Kaen arrived at the auditorium on time.
Sure, everyone was already there, but class hadn't started yet. So technically... he wasn't late.
As soon as he walked in, he noticed someone waving excitedly.
A guy with messy brown hair, fair skin, and eyes way too big to look confident. It only took a second to recognize him.
Marco.
He was sitting a bit further ahead, almost glued to the stage.
Kaen clicked his tongue when he saw that.
"Tsk..."
"Sitting in the front? I always hated the feeling of people staring at my back."
As he turned his head, something caught his eye.
A bit lower, to the right, there was a girl with long, fiery red hair, sitting next to another girl with golden blonde hair and a soft smile. The redhead's green eyes seemed to glow, even in the auditorium's shadow.
Kaen grinned.
'In novels, the reincarnated characters always try to avoid the protagonists...'
'...but seeing it live like this...'
A smirk formed at the corner of his lips.
'I can't resist.'
Marco was still waving, hopeful.
He got completely ignored.
Kaen turned and walked down a few steps.
Walked a bit more.
Sat next to the redhead.
The move was direct. No hesitation.
It caught Elena off guard. Lyra too.
Let's be honest,
Anyone with common sense would think twice before sitting next to a total stranger, especially with so many empty seats around.
Not that it was wrong... but the message could definitely be taken in weird ways.
Kaen ignored all that.
He just sat.
The red-haired girl slowly turned her head to him, like she was saying:
Uhm... hi? Not that this seat's taken, but... why here?
Even if he was the Kaen from the past...
Even if he hadn't done anything yet...
Knowing that the one who would bring the end of the world was sitting right there, that close, made her mind spin.
It felt like standing between two timelines.
The future and the present.
At the same time.
Kaen looked back at her, and at her friend.
"Sorry, is it a problem if I sit here?"
Elena opened her mouth immediately.
"Since you asked, yeah, it ki—"
"No, of course not!"
Lyra cut in, smiling gently at him.
'~... Damn it, Lyra.'
Lyra didn't know anything. She had no clue about Elena's past life.
No one did.
Or at least, that's what she believed.
Kaen, seeing Elena's reaction, thought to himself right away,
'So I was right. This really is her third life.'
Five years of playing Chronos Realms had taught him everything.
He explored every corner of the game, trying to do the impossible with the most broken character in its history.
The one no one wanted to play. The one he was now.
Being someone who played Chronos Realms over and over...
He knew Elena. Knew her whole story. He knew that before ending up in the world of Chronos, she had lived in a place similar to his own.
It wasn't exactly Earth.
It was an older civilization, with limited technology, similar to the world of Chronos itself.
After her first death... in her second life, she woke up in the game world.
And she tried to live a good life. Until she saw everything destroyed by Kaen's hands.
In the original lore, Kaen eventually became the ultimate villain. The one who brought the end.
When the update came out introducing a new playable hero, "Kaen", the internet went wild.
"Damn, look at that design!"
"Finally, a real 'hero'!"
"His name is Kaen? Sounds like a final boss for sure..."
"The character who brings the end of the world?"
"He's probably broken..."
"If he's in the game, I'm using him!"
"Ugh... look at that price. Greedy devs."
"Screw it, I love the look. Shut up and take my money!"
One week after launch, everyone had reached the same conclusion.
He was never overpowered.
No defense, very technical. Complicated.
Hardly anyone really understood what the character could actually do.
And yet, he was the one who destroyed the world in the story.
Kaen understood why Elena might be frustrated.
If Elena really came back in time, it made sense she'd hate Kaen. Even if now... he wasn't the same anymore.
===
Half an hour later, class was already in session.
The instructor, a tall man with a firm voice named Ravos, walked around the center of the auditorium.
He was explaining the upcoming practical test.
It would be the first ranking exam for the new students. A chance for each of them to show what they were really capable of.
Every year, new students at Veyhart Academy had to go through this test.
It was simple.
More points, higher rank.
Everyone had already been divided into classes from the start, and this was Class S, the most promising among the newcomers.
But that didn't mean anything was secure.
Positions within the academy were volatile. A student could be at the top today and drop to Class C the next month.
The test wasn't just about earning points.
It defined internal rankings. The better your performance, the higher your position. That came with perks, prestige, and more importantly, stability.
As for those at the bottom... they could be dropped to a lower class at any time. Or even expelled from Veyhart.
Each year had its own division.
Newbies didn't share ranks with the veterans.
Marco, now sitting next to Kaen after ditching the front row, leaned in and whispered,
"Looks like it's gonna be solo. No teams."
Kaen listened to the professor and gave a small smile.
"Finally."
'Finally?'
Elena thought immediately.
In the previous timeline, Kaen hated this kind of test. Thought it was a waste of time. He never cared about rankings or showing off power.
So why that smile?
Why did he look... excited?
What was so interesting about this test?
She squeezed her fingers against her leg, not even noticing.
She had a lot of questions, but no answers.
===
The end of the day was approaching.
The practical test would be held the next day.
According to what Professor Ravos had explained, each student would be sent into an artificial world created by the academy. The environment was still a secret to the students, but Kaen knew it well after playing Chronos Realms for years.
He knew it would be a vast forest, full of monsters and natural dangers, designed to simulate real combat and survival scenarios.
