The Author's POV

"Sorry for my tardiness"

-Swoooosh!

Opening the door and scratching the back of my head, on the other side of the door, I saw three people standing with their backs straight. As soon as I opened the door, a surge of powerful aura came crashing in, creating a powerful gush of air that reminded me of a typhoon.

Feeling the gush of air brush past me as my clothes fluttered lightly, I tried my best the keep my smile on my face as I looked at the people before me.

Taking a closer look, there were three people.

The three people looked to be in their twenties, however, considering that they were all wearing Lock uniforms, they were still not there in terms of age.

Their ranks looked to be at around the rank region, with the weakest of them being . They each wore green-colored uniforms indicating that they were in their second years and the one leading them, the strongest one of the lot, I could feel his rank being at around .

The reason I knew this was because they didn't shy away from releasing their oppressive aura.. Their intentions were obvious. Intimidate me.

...well, it was supposed to suppress me, but it really had no effect on me at the moment. Still, I pretended to grimace under their pressure.

"kkhh...who is this?"

'Observe before acting'

Seeing my reaction, keeping the pressure for a couple of seconds before removing it, the leading youth looked at me as he said in a solemn voice.

"You're the one that just moved in?"

Pretending to catch my breath, I slowly nodded my head and responded.

"huff..huff...Indeed."

As I responded to them, I tried my bests to hold back. Although the way they talked and behaved irked me, I had to hold it in until I found out who their backer was.

Chances were that they were someone I should probably not offend for the time being.

After making sure he had exerted his 'dominance' over me, the leading youth briefly glanced at his two lackeys behind him before looking back at me and saying

"My name is Noah Riley, a fellow student who resides in this building. Currently, I am gathering all of the people in this building for our usual end-of-the-week meeting. Seeing that you are here, you should also come and introduce yourself."

"Don't worry, he just wants to get to know you better and help you adapt to this place faster..." said Noah in a casual manner.

Although he claimed that he was requesting for a word, his tone didn't contain any trace of request.

It seems like something annoying was about to happen.

Overbearingly stepping into my room without asking for my permission, Noah and his lackeys glanced around the room before a smirk emerged on their faces as they saw the two people inside of the room.

Turning his attention towards them, crossing his arms, Noah snorted as he spoke

"hmph, it seems like Leo and Ram are also here, perfect, you guys must come with us too"

Silently clenching their fists beneath their clothes, Leo and Ram both smiled towards Noah and stood up.

"...Yes"

"Understood"

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Noah calmly watched as Leo and Ram left the room with their heads hung low. Thereafter, turning his attention towards me, he said

"Hurry up as we don't have much time to waste"

"...alright"

Watching from the side, I calmly observed everyone present in the room. From the way that the trio was looking down at Leo and Ram, and by how they both refused to retaliate.

Although I wanted to help them, as they were the first people I actually got along with in this academy...now was not the time.

...from the way I saw things, it seems like whoever was backing the trio was rather powerful. To give his lackeys that much confidence. From the way they spoke and talked, it looked as though they owned the place...this situation may indeed become troublesome.

After making sure Leo and Ram went out, looking at me, nudging me with his head, Noah coldly said

"Follow along"

Smiling amiably, I nodded my head.

"Sure"

"...good choice"

Seeing me nod, Noah turned around and left. Nodding his head towards his two lackeys, Noah directly turned right and walked through the long corridor that seemed to stretch to no end.

As I looked at Noah and the rest from behind, for a split second my eyes narrowed. Thereafter, an amiable smile appeared on my face as I closed the door behind me.

-Clank!

to who the person they

...

we soon arrived in front

two lackeys

had their heads held down. Observing everyone around me, I carefully imprinted everyone's behavior in my

get an idea of who I was

"Alright"

presentable, fixing his hair, Noah

-Knock! -Knock!

after Noah knocked on the door, opening the door was a young man dressed in a

hair neatly brushed to the side and wearing a nice butler outfit, a young man that looked to be

"Please come in"

"Thank you, Chris"

who seemed to be named Chris, Noah entered the room followed by his two Lackeys. Shortly after, following Noah's lead, Leo, Ram and I, also

of the apartment, I was immediately left speechless by the grandeur of the place. With a mixture of endearingly vibrant

as a blank canvas that further emphasized the color introduced by the

illuminate the room, creating this brilliant veil of light that warmed the colors of the room. There also seemed to be a

my new room. This penthouse apartment was by far a

price of this

are these the

was finishing admiring the place, walking forward, a youth with a grey suit and white

"Yes"

his brow

like we have someone

Noah calmly introduced me to

that has just arrived

the

from

handsome as his skin seemed to be devoid of any pimples or imperfections. The most notable feature of the youth were his pair of eyebrows

the youth

me for a couple of seconds, smiling, the youth

Noah nod, the youth

is the

friendly smile on his face, the

to the Manticore building, my name is Gerrard Lim, and I am currently in my third year

smiling, extending my hand towards him, I shook his hand and introduced

meet you.

"Haha, great, great"

for a couple of seconds, I soon noticed that something wasn't right as a

"kh...."

realized what he was doing and

-Thud

'fearfully' looked at

"Kh..what's going on?"

in my eyes, letting go of my hand, Gerrard laughed

was just joking there is no need to look at me so

back, he along with the

what a nice

"hahah, that was funny"

up, nodding my head towards Gerrard, I thanked him for helping

"T-thank you..."

... rank

that his strength was rank. Just a tidbit

couple of seconds and his

about that prank of mine. Here, why don't

I managed to spot a crowd of students standing on the second floor of

"Y-es"

and slowly walked upstairs. Slowly walking upstairs, from the corner of my eyes, I managed to see Gerrard nod to Noah and the others in

distance, the corner of

you wait...just you wait, I'll pull an even better prank on you later. One that you wouldn't forget for a

were gathered in the room. I

noticed my presence, I found them both quietly moving towards me to check if I was

what happened are you

"Are you hurt"

shook my

nothing to be worried about.

I wasn't lying.

rank was indeed higher than mine, his pressure wasn't actually affecting me that much. As I thought back at Gerrard who was still downstairs talking to his lackeys, staring at

everyone so fearful around him? Isn't he just rank? Although that

found both Leo and Ram putting their hands on my mouth as they tried to stop me from speaking any further. A look of panic appeared on

do you want to

aback, I couldn't help but look at them

"...what's wrong?"

to make sure no one was paying attention to them, lowering his voice,