The quiet murmur that had been spreading across the auditorium dissolved almost instantly after Damon's startled shout echoed through the hall. Students from every row instinctively turned their heads toward the source of the noise, their attention gathering on the final row where the brief commotion had occurred. From below, it was clear enough that Khaira had launched herself forward without warning, her tall frame pressing directly into Damon before anyone nearby had even understood what had happened.
For a moment it looked almost like she had thrown herself into an aggressive embrace.
But the longer anyone watched, the stranger it became.
Khaira wasn't hugging him.
She was sniffing him.
First she leaned toward one side of his shoulder, inhaling slowly as though trying to catch a faint scent lingering in the air. Then she shifted to the other side, repeating the motion with equal focus before lowering her face slightly toward his chest, her fiery orange eyes half-lidded in concentration.
Damon's entire body stiffened as he awkwardly leaned backward in his stance, clearly attempting to avoid the bizarre inspection without causing a larger scene.
Isn't she supposed to be a bull? he thought with growing irritation.
Then why is she acting like a dog?
Khaira leaned even closer until her breath brushed the edge of his ear. A slow, knowing smirk crept across her lips as though she had finally reached a conclusion that amused her greatly.
"So that's what ya like, huh…" she murmured softly in that rough, rolling accent of hers.
Damon froze.
Before he could react, she continued speaking, her tone playful yet strangely confident.
"Ah could give it to ya too… if ya fight me an' beat me."
Her hand moved downward intending to grab his groin.
But Damon's response came instantly.
His hand shot forward and caught her wrist in midair before she could reach her target, the movement sharp and controlled. A brief flash of cold light passed through his golden eyes as his gaze locked onto hers.
"And why," he asked in a calm but unmistakably dangerous tone, "would I want it from you?"
Inside his mind, however, the thought was far less composed.
What an insane woman.
She actually sniffed out that I was having sex the whole night?
Without standing up, Damon flicked her wrist aside with the smallest possible motion, the dismissal so precise it looked almost effortless. Then, as though the entire interaction had meant nothing, he simply lowered himself back into his seat and crossed one leg over the other, his posture returning to its usual composed indifference.
Eric sat down beside him a moment later, completely unaware of what had just occurred.
"Boss," he asked curiously, leaning slightly toward Damon, "what were you two talking about?"
The question had barely left his mouth when Eric suddenly felt something change in the air.
A heavy pressure settled over him.
His instincts reacted before his mind could catch up. A thin layer of sweat began forming across his forehead as he slowly lifted his head upward.
Above him stood Khaira.
Her burning orange eyes were staring directly down at him, unblinking.
One of her hands slowly clenched into a fist.
Then her knuckles cracked.
Eric blinked rapidly.
Without saying a word, he immediately stood up and calmly moved three seats away.
Khaira took the newly vacated seat beside Damon as though it had always belonged to her.
She leaned toward him again, clearly determined to finish the conversation that had been interrupted moments earlier.
"Ah'm definitely better than whoever ya were—"
A soft, drowsy voice suddenly drifted through the auditorium.
It was accompanied by a long, unrestrained yawn.
"Hellooo… students…"
The fluffy pink-haired instructor had arrived.
The soft murmur of students settling into their seats slowly faded as Professor Lunaria Fluffiel stepped lazily onto the stage, her fluffy pink hair slightly disheveled as though she had only just woken up.
She stretched lightly, covering her mouth with the sleeve of her lab coat as another long yawn escaped her before she looked up at the hundreds of students filling the auditorium.
"Alright… students," she said in her slow, sleepy tone, blinking her half-lidded pink eyes as though the bright hall was slightly offensive to her morning mood. "Today we will learn about Resonance… and the power levels associated with it."
The moment the word resonance was spoken, Damon's golden eyes sharpened immediately.
His posture straightened slightly in his seat, his focus locking onto the instructor for the first time since the lecture began.
So we're finally getting to the important part.
Beside him, Khaira seemed to pause as well as she noticed him focusing, her earlier attempts at provoking him momentarily forgotten as she leaned back in her chair and listened.
On the stage, Lunaria rubbed one eye lazily before continuing.
"Resonance," she said, waving one hand vaguely in the air as if drawing the concept out of thin air, "is essentially the unique ability that each individual awakens when their mana begins to harmonize with their nature."
She paused briefly, thinking.
"In simpler words…" she added after a moment, "it's like a personal power that belongs only to you."
Her eyes drifted across the auditorium as she continued explaining.
"For some people, their resonance manifests in ways useful for combat. Others awaken resonances suited for healing, or protection, or even learning and research. There are those whose resonance helps them grow crops more efficiently, repair structures, craft tools, or perform precise calculations."
She shrugged lightly.