Inside that forest, students would be evaluated individually, but nothing stopped them from interacting. Some might form temporary alliances, while others could take the opposite route and attack their classmates to steal points or gain an advantage in the rankings.
This practical test was one of the tutorials in the game. Kaen, who had played it countless times, wasn't too worried.
He walked through the halls, hands in his pockets, heading somewhere only he knew.
Marco caught up to him, running.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Isolated training area."
Marco blinked, surprised.
"Training the day before the test?"
Kaen shrugged.
"Relax, I'm just gonna run some tests."
For some, training the day before might look like discipline. For others, recklessness.
Marco looked thoughtful, a little worried Kaen might overdo it and mess up during the exam.
"You sure? The practical test is tomorrow..."
"Yeah."
Marco was curious to see what kind of training Kaen would do, but he had other responsibilities.
As a commoner at a place like Veyhart, the rules weighed even heavier on him.
"Just don't forget we have a curfew."
"Got it..."
Kaen replied, waving a hand as he walked off.
===
Reaching the isolated training grounds, Kaen stopped at the entrance and looked around.
The area was separate from the open training field, quieter and more discreet. Built specifically for mages or warriors who wanted to train in peace.
It was made up of several rooms reinforced with metal structures and protection enchantments, each designed to withstand mana explosions, sword strikes, and even minor elemental collapses.
The polished stone floor absorbed vibrations, the walls had containment runes, and the ceilings were open to let air flow naturally. Even on hot days, the space stayed comfortable thanks to cooling barriers along the sides.
Despite the practical test being so close, some people still trained there. Maybe to calm their nerves, maybe out of pure obsession.
Kaen turned his head, scanning the area for something. Or someone.
She was sitting in the center of one of the open rooms. A girl with long black hair, pale skin, and a neutral expression. She wore thin gloves and had a blue ribbon tied to her left wrist. Her light blue eyes seemed to absorb all the light around her, focused on something in front of her.
It was Yenne.
'... She's really here.'
Kaen watched her for a few seconds.
'How should I approach her?'
Yenne wasn't the type to talk to strangers without a reason.
'Let's spark a little curiosity then.'
Kaen walked into one of the nearby rooms, just visible enough for anyone paying attention. He opened one of the heavy doors and stepped in, taking a deep breath.
The truth was, Yenne didn't train there just for the peace and quiet.
She was from the Veltarion family, known for producing some of the greatest mages in the kingdom's history. Pressure, expectations, perfection... that was her everyday life.
She had a large mana reserve. Her potential was undeniable, but her control was unstable.
And without control, a mage is nothing more than a walking threat.
After all, who would trust their back to someone who couldn't even control their own magic?
That's why she trained there.
Away from the eyes. Away from the whispers.
Away from comparisons.
Inside the room next to Yenne's, Kaen looked around. Solid walls, some equipment like swords, spears, shields... and a few training dummies.
'Fourth time I've been in this room since I got here.'
"What should I do?"
He looked at the training dummies. One was the attack type. Once activated, it would charge at him with basic patterns. The other was a defense type, meant to block whatever it was hit with.
"Guess it'll be this one."
Kaen walked up to the offensive dummy and turned the dial at the base. Set it to the lowest difficulty. A spark of energy lit up the system.
With a sharp hiss, the dummy raised its shoulders, legs locking into combat stance, then rushed forward with a straight punch.
'What the hell... didn't even wait for me to step back...'
Kaen didn't move.
When the punch was less than a hand's width from his face, he used a bit of power, pushing the dummy's arm away with a repulsion pulse.
THUM...
The punch veered off mid-air, like it had hit something invisible.
Kaen turned his body smoothly, letting the force pass.
"Haha... no matter how many times I feel it... it's just too good..."
The dummy quickly turned to strike again.
Kaen, still with his back turned, smiled. His hair lifted slightly as the energy around him began to flow.
Yenne opened her eyes immediately. She felt the shift in the air. It wasn't normal mana. It was denser... like space itself was being pushed in layers.
She stayed quiet, but her eyes were fixed on the wall between the rooms.
Kaen bent his knees and launched himself upward with a direct repulsion from his feet. The dummy swung at nothing, missing by inches.
Mid-air, Kaen shifted into a nearly horizontal position, facing the ground, body slightly curved like he was lying on an invisible surface.
Slowly, he opened his right hand, which had been clenched since the jump.
Yenne saw. There was nothing in his hand. No weapon, no element. No fire, no ice, no magic seal. Just his hand, open, facing downward.
But what followed was unexpected.
The moment his fingers spread completely, a heavy pressure formed over the dummy below.
It was invisible, but it felt crushing.
Kaen began to fall, and as he got closer to the dummy, the pressure grew stronger. The air vibrated faintly. The sound felt muffled.
The dummy tried to respond, but its joints locked up. Its feet gave in first. Then the knees.
THRAMM!
The dummy hit the ground hard, cracking the floor around it, as if an invisible mass had slammed it downward.
The system registered the impact and shut the dummy down with a soft hiss.
Kaen landed gently a few meters ahead, his body relaxed, like nothing had happened.
Yenne remained silent, eyes fixed on the wall.
She wasn't thinking about asking who he was.
But she was thinking.
'What kind of control was that?'