Adam stood in front of the huge academy gate, his heart beating fast.
The other students stopped talking.
All eyes turned toward the poor boy who arrived with one of the world's strongest hunters.
One of the nobles—a tall boy with golden hair and sharp eyes—whispered to his friend:
"Is this what the strongest hunter brought? Just an orphanage kid?"
Others laughed, and mocking looks passed between the students.
Adam tried to ignore them, but every word and every stare felt heavy in his chest.
For a moment, even though Layla wasn't here, her face appeared in his mind, reminding him that the power he was starting to learn with the hunter would mean nothing if he lost faith in himself.
The hunter who brought him smiled and said:
"Now… everything is in your hands.
You have a chance to prove yourself, but the road won't be easy."
They led him into a massive hall.
In the center stood a strange machine.
It was a large device, surrounded by glowing stones that floated in the air as if the machine had a life of its own.
One of the teachers shouted loudly:
"Every student will stand here, and we will measure their magical power!"
Adam felt himself trembling, but he took one step forward and stood in front of the device.
As the machine got closer to him, the light around it began to shine in a strange way…
Unlike the others, the power reading didn't appear normally.
It shook, moved unnaturally, and gave off a mysterious flash with a weird sound—as if the machine itself was surprised by something inside him.
The other students went silent.
Some spat in disbelief, others stared in shock:
"What is this? I've never seen anything like it before!"
Adam felt surprised too, but he didn't fully understand what had just happened.
Even the head teacher—who had seen thousands of students—stepped closer and said in a low voice:
"This… is something I haven't seen in years… We need to keep a very close eye on him."
Fear, mystery, and bullying… all of it gathered inside Adam's heart.
But he also felt something else:
A small spark of power inside him whispering that he was capable of changing everything—if he learned how to control it.