Kaelan walked away from the lush area of the Silverpine Forest. His footsteps felt much slower than usual.The black jacket wrapping his body was torn wide open at the left shoulder, while dried bloodstains clung to the edge of the sleeve. A sharp sensation of pain still pulsed incessantly from his ribcage all the way along his back due to the heavy impacts during the battle a short while ago.He stopped for a moment at the edge of the road, which was beginning to bustle with passing vehicles.His palm slowly opened to the air.A dim greenish light flickered for a moment."Healing Rune."A thin stream of mana seeped into his entire body. The slash wounds on his cheek and neck gradually faded, and the bruise on his shoulder vanished bit by bit. Nevertheless, the piercing pain in his internal organs persisted, demanding a longer rest period.Kaelan took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly."Still not enough."The cracks in his Mana Core were indeed beginning to shrink, but using the Wind

A short while later, Ryan's black sedan stopped at the roadside not far from the campus gates.The twilight sky gradually turned into a dark night. Olivia sat quietly in the front passenger seat, her manicured fingers casually playing with the ends of her hair.Ryan turned on his phone screen, opened the photo gallery, and began playing a thirty-seven-second video.Inside the video recording, Kaelan was seen pushing a college student until he slumped down to the ground. A second student who tried to approach was also pushed back. The video was deliberately cut right at that crucial second.There was no prior threat scene. There was no footage when Lyra's bag was roughly pulled by their hired thugs. There was not a single part showing the background reason for Kaelan acting defensively.Ryan then swiped his screen to the next batch of photos.The first photo showed Kaelan sitting side by side with a female student, Lyra Bennett, on a campus park bench. The second photo displayed Lyra s

The morning at the Garrison Mansion felt much quieter and stiffer than usual.Morning sunlight forced its way through the large glass windows of the dining room, casting a reddish shimmer across the surface of the long, mahogany-veneered table, which was already laden with a lavish array of breakfast dishes.Evelyn Garrison sat rigidly in the main chair with an expression as cold as ice. Victor Blackwood looked calm as he read the business newspaper on the left without saying much, while Ryan Blackwood sipped his black coffee, occasionally casting anticipatory glances toward the second-floor stairs.The sound of footsteps finally approached.Kaelan walked down the stairs in neat, casual campus attire. The bruises covering his body were completely hidden beneath layers of bandages, while his facial expression was flat and calm once again, as if the terrifying incident of the previous night had never happened at all.He was about to walk right past the dining area."Kaelan."Evelyn's co

Kaelan turned his attention back to Evelyn."For years, I always convinced myself..." Kaelan's voice weakened, leaving behind a profound pain, "...that one day, Mother would surely learn to trust me.""As it turns out... I was dead wrong."Evelyn gripped the edge of the table with hands trembling violently. "Kaelan... listen—"Kaelan raised his palm, stopping his mother from continuing her defense."Today, let me do the talking."The atmosphere in the dining room felt increasingly suffocating."Does Mother know what the most painful thing in the world is?""It's not the hard slap that landed on my cheek.""Nor is it the harsh insults or the discriminatory treatment you've all put me through."Kaelan took a long breath, calming the raging emotional storm in his chest."The most painful thing is... Mother always chooses to believe strangers and external lies long before she is ever willing to trust her own flesh and blood."That blunt statement struck Evelyn's chest much harder than any

Kaelan did not head straight to the classroom. The moment he set foot on campus, he walked past the main building with his gaze fixed straight ahead, ignoring the few students who turned to look or whispered as they saw him.Normally, he would seek out the quietest spot to avoid crowds before lectures began. However, today felt different. His mind was still lingering at the Garrison Mansion dining table—the shadow of Evelyn's smile, the tone of his mother's voice, Victor's cold gaze, and Ryan's neatly concealed smirk of satisfaction.Kaelan stopped right in front of the steps leading up to the second floor, then took a deep breath.There was no use lamenting that situation now. Anger would not instantly dismantle the influence of the Garrison family. Moreover, he was still far too weak; the mana reserve within his body had not even recovered a fraction of a percent of his past power. If he wanted to face them later on, he needed absolute strength, not merely flared-up emotions.He res