Free Web NovelChapter 28: Rules of the Game
Selene tapped the screen beside the platform once. It lit up.
A list of seven names appeared, clean and simple, arranged in no particular order.
"Before we begin," she said, "I want names attached to faces. When I call yours, confirm it."
She didn’t wait for agreement.
"Lyra Moonwhisper."
The nervous girl by the window raised her hand halfway. "Here." Her voice was soft but steady.
’Moonwhisper,’ Ren thought. ’Local name. Orien. I think she was in one of the other third-year classes.’
"Iris Blackthorn."
The noble girl didn’t raise her hand. She simply said, "Present," without looking up from her desk. Like she was used to being on lists.
’Blackthorn. That’s a ducal house.’ Ren didn’t need to search his memory very hard. The Blackthorn name appeared in city news, political articles, and just about anywhere that power and old money intersected in Rose Country.
"Cassian Rook."
"Yeah, that’s me," the slouching boy said from the back, raising two fingers in a lazy wave. He was still leaning in his chair. Selene’s eyes moved to him and stayed there for exactly one second longer than necessary.
He sat up a little straighter. Only a little.
’Rook. Never heard it. Definitely not noble. Frontier, probably. Explorer family, maybe.’
"Yuelan Hong."
The fighter answered with a short, sharp "Here" and a nod that was almost a bow. Military. Trained into the bones.
’Hong. Crimson Empire. That explains the discipline. She wasn’t raised in Rose Country.’
"Lin Yueying."
The jade-still girl opened her eyes fully. "Present." Her voice was calm, smooth, and perfectly measured. It gave away nothing.
’Lin. Azure Kingdom.’ That one needed no further thought. The Lin family was old, powerful, and deeply connected to one of the strongest nations on Edius. What someone from the Azure Kingdom was doing in a small Rose Country school was a question that probably had a complicated answer.
"Kaelen Voss."
The cold boy did not raise his hand or nod. He simply said, "Voss," as if the family name alone should be enough.
It was.
’House Voss.’ Ren kept his expression blank. He knew the name. Everyone at Orien did. A marquis house — a step below ducal, but older, sharper, and by most accounts more dangerous than their rank suggested. Not the kind of family that produced quiet children.
"Ren Valis."
Ren raised one hand. "Here."
Simple. Quiet. Forgettable.
But it wasn’t.
Because the moment Selene said his name, something happened.
Kaelen Voss turned his head.
It was not fast. It was not dramatic. He simply moved his gaze from the front of the room to where Ren was sitting, and looked at him.
The expression on his face did not change. That was what made it worse. There was no surprise, no anger, no sneer. Just a cold, steady recognition, as if a door in the back of his mind had opened and something he had been taught a long time ago had stepped through it.
He looked at Ren the way you look at a name you already know you don’t like — not because of anything the person has done, but because someone you trusted told you a long time ago that you shouldn’t.
Then he turned back to the front.
The whole thing lasted less than three seconds.
Nobody else seemed to notice.
Ren noticed.
’So House Voss has opinions about the Valis name,’ he thought. ’Good to know.’
He filed it away in the place where he kept things he didn’t understand yet but knew he would need to.
— • —
Selene moved on without pause.
"The assessment works as follows."
She tapped the screen again. A simple chart appeared — seven rows, each with a name, and several empty columns beside them.
"Days one through five: individual trials. Each day will test a different area. Foundation strength. Energy control. Combat technique. Adaptability. A final combined test. You will be evaluated alone. No help. No preparation time given in advance."
She let that settle.
"Days six and seven: group tests. I will assign teams. You will be evaluated on how you perform together — cooperation, leadership, decision-making, how you handle pressure when other people’s results depend on yours."
She pointed at the empty columns on the screen.
"After each test, your score will be posted here. You will see it. Everyone will see it. There is no private grading. If you do well, the room will know. If you fail, the room will know that too."
Cassian let out a slow breath. "Public scoreboard. Great."
Selene glanced at him. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Nope," he said. "Just making sure I heard it right."
She looked at him for another half second, then moved on.
