Three months have passed since I became a member of the Saito clan; the parties and meetings I had to attend were the highlights of my boring new life. Old man Hiroshi had introduced me to society as his son, and I had to play the part perfectly. I wore the expensive suits, smiled at the corporate partners, and memorized the names of everyone who mattered in Neon City.
But today was different. Today was the day of the annual admission tests for Tenrei Academy.
The testing center was a massive, modern complex built specifically for measuring spiritual soul power. The architecture was sleek, dominated by cold glass and steel, much like the rest of Neon City. Hundreds of young hopefuls filled the grand lobby, all of them nervous. I stood near the back, dressed in a simple but high-end uniform provided by the Saito family. Red, the bodyguard, had dropped me off at the entrance with a simple nod, telling me the Chairman expected good results.
"Saito Hayato. Please proceed to Testing Room 4," an automated voice chimed from the overhead speakers.
I took a deep breath and walked down the long, sterile corridor. My head didn't spin anymore like it did in the alley three months ago, but deep down, I still felt a strange emptiness. I still didn't know who I really was before the hospital.
Inside Testing Room 4, the air was cool. In the center of the room stood a large, transparent pillar filled with a strange, silvery liquid. Surrounding it were three high-ranking evaluation officials dressed in traditional robes, contrasting sharply with the digital monitors tracking the data.
"Place both hands on the glass panel, young man," the head examiner instructed, his voice monotonous. He looked at my file on his tablet. "Saito Hayato, age 24. A late registrant. Let us see your baseline."
I stepped forward and pressed my palms against the cool surface of the pillar.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a sudden spark ignited deep within my chest. It felt like something was waking up from a long sleep. The silvery liquid inside the pillar began to churn violently then it shot upward like a geyser.
The light emanating from the pillar turned from a faint gray to a brilliant, blinding azure.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The digital monitors began to chime rapidly as the data lines spiked completely off the standard charts. The three examiners stared at the display, their monotonous expressions completely shattering into absolute shock.
"This... this is impossible," the head examiner stammered, dropping his tablet onto the floor. "Check the calibration! The resonance is too high!"
"The machine is perfectly fine, sir," the second examiner replied, his voice trembling as he read the screen. "The spiritual soul power output... it has stabilized at the Ascension Phase. He is a Rank 5 Soul Master!"
The room fell into a dead silence.
To be a Rank 5 Soul Master at the age of twenty-four was incredibly rare. Most average people stayed at the Foundation Phase (Rank 0) their entire lives. True geniuses usually reached the Awakening Phase (Rank 2) or Resonance Phase (Rank 3) by their mid-twenties. Reaching the Ascension Phase meant I possessed a massive amount of spiritual soul power and could theoretically fight alongside a manifested spiritual soul—even though I still didn't even know what my actual soul form was.
I pulled my hands back from the glass. The silvery liquid settled down, but the examiners were still staring at me like I was a monster.
"Am I passed?" I asked simply.
The head examiner swallowed hard, quickly picking up his tablet. "Yes... Yes, Mr. Saito. You have cleared the soul test with an unprecedented score. Please proceed to the physical assessment facility down the hall."
As I walked out of the room, I could hear them immediately picking up their secure phones. A discovery like this would shake the academic and corporate hierarchy of the city.
Meanwhile, in the VIP viewing lounge overlooking the facility, Chairman Saito Hiroshi sat behind a dark glass window, a phone pressed to his ear. His expression was calm, but his eyes were incredibly sharp. He had already received the automated notification of my test results.
"Blue," Hiroshi spoke into the receiver, his voice dropping to a low, commanding tone. "Hayato just registered as a Rank 5 Soul Master. The academy board is going to lose their minds, and the media will be hovering over the villa by tonight."
"A Rank 5 at twenty-four?" Blue's voice sounded surprised over the line. "Chairman, that kind of talent will draw too many eyes. The rival clans will think we've been hiding a secret weapon to overturn the current corporate balance."
"Exactly," Hiroshi replied, looking down at the hallway where I was walking. "Initiate the PR protocols immediately. Flood the networks with a pre-prepared narrative. Tell the public that Hayato has been training under specialized, hidden tutors abroad since his childhood to explain his sudden power. Frame it as the Saito clan's long-term legacy project. We need to control the narrative before anyone starts digging into his medical history or his lack of a past."
"Understood, Chairman. The media block and the official press releases will be live in ten minutes," Blue answered before hanging up.
Hiroshi lowered the phone, a small, unreadable smile playing on his lips. "Let's see how you handle the spotlight, Hayato."
I walked down the long, brightly lit corridor toward the next test facility, my mind still trying to process what had just happened in the testing room. Rank 5. It sounded powerful, but inside, I just felt a strange sense of detachment.
The hallway was crowded with other applicants who had finished their respective tests. Some were celebrating, while others were crying quietly. I kept my head down, navigating through the sea of people.
As I turned the corner heading toward the physical assessment doors, the crowd thinned out slightly. A figure dressed in a dark hoodie was walking in the opposite direction, moving quickly.
We didn't see each other in time.
Our shoulders bumped together with a sharp thud.
"Ah, I'm sorry," the person said quickly, offering a brief, apologetic smile before continuing on their way without stopping.
I didn't reply. I froze in the middle of the hallway.
The moment our shoulders collided, a sudden, violent fluctuation rippled through my mind. It wasn't physical pain, but a sharp spike of familiarity that triggered a massive buzz in my brain. My consciousness shuddered, and for a split second, the bright, clean walls of the hospital corridor seemed to flicker, replaced by the faint, ghostly image of dark green leaves and a suffocating pressure.
I quickly turned around to look for the person, but they had already blended into the dense crowd at the end of the hallway, gone from sight.