The command hall was heavy with silence when Adrian entered.

The massive space bore scars from the battle, cracked stone pillars, emergency lighting casting harsh shadows across damaged walls.

Scarlett stood before the central console, her voice firm as she reported to Lord Kael Varros, whose image shimmered on the great screen. Her uniform was pristine again, the emerald mist having erased every wound and stain from the siege.

Selena Valcrest was off to the side, golden tattoos faintly pulsing as she examined several rune scrolls laid before her, the very ones Adrian had crafted during the siege. Her fingers traced the ink with reverent precision, as if touching relics.

Every head turned when he stepped in. The conversation died mid-sentence, leaving only the hum of damaged equipment.

Even Kael’s dark eyes, displayed across the projection, shifted to meet his. The weight of countless questions pressed down on him.

“How?” Selena asked at last, her voice almost a whisper. She held up one of his scrolls, the legendary healing rune still radiating faint power.

Adrian met her eyes, calm, unhurried. He knew what she meant. How had he created scrolls that defied fundamental limitations?

“Volume III. I got it from Dorian. And I comprehended it.”

The words hit like a storm. Scarlett’s breath caught, her hand tightening on the console’s edge.

“What!?” Selena’s voice trembled, the scroll slipping from her fingers. “You’ve comprehended Volume III in a single day?”

She had spent decades clawing through its symbols, bleeding her mind dry to grasp even fragments. Now this boy claimed mastery in less than a sunrise.

“Yes,” Adrian said simply. No boast, no pride, just fact.

“No… impossible.” Selena shook her head, voice breaking. “Decades, lifetimes, and you—”

Her golden tattoos flared brighter, responding to her emotional turmoil. “No human can do that.”

Kael’s voice cut through, steel layered with suspicion. “Comprehension alone doesn’t explain it, Adrian.”

The projection leaned forward, dark eyes boring into him. “Scarlett told me everything that happened in this wave.”

“Before this wave, you fought at the level of C-ranks. Hours later, you stood against A-rank monsters as an equal.” Kael’s tone sharpened.

“That kind of leap doesn’t happen in a day. Explain it.”

Adrian drew in a slow breath. The air tasted of salt and lingering battle-smoke.

He was tired of masks. Tired of pretending weakness while others bled around him.

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“It’s because of Volume III. You know my affinity lets me wield others.” His voice carried quiet conviction.

“When I comprehended Volume III fully, my mana reserves expanded, my manifestation deepened. With that knowledge, I forged new spells.” He paused, meeting each gaze in turn.

“Starbreaker. Breath of Life.”

The only thing he kept back was the Source itself. Not for selfishness this time, but because he understood what it meant.

If outsiders ever learned, if the aliens who ruled the galaxies discovered what burned inside him, humanity would be crushed before it had a chance. But everything else he laid bare.

For now, he was done hiding the rest.

The hall was still. None present could deny what he said, manifestation came from comprehension, and most Defenders only brushed its edges.

But Adrian’s was never a normal manifestation. Kael remembered the boy’s pseudo-manifestation even before Volume III, the white-grey mist that had made A-Rank affinities tremble.

If Adrian had truly grasped Volume III’s depths, then his sudden leap made sense. Terrifying sense.

Kael leaned back, piecing it together aloud. The projection flickered as he moved, casting shifting shadows across his angular features.

“I understand now. Your affinity was Echo, which let you use other affinities. I saw your pseudo-manifestation before. It wasn’t bound to a single element.”

His voice carried the weight of revelation, each word deliberate.

“Now, with deeper comprehension, of course it expanded beyond limits. And with Volume III, the growth only makes sense.”

Kael’s dark eyes never left Adrian’s face. “It does not lessen the miracle, it only explains it.”

Selena’s fingers tightened around the scroll she still held. Her golden tattoos pulsed faster, betraying the storm of emotions beneath her composed exterior.

Even she, the greatest Rune Master alive, couldn’t argue against the logic. But the speed of Adrian’s comprehension still defied everything she knew about the Volumes.

Kael’s tone hardened, “Do you realize what this means? You’re not just another prodigy.”

“You’ve already outstripped what most S-ranks contribute.” His projection leaned forward, the weight of his stare pressing down on everyone present.

Scarlett shifted beside the console, her knuckles white where she gripped its edge. The implications crashed over her like a tidal wave.

“Adrian, you were already vital to humanity for your ink and your scrolls. But now…” Kael paused, letting the moment stretch.

“Your combat power, your comprehension, your knowledge of the Volumes themselves. In truth, from now on, your standing is second only to Lord Sentinel.”

The words struck harder. Scarlett drew in a sharp breath, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Selena stared in silent awe, the scroll trembling in her hands. Around the hall, the defenders shifted uneasily, unable to process what they had heard.

A sixteen-year-old boy, second only to the legendary Sentinel himself. The very notion seemed impossible, yet they had witnessed his power firsthand.

Adrian stood unmoved, though inside, the truth rang heavy. He had known this moment would come, when his abilities could no longer be contained or explained away.

The weight of expectation settled on his shoulders like a mantle of lead. But he bore it without flinching.

Kael continued, each word deliberate and final. “This is beyond me now. I will report directly to Lord Sentinel and await his orders.”

The very mention of the Sentinel made the room gasp. For most, he was less man than legend, a being of power so vast that even A-ranks called him untouchable.

“For now, the mission is complete. The sea wall will hold.”

“Adrian, return to Headquarters at once. It will not be long before you are summoned before him.”

To meet the Sentinel was to stand before the living will of humanity itself. Even Scarlett had never earned such an audience.

Adrian inclined his head, his voice steady despite the magnitude of what lay ahead. “I’ll return with the others.”

Simple words. But behind them, the entire command hall understood the shift that had just occurred.

The air itself seemed charged with possibility and dread. Adrian Blackwood was no longer just a boy with potential.

He had become something greater, someone who could change humanity’s future. Today had shifted the balance of humanity itself.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep