NOVEL WEB Chapter 166: Johnny from the Vincent family
Within a matter of seconds, the quiet classroom filled with motion. One after another, students began pouring in through the portal—dozens of them. Ethan's brow furrowed as he watched the room that once held sixteen now rapidly swell past thirty... then forty... and still growing.
The calm atmosphere shattered. Whispers broke out, chairs scraped loudly against the stone floor, and the sense of exclusivity Ethan had just begun to accept was suddenly ripped apart.
Moreover, the new arrivals did not look diverse at all. Almost all of them were well dressed and paraded around expensive shit. He was pretty sure he had even seen some of them fail the tests, and yet they were still here.
Ethan now understood why some were confident that they would get in despite their poor performance. The back door was very real.
The rumors weren't just idle talk. This academy didn't just tolerate corruption; it thrived on it. The nobles, the families with gold and status, they had secured spots here for their children no matter how poorly they did in the trials.
Ethan's jaw tightened as he watched one particularly smug-looking boy stroll in, flanked by what looked like personal attendants carrying his gear.
The same boy who had tripped over his own feet during the treadmill test and been laughed off the field. Now he was grinning, greeting others like he already owned the place.
"Ah.. fuck." Ethan could feel a headache coming.
A few of the original 16 stood up to leave, their faces were annoyed and filled with disdain as they glanced at the crowded classroom. They then left the room indifferently. Ethan quickly followed them, deciding to do the same thing and mingled in the crowd before he left the class hall without anyone noticing him.
He was standing out way too much right now, and he did not want to unnecessarily invite trouble his way. He did not give two shits about these arrogant brats. He only had one aim in coming here.
"Ah hell, where are the fucking dorms?" The academy was not quite as small as he had hoped, and there were only class halls after class halls everywhere he went. He already received a few stares because of the clothes he was wearing. This was not going to work.
He spotted a restroom ahead and quickly went in with his bundle of stuff. He ducked into the last stall, latched the door shut, and exhaled sharply. The heavy bundle thumped softly against the stone floor as he knelt and began untying it.
There wasn't time for ceremony. He yanked off his old robe, the fabric practically coming apart in his hands. It had served its purpose—helped him look like a harmless, forgettable stray. But now it was painting a target on his back. Nobles didn't like commoners. He'd seen it already—how they looked at him, like he was a smudge on their polished world.
He unwrapped the new robe and boots from the academy-issued bundle. The fabric was soft and comfortable. It felt a little strange to wear the robe while going full commando on the inside, but hey, who cared?
Ethan changed quickly, stuffing his old clothes into the deepest part of the bundle and tying it up again. His new look wasn't flashy, but at least now he wouldn't stand out for looking like he crawled out of a gutter.
He stared at his reflection in the cracked mirror above the sink. The robe fit decently, though the sleeves were a bit long. The Blackstone crest—a serpent coiled around a star—sat neatly on his chest. His hair was still a mess, which he corrected quickly with some water.
"Better," he muttered, adjusting the strap that held his seal. He washed his face, took one last breath, and stepped back out into the corridor. Time to find the damn dorms.
He spotted a group of three students walking further ahead, laughing and loudly complaining about how "awful" the teleportation experience had been. "Hey! Do you know where the dorms are?" Ethan approached them. "I am Johnny from the Vincent family."
The three students stopped mid-conversation and turned to look at him. The tallest of the bunch raised a brow. "Johnny? Vincent family?" he echoed, as if trying to place the name in some invisible ledger of noble houses. After a beat, his smile widened, just a touch too sharp. "Hmmm? Never heard of it."
The other two chuckled, one of them whispering something under his breath that made the third snort.
Ethan didn't flinch. He kept his expression neutral, even gave them a small grin. "Distant branch. You probably wouldn't have."
The guy gave a lazy shrug, clearly losing interest. "Dorms are in the East Wing, third floor. Follow the serpent mosaics. They'll take you there." Then he turned away like Ethan no longer existed, already diving back into whatever trivial nonsense they'd been discussing.
"Much appreciated," Ethan said casually and walked off without waiting for a reply.
He didn't mind the snub. In fact, that little exchange told him plenty. These nobles didn't know every house, which meant he could drop fake names when needed—as long as he didn't push too hard. "Johnny from the Vincent family" might just become his backup identity for when blending in got difficult.
Soon, he arrived at the East Wing and spotted the dorms. The newcomers' dorms were on the third floor.
The dorm hallway was lined with ornate doors, each bearing a different nameplate and an embedded magical glyph that glowed faintly. There was no need for keys—student seals acted as identification and access tokens. He pulled out the polished bronze emblem from his robe and held it up to one of the nameplates at random. No response. Wrong room.
He checked the small parchment from his bundle. Room 3C.
It took a moment to find, nestled near the end of the corridor. He tapped the seal against the glyph, and the door slid open with a quiet hum. Ethan's eyes immediately widened as the room in front of him was beyond modest.