A week passed quickly after the first day of lectures at Tenrei Academy. Following the confrontation in the restroom, Hayato made a deliberate move. Instead of keeping his distance from Asuka Rei, he forcefully included the gloomy, freckled nerd into his daily group activities. Whether it was walking to the cafeteria, studying in the premium library lounges, or hanging out during free periods, Hayato made sure Rei was always within arm's reach. It was a calculated strategy: by keeping a tight watch on the person who had seen through his performance, Hayato could prevent any leaks while simultaneously integrating the 7th-ranked genius into the network his father expected him to build. Hayato played the part of an incredibly friendly, approachable classmate perfectly, though beneath that amicable surface, every smile was carefully measured.
When the weekend arrived, the academic routine was broken by a sudden announcement from the Tenrei Academy board. All first-year students were to be deployed into the Black Forest for their very first off-campus expedition.
The Black Forest was notorious throughout the Riverpearl Continent. It was said to have existed since the Age of the gods, a primordial expanse where the canopy was so thick that sunlight barely reached the damp earth. Because of its ancient origin, the beasts inhabiting its depths were mythical, unpredictable, and fiercely territorial. Leaving a hundred freshmen alone in such an environment would be suicide, so the academy board implemented a strict safety protocol: the first years were randomly split into groups of five, and each group was assigned two elite third-year students to act as overseers.
When the group assignments were published on the academy network, Hayato found himself 'luckily' placed in a highly capable team. His group consisted of himself, Asuka Rei, Hasegawa Kenji from his dorm, and two prominent names from the top of the admission list: Kobayashi Kaito, the arrogant heir of the Koba Group who held the 2nd rank, and Hashibira Inosuke, the wild combatant sitting at the 30th rank.
Assigned to oversee them were two third-year students: a calm, spear-wielding senior named Murata, and a strict, sharp-eyed woman named Shizuka. Both were mid-stage Rank 4 Soul Masters.
Before entering the tree line, the group gathered near the transport vehicles. The two seniors stood with their arms crossed, looking down at the five freshmen.
"Listen up, first-years," Shizuka said, her voice cutting through the damp morning air. "We are only here to ensure nobody dies on your first real deployment. Unless a situation becomes completely fatal, we will not lift a finger. You will plan, fight, and finish your objective entirely on your own. Am I clear?"
"Perfectly clear, senior," Hayato replied, offering a warm, cooperative smile. He immediately turned to the rest of the group, effortlessly initiating conversations. Within minutes, his friendly, approachable demeanor allowed him to easily acquaint himself with the new faces. He laughed off Kaito's cold, elitist snubs after all they were meant to be family friends. He boosted Kenji's morale, and even managed to keep the boisterous Inosuke from picking a fight before they even crossed the boundary line. To anyone watching, Hayato was the ideal teammate; supportive, diplomatic, and utterly reliable.
Murata, the third-year, handed over a sleek, black metallic card. "Here is your mission card. You have exactly three days to complete the objective and return to the extraction point."
Kaito snatched the card, tapping the glass interface to display the details. A holographic image of a massive, armored reptile materialized in the air.
Objective: Navigate to the muddy marshlands of Sector 3 and collect the pristine dorsal scales of a three-thousand-year-old Black Forest Alligator.
"A three-thousand-year-old beast," Kenji muttered, adjusting his gear. "That's easily comparable to a peak Rank 3 Soul Master in terms of raw durability."
"A perfect warm-up," Kaito scoffed, his eyes flashing with pride as he glanced at the lower-ranked members, particularly Hayato. "Just stay out of my way and don't drag my ranking down."
The interior of the Black Forest was entirely dark, the massive, gnarled trees casting long, twisted shadows across the fog-covered ground. The air smelled of wet soil, ancient moss, and decaying vegetation.
As the group navigated deeper toward Sector 3, Hayato kept his focus entirely on maintaining his established public image. He was the 14th-ranked student; a solid genius, but someone who shouldn't stand out too much compared to the likes of Kaito or Rei. Whenever the group encountered minor, aggressive beasts along the path, Hayato carefully utilized only the specific power he and his father had decided to publicize: the attributes of the Frost Python soul form.
