Chapter 94: Mia’s Discovery

Numbers, classifications, measurements, and an entire stream of statistical records filled the glowing screen.

Mia stared at it, genuinely fascinated.

This was a gauging device.

Specifically designed to evaluate and measure a summon’s raw strength, power, potential, growth rate, and likely evolution path. Authorities commonly relied on devices exactly like this one to monitor subjects, log information, and maintain detailed records across countless summoners.

And somehow, one had ended up here.

Sitting right in front of her.

A sudden urge to steal it, or at least quietly claim it for herself, flashed through her mind.

But the thought didn’t sit right with her, not really.

Whoever owned it had clearly left it here carelessly, and taking something this sensitive could easily invite far more trouble than it was worth.

Still, curiosity won out over caution in the end.

"Hmm, this is actually pretty amazing. Such an interesting piece of tech," Mia murmured quietly.

She leaned in closer toward the screen.

"Wonder how this shit actually works."

Hesitantly, she reached toward the red button and tapped it.

The screen flickered once more.

The display shifted.

Mia’s expression changed instantly.

Her eyes went wide, body freezing in place.

She stared at the fresh information now filling the screen, as though her own mind was actively refusing to process what she was looking at.

A certain student had been classified as Monarch Tier.

The listed potential reading simply read unknown.

And the name attached to that result was none other than Mark Moulow.

Mia’s lips parted slightly.

"Mark...?"

The former mundy.

The new summoner.

The boy who’d seemed like nothing more than an entirely ordinary student, right up until he suddenly wasn’t.

His recorded strength sat at a tier bordering on genuinely unimaginable.

A full Monarch Tier.

This wasn’t some ordinary classification by any stretch.

It was precisely the kind of reading that drew serious attention from authorities, top tier guilds, celebrities, and powerful organizations alike. Monarch Tier individuals were treated as something close to extraordinary within this new world, people whose raw strength placed them far above the overwhelming majority of summoners alive today.

And apparently, one of them was standing right here.

Inside this very school.

Mia’s heart began hammering noticeably faster in her chest.

She stared at the screen again, half wondering if she’d somehow managed to misread it entirely.

Thinking back now, she remembered Victor’s oddly persistent, almost desperate claims about one of Mark’s summons. He’d insisted, more than once, that one in particular could genuinely speak, carrying real emotion behind its words.

At the time, she’d written the whole thing off as ridiculous.

Now, though, she found herself genuinely wondering if he’d actually been telling the truth all along.

If one summon alone was capable of something like that, then maybe Mark’s other summons carried hidden abilities nobody had discovered yet either.

That realization dragged another thought right along behind it.

Regret.

Mia found herself remembering exactly what she’d done to Mark. How she’d treated him purely as a convenient target for her own cruelty, rather than ever stopping to consider what he might actually be capable of, let alone bothering to hear his side of anything.

Her fingers curled slightly tighter.

Maybe she’d judged him far too quickly, and far too harshly.

Still, Mark himself seemed completely unaware of any of this information.

That obliviousness was probably the only thing actually protecting him right now.

Mia let out a slow breath.

This could easily be just a small glimpse into something considerably bigger, something genuinely extraordinary stirring beneath the surface of the wider summoner world.

It wasn’t that Monarch Tier individuals didn’t exist elsewhere.

They clearly did.

But the idea of a student this young reaching that level felt like something else entirely.

Especially a student previously written off as a late bloomer.

Only one other person in recorded history had ever displayed anything resembling this kind of phenomenon from early childhood.

The Dark Summoner.

Arvada.

That name alone still carried real, undeniable weight.

Mia kept staring at the screen.

Still, another possibility lingered too.

The reading could simply be wrong.

A straightforward device error felt considerably more plausible on its face.

After all, Mark had only recently awakened as a summoner in the first place. The idea of him suddenly possessing Monarch Tier strength felt almost too absurd to seriously entertain.

But then she remembered exactly how fast he’d grown.

She remembered how many summons he’d already managed to acquire.

She remembered just how genuinely strange some of his displayed abilities had already seemed.

The longer she sat with it, the harder it became to simply dismiss the result outright.

"Could this actually be true?"

"Hello there, dear. How can I help you?"

A calm, casual voice spoke up directly behind her.

Mia’s entire body jerked violently.

She froze instantly.

Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly turned around.

Carlo stood several steps behind her.

He wore a rough work uniform, paired with rubber gloves and a sturdy pair of work boots. His appearance suggested he’d been busy somewhere around the school’s maintenance areas, faint traces of dirt and dampness still clinging visibly to his clothes.

For several long seconds, neither of them said a word.

Their eyes locked.

Mia’s expression shifted instantly into something guarded.

Carlo studied her for a moment before his eyes narrowed slightly with sudden recognition.

