The awakening hall had twelve marble pillars, twelve guild banners, and one thousand students pretending not to be afraid.
Kai Ren stood at the back because the back was where the weak learned to breathe quietly.
When his name appeared above the altar, the crowd settled into the polite silence reserved for failures.
He placed his hand on the obsidian plate. Light ran through the floor. Screens unfolded above every student in shining blue script.
A class. A rank. A weapon path. A future.
Kai's screen stayed black.
Then one white line appeared.
SYSTEM ZERO INITIALIZED.
Below it, a second line blinked.
Do not reveal this window to anyone who wants you alive.
Kai pulled his hand back, but the plate had already begun to crack.