Jace woke two days before the Academy trials, his body still aching but functional. The forced cultivation using forbidden materials had left him fundamentally changed. His Spirit of 105 hummed through newly forged channels, wider and more stable than anything his Common Tier infrastructure could have supported. But the cost was evident in every movement. His muscles felt heavy, his Constitution of 105 still struggling to fully compensate for the trauma he'd inflicted on himself.
Kiri was beside him immediately, her golden eyes assessing his condition with clinical precision. "You're awake. How do you feel?"
"Like I died and came back wrong," Jace admitted, his voice rough. He pulled up his status screen, needing to confirm what his body was telling him.
System: Summoner Status
Name: Jace
Stats: Power 100, Spirit 105, Constitution 105, Speed 100
Rank: Rare Tier Summoner
Contract Slots: 1 (Occupied: Kiri)
Talents: Insight of the Tactician (Active)
Warning: Essence corruption detected. Treatment required within 28 days.
Note: Spirit scarring detected. Cultivation efficiency reduced by 5% until treated.
The Rare Tier classification was official now. More importantly, his Insight of the Tactician talent had shifted from dormant to active. His Spirit crossing the threshold had unlocked the first manifestation of his royal bloodline's tactical genius. He focused on the talent description.
System: Talent Active
Talent: Insight of the Tactician (Active - Low Tier)
Effect: Grants the ability to instantly perceive critical tactical weaknesses in any single target within sensory range. Current limitation: 3 uses per day before Spirit strain becomes critical.
Three uses per day wasn't much, but it was enough. In a single Academy trial fight, three precisely timed tactical insights could mean the difference between victory and humiliating defeat.
"The bond feels different," Kiri observed, her hand resting lightly on his chest. Through their contract link, Jace could feel her probing the connection, testing its new stability. "Stronger. More stable. Like it was rebuilt from the ground up."
"It was," Jace confirmed. "The Phoenix Rebirth technique doesn't just repair damaged channels. It destroys everything and reconstructs it better. My entire spiritual infrastructure is new." He met her gaze. "Which means you're no longer limited by my weakness. Your stats are capped at Rare Tier maximum, but I can sustain you at full combat capacity now without risking collapse."
Kiri's expression shifted into something approaching satisfaction. "Then the suffering was worth it."
"Not yet," Jace corrected, forcing himself into a sitting position. His body protested, but obeyed. "The cultivation got me to Rare Tier, but I'm damaged. The essence corruption needs treatment within a month, and the Spirit scarring is reducing my cultivation efficiency. I need resources to fix both problems, which means we need the Academy."
He stood slowly, testing his balance. His legs held, stronger than before thanks to his improved Power and Constitution stats. "Two days until trials. We need to prepare, but more importantly, we need information. I've been operating blind, using Jace's fragmented memories and my royal knowledge. It's time to see what we're actually up against."
Kiri tilted her head slightly. "You want to scout the competition."
"Exactly," Jace confirmed. "The Academy holds preliminary exhibitions before the trials. A showcase where returning students demonstrate their prowess to inspire new applicants. It's propaganda, designed to make the Academy look prestigious and powerful. But it's also intelligence. We can see what tier of summoners and beasts we'll be competing against."
He walked toward the warehouse exit, his steps growing steadier as his body remembered how to function. "Get ready. We're going to observe, assess, and identify the real threats. Particularly anyone from the major nations who might have backing similar to what my family once provided."
The journey to the Academy district took an hour, Jace moving carefully to avoid drawing attention. His improved stats made the walk significantly easier than it would have been days ago, but he was still recovering. The debt collectors hadn't found him yet, but they would eventually. The Academy acceptance was his only path to legitimate protection from conscription.
The Academy's outer plaza was packed with hopeful applicants and their families. The architecture was deliberately imposing, all polished marble and towering spires designed to inspire awe and reinforce the institution's prestige. Jace kept to the edges of the crowd, his threadbare cloak and gaunt features marking him as a bottom tier applicant barely worthy of notice.
A raised platform had been erected in the plaza's centre, where returning Academy students were demonstrating their capabilities. Jace positioned himself near the back, using his height and Kiri's presence beside him to observe without being observed in return.
The first demonstration was unremarkable. A Mid Rare Tier summoner with a standard Earth Golem, performing basic combat manoeuvres that drew polite applause from the crowd. The Golem's stats were respectable but unexceptional, clearly the result of conventional training and adequate resources. Nothing that posed a threat.
The second demonstration was more interesting. A High Rare Tier summoner with a Storm Lizard, showcasing aerial combat capabilities. The crowd's reaction was enthusiastic, the Hawk's electrical discharges creating impressive visual effects. Jace analysed the display with cold precision, his newly active Insight of the Tactician talent providing instant tactical assessment.
System: Tactical Analysis
Target: Storm Lizard (High Rare Tier)
Estimated Stats: Power 280, Spirit 240, Constitution 260, Speed 290
Critical Weakness: Overreliance on aerial superiority. Ground-based speed attacks would overwhelm defensive capabilities. Electrical discharge has 3-second cooldown, exploitable window.
