Crownhold Second Gene Academy.
As soon as they pulled up to the campus gates, Xalen split off from Selene and headed straight for his Grade 12 classroom wing.
The second he stepped into the senior hallway, low whispers immediately started bubbling up all around him.
“Wait, is that… Xalen?”
“No way, yeah—dude who awakened the lizard gene, right?”
“Today’s the graduation trial, he actually showed up for it?”
“Hah! You kidding? He’s got the guts to even walk in here?”
Xalen’s ear twitched. Every single muttered comment in the hallway landed crystal clear, like the speakers were talking right into his ear.
Now that his Four-Dimensional Attributes had skyrocketed, it wasn’t just raw physical strength that got a massive buff. Every single bodily function had cranked up a notch: eyesight, hearing, reaction speed—all of it, across the board.
It didn’t take him two seconds to figure out he’d become straight-up famous at Second Gene Academy.
To be fair, Xalen’s academic performance here had always sat near the very top of his cohort. Growing up in a dirt-poor household, he’d learned early on that hitting the books and grinding physical training were his only shots at a better life. He’d studied until his eyes burned and trained until his muscles screamed, so both his theory and combat scores had always been stellar.
But here’s the thing: for a gene soldier, your actual potential hinges entirely on the gene you awaken. And since he’d pulled a trash-tier lizard gene, he’d blown up as a household name across the entire senior class. Hell, his story had probably spread to every corner of the academy by now. As a cautionary tale, obviously.
To be technical, Xalen’s awakening result wasn’t actually the worst possible outcome. A small percentage of students never even manage to unlock their Gene Lock at all. Most of them just didn’t put in enough work building their foundational strength over the years, so their awakening fizzled out entirely. Those kids still had a shot later, if they kept grinding or their families had the cash to drop on private Gene Serum, but for now, they were just regular civilians.
When all the rankings shook out, even with that garbage lizard gene, Xalen’s overall score still landed somewhere in the lower-middle tier. Which was exactly what made his situation so painfully awkward.
If he’d just flat-out failed to awaken, that would’ve been one thing—he’d have blended right in with the millions of ordinary civilians living quiet lives. But no, he did awaken successfully… only to get the weakest, most useless lizard gene imaginable. He was stuck in this excruciating no-man’s-land, not quite regular, not remotely viable. Literally the bottom of the barrel for all registered gene soldiers. No wonder everyone treated him like a walking joke.
A couple weeks back, hearing these kinds of snide comments would’ve made Xalen’s face burn with shame, so humiliated he’d have wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. But now? His heart was as calm as a still lake. Not the slightest ripple of emotion. He’d hit that point where neither insults nor praise could throw him off his game.
It’s like how a guy who’s actually a millionaire won’t blow a fuse just because some rando calls him broke. Now that he held the one-of-a-kind Tyrant Dragon Gene Lock, a few cheap taunts from random classmates couldn’t possibly stir up a single negative feeling in him. If anything, he almost wanted to laugh.
He couldn’t help wondering what faces these same people would make the second he finally unleashed his real power. Speaking of… maybe he should take this chance to rope a few of them into another bet? One person meant 10,000 credits. Two meant 20k. Three…
Xalen felt a little spark of temptation.
While Xalen was entertaining that little money-making scheme, Selene was already making moves of her own on the other side of the campus. She stormed straight into a Grade 9 classroom, eyes blazing as she locked onto a Black boy decked head to toe in designer streetwear.
“George! You were running your mouth saying my brother’s useless, right? Well, he’s here today for the graduation trial. I dare you to bet me. I put down he passes.”
George froze for a beat, then burst out cackling. The whole classroom erupted in amused laughter right along with him.
Selene stood there, face set in a mask of righteous fury— but under the surface, her own little scheme was already clicking perfectly into place.
Should she bet 10k? 100k?
Or just go all in for a full million?!
Right as that thought crossed her mind, Xalen stepped into his own classroom, the low buzz of whispered gossip trailing right in after him. The second the whole class spotted him, the sprawling room went dead silent.
“Xalen?!”
A girl with flowing silver-white hair cried out in surprise. She had a soft, curvaceous figure, clad in a pink tank top, her features delicate and refined, with an almost ethereal glow to her—like an angel that had wandered down to the mortal world.
“Athena. Good to see you.” Xalen smiled and greeted her like it was any regular school day.
The classroom instantly exploded.
“Oh my god, that’s really Xalen!”
“What is he doing here? He’s actually taking the graduation trial?!”
“No way, I thought he’d be too embarrassed to show his face and would be hiding out at home!”
“But with a garbage gene like his, signing up for the trial is basically suicide, right?”
Just as Xalen had expected. Ever since he’d awakened that lizard gene, he’d been the hottest gossip topic in the entire academy, and that was doubly true here in his own class. The second he walked in, he’d even stolen all the attention away from Athena, the campus goddess. And he’d yanked the spotlight right off Rick, too.
Rick, the class president, was frowning hard at Xalen from the front of the room. Back in the day, as class rep, his grades had always been stuck playing second fiddle to Xalen’s. But now? Everything was different. He’d awakened a rare alligator snapping turtle gene, landing him a spot as a high-potential gene soldier. Meanwhile, Xalen had pulled a common gene—and not just any common gene, but a lizard gene that was practically bottom-tier even among the commons. Rick had been walking on cloud nine, riding a high of pure smug exhilaration for the past week straight. But now, seeing Xalen in person, that good mood soured instantly. Even after awakening a worthless gene, this guy somehow still managed to draw all the eyes in the room.
Wait, is it just ‘cause he’s better-looking?
That thought made Rick’s expression darken, though he quickly hid it behind a quiet sneer. No matter how pretty Xalen was, in this world, only strength actually mattered.
With that in mind, a sickly sweet smile spread across his face as he called out, “Xalen, what are you doing here?”
At the question, Athena and the rest of the class all turned their eyes straight to Xalen. Let’s be real—everyone showing up to the classroom at this hour was obviously here for the graduation trial.
Sure enough, Xalen nodded. “What else would I be here for? Today’s the graduation trial, right? I’m not late, am I?”
Hearing that, Athena and the others all wore very strange, confused expressions. Xalen really had come to take the trial.
Rick’s smile only stretched wider. “Xalen, your academic grades have always been top-tier, so you should know better than anyone that the graduation trial only looks easy on paper. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—with your current power level, you could very well get yourself killed in there.”
Plenty of the other students nodded in agreement. For common gene soldiers, the graduation trial was still pretty dangerous, which was why quite a few of them chose to opt out entirely. Those kids knew their own limits and didn’t want to risk throwing their lives away for a certification. But what was Xalen’s problem? He’d awakened a lizard gene, and he was still dead set on going through with it? How was that any different from marching straight to his own grave?
“Xalen, you really need to think this through. The graduation trial isn’t something you can mess around with.”
“I heard this year’s trial is the Shadowwind Wolf instance. Those things move like the wind, swarming in like a storm cloud—they’re absolutely terrifying.”
Athena spoke up, her tone earnest and soft, full of genuine concern, a world away from Rick’s mocking jabs.
Xalen felt a small warmth in his chest, but it didn’t shift his resolve an inch. “Thanks for worrying about me, but I’ve already made up my mind. If I don’t even have the conviction to fight, how could I ever become a powerful gene soldier?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a burst of cheers erupted from right outside the classroom door.
“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit!”