"What just happened?"

Hearing Edwin’s question, Cael muttered,

"What happened indeed?"

Aria slightly tilted her head and asked,

"What do you mean?"

Cael shrugged.

"Honestly... I don’t know."

Brania pressed further.

"Then how did you find the imposter?"

Cael did not answer immediately. He did not want to give a vague answer. After a moment, he said,

"Let’s wait until the academy reveals the secrets behind the trial. But if you want to know how I found the imposter, then... It’s instinct, I guess."

Team Gray members looked at each other before nodding.

The virtual interface opened up again.

Lives left: 20

Time cleared: 15 seconds.

...

The virtual pods opened with a soft hiss. Cael stepped out first, his boots touching the cold floor of the testing chamber.

The other pods opened one by one as Edwin, Aria, and Brania emerged.

The instructor behind the observation desk glanced at Team Gray and immediately assumed they had failed.

In his time of overseeing these trials, he had never seen a team complete the first trial in less than ten minutes.

It was simply not possible.

The combat trial alone was designed to take at least fifteen minutes for an average team, and the speed trial required careful navigation through traps.

Team Gray had only been inside for a little over ten minutes total.

The instructor also noticed their perplexed expressions. Edwin looked dazed. Aria and Brania exchanged confused glances.

Even Cael, who seemed the most composed, had a distant look in his purple eyes.

The instructor shook his head and prepared to record their failure.

Then a green light lit up next to Team Gray’s name on his display.

The instructor’s breath caught in his throat.

---

Team Gray: Passed.

Time cleared: 49 seconds

Trial 1: 3 seconds

Trial 2: 31 seconds

Trial 3: 15 seconds

Points Acquired: 2520

- 20 [Iron] dummies: 100 points

- 10 [Bronze] dummies: 100 points

- 3 [Silver] dummies: 120 points

- 1 [Gold] dummy: 200 points

- Lives left: 20 × 100 = 2000 points

- Traps triggered: 0 (no deduction)

---

The instructor’s eyes widened. For a moment, he thought he might be seeing things. He blinked once. Twice. The numbers did not change. He rubbed his eyes and looked again.

Three seconds for the combat trial. Thirty-one seconds for the speed trial. Fifteen seconds for the intelligence trial. Sixty-eight seconds total.

No traps triggered. All lives remaining. The optional [Gold] dummy was defeated.

He had never seen anything like this, or to be precise, he didn’t expect to see this.

Once he came back to his senses, he immediately sent Team Gray’s results to the higher-ups.

His hands trembled slightly as he typed. This was not a normal result.

This was the kind of result that caught the attention of people far above his status.

---

Outside the selection test building, sunlight fell on Team Gray’s faces.

Cael stretched his right wrist, rolling it in slow circles. The virtual trials had not strained his body, but the mental focus had left a faint tightness in his muscles.

Meanwhile, Edwin was still in a state of daze.

’It’s over?’

’The selection test was over just like that?’

He had spent days worrying. Nights lying awake, staring at the ceiling, imagining every possible way the trials could go wrong.

He had prepared strategies, memorized team formations. Practiced his skills until his mana reserves ran dry.

And then Cael had finished everything in sixty-eight seconds.

’I did not even do anything.’

Edwin looked at Aria and Brania. Their faces told him everything he needed to know.

They were thinking the same thing.

Aria caught his gaze and gave a small, helpless shrug. Brania simply shook her head, a faint smile somewhere between amusement and disbelief on her lips.

Cael looked back at his teammates.

He saw their expressions. The daze. The confusion.

The quiet realization that they had just been carried through something they had spent weeks preparing for.

He did not apologize. He did not explain. He simply said,

"Let’s go find a place in the cafeteria. My treat."

....

Under the warm sunlight, students from the Golden Scale Academy and many other academies walked across the sprawling grounds.

Participants of the selection tests moved in small groups, some chatting excitedly, others walking in tired silence.

The atmosphere was a mix of relief and lingering tension.

Team Gray walked under the shadows of the trees that lined the main pathway.

