Anyway, the ceremony continued on. There were not many other noteworthy students who caught Corven's attention. There were a few who became claimed by a literal god, but almost none of them joined the Shadow Faction. No one as grand as Primordial Spawns showed themselves, but Marxes did join the ranks of the R&D Faction with flying colors —- Amongst the Faction Heads, everyone wanted him, but, considering he wanted to join R&D Faction, it was a success on his part.
A few powerful individuals showed their heads, but not one quite as powerful as Corven's squad. Eventually the Avouching Ceremony ended and every one of the first year students were sorted, with a few of them forced to join R&D because none of the faction heads wanted them in their factions.
"And this marks the end of this year's Avouching & Sorting Ceremony!" Cole's voice boomed across the Dining Hall, followed by a massive cheer from all 7 sectional faction tables. "Now… let us feast!"
With the clap of his hands, the hovering multicolored light spheres from above descended, and, in their wake, all 21 tables, plus the faction heads' table, were filled to the edge with all kinds of platters of foods, some of which Corven had never seen before. There were all kinds of dishes, including chickens, turkeys, hams and ostrich and all kinds of greens. There were vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains. Corven even saw strange meats that had an aura of power in them, likely magic beast meat of sorts. There were cakes and pastries and creams and treats.
Corven was shell-shocked by the variety — He had never seen such a conglomerate of foods before in his life. As a foodie, he was in straight heaven —- A Foodie Paradise.
Drooling a little, Corven quickly grabbed a plate before joining his friends in fixing a plate for himself to eat. He ate hame, turkey drums, greens and gravy with potatoes. It was a meal that, thanks to his bloodline, allowed him to go for desserts afterwards.
Corven chatted up with Celeste, Jabari and Cimon, and even had Marxes come over to his table from the R & D tables —- And, surprisingly, no one found it to be worthy of complaint. Apparently, such interaction between faction tables was normal.
The faction heads outside of Athan watched Corven interact with his squad, becoming increasingly curious of his identity. Everyone knew nobles rarely talked to commoners, and yet Corven had four nobles talking and interacting with him as if they were lifelong friends — And two of them were royals from two of the 8 Great Houses no less!
Such relations spoke volumes of how secretly influential Corven's family must have been… At least, in the eyes of the faction heads. Athan, on the other hand, who had more of an idea of who Corven really was, was more curious on how they had been connected. He felt it whenever he first laid eyes on Corven —- the weird connection. He was curious about it and had developed an idea of it, though he kept it to himself. He didn't trust his fellow faction heads. Who knows what schemes they would think of when they found out who Corven really was. Telling them anything would only invite more trouble than any of it was worth.
'Corven Umbrovante…,' Athan thought internally, slightly sighing in thought. 'This year will not be a calm one, will it… I can already sense the drama that is coming our way with you. What a drag.'
Meanwhile, the other faction heads were discreetly issuing commands to certain staff they had acting as spies around campus, discreetly assigning them missions to find out who this 'Corven Umbrovante' was and if he had any connections they needed to be wary of.
If they turn up blank, then they'll deal with him. Nobody likes a Primordial Spawn they couldn't control due to their reputation, so if [spelled 'when'] it turns out he's safe for the taking, they were either planning to have him turned into a slave with a Slave Seal or just have him killed mysteriously; though many preferred the former, the latter was also plausible.
Corven, completely oblivious to the drama spreading behind the scenes, was peacefully munching on a piece of pumpkin pie, savoring it's pumpkin-cinnamon flavor. He has never tasted a pie so heavenly! He stuffed the whole thing in his mouth, swallowing it whole before going for another piece.
"That's an… interesting way to eat pie," a drawling voice said, causing Corven to turn to see three students approaching him — they wore very punk-ish clothes, so Corven was certain they were from the Shadow Faction, though Corven had no idea who they were. "By interesting, I, of course, mean disgusting."
It was the middle man who spoke, causing the two by his side to laugh mockingly, in response.
"Well, it isn't your piece of pie, now is it? No, it's mine, so get lost, shitface," Corven shot back, narrowing his eyes. "I'm trying to enjoy my pie."
The group of boys were shocked by the vulgarity of Corven's response. As nobles, they did not like being told off, especially by someone they viewed as lesser beings like Corven. So Corven telling them to "get lost" and then being called "shitface" in the same sentence only served to wound their pride, which only seemed to piss them off even more.
They were Dylan, Oscar and Oxen Versalies — the Versalies siblings, of House Versalies — the prideful descendants of Molinoe, the goddess of madness. The three of them all had dark hair and dark skin, with brown eyes that had a touch of madness in them. Dylan was by far the tallest, with Oscar and Oxen being shorter, but they were all well-muscled and fit for their age, though Oscar was by far the heaviest with Oxen being the most muscular. All three were second years.
Dylan looked at his siblings, before turning to Corven again; Corven had already begun eating on his third piece pie already. "We are the Versalies Siblings and we—-."
"I don't care," Corven interrupted, dismissively. "I truly don't give a damn, peasant. Now get out of my bubble — I'm eating."
"Peasants?" one of the siblings said, particularly Oscar, scratching his head.
"We're nobles!" exclaimed Oxen.
"We are—," Dylan began.
"You've been told to move, worm," Cimon stepped forward, threateningly. "so I suggest you move."
This seemed to startle the trio of brothers. They weren't expecting someone else to stand up to them outside of Corven, let alone another noble. Then they decided to take stock of Cimon's appearance.
"Baggy eyes, silver hair," Dylan noted, with a sneer. "You are of House Morpheus. I can tell who you are based on your half-asleep appearance. You dare challenge those of House Versailles?"
Instead of speaking, Cimon summoned Dreamspire. The other three summoned their respective weapons, though deep down they were hoping not to have to face Cimon. If that spear he was carrying was truly what they thought it was, then that would mean he was Cimon Morpheus, the Sleeping Prince of House Morpheus. Not just anyone can possess a Demigod tier weapon, and that spear definitely had the aura. Only a fool would face the Sleeping Prince in a fight.
Still, their pride called for a facade of dignity and strength. They couldn't give in just yet. It wasn't right for their house to give in to the pressure of someone from House Morpheus. House Versalies was a banner house to House Hades — A high ranked noble house that had enough wealth to contend with the Great Houses! They couldn't yield to House Morpheus!
Jabari decided he would back Cimon up. He summoned his khopesh sword, joining Cimon's side. "Are you certain you wanted to face a prince of House Ausar? It won't end well for you, ya'know."
That stopped the trio from acting on anything else. They knew facing Cimon would be difficult but at least it was do-able. But Jabari was from a Great House. It would not matter if they won, because if they had even touched a hair on Jabari's head, his family would wipe out theirs in a heartbeat.
Dylan, deciding he'd swallow his pride, looked at Corven. He was not sure who Corven was, but to have such high ranking individuals guarding him… "This isn't over, pipsqueak. We'll return."
"Whatever… Oh, more pie," Corven voiced his thoughts aloud.
As his friends took their seat back at the table they hadn't been aware that the head instructors were watching the whole ordeal from their seat at the head of the Dining Hall. They were even more curious about Corven's identity. They wondered if Corven would cause them trouble, and, if so, would it really be worth it to 'handle him'.
Corven, meanwhile, was enjoying his fifth piece of pie, finally, in peace.