EX-Grade Grass

Chapter 4

The principal’s office felt colder the second time.

Ren stood in front of the desk while the two teachers explained what happened near the storage sheds. Drake Kane stood to the side with a calm face, like he had done nothing wrong. Victor and Leo waited by the door, trying not to smile.

The principal listened without speaking. When the teachers finished, he looked at Ren.

“You were told to stay away from them,” he said. “Yet another fight happened within a day.”

Ren kept his voice steady. “They came to me. I only stopped them from using their weapons.”

Drake gave a polite bow. “Principal, we only wanted to talk. This student used his strange power on us without warning. My cousin was already hurt yesterday. We were worried for his safety.”

The principal rubbed the scar above his eye. He looked tired.

“I have received two messages from the Kane family since yesterday,” he said. “They are not pleased. The academy cannot protect a student who keeps causing trouble with nobles.”

He opened a drawer and took out a thin paper. “From this moment you are no longer a student here. You will leave the grounds today. Your awakening record will show only that you received an unknown talent and left for personal reasons. That is all.”

Ren felt the words hit harder than any punch. Leaving meant no more free practice fields. No more quiet corners to test the grass. It also meant the academy would not stand between him and the Kane family anymore.

“I understand,” he said.

The principal nodded once. “Go.”

Ren walked out of the office. Students in the hallway stepped back when they saw him. News traveled fast. By the time he reached the front gates, more than twenty people were watching.

Victor finally spoke, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Look at the grass boy now. No more academy. No more place to hide. How long do you think you’ll last outside?”

Drake put a hand on Victor’s shoulder. “Don’t waste words. We’ll see him again soon enough.”

Ren did not answer. He walked through the gates and kept walking until the academy walls were far behind him.

The small house felt quiet when he opened the door. Lisa was sewing by the window. Luna sat with her new book open on her lap. Both looked up at once.

Lisa saw his face and put the needle down. “What happened?”

“I can’t go back,” Ren said. He told them the short version—no more academy, no more student place. He left out most of the fight details.

Lisa’s hands tightened. “Those nobles… they never stop.”

Luna closed her book. “What will you do now?”

Ren sat down and took out the few coins he had left. “I’ll enter the dungeon. The badge still works. I can hunt and sell cores. It’s the only way to earn enough.”

Lisa looked worried, but she did not tell him to stay. She knew they needed the money. Luna only said, “Come back before dark.”

That afternoon Ren went to the adventure guild for the first time as someone who was no longer a student. The receptionist barely looked at him when he showed the badge. She gave him a simple map of Floor 1 and waved him toward the teleport area.

The safe zone on Floor 1 was busy. Groups of adventurers checked weapons and laughed together. When Ren walked past, a few people glanced at his cheap clothes and looked away. No one offered to party with him. He did not ask.

He left the safe paths quickly and headed into the open grass fields. Rabbits hopped everywhere. They were small and weak, perfect for testing.

Ren raised one hand. Grass grew around the nearest rabbit and held it still. A single sharp blade finished it. He harvested the core and the meat, then moved to the next one. The power still cost almost nothing. He could keep going for a long time.

After two hours he had a small pile of Tier-1 cores and several pieces of meat. He was about to head back when three figures stepped out from behind a group of trees.

Victor, Leo, and Drake.

Victor’s smile was wide and mean. “We followed your badge signal. Did you really think leaving the academy would keep you safe?”

Drake drew a short sword. The blade looked expensive. “My uncle said a boy with an unknown grass talent made trouble for the family. He told me to teach that boy a lesson outside school walls. No teachers here to save you.”

Leo cracked his knuckles. “This time we brought real weapons.”

Ren stepped back once. The open field had plenty of grass. That was his only advantage.

Drake moved first. He was faster than Victor. The sword came in a straight line toward Ren’s chest. Ren grew a thick wall of grass in front of him. The sword cut through the first layer but stopped in the second. Hard vines wrapped around Drake’s arm and pulled the weapon sideways.

Victor sent a wave of fire across the ground. The grass burned, but Ren made new blades grow behind the fire line. One vine snapped around Victor’s ankle and yanked him down.

Leo tried to circle around. Ren sent a low wave of sharp leaves that forced him to jump back.

For a moment it looked like Ren could hold them.

Then Drake shouted a short word. A red light covered his sword. The next swing cut through the grass wall like it was paper. The vine on his arm broke. He closed the distance fast and slammed the flat of the blade against Ren’s side.

Pain exploded through Ren’s ribs. He fell to one knee. The warm feeling in his chest flickered.

Victor laughed and formed a ball of fire in both hands. “Stay down, grass boy.”

Before the fire could fly, a new voice cut across the field.

“That’s enough.”

Everyone turned.

A girl with bluish-white hair stood twenty steps away. She wore a clean academy cloak and held a thin ice spear in one hand. Behind her stood a quiet maid of the same age.

Avelin Rein.

Drake lowered his sword a little. “Young Miss Rein. This is a private matter.”

Avelin looked at Ren on the ground, then at the three nobles. “Three against one, outside the academy, after the boy was already expelled. It does not look private. It looks like bullying.”

Victor’s face turned red. “He attacked us first—”

“I saw the end of it,” Avelin said. Her voice stayed calm but cold. “Leave. Now. Or I will report exactly what I saw to my father.”

Drake stared at her for a long second. Then he sheathed his sword. “We were only talking. No need for trouble between families.”

He looked down at Ren one last time. “This is not finished. Next time she will not be here.”

Victor and Leo followed him away across the field. Their steps were stiff with anger.

Avelin waited until they were gone. She did not offer Ren a hand. She only said, “You should not hunt alone on the first floor looking like that. People will keep coming for you.”

Ren pushed himself up slowly. His side hurt with every breath. “Why help me?”

Avelin glanced at the maid, then back at him. “I don’t like watching nobles kick someone who already lost everything. That is all. Do not expect it again.”

She turned and walked toward the safe zone with her maid. Ren watched them leave, then checked his inventory. The cores were still there. The meat was still there. His body was not.

He started the slow walk back, one hand pressed against his ribs.

The Kane family had followed him into the dungeon on the same day he was expelled.

And the girl who stopped them had no reason to help him twice.

Ren knew one thing for certain as the safe zone came into view.

The next time Drake and Victor found him, they would not stop at a warning.