He lowered his hand, and his expression hardened into something grave.

"I won’t pretend this comes cheaply. To reach this point, I’ve been gravely injured twice. Each recovery cost me more than a billion, and months of my life I’ll never get back.

This is not an easy path. I don’t recommend it to anyone who hasn’t already proven themselves a genius, and spent countless hours understanding their class down to its very foundation."

His eyes lifted to the cameras one final time.

"But for those who can?"

A faint smile.

"The river is waiting."

Moon stood frozen.

’This man... is a true genius.’

There was no doubt about it. Alaric Sky was a genius among geniuses. A figure worthy of respect, a scholar who had carved truth out of something the entire world had accepted as impossible.

Moon had known about this principle for some time now. But it wasn’t the same. He’d had the guidance of his own class, along with countless fortuitous encounters along the way. One in particular stood out, his meeting with the river itself, in the Pavilion of The World’s Flaw on the island of Lunaris as a mere Awakener.

He’d reached the answer through fate. Alaric had reached it through sheer effort, challenging all the laws of society and risking his own life to achieve it. It was admirable, truly.

Moon glanced at Selene, standing quietly beside him.

Throughout the speech, Alaric had looked toward the two of them several times. And watching the silent way their eyes met now, Moon came to a conclusion.

Alaric was Selene’s brother.

The man who had pulled Selene and Yara out of a dangerous situation some time ago. The man Moon had heard about for so long, yet had never once met face to face.

Until now.

The silence broke as Klein began to clap.

One pair of hands began to clap, then the entire gathering joined in, the applause swelling until it filled the space entirely.

Klein stepped forward, a grin tugging at his lips. "Magnificent work, Alaric. Truly." He shook his head with something close to admiration. "If only you’d been born a few decades earlier. Things would have been far more fun."

Alaric said nothing. He simply stood there, unmoved.

Klein didn’t seem to mind. He turned to face the crowd, raising his voice so it reached every corner.

"For those of you who find yourselves interested, the association has already established a program. We call it Versatile Awakeners."

"Anyone ranging from Awakener to Surpasser is free to apply. There, we’ll explain Alaric’s discovery in far greater depth, and we’ll help you take your first steps toward carving your own path through the river."

His gaze drifted across the awestruck faces.

"The only question that remains," Klein said, "is which of you is brave enough to step off the current."

Marcus looked at everything in shock.

A sweatshirt was tied around his waist, hiding the mess he’d made of himself earlier. The fabric did nothing to hide the shame burning across his face though.

He glanced back at Moon, hatred darkening his face.

Moon had cost him everything. Not just his connection to Selene, but to her brother, a man who had just risen in status before the eyes of the entire world. A connection Marcus could have used. A connection that was now permanently out of reach.

He cursed internally, his jaw tightening.

Then he glanced at Sarah beside him.

She didn’t seem to care about the humiliation he’d suffered. Not in the slightest. Her expression remained calm, unbothered, as if none of it touched her at all.

Marcus exhaled quietly, relief settling in his chest.

’...I picked the right girl.’

At the front, Klein clapped his hands together.

"Now that the announcement has been made, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for. The top ten rankers of the first stage."

"Number ten. Kael Glassy, from the Glassy Group."

A ripple of applause scattered across the audience.

"Number nine. Carl Max, from the Maxima Group."

Klein continued down the list, name after name, each one drawing reactions from different corners of the crowd. Families nodded with pride. Rivals scowled and the tension built with every number.

Then he reached the top three, and his smile broadened ever so slightly.

"Number three." A pause. "Selene Sky."

The crowd erupted into murmurs.

"Sky? Did he say Sky?"

"Is the girl related to Alaric?"

"They do look alike now that I see it..."

Heads turned toward Selene, eyes narrowing as people compared her features to the man who had just split a mountain with light alone in the video. The resemblance was undeniable once you looked for it. The same bright eyes, and blond hair.

Selene had never publicly acknowledged her ties to the Sky family. She’d kept that part of herself buried, it was a fact known only to those at the very peak of power and status. But the event’s rules left her no room to hide it any longer.

Now, in front of every camera and every major channel, that secret was being dragged into the light.

’I need to change my surname... soon.’

She neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. She simply stood there, silent, letting the speculation swirl around her like she couldn’t hear a word of it.

Beside her, Moon had confirmed his earlier assumption. Selene and Alaric were brother and sister. There was no doubt left.

Off to the side, Marcus listened as the rankings were slowly being revealed, his miserable expression deepening with each name.

"Sarah," he muttered, leaning toward her. "Pay attention to these names. We need to know exactly who they are."

Sarah glanced at him.

"They’re too powerful," Marcus continued, bitterness lacing every word. "We barely scraped into the tail end of the top two hundred. If we run into any of them in the next stage, we avoid them. At all costs."

Klein let the murmurs swell, drawing out the silence, and savouring it.

His smile widened.

"And now," he said, "number two."