Next day. Diaman paused at the gate of Toven Academy. He adjusted his collar taking a deep breath. Once set he crossed the gate's threshold.
The hall was the same—busy with students. But most eyes were glued to their phones watching a video or something. Diaman wondered what they were watching but kept walking.
He reminisced about memories of yesterday. The way he lifted a bus filled with people. It still felt unreal he had defeated his first dungeon. He smiled, satisfied he'd saved lives.
But now he had school to face, and a retrial of his test. He adjusted his backpack. 'If it's still the orb they're going to use, I think I have more experience in using AETHERPHAGE now.'
He stared out the wind, not watching his way. Then bumped into someone accidentally stepping on their shoe and pushing the person down
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking." Diaman extended his hand to help the young man up. "Are you alright?"
"What's wrong with you?" He slapped Diaman's hand away.
Then he stood up himself, dusting himself off with a handkerchief.
He rolled his eyes and grumbled. "Look, you even stepped on me." He pointed to his black suede shoe.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Clean it!"
"Uh?"
"You heard me. Clean it." He handed the handkerchief to Diaman, who looked at the rag in his hand, then at the boy.
"If you give me your shoe, sure, I'll clean it. But—" Diaman looked around seeing students in the hallway. "I can't clean it on your feet."
The boy smirked. "What, you have pride? You should be honored to clean the shoe of the heir of the Calderon house."
'Calderon?' He recalled the name from Amanda's lectures about Ava company. Mr. Calderon was one of the founders of Ava. 'Not worth the trouble. I'll just ignore him.'
"Do it!" His blue eyes burned into Diaman as he leaned closer. "Or I'll make you regret it."
Diaman kept quiet. He looked down at the boy's shoe once more, then faced him back. "You just want me to stroke your ego. I take back my offer, I won't clean your shoes anymore on or off your feet." He kept his tone respectful.
The boy sneered. "What did you say?"
His mana began to flare around him— green and electric.
[Jewel Calderon
[CLASS: ENCHANTER ]
[RACE: HUMAN ]
[ MANA PRESSURE: S RANK ]
'He's an S Rank enchanter.'
Jewel clenched his fist."You the
He raised his hand to hit Diaman.
"The fuck you think you're doing, Jewel?"
Diaman paused. He was about to block the punch. The voice was easily recognizable. Jewel dropped his fist then stepped away from Diaman calmly.
Shira walked casually and stood in between them. "Young master." He said with a mocking tone.
Jewel looked away avoiding eye contact with Shira. "I don't have time for you."
"Ya sure bro? Cause turns out you're bullying my friend."
Jewel looked at Diaman. "So he's from F class. No wonder you guys barely have proper upbringing."
Shira snatched Jewel's collar. "Says the guy who goes around bullying people less than him."
Jewel pushed Shira away. "Get off me!"
Shira held his footing, his eyebrows arched.
He lunged at Jewel. But before he could hit him with his fist, Diaman held him back. "Shira, wait. He wasn't bullying me."
Jewel didn't care. He pretended like they didn't exist and adjusted his collar casually.
After hearing Diaman's words, Shira calmed down and unclenched his fist.
"I mistakenly stepped on his shoe, and he asked me to clean it. That's all." Diaman continued.
"I've got class to attend to." As Jewel walked away, Shira followed him just to step on Jewel's shoe. He grounded his heel, peeling the suede off Jewel's shoe.
Jewel gritted his teeth. He looked down at his luxurious shoe with Shira's shoe print on it.
"Come on, I dare you. Tell me to clean it." Shira taunted Jewel. But Jewel did nothing.
"Shira, it's enough. Let's go to class."
Diaman grabbed his hand and dragged him toward their class.
Shira laughed at Jewel, who just stood still, unable to believe what had happened to his shoe. "Look at him, son of a bitch."
"Bro thinks being born with a silver spoon is everything."
Diaman sighed. 'You're a lot to deal with.'
They reached class, and Diaman let go of Shira's hand. Lectures hadn't begun since it was too early—just mostly boarders were present in class. Diaman walked to his seat and dropped his bag on his table.
He looked around, noting his classmates' faces. One of them got his attention—he wore a black hoodie, his head buried in his arm, sleeping on his desk.
Shira noticed Diaman looking. "Oh, that guy. He's Sleepy Emo. He was our second S Rank in F class, but he's too lazy."
"How many S Ranks do we have?"
"Three. Me, Emo, and you."
Other classmates turned to look at Diaman. Some whispered, "He's S Rank?"
Diaman smiled faintly "You still believe I'm S Rank?"
"Yeah. But you're just hiding it. But that's for later." Shira pulled out his smartphone. "There's this viral video I wanted to show you. Have you seen it?"
Shira played a video. "Some sussy shit happened yesterday night you must have heard. A SSS Rank gate opened in the middle of the road. Here's the clip."
It was the videos of Diaman when he was holding the bus from entering the gate.
'I forgot people were recording.'
"A masked boy saved a bus full of civilians from the gate. Hunters arrived late. but when they checked the mana pressure. Straight up SSS rank."
"Cool." Diaman nodded his head, acting surprised. 'Does he think it's me?'
"Damn. Cool, but what's even cooler—check what he's wearing."
Diaman didn't need to look. He knew he was wearing his uniform while wrestling with the force of the gate.
"Yeah, I see it. He's wearing our uniform."
"Exactly." Shira rested his arm on Diaman's shoulder. "That means we've got a hidden SSS Rank student in this school."
"That's... good."
"So people are already speculating. It might be Jewel, or War, maybe Alene."
Shira and Diaman turned to Amanda holding a pile of textbooks.
Shira rolled his eyes. "There's no way that spoiled brat is the Masked Bug Man."
"Bug Man?"
"Yeah, after interviewing the civilians, they said he put them in a bug thingy. That's what might have saved them from the dungeon pressure and why they couldn't see the fight."
Amanda dropped the books on the desk. "What I still don't understand. How do they manage to enter the gate? Someone without carness can't enter and pass through the gate without getting rejected."
Shira shrugged, "Story for another day."
"But the hunters need to be a little more sensitive. They tried to kill him because he was faceless. He had a uniform on."
"Nah, you can't blame them, really. Some dungeon creatures can shapeshift."
Diaman just stood there, watching Shira and Amanda arguing about the Masked Bug Man—which was him. If someone caught on to a clue, they could easily find out it was him.
"Guess who's my money on." Shira smirked.
Diaman laughed nervously when Shira looked at him. "What? Me?"
Amanda's gaze shifted to Diaman. "Why? Because he's a new student?" She crossed her arm.
"Here's my theory." Shira raised a finger. "One. Diaman is wearing a new uniform."
"Yeah, because he's a new student?"
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Your logic doesn't make sense, Shira."
"Nah, hear me out. What I meant is, this isn't the uniform he rocked yesterday. This is his other... pair."
"What? How did you know?"
Shira stroked his chin. "It still has that kinda new scent. If this was what you rocked yesterday, the scent wouldn't be loud because you would have washed it. And you can't say you didn't wash it—that would solidify my facts, because you'd smell sweaty."
Shira brought his voice to a whisper. "Plus, from your test yesterday, that should make it more believable."
Amanda's gaze shifted between Diaman and Shira. She whispered too. "What was the result?"