Chapter 30: The culture of their classroom
"Anyways, we are here," Kayn stopped talking as he paused in front of a wooden furnished door twice as tall as him. Unlike the doors on the first floor, this room doesn't have any small glass windows that will allow them to have a view of the inside.
Well, that's to be expected considering that this is the floor of students who have high and great potential to become the best Master Assassins. Just from the entrance alone, they are already being tested to see if they would know what's waiting for them behind the door.
In most cases, that's actually what's going to happen to everyone who will enter. If they fail on guessing what's waiting for them, then they are bound to receive something surprising.
Knowing this, Kayn didn't immediately open the door. He first looked up at the tiny hole above the door. Unbeknownst to a lot of his classmates, he had actually put a small mirror a long time ago on the ceiling right in front of the door that shows a bit of reflection on what's inside the classroom. It was through this method that he was able to avoid most traps that his classmates or even teachers had prepared.
"I can't quite remember what trap exactly they have prepared on this day," Kayn muttered to himself as he tried his best to get the best angle through the reflection of the mirror. Sometimes, the mirror would accidentally get tilted to a bad angle whenever someone opens the door. Evidently, due to how long it already has been put on the ceiling. And because it's very hard to readjust the mirror again to have an optimal view or replace it without anyone noticing his technique, he has no other choice but to be grateful for what he has. Anyways, the majority of the time this method works for him, there were only a few times when it did not, and those times were when his classmates and teachers tried really hard with their traps.
"What do you mean traps?" Natas, who was clueless and confused about what Kayn was currently doing, can't help but ask after hearing him mention the word 'Trap'.
"We are assassins, and all the time we try to set traps for our fellow classmates to test our skills and their skills as well. As far as I could remember, their traps would be set right at the very entrance of the classroom. See that," Kayn pointed at the small hole where he can see the mirror, "That is a mirror I have secretly hidden to counter all the traps at the entrance,"
"Ohhh," Natas finally understood.
In the next moment, both Kayn and Natas tried their best to get a glimpse of the inside of the classroom. As they continue to tilt their heads to different angles, they were eventually able to get a good view of what was behind the door.
"How childish," Kayn said in remarked as he spotted an almost invisible wire trap that is connected to a small mechanism at the side of the door which would shoot a dart once triggered. This kind of trap was commonly used by his fellow classmates especially when they don't have that much motivation or time to set a sophisticated trap.
Nevertheless, Kayn still didn't let his guard down. There were times when that's exactly what his classmates would want their targets to think, when in fact there is something much bigger set somewhere else. Fortunately, when they do something like that, it would also mean that the trap is not set at the very entrance but somewhere else.
Using his hidden mirror would be futile in that case, so it's time to get inside.
With that thought in mind, Kayn no longer hesitated to push the door.
As expected, the moment the door was pushed, the wire trap was immediately triggered and a flying dart flew straight toward Kayn's location.
Expecting that outcome already, Kayn simply docked down.
"You guys seriously expect me to fall for such a lame trap?" Kayn said as he finally walked inside the classroom.
Inside the classroom, Kayn and Natas only saw ten students sitting on their respective chairs. That's right, there aren't that many students on the fourth floor. This is also the case with the other floors, at least from the third floor to the sixth floor. As for the first floor and second floor, it's expected that there is a lot considering that it mostly caters to the physical attribute of a person and not their talent.
Once again, that doesn't necessarily mean that the students of the third floor to the sixth floor are superior. To tell the truth, whenever there are events amongst the students of the House of Dragons, the real players would always just be the students from the first and second floors due to their numbers.
Although there were only ten students present, Kayn being the eleventh, each of them was special in a way. One of the reasons is because each of them seems to have just gone through something special… Obviously, the aftermath after falling for the traps set by their fellow classmates.
"That's because you're late!"
"Indeed, that's why all the sophisticated traps were already used!"
"Hmph! We will definitely get you next time, that's for sure!"
Shaking his head, Kayn grabbed a chalk from the side and made a horizontal line on a small blackboard behind the door. On that blackboard, one could see the list of names of the eleven students of this classroom with numerous horizontal lines right beside each of the names. These horizontal lines are equivalent to a single point per line. And the way to earn a point is by successfully evading the traps their classmate or teachers have set.
Right beside Kayn's name was a staggering number of lines amounting to twenty-three lines. Meaning to say, this month he has successfully evaded all the traps.
That wasn't all. If one would look at the other small blackboards that are arranged neatly behind the classroom, one could see that Kayn has always dominated this small and inside challenge of their classroom.
"Sometimes I wonder if you are cheating or something,"
"Yeah, I just don't understand how exactly you are able to evade all the traps,"
"Tch! Stop acting clueless, I can already guess that one of you is secretly Kayn's spy and is feeding him information beforehand that's why he is always prepared,"
"As if! You're just annoyed by the fact that because you arrived first hence you ended up receiving our teacher's trap,"
"Speaking about our teacher, why isn't she here yet?!"
Hearing his classmates mention their teacher, Kayn immediately did a quick survey around the classroom. The next moment, he failed to see or even feel the presence of their teacher, which means that although he arrived late, it won't affect his attendance as his teacher still hasn't come yet.
"Lucky you," Natas muttered behind Kayn. They seriously thought a while ago that Kayn is already late because they went to save Rowan Starlight and spent a significant amount of time in the process.
"I wonder why she hasn't come yet?" Kayn tries to recollect his memories of this day to find out the reason why his teacher still didn't arrive. Unfortunately, his memories of this day were already very blurry to the point that he could barely recall any events, so regardless of how much he tried to think back, he still can't remember any. It's probably because it's nothing special.
After greeting his classmates one by one, Kayn started walking towards his seat which is located right beside the window of the second row and first column.
Though, before finally sitting, Kayn first made sure to check if ever there was any trap his classmates have secretly hidden on his table or chair. He still didn't let his guard down even after evading the first trap as he believe that wasn't the main trap and chances are there is another one.
"Cautious as always," A girl, who was sitting on the chair to the right side of Kayn's muttered coldly. This girl's name is Angela.
"If you were in my shoes, you'd be doing the same, Angela," After all, he can never guess the day when his classmates would try really hard just so that he would fall into a trap. He has some memories of moments like that and considering that he could barely recall anything that happens on this day, it's much better to be careful and wary.
"Is the reward really that great that you always try your best to be first?" Angela felt curious as she made a short and quick glimpse at the small blackboards behind them where Kayn has always been crowned the winner.
"Try to live in poverty for once, and you'd definitely realize that every chance where you can get something in return is a God-given opportunity that you shouldn't miss," Kayn said as he finally sat on his chair after confirming that there was no trap.
"Then why aren't you accepting the offers your classmates have presented to you? You know that they have good intentions for you and are just trying to help, right? Or don't tell me that you're still cautious about that, just like how you're so cautious of any traps in your chair and table,"
"Not really," Kayn shook his head.
In the past, although he was living in poverty, his classmates were kind and thoughtful enough to offer him jobs that would help him earn some cash. Most of those jobs were simple and easy too. But nevertheless, he didn't accept any of them even once.
The excuse he always uses was that he doesn't want to take advantage of their kindness. Albeit the truth was that he just doesn't want to lose any respect. He always believes that if he accepts their offer, even if his classmates won't disrespect him as they knew the real him, the other students of the Starlight Hero Academy definitely would once they hear about it.
Even before becoming an official Hero, he always cares about his image and put a lot of value on how people viewed him. That sort of characteristic was something he brought along with him even at the very end.
However, in this life, he won't repeat the same mistake…