Xane noticed that, from the elves to the dwarves, all of them suddenly stopped talking among themselves and looked at the golden-haired boy.
Xane asked, [Is this the famous protagonist effect?]
Zayn sighed,
It was then that Xane noticed that most of the surrounding teens at the back were still chatting.
Sure enough, it was only those at the front who shared the same reaction.
At this moment, Zayn mentally cursed.
That was when Xane noticed another lean guy with blue hair also entering the room beside the protagonist.
The guy jokingly punched the protagonist.
Clearly, they were friends.
Teens around him also started to notice the strange situation, as he could hear them asking each other about the two guys.
Out of nowhere, the person behind him said, "Oh, didn't you guys hear the rumor about the genius duo who managed to form pure Adamant-grade hex cores?"
Zayn frowned.
Not stopping there, the guy continued. "You see the guy with the golden hair? That's Liam Lathem. He has the mark of the ancient cursed land of Law."
Zayn could hear everyone gulping. One of them even whispered, "Dude, don't lie."
The guy didn't care and continued in a low voice, "Oh, you're surprised only by that? The blue-haired guy is Samuel Dazio. He has the mark of the ancient curse of Space."
One guy shouted, "What?! How can someone not only survive the cursed land but also manage to form a high-level hex core?"
Zayn just stared at Samuel as both Liam and Samuel walked toward one of the empty seats in the second row, in the center.
It happened just like in the novel, where Zenaris had kept these empty seats just behind Malina. It was just that this time, instead of one seat, they had kept two empty seats.
Zayn grabbed his head.
Xane stared at all this development with interest.
He didn't know how bad the presence of Samuel was for the novel, but one thing was for sure — their plan to become friends with the protagonist now looked bleak.
In Zayn's plan, Liam was supposed to be a quiet, lone guy, and their entire plan was to be the friends who would treat this "once-in-a-generation" genius equally.
But now that genius already had support, Zayn didn't think there was any room left for their plan to work.
Also, the more he looked at Liam and Samuel bantering with each other, it didn't look like these guys had just met in the academy.
It felt more like they had known each other for a long time.
Xane sighed and said, [Calm down, man. We'll uncover the mysteries later, but I think we have to discard our plan and think of something new.]
Zayn took a deep breath to calm himself. He rubbed his arm and nodded to Xane.
[No worries, it happens sometimes. But like I was saying, I don't think the old plan is going to work now.]
Zayn stared at the protagonist and clicked his tongue.
He knew this time was just the calm before the storm.
This world was very unforgiving, and it was only a matter of time before he faced another life-threatening situation.
It suddenly hit him that with the safety net called the protagonist gone, he was in the worst possible condition.
He looked at the other prominent characters who would join the protagonist's team.
Should he try to get close to them instead? But in the novel, the only other humans who joined Liam were Kaia and Melina.
As he thought of her, he pinched the bridge of his nose. It was like a hard slap that woke him from his fantasies — it hit him that without the protagonist's support, there was no chance Melina would tolerate him.
It was a dead end on that front.
He then stared at Samuel. After a minute of thought, he said,
Xane mentally nodded. [Yup, I also think that's a better way. Now the big question, do you know how we can use hex energy without destroying our minds?]
Zayn sighed.
Xane cursed. [Fck, so it's a lose-lose situation.]
Zayn agreed with Xane.
From the novel, he knew how controlling that lady was. Now he wasn't sure how much he could rely on the novel.
But if it were the same as the novel, then most of the Zenairs' heirs would soon be on their backs.
Also, he didn't forget the torture from those two guys. By the end of it, they had warned him not to come in the way of their lady.
He looked at the first row, unsure whether they were referring to Xelami or Melina.
The loud sound of footsteps walking toward the classroom pulled Zayn out of his thoughts.
At that moment, a loud voice echoed throughout the class: "Attention."
This jolted him, and he saw a beautiful lady in a red dress standing behind the podium on the stage.
He was surprised; he hadn't noticed when she had entered the class. Others around him also had confusion on their faces.
The lady smiled at them and said, "I am Luna Misnoy, the personal instructor of Classroom 2. I will also be responsible for the 'The Basics of Hex Energy' class. I hope to have a pleasant time with you all."
With that, Miss Luna clapped her hands, and suddenly, a massive pressure came from her that forced everyone to grip their desks in fear.
She snapped her fingers, and the next moment, all the pressure vanished, like it had been some sort of illusion.
She calmly said, "If we were in the cursed land, all of you would be dead by now."