Morning at Crownspire Academy carried an energy very different from the tense silence of the previous night.
Sunlight streamed through the enormous glass corridors that connected the towering academic halls, illuminating the polished white floors and golden railings that ran along the walkways. Students filled the corridors in lively clusters, their voices overlapping in excited conversations as the results of the class placement exams became the only topic anyone seemed interested in discussing.
Groups gathered near the floating notice displays, others leaned casually against the walls while checking their Manacrons, and a constant current of students flowed through the halls as they searched for their assigned classrooms.
Some voices carried excitement.
Others carried frustration.
A few even carried fear.
Damon moved through the corridor quietly amidst the crowd, holding a half-eaten sandwich in one hand as he walked without paying much attention to the surrounding chatter. His white hair caught the sunlight faintly as he passed by several students who instinctively stepped aside without even realizing why.
Within a few moments he reached a door at the end of the corridor.
A simple metal sign hung beside it.
Class S
Damon took the last bite of his sandwich before pushing the door open.
The classroom inside was far smaller than the massive auditorium that had hosted the placement exam orientation. Instead of hundreds of seats arranged in endless rows, the room contained only several neat lines of desks—just enough space for fifty or sixty students at most.
The moment Damon stepped inside, every voice stopped.
Conversations cut off mid-sentence.
Heads turned.
Dozens of eyes immediately locked onto him.
The silence spread through the room almost instantly.
Damon walked forward calmly.
For a brief moment he felt a strange sense of familiarity creeping into the back of his mind.
Why am I getting a déjà vu?
Behind him, whispers slowly began to spread among the students.
"T–that devil…?"
Someone near the front muttered under their breath.
"I thought I must have seen wrong when I checked the rankings… I didn't think he'd actually be in our class…"
Another voice followed.
"Tch… he's rank one. If he isn't in Class S, then who exactly do you expect to be here?"
A third voice spoke more cautiously.
"It's better if we stay away from him… that guy is nothing but trouble."
Damon continued walking between the rows of desks as though he hadn't heard any of it.
The final results of the class placement exam were distributed to our Manacrons yesterday.
His eyes drifted casually across the classroom.
Three hundred students.
Divided into fifty per class.
From Class S… down to Class E.
He stepped further inside.
And as expected…
His gaze moved across the students seated throughout the room.
Everyone in Class S…
He studied them quietly.
Is not someone who can be underestimated.
Thirty humans.
Twelve beastmen.
Eight elves.
His eyes paused briefly on the group of elves seated near the front of the room.
With elves having the highest percentage of their race reaching Class S.
His thoughts continued calmly.
Every one of these people…
Is someone worth forming a connection with.
But before Damon could continue that line of thought—
A loud voice suddenly broke through the quiet classroom.
"BOSS!"
Damon's steps paused slightly.
"Boss! Boss!"
He turned his head.
Near the back corner of the room, an orange-haired young man was enthusiastically waving both arms above his head like someone trying to flag down a passing ship.
Eric.
His face lit up with excitement the moment Damon looked his way.
Damon stared at him for a moment.
Right.
His brows twitched faintly.
Just how in the hell did he end up in Class S?
Without commenting on it aloud, Damon simply continued walking toward the back row.
Eric scooted slightly to the side as Damon approached, clearly making room beside him.
Damon took the corner seat next to him, settling down quietly while Eric leaned closer with a wide grin still plastered across his face.
Eric burst into laughter the moment Damon sat down beside him, the loud sound echoing through the classroom and drawing several irritated glances from nearby students.
"Hahahaha! Boss!" he said excitedly, leaning closer as though they were old comrades celebrating a shared victory. "I knew it! I knew you would end up rank one in the exam and make it into Class S! Hahahahaha!"
Damon felt a faint wave of secondhand embarrassment wash over him.
Several students in the surrounding rows were already looking in their direction with thinly veiled annoyance, and Eric's laughter was doing absolutely nothing to help.
Damon slowly lifted one hand and pressed his fingers against his temple, rubbing it lightly as though trying to prevent a headache from forming.
"But how," he asked flatly, turning his head slightly toward Eric, "did you end up in Class S?"
Eric's eyes immediately lit up with excitement, as though he had been waiting eagerly for this exact question.
"Isn't it because of you, boss?" he replied proudly.
Damon blinked once.
"Me?"
Eric nodded enthusiastically.
