56~The Golden Sun Appears

The depths of winter crept in quietly. Amid the tense studying and competition, the students had managed to gain a rare moment of leisure. Yet even as the holidays loomed near, the streets and alleys of Coleman City showed little trace of students from the Academy.

Upperclassmen were busy preparing for exams, striving to earn themselves a good rank in next year’s Arena Ranking Battle. Though Coleman Academy technically assigned no homework during holidays, the break only made them busier.

If the senior students were swamped, the younger students were hardly better off—especially the newly enrolled freshmen, who hadn’t yet become official students. Their grind was even more terrifying and intense than the upperclassmen’s. The training grounds were packed full of freshmen, a rare sight even in the first year.

The reason was simple.

Tomorrow was the day that would decide their fate—whether they would rise as the new stars who claimed the crown under the spotlight, or spend the rest of the year watching from below, forgotten and mediocre.

The Crown Tournament was conducted in teams. Each team was deployed into the same secret realm to compete against one another until the strongest emerged victorious. In other words, the outcome of each team member would be bound to the rest—one’s glory would be the glory of all, and one’s fall would drag the rest down.

After reading the tournament rules, I honestly thought I was about to play a battle royale.

If this was how the tournament worked, wouldn’t the rankings be unreliable? After all, even battle royales had stealth wins.

However, once I finished reading through the Crown Tournament rules, I realized that the sneaky survival strategies of battle royales wouldn’t work here.

Each team had to draw a number when entering the secret realm. If someone suffered a fatal blow, their numbered tag would shatter, canceling the damage and forcibly teleporting the student out of the realm—eliminated.

One rule in particular stood out: every contestant’s numbered tag was visible and public. In other words, you could always know the number tags of your enemies.

Each team could only use one chance to track another team. When used, the location of all members from the targeted team would be displayed on the number tags of the tracking team. But at the same time, the tracking team’s position would also be revealed on the tags of the team being tracked.

This rule was clearly intentional.

Wasn’t this basically encouraging students to settle grudges and vendettas? “If you hate someone, go get them now.”

And if you thought the Academy hadn’t accounted for “stealth players,” you’d be dead wrong. To eliminate such possibilities, the elimination round would use a point system, where survival time only counted for a small fraction. If you exited the realm without taking out at least one full team, you’d be politely shown the door.

So don’t go thinking that only the bottom ten get eliminated. Without enough eliminations, the Academy would still expel you.

Coleman—doesn’t raise freeloaders.

This morning, I finally gave myself a rare treat by sleeping in. I climbed lazily out of bed, grabbed two slices of bread from the cafeteria, and strolled slowly past the noisy, packed training grounds.

The freshmen trained regularly, sure, but today was their last rehearsal. They needed to build some kind of synergy before tomorrow’s Crown Tournament. As a result, the training ground was packed; people were scrambling for space, even forming queues.

Seeing this, I let out a leisurely yawn and floated on by.

Someone who knows what they're doing, who knows what they need to do, wouldn’t blindly follow the crowd.

Scrambling for the training ground? Not necessary.

I had no use for it.

I was the only one in my team. What would I even do with a training ground? And even if I got it, how would that help? Train with myself?

Might as well go back and take another nap, rest up and be in top condition.

“Well, if it isn’t our dear Dylin.” A drawling, sarcastic voice sounded behind me. “The Crown Tournament is tomorrow, yet here you are, slacking around like a rag doll without a care in the world. Truly living up to your reputation.”

I didn’t even need to turn around to know which bastard it was.

A beautiful day ruined the moment I saw that face.

“What, seeing your instructor and not even saying hello?” Frand sneered.

“Instructor, I’m in a bad mood today. I feel like swearing.”

“Oh? And?”

“So I’ll refrain—from swearing at you.”

“.........Dylin!”

It took him a second to realize I’d insulted him in a roundabout way. Furious, Frand’s temper flared—then cooled just as fast. He smirked at my retreating back.

“Just go on and act out while you still can. In three days, you’ll never show up in my sight again.” With a cold snort, he turned and left, already imagining how his master would reward him for handling this so perfectly.

To him, the fact that I didn’t bother fighting for a training spot was proof I’d given up, knowing I’d be expelled soon.

Not that fighting for it would matter anyway. Other than that useless Wild Divine Princess, I had no teammates.

***

A day could pass quickly—so quickly it felt like a blink. Before I knew it, the sky had darkened.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, the blonde girl opened her eyes and checked her personal status screen.

Divine Awakening had already entered its final countdown.

It was 10:30 p.m. I hadn’t eaten dinner, yet I felt no hunger at all. My body thrummed with energy, buzzing with vitality. At the same time, a growing tension and excitement swelled within me—like a long-dormant power straining to break free of its shackles.

I took a deep breath.

Countdown: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

By calculation, that would be exactly midnight.

“Teresa,” I murmured softly, gazing at the reflection of myself in the floor-to-ceiling window, fingers brushing the scar on my cheek. “Please… grant me a miracle.”

Time crawled forward, every second dragging like a year.

I could hear my heartbeat louder and louder. With each passing moment, I felt my body undergoing some kind of sublimation. The unknown terrified me, yet I also yearned for what lay ahead—a complex swirl of emotion.

I shut my eyes, and fine sweat soaked through my dazzling golden hair.

***

“Speaking of which, Your Highness, are you confident about tomorrow’s Crown Tournament?”

“Oh please, there’s no need to even ask. In my eyes, the Crown is already sitting atop Her Highness’ head.”

Inside the grand hall, two elves who were often associated with Astrid were chatting animatedly in her presence.

But Astrid, who sat with her eyes closed, sipping tea and resting, suddenly seemed to sense something. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked out the window at the silver moon—only to be struck dumb.

As the clouds parted, behind the silver moon appeared a radiant, resplendent golden sun, its brilliance so overwhelming that the moonlight dimmed in comparison.

“That is…”

This celestial phenomenon appeared above the skies of Coleman Academy, leaving every student who witnessed it stunned and shaken.

Yet the golden sun disappeared far too quickly, so fast that many began to wonder if it had only been a hallucination.

Most students, though shocked, dismissed it as a coincidental oddity. Only a rare few realized—it was anything but.

“Golden Sun… could it be?”

In the silver temple at the heart of Coleman Academy, a silver-haired young man—elegant and refined, leaning on a cane—suddenly changed expression.

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