They are the ones who crafted your reality!
They call for you!
Will you heed their call?
doom!
"What the fk!"
A smooth black stone fell.
Raven's head jolted up, his hands flinging back to massage his aching head.
One could tell from the instructor's bulged muscles that he had used full force to send the stone flying.
"Raven is it?" He called out
Raven stared at the Instructor.
Behind him few students buried their faces in their sleeves, suppressing the laughter. One girl wiped tears from the corner of her eyes while trying to keep quiet.
Everyone knew better than to laugh in the Poker Lord's class.
It was rumored that their instructor Lukas, a.k.a The Poker Lord had never smiled.
Not once.
He always kept a straight face, and somehow expected everyone to do same.
Raven kept rubbing his sore head.
His eyes still fixed on the instructor.
No reply.
But Instructor Lukas wasn't done with the questions
"Are you from the Hart family?"
.....
Behind him, the room slowly went quiet.
Hart family?
....
No reply
The few students who had been shaking with laughter straightened in their seats. One boy stared hard at his book, pretending to read
Everyone knew that silence like this only made the Poker Lord angrier.
Raven exhaled and slowly dropped his hand.
He opened his mouth and what followed...
"You should apologize first"
The words rolled out low and steady.
A few heads snapped toward him.
The boy who had been pretending to read slowly lowered his book, staring at Raven like he had just lost his mind.
No one spoke.
No one even breathed too loudly.
Because Raven had just said that… to the Poker Lord.
Who the hell is this transfer student
Does he seriously not know who Instructor Lukas is....
No.... there's no way he wasn't aware
Instructor Lukas was one of the strongest and popular mages in the country of Eldria.
He stood at the peak of the warrior-level realm and was said to have fought a master-level realm sorcerer to a draw.
Although a beginner master level, the gap between a peak warrior and a beginner master was still like a 12 year old to a full grown man.
And Raven...?
An unknown student who got transferred the previous week.
Sleep.
That's all he had been doing since he came, and yet somehow he had aced the entrance tests with a perfect score
All they knew was his name
Instructor Lukas adjusted his tie
For a moment, the classroom felt like a painting someone had forgotten to breathe life into.
His eyes stayed on Raven.
A finger tapped once on the wooden desk in front of him.
Tap.
The sound was small, yet half the class flinched.
"So," Lukas said slowly.
"You want an apology."
No anger in his tone.
That somehow made it worse.
Raven didn't look away.
Lukas stepped down from the platform.
One step.
Then another.
His boots struck the floor with a heavy thud each time.
He stopped right in front of Raven's desk.
Up close, the size difference became obvious.
Lukas stood like a wall carved out of stone.
Raven stayed seated.
Still calm.
Still looking straight at him.
"You were sleeping in my class," Lukas said.
"You ignored my question."
His gaze dropped briefly to the stone on the floor.
Then back to Raven.
"And now you want me to apologize."
The air in the room felt tight.
Like something invisible was pressing down on everyone's shoulders.
Raven leaned back slightly in his seat.
His expression didn't change.
"You threw a rock at my head."
His tone stayed even.
"That usually deserves an apology."
A sharp breath escaped someone in the back row.
Lukas stared at him.
Three seconds.
Four.
Then—
He smiled.
It was small.
Barely there.
But it existed.
And the reaction was instant.
A pen clattered to the floor.
Someone whispered a quiet curse.
Because everyone in that room had heard the rumor.
Instructor Lukas had never smiled.
Not once.
Yet there it was.
The Poker Lord straightened.
"Interesting."
His voice carried across the room.
"Very interesting."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tell me, Raven."
His fingers drummed once on the desk.
"Are all members of the Hart family this brave…"
The faint smile stayed.
"…or are you just particularly stupid?"
Raven let out a long, tired sigh.
He ignored the wall of muscle standing over him and leaned down to pick up the stone.
Half-bent, he spoke.
"I'm stupid…"
A grin tugged at his lips.
No one saw it.
"…but that just makes the guy asking a stupid person for answers look even more impressive."
For half a second, the room held its breath.
PFFFT!
The boy who had been pretending to read nearly exploded. He snapped the book up to his face, shoulders shaking violently as he buried himself in the pages.
The reaction was instantaneous
BOOOOM!
The air shattered. Papers flew like startled birds.
The entire classroom shuddered as a fist of pure force slammed into the space where Raven sat.
Raven didn't flinch.
Not a hair moved. Not an eyelid twitched. He just stared calmy
The black stone between his fingers rattled as the force pressed against it, and then—cracks spiderwebbed across the shimmering barrier that now surrounded him.
Instructor Lukas' fist had shattered wind itself. The sound alone could have flattened walls. Yet here it was, meeting resistance.
His brows furrowed.
A flicker of something—frustration, maybe disbelief—passed through the otherwise stoic Poker Lord.
His eyes narrowed.
The barrier trembled again under the raw force, tiny fragments of energy flickering and snapping. Every student froze mid-breath. No one dared blink.
Impossible… Lukas thought, though no word left his mouth.
Raven remained seated, fingers still wrapped around the stone, watching him calmly.
The faint grin he'd flashed earlier was gone, replaced by a blank, unreadable mask.
Lukas' mind raced as he increased the strength of his punch. The cracks widened, shards of energy snapped like lightning across the barrier
The power gap he had assumed.....obliterated.
Inside, Raven's calm demeanor was unmoved but his thoughts were'nt
This shouldn't be happening… How is he breaking the barrier—
Then, the sound of heels clicking against the floor cut through the tension like a bell.
A teacher appeared at the doorway, arms folded, expression unreadable.
"Enough, Lukas," she said sharply.
The room instantly exhaled as one.
"I'll handle it from here."