Soulless Soul

Chapter 18: Crazy Hope

Early in the morning, the harsh crimson rays of the artificial sun broke through the reinforced glass windows of the freshman dormitory block. Sky woke up feeling completely rejuvenated, the heavy, suffocating exhaustion of the previous day entirely washed away. He washed up quickly in his private bathroom, the hot water clearing the last remnants of sleep from his mind. Bursting with fresh energy and possessing a rare, genuinely happy mood, he hurried out the door to get breakfast, eager to see what kind of high-grade food the government provided for its new assets.

The academy cafeteria was a massive, high-ceilinged hall that was already a bit crowded by the time he arrived. The air was thick with the rich, mouth-watering aroma of sizzling meats, freshly baked bread, and exotic fruits imported from the safe zones. After filling his tray to the absolute brim with all kinds of delicious stuff—more food than he would have seen in a month back in the outskirts—he scanned the room for a place to sit.

His happy mood faltered slightly. The cafeteria was packed, but as he looked around, he quickly realized that the only empty seats left in the entire hall were located near a specific table. Sitting alone at that table was Chloe, the blind girl from yesterday.

Her table was completely deserted, creating a strange island of isolation in the middle of the bustling room. It seemed that no one wanted to be close to her because of her physical disability, and conversely, no one wanted to be close to him because of the lingering, unsettling pressure of his curse.

Sky grimaced, a bitter taste forming in his mouth. It seemed that the two of them were doomed to be the ultimate outcasts together for the remaining weeks or months of the academy’s preliminary semester. He also felt a slight prickle of discomfort in the company of someone who was practically a dead person walking—in a world where survival demanded absolute peak physical perfection, a blind warrior was a liability. But looking around at the crowded hall, there wasn’t much of a choice. He sucked in a breath and walked over.

Before his heavy boots could even reach the edge of the table, the purple-haired girl tilted her head, her milky white, vacant eyes turning accurately toward his direction.

"Nice to meet you again," Chloe said, her voice bright and entirely welcoming, completely contrasting the cold shoulder of the rest of the student body.

Sky paused, lowering his heavy tray onto the smooth metallic surface of the table.

"Ah... nice to meet you again too," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck in confusion. He couldn’t help the pragmatic question that popped into his mind. "But... aren’t you blind? How did you know it was me before I even sat down?"

Chloe let out a soft, melodic giggle, leaning forward slightly. "Well, technically yes, my physical eyes don’t function at all. But thanks to my active Attribute [network link] and my unique soul core trait, I am able to see the distinct soul link of people around me. Every soul has its own unique wavelength and color."

"Oh... is that so?" Sky murmured, a sudden spike of anxiety hitting his chest If she could see souls, he wondered if his hidden traits or his negative curse were visible to her spiritual sight.

"But... you look very different from the others, Skies," Chloe added softly, her expression turning slightly contemplative as she "stared" at his chest. "Your soul link... it has a very strange, dark shadow attached to it. It doesn’t look like anyone else’s in this room."

Sky’s heart skipped a beat. Oh, is that so? he thought, his defensive walls instantly slamming shut.

Losing his good mood entirely at the mention of his anomalies, he sat down heavily at Chloe’s table. He gave a cursory, tight nod to her, forgetting for a moment that she couldn’t see the gesture. After that, he tried to pretend that she didn’t exist at all, shifting his gaze downward and concentrating solely on devouring his food. He didn’t want to dig any deeper into what her spiritual sight could or couldn’t discover about him.

However, before he could even finish half of his plate, a sudden, loud commotion from the center of the hall drew his attention.

What’s going on now? Sky thought, his chewing slowing down as the ambient noise in the cafeteria spiked dramatically.

He looked up from his tray and noticed that a massive crowd of Common-rank students were gathered around the large, holographic screen hanging high on the central wall of the cafeteria. Their faces were filled with intense excitement, shock, and awe, their voices rising in a cacophony of whispers and exclamations.

On the massive screen, a dynamic list of names was being displayed in glowing silver letters. It was an official evaluation board, ranking the entire new batch of commons from weakest to strongest. The academy’s advanced algorithms had most likely deduced these standings from the biometric results of their entrance exams, their dungeon logs, and their initial interviews.

Sky blinked, a stray thought crossing his mind. Did Jane put in good words for me during the processing? Not particularly interested in the competitive politics of the upper ranks, he quickly skimmed past the top names and searched for himself, casting his gaze all the way to the bottom. He found his own name near the absolute mud of the list, ranked among the lowest of the low.

Name: SKIES

Title: —

Points: 0

He let out a dry, cynical snort. The only Common whom the Academy judged to be less likely to succeed or survive the upcoming trials than him was the blind girl sitting right across from him. Turns out, her official profile name was exactly what she had said: Chloe. The two outcasts of the cafeteria were officially the two bottom-feeders of the entire freshman block.

But to his surprised Chloe had just out rank him sending him to the bottom, how useless am I?

Name: Chloe

Title: —

Points: 10

But the commotion near the front of the screen was a bit too loud and chaotic to be just the ordinary result of a ranking list. The crowd wasn’t just talking; they were reeling in genuine disbelief. Curious, Sky moved his gaze away from the bottom and scrolled his eyes all the way to the very peak of the leaderboard.

The commons in the front row were restless, pointing at the glowing glass with trembling fingers.

"How... how can this be?!" one student gasped, clutching his head.

"I’m not seeing things, right? The gap between the top two is massive!" another shouted.

"What kind of a monster is she?!" a third chimed in, his face pale with a mixture of fear and admiration.

Sky narrowed his eyes, analyzing the data. A student named Arthur was placed in second place, his profile boasting incredible physical stats and a powerful combat lineage. But right above Arthur, occupying the absolute pinnacle of the rank, a looping video clip was playing in vivid detail.

The video showed the silver-haired girl from yesterday, Vesper. In the footage, she was moving like a flash of lightning, one-sidedly beating her opponents in what appeared to be a high-tier simulation trial. Her movements were flawless, her strikes leaving trails of frost that shattered her targets into digital dust. She didn’t just win; she completely pulverized the competition without taking a single step backward.

To the right of her terrifying combat video, two simple, glowing lines of bold text were displayed for the entire academy to see:

Name: Vesper

Title: Crazy Hope

Points: 200

Sky stared at the title, the image of her chilling, pale amethyst eyes flashing through his mind. "Crazy Hope," he muttered under his breath. In a world of monsters, it seemed the most dangerous thing in this school was a girl with silver hair.

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