The leaves overhead swayed gently in the breeze, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Soon, they arrived at the cafeteria.

The first floor was full. Tables were packed with students eating, laughing, and comparing their trial results. The noise was a constant hum of conversations clashing together.

Team Gray found a place on the open floor at the top of the building.

The space was quieter here. The breeze was stronger. From this height, they could see across the academy grounds.

Cael and Edwin sat on one side. Across from them, Aria and Brania took their seats.

There was still some time before lunch would be served, so they started with small talk.

Aria talked about her morning. Brania complained about the heat. Edwin nodded along, adding a word here and there.

Cael listened, but he did not speak. Not because he did not want to. He simply had nothing to say.

The trials had been easy for him. Too easy. His mind was already moving past them, thinking about Junior, about the mana contract.

Then Aria said something that caught his interest.

"Guys, did you know? Yesterday, somebody defeated Elara Grace, and now he is missing."

Brania tilted her head. She was not good at remembering names.

"Do we know her?"

Edwin, who had been drinking water, almost coughed it out. He swallowed quickly and wiped his mouth.

"She was the one who guided us. She gave us a tour at night. She took us to the stadium where the Golden Scale vice principal gave the speech."

Brania’s eyes widened in realization.

"I see... so her name was Elara Grace."

Cael frowned,

"Why are you saying that like you were not even aware of it?"

Brania slightly turned her head away, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Actually, when she introduced herself, I was not paying attention. But I did try to hear her name during the conversation. But during the conversation, neither Aria nor Edwin called her by her name."

She paused and said,

"I felt a little embarrassed to ask her name afterward."

Cael nodded at Brania, then turned back to Aria.

"You said something earlier?"

Edwin was also interested in the topic. He reminded her,

"You said Elara Grace was defeated."

Seeing the two boys interested, Aria did not leave them hanging for long.

"Elara’s opponent was a [Gold 1] ranker rivaling Elara herself. He used a special element. Frostflame."

"He defeated Elara in a relatively short time. But soon after that, he disappeared."

She paused, letting her words sink in.

"The Golden Scale Academy tried to find him, but they failed. Even with their large surveillance network, there was no trace."

Aria leaned in slightly, her voice dropping.

"Now rumors are spreading. Some say the city protector could not contain his anger and killed the boy himself."

"Others say the city protector collaborated with the academy and erased all of the boy’s records. No matter how hard anyone tries to find details about him, it is a waste of effort."

Cael’s eyes twitched at Aria’s words.

That boy was his Frostflame Clone.

Yesterday, the plan had been simple. The Frostflame Clone sparred with Elara to distract her while the Black Lightning Clone silently kidnapped Junior.

It had worked perfectly.

But now, someone was spreading rumors. Someone was targeting both the Arhal City Protector and the Golden Scale Academy.

Cael already had a sinking feeling. The blood suckers. The vampires. They were somehow involved.

The timing was too convenient. The rumors were too precise.

But he was not that worried. In fact, he already guessed that the higher-ups were more experienced in dealing with this kind of thing.

Soon, Team Gray ordered lunch. The food arrived steaming on plates. They ate while having small talks, the earlier tension fading into the background.

...

At the same time, inside the Golden Scale Academy’s mana tech core area.

Inside a secure building, numerous [Mythril] rankers and high-standing [Diamond] rankers gathered around a long table.

The City Protector sat at the head. Beside him sat a middle-aged woman, the vice principal of Golden Scale Academy.

They were all having an important meeting.

Seraphina sat in her seat. Though she was only a [Mythril] ranker, her status and achievements placed her far above the others at the table.

Her presence alone commanded respect.

The City Protector sighed and said,

"Some of you already know the purpose of this meeting. I will not beat around the bush."

He gestured toward the screen on the wall. An image appeared.

A boy with white hair and blue eyes. He wore a cap low on his forehead and a mask covering his nose and lips.

Seeing that picture, Seraphina had a bad feeling. A sense of déjà vu washed over her.

She already had a guess.

’That is going to be one of Cael’s clones... isn’t it?’