The moment Eric's horrified scream echoed throughout the auditorium—
"Aahhhhhh... Ghost! Ghost!"
—the sound carried so far across the hall that it seemed to bounce off every wall before fading into the stunned silence that had already gripped the gathered students.
For a brief moment—
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Then slowly—
Hundreds of heads turned toward the source of the disturbance.
And what they saw immediately caused the silence to crack.
Murmurs erupted throughout the auditorium.
"Instructor Valerian?!"
"He's alive?"
"How is he here?"
"Wasn't Miss Elowen just talking about—"
"I thought he was dead!"
The discussions spread through the hall like wildfire while countless students stared toward the familiar figure standing casually between the rows of seats.
Meanwhile—
Valerian himself seemed completely oblivious to the chaos surrounding him.
Or perhaps—
He simply enjoyed it.
"Hahahahaha... Hehehehehahahaha..."