The analysis appeared in his mind like text overlaying reality, cold and absolute. The talent didn't just identify weaknesses. It quantified them, providing specific exploitable windows and tactical recommendations. This was what his family had used to dominate battlefields for millennia.
Then the atmosphere in the plaza shifted. The casual chatter died down, replaced by hushed, reverent whispers. Jace felt it before he saw it, a pressure in the air that made his newly forged spiritual channels resonate uncomfortably.
A woman stepped onto the platform, and the crowd's reaction was immediate and visceral. Respect bordering on fear from the lower tier applicants. Admiration mixed with envy from those with better backing. This wasn't just another student demonstration. This was someone important.
She was young, maybe twenty two, with platinum blonde hair pulled back in a severe braid. Her Academy uniform was immaculate, marked with insignia that Jace's inherited knowledge recognized immediately. The silver peak crest. She was from the Silverpeak Nation, one of the four major allied nations that formed the current power structure.
More importantly, she carried herself with absolute confidence. Not the arrogance of someone who'd been given power, but the certainty of someone who'd earned it through blood and effort. Her aura was controlled but palpable, a Mid Epic Tier presence that made weaker summoners instinctively step back.
"Aeliana of House Silverpeak," someone in the crowd whispered. "She's ranked third in the entire Academy. Epic Tier summoner at twenty two years old."
Jace's analytical mind catalogued the information instantly. Epic Tier this young meant exceptional resources, superior training, and probably significant political backing. She was exactly the kind of obstacle he'd need to overcome or outmanoeuvre to survive Academy politics.
Aeliana raised her hand, and her contracted beast materialized beside her. A Gryphon, magnificent and terrible, its eagle head crowned with what looked like crystallized lightning, its lion body rippling with barely contained power. The beast's presence alone made the crowd gasp, the sheer weight of its Epic Tier aura forcing weaker applicants to their knees.
Jace remained standing, his Rare Tier spiritual foundation and royal bloodline providing just enough resistance to avoid the humiliation of collapse. But he felt it. The pressure, the overwhelming difference in raw power between Epic and Rare. This was what he'd eventually need to reach, to surpass, if he wanted to reclaim anything approaching his lost throne.
He activated Insight of the Tactician, spending one of his three daily uses to analyse the threat.
System: Tactical Analysis
Target: Aeliana's Gryphon (Mid Epic Tier, Standard Development)
Estimated Stats: Power 650, Spirit 520, Constitution 620, Speed 680
Critical Weakness: Conventional training pattern detected. Predictable attack sequences based on Academy standard combat doctrine. Royal Stat Floor advantage would allow properly trained Rare Tier beast to exploit timing gaps in offensive combinations.
Note: Summoner displays above-average tactical awareness. Direct confrontation inadvisable at current tier.
The analysis was both encouraging and sobering. The Gryphon was powerful, vastly more powerful than Kiri in terms of raw stats. But it was conventionally trained, following predictable patterns that Jace's royal knowledge could exploit. More importantly, Aeliana herself was noted as tactically aware, which meant underestimating her would be fatal.
Aeliana's demonstration was brief but devastating. The Gryphon performed a series of aerial strikes against reinforced training dummies, each blow precise and overwhelmingly powerful. The dummies, designed to withstand Rare Tier assaults, shattered like glass under the Epic Tier onslaught.
When the demonstration concluded, Aeliana's gaze swept across the crowd. For a brief, electric moment, her eyes locked onto Jace's. There was no recognition, no interest, just the cold assessment of someone cataloguing potential threats or opportunities. Then her gaze moved on, dismissing him as beneath notice.
That casual dismissal stung more than any insult could have. To someone like Aeliana, backed by one of the four great nations and already Epic Tier at twenty two, a Rare Tier summoner with a wingless Seraph wasn't even worth remembering.
The Prince's pride flared, cold and absolute. She sees a failure. A bottom tier nobody who somehow scraped into Rare. She has no idea what I am, what I was, what I will become. That ignorance is my greatest weapon.
"That's our competition," Jace said quietly to Kiri as they retreated from the plaza. "Not directly. She's far above our current level. But she represents what we'll face at the Academy. Epic Tier students with conventional power, backed by nations that murdered my family to steal their thrones."
Kiri's expression hardened. "Then we'll surpass them. You have knowledge they've forgotten. I have potential they can't see. Together, we'll climb higher than any of them expect."
"Eventually," Jace agreed. "But first, we survive the trials. Two days, Kiri. Two days to rest, recover, and prepare. Then we show them what a rejected summoner and a broken Seraph can achieve when properly motivated."
They made their way back to the warehouse, the weight of what they'd witnessed settling over them. Aeliana of House Silverpeak, Mid Epic Tier at twenty two, backed by one of the great nations. She wasn't an enemy, not yet. But she represented everything Jace would need to overcome.
The gap between Rare and Epic seemed insurmountable. But Jace had already done the impossible once, forcing his way from Common to Rare through methods that should have killed him. The climb would continue. The suffering would continue. And eventually, he'd stand on equal footing with the descendants of the traitors who'd murdered his family.
But first, the trials. And the first step toward reclaiming a stolen throne.