Zane left first.
Not dramatically—no crowd, no escort. Just a hood pulled low and a steady walk through the guild's side gate.
To the world, he was the mythical prodigy preparing in secret.
To Zael, he was a moving dot on the edge of his perception.
[Synchronization Active]
Zane headed north, toward the low-rank hunting fields near the river basin—an area filled with beasts just strong enough to give experience, but not dangerous enough to draw attention.
Zael waited until nightfall before leaving.
Different gates. Different routes. Different timing.
No visible connection.
Only when the city walls were far behind them did they finally meet—on a broken stretch of road where weeds cracked through old stone and the wind smelled faintly of dust and iron.
Zane stood there already, arms folded.
Zael approached from the south.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Zane smiled faintly.
"Took you long enough."
Zael snorted. "Had to make sure no one followed me. High-profile genius and all that."
Zane's eyes flickered.
"Mythical-grade talent," he said calmly. "Everyone's watching. That's why I can't use yours."
Zael nodded. "Good. Keep it that way."
Instead of revealing Ascendant Echo, Zane activated one of the skill books Zael had upgraded earlier.
A faint golden shimmer spread across his arm.
[Skill Activated: Phantom Division (Legendary)]
To any observer, it looked like a talent.
To Zael, it was just a well-crafted lie.
"From now on," Zael said, "that's your 'talent.'"
Zane flexed his fingers. "Then let's make it convincing."
---
They hunted at dawn.
The river basin was alive with low-rank beasts—Scaled Jackals, Stoneback Toads, and Ironhorn Boars. Nothing impressive. Nothing that would draw scouts or wandering officials.
Zane moved openly.
Zael moved from the shadows.
When a pack of jackals burst from the brush, Zane stepped forward, golden light splitting into afterimages of himself that struck in unison.
Three beasts fell instantly.
Zael finished the rest with precise blows, his movements efficient and unremarkable.
[EXP Gained]
The numbers rose quietly.
Their levels rose together.
Not because they stood side by side…
…but because the system no longer cared which body made the kill.
---
By the end of the first day:
[Level Increased]
Zael leaned against a boulder, wiping sweat from his brow. "So this is what it feels like… leveling without hiding inside the city."
Zane glanced toward the distant skyline. "They'll think I trained alone."
"Good."
Night fell with cold wind and thin stars.
They didn't light a fire.
They took turns standing watch.
---
The second day, they moved deeper into the basin.
Stronger beasts appeared—Razorhide Wolves and Burrowing Drakes.
One drake erupted from the soil beneath Zane's feet.
Instead of dodging, Zane split.
Two afterimages lunged sideways while the real body drove a spear of light straight into its skull.
Zael felt the surge of energy a heartbeat later.
[EXP Gained]
Their levels synchronized again.
[Level Increased]
Zael exhaled slowly.
"It's strange," he muttered. "You fight like a hero. I fight like a background character. But the result's the same."
Zane's expression didn't change. "That's the point."
---
By the third day, exhaustion had set in.
Their clothes were torn. Dust clung to their boots. Blood—mostly not their own—stained their weapons.
They stood on a ridge overlooking the basin.
Below them lay scattered corpses of beasts.
[Status Update]
Zael
Level: 15
EXP: 4,120 / 7,300
Zane
Level: 15
EXP: 4,120 / 7,300
Perfect synchronization.
Zael let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Two levels in three days," he said. "Not bad."
Zane stared toward the distant road—the one that led to the provincial transport point.
"And still," he said, "no one knows you exist."
Zael smiled faintly.
"That's the idea."
---
They separated again before sunset.
Zane headed toward the official route.
Zael took the long way around.
Two travelers leaving the wilderness. Two names on different lists.
But outside the city gates, at the stone marker where the road split toward the provincial capital, they crossed paths one last time.
Not as master and echo.
Not as secret and disguise.
Just as two candidates heading toward the same storm.
Zane adjusted his cloak. "From here on, it's province level."
Zael nodded. "Which means less mercy."
"And more eyes."
Zael turned away first.
"Then make sure they're looking at you," he said. "Not me."
Behind him, Zane stepped onto the main road—already walking like a legend.
And Zael followed another path…
Level rising, Talent hidden, Name forgotten.
For now.
--
Zael slipped back into the city alone, hood up, pace lazy—just another low-profile awakener returning from the outskirts with a sack of monster parts to sell.
The trade district was loud as ever.
Vendors shouted prices. Smiths hammered steel. The Awakeners' Guild branch loomed at the end of the street like a patient beast waiting to be fed.
Zael entered through the side entrance and headed straight for the appraisal counter.
"Scaled jackal fangs. Razorhide pelts. Drake cores," the clerk muttered while sorting. "Decent haul for three days."
