Free Web NovelChapter 24: Selene Hart
For a brief second, the room forgot how to breathe.
A woman stepped inside.
She was beautiful.
Not in the ordinary sense. Not in the way awakened people often became more refined or attractive with higher lifeform development.
No.
This was something else.
Her beauty had a strange, almost unreal quality to it, as if she did not fully belong in the same space as everyone else. Her features were delicate yet sharp, elegant yet cold. Her skin was pale and flawless. Her long hair fell smoothly around her shoulders — a striking, waist-length icy white, almost silver at certain angles. Her eyebrows carried the same color.
It should have looked unnatural. Instead, it made her seem even more otherworldly.
She walked into the room with a steady, unhurried pace and stopped beside the principal.
For the first few seconds, almost every teacher in the room stared at her. Even people of their age and experience were caught off guard. It wasn’t that they had never seen beautiful women before — that would be ridiculous.
After the Awakening Era, appearance standards had changed dramatically. Even civilians who never awakened often looked more attractive than supermodels from the old era. And pathway users, especially high-level ones, were on an entirely different level.
So the teachers sitting here were not inexperienced fools. Most of them were at least Stage 4 themselves.
And yet — even with all of that, they had never seen someone with this kind of beauty and presence before.
It wasn’t just her face. It was the cold calmness. The faint pressure of her cultivation. The sense that she was standing here but somehow also a little removed from everything around her.
After a few seconds, the teachers slowly came back to themselves. A few coughed awkwardly. One looked away.
Caelan stood up from his seat and, with one hand, lightly gestured toward her.
"This," he said, "is Selene Hart."
He gave the room a moment to absorb the name. Then he continued.
"She is a Peak Stage 4 Bloodline Plant Lord Pathway user."
That statement hit the room almost as hard as her appearance had.
A second wave of surprise passed through the teachers.
A Peak Stage 4 Bloodline Plant Lord.
No wonder. That explained the feeling they got from her. And it also explained why Caelan had chosen her.
Because although Orien School had thousands of teachers, not a single one among them possessed the Bloodline Plant Lord Talent.
That was simply how rare it was.
Even when such people existed, they rarely stayed in normal school-teaching positions for long. The moment they reached a sufficient level, most either cultivated independently, joined major operations, entered realm exploration, or got dragged into larger responsibilities by higher powers.
They had more privileges. More resources. But also far more responsibilities.
Which meant that while some of the teachers in the room were quietly dissatisfied that someone from outside had been brought in to take such an important class, none of them could say it openly. Because they also knew that, from the students’ perspective, this was the best choice.
Caelan looked around once more. "She will be taking the Bloodline Plant Lord class."
This time, no one argued. Some still looked unhappy. Some thoughtful. Some were still more shocked by her level than by the decision itself. But none of them objected.
Because what argument could they make? That a non-Bloodline Plant Lord teacher should handle the rarest and most difficult pathway class instead of an actual Peak Stage 4 Bloodline Plant Lord?
That would only make them look stupid.
After giving the room a moment to settle, Caelan turned slightly toward the woman.
"Introduce yourself."
She nodded once.
Then, in a voice that was calm, cool, and almost devoid of unnecessary emotion, she said,
"My name is Selene Hart. I will be overseeing the class from this point forward."
That was all.
No attempt to warm the room. No smiling introduction. Just a clean statement.
Several teachers exchanged tiny glances. The woman clearly was not the talkative type.
A few more formal matters were handled after that. Department support channels. Temporary class scheduling. Resource authorization. Restricted file access. Then, after everything essential had been said, Caelan dismissed the meeting.
One by one, the teachers left the room. Some gave Selene respectful nods before going out. Some only glanced once and left.
Eventually, the conference room became quiet.
— • —
Now only Caelan and Selene remained.
For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
Then Caelan leaned lazily against his chair and looked at her with a faintly amused expression.
"You should talk more," he said in a light, playful tone. "And not with that frozen little voice of yours."
