The Academy's deepest training facility was nothing like the polished halls above.
Guards escorted Aren and Kane down a descending tunnel reinforced with obsidian plates and shimmering mana barriers.
The air got colder.
Heavier.
Quiet.
Even the soldiers avoided looking at Aren.
Whispers followed him like shadows.
"Is that the Forbidden Tier recruit?"
"He killed a Knight-class alone…"
"The Council marked him as Amber-status."
"Amber? Should've been Red…"
Aren ignored them.
But he could feel the presence beneath the city again—
not speaking, not pushing, just watching.
Waiting.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The tunnel ended at a massive circular door engraved with runes.
The Secured Chamber.
Most students never even heard of it.
Kane entered a code and pressed his palm to the seal.
The door groaned open, releasing a wave of cool, dense mana.
Inside was a barren arena of smooth stone.
Rune pillars hummed around the edges.
Two upper-level researchers observed from a shielded balcony.
Rellin stood in the center, arms folded.
"This chamber suppresses external interference and stabilizes mana distortions," she explained. "We'll conduct controlled tests of your power."
Aren stepped inside.
The door sealed behind him with a final thunk.
Rellin gestured to the far side of the arena.
"Begin with a standard attack.
Minimal force."
Aren nodded.
He drew his bow.
Void energy gathered instantly—faster, denser than yesterday.
The air warped around the arrowhead.
He fired.
FWIPP—BOOM.
The arrow teleported once and struck a reinforced barrier.
The barrier cracked.
A researcher gasped.
"That was a minimal attack?!"
"That output shouldn't be possible at his level!"
Rellin's eyes narrowed.
"Again."
Aren obeyed.
The second arrow flickered twice mid-air.
BOOM!!
A section of the barrier shattered, sending fragments of runic stone flying.
Kane stepped forward.
"That's enough. His power scales exponentially—"
Rellin lifted a hand.
"No. We continue."
She wasn't looking at the damage.
She was looking at Aren's eyes.
They glowed faintly violet.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Rellin raised a new target—
a massive iron construct shaped like a demon.
"Next.
Use your strongest attack."
Kane started to protest.
"Headmaster, that's reckless. His power—"
"Is exactly what we need to understand," she replied.
Aren steadied his breathing.
The construct activated, its core humming with mana. It stomped forward, shaking the entire chamber.
"Begin," Rellin ordered.
Aren pulled the bowstring back—
—and something different happened.
Void energy didn't form an arrow.
It formed a swirling point of pressure.
A distortion in space itself.
The bow trembled in his hands.
Skill Evolution Detected.
Void Flicker Arrow (D-) → ?
Condition: Unstable Void Surge
Aren's heart pounded.
The arrow wasn't an arrow.
It was… collapsing and expanding at the same time.
A fragment of void.
The construct charged.
Aren released.
Silence.
Then—
THOOM.
Reality warped.
A spiraling tear sliced forward, shredding the construct into pieces as if it were made of paper.
The shockwave hit the barrier—
and the entire chamber trembled.
Cracks raced across the reinforced walls.
Researchers screamed.
"Shut the chamber down!"
"Mana overload—shut it down!!"
Rellin shouted over the chaos:
"Aren! Stop channeling! NOW!"
Aren exhaled, and the void distortion faded.
Silence followed.
Smoke drifted from the ruined construct.
The barrier was seconds from collapse.
Aren looked at his hands.
"…What was that?"
Kane backed away, stunned.
Rellin's voice was steady, but her eyes were sharp with calculation—and fear.
"That wasn't a skill," she said.
"That was raw void tearing through space."
Aren swallowed.
"I didn't mean to—"
Rellin raised her hand.
"We know. That's the problem."
The chamber lights flickered.
The floor vibrated.
Aren froze.
Kane froze.
Rellin froze.
Everyone heard it.
A distant, deep knock from somewhere far below the city.
A sound that didn't belong to stone or machine.
The dragon's voice drifted up through the runes:
"You grow quickly…
Void bearer…"
Aren's vision blurred—
a flash of a colossal violet eye.
Chains cracking.
Stone falling.
Then the vision vanished.
A researcher screamed.
"The mana sensors—! Something underground just activated!"
Kane grabbed Aren's arm.
"We're leaving. Now."
But Rellin blocked the exit.
"No," she said.
"Now we talk."
Her gaze locked onto Aren's.
"Tell me exactly what is calling you from beneath this city."
Aren's heartbeat thundered.
Because the voice whispered again, just for him—
"Do not reveal me."
Aren looked at Rellin.
"I don't know," he said.
Rellin studied him for a long moment—
trying to see if he was lying.
Then the chamber alarms blared:
"WARNING. SUBTERRANEAN MANA SPIKE.
CATEGORY UNKNOWN."
Rellin stepped aside.
"Kane. Get him out of here."
Kane grabbed Aren and moved.
But as the chamber doors closed behind them,
Aren heard the dragon's whisper one last time:
"Our bond… grows."