NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: EQUAL PEERS
Selene stood tall at the center of the chamber, her presence slicing through the murmurs like a blade. The Grade C nobles exchanged a knowing smile, their heads dipping in faint acknowledgment, their polished discipline sharp and rehearsed. The Grade D nobles, however, fumbled between awe and unease, their eyes darting nervously.
Her emerald gaze swept over her own students. "You came here thinking yourselves competent because you passed my trials. You're about to stand where mana is heavier, purer, and more alive. This place will test you. Every breath you take will strain your lungs. Every thought will be pressed by flow. If you falter, it is not the chamber's weakness, it is yours."
Her voice carried like frost, crisp and absolute. All students stiffened under her words, some lowering their heads in shame, others straightening with pride.
And then...
"Selene."
The name rang out, spoken casually, almost lazily. A boy from the Grade C group, tall with raven hair and golden eyes that gleamed with self-assurance, had stepped forward. His robes bore a crimson crest stitched in fine gold.. the mark of an old noble house. His smirk was the kind that dripped with arrogance, as though he owned the floor he stood on.
But it wasn't his posture that froze the room. It was his voice.
Selene.
The word cut like thunder.
Gasps erupted among the Grade D nobles.
"Did he...did he just… call her.. "
"Her name?! By her name?!"
"No one..no one dares.. "
Whispers shot through them like fire, scandal mixing with confusion. A few bold ones muttered furiously, likely offended on her behalf.
"Disrespectful bastard!"
"How dare he speak like that to Professor Selene…"
"She'll freeze him where he stands.. just watch!"
But Selene didn't react the way they expected. Her lashes lowered faintly, a slight sigh escaping her lips, more like a woman acknowledging an equal than a professor addressing a student.
The silence that followed felt wrong to the students. Some shifted, others stared wide-eyed. For them, Selene was untouchable, unreachable, a figure of authority. For her to accept her name spoken so bluntly.. it was almost sacrilege.
And yet…
Eran leaned against one of the stone pillars, lips curling into a faint smirk. He could feel it. The air between Selene and the boy wasn't defiance, it was familiarity. Not one of master and student, but of equals standing on the same ground.
The realization rolled through him like a whisper of lightning. So… that's it.
Selene wasn't above them. She was among them. To the Grade C nobles, she wasn't a professor to be revered, she was just another peer, another serpent weaving through the same noble circle, her status hidden from those who thought they knew her.
The others didn't see it. They couldn't. But Eran's smirk deepened.
The Ice Serpent plays two faces… and I'm the only one who's touched the real one.
Selene walked ahead, her robes gliding soundlessly across the polished floor. Her emerald gaze cut toward him where he stood, sharp and deliberate.
"It's been a while," he said, his voice deep and smooth, laced with arrogance. The same raven-haired boy from earlier. His golden eyes glinted like someone accustomed to command."You haven't returned to your ground chamber in some time, Selene."
Gasps rippled through the crowd again.
"There it is again "
"He just called her..."
"By name! And so casually..."
Their whispers were sharp, frantic, like a hive of bees disturbed.
Before Selene could answer, a girl from stepped forward, her pride swelling as if to defend the professor's honor. "You dare speak to Professor Selene in such a manner? Do you even know—"
But her words cut short. The raven-haired noble's eyes shifted lazily toward her, a single golden glance carrying more arrogance than her entire outburst. His lips curved into a slow smirk.
"If I were you...," he drawled, voice rich with disdain, "I wouldn't interrupt."
The girl froze, her jaw snapping shut. The weight of his tone backed by status, mana, and that infuriating smirk crushed her voice before it could rise again. She stepped back, shame flushing her cheeks, and the other nobles quietly muttered in her defense, though none dared to speak up.
The boy turned back to Selene as if the exchange hadn't even mattered. His gaze flicked briefly toward the group of D students. "I see… you've brought your own students here. To train."