"Oh, wait. You look familiar."

His expression shifted into something closer to mild amusement.

"Ah, right. You’re that tough girl from the class I taught once before. Hard to forget, honestly, with that purple hair, those eyes, and that spiked collar around your neck."

He pointed a single finger toward her.

Mia stayed silent.

Carlo’s expression grew more knowing.

"Judging by your face, you clearly never took a single note from that genuinely solid lecture I gave back then. Not that you probably could, given how stubborn that head of yours tends to be."

Mia’s eyes narrowed sharply.

She crossed her arms.

"Let me guess. Cleaning out our bathrooms again today, huh? Guess it’s worth whatever they’re paying you."

Carlo’s lips twitched faintly.

"Oh? Actually, you’re wrong there, since today I was doing something slightly more respectable, working the pipes and plumbing instead."

A faint trace of bitterness colored his tone.

He paused, glancing briefly toward the device before returning his full attention to her.

"So, you decided to go poking around something that clearly isn’t yours? Judging by that look on your face, I’d say you’ve already seen more than enough, and it’s sitting a little heavy on you now."

"Well, you’re the one who left it lying around carelessly, like some little kid. I was just an innocent bystander who happened to stumble onto it."

Mia crossed her arms even more firmly, chin lifted in open defiance.

Carlo’s lips twitched again, eyes following the motion.

"Innocent?"

He offered her a faint, almost entirely humorless smile.

"I really wouldn’t go using that particular word for yourself, if I were you."

Mia’s expression hardened further.

Carlo drew in a sharp breath before slowly letting it back out.

"But there’s one thing I genuinely want you to understand clearly. This world isn’t remotely what you currently think it is."

His voice settled into something quieter, calmer.

"Take it or leave it, your call entirely. What you’ve just stumbled onto here is barely a single piece of everything actually unfolding beneath the surface."

His gaze drifted briefly toward the device again.

"Still, I’ll help make sure you hold onto that particular piece of knowledge responsibly, before you end up spilling too much of it somewhere it really shouldn’t go."

Mia stared at him, something shifting unmistakably in his voice.

It no longer sounded casual at all.

His eyes gleamed with something dark and strangely hollow, a faint, flickering light stirring somewhere deep within them.

Mia’s eyes widened.

For one brief, unsettling moment, she could see her own reflection staring back at her, suspended within the glassy darkness of his irises.

Perfectly clear.

Her entire body froze solid without warning.

It felt as though some invisible force had wrapped itself tightly around every part of her, holding her completely, absolutely still.

She tried to move.

Nothing happened.

Her breath caught sharply.

Her muscles simply refused to respond to her.

Her pupils dilated as some entirely unfamiliar sensation spread rapidly through her body. Her throat quivered as she struggled hard against the invisible restraint pinning her in place.

What exactly was this?

She couldn’t even manage to move her own fingers.

Carlo simply watched her, perfectly still himself.

He hadn’t needed to touch her at all.

His gaze alone seemed more than sufficient to pin her completely in place.

Mia’s breathing grew shallow, rapid.

She tried forcing words up through her tightened throat.

Nothing came out, not at first.

Then, somehow, she finally managed to speak.

"Arvada..."

Carlo’s eyes flickered sharply.

Mia swallowed hard.

"The Dark Summoner... and the overwhelming force behind his influence."

The instant those words left her mouth, the invisible pressure vanished entirely.

Mia’s body sagged with sudden relief.

She nearly stumbled forward as full control rushed back into her limbs all at once.

She caught herself quickly, breathing heavily, forcing herself steady again.

Carlo’s eyes flickered once more before his expression settled back into something closer to normal.

"Hm."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Guess I was wrong about you, then."

Mia stared at him, saying nothing.

"Seems you actually paid attention during that lecture after all."

A faint, genuine smile crossed his face.

"Most importantly, though, you actually remembered that particular line, straight from the dominant lord himself."

Mia remained silent, mind racing.

Carlo glanced once more toward the glowing gauging device before turning his full attention back to her.

"Let’s keep this little discovery, and everything that just happened here, firmly between the two of us. Sound fair?"

Mia stared back at him, uncertain, saying nothing for several long seconds.

Then, slowly, she nodded.

"Alright."

The answer came out sharp, decisive this time.

Carlo offered a small nod in return.

Neither of them said another word.

The corridor stayed quiet around them.

The strange device continued glowing faintly beneath the stairs, its screen still displaying information Mia now understood she was never meant to have seen in the first place.

She glanced toward it one final time.

Mark Moulow.

Monarch Tier.

Unknown potential.

The words stayed burned deep into her mind, impossible to shake loose.

And for the very first time, Mia found herself genuinely wondering whether the person she thought she’d known this entire time had ever actually been who she believed he was at all.