Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner

Noah and Kelvin moved swiftly through the dimly lit corridors, their steps light against the academy's sleek flooring. Kelvin's device—a custom-built, holographic interface strapped to his wrist—emitted a faint, pulsing glow as it guided them forward. The digital breadcrumbs left behind by the serpent code had turned into a full-fledged trail, and Kelvin was practically buzzing with excitement.

"Oh, this is beautiful," Kelvin muttered, his fingers tapping away at the floating projections. "Whoever this is—they're not just some amateur script kiddie. This is high-level stuff. The way they hid their tracks? Genius. It's like they built a honeycomb of fake proxies, bouncing signals off different server nodes—like a damn ghost in the machine."

Noah, walking beside him, frowned. "English, Kelvin."

Kelvin groaned but obliged. "Okay, imagine you're chasing someone in a maze, right? But every time you get close, the walls shift, and suddenly they're somewhere else. That's what this hacker did."

"Great. So we're chasing someone with cheat codes."

Kelvin snorted. "Basically." He flicked his wrist, and the holographic interface zoomed in on the map. "But here's the fun part—I dropped a sticky tracker in the last digital footprint. No matter how much they shift, I've got a little parasite following them back to their nest."

They turned a corner, heading toward the outer part of the campus. Kelvin was still rambling. "I mean, I have never seen someone embed so many deep-layer cyphers inside a single redirect loop. The way they countered my brute-force decryption? Almost poetic. This is someone who lives in the code."

Noah shot him a sideways glance. "Kelvin, I swear, if I hear one more geeky love letter to this hacker—"

"Hey, respect where it's due!" Kelvin grinned. "It's not often I meet a worthy opponent."

Noah sighed. "You haven't met them yet."

Kelvin just smirked and turned his attention back to the device. Then, suddenly—he stopped.

Noah nearly bumped into him. "What?"

Kelvin tapped his screen. "Uh… well. I was about to ask what the plan was when we found them."

Noah arched a brow. "Why?"

Kelvin tilted his head. "Because we just did."

Noah followed his gaze, and his stomach twisted.

They were standing just outside the Year 2 Female Hostel Chill Spot.

The Year 2 Female Hostel Chill Spot was an open-air hangout—a designated area where students could gather, chat, and unwind. It wasn't inside the hostel itself, meaning boys could walk in and out freely, making it the perfect place for casual meet-ups. Groups of students were scattered across the area, most standing with their partners, engaged in hushed conversations or laughing over shared jokes.

Kelvin scanned the crowd, his fingers twitching over his device. His sticky tracker had led them here, meaning their hacker was somewhere among these students. But they couldn't just walk up to every girl and casually ask, Hey, do you happen to moonlight as a black-hat hacker working for the vice headmaster? That would be absurd.

Kelvin turned to Noah, lowering his voice. "Okay, genius. How exactly are we gonna find this person? I can't just—"

But Noah was already walking toward the rows of benches.

Kelvin blinked, then rushed to catch up. "Bro, what are you doing?"

Noah didn't stop. His voice was low, steady. "Blending in. Infiltrating. Recon."

Kelvin stared at him. "You serious?"

Noah shot him a pointed look. "This is a military academy, Kelvin. This is what we do."

Kelvin huffed but reluctantly fell into step beside him. "Right. Sure. 'Blending in.' You do realize neither of us is particularly social, right?"

Noah didn't answer. He was already scanning the area, eyes darting between the groups, looking for anything that stood out. One of these girls was their hacker. Now, all they had to do was find her—without blowing their cover.

Laying Low & Crowd Profiling

Noah and Kelvin slid onto an empty bench, blending into the evening crowd. The low hum of conversations surrounded them—laughter, whispers, the occasional sound of a message pinging on someone's device. It was a casual atmosphere, but both of them knew they were sitting right in the middle of something much bigger.

Noah leaned slightly toward Kelvin, keeping his voice low. "So? Can't you just pin it down to one person?"

Kelvin tapped at his device, fingers moving in calculated motions. His green-lit screen reflected in his glasses as he analyzed the live feed of encrypted data bouncing around the area. "Being this close is already risky," he muttered. "Whoever they are, they might have security measures in place. If I start narrowing the signal too aggressively, I could tip them off." He finally looked up at Noah. "Best thing we can do? Lay low."

Noah exhaled, leaning back against the bench. "Well then," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Guess it's time to crowd profile."

Kelvin smirked. "Oh, so now we're just gonna true detective our way through this?"

Noah shrugged. "You got a better plan?"

Kelvin didn't. So, for now, they did what they had to—watch, listen, and wait.

Noah's eyes swept across the hangout spot, subtly scanning the crowd while keeping a casual posture. Kelvin, beside him, had his device resting on his lap, fingers tapping away to keep an eye on any digital anomalies.

"Alright," Noah murmured. "Let's start with the obvious choices. Solo flyers."

Kelvin glanced around. "Yeah, because anyone sitting alone must be plotting cyber warfare."

"Shut up and look."

They both turned their attention to a girl sitting under the dim glow of a street lamp, her fingers typing away on a sleek black tablet. She was wearing a hoodie with the sleeves rolled up and had earbuds in.

