System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!-Chapter 492 - The Presence

- The Astral Nexus Academy - Entrance Ceremony.

Inside the colossal aula, Hundreds of new students filled every seat, their voices a rising wave of anticipation.

Excitement buzzed through the air like static, though beneath it, a faint shadow lingered.

The tragedy from last month.

It still clung to the walls like a scar invisible to the eye.

Only those who had been inside that nightmare remembered the screams, the collapse, the helplessness.

Their wounds were quiet, but deep.

Even so, the ceremony moved forward.

On the podium, the principal, Eldrin, stood tall, adjusting his coat with ceremonial dignity.

A line of instructors stood behind him, each radiating their own presence.

And among them... Alice.

Her posture was composed. Her face was calm. But inwardly? Her entire being trembled. Alice's Heart Wasn't Here

Since dawn, she'd felt it.

A pulse.

A vibration in her blood.

A whisper in the deepest core of her soul.

Her father… Taufik… He had returned.

The Blood in her veins reacted on its own, resonating with something ancient, familiar, and impossibly dear.

For months she'd been living in the Singularis Magic Tower, pushing herself, searching for clues about Ayana's disappearance, unwilling to rest, unwilling to accept silence.

She hadn't gone home much.

But today... Something had changed.

Completely.

Her eyes quietly drifted to the rows of new students.

And she immediately spotted them.

Her siblings.

Each one wearing the same expression:

A stunned softness around the eyes. A barely-contained smile tugging at the mouth. An almost glowing light beneath their skin. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Joy.

Raw, overwhelming joy.

Alice's breath caught in her throat.

'They rarely showed that expression... '

Her legs tensed.

Her fingers curled.

She wanted, no, needed to go to them right now and confirm what her heart already screamed.

But Eldrin was still speaking.

Still talking.

Still rambling about unity, progress, post-tragedy resilience... And Alice's eyes were fixed on his back with such intensity that the instructors beside her quietly stepped an inch away.

If looks could kill, Eldrin would have been reduced to fine cosmic dust by now.

She kept glaring at him.

And glaring.

And glaring.

The man remained blissfully unaware, or perhaps, he simply chose not to care.

Alice inhaled sharply, forcing herself to stand still.

'Hurry up… please…'

She didn't pray often.

But right now?

She was willing to pray to any god, any entity, any cosmic force, just to make this man finish his speech already.

And then, mercifully, "… Well~ I think this is the end of my speech," Eldrin finally said.

The aula went silent.

Not respectful silence.

Not ceremonial silence.

No.

It was the kind of silence that screamed: "FINALLY"

Thousands of inner voices exhaled at once.

Even the mana in the air felt relieved.

Eldrin, oblivious as always, smiled proudly.

"Once again, welcome to Astral Nexus Academy! After this, all of you may search for your assigned class. The class divisions are displayed on the bulletin board outside the hall. You may proceed there-"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence.

Because the moment the words "proceed" left his mouth... Alice moved.

Like a bowstring released.

Like lightning splitting a tree.

She didn't run, she vanished from her spot, robes fluttering in the sudden pressure she left behind.

Every instructor blinked. Some gasped. One of them nearly fell off the stage.

Eldrin froze mid-sentence, staring at the empty place where Alice used to stand.

"…Huh?" he muttered weakly. "Where did she..."

But Alice was already halfway across the hall, slipping through the dispersing students with sharp, precise movements that would've made assassins weep.

She didn't push.

She didn't shove.

She simply appeared and disappeared between gaps that shouldn't have existed.

Her heart wasn't listening to logic anymore. Her blood wasn't listening to protocol.

She was going to her siblings.

Now.

And behind her, the students whispered:

"Is that Instructor Alice?!"

"Was she… smiling?!"

"No way, she teleported... through people?!"

"She looked like she was about to cry... what happened?!"

"Something big… must have happened"

But they didn't know the truth yet.

Only the children of Taufik did.

Because the moment Alice reached the front rows, their eyes met.

Her siblings stood.

And for a heartbeat, for a breath, for a single flicker of existence... the world stopped.

Alice's lips parted, trembling.

"…D-Did he-" She didn't even finish the sentence.

Aksara nodded once. Firm. Certain. Eyes warm with the truth she had been dying to hear.

"…He's back, big sis," Aksara said quietly. "Father has come home"

Something inside Alice shattered.

But not in pain..

in relief.

A laugh escaped her, bright and overflowing like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.

