Chapter 56: Red Land’s Culture, Cybele’s Sudden Call
After leaving Professor Xavier’s office, Zeke’s worries finally disappeared. He headed to the grand library afterwards. There was still an hour and a half before his class started. Without anything to do, he preferred to read instead of waiting in the classroom filled with noise.
He entered the grand library and borrowed a social science book, titled "Crimson Culture: The Living and the Dead of Red Land" by the author "Abel", a novel that writes in detail about the various history and culture of Red Land in the past hundred years.
This was a book with at least five hundred pages, and he started reading it two days ago, from Asher’s recommendation. Beyond just wanting to know Red Land’s culture to protect himself, the intricacies in the book fascinated Zeke, someone who was an avid reader of literature.
Despite being described as "barbaric" and "evil", Red Land’s culture unexpectedly ran deep, no less than the other regions. The book began with the common cultures and understanding within Red Land, then explored them from their origin to their development until the author’s era, which was a hundred years ago.
Zeke was immersed in the book for the remainder of his free time. He didn’t even realize how quickly time passed until there were only fifteen minutes left before his class started, prompting him to finish his reading session for the morning. He quickly stood up and returned the book to the librarian, leaving the library afterwards.
He headed straight to the main building with hurried steps. But he couldn’t help but slow down along the way as he noticed something unusual. Most of the students around him held shocked and disappointed expressions, piquing his curiosity.
When he slowed down to listen, Zeke realized that they were talking about the leaderboards, specifically the leaderboard for the second-years and the third-years. It seemed that something shocking had happened to the second-year and third-year class exams, leading to a shift in their respective leaderboards.
He wasn’t able to gather anything more than that since he didn’t want to appear like he was eavesdropping. Plus, he realized that he might really arrive in class late if he kept snoozing around.
If it was anything important, he could probably see it later when he browses through the academy forums.
A few minutes later, he arrived in his classroom.
Zeke opened the door quietly, but even then, his classmates still noticed him. When they saw that it was him, their expressions immediately turned complicated, seemingly looking at him with awe and wariness combined.
’What happened...?’
Their reactions didn’t register in his mind for a moment. Zeke furrowed his brows, sweeping his gaze to the classroom.
The good thing was that he didn’t sense any hostility from their expressions.
"He’s here..."
"He’s amazing, told ya..."
"Do you think he’s why Franz..."
"... Who else? Franz wouldn’t show himself in front of the other representatives..."
"Moreover, there was a rumor about Franz during the exams..."
His classmates whispered to each other quietly, but their voices were still loud enough that Zeke could hear part of what they were saying. He couldn’t help but be startled. Everyone seems to already know about what happened between him and Franz.
Zeke frowned, but then relaxed. He didn’t intend to hide it anyway, but he also didn’t think everyone would know so soon. But he quickly realized the reason why. He headed to his desk and glanced at his deskmate, Andrei, soundly asleep.
Ignoring the commotion in the room, Zeke turned on his Herta ID and checked the first-year leaderboard.
Just as he expected, he saw his name in the 15th position, replacing Franz’s name.
As for Franz, his failure on the class exam tanked his personal value, dropping him to the 25th spot.
’They probably saw this and imagined the scenario themselves...’
It was unlikely that Andrei or Ren would spread it around. As for Franz’s goons, he didn’t think they would be brave enough to spread what happened. That left Franz, but a quick look around the room showed Zeke that the man’s seat was empty, so it can’t be him.
After a moment of thought, he didn’t think about it anymore.
’Forget it. Let them talk, it’ll fizzle out in one or two days...’
Zeke might’ve been fussy about it before, but not anymore. He had the strength to back up the attention he was receiving, and he understood how these people’s minds worked.
At most, they’ll change their opinions about him, turning their initial hatred or indifference into respect and awe. Perhaps after this, more people would start to approach him, taking his side to get closer to him, or even complimenting him.
However, Zeke understood clearly that not a single one of them would be genuine.
’But it saves me the trouble of trying to distinguish whose genuine and whose not...’
It was far better than second-guessing every time someone approached him. Maybe there were really genuine people out there, but it was hard to say. Zeke certainly didn’t care about them.
After waiting for a while, the door opened again, revealing Professor Cybele.
Today’s class was Monster Biology.
When she arrived, all his classmates immediately shut up and returned to their seats.
Zeke glanced at Andrei and frowned. He sighed quietly before gently pushing the man awake. A moment later, Andrei’s eyes snapped open, and he saw Zeke gesture to him to the front.
’Wha... what’s he saying... the teacher here?’
Feeling drowsy, even Andrei’s thoughts couldn’t help but slur. He rubbed his eyes as he let out a small yawn, making Zeke flinch. Seeing Zeke’s expression turn uncomfortable, he suddenly snapped out of his drowsiness.
He quickly turned to the front and saw Professor Cybele looking at him. Andrei gave an awkward, nervous smile, but thankfully, Professor Cybele glanced at Zeke and didn’t push the matter anymore, making Andrei feel relieved.
Andrei looked at Zeke and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Thanks, I owe you one."
Zeke corrected him.
"You owe me five. I’ve been waking you up every morning class since the week began."
"Gotcha, gotcha. My bad. It’s cuz I’m being held up by something in the night lately..."
Andrei sighed, shaking his head. He muttered something under his breath that Zeke couldn’t quite hear, making him raise his brows.
But at that moment, Professor Cybele broke the silence in the room.
"Alright, let’s begin."
Professor Cybele cut to the chase and started the lesson right away. Zeke’s attention quickly drifted elsewhere, having recognized the monster she was teaching once again. The lesson lasted for about three hours, and at some point during the lesson, Professor Cybele humiliated Andrei by asking him an extremely difficult question.
After the class ended, Professor Cybele didn’t leave immediately. She looked at Zeke and called him out loud, startling him.
"Mr. Crimson, please follow me to my office."