"In theory, resonance can manifest in almost any form. The important part is that it reflects the individual themselves."
Damon listened carefully, committing every word to memory.
So it really is something like a personalized ability.
On the stage, Lunaria stretched her arms slightly before continuing.
"But having a resonance doesn't automatically make someone strong," she added. "To get the most out of it, you need to train both yourself and your resonance together."
She held up several fingers.
"Through observation and study over the past centuries, scholars have classified resonance growth into seven stages."
She paused again.
Then her cheeks puffed slightly.
"…Actually, explaining all of them properly sounds like a lot of work."
She blinked slowly and looked around the auditorium as if searching for inspiration.
Before she could decide how to continue, a voice suddenly spoke beside Damon.
"Tch… why're ya listenin' to somethin' that basic? Everyone here oughta know that already. Look at those guys," Khaira muttered casually.
She gestured with her thumb toward the section where most of the beastmen students sat, as they glared at Damon.
"They all wanna get in my pants," she continued bluntly in her thick accent. "But since none of 'em can beat me, they can't even sniff my pussy."
Damon didn't even look at her.
He simply continued staring toward the stage, completely ignoring the comment as if it had never been spoken.
On the stage, Lunaria's wandering gaze suddenly stopped.
Her sleepy pink eyes brightened slightly.
"You… there," she said suddenly, pointing toward the last row. "Why don't you come here?"
Damon followed her gaze instinctively.
It wasn't directed at him.
Nor at Khaira.
His eyes shifted slightly.
Then he saw Eric.
Eric was already crouched beneath the desk, trembling.
From beneath the table came a faint whisper.
"She didn't call me… right? She couldn't even see me, so how could she call me…"
Lunaria raised her hand lazily.
"Student Eric," she said clearly.
"Come here."
Eric froze.
For a brief moment he looked like a man whose soul had just left his body.
Then, slowly, he rose from beneath the desk.
His movements were mechanical, like a puppet being lifted by invisible strings. His expression had completely emptied, his eyes unfocused as if he had already accepted the end of his life.
Without saying a word, Eric began walking down the stairs toward the stage.
Like a condemned man approaching the gallows.
Eric reached the stage with the slow, resigned steps of a man who had already accepted that his fate had been sealed long before he arrived there.
Up close, Professor Lunaria Fluffiel appeared strangely more energetic than she had been moments ago. Her half-lidded eyes now carried a faint glimmer of excitement, the kind that made Eric's already fragile composure deteriorate even further.
Without saying a word, she suddenly produced a small headgear device from somewhere within the folds of her oversized lab coat. Eric had absolutely no idea where it had come from, and frankly, at this point he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
She held it out toward him.
Eric stared at the object trembling in her hand before slowly reaching out to take it, his fingers shaking noticeably.
"W–what… what is this?" he asked nervously.
Lunaria completely ignored the question.
Instead, she turned toward the auditorium, her expression brightening as if she had just thought of something incredibly fun.
"This," she announced lazily while gesturing toward the device in Eric's hands, "is one of the devices I created recently."
She lifted one finger, explaining with the casual enthusiasm of someone describing a harmless toy rather than something terrifying.
"It functions somewhat like a virtual reality world."
She paused for a moment before shrugging.
"Honestly, why bother explaining something in words when I can simply show it to you?"
Several students leaned forward in curiosity.
Lunaria continued.
"This device can simulate attacks corresponding to the different stages of Resonance, based on the combat data that has been gathered and fed into the system so far. Experiencing the attacks directly should help you understand the difference between the stages much more clearly."
At that exact moment—
A loud clatter echoed across the auditorium.
Every head turned toward the stage.
Eric had dropped the headgear.
He stared at Lunaria with wide, horrified eyes.
"Y–you… you want to kill me?" he stammered. "W–what if it simulates a Stage Six attack?!"
Lunaria tilted her head slightly, her fluffy pink hair shifting as she considered his concern.
She looked almost… disappointed.
"Oh," she said softly. "The higher-stage attacks aren't fully perfected yet. At the moment I can only simulate about one percent of their actual power and effects."
Eric looked even more devastated.
"T–that can still kill me!" he cried.
For a brief moment Lunaria seemed to think about that.
Then her expression brightened again.
"Oh! Right," she said cheerfully. "Since it's an alternate simulated reality, your physical body won't receive any actual damage."
Then her pink eyes suddenly sharpened slightly.
The cheerful tone vanished.
"Wear it quickly."
Eric immediately obeyed.
Without another word he bent down, picked up the headgear with trembling hands, and placed it on his head.
Meanwhile Lunaria casually tapped a few controls on her Manacron.
Almost instantly, a massive projection screen above the stage flickered to life.
The display shifted—
And the entire auditorium could now see Eric standing in the middle of a cold, iron-walled chamber.