CHAPTER 27: EDWIN’S GREAT SHOCK

Julia lost her composure when she saw the headmaster’s name flash across her phone. Her hands trembled as she answered, only for the most unexpected sentence to enter her ears.

"Give the phone to Godfrey."

"O... Okay, Sir." She turned to the furious boy seated upright on the sickbed and stretched the phone toward him. Godfrey raised an eyebrow, suspicion flickering in his ocean-blue eyes.

"What?"

"The headmaster wants to speak with you."

Godfrey hesitated for only a second before taking the phone.

"I am speaking to Godfrey Daniels, correct?" Sebastian’s deep, steady voice carried through the speaker.

"Yes," Godfrey answered curtly.

"Your case has just been brought to my table," Sebastian continued, his tone calm yet carrying authority. "I have decided that Dale and his associates will be suspended for two weeks. This will deny them access to the upcoming field trip. Are you satisfied with this outcome?"

"Make it three weeks."

The demand left Julia blinking and Edwin bursting into laughter. To him, this brat had been handed a gift on a silver platter, and instead of being grateful, he dared to make demands? Surely, he would lose everything.

"Of course." Sebastian’s calm response silenced the laughter instantly. "Some students would want them gone for months, but you only added a week. You’re a good kid."

Edwin’s mind stalled, his thoughts crashing into one another. What...? Most students of Manhattan came from powerful, influential families. Why was the headmaster risking so much to provoke them, all for one boy who wasn’t even worth a fraction of their total potential?

The combat instructor, who had fought on Godfrey’s behalf, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A three-week suspension? That meant Dale, Siegfried, Orwen, and Maldred wouldn’t just miss the field trip, they would bear that mark even after returning.

Julia’s wide eyes darted to Godfrey. The boy’s expression brightened for the first time.

Meanwhile, inside the headmaster’s office, Edwin cleared his throat nervously. "Sir, I don’t understand. If these students don’t attend the field trip, it will weaken the average strength of the sophomore elites. All we’ll have left is Isolde, Snow, and Cecil."

"Haven’t you seen Godfrey’s new summon? It has top-level High-Tier potential," Evangeline replied before Sebastian could speak. She stood at the headmaster’s side, her voice quiet but confident.

Edwin scoffed. "Golems have no future. Other summons learn and adapt with each experience. Golems have no intelligence. They don’t learn from battles, they repeat the same actions endlessly. Their growth rate is pitiful. After this field trip, Cecil will gain real dungeon experience, and her summon will certainly surpass Godfrey’s."

The combat instructor turned sharply toward Edwin, his frown deepening. But before he could speak, Sebastian’s quiet cough drew their attention.

"Edwin..." Sebastian fixed his stern gaze on him. "Godfrey’s summons are not golems. Some beasts can actually take the form of humans, don’t you think?" He poured himself a cup of tea, lifting it slowly before taking a measured sip. His eyes darkened. "The most dangerous summons the world has ever known were not beasts at all, but those that looked like us."

A heavy silence filled the room as Sebastian sighed.

"I planned to hide this, but I need you both as my hands in this matter. So you’ll hear this once and listen well. Isolde is the first student with Queen potential we’ve had in years. She is a dual summoner, our most treasured student. But what if I told you that on the very day Godfrey awakened, the summon we gauged revealed a tier of 12.1 and a potential beyond our classifications." His voice dropped lower, his eyes gleaming with restrained intensity. "He is an unclassified summoner."

Edwin froze where he stood, his words stuck in his throat. The instructor beside him was equally stunned.

"T... This doesn’t make any sense," Edwin stammered. "If he’s a King-Tier summoner right from the start, the world would have already known! The birth of another King-Tier cannot go unnoticed. He shouldn’t even be beginning as a Low-Tier."

Sebastian nodded solemnly. "That’s what confuses me most. We are dealing with something we’ve never encountered before. That’s why you must ensure he remains under our watch until we fully understand what exactly Godfrey Daniels is."

"He doesn’t know, does he?" the combat instructor asked quietly.

Evangeline shook her head. "Of course not. And we intend to keep it that way."

***

Godfrey exhaled heavily as he stepped back into his room and closed the door behind him. The familiar silence pressed around him. His eyes roamed across the spacious quarters, the bed in the center, the desk by the wall. His thoughts drifted toward the glowing core inside his backpack, his reward for placing third.

A sudden ping from his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. Sliding it out of his pocket, he unlocked the screen.

"I heard you’ve been discharged. You have the rest of the day to relax, so please do. Tomorrow, I’ll be going to the gym. Will you to come... Please~"

Godfrey chuckled faintly as he read Isolde’s message before typing a short reply: "I’ll be there."

"Thank you! Meet me outside the campus tomorrow morning."

His eyes widened. ’She didn’t say anything about leaving the school gym... and I already agreed.’

For some, complaining after spilling milk was pointless. But not for Godfrey. He spent fifteen minutes furiously texting his complaints, only for Isolde to brush them aside with crying emojis and hearts.

Defeated, he tossed his phone onto the bed with a groan.

Sitting cross-legged on the mattress, he opened a portal. Mountain emerged. His heavy boots struck the floor with deep, echoing thuds as his towering frame loomed over Godfrey.

"You’re a 4.1 Elite, still on the lower end of the tier," Godfrey sighed. "So take it." He reached into his backpack and pulled out the glowing dungeon core. Its pulsing light reflected in his eyes as he stretched his hand forward.

Mountain knelt, his great shield and longsword clattering softly as he placed them across his back. With reverence, he accepted the orb with both gauntleted hands.

The instant the core touched his palms, its glow intensified, streams of crimson energy snaking into his armored forearms. Godfrey’s eyes widened as he felt the surge, the aura around Mountain swelling, his presence expanding. The knight’s massive frame began to grow, the mana within him climbing higher and higher.

When the core finally vanished, Mountain rose to his full height, now a towering 7.7 feet tall. His armor gleamed with a more majestic golden sheen, his broad pauldrons radiating overwhelming power. His tier had risen to 4.6.

The room felt suddenly smaller, cramped by the sheer presence of the knight wielding a longsword and shield. Lifting his blade, Mountain let a wave of white energy envelop it, its sharpness so intense that even Godfrey’s skin prickled from its heat.

Godfrey narrowed his eyes. Another adaptive skill. But this time, he wasn’t shocked. Unlike other summons who had to struggle and fight to gain adaptive skills, Mountain seemed to simply... recall them.

Ever since Mountain had read those ancient writings, the ones carved beside his throne, Godfrey had learned the truth. His summon had lived and fought for a century. Every adaptive skill Mountain revealed was one he had already learned in a forgotten lifetime.

Feeling his own mana reserves drop a little, Godfrey dismissed Mountain back into the soul space. He crossed his legs again, breathing deeply.

’Summoners have to master the art of meditation,’ he reminded himself. ’It’s the only way to draw in and store mana.’

They were the batteries of their summons. Once their mana ran dry, their companions would be forced back into the soul space. The elites of his class, Isolde, Snow, Dale, had awakened young. Their reserves were deep, accumulated through years of meditation. They had the luxury of using their summon’s skills without fear.

But not him. Even now, he could barely hold out after Ballista’s Black-Out State. Supporting both Mountain and Ballista at once was impossible. Even if he managed it, neither could use a skill without being yanked back into the void.

"Man... I’ve seen Mom do this a million times, but it’s so uncomfortable." Godfrey clicked his tongue, massaging his knees while trying to focus on his breathing.

Still, he pushed himself. ’Meditation can enrich my soul space. It can let my summons passively grow stronger. I have to get serious.’

....

A/N: I slept off.