When a pack of thorn covered wolves leaped from the brush, Hayato didn't use his raw physical speed or his hidden dragon line. Instead, he calmly stepped back, acting purely as a support element. With a smooth wave of his hand, a localized surge of freezing azure energy spread across the mud, creating a slick layer of ice that slowed the beasts down, allowing Kaito's explosive fire strikes and Inosuke's brutal twin-blade style to cleanly finish them off.
"Nice assist, Hayato!" Kenji yelled, parrying a stray wolf before driving his weapon home.
"Just doing my part," Hayato replied, offering a breathless, slightly tired smile as if the minor spell had taken a reasonable amount of his energy.
Beside him, Asuka Rei adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses, watching the ice melt under the dense canopy. He didn't say a word, but his eyes remained fixed on the precise control Hayato maintained over his output. Hayato noticed the gaze but simply nodded back in a friendly manner, keeping up the charade.
Meanwhile, back at the main administrative complex of Tenrei Academy, the entire board of directors was gathered inside a high-tech surveillance room. On the center wall, a massive grid of live video feeds tracked the movements of every student group inside the Black Forest.
A specific monitor, labeled Group 4, was zoomed entirely in on Hayato's face.
The Head Academy Director sat in his leather chair, his fingers intertwined as he stared intensely at the screen. Beside him stood several high-ranking elder professors, all of them holding their breath. They were the few who knew the true confidential result of Hayato's physical exam; the triple soul form manifestation that had nearly shattered the testing equipment.
"Look at him," one of the elder professors muttered, leaning closer to the glass display. "He's just using a basic frost deceleration spell. He's purposely slowing down his reflexes to match the baseline of a standard Rank 3 master."
"His acting is pretty good," another professor sighed, shaking his head in absolute frustration. "The boy's control over his own muscle memory is terrifying. He calculates every strike to make it look like he's fighting at his public rank."
The Head Director rubbed his temples, a deep look of disappointment washing over his face. The board had approved this hazardous off-campus mission specifically hoping that the unpredictable danger of the Black Forest would force the Saito heir to drop his guard and reveal even a fraction of his true, heaven-defying power. They wanted to see the Dragon. They wanted to witness the legendary Blade Mother Tree in action.
"He's too disciplined," the Director muttered quietly. "Saito Hiroshi raised a ghost, not a student. If this keeps up, he'll finish the entire three-day excursion acting as a second-rate support mage."
On the screen, Hayato's group successfully reached the edge of the muddy marshlands, entirely unaware of the administrative eyes praying for their failure.
The marshlands of Sector 3 were a massive expanse of black, bubbling mire, surrounded by weeping willow trees whose long leaves brushed against the surface of the stagnant water. The silence here was absolute, broken only by the occasional pop of methane gas rising from the mud.
"There," Rei whispered, pointing toward a small island of solid earth near the center of the swamp.
Resting on the banks was their target: a massive, fifteen-foot-long Black Forest Alligator. Its scales were thick and matte-black, absorbing the faint light of the forest like a sponge. According to its size and the deep emerald hue of its closed eyes, it was exactly a three-thousand-year-old specimen.
"Inosuke, take the left flank," Kaito commanded immediately, his corporate upbringing making him automatically take the leadership role. "Kenji, create a distraction from the right. Saito, keep its tail frozen so it can't retreat into the deep water. Rei, watch for any sudden shifts."
"Got it," Hayato said, stepping into position near the edge of the muddy bank.
The execution was flawless. Kenji drew the beast's attention with a series of quick, ringing strikes against the nearby stones, causing the alligator to hiss violently, opening its massive jaws. Inosuke lunged from the brush like a wild animal, his twin swords clashing heavily against the creature's thick armor, chipping away at the weaker joints near its front legs.
As the alligator attempted to spin its massive tail to crush Inosuke, Hayato slammed his palms against the ground. A dense, freezing mist shot across the surface of the swamp, instantly encasing the creature's tail in a solid block of thick, blue ice.
"Now, Kaito!" Hayato shouted, his voice filled with appropriate urgency.
