He slowly cracked one eye open and fixed it on Jacob. Not anger. Not fear. Just mild irritation. It was like someone had set an alarm clock five minutes too early.

  “So what did I lie about?” he asked, tone flat.

  “I don’t know, my class only tells me when someone lies so I know you lied twice,” Jacob replied flatly.

  “ So you are accusing me, but you don’t even know how I was lying. Ok, what was the first lie I told Jake or whatever your name is? “ Adam waved his hand the golden coin disappearing mid-air. He spoke softly as if speaking to a child.

  Yeah, I don’t know, but the first lie you told was that you had control over every metal adam. My class told me you were stretching the truth a smidge. I’m guessing you probably only have control over a few elements.”

  “ Your class is pretty interesting, continue. Tiny balls of metal materialized out of thin air and grouped, forming a rudimentary chair. Adam still didn’t sit, he floated above the chair.

  “Secondly,” Jacob continued, “you lied about being able to tell your body not to float and it just obeyed. That’s not how gravity works. That’s not how anything works.”

  Adam didn’t deny it. He just smiled, slow and sharp. “Or maybe I’m the exception that proves the rule,” he said, voice low and smug. “Maybe I’m just built differently.

  That was when Jalen stepped in.

  “Does your class come with you being extra, or are you naturally like this?” Jalen asked, voice light, intentionally baiting. His smile was sharp, eyes glinting with curiosity, though not at the argument unfolding.

  Jalen hoping to receive a positive answer. The card in his pocket gave him an idea that he wanted to rope someone into. Jalen was looking —something useful. He thought of a thousand ways he could abuse Adam’s abilities but his smile didn’t let those thoughts through.

  Maybe he can make some forged materials. If he can make something I can use it to create cards didn’t the system say the materials majorly affect the card? He noticed some movement on his side.

  He turned slightly—and saw a short man with a jagged brown beard and sharp eyes like polished flint. His build was stocky, but not fat—more like someone condensed rather than compressed. Dense. Efficient. His voice was easy, but his presence was not.

  “Sorry, I’m Luke,” the man said, offering a nod. “What did you say your name was again?”

  His gaze flicked to Adam. Not with fear, or awe—but with hunger. Like a blacksmith seeing a dragon’s scale and wondering how it would temper in fire.

  Jalen’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Another opportunist that’s bad for business, but he doesn’t know my secret weapon. But then I heard an overly cheerful voice. “ Hey Adam my bestest friend of 32 years. Can’t you help a brother out? “

  The dwarf and I stared at each other, another challenger, an expert at that missing in confusion with possible deniability. “ Did he say brother or lover?” the dwarf asked, a temporary alliance already in motion to combat the bigger threat.

  “ You know if you are just now getting your ability you can’t be older than 20. How have you known someone less than twenty years old for thirty years? You aren’t slick you class jumper. Weren’t you trying to kill him 5 seconds ago? Get your own meal ticket” The dwarf fits clenched his eyes almost bursting screamed. While running at another man short but not as short as the dwarf.

  The man’s amber eyes locked on the running dwarf. A blue beam released from the man’s eyes and the dwarf was hit by the blue light and started convulsing. The man seemingly confused went back to trying to butter up Adam. Everyone watched in confusion so mean words left unsaid. A question rings through everyone’s mind what the hell is happening?

  "What is your name Jacob asked class, and ability would be nice too. " Jacob folded his arms his cloak no longer attacked revealing a surprisingly bare and scarred chest.

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  My name is Joh... The man didn't even get to finish his sentence before his body was smashed into the ground.

  " Jacob muttered, "told you "under his breath as the man proceeded to scream.

  " What the hell man? My name is John The no-name man screamed as the gravity got even more intense. " Then I realized what this was about Jacob said his class punishes lies by increasing gravity so the man is lying about his name."

  "Ok fine ok fine my name is Derrick. The gravity around him weakened but not entirely since he was still planted in the dirt. Why is this gravity going away I told the truth. "

  " You lied about your identity yourself and your purpose one time telling the truth won't make up for that. " Jacob chided with a cold tone.

  The dwarf, now midway through undying, pushed himself up, wheezing, and turned to Adam.

