Dungeon Academy

The bell of Ironblood Academy rang seven times, and each ring shook dust from the ancient vaulted ceiling.

Samuel stood in the line of two hundred first-years. The Hall of Awakening was built from black stone that swallowed light. In the center stood the Awakening Stone, a crystal the size of a coffin, pulsing slowly.

He was seventeen. No family crest on his robe. No sword at his waist. His boots were still muddy from the three-week walk to the capital.

"Next — Lysandra of House Vane!"

A girl with silver hair stepped forward. She placed her hand on the Stone.

The Stone erupted in blue fire.

[ RANK: S ]

[ SKILL: FROST SOVEREIGN - Control over ice and winter storms ]

The hall cheered. Instructors nodded and wrote quickly.

"A-Rank! Flame Caller! A-Rank! Beast Tamer!"

One after another, students were judged. Gold, red, blue light. The best seats in the hall filled up. S-Ranks in the front row, A-Ranks behind them, B-Ranks and C-Ranks further back.

Samuel clenched his fists. He had not come this far to be a porter.

"Next. Samuel. No House."

Laughter rippled through the back rows. He ignored it and walked forward. His heart was loud in his ears.

He placed his palm on the Stone. It was cold, colder than ice.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then the light came — but it was wrong. It wasn't gold. It wasn't blue. It was a dull, flat grey, like ash. Like a fire that had died long ago.

A dead sound echoed.

[ APPRAISAL COMPLETE ]

[ NAME: SAMUEL ]

[ RANK: F ]

[ SKILL: TRASH SENSE - Can sense the value of discarded items ]

The words floated above the Stone for everyone to see.

The hall went silent for a half-second, then exploded.

"Trash Sense?!" someone shouted from the A-Rank row. "He can find garbage!"

"F-Rank! We haven't had an F in ten years!"

Instructor Darius, a tall man with a scar across his throat, didn't even look up from his ledger. He just said, "F-Ranks sit at the very back. By the waste bins. Fitting. You will be assigned as a dungeon porter. If you survive the first trial tomorrow, you can stay to carry other students' equipment."

Samuel didn't move. His hand was still on the Stone.

Because underneath the grey system text, something else was flickering. Something no one else seemed to see. The text was glitching, breaking apart like bad glass.

[...SYSTEM ERROR... DATA CORRUPTION... ]

[ HIDDEN CONDITION MET: USER HAS NO RANK EXPECTATION ]

[ UNIQUE TRAIT UNLOCKED: TRUE APPRAISAL - Sees the true nature of all things ]

[ WARNING: THIS TRAIT IS NOT REGISTERED IN THE ACADEMY SYSTEM ]

The text burned itself into his eyes, then vanished. The Stone went dark.

Samuel pulled his hand back as if he had been shocked.

He walked to the very back row, to the wooden bench beside the waste bins where the air smelled of old mops. Lysandra, the S-Rank girl, glanced at him. Not with cruelty, but with pity, which was worse.

The ceremony continued, but Samuel wasn't listening anymore.

True Appraisal. What did that even mean?

Later that night, in the F-Rank dormitory — which was really just an attic with six leaking cots — Samuel couldn't sleep. The other five F-Ranks were snoring. One was crying quietly.

He looked down at his own hands. He tried again.

"Trash Sense," he whispered.

Nothing.

"True Appraisal."

A faint window appeared only for him, transparent and blue.

[ SKILL: TRUE APPRAISAL - LVL 1 ]

[ EFFECT: Reveals hidden properties, true value, and flaws of any item or being you focus on. Cost: Low Mana. Growth Type: Infinite. ]

Infinite growth. No other skill in the hall had said that.

His eyes fell on the pile of discarded practice swords in the corner of the dorm — rusted, chipped, thrown away by C-Ranks.

He focused on the top one.

Normally, with Trash Sense, he would just feel "this is worthless." But now...

[ ITEM: RUSTED IRON SWORD ]

[ RANK: F - TRASH ]

[ TRUE APPRAISAL: Blade contains dormant mana vein. If cleaned and reforged, potential rank: B. Hidden enchantment: - locked. ][Bloodlet]

Samuel's breath caught.

It wasn't trash. It was sleeping.

He reached out and picked up the sword. It was heavy and cold. As soon as his fingers touched the rust, another notification exploded in front of his face, louder than before.

[ DING! ]

[ YOU HAVE DISCOVERED A HIDDEN-VALUE ITEM ]

[ TRUE APPRAISAL HAS LEVELED UP! LVL 1 -> LVL 2 ]

[ YOU GAINED 10 EXP ]

Samuel stared. EXP? No one gained EXP from touching a sword. You gained EXP from killing dungeon monsters.

The system glitched again.

[ SYSTEM OVERRIDE ]

[ YOU ARE NOT BOUND BY STANDARD LEVELING RULES ]

He sat in the dark, holding a rusted sword that no one wanted, with a skill that the Academy called trash, and he started to smile for the first time since the Awakening.

Tomorrow they would throw all the F-Ranks into the Tutorial Dungeon to see who survives. They expected him to die carrying someone else's bag.

They had no idea what he had just found.

*END OF CHAPTER 1*