Kio didn't sleep that night.
Not really.
Even after the bakery went quiet and the fire dimmed to soft embers, he lay on the narrow cot by the storage wall, staring at the flickering system window only he could see.
[Observe World – Lv. 2]
• Passive Aura Detection (Unlocked)
• Observation Range: 3 meters
• Insight Level: Low
• System Access Detected: Fragmented
But that wasn't what kept him up.
It was the last line.
You are not supposed to see this.
Those seven words pulsed like a whisper in the dark.
He wasn't a Mage. Not a Sage. Not some chosen bloodline miracle. He'd been branded a Villager (F-) in front of the entire village.
So why did his class skill give him system access?
He didn't have answers.
But he had curiosity.
And that, he was learning, could be dangerous.
The next morning, Elra handed him a basket of still-warm bread and kissed his forehead without asking why he looked like he hadn't blinked all night.
"Take this to old Myrin. And no shortcuts. Last time, you came back with your knees scraped and your pride flatter than flatbread."
Kio smiled faintly, shouldered the basket, and left.
The sky was blue. The hills shimmered with dew.
But everything looked different now.
Not brighter.
Just… sharper.
As he walked past other villagers, faint glows shimmered around them like colored mist. Kio had no idea what the colors meant—blue, green, orange—but they flickered with the rhythm of heartbeats and footsteps.
He passed Lin the blacksmith, who waved with soot-stained hands.
[Aura: Red-Orange]
Stress: High. Focused. Anxious about apprentice's mistake.
Kio paused. The apprentice had delivered the wrong nails yesterday. Lin was probably fixing it himself now. He'd never said a word.
How much of this have I missed all my life?
He reached Myrin's cottage at the edge of the village, knocked politely, and handed her the bread with a small bow.
She smiled at him like she always did—kind, but distant. The kind of smile you give someone who isn't going to amount to much.
But Kio saw something now.
Her aura flickered—yellow with deep blue lines—something he hadn't seen before.
When he glanced at her legs, a soft notification appeared:
[Hidden Observation: Minor fracture, right tibia. Aura-suppression active.]
Cause: Slip. Concealed intentionally.
Kio didn't react. Didn't say a word.
But when she stepped back inside and reached for her broom, he gently took it from her hands and swept the steps himself.
She said nothing.
But her aura softened. Just slightly.
By the time Kio returned to the village square, a small crowd had gathered. The priest who had performed the Awakening Ceremony was back—this time speaking to a traveling examiner clad in silver-blue robes and holding a tall staff.
Kio slipped behind a cart and watched.
He didn't like attention.
Especially now.
The examiner waved a glowing disk in the air, eyes scanning the village.
"I sensed it again," the man said. "A fluctuation in the script."
"Possibly a result of the summoning two villages over," the priest offered.
"No," the examiner snapped. "This was closer. Subtle. A desync spike. The system doesn't make that mistake twice."
The priest paled.
"Check the high-rankers," the examiner said. "Scan every child registered as B-rank or above. There's a chance one of them has evolved early."
"What if…" the priest hesitated, glancing toward the cart behind which Kio crouched.
"What if it was… a false read?"
The examiner narrowed his eyes.
"There's no such thing as a false read."
Kio's heart pounded.
He backed away slowly, breathing through his nose, keeping his aura calm—if that was even possible.
He didn't know how they'd react if they found him. Maybe they'd retest him. Maybe they'd wipe him. Maybe… worse.
But that was the moment Kio decided one thing:
No one else needs to know about this skill.
That night, after the sun dipped behind the ridgeline and Elra was fast asleep, Kio sat by the well under the willow tree.
He opened [Observe World] again.
This time, he didn't look at animals.
He looked at the sky.
[Target: Atmospheric Layer - Layer 2]
• Status: Stable
• Mana Flux: Controlled
• Veil Integrity: 97.2%
• Access Restriction: Divine Class (Override: Unavailable)
• Notes: Visibility of this layer should not be possible
The system stuttered.
[Observe World has leveled up to 3.]
[New Effect Unlocked: Weak Structural Insight]
You may now glimpse the underlying structure of basic objects and systems.
[System Warning: Observation Level exceeds Class Permissions.]
Access anomaly flagged.
Monitoring has begun.
Kio slowly exhaled.
And then, for the first time…
He grinned.
Not because he was strong. Not yet.
But because for the first time, he realized something:
The system doesn't know what to do with him either.