She slid him a pouch of coins.
Zael nodded, already turning away—
When the system chimed.
[Warning: External Observation Detected]
His steps didn't pause, but his heartbeat did.
"…Observation?"
He glanced casually toward the hall mirrors—polished crystal panes meant to show monster rankings.
For half a second…
His reflection lagged.
Not much. Not enough for anyone else to notice.
But Zael saw it.
His reflection's eyes flickered silver.
Then returned to normal.
[Observation Disengaged]
Zael left the guild without another word.
---
He took the long route back through the market, pretending to browse weapon stalls, but his mind was already working.
The general awakener system could view statuses.
So could the guild.
So could high-level officials.
But what he had just felt wasn't a scan.
It was…
Targeted.
Like something had checked him specifically.
Not Zane.
Not the battlefield prodigy.
Him.
Zael.
---
That night, in his room, he finally opened the item list from the appraisal receipt.
One entry glowed faintly red.
[Unregistered Core Fragment]
Origin: Unknown
Classification: ???
Status: Pending Review
Zael frowned.
"That wasn't in my bag…"
He pulled out a small shard wrapped in waxed cloth—black crystal veined with pale gold lines.
The moment his fingers touched it—
[Hidden Condition Triggered]
[Talent Bank Response: Suppressed]
Zael's vision blurred.
For an instant, he saw something else.
Not his room.
Not the city.
But a massive circular hall filled with floating panels of light… and countless locked "accounts" suspended like stars.
At the center:
A broken throne.
And above it, words burned into the air:
"Administrator Slot: Vacant."
The vision vanished.
Zael staggered back against the wall.
"…What the hell was that?"
The shard in his hand dimmed, as if exhausted.
[Item Updated]
Unregistered Core Fragment
→ Renamed: Watcher's Key (Dormant)
Description: A fragment tied to a failed system authority. Cannot be used at current level.
Zael sat down slowly on his bed.
A chill ran through him.
The system that gave him power…
Wasn't whole.
And somehow—
He had just picked up a piece of something that once controlled it.
Outside his window, the city slept peacefully.
Inside his room, Zael stared at the shard in his palm, a faint smile forming.
"So that's it…"
Zane was the hero they would watch.
But Zael?
Zael had just been noticed by something far older than the city trials.
And whatever had looked at him in the guild…
Was now waiting to see what he'd do with the key.
---------
Zael exhaled slowly and summoned the panel again.
"Status…."
The system shimmered, lines rewriting themselves as hidden layers unlocked.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[STATUS PANEL]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Zael
Age: 18
Level: 13
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PROFESSION: SOVEREIGN STRATEGIST
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Description:
A cognition-based combat profession that converts analysis, memory, and foresight into real-time battle advantage.
Capable of generating profession-exclusive techniques through experience and insight.
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ATTRIBUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Strength: 43
Agility: 47
Endurance:50
Perception:41
Intelligence:55
Willpower: 45
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TALENTS
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▶ Supreme Blessing (Mythical Grade)
Allows skills and abilities to be upgraded beyond their natural grade limit.
Prevents degradation or instability during forced evolution.
▶ Ascendant Echo (Mythical Grade)
Creates a synchronized duplicate entity.
The Echo shares levels, growth, and experience with the main body.
Actions performed by either entity accelerate collective development.
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PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
(Granted by Mythical Combat Sage Profession)
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• Predictive Footwork (Lv. 3)
Automatically adjusts movement based on probabilistic attack trajectories.
• Weakpoint Mapping (Lv. 2)
Reveals structural flaws in enemies, constructs, and skills.
• Combat Memory (Lv. 2)
Records enemy combat patterns after short exposure for future prediction.
• Tactical Reconstruction (Lv. 1)
Allows rapid creation of counter-techniques after observing enemy skills.
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OTHER SKILLS
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• Reflex Surge (Legendary Grade, Lv. 1)
Explosive burst of neural acceleration and reaction speed.
Externally registered as: Talent (Disguised)
• Blade Mastery (Legendary Grade, Lv. 2)
Enhances weapon control, edge alignment, and strike precision.
• Vital Step (Legendary Grade, Lv. 1)
Instant short-range repositioning technique using muscle overdrive.
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ITEMS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• Watcher's Key (Dormant)
A fragment tied to a collapsed system authority.
Reacts faintly to an unknown existence.
Function: Unknown
• Low-grade monster cores (x7)
• Standard iron dagger
• Coin pouch
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CONDITIONS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⚠ System Anomaly: Present
⚠ Profession Evolution: Irreversible
⚠ Hidden Authority Resonance: Weak
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EVALUATION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Threat Classification: Undefined
Growth Potential: Unmeasurable
System Visibility: Suppressed
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