"Rael Ashborn… would you mind coming to the front to help me demonstrate the basic mana application theory since you were the last to arrive in class and also broke the window?"

That bastard Azriel was smiling at me.

I knew his intentions were anything but good.

I mean seriously, who even teaches a mana-application practical on day one?

Fuck this bastard.

"No. I would've loved to help you out, sir but I barely awakened a month or two ago, so my mana still isn't completely stable,"

I said calmly, hoping my Scammer Myth would make every word sound perfectly believable.

And in a way this wasn't a complete lie.

I had formed an Aether Core when I first awakened, something that should've let me use magic and basic body reinforcement just fine.

But after my evolution, that thing completely vanished.

Instead, my entire body basically turned into a living core, covered in those weird mana terminals running through me like some magical circuit board.

So yeah, everything works differently now and controlling my mana properly was… a bit of a nightmare.

Which meant my excuse wasn't even a lie.

"That makes you a perfect volunteer then."

Azriel said it with that same dead, emotionless stare… which somehow made it even worse.

Honestly, I didn't even want to imagine what this bastard had planned.

But clearly, I had no choice.

At least I knew he couldn't kill me because of academy policy and all that.

In the worst case, he would probably try to crush me with mana pressure until I collapsed and humiliated myself in front of everyone… right after my very cool and very cinematic entrance.

But whatever he tried, I was absolutely going to pay this bastard back in multiples.

Just as I was about to get up from my seat, a new voice cut through the room.

"I want to volunteer instead of him."

The voice was way too deep and masculine to belong to a normal student but somehow, by the twisted grace of Fate, it did.

I turned my head toward the source, already wondering which bastard was so eager to die on the first day except for me.

And I saw him.

A bulky boy with bright orange hair and deep golden, his eyes turned toward me, smiling like an absolute idiot and even winking as if we were in on some shared joke.

Arthur Drakenheart.

The Dragon Slayer.

This nutcase was never shown smiling once throughout the entire novel and he was one of the few important characters who actually survived till the end when the whole world went to hell.

And now, this bastard was smiling at me again.

I could've ignored it if it happened once.

But he had been doing it since the Orientation Ceremony.

I even caught him stalking me while I was checking out classes the past few days… And one time, I actually saw him near my villa, trying to hide behind a tree as if that bulky mountain of a body could just blend in like that.

What the hell is his problem?!

…No.

No way.

Don't tell me he is… like that?

Fuck.

Come to think of it… he never had any love interest in the novel.

Could that be why he is acting like this?

Is he actually… interested in me?

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine but I forced myself to stay calm and snapped my gaze away from him immediately with the hope that he just wanted a duel… not a date.

When I looked back to the front, I caught Azriel's lips twitching in barely-contained rage but sadly for him, he couldn't just force me to volunteer when someone else had already offered.

Take that bitch.

"Okay, Arthur Drakenheart," Azriel said, his voice dropping into that icy-professional tone of his. "If you're so eager to be a volunteer… then come to the front of the class."

—

Arthur walked to the front without a hint of regret for what he had just done.

Ever since that first strange spark of familiarity during the Orientation Ceremony, the feeling had only grown stronger.

The more he saw Rael, the more something inside him twisted.

Rael reminded him of his brother.

The one he couldn't save.

So he just… couldn't help it.

Every time Arthur looked at Rael, his younger brother's face overlapped with his.

He wanted to befriend Rael for that reason, to understand why this strange familiarity kept clawing at him but he had no idea where to even start.

Ever since his family was destroyed and he ended up in that orphanage, he had never really had friends.

He survived by fighting off other kids and competing for scraps of food.

So making friends was never his forte.

Still, he tried.

He smiled every time he saw Rael because that's what friends were supposed to do, right?

Once, he even tried visiting Rael's home… but he backed out at the last second, thinking it would seem weird if he just showed up and tried to befriend him out of nowhere.

So today was… actually perfect for him.

The moment he sensed Rael didn't want to volunteer for the mana-application demo, Arthur stepped up.

If he helped Rael out here, it would be the perfect excuse, a natural bridge to start a friendship.

No weirdness or awkward sudden approaches and maybe… just maybe… he could finally figure out why Rael felt so familiar to him.

As he reached the front of the class, Arthur's eyes scanned across the room again and the moment he spotted the Dragons seated among the crowd, an instinctive anger flared in his chest.

It was primal and inherited from both his bloodline and his Nexus.

But Arthur knew how to control those urges.

They are not the threats…

They are not the threats…

He repeated it silently, taking a slow breath and forcing the instinct back into the dark corner it came from.

He couldn't afford to lose himself here.

Just then, a cold voice echoed from beside him.

"Then, should we get started?"

Arthur turned his head toward the professor staring at him with that eerily calm and emotionless gaze.

And as he stood there… for the first time in his life… Arthur felt a hint of doubt.

Should I… not have volunteered?

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