Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Guidance (Part 1) A few days had passed, and things had started to settle. The school finally gave the winning teams their spotlight, handing out rewards and recognition. Posters were put up, pictures taken, and the names of the top performers were shared across every campus screen. Rhian and his group hadn’t even come close to making the cut. Not in the top ten. Not in the top twenty. It wasn’t surprising. They’d fought one E-Rank beast and a swarm of F-Rankers. And even that was fractured, as Damon had eaten the E Rank, and all the F ranks that he had on him and Nia. And sinnce Rhian and Nia had been dragged off by that flying creature, and the rest had spent most of the three days trying to find them. The group never had a real chance to push deep into the portal and gather the kind of points needed to compete. Rhian himself had fought that E-Rank down in the ravine and the F-Ranks that slipped through walls like fog. But even with those encounters, it hadn’t been enough to push them close to victory. Their total was unimpressive. No one in the group was bitter about it. Expectations had been low from the moment they came back. Still, Rhian felt the weight of it more than the others. He couldn’t ignore the feeling that if he hadn’t been taken, they might’ve done something worth remembering. Instead, they’d simply survived. And sometimes that was all you could do. The winning teams, however, were something else entirely. The first place group stood so far above the rest that it didn’t even feel like the same ranking system. Their points nearly tripled those of the second place team, which made the rest of the top ten look more like background noise. Word spread fast that they’d taken down more than ten E-Rank monsters and even three D-Ranks. Rumors about how they were seen clashing with one of the D-Ranks right before the portal closed even spread. Rhian hadn’t gotten a chance to ask his friends about who those students were, but he knew he would later. A team like that didn’t go unnoticed. From what he gathered, they weren’t just strong. They were efficient. Probably came from powerful bloodlines or had connections. Maybe both. The second place team was also impressive, though not to the same scale. Their score was high enough to place them clearly above the rest, but still far behind the team in first. Rhian had no grounds to judge, not when his own group didn’t even break into the top twenty. He knew the competition had been serious, but seeing the actual results made it real. What truly caught him off guard was the third place team. Kai was in it. It wasn’t that Rhian thought Kai was weak. It wasn’t even about talent. It was just... strange. Especially after seeing how Kai behaved and, more importantly, how that group treated him. They acted like entitled nobility—spoiled, arrogant, and loud. Maybe they were strong too, but something didn’t sit right. Rhian couldn’t shake the feeling that something about the placement—or the dynamic—was off. The rest of the top ten teams were impressive in their own right—smart, capable, and clearly experienced, and if not, they were adapting well. But it was the top three that stirred something new in Rhian. A feeling he’d never really recognized before. Competition. It was subtle at first, something he’d only begun to feel when he arrived at the academy and met someone like Nia, who felt the same, and they both loved fighting. But now, standing among all these rising students. He liked this feeling. He had always told himself that he didn’t care about raw power. He only wanted to be strong enough to survive and to track down the monster that killed his parents, maybe clear a few portals for money, and then disappear from the chaos. But this was different. Seeing so much talent around him, so many people burning with purpose and pride lit something in his chest. A fire that hadn’t been there before. Now he wanted more. Not just enough. More. More strength. More growth. Not just revenge. He wanted to rise, and he wanted to be stronger than them. Maybe it was pride. Or maybe it was just the first time he ever felt like competing. SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! Rhian blinked and jerked upright. Miss Liane sat across from him, arms folded, legs crossed, her stare cutting through him like a blade. "You done spacing out?" she said, deadpan. "Or should I get you a pillow and come back after your nap?" Rhian rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. Lost in thought." She didn’t blink. "I could smell the smoke. Try to keep it contained during class." She sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Overthinking’s a terrible trait." Rhian leaned back slightly, unconvinced. "I don’t know... sometimes thinking a bit deeper helps avoid mistakes." She arched a brow, already seeing it coming. "You’re doing it now." "What?" "That thing. The spiraling. You’re halfway through building a philosophy around one comment," she said, tapping her pen against her knee. "See?" Rhian exhaled, giving a small chuckle despite himself. "Now," she continued, folding her arms, "before you start wondering whether overthinking is genetic, tell me more about these new abilities you mentioned." Rhian paused, uncertain. He didn’t mind keeping things to himself—he had done that for years—but this was different. Iris had told him he could trust Miss Liane. Just as he considered speaking, she exhaled lightly and said, "You can trust me. I know this academy doesn’t feel safe for people like us anymore, but I’m not like the others. I protect my own." Rhian glanced at her. Her voice wasn’t soft or comforting, but it wasn’t fake either. Like she didn’t need to convince him—only state a fact. He nodded once, deciding what to share. "I have two abilities. Shadow control and illusion." She didn’t respond immediately, just raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting. "For shadow control... I can manipulate another person’s shadow. I’m still testing it, but I’ve used it in fights to interrupt movements." She gave a short nod, noting something down on her tablet but saying nothing yet. "And the illusion... I can create an image. Someone or something. They look real for five seconds. I can make them move and do anything, but they’re not solid so they van touvh or beat anyone." This time, she looked up, her expression sharp but unreadable.