Lyra’s hands tightened in her lap. Ren could see it from two desks away. A public scoreboard meant that every gap in resources, training, and family backing would be visible to the whole room, scored and ranked, with no place to hide.
’That’s going to be hard for her,’ Ren thought. ’Talent without money looks different from talent with money, and a scoreboard doesn’t care about the reason.’
Iris, by contrast, looked calm. Almost pleased. A ranked system with public results was exactly the kind of structure a noble house trained their children to dominate.
Yuelan was already smiling. Not wide — just the small, focused smile of someone who had heard the word "combat" and started looking forward to it.
Lin Yueying’s expression had not changed at all. She sat perfectly still, absorbing the information without giving anything back.
Kaelen didn’t react visibly. But Ren noticed that his fingers, resting flat on the desk, had pressed down just slightly harder.
— • —
Selene looked across the room one final time.
"The first trial is tomorrow morning. Foundation Reading. I will measure your seed development, root spread, energy quality, and overall physical foundation. Bring nothing. Prepare however you like tonight. I will see exactly what you are."
She paused.
"Questions?"
Lyra started to raise her hand, hesitated, then lowered it.
Cassian opened his mouth, then closed it.
Nobody spoke.
Selene nodded once.
"Dismissed. Tomorrow. 7 AM. Don’t be late."
She turned, picked up a thin file from the platform, and walked out of the room without looking back.
The door closed behind her.
For about three seconds, nobody moved.
Then Cassian exhaled loudly, slumped back in his chair, and said to the ceiling, "Well. That was terrifying."
Yuelan snorted. "Terrifying? She’s a Peak Stage 4 Bloodline Plant Lord who just told us she’s going to rank us in front of each other for a week. ’Terrifying’ is too small a word."
"I liked her," Cassian said.
"You liked being scared?"
"I liked that she didn’t pretend to be nice about it."
Yuelan considered that for a moment. Then she nodded. "Fair."
Iris stood, smoothing her uniform with one hand. She didn’t join the conversation, but as she passed Cassian’s desk, she said quietly, "You might want to sit properly tomorrow. She noticed."
Cassian blinked. Then he looked at his chair, looked at the door Selene had left through, and winced. "...Yeah. She definitely noticed."
Ren stood, picked up his bag, and headed for the door. A few of the others were doing the same. Lyra caught his eye briefly as he passed — a quick, uncertain look, as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know what. He gave her the same small nod he had given her when he first walked in.
She seemed to relax, just a fraction.
— • —
On the walk home, Ren let himself think.
’Foundation Reading. Tomorrow. She’ll measure seed development, root spread, energy quality.’
That was the most dangerous test for him. Not because his foundation was weak. Because it was too strong. Too clean. Too deep for someone who had only been cultivating for two weeks.
He had to dial it back. Show enough to look talented. Not so much that Selene Hart started asking questions he couldn’t answer.
Quietly, in the space behind his thoughts, he reached for the System.
OPTIMIZE
Target: Weekly training routine.
Parameters: Seven-day assessment format. Solo trials (foundation, energy, combat, adaptability, combined). Group tests (Days 6–7). Public scoring.
Instructor: Bloodline Plant Lord, Peak Stage 4. freēwebnovel.com
Adjustment: Recalibrate output ceiling.
Performance target: top third of group, visibly talented, NOT statistically impossible. Maintain consistent growth appearance. Avoid spikes that would flag anomalies to a same-pathway evaluator.
Optimization complete.
Ren let the results settle into his mind. The System had adjusted his training schedule, energy output pacing, and technique display thresholds for the week. Smooth. Precise. Like a dial turned to exactly the right number.
He would be good. Very good, even.
But not impossible.
’That’s the line,’ he thought. ’Talented enough to look real. Controlled enough to look normal. And just careful enough that a Peak Stage 4 Bloodline Plant Lord doesn’t spend too long wondering why my foundation looks like it belongs to someone who’s been cultivating for years instead of days.’
The ember in his chest pulsed once. Quiet. Steady.
Tomorrow, the game began.