"When everyone started rushing toward the core breaches," he explained animatedly, "I just hid in a corner of the jungle. I kept killing the small monsters that appeared and looked around for relics whenever I could. Hahahaha!"
He slapped the desk lightly as though amused by his own cleverness.
"Who would have thought that you would eliminate everyone there?"
His grin widened.
"And according to the rules of the exam, since I survived longer than most of the others, I somehow ended up within the top fifty. Hahahaha!"
Eric leaned forward slightly, his admiration practically radiating off him.
"You are amazing, boss!"
Damon's lips twitched faintly.
For a moment he simply stared at Eric without saying a word, unsure whether he should feel impressed… or deeply concerned.
Eric continued laughing loudly.
"Hahahahaha—"
As….It simply… cut off.
Eric's expression stiffened as a strange pressure suddenly settled onto his shoulders, as though something heavy had quietly descended over the desk beside him.
A voice followed.
"Oye… scoot over."
Eric slowly raised his head.
Standing behind him was a tall beastwoman whose presence immediately seemed to dominate the entire back corner of the classroom. Two flaming horns curved upward from her head, and strands of burning orange hair flickered faintly like embers dancing in the air.
Khaira.
Eric stared at her for half a second.
Then he immediately grabbed his chair and slid three seats away without hesitation.
Khaira casually dropped into the seat beside Damon, her presence carrying a faint wave of heat that made the air around them feel noticeably warmer.
Damon glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
Then he sighed quietly.
"Another headache."
The uneasy quiet that had settled across the classroom did not last long.
Without warning—
BOOM!
A burst of colorful fireworks exploded across the front of the room, scattering shimmering confetti and flickering sparks of mana through the air as if a festival had suddenly erupted inside the classroom itself.
Students flinched. Some instinctively raised their guards.
And then—
A voice echoed through the room.
"Hohohohihehehahhaahhhhehehhhaha!"
The maniacal laughter bounced off the walls with theatrical enthusiasm.
Damon slowly closed his eyes. A dull irritation crawled up the back of his neck as he muttered under his breath.
"Don't tell me…"
Before he could finish the thought—
A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
Damon's body stiffened instantly.
"Oooohhhh…"
The voice spoke right beside his ear.
"Top two of the first year sitting together at the back…"
A pause followed, heavy with dramatic excitement.
"…how fascinating."
"Hihhiahahahhahahehehhahha!"
Cold sweat instantly formed along Damon's spine.
His body moved before his mind even finished processing what had happened.
Damon spun around and reached out to grab the person behind him, his reflexes sharp and immediate as his thoughts raced.
I couldn't even sense him.
At the exact same moment—another hand shot forward.
Within a split second, the flamboyant instructor had been shoved against the classroom wall, both Damon's hand and Khaira's gripping his collar and shoulders as they pinned him in place.
Professor Valerian Vox remained trapped between them.
Yet instead of looking concerned—
A wide grin slowly split across his face.
Damon frowned slightly.
"Don't ever sneak up on me like that."
At the same time, Khaira spoke as well, her voice rumbling with irritation.
"Don' go sneakin' up on me like tha'!"
Their words overlapped almost perfectly.
For a brief moment both of them turned their heads slightly and looked at each other.
Then—
"Hihihhehehahah…"
A voice interrupted them.
"What tempers…"
The tone carried clear amusement.
"I like it. I like it a lot."
Both Damon and Khaira's eyes snapped back toward Valerian.
Only for their expressions to freeze.
Valerian… was no longer there.
A voice spoke behind them.
"Are you looking for me?"
Both of them turned around sharply.
Valerian stood there casually behind them, leaning slightly on his cane with the same theatrical grin on his face as though he had been standing there the entire time.
But something else had changed.
The classroom itself had shifted.
Without either Damon or Khaira realizing when it had happened—
All three of them were now standing at the front of the classroom.
The rows of students stretched out before them.
Damon and Khaira instantly stepped away from Valerian, both instinctively creating distance between themselves and the bizarre instructor.
Valerian threw his head back and burst into another fit of manic laughter.
"Hhahahaihahiahahahaha!"
The sound filled the classroom.
Then suddenly—
His laughter stopped.
His gaze sharpened.
The playful insanity in his expression twisted into something far more intense, though the grin never left his face.
"Want to make demands from me?"
A quiet chuckle slipped from him.
"Hihi… hihi… hihi…"
Then his voice dropped slightly.
"Then Come at me."
The grin widened.
"And prove it with your strength."