Chapter 78: Mr Davin? [BONUS - ]
At that moment, the classroom door opened, and a female instructor stepped inside, her arrival immediately drawing the attention of everyone who had been caught up in the commotion.
"Everyone, settle down."
Ethan did not need to be told twice.
Considering the disaster that had somehow become his first few minutes in Class 5D, he had absolutely no intention of attracting even more attention than he already had. He quickly found an empty seat and settled into it while Lara hurriedly moved toward the shattered glass, apparently intending to clean up the mess she had caused before the instructor noticed it.
Jake, however, seemed to have other plans.
He glanced at Ethan, and the irritation that had been building in his expression slowly turned into an arrogant smile, as though he had suddenly remembered that there was another way to deal with the annoying new student who had ruined his carefully constructed opportunity to impress Lara.
Without wasting another second, Jake stood up and walked toward the instructor.
"Ms. Clark," he called, his voice carrying just enough urgency to make it obvious that he wanted her attention.
The woman turned toward him.
"What is it?"
Jake immediately pointed toward Ethan.
"That student is spreading false claims about the abilities of Guides and Sentinels. He was disregarding the boundaries between the two abilities and claiming that a Guide can directly handle miasma-infused objects, which is impossible."
Ethan’s eyebrows twitched.
Oh, come on.
What a trashy first day of a new class.
He had barely walked through the door, and somehow he had already managed to get himself reported.
Ms. Clark’s eyes narrowed as she looked toward Ethan.
"Who?"
Jake pointed again.
"Him."
Ms. Clark’s gaze landed on Ethan, and her expression immediately hardened.
"You. New student. Come here."
Ethan sighed internally before getting to his feet and walking over.
The moment he stopped in front of her, Ms. Clark began scolding him without even bothering to ask for his side of the story.
"You have only just entered this class, and you’re already causing a ruckus. Do you even understand where you are? The differences between the abilities of Guides and Sentinels are clearly established. A Guide cannot simply handle miasma as a Sentinel would, yet you are standing here spreading nonsense as though you know better than everyone else."
Ethan’s expression slowly became flatter.
Ms. Clark pointed toward the door.
"You will be punished for disrupting the class. Go outside and kneel until I tell you otherwise."
For a moment, Ethan simply stared at her.
Then something inside him clicked.
If this had happened a few days ago, perhaps he would have lowered his head, apologized, and obediently accepted whatever ridiculous punishment they threw at him. He had spent too much time trying to avoid trouble in this academy, especially while his rank and identity were under investigation.
But that version of Ethan was gone.
He had already endured enough from instructors who treated him as though being an F-rank Guide meant he was automatically worthless.
He had ranked up.
He had survived an S-class Rift mission.
He had helped save countless Sentinels.
He had discovered abilities that should not have been possible for someone of his former rank, and after everything he had gone through, he was no longer willing to bend his head simply because someone wearing an instructor’s uniform ordered him to.
"No."
The single word made the entire classroom go quiet.
Ms. Clark’s expression froze.
Jake’s arrogant smile faltered for a moment before returning even wider.
Ethan looked directly at Ms. Clark.
"Why would I be punished for something when I clearly proved what I was saying?"
His voice remained calm, but there was no trace of submission in it.
"I caught the miasma-infused ball with my bare hand, and nothing happened to me. I’m sure when Jake reported me, he included that part as well, didn’t he?"
Jake’s face twitched.
Ethan continued before he could answer.
"And Lara was standing right there. She saw exactly what happened. So if what I said is a false claim, then you should kindly explain something else to me."
He gestured toward the shattered glass and the ball that had caused all of this trouble.
"Why was I able to catch it?"
Ms. Clark’s mouth opened.
For a moment, she seemed completely caught off guard by the question.
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Well?"
The instructor’s expression changed.
Instead of answering him, she suddenly stepped forward and raised her hand.
Ethan’s eyes widened slightly.
What the hell?
Was she seriously about to hit him?
His reaction was faster than his thoughts.
He caught her wrist before her hand could reach him, his fingers closing firmly around it as his eyes narrowed.
The entire classroom fell silent.
Ethan stared at the hand he had caught, then slowly looked back at Ms. Clark.
What kind of absurd instructor was this?
Raising her hand to hit a student simply because she could not answer a question?
At that moment, whatever respect he had once tried to maintain for the instructors in this academy disappeared completely.
He was already done giving instructors respect when they did not deserve it.
Without raising his voice, Ethan calmly lowered Ms. Clark’s hand back to her side.
The woman’s face turned red with fury.
The veins on her forehead bulged, her eyes practically widening out of their sockets as she stared at him in disbelief.
"You—"
Her voice suddenly exploded through the classroom.
"How dare you?!"
A collective gasp swept through the room.
"What the hell..."
"The new student actually caught Ms. Clark’s hand."
"He’s got guts."
"Isn’t he afraid?"
"He just transferred into 5D and he’s already doing this?"
The murmurs spread through the classroom as everyone stared at Ethan as though they had just witnessed something completely unbelievable.
Jake, however, looked delighted.
Good.
This idiot had just dug his own grave.
Everyone in the academy knew Ms. Clark’s reputation for dealing with troublesome students, and Ethan had somehow managed to put himself directly on her radar on his very first day.
Jake almost wanted to laugh.
He had been trying to get Ethan punished, and now Ethan had practically punished himself.
Ethan, completely unaware of how much trouble Jake believed he had gotten himself into, simply stood there with an increasingly tired expression.
He had only wanted to attend his new class.
Why was that proving to be so difficult?
Before Ms. Clark could say anything else, Ethan’s eyes suddenly shifted toward the classroom entrance.
A familiar figure had just walked inside.
His expression changed slightly.
Mr. Davin?
Davin’s footsteps came to a halt the moment his eyes landed on the commotion taking place in his classroom.
His gaze moved from Ms. Clark, to Ethan, to the students staring at them, before finally narrowing with confusion.
"What is going on here?"