Jeather didn't go back to the arena.
That alone made more students talk than his fight earlier.
Because at Saltwind Tidal Academy, everything was supposed to revolve around ranking.
Win. Climb. Repeat.
But instead—
he turned away from it.
The corridors of the academy shifted as he walked deeper inward, away from the amphitheater noise and ranking pressure. The stone here wasn't ordinary—it was layered with coral-infused sealing glass, letting currents of seawater flow above and between walls like a suspended ocean ceiling.
Beasts moved in containment channels overhead.
Some swam.
Some crawled along rune-latticed glass.
Some simply… watched.
Jeather's eyes followed them casually.
"…So this place is basically a zoo pretending to be a school."
Astrael's voice surfaced calmly in his mind.
Incorrect. It is a controlled ecosystem.
Velkaria followed.
A research battlefield.
Saxum, inside the Beast Realm, bounced excitedly.
"Jett! Many snack!"
Jeather didn't respond immediately.
His attention was already locked forward.
A massive rotating structure sat at the center of the research hall.
A holographic archive.
Beast data.
Expedition logs.
Mutation reports.
And sealed classifications marked in red.
He stopped.
"…Now we're talking."
Jeather stepped closer to the floating interface.
It responded instantly.
Lines of glowing text unfolded across his vision like a living catalogue.
[SALTWIND BEAST ARCHIVE – LIVE INDEX]
Bronze-Class Coastal Species
Reefbreaker Crab
Saltfin Eel
Tide Skipper Wolf
Coral Drift Serpent
Silver-Class Apex Waters
Abyss Needle Serpent
Twin Rift Jelly Predator
Coral Maw Stalker
Glassjaw Barracuda
Unclassified / Restricted Entries
"Deep Trench Entity"
"The Submerged Thorn Phenomenon"
"Platinum Anomaly Report: Missing Subject"
Jeather narrowed his eyes slightly.
"…Platinum anomaly?"
A nearby librarian student flinched.
"You can't access that—!"
Jeather ignored him.
The system flickered faintly.
[ACCESS DENIED – HIGHER CLEARANCE REQUIRED]
Jeather clicked his tongue.
"Of course it is."
Velkaria spoke softly.
Authority barrier.
Astrael added.
Or force.
Saxum perked up.
"Jett break?"
Jeather shook his head.
"Not worth it yet."
But his eyes stayed on the restricted section longer than necessary.
Something about it didn't feel like simple classification.
It felt… erased.
Jeather shifted focus to expedition logs instead.
One caught his attention immediately.
[FIELD REPORT – OUTER SALTWIND TRENCH ZONE]
Multiple Silver-tier beasts observed undergoing forced behavioral shifts.
Aggression spikes without natural cause
Reports of Bronze beasts evolving abnormally mid-cycle.
Expedition team lost contact after entering trench boundary.
No recovery signals detected
Status: Investigation suspended due to "unknown interference"
Jeather leaned slightly forward.
"…Forced evolution?"
Astrael's tone sharpened.
Distortion of natural growth patterns.
Velkaria added.
Artificial influence or environmental corruption.
Saxum tilted his head.
"Bad ocean?"
Jeather didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he smiled faintly.
"Or something feeding the ocean."
That made Astrael pause.
Velkaria didn't respond immediately either.
Because that idea—
was worse.
He straightened.
For the first time since arriving at Saltwind—
he wasn't thinking about ranking.
Not directly.
Not urgently.
The system still existed in his vision, still quietly tracking progression.
But something else had taken priority.
Beasts.
Rare ones.
Mutated ones.
Unknown-class ones.
Things that could be sealed.
Collected.
Studied.
Used.
Sold.
He exhaled slowly.
"This place isn't just an academy."
He glanced at the floating archive again.
"It's a map of hunting grounds."
Astrael responded quietly.
You are shifting from challenger to collector.
Velkaria added.
Intent changes behavior.
Saxum bounced.
"Jett hunter now!"
Jeather nodded once.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"…That sounds about right."
Decision Point
He turned away from the archive and walked toward another corridor.
Sign above it:
EXPEDITION GATE ACCESS
Beyond it—sealed exits leading out of academy territory.
Beyond that—
the open ocean zones.
Unmapped regions.
Beast-dense waters.
Uncontrolled evolution zones.
Jeather stopped at the threshold.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Then—
he exhaled.
"Alright."
He cracked his neck once.
"I've seen enough inside cages."
Astrael spoke.
Leaving academy protection increases threat level.
Velkaria added.
Survival probability decreases.
Saxum tilted.
"Danger fun?"
Jeather smirked slightly.
"Sometimes."
He stepped forward.
Behind him, faint murmurs spread again.
"He's leaving the central facility?"
"Is he skipping training?"
"Didn't he just arrive?"
A senior student frowned.
"He's not behaving like someone chasing rank."
Another answered quietly:
"Then what is he chasing?"
No one had an answer.
Because Jeather himself wasn't fully certain yet.
But he was moving anyway.
And that alone made him more dangerous than predictable ambition.
The expedition gate opened with a heavy seal release.
Cold ocean air rushed in immediately.
Not controlled.
Not filtered.
Real.
Jeather stepped onto the outer platform overlooking the sea.
Below—
endless water stretched into a shifting horizon.
No academy barriers.
No ranked arenas.
No controlled beast tanks.
Just the ocean.
Alive.
Jeather stared at it for a long moment.
"…So this is what they're hiding behind the school."
Astrael's voice was low.
This is where real evolution occurs.
Velkaria added.
And real death.
Saxum lifted his tiny fist.
"Jett strong! Jett no die!"
Jeather chuckled faintly.
"Yeah."
He stepped fully onto the outer dock.
"Let's go find something worth sealing."
Far behind him, deep inside the academy's sealed archive core—
a red-tagged file flickered.
Not opened.
Not yet accessed.
But no longer ignored.
Its label glowed faintly through corrupted encryption:
"PLATINUM ANOMALY: UNRECOVERED SUBJECT — LAST SEEN NEAR TRENCH ZONE"
The system did not alert Jeather.
Not yet.
But something in the ocean had already noticed him moving.
And for the first time since his arrival—
Saltwind Tidal Academy stopped feeling like a school.
And started feeling like a gate.