  “Marry me,” he said. Completely serious. “You’re gonna make some crafter very happy one day. I’d be honored if it were me.”

  “Wait,” beam-eyes interrupted. “Dwarves and humans can’t get married. Why are you even here? All the races take separate trials!” So in conclusion,” he added smugly, “he’s my best friend."

  I was grinning so hard it hurt. “You know what? I don’t think I’ll ever need my secret weapon. These two are gonna cancel each other out. Then I’ll swoop in, snatch the prize, and no one will even know I was playing.”

  Caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t notice the shadow behind me until—

  “Boo,” Adam whispered right behind my ear.

  I jumped two meters straight up.

  Jalen spun mid-air, heart slamming against his ribs as his body twisted instinctively to prepare for a strike. But when he landed softly, thanks to his trained balance, it was just Adam, grinning like a kid who’d just set off a firecracker in a library.

  “You little—” Jalen began, then caught himself. He straightened his shirt and smoothed his face back into that charming, nonchalant smile of his.

  “You’ve got issues. Want to add one more to your plate?”

  Behind them, the chaos was still somehow escalating.

  Derrick, now partially buried in the ground with gravity pushing him like the planet had a grudge, was trying to inch out like a worm stuck in cement. Jacob stood with arms still folded, face unreadable but eyes gleaming faintly. Jalen had started to notice that look—it was the ‘I'm collecting data for future vengeance’ look.

  Meanwhile, the dwarf—Luke, apparently, had fully recovered from the eye-beam situation and now had a small hammer in one hand and a wedding ring in the other.

  “I’m dead serious, Adam,” Luke said, wiping some soot off his face. “You might be the one. I’ve been forging since before your balls dropped. Do you ever consider how beautiful it would be to birth a weapon together? You bend the metal. I fold it. You float. I forge. Soulmate-tier synergy.”

  " Where did you get a ring from? It's not surprising since some talented dwarves first enter the forge at 8. I asked, generally curious, my gaze locking on the red gemstone in the center.

  " No excuse me, I'm closer to his soul mate than you. You are an average dwarf who can't even marry a human. While I, on the other hand, the amber colored free man evidently told the truth at some time, seeing his lack of imprisonment danced.

  "Our classes even fit together perfectly. Soulmate, it is."

  Turning to Adam, who was staring intrigued as if the act had nothing to do with him. I whispered my secret weapon," Can you help me with something, please, with a cherry on top?

  " What did you say" both Luke and Derrick yelled simultaneously while staring at me like hungry beasts stalking their next snack.

  I suggested a dance-off. For Adam's hand in marriage. My body suddenly grew heavy and impacted against the ground. " Damn it I should have reworded that. I guess the cat's out of the bag.

  Oh, the silence that followed was thick enough to cut with one of Luke’s ceremonial forging knives. Everyone just stared at me. I was face-first in the dirt, gravity pressing me down like karma had caught up and decided today was the day. Jacob didn’t even blink—just nodded like yes, this is exactly the idiocy I expected from you.

  “…Did he just propose too?” Luke asked, glancing around for confirmation like he needed a jury to confirm this third-party betrayal. “What kind of twisted love triangle is this?!”

  “Square,” Derrick corrected smugly, brushing dirt off his tunic and finally sitting up. “I’m clearly still a contender. Unless the gravity damage disqualifies me.”

  “I hope it does,” Jacob muttered. His class, ever the killjoy, had no patience for this kind of circus. But I could see it—he was amused. Behind that stonewall face, that flicker in his eyes was barely restrained laughter. Bastard.

  Adam, for his part, didn’t move. Still hovering an inch off the chair he never actually sat on, still smiling like he was watching a soap opera that took a hard left into improv theater. He slowly turned toward me, arms folded behind his back, floating just enough to make the motion look princely.

  “You know,” he said, tilting his head thoughtfully, “I didn’t expect to have a harem by lunchtime.”

  “It’s not a harem!” Luke, Derrick, and I shouted in unison. Which probably didn’t help.

  “Sure,” Adam drawled. “You guys keep telling yourselves that.”

  Then he clapped his hands once.