"Step, step," the silver-haired man's measured steps echoed through the dim hallways of Nova.
The silver-haired man halted in front of an old, weathered wooden door with a gaping hole in the middle.
"Knock, knock," the silver-haired man rapped on the door. Even though he could easily fit through the hole, he still opted to knock.
There was a moment of tense silence before someone cautiously opened the creaking door.
It was a young female student that opened the door.
The female student gasped, her eyes widening when she saw the enigmatic silver-haired man.
The silver-haired man was tall, very tall; his appearance suggested he was not a day over 30.
His snake-like eyes made one shudder, and an ominous aura surrounded him, one that anyone would instinctively avoid.
"Well, hello there," the silver-haired man greeted the frozen female student.
The female student remained silent, seemingly frozen in place.
Undeterred, the silver-haired man only smiled and smoothly passed her, entering the classroom.
His footsteps made a subtle creak as he walked on the polished wooden floor of the classroom.
The silver-haired man gracefully made his way to the front, capturing the attention of the class just by traversing to the podium.
"So, you all may be wondering who I am. In short, I'm your potion teacher. My name is Zhu Fao, but you can call me Mr. Zhu," Mr. Zhu introduced himself with an air of mystery.
"Now that that's over, let's get to the reason why I'm here."
"I sent a puppet to teach this class for me, but one of you guys killed him. I want the killer to come up here and take his punishment," Mr. Zhu said with a face as cold as ice.
Nobody in the class said anything; all eyes turned toward Lucian.
And Lucian, understanding the situation, looked back as well. The person behind Lucian was just a regular student, but he, unfortunately, had to sit behind Lucian of all people.
'I'm so sorry!' Lucian mouthed towards the unlucky student.
The student's eyes widened in realization of what had just happened.
"You, come here," Mr. Zhu instructed the unlucky student.
"Huh, me? But I didn't…"
"I don't like to repeat myself," Mr. Zhu cut the student off in the middle of his explanation.
The student was scared, not only because of the potential punishment for a crime he didn't commit but also because Mr. Zhu's gaze could make even the bravest of men doubt themselves.
The unlucky student followed Mr. Zhu's orders like a dog, walking up to the podium, right beside Mr. Zhu.
"Follow me," Mr. Zhu said as he turned his back to the student and walked away.
The student simply complied, following him out of the classroom. The once hushed classroom erupted in noise.
"Hey! Why did you do that for? It was pretty mean of you," a concerned female student said.
"Yeah!" another student agreed.
Questions and complaints were thrown at Lucian from every direction.
Lucian, in all this chaos, maintained a nonchalant attitude.
'What should I make for dinner?' Lucian thought, completely ignoring his classmates.
"Psst, Lucy," Aphos called out.
Lucian turned his head to face Aphos.
"Yeah?"
"Check this TikTak out."
Adrian showed him a funny TikTak.
This caused Lucian to smile and laugh a little afterward.
"Hey! He's not even listening to us!" One of the students who were complaining called out.
Other students seemed to have noticed this and also weren't satisfied with Lucian's behavior.
Lucian continued to chat with Adrian without paying them any attention.
A student walked up to Lucian with slow and heavy steps.
The student was powerfully built; one could wonder if he even was 16.
The student wore an angry face and was gritting his teeth.
The powerfully built student was named Chuck.
Chuck was the friend of the unlucky student, and as his friend, how could he not take revenge?
Chuck grabbed Lucian by the shoulder with a firm grip.
But in the second his hand was placed on Lucian's shoulder, Adrian took action.
Adrian grabbed Chuck by the collar and threw him away from Lucian.
Chuck flew about 100 meters before colliding with the wall of the classroom.
He was not even scratched by the collision, but Chuck, on the other hand, was completely knocked out.
"Told you," Adrian said to Lucian as he walked back to his seat.
"He got knocked clean out."
"Tsk," Lucian tsked in disappointment.
Earlier, Lucian and Adrian were making a bet on if Chuck could survive getting thrown 100 meters without getting knocked out.
"Woah, you're really strong," Gabriel complimented Adrian.
"Eh, it's nothing much, just a bit of exercise, and you'll be able to do it too," Adrian said nonchalantly.
"yawn what is all the fuss about?" Adbeel asked as he woke up from his nap.
"Nothing special," Adrian said while balancing his chair.
He used the empty desk of the unlucky student as support.
"yawn then I'm going to go back to sleep, wake me up if something interesting happens," Adbeel said as he rested his head on his hands.
And just like that, Adbeel went back to his sleep.
At this point, Lucian's classmates didn't know how to react.
They hadn't heard the conversation between Adrian and Lucian, so they were unaware of the bet they made.
So, after Chuck, nobody dared to get even 5 meters close to Lucian because of Adrian.
So, with nothing else to do, the classmates just went back to their seats.
"By the way, the Crux festival is in one week, right?" Adrian asked.
"Yeah," Gabriel answered.
"Crux festival?" Lucian questioned, a look of intrigue on his face.
"Yeah, it's a festival that's celebrated instead of Christmas," Gabriel explained.
"Oh, but don't some people still celebrate Christmas?" Lucian questioned.
"That's true, but the Crux festival is more for couples than families and the general public," Gabriel clarified.
'Huh, good to know I guess,' Lucian thought.
Suddenly, an ominous aura could be felt throughout the whole classroom.
This caused everyone's gazes to fall on the entrance of the class, where Mr. Zhu made his entrance once again.