Adrian read it once, then read it again.

He kept his face entirely still.

An SSS-class Grand Healer.

A fourth circle caster.

Those were not modest ceilings.

In the right circumstances, a talent like that could alter the course of an entire conflict.

An since classes were ranked based on hw powerful they are, it was no joke to see one with the sss rank title.

But it was the final line that held his attention the longest.

[Unlock condition: Consuming the blood of a white tiger. Contract with host required.]

He understood what it meant without needing the system to spell it out.

If he wanted Mary to reach the full height of her potential, two things would need to happen.

First, the blood of a white tiger would need to be obtained and administered.

Second, she would need to enter into a formal contract with him specifically.

The first requirement was a logistics problem. Difficult, perhaps, but not impossible.

The second one gave him pause.

’That is the part I do not know how to provide,’ he thought, narrowing his gaze slightly.

’I have no mana. I do not even know my class. How exactly am I supposed to form a contract with anyone?’

[Would you like to learn a new class?]

The notification appeared before the thought had even finished forming.

Adrian kept his eyes on the system.

’I can get a new class? Just like that?’

Normally, the class awakening occurred before the age of ten.

That window was when most people first touched their power, when the aether inside them stirred and declared itself.

Once that window closed without so much as a flicker, the conclusion was simple and unforgiving: you were not a caster.

You never would be.

That had been Adrian’s reality for as long as anyone in the household could remember.

His sister had awakened long before him, and the gap between them had never once been addressed aloud, though everyone felt it.

He had accepted it.

Made peace with it.

Built his understanding of the world around it.

And now the system was dangling something in front of him that should not have been possible.

He swallowed.

For a moment, he pulled his gaze away from the screen and let it settle on Mary, who was still standing before him with the tray balanced in both hands.

Something in his prolonged silence had clearly unsettled her.

The corners of her expression had pulled inward with the particular tension of a woman who did not know whether she was about to be dismissed or questioned.

Adrian let out a quiet breath.

He had already tested the system once. It had answered him honestly.

There was no reason to treat this moment any differently.

’Fine. Give me a class.’

[Request confirmed.]

[A hidden class has been unlocked.]

[The Great Sage.]

He stared at the notification.

Seconds passed.

Then the light came.

A golden radiance began to rise from his skin, soft at first, then steady, pouring outward in a way that filled the corridor around him.

It was the kind of glow that anyone who had ever witnessed an awakening would recognize on instinct.

The unmistakable signature of power finding its host for the very first time.

The tray hit the floor.

Mary stumbled back half a step, both hands flying to cover her mouth as the ceramic rattled against the stone and the food scattered across the ground.

"Young lord," she breathed, the words barely making it out.

She understood immediately what she was seeing.

She just could not reconcile it with the boy standing before her.

He had passed the age.

Everyone had accepted it as settled fact. And yet the light surrounding him was undeniable.

[The Great Sage: This class grants the ability to comprehend, analyze, and internalize the classes, skills, and magical disciplines of others, adding them to the host’s own catalogue of power. As the Great Sage, the host exists at the pinnacle of all other classes, regardless of rank or discipline.]

Adrian read it twice.

A slow smile crossed his mouth, quiet and private, the kind that had nothing to do with performance and everything to do with something genuinely catching him off guard.

’Incredible,’ he thought, more than a little transfixed by the warm glow still radiating from his own hands.

He had not expected this. Not remotely close to this.

Mary’s voice cut through the moment like a blade.

"I have to tell the countess. The young lord has awakened!"

She spun on her heel and took exactly two steps before Adrian’s hand closed around her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait."

She turned back to look at him, confusion written plainly across her face.

He was still calm, his expression composed in that particular way of his that always seemed slightly too controlled for his age.

But there was something behind his eyes now, something sharp and rapidly moving.

[Target has been scanned.]

[Effect of the Great Sage is now active.]

Adrian had not even directed his focus intentionally.

The system had simply responded to proximity, to the fact that Mary was standing directly in front of him and his attention had, even for a fraction of a second, landed on her.

[A new class ability is available to copy.]

[Instant Heal: Grants the ability to restore injuries on any target, regardless of severity.]

He blinked.

’Did I just copy her ability?’