
But now…
She wasn’t so sure.
The boy with the smart watch finally broke the silence.
“Seriously…”
“Can an E-rank Awakener really be this terrifying?”
No one answered.
They didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
Kael Veyron was no longer the weak E-rank Awakener they had assumed him to be.