Sitting at his desks, Lucian finally let out quiet sighs of relief.

Kael glanced at the bloodstained cape in Gideon’s hand and instantly understood what this whole situation was about.

"Oh, I get what you are here for," he murmured flatly.

"Still... barging into one of the empire’s greatest Academy without official permission and using your authority to bully a professor to disrupt his class? All of this could backfire on you really badly, Gideon. You know that, right?"

Gideon casually leaned in, keeping his arm draped over Kael’s shoulder, and started whispering in a pleadingly low voice.

"Come on, friend... for old times’ sake, just help me out a little here. I need to find this prodigy who owns this cape. Before the King manages to snatch them up, I have to take this kid under my own wings... by any means necessary. Come on, pal. Please? just help a guy out..."

Before Kael could even respond, an annoyed, groggy voice echoed from the far corner of the classroom.

Nyawnnn... Umm... What is going on, Nyaa? You guys won’t even let someone sleep."

Zerry slowly lifted her head from her desk, rubbing her groggy eyes as she lazily swept her gaze across the room. Seeing the giant armored knight and Professor Kael standing there, her sleepy brain quickly pieced the entire situation together.

Without uttering another word, she stood up. With slow, sluggish movements — looking exactly like a thoroughly annoyed cat whose fish had just been stolen by another stray — she shuffled forward. Completely ignoring the aura of the knight Commander, she bluntly snatched the cape right out of Gideon’s hands. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

And sniffed it once. Then twice.

Then, she walked straight over to the trio’s desks in the back row. First, she leaned in and sniffed Sera. Then, she leaned over and sniffed Lucian. And finally, she sniffed Elira.

And then... she simply tossed the blood-stained cape right onto Elira’s head and pointed a lazy finger at her.

"This cape is hers. It smells like icy mint same as her."

Having dropped that massive, tension-shattering bombshell, Zerry simply turned around, shuffled back to her seat, buried her face deep into her desk, pulled her oversized hoodie completely over her head, and instantly went right back to sleep.

Just like that, the silence shattered. Every single pair of wide, shocked eyes in the classroom locked dead onto Elira.

Even Sera was staring at her, an eyebrow twitching uncontrollably.

"Just how reckless can this witch be...?"

Instantly, frantic whispers erupted from the back rows.

"Hold on... she slaughtered fifteen hundred goblins?! All by herself?!"

"Dude, that’s Elira Frostveil. I always knew she was an absolute monster, but this is just completely insane..."

"But why would she even go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest in the first place? Is she crazy?!"

Amidst the rising panic, Lucian sat perfectly still.

He wasn’t shocked nor he was afraid.

What had happened, had happened — and he accepted it

Yep. We are screwed.

Time to disappear.

He simply activated Zero Domain. Everything froze. Even Gideon.

Lucian just got up and started walking out of the class. He sighed and shrugged it off, and openly spoke out loud in the frozen room.

"Well, that’s it. Whatever this mess is, you handle it yourself, Elira. I’m out"

He was just utterly tired of all the shit happening around him.

Casually pulling out the Broken Watch of Chronos from his pocket he tapped on switch and became invisible to everyone As time resumed, he was already at the halway.

Abandoning his waifu’s problems onto her.

Like he didn’t care at that time... or maybe he wanted Elira to learn a lesson. It didn’t matter.

Just like that, the whole day passed and class ended. Nothing much else happened.

Gideon was completely unsuccessful in convincing Elira. She just refused him, bluntly stating she had absolutely zero interest in becoming a knight.

Later that same night, Lucian was lying on his bed with his system screen open right in front of him.

[Dark Core Level: 2]

[FP: 14,200]

[Combat Power: 50,000]

[Mana: 28,000/50,000]

Sigh...

Resting his wrist over his forehead, his thoughts drifted back to those earlier stats.

"Geez... that Commander really had some sick stats..."

"Well, at least there won’t be any Fate Correction for the next thirty days... so i don’t have to worry about running into him in any situation,"... he rolled over.

"peace, finally... just peace at least."

Then...

Ding!!

[Listen up, kid. The only reason you didn’t get exposed today is because of your Fate Resistance. Otherwise, Elira would have spilled everything in a heartbeat. And don’t be naive — do you really think Gideon didn’t know there were TWO students present at the goblin genocide when she dropped that cape? He already knew. You’re only dodging this mess right now because of the 30-Day Fate Correction Pause. So do us both a favor: stop blaming the System for everything, you featherbrained idiot. Now, there’s a Special Offer available. My advice? Shut up and take advantage of it.]

[Dark Core Level 2 Reward]

[New Feature Unlocked: Dark Store]

[Buy now and keep the skills permanently.]

Ebon Exhale

Original Price: 5,000 FP

OFFER PRICE: 1,570 FP

Description: Breathe out a wave of corrupting black mist. Enemies caught within suffer vision loss, slowed movements, and continuous mana drain. Perfect for crowd control.

Duration: 15 seconds

Cost: 3,000 mana per use

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Voice of Authority

Original Price: 10,000 FPOFFER PRICE: 4,700 FP

Description: Your words carry absolute command. Issue a single verbal order that compels weaker-willed targets to obey instantly. Even strong opponents will hesitate for 2-3 seconds.

Limitations: One command per activation. Doesn’t work on those with SS-rank mental resistance.

Cost: 4,000 mana per use.

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Aura of Dread

Original Price: 10,000 FPOFFER PRICE: 4,750 FP

Description: Emit a suffocating aura of fear. All enemies within 30 meters experience intense psychological pressure—reduced accuracy, trembling hands, impaired decision-making. Weaker foes may flee entirely.

Passive Effect: Can be toggled on/off

Cost: 500 mana per minute (when active)

He jerked upright.

"Come on, System... don’t be so rude,"

Muttering, he read through each skill carefully, his eyes narrowing.

"Eight hours, huh?...interesting..."

So for now I can just buy these permanently. That’s a pretty good deal. They seem extremely useful for actual combat.

He glanced at his FP count: 14,200.

His finger hovered over the purchase button while smirking bitterly.

"Fine. If you’re gonna dangle the carrot, I’ll bite."

[PURCHASE CONFIRMED]

[EBON EXHALE - ACQUIRED]

[VOICE OF AUTHORITY - ACQUIRED]

[AURA OF DREAD - ACQUIRED]

[REMAINING FP: 3,180]

BOOOMM......!

And right at that exact moment, even in the dead of the night, the bright, fiery light of a massive explosion flooded through his bedroom window...

He turned toward the window, a wide grin spreading across his face as the raging flames lit up his features.

"What fine timing to test out these new skills."