The lecture hall buzzed with the low hum of murmuring students and rustling parchment. Shafts of morning light streamed through the high-arched windows, illuminating chalk runes drawn across the front slate board. It was the third hour of World Arcane History, and Kael's eyelids were losing their battle against gravity.
He hadn't meant to stay up so late.
But the System's training logs, meditation practice, and midnight form drills had stretched into dawn. The weight of preparing for the Cave of the First Ember pressed on him like stone. And while his body was growing stronger, it hadn't yet learned to live on ambition alone.
So, here he was, in the middle row, head tilted back slightly, eyes half-closed as Instructor Cyral Vaern, the driest man on the continent, spoke about pre-Eclipse dynasties and the Great Mana Fracture.
"Now then," Vaern's voice droned, "can anyone recall the primary cause for the collapse of the Empire of Ten Suns?"
Silence.
Kael's breathing slowed. His head nodded once. Then again.
A few students nearby noticed. A whisper passed.
"Is he... asleep?"
"Elira, poke him."
"No way. That guy fights like a statue come to life. I like my fingers."
But before anyone could nudge him—
"Kael Varian."
His name cut like a blade.
Kael jerked awake mid-slide, blinking rapidly.
The entire class was looking at him. Instructor Vaern stood with arms crossed, his one visible eyebrow lifted with chilly amusement.
"You appear deeply in touch with the ancestors. Perhaps you'd like to answer for them."
Kael blinked again. "...Question?"
"The cause of the Ten Suns' collapse," Vaern repeated, voice smooth but biting. "Or shall we mark you down as a historical casualty?"
Kael rubbed his temple, mind scrambling—until it wasn't.
Something shifted.
Not in the air.
In him.
The moment he heard "Ten Suns," the memories surged—not his memories, not entirely, but from the novel. The empire that rose after the First Calamity. The emperor who tried to contain divine relics. The betrayal. The ripple through the ley-lines. It was all there—pages he'd read in a different life.
He sat up straighter.
"The Empire of Ten Suns collapsed due to internal discord among the ruling Solar Dynasts," Kael said, his voice calm now. "Specifically, the dispute over the artifact known as the Ember Heart, which caused a mana feedback loop when its seal was broken prematurely."
The room stilled.
Vaern raised an eyebrow.
"Continue."
Kael inhaled slowly, letting the knowledge flow. "The feedback didn't just cripple the capital's ley-node. It inverted three secondary channels across the southern isles. That's why the Frostbound Reaches still experience inverted mana fields during eclipse season."
Vaern's eyes narrowed. "You've studied that in...?"
Kael shook his head once. "Didn't study. Just… remember."
Whispers exploded across the room.
"Did you see that?"
"He was literally asleep two seconds ago."
"No way someone just knows that unless they're part archive."
Vaern said nothing at first. He moved to the board and scribbled a complex diagram.
"If you're feeling inspired, Varian—explain this glyph."
Kael glanced at it.
He didn't hesitate.
"It's an early form of sun-seal warding, but flawed. The third knot is looped inward—it'd destabilize if exposed to spirit-class interference."
Vaern paused.
The silence stretched again. This time, heavier.
Finally, he muttered, "Hmph. Perhaps you do dream of history."
> [System Notification: Hidden Trait Awakened – "Sunborn Resonance"]
You gain instinctive memory access to key lore, relics, and historical patterns tied to ancient solar civilizations.
+10% World Lore Recognition
+15% Artifact Insight
Effect increases near divine or sun-aligned locations.
Kael didn't react visibly, but inside, he felt the light pulsing deeper in his chest.
Sunborn.
He didn't just remember the novel.
He was beginning to remember more than that.
---
After Class
Kael exited the hall to find Rael waiting for him.
"You gotta teach me how to sleep like that and still get full marks," Rael grinned, popping an apple slice into his mouth.
Kael just shrugged. "I have weird dreams."
Darin passed by next, casting a look that hovered between amusement and suspicion. "Either you've read every historical codex ever written… or you're faking humility really well."
Kael didn't respond. He was used to suspicion.
He welcomed it. It kept people distant.
Then—
"You weren't entirely wrong about the glyph," said a cool voice behind him.
Kael turned. Sylara was there, her book half-closed in her hands.
She looked at him with narrowed eyes—not hostile, not curious. More... evaluating.
"You said it'd destabilize under spirit-class interference. That was accurate. But it would also invert under blood-magic pressure. Which means it wasn't just flawed—it was sabotaged."
Kael blinked.
He hadn't thought of that.
Her lips twitched slightly.
"Don't fall asleep next time. I might not feel like correcting you."
She walked off.
Kael watched her go, heart steady—but mind racing.
> [Sylara Affinity: +1]
[Note: She respects precision. Earn it.]
He turned his eyes to the horizon.
The Cave of the First Ember waited. Soon, he'd go alone.
But for now, he'd rest, train, and listen to every whisper the world gave him.
Even in sleep—especially in sleep—he remembered.