After Steven registered Byron as his pet,
he spoke to Byron.
"Put on this collar."
After seeing the collar, Byron snorted and bowed his head obediently to Steven so he could put it on him.
He put the collar on him, then spoke to him:
"You can wander freely now, go wherever you want."
[Hmm, I have nothing to do, let me go with you.]
Steven nodded and said:
"Can you hide yourself well?"
Byron nodded his head.
Steven removed the earring and both he and Byron disappeared into the darkness.
Steven had to start monitoring from this night—events would begin to change after just half a month in the academy.
Steven did not give detailed descriptions of many things in the novel; he only described the main events and from the point of view of the main characters.
So there were many events he did not know exactly when they would begin, or even how they started.
And when he wrote the novel, he also did not describe all the villains inside the academy because the main characters failed to stop many events and uncover the mastermind behind them.
You could say Steven was thrown into a world where he only knew the path of its destruction.
Curfew starts at 10 PM, when the academy becomes empty, so after ten o'clock the danger to students decreases significantly.
Ten minutes before it became ten at night, Steven had watched for some time and found nothing, so he decided to call Mark.
Steven shook his head and sighed because Mark refused to answer.
'… That annoying person.'
"Byron, wander freely. I'll go now."
Byron nodded and disappeared far away, and then Steven also disappeared.
…
Outside the academy, inside Steven and Mark's house.
Mark was browsing on his personal computer. After receiving Steven's call, Mark raised his eyebrows and rejected the call.
'Heh, why do you think I will answer your call, you traitor?'
Right after he rejected it, he received a message from Alyssa:
[Curfew has started now, so I'm returning to my room. I'm very tired from training. I trained seriously and I also met talented students. I've become more useful now. Maybe you will need me someday and I'll repay this debt.]
Mark shook his head.
"It's all because of that traitor."
As he was about to reply, he heard a slight sound in the house.
Mark frowned.
"What is that?"
Mark stood up from his seat and opened the door to go out.
The moment he opened it, his eyes widened, he stepped back, and smiled nervously.
"Haha.. why are you here?"
Steven stood with his arms crossed and smiled with annoyance.
"What? Did you think I wouldn't be able to leave the academy?"
Mark tried to stand firm, raised his head, and spoke with a complaining tone:
"... I didn't do anything wrong. You betrayed me first."
Steven shook his head and approached Mark more. Mark stepped back a little. Steven raised his fist and lightly hit Mark on the head.
"Was your punishment for me not enough? Why don't you answer my calls?"
Mark stared in shock at Steven's sad eyes, then spoke nervously:
"Sorry, sorry, I won't repeat it."
Steven nodded.
"So you'll answer my calls no matter what?"
Mark replied quickly and seriously:
"Yes, yes."
Steven laughed softly and patted Mark's hair.
"Good boy."
The two talked for a little while until it was almost midnight.
Then Steven returned to the academy.
After sneaking into his room, he was greeted by Nathan sitting comfortably on his bed.
When Nathan saw Steven enter, he smiled and spoke playfully:
"You troublemaker, you like breaking the rules, don't you?"
"Hmm, but the idea—I like it. I'll try it next time."
Steven shook his head and headed toward the bathroom, but before entering, he spoke to Nathan:
"Before you do something, you must also have the skill to hide your act."
Then he entered to shower without even looking at Nathan's reaction.
Nathan widened his eyes then laughed softly.
"I'm starting to like him more."
He lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
The next day
After Steven woke up, he was surprised by Nathan's absence.
'Did he wake up before me?!'
Steven felt strange. Although he didn't know Nathan's personality or habits well, he knew Nathan was not someone who liked waking up early.
Steven pushed the thoughts away and got ready to go to class.
After entering the class, he saw Nathan lying comfortably with one leg crossed over the other on the desk, showing an expression with some amusement.
Steven felt something strange but ignored it and sat in his seat.
After a while, the students started entering one after another until it was Evelyn, Era, and Agnes's turn. They sat near Alyssa, who had arrived before them, and they began talking together.
Shortly after, Kai and Leonard entered.
Nathan smiled with amusement and tapped Steven's shoulder.
"Look forward—something fun is going to happen."
Steven looked forward with a frown.
Kai and Leonard were talking intently, and they were just about to greet the girls, but after the two sat down...
Boom!!
Some magic exploded, causing water to splash all over Kai and Leonard, soaking them from top to bottom, and some of it splashed onto the girls and a few drops on the rest of the students.
Kai and Leonard were shocked; their expressions looked ridiculous with their mouths wide open. Of course, the girls were just as shocked as they were.
