Soulless Soul

Chapter 19: Legacy

A Title was something entirely distinct from the ordinary rankings of society. It was a rare, monumental privilege that the world’s governing dungeon array granted exclusively to individuals who had achieved something completely outrageous, or who had made an unprecedented contribution to the balance of power during their trials.

So, her name is Crazy Hope because she did something utterly insane in her first solo dungeon run, Sky reasoned, his mind working quickly behind his neutral expression.

He couldn’t help but feel a sudden, bitter pang of annoyance. "But why didn’t I get one? I did something outrageous too, didn’t I?" Sky muttered under his breath, aggressively shoving another large forkful of food into his mouth. He had practically cheated death and rewritten his own biological limits, yet the array had completely ignored his efforts.

All around him, the Commons in the crowded cafeteria were struck entirely dumb by the sudden revelation of Vesper’s achievement. They were staring at the glowing holographic screen with a mixture of profound astonishment, lingering fear, and deep admiration. To a beginner, a Title was practically a myth, an impossible badge of honor reserved for the legends of the upper districts.

Looking around the buzzing hall to gauge the reactions of the elite, Sky noticed Arthur’s gaze fixed squarely on the screen. There was a strange, somber expression on the otherwise humorous young man’s face, stripping away his usual easygoing demeanor. But the weird thing about it was that, as far as Sky could tell from his vantage point, Arthur wasn’t looking at the glowing line of text containing the Title at all.

Instead, he was staring intently at the line of text that simply read "Vesper," as though the girl’s actual, physical name held far more weight and meaning to him than the legendary honor bestowed by the array.

Interesting, Sky thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched the boy’s rigid posture. Do they know each other from the outside?

It didn’t make much sense. Why would a lofty, high-born Legacy student know a mysterious girl who had arrived at the academy late, completely outside the standard registration windows? And speaking of the massive attention grabber... where exactly was she?

Sky’s gaze wandered across the bustling cafeteria, bypassing the crowded tables of whispering students before finally settling on a quiet corner near one of the massive tinted windows.

There she sat. The girl with the long, liquid-silver hair was seated completely alone, staring blankly out at the courtyard. She quietly held a warm cup of coffee between her slender hands, using the gentle heat to warm her fingers. She seemed entirely detached from the noisy, aggressive conversations echoing throughout the room, living in a completely different world. Her ash-gray eyes were calm, cold, and profoundly distant, completely lost in deep thoughts that only she could understand.

Meanwhile, the frantic whispers near the leaderboard screen began to rise in volume again.

"A Common with a Title on their very first run? No way, that’s practically impossible!"

"It’s possible... but it’s incredibly rare. Only a handful of people in the entire history of the military district have pulled it off."

"Maybe she just found a glitch? What if she lied during the automated evaluation process?"

"As if the dungeon array can be fooled. If messing with the instructors was that easy, that literal lunatic from yesterday would’ve been ranked first on the board instead of rotting at the bottom."

Sky’s lips twitched slightly, a piece of meat nearly catching in his throat. A lunatic... really? Is that what they’re calling me already? He rolled his eyes and kept chewing, deciding that being feared as a lunatic was safer than being targeted as a weakling.

"But wait, isn’t Arthur the son of General Vance?" another student pointed out, his voice laced with confusion. "How could he not be first? He’s a direct descendant of the Vance Clan. There’s no way a regular nobody should’ve beaten his score."

"Yeah! The Vance Clan has access to private training simulations and legacy Attributes. There’s no way someone should’ve beaten him cleanly."

"Unless... unless she’s just that much of a monster..."

The anxious whispers gradually began to die down, the weight of the mystery pressing heavily on the room, before someone in the crowd finally spoke up, voicing the thoughts of everyone present.

"Why don’t we just go over and ask her?"

The cafeteria instantly fell into a dead, suffocating silence.

Every single Common turned their head toward the window, their curious, piercing gazes fixed entirely on the silver-haired girl. Yet despite their overwhelming curiosity and the burning desire for answers, no one in the massive room actually dared to take a step toward her table. The lingering memory of her chilling aura was a physical deterrent.

Sensing the sudden, unusual silence that had completely blanketed the hall, Vesper slowly looked up from her coffee, her ash-gray eyes sweeping across the frozen crowd with absolute indifference.

"...Yes?" she asked, her voice cool and smooth, cutting through the quiet room like a knife.

Across the cafeteria, Chloe instinctively began to rise from her seat next to Sky, intending to walk over and greet her friend to break the icy tension. But before she could even take a single step forward, she noticed Arthur was already moving, his tall form striding purposefully toward Vesper’s isolated table.

Chloe paused, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips. She quietly sat back down on her bench, deciding it was best to let the two of them talk out their history first.

Arthur stopped just beside Vesper’s table, his posture formal and remarkably respectful as he gave her a firm nod of acknowledgement.

"Sister Vesper," he said, his voice carrying clearly across the quiet room.

A subtle hint of recognition flickered deep within Vesper’s distant eyes, breaking her frosty exterior for a fraction of a second. "Arthur."

"I see your first solo dungeon run went exceptionally well," Arthur noted, a polite smile returning to his face as he gestured toward the glowing leaderboard behind them.

Vesper thought about it for a brief, silent moment, looking down at the dark liquid in her cup before giving a small, elegant shrug of her shoulders. "It went exactly as expected. Nothing more, nothing less."

Arthur let out a quiet, genuine chuckle, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "I’m just glad you returned safely to the waking world. Although... truth be told, I never doubted your survival for a single second."

"Thank you," Vesper replied softly.

She gave him a final, dismissive nod before lifting her coffee cup to her lips once again, naturally bringing their incredibly brief conversation to an absolute end. She clearly had no interest in explaining her Title to the rest of the watching crowd.

The rest of the cafeteria remained completely silent, watching the brief, familiar exchange with an immense amount of surprise. The political landscape of the freshman class had just shifted in a matter of seconds.

So they actually know each other from the upper districts...

Sky leaned back heavily in his plastic chair, his eyes darting between the silver-haired girl and the proud Legacy descendant.

Interesting. This school is getting more complicated by the minute.

He had plenty of pressing questions swirling through his head about the Vance Clan, the nature of Titles, and what kind of madness Vesper had unleashed to earn hers. But all of those complex thoughts were quickly and violently drowned out by a far more important, primal concern.

His stomach gave a loud, demanding growl.

A second later, Arthur, Vesper, the leaderboard, and everyone’s shocked expressions were completely forgotten. Sky happily devoted his full, unyielding attention right back to his plate, determined to finish every last scrap of his free meal before the bell rang.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!