"Aha~ Ahaha~ I knew he would come back," she said, her smile so wide it almost hurt to look at. "Alright, you guys, good luck with your classes. I'm going home"

"Wait, sis, you can't just-"

Aksara never finished.

Because Alice vanished.

No spell incantation.

No teleportation circle.

Not even a flicker of afterimage.

One moment, she stood in front of them; the next, the space was empty.

Aksara stared at the spot she had been in.

"…That… that power is a cheat," he muttered weakly.

"Stop grumbling," Kiara said as she walked ahead, hands clasped behind her back, her expression calm, but her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Let's find our class, finish this academy quickly, and go home faster. I want to hear Father's story as soon as possible"

As she strode past, the D'Archy siblings followed suit, each wearing their own brand of excitement, relief, and faint exasperation.

Aksara lingered for a moment longer.

He looked again at where Alice had disappeared, then let out a long sigh.

"…Singularis power is just not fair," he muttered before finally turning and following the others.

--------

Those who are born as Singularis often start with abilities that appear simple, almost underwhelming compared to other gifted beings.

But that simplicity is a lie.

Because a Singularis does not learn power.

A Singularis evolves it.

Given time, understanding, and development… that small power becomes something far beyond mortal logic.

Sometimes… too far.

Take Alice Singularis, for example.

At the beginning, her Singularis ability was nothing dramatic.

A mere "aura detection," A basic sensory gift.

Harmless.

Innocent.

Forgettable.

Or so everyone thought.

But Alice was a researcher. A scholar. A natural-born seeker of truth.

She studied her own power.

She dissected it.

She shaped it.

She pushed it through theories' experiments, failures, breakthroughs... And with every step she took, her power changed.

Aura detection became energy detection.

Energy detection became energy interpretation.

Energy interpretation became energy manipulation.

And manipulation… eventually became something far more terrifying:

Absolute Dominance over Energy.

Not mastery.

Not control.

Not affinity.

Dominance.

Alice doesn't simply sense your aura anymore.

She can sense

Mana, Spirit Force, Divine Energy, Demonic Mana, Dimensional Echoes, and any type of power that exists within reality's spectrum.

And once she detects you?

She can appear beside you instantly.

No spell.

No teleportation circle.

Just a straight override of spatial energy between Point A and Point B.

If the requirements are met, if your energy is exposed, if she marks you, if she has established a "thread," Then she can do anything she wishes with your aura.

She can drain it.

She can silence it.

She can reshape it.

She can sever it.

She can absorb it.

She can make it her own.

She can even forcibly turn off someone's mana circulation with a thought.

That is the true nature of a fully awakened Singularis: A being whose "simple" ability grows until it breaks every limit of the world it was born in.

And Alice… Alice is one of the most advanced Singularis in existence.

Adding to her Vampire lineage, she stood among the top powerhouses of the Saranjana Kingdom, a force so overwhelming that even the Gods in The Sanctum Aeterna should treat her with wary respect.

If Alice wanted to hide, nothing could find her.

If she wanted to find someone, nothing could hide.

And today, that same power let her tear through space, distance, realms, dimensions... everything, to rush home the very second she felt her father's aura return.

In an instant, she slipped into her own inner domain.

Her Singularis Dimension.

A world made entirely of energy, land shaped by mana currents, grass made from shimmering beams, rivers flowing with pure ether, skies swirling with nebula-like particles.

A dimension where time nearly stopped, reduced to a slow crawl so she could perceive every detail with impossible clarity.

Alice extended her perception, her consciousness expanding like a blossoming star.

Across the land.

Across the mountains.

Across the ocean.

Across the borders of Saranjana.

Until... She found it.

Her father's aura.

Finding Taufik's presence wasn't difficult. How could it be?

Taufik's aura was a sun in a dead night, a titan's heartbeat echoing through existence, a pillar of power too bright, too vast, too unmistakable.

Alice stared at it, familiar warmth, familiar strength, familiar rhythm... but layered with something else now.

Something deeper.

Something immeasurable.

As she gazed closer, the aura shifted, as if reacting to her sight. Not like a beacon responding to a watcher, but like a living entity acknowledging her gaze.

For a moment, Alice froze.

"…It's alive…?" Her thoughts trembled as her senses sharpened.

The aura wasn't just strong.

Wasn't just massive.

It had intent.

A faint awareness.

A pulse of will.

The more she observed it, the more she felt it... something new coiling beneath her father's presence, something she had never sensed before in any being across any realm.

A difference so profound that even within her frozen-time dimension... Alice felt goosebumps.

....

...

..

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