Caelen once again walked leisurely, the host’s memory guiding him. Students and instructors were moving at a much more hurried pace in the large auditorium this time.
He looked around him with open curiosity, mentally taking notes of things along the way. The biggest thing he noticed, both in the auditorium and almost everywhere else in the Academy he’d seen so far, was the things that were written into buildings.
They appeared to be strange characters or small drawings etched into the ground or buildings. They were not hidden and yet not open. What Caelen found fascinating about them, though, was that each contained power.
As if power had been trapped in each letter, and when he thought about it long enough, his memory provided a name, runes.
Just as he was walking, he couldn’t help but smile at himself. His smile contained hints of self-mockery. ’I’m trying to distract myself, eh? Aurora is dead and I myself was killed, and now I’ve found myself in this strange place with people trying to kill me as well.’
As First Awakener, he wouldn’t deny that he had enjoyed a life of splendor at the peak of his strength and influence, when he was the strongest human in the world. But one by one, everything was taken from him. Even his sister.
’Didn’t I only do what I did for humanity because that was what was needed?’
’I will do what I need to do here as well. To grow strong. I will use everything. The students, the Instructors, and if the heavens allowed it, I would steal from them.’
Bitterness flashed in his eyes as he remembered what the Sword God said. ’You had better be stronger.’
’First, I need to stabilize myself in this new world. Be Instructor Caelen. Kill all those who want to kill me.’
’I wonder when those who tried to kill me will make another move. After all, I let that one go. Maybe they’ll even visit my class? I wonder....’
Killing intent filled his face and his mood darkened. ’I guess....we’ll see if I’ll be strong in this new world. Either way, I won’t let what happened on Earth repeat itself.’
When Caelen entered the class, the first thing that he noticed was that the classroom was really shabby. The roof was swollen and tinged green with accumulated water, some parts of the floor were cracked, and the chairs were old and worn.
Even the blackboard wasn’t smooth, and much of the blackness was long gone. There was also some kind of musty smell in the air that stank suspiciously of old laundry.
He immediately hated the place.
And to make it worse, none of the students were settled down. In fact, they weren’t making any serious noise per se, but they dismissed his presence. Most of them were talking to each other, while some appeared bored, as if they were just there to mark their attendance.
It wasn’t even as if they were trying or playing around to cause trouble. They were truly indifferent to him.
Caelen was left standing speechless.
The number of students was twenty-seven, and none of them had any regard for Caelen.
Wait....there was a young man who was looking at Caelen with a strange expression on his face. He and Alina were the only two who were currently giving him any kind of regard.
Caelen stood there and different thoughts ran through his mind. ’Should I kill some of them? That’s the easiest way for me to set the tone for my training back on Earth. It never failed to work.’
But he hesitated because he still did not know the rules of the world he was in. Besides, back on Earth, when he was doing all of those things, he was the strongest.
Things were different now.
His eyes swept the class and his senses roamed around, measuring the strengths of the students.
Most of them were, simply put, trash. In fact, only one of them was at the C level that Caelen was using as a measurement, and that was the young man who was looking at him so intently.
Disgust crept onto Caelen’s face and turned into a dangerous glint in his eyes. He forced himself to calm down. ’Sure, maybe some of them are trash, but they might have hidden potential. Right. I must look for hidden potential in them. They must have it. Right?’ Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
But as he looked at the students, his expectations fell lower and lower.
’Really, Caelen. You’re really the lowest of the low in this Academy.’
"Hello students, I’m Instructor Caelen," Caelen said with a small smile, his voice loud but measured.
And for a moment the students paused. Some of them turned to blink at him, but then they dismissed him again, turning back to do what they were doing.
Caelen’s smile faltered and his face turned cold.
The young man who had been looking at him suddenly had a sympathetic expression.
"Alina," Caelen called. "Come here."
The timid girl jolted but still did as she was commanded, taking one step at a time as she made her way over with her head bowed. "Yes, Instructor Caelen?"
"Right, I’m sure you must know a lot about the rules of the Academy. What will happen if an Instructor kills a student?" Caelen spoke in a low voice.
Alina stiffened and looked up in surprise, even meeting his eyes for a moment before she looked down again. "Ehmmm....well, I suppose...depending on what the situation is, the Instructor will be punished. This too...is depending on the student and their background. Or the instructor’s background...."
Caelen chuckled coldly. "So much context. Basically, it all depends on the background of everyone involved? I see."
Caelen looked back at the students and smiled. There was simply no warmth in it, only coldness.
And for some reason, Alina suddenly felt that coldness creep into her body.