Kael caught Sage's eye across the Silver common room and winked.
Her golden irises narrowed. One tail flicked—sharp, deliberate, the fox-kin equivalent of a middle finger. Rue, seated beside her sister, turned pink and looked away.
He smiled and returned his attention to the front.
Professor Locke stood at the center of the stage flanked by seven instructors. Kael had spent six months cataloguing the faculty of Section 3, and this was the first time he'd seen all of them assembled in one room. The power radiating from the platform was suffocating.
Locke himself sat at Spirit Soul realm Rank 3. To his left, Professor Venna Ashwood—Combat Applications instructor, Spirit Soul realm Rank 2, Blade Intent so sharp Kael's skin prickled when she looked at him. To his right, old Professor Mors who taught Dungeon Ecology and never revealed his cultivation but had once killed a Foundation Establishment Rank 9 beast during a demonstration without moving from his chair.
