Aether is it?

Three months passed.

Aethercrest Academy changed them in ways that were both subtle and undeniable. Ava no longer winced every time she tried to summon her sword, and Noctis had finally stopped burning through his clothes when practicing dagger constructs. But that was the surface—the visible side of their growth. Beneath it, something deeper stirred.

The first quarter of the year was chaotic. Students attended only three hours of required theory classes each morning. The rest of their time was "flexible self-development"—a phrase that translated loosely to sink or swim.

Ava and Noctis chose to swim.

They'd spent countless hours in the sparring yard, training rooms, and the library. Where others socialized, they practiced. Where others leaned on instructors, they experimented. They kept to themselves, not out of arrogance, but necessity. Because they were different.

Only they had seen what was hidden behind the school's grand façade.

Only they remembered the prologue that wasn't part of the curriculum: the nightmarish monsters, the system message, the choice to fight or die.

And only they had a system interface layered beneath their public-facing status windows—the former invisible to everyone else.

It was a rainy afternoon when everything shifted again.

They were in the lesser combat yard, drenched in sweat, mid-way through sparring with dulled practice weapons. Ava had finally nailed the horizontal arc on her blade flow, and Noctis's reactive steps were sharper than ever.

Just as their wooden weapons clashed, a chime echoed inside their heads—sharp, electronic, unmistakable.

Their vision shimmered.

[System Message Incoming]

"You are now entering Quarter Two: Threshold Phase Detected."

"Synchronization… now tracking."

Then came the static.

A distorted voice—familiar and strange—spoke directly into their minds:

"If you complete the… —⁂— …then the truth will—"

KZZKSSHHHHK…

"…damn this interference."

"Listen. You're ahead of schedule. That's good. Use it. The key is buried in your reflection. Check your interface. Read everything."

And just like that, the message vanished.

They both froze.

Ava dropped her sword. Noctis wiped rain from his eyes, unsure if the static was real or some mental glitch. But then, their status windows blinked open—clear as always, floating in front of their vision.

Vale

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 13

Aether Control: 11

Endurance: 12

Perception: 10

Will: 12

Synchronization: 23%

Lyra

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 12

Aether Control: 12

Endurance: 11

Perception: 11

Will: 13

Synchronization: 24%

They both blinked.

Then blinked again.

"…That stat wasn't there before, right?" Noctis asked slowly.

Ava shook her head. "I check mine every morning. It's new."

They studied it in silence. Everything else looked normal. Their base stats—Strength, Dexterity, Endurance—were well above average for first-years. They'd started the year at a flat 5 across the board, like every new student. But now, they were sitting at double that.

They'd never questioned it much. Training, dedication, and near-obsessive routine—surely that explained it.

But now this "Synchronization" stat had appeared—subtle, buried beneath the rest like it didn't want to be found. A hidden meter. Out of 100. Neither of them knew what it meant.

Ava was the first to guess.

"Maybe it tracks teamwork?" she said. "Like a synergy thing. We've been training together every day."

Noctis frowned. "So we're at… twenty-three percent synced?"

"Or twenty-four."

"Feels low for three months of teamwork."

"Maybe it builds slowly?"

They spent the next two days observing how it changed.

They trained together, fought together, even did synchronized drills to test the theory—but the percentage barely moved. Ava ticked up to 24.3%. Noctis stayed at 23.1%. It was maddening.

It wasn't until Noctis did solo meditation, hours away from her, that he saw his Synchronization rise.

That same night, Ava—isolated in her dorm, practicing internal aether flow alone—also saw a jump.

Their theory shattered.

"I don't think it's about us," Ava said, voice low as they sat in the back corner of the library. "I think it's about me. My body."

Noctis looked up from the ancient tome he was pretending to read. "Explain."

She gestured to her open status window, whispering. "It's not measuring connection between people. It's measuring assimilation. Us… adjusting. Or being changed."

He went pale. "Changed how?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But we've always felt different. From day one. After that fight with the Rank-1 beasts, we woke up in the infirmary, and everyone acted like nothing had happened. Like there was no danger."

He remembered. The nurse. The strange looks. The casual dismissal.

She pointed to her Aether Control stat. "Normal first-years barely break 6. Look around. We're at double that."

"And we're not geniuses," Noctis added grimly. "So how the hell are we already this strong?"

Their synchronization percentages pulsed faintly beside them—almost like heartbeats.

The rain continued that week, washing over the stone courtyards and sparring platforms. The academy buzzed with rumors of midterm assessments, mock duels, and underground tournaments for high-performers. Students bragged about leveling up their stats by a point or two. A girl from Class 3 fainted after accidentally overextending her Core channeling. No one saw her again.

But Ava and Noctis were silent.

Focused.

They began journaling their observations. Every change in their stats. Every fluctuation in synchronization. They noted how emotions seemed to affect their output—how fear sharpened their senses, how resolve deepened their channeling.

And at night, when everything was quiet, they could feel something building inside them. A pressure. Like a locked door beginning to tremble under its own weight.

Then came a second message.

[Quest Update Available]

"When mind and body align, the path shall open."

"Reach 30% Synchronization."

Reward: Access Level Increased.

[Accept? Y/N]

They didn't answer. Not yet.

They weren't ready.

But they were close.