Where is he?
The hurried footsteps echoed down the grand hallways of the academy, each step a beat of urgency against the polished marble floors.
The tension in the air was palpable, thick enough to choke on.
The office doors burst open with a loud bang, and a flustered teacher stumbled inside, his breathing ragged, his face contorted in disbelief.
Beads of sweat clung to his forehead as he struggled to catch his breath.
The dean, a man of imposing presence despite his bald head and aging features, looked up sharply.
His piercing gaze locked onto the trembling figure before him.
"What's the meaning of this interruption?"
His voice was like a whip crack, cutting through the still air.
The teacher swallowed hard before speaking, forcing the words out in one breath.
"Sir, we've just received the talent awakening reports."
The dean's expression darkened.
"And?"
The teacher hesitated for only a second before dropping the bombshell.
"This year... we have ten SSS-ranked talent holders."
A heavy silence filled the room, suffocating in its intensity.
The dean's fingers, which had been lightly drumming against the desk, froze.
His entire body tensed as if bracing for impact.
"...What?"
His voice was dangerously low, carrying the weight of disbelief and underlying fury.
He sat back in his chair, exhaling sharply as he ran a hand over his head.
An SSS-ranked talent was the stuff of legends—an anomaly so rare that it was believed to occur only once every thousand years, if that.
And now, they had ten?
The very idea was absurd.
It shattered every known rule of talent awakenings, rewriting history in an instant.
The dean's office, a modest yet dignified space, suddenly felt claustrophobic.
Bookshelves lined the walls, stuffed with ancient texts and relics of great value—none of which mattered in the face of this revelation.
His jaw clenched.
"What's the distribution?"
He couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling he was getting.... For some reason, he just knew that something wasn't right.
The teacher shifted uncomfortably.
"Sir… Hilmond Academy has the highest number. They have five of the ten."
The dean's fingers curled into a fist, knuckles turning white.
Of course, it had to be Hilmond.
That damn academy had always been a thorn in his side.
But five? That was unnatural.
'Just what did that man feed those children' he couldn't help but ponder.
"They were seconded by the Ravenhearts, who had three," the teacher continued.
"The remaining two were found in our academy and Keon High."
The dean's expression was unreadable, but beneath the surface, a storm raged.
The delicate balance between the five academies was crumbling before his very eyes.
For years, no single institution had been allowed to dominate.
That had been the unwritten rule.
But this?
This shifted the entire power structure.
The teacher cleared his throat nervously.
"Sir, there's… another issue."
The dean shot him a sharp look.
What more could be worse than the fact that their long lasting balance has been shattered?
"Spit it out."
The teacher inhaled deeply before delivering the final blow.
"The success rate of talent awakenings was also recorded… and we had the lowest. Many of our students failed to awaken any abilities at all."
A thick, oppressive silence filled the office.
The vein on the dean's temple pulsed violently.
He exhaled slowly.
"I see..." His voice was dangerously controlled.
There was something worse.
His mind was already calculating the consequences of this disaster.
If word got out that their academy was falling behind, their financial backers—the powerful factions and families that funded them—would begin pulling out.
Without their support, the academy would crumble.
He slammed a fist onto his desk, the impact sending a tremor through the wooden surface.
The teacher flinched.
"Our entire standing relies on one thing." The dean's eyes burned with frustration.
"Kieran."
The teacher nodded hesitantly.
Kieran, the academy's one SSS-ranked student. Their only hope.
But his talent… was incomplete.
Defective.
It required an unknown condition to activate.
If the factions learned this, their academy was as good as dead.
The dean let out a slow, ragged breath.
"Find that boy. Make sure he figures out how to unlock his ability. Do whatever it takes. If we fail now… we may never recover."
The weight of their academy's future had just landed squarely on Kieran's shoulders.
---
Kieran sat frozen, his mind struggling to process what was in front of him.
A woman stood before him, her presence so surreal it almost felt like a dream.
She was breathtaking. No, beyond breathtaking—otherworldly.
Her perfectly sculpted body carried an aura of regal dominance, every curve accentuating her ethereal beauty. Her long, flowing crimson hair burned like a wildfire, and her eyes… her eyes were the color of molten lava, glowing with ancient power.
Words spilled from her lips, but Kieran heard none of them. His brain had short-circuited.
A chime suddenly echoed in his mind, snapping him back to reality.
[Summon complete!]
[Host has summoned an immortal beast—The Phoenix of Rebirth!]
[Ding! A master must first earn the respect of his servant. The Phoenix's prideful spirit isn't one to bow easily. Earn her respect and become accepted as a true master.]
[Ding! Host has taken the first step to godhood. Demigod bloodline unlocked!]
[Human: 25% | God: 75%]
Kieran blinked. Huh?
His thoughts spiraled into chaos.
A demigod bloodline? A phoenix?
What the hell was happening?
He needed answers, but the system wasn't known for giving explanations.
He exhaled sharply, forcing his thoughts to settle.
His gaze shifted back to the woman before him.
Was she the one who saved me?
His mind screamed at him to focus, but his body refused to listen. His eyes betrayed him, greedily drinking in the sight before him.
A sharp cough finally broke him from his trance.
"Cough! Cough!"
The woman's fiery gaze snapped to him, irritation flashing across her flawless features.
Kieran rubbed the back of his neck, giving her an innocent look.
"Uh… thanks for saving me, miss. But, uh… do you realize you're naked?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
And then—
The temperature in the room skyrocketed.
---