"If you keep acting like that, you won’t make any friends. And then how are you supposed to experience life here?"
Selene turned her head and looked at him.
One pale eyebrow rose slightly.
Then she said, in the same cold voice as before, "I did not come here to make friends."
Caelan’s smile faded. Not fully. But enough.
When he spoke again, his tone was no longer joking.
"It is part of your experience. You need to blend in. You need to experience things properly."
Hearing that, Selene’s eyes narrowed slightly. She clearly wanted to say something back. Maybe several things. But after a short pause, she stopped herself.
Because whether she liked it or not — he was right.
So instead of arguing, she asked, "Give me the class information."
Caelan looked at her for a second, then nodded. "Fine."
But before he handed it over, his expression turned completely serious.
"Listen carefully. It does not matter to me what background you have. It does not matter who the higher-ups are behind you. In this school, I will not tolerate you neglecting those children’s education, hiding knowledge from them unnecessarily, or treating this like a side task while only caring about your own matters."
The room went still.
Selene’s eyes sharpened instantly. For the first time since entering, real emotion flashed across her face.
Anger. Not explosive. But clear.
When she answered, her voice carried more force than before.
"I am not that kind of person."
"I know what the future is. I know what is at stake. I will not make things harder for children who have just entered this path."
"I will teach them properly."
She did not shout. The certainty in her voice was enough.
Caelan held her gaze for a second longer. Then slowly, he smiled again. This time the smile was smaller. Realer.
"I know," he said. "I just wanted to test you."
That made Selene’s eyes narrow again. For a moment, it looked like she genuinely considered throwing him out the window. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Caelan noticed and looked pleased with himself.
He casually pushed the class file toward her. "There. Take it. Your office assignment and class details will be sent to you directly."
Selene took the file without another word. Then she turned and walked toward the door.
Just before she reached it, Caelan said mildly, "And Selene?"
She stopped, but did not turn around.
"Try not to scare all the children on the first day."
There was a short pause. Then, without looking back, she answered in that same cold voice.
"No promises."
And she left.
The conference room became quiet once again. Caelan looked at the closed door for a few seconds, then let out a small laugh.
"Well," he murmured to himself, "that should be interesting."
Then his expression shifted slightly — quieter, more thoughtful. He turned his gaze toward the window, where the morning sky was beginning to brighten over the layered skyline of the city.
Seven children in his school. Twenty-seven across the planet.
He, of course, knew exactly why. He had been told before any of the other principals on Edius. He had been told by people whose names would not appear on any public document for at least another century.
And he had been instructed, clearly and personally, to watch carefully.
Especially over one of those seven.
Caelan let out a slow breath and stood up from his chair. "Let’s see what you’re made of, Ren Valis."
— • —
Ren House — the next morning.
Sunlight came through the window in clean, warm lines. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Ren was already awake.
He had gotten up early, washed, changed, and was now standing in front of the small mirror by his closet, adjusting the collar of his school uniform. The room was quiet. The apartment was quiet. The whole city outside, at this hour, was still settling into its morning.
For the first time in many days, he was not preparing for a fight, a realm, or cultivation inside a rented training room.
He was preparing for school.
And honestly?
After everything that had happened in the past two weeks — the Awakening, the System, the seed, the gift, the Explorer Guild, the Secret Realm, the snakes, the Beetle, the storage space, the escape — going back to a classroom almost felt like a vacation.
Ren smirked at himself in the mirror.
’Quiet morning. Fresh uniform. Classroom waiting. Yeah. Today is going to be a normal, peaceful, ordinary school day.’
He turned away from the mirror.
’...Right?’
He didn’t know it yet, but somewhere across the city, six other newly awakened Bloodline Plant Lords were getting ready for the same morning.
And a woman with ice-white hair was already waiting in a classroom they had not yet seen.
Ren grabbed his bag, slung it over one shoulder, and walked out the door.