Kelvin smirked. "Looks techie. Hoodie is a classic hacker move. You think she has a Guy Fawkes mask in that bag?"

Noah snorted. "Or she's just a student catching up on assignments."

Kelvin ran a quick scan. "Nah, she's on some study portal. Nothing suspicious."

Noah moved on to the next girl—a short-haired brunette sitting on a bench, sipping what looked like iced coffee while scrolling through her phone. She didn't seem particularly interested in anyone else around her.

Kelvin tilted his head. "She's got that 'I'm better than everyone' energy. Hacker trait?"

Noah shook his head. "More like 'I'm waiting for my ride' energy. Pass."

They continued down the line. A girl in a leather jacket, scrolling through her device with her legs crossed.

Kelvin nudged Noah. "What about her?"

"She looks like she's waiting for someone."

Kelvin checked. "Yep. A bunch of messages sent to a guy named 'Babe ❤️' five minutes ago. Not our girl."

Noah sighed, rubbing his temples. "This is getting us nowhere."

Kelvin shrugged. "Hey, at least we're refining the list. Process of elimination."

Their attention shifted to another girl sitting with a notebook, scribbling away. Glasses perched on her nose, completely lost in whatever she was writing.

Noah arched a brow. "Suspicious?"

Kelvin peeked at his screen. "Nope. But judging by those doodles, she's either designing a new weapon or writing really aggressive poetry."

Noah smirked. "Poetry's a weapon in its own right."

Kelvin leaned back, stretching his arms. "Okay, fine. No promising leads yet, but—hold up." His gaze landed on a girl positioned near the farthest end of the hangout spot, seated with her back against a bench, her phone held at an odd angle. She wasn't scrolling, wasn't typing—just watching.

Noah followed his gaze. "She's not alone, though."

"No," Kelvin admitted. "But she's watching everyone like she's not really here to relax."

Noah's jaw tightened. "Now we're talking."

Kelvin barely had a second to react before Noah was already on his feet, making a direct beeline for the girl at the far end of the benches.

"What the hell is he doing?" Kelvin muttered under his breath, eyes darting between Noah and his target.

Noah wasn't even trying to be subtle. He walked with purpose, hands in his pockets, shoulders squared like he had every right to invade her space.

Kelvin ran a hand down his face. "Oh my god."

This wasn't the same Noah from a few months ago—the guy who would rather stay out of trouble than dive headfirst into it. But ever since he started dating Sophie Reign, something had changed. Confidence through the damn roof. The girlfriend effect.

Kelvin shook his head. "This dude gets a year 3 girlfriend and suddenly thinks he's invincible."

Still, he had no choice but to follow. If Noah was about to stir something up, Kelvin needed to be close enough to put out the fire.

Noah approached with an easy stride, neither too slow nor too eager. He wasn't a stranger barging into her space, nor was he forcing an encounter—just a guy casually making his way over, as if he belonged there.

Kelvin sat back on the bench, dragging a hand down his face. "This is gonna go so bad," he muttered under his breath.

The girl was seated alone, her attention half on her tablet, half on the occasional passing students. She didn't look particularly closed off, but she wasn't exactly inviting company either.

Noah didn't hover. He didn't lean in too close or fumble with a dumb excuse. Instead, he dropped onto the bench beside her—just enough distance to respect her space but close enough to naturally start a conversation.

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting," he said, nodding toward her tablet. "I just needed to sit somewhere quiet for a minute. The main courtyard's too loud."

It was neutral. A simple observation, not a direct approach.

The girl barely glanced at him at first, then let out a short chuckle. "You think this is quiet?" She gestured around them, where couples chatted, and some boys from the other year levels were joking loudly.

Noah smirked. "Compared to where I just came from? Absolutely."

She gave a small smile before going back to her tablet, but she hadn't dismissed him. That was a good sign.

Kelvin, watching from his seat, was practically cringing into himself. He was expecting a disaster—a snarky rejection, a weird awkward silence, maybe even the girl calling Noah out for bothering her.

But instead, Noah had seamlessly inserted himself into her orbit without setting off any alarms.

Kelvin groaned. "I hate how smooth this guy is now."@@novelbin@@

"Wait a minute…" Her lips curled in amusement. "I know you. You're that year-one kid. The zombie boy, right? Sophie Reign's boyfriend?"

Noah barely had a second to prepare before the girl turned to him fully, her gaze sharpening with sudden recognition.

'Well, shit,'

Noah's stomach dipped.

A few chuckles came from the nearby benches, just low murmurs, but enough for him to know that some people had caught the conversation.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, eyes narrowing slightly. "In the year-two girls' dorm area?"

Kelvin, from his spot across the way, had straightened, clearly picking up on the shift in tone.

Noah kept his expression smooth, casual. No sudden movements. No panic.

"Didn't know it was a crime to sit down," he replied evenly.

The girl hummed, but something about her posture changed. Subtle, but noticeable.

And then he caught it—her fingers adjusting the angle of her tablet, ever so slightly turning it toward him.

Not for convenience. Not because she needed to.

It was deliberate.

Was she… was she trying to record him?