The rest of the students were surprised at first, but then tried their best to suppress their laughter.
As for Nathan, he didn't even think about trying to hold in his laughter.
"Pfft hahaha! Look, Steven, their expressions are stupid!"
Steven was shocked as well and shook his head.
'This is the first event for the hero that didn't happen in the original novel, and more are coming based on Nathan's personality that I know now.'
'I'm sorry, Kai, this is my fault, but it's your problem—solve it yourself.'
Steven pitied Kai in his heart, then turned his head away as if the matter didn't concern him at all. No, not as if—it truly did not concern him.
Kai gritted his teeth and turned sharply toward Nathan, who was laughing, anger blazing in his eyes.
He walked toward Nathan and spoke in a slightly loud voice:
"It was you."
Nathan tilted his head innocently and asked:
"I was what?"
Kai sighed angrily and spoke:
"Don't play dumb with me. You were the one who made this stupid prank."
Nathan shrugged:
"Water isn't my ability. Why blame me suddenly?"
Kai opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was sure this person was the one behind it, but he didn't know how.
Suddenly Kai was pulled back by Leonard. Before Kai could ask what's wrong, a blue shadow rushed toward Nathan.
Era dashed forward and grabbed Nathan by his academy uniform tightly, glaring at him with a deadly look, and spoke angrily:
"Nathaaaan! What are these childish behaviors?!"
Nathan's smile disappeared the moment Era grabbed his clothes.
Nathan calmly looked at Era's hand and spoke quietly:
"Era, let go of my clothes."
Suddenly Era calmed down and looked at Nathan in shock. Nathan hadn't called her Era in a long time—he used to just mock her and call her Princess Arno.
Era let go of his clothes quickly, adjusted her posture, and spoke while staring at Nathan's face:
"… You did the prank, didn't you?"
Nathan's smile returned, and he spoke with amusement:
"Didn't I?"
Era:
"…"
Era did not believe him at all, but before she could speak, the classroom teacher entered, and everyone calmed down and sat in their seats.
But the watching crowd of students was disappointed because the event stopped halfway.
As for Steven, he had been watching Nathan since Era grabbed his clothes, but after the teacher entered, he quietly looked away.
After class ended, Steven and Nathan left together, followed by David, who was curious.
"Hey, hey, what happened? Why did Era grab you like that? You were about to get hit."
David asked Nathan directly.
Nathan raised an eyebrow toward Steven, then spoke to David with fake sadness:
"They accused me of making a prank on the seat of that commoner boy with the first rank."
David frowned:
"What idiots."
He moved closer to Nathan and patted his shoulder:
"Maybe they didn't know—because of your reputation, which is underground now. But even if you're a crazy, insane, annoying dog, they shouldn't accuse you without any evidence."
"Pfft…"
Nathan widened his eyes and looked at Steven, whose expression had returned to being blank.
"Wait wait—Steven!! Did you just laugh?!"
Steven frowned and denied firmly:
"No, it wasn't me. Maybe someone passed by and laughed."
Nathan looked at Steven suspiciously, then shrugged and changed the topic:
"The number of servants we have increased. Not much left until we build a palace for ourselves."
David frowned:
"How will we get a palace?"
Nathan laughed:
"Hehe, of course the whole academy will be our palace."
David thought:
"Hmm, it's a good idea, but crazy and impossible."
Steven looked at them in disbelief, shook his head, and walked away.
The two quickly followed him. Nathan spoke with annoyance:
"You like suddenly running away and leaving me with this muscle-brained idiot?"
David objected:
"Who are you calling an idiot?"
Nathan raised his eyebrow:
"Of course you."
"If Steven hadn't let you drag me yesterday, I wouldn't have fought a loser like you."
David clenched his teeth and spoke angrily:
"Loser? I was about to win yesterday, but you cheated in the fight."
Nathan laughed provocatively:
"A fight is just winning or losing, and you lost—you loser."
David clenched his fist tightly:
"I'll win today for sure."
Nathan scoffed:
"Hmph, we'll see."
After classes ended, the three went to the Combat Tower.
A few decades ago, several people cooperated and created a magic machine that generates monsters from mana, but the maximum movement range for these monsters was only ten meters. These monsters were suitable only for training, so these individuals cooperated with the academy, and a tower was built inside the academy containing multiple machines that generate monsters.
The academy added another incentive for students to train fighting monsters inside the tower: money—or academy points. Students could earn points from killing these monsters.
You could say the Combat Tower was one of the few places in the academy that gathered students from different grade levels.
Steven knew about this tower from the novel. When he decided to go, those two naturally followed him.