Kaito leaped high into the air, his soul power erupting into a crimson flame that coated his longsword. With a decisive downward slash, he drove the heated blade into the specific weak spot beneath the alligator's neck plate. The beast let out a final, muffled roar before collapsing into the mud, its vital signs fading completely.
"Hah! Too easy," Kaito sneered, wiping the sweat from his brow as he approached the carcass to begin harvesting the required dorsal scales. "And the academy made it sound like this place was dangerous."
Kenji leaned against a tree, catching his breath. "Good work with the ice, Hayato. If that tail had hit us, we'd be looking at broken bones."
"It was a team effort," Hayato smiled, maintaining his perfectly humble, friendly facade. He glanced toward the tree line, where the two third-year overseers, Murata and Shizuka, stood on a high branch, their faces expressionless as they logged the completion of the task.
But before Kaito's blade could touch the first scale, the stillness of the marshland was violently shattered.
BOOM!
The entire swamp bed erupted. Five massive geysers of black mud and pressurized water shot thirty feet into the air, completely obliterating the small earthen island. A wave of raw, suffocating pressure washed over the area, so heavy that Kenji and Kaito were instantly blown backward, tumbling into the reeds.
Hayato planted his feet firmly, instantly internalizing his core strength to keep from flying away, though he let himself slide back a few feet to maintain appearances. His eyes narrowed through the falling mud.
Rising from the depths of the black mire were five colossal figures. They were easily twice the size of the beast they had just killed, their bodies covered in thick, jagged armor plates that resembled ancient stone rather than scales. Their eyes were not emerald, but a burning, malevolent crimson light.
"Adults..." Rei's voice lost its calm demeanor for the first time, his face turning pale.
These were five fully grown, adult Black Forest Alligators. An adult of this species was at least six thousand years old. More importantly, they were creatures that had successfully awakened their dormant primordial dragon bloodlines. The raw, heavy aura radiating from them wasn't just standard beast energy; it was a suppressive, ancient draconic pressure that actively choked the spiritual soul power of anyone nearby.
An adult alligator of this caliber was an absolute nightmare. Only an experienced Rank 4 Soul Master could even hope to hold their own against a single one long enough to escape. For a group of first-years who were expected to be at most Rank 3, facing five of them simultaneously was a literal death sentence.
"Get back!" Shizuka yelled from the trees, her calm demeanor completely vanishing.
Both third-year overseers moved instantly. Murata lunged forward, his spear glowing with a brilliant gold light as he intercepted the first charging adult, his Rank 4 mid-stage power exploding to its absolute limit. Shizuka followed right beside him, her twin daggers creating a barrier of wind to deflect a massive claw strike from a second beast.
But they were only two people.
The remaining three adult alligators completely ignored the seniors, their crimson eyes locking onto the five first-years standing on the bank. One massive beast opened its jaws, a localized sphere of highly compressed, dark water energy forming in its throat, a direct manifestation of its dragon bloodline.
"Move!" Kaito screamed, his previous arrogance completely shattered as the crushing weight of the draconic pressure brought him to his knees, his fire magic sputtering out instantly under the suffocating aura.
Kenji and Inosuke tried to draw their weapons, but their bodies were trembling uncontrollably, their spiritual souls completely suppressed by the sheer tier difference.
Hayato stood at the back of the retreating line, his face still reflecting a mask of terrified shock for his teammates' benefit. But deep inside his consciousness, his mind was operating with cold, absolute clarity. He looked at the three massive beasts closing in, their jaws ready to tear his friends to pieces. He looked back at the two third-years who were already being pushed to their absolute limits by the other two adults, unable to help.
If he stayed within his public Rank 3 frost attributes, they would all die within the next ten seconds. But if he unleashed even a fraction of the real power hidden within his chest, if he called upon the Dragon or the Blade Tree, his lowkey persona would crumble.
His peaceful life would be over! ah!
The three massive, six-thousand-year-old monsters lunged forward simultaneously, their heavy footsteps shaking the ancient earth of the Black Forest... 'they were running on water!', leaving Hayato with a fraction of a second to make a choice that would define his entire future at Tenrei Academy.