Selene's eyes softened faintly, the corners of her lips tilting into the faintest smile. "Mm. They've a long way to go… but if they endure, they'll learn balance soon enough."
That single smile gentle, amused, almost teasing.. struck all students harder than the dense mana around them. Their jaws slackened, whispers hissed louder.
"She smiled…"
"She actually smiled."
"I've never seen Professor Selene smile."
"And teasing? Did you hear her tone "
The nobles couldn't believe it. For years, Selene was the Ice-Serpent cold, unreachable, a woman carved from ice itself. To see her like this, exchanging words with another as if they were equals, wearing warmth on her lips instead of frost, it shattered their entire vision of her.
But Eran…
He stood silently at the back, his eyes fixed not on Selene's smile, but on the raven-haired boy's smirk and the familiarity between them. His lips curled faintly.
He already knew what the others could not. To these Grade C nobles, Selene wasn't their professor, their untouchable serpent. No..Not here she was one of them. An equal. A peer among nobles who bore the same crest of privilege.
As the murmurs of disbelief swelled among all students, Eran's smirk deepened. yet, only him knew the truth beneath the mask. He had touched the woman who now smiled so easily at another. He could still hear them—her moans, her cries, those breaking whispers in the dark. They hadn't faded with time; they clung to his mind like a phantom melody, returning unbidden whenever his eyes found her.
Before the silence could settle, the atmosphere stirred with power.
The noble's voice carried like a ripple of command, smooth yet edged with quiet authority.
"Alright," he said, his gaze sweeping over Selene's students, "you'll need to follow me beneath the chambers. But understand this none of you hold enough enough mana to proceed in your current state."
Without a moment's pause, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
A shimmer of light bled into the air, then hardened into form a magic banner unraveling like a serpent of cloth, but alive with pulsing streams of mana. It split itself into threads, each one slithering toward a wrist. The students gasped as the bindings coiled around their arms, snug but not painful, glowing faintly as if breathing with them.
Eran glanced down at his wrist, the way the mark of light fused with his skin, humming quietly as if testing his pulse. So this was the difference in hierarchy, he thought. A simple gesture, a mere flick, and power bowed at the noble's will. Even Selene, who stood impassive beside him, did not intervene.
"This," the noble continued, lips curving in a low smile that never wavered, "will sustain your balance. With it, you may step deeper into our ground." His eyes glinted, sharp as polished steel. "Without it, you would collapse before the second threshold."
A few students muttered beneath their breath, awe tangled with fear. To them, this was divine a power beyond reach. But Eran only narrowed his eyes. He could feel the flow, the steady control. Useful, yes. Impressive. Yet still, he wondered… if this is what a single chamber noble can summon at will, then what does the true hierarchy above them look like?
The thought drew a faint smirk to his lips. He tightened his wrist, testing the flow of energy that wasn't his, and imagined already.. the day he wouldn't need their banners to walk where they walked.
BUT THEN...
The noble's low smile lingered as he turned, his robe trailing like a shadow given weight.
"Follow," he commanded, no louder than a whisper, yet it carried through the chamber as if the stones themselves obeyed.
The students moved after him, their banners of mana glowing faintly with each step.
As they descended the winding passage, the walls began to shift. At first, rough stone; then, without warning, jagged veins of crystal broke through the surface.. blue, violet, and silver, each shard thrumming with inner light. Their glow painted every face with shifting hues, and a quiet hum filled the air, resonating in bone and marrow.
"Look… look at that…" one student whispered, awe-stricken.
"Crystals… but they're alive."
"No, not alive… they're reacting to us."
The murmurs spread, hushed but restless, as if speaking too loud would awaken something watching from within the walls. The mana in the air thickened, heavy enough to taste on the tongue.
Eran walked in silence, his eyes tracing every shard. He could feel it the way each crystal pulsed faintly in answer to their presence. Not just light… he thought. This is power bound. Power locked into form.