ShadowBound: The Need For Power-Chapter 631: They Have Intensified

After finishing his conversation with Mabel, Liam had spent the remainder of the hours in complete silence, seated cross-legged in the center of his dorm room. The lanterns had long since been dimmed, leaving the room wrapped in quiet darkness while the steady rhythm of Myst circulation continued within his body.

He focused entirely on recovery.

With his eyes closed and his breathing slow, Liam drew in the ambient Myst drifting through the air and guided it carefully through his channels. The process was deliberate and controlled, each breath pulling faint currents of energy into his core where they slowly rebuilt the reserves he had completely exhausted during his duel with Percy.

Hours passed like that.

The academy grounds outside eventually began to stir again as the distant sounds of early movement returned to the campus. Liam remained unmoving the entire time, maintaining the steady flow of energy until the faintest rays of sunlight began slipping through the window and stretching across the floor of his room.

Only then did he open his eyes.

The morning light reflected faintly off his red irises as he exhaled slowly, the last of the circulating Myst settling back into his core.

His reserves were not completely full yet, but they had recovered enough.

Satisfied with that, Liam unfolded his legs and rose to his feet. He waited a short while longer for the morning to fully break before finally heading into the bathroom to wash away the lingering fatigue of the previous day.

The bath helped more than he expected.

By the time he stepped out again, dressed now in simple casual clothes instead of his academy uniform, the remaining stiffness in his body had faded considerably.

A short while later, Liam exited his dorm room.

Stepping onto the academy compound, he immediately noticed the difference in atmosphere compared to the previous day.

Students were scattered across the grounds in relaxed clusters, most of them dressed in casual clothing as they moved through the pathways or sat beneath shaded courtyards. Some were heading toward training yards for light practice, others toward the gardens or the library, while many simply wandered about enjoying the rare break in the academy's relentless routine.

Liam wasn't surprised.

'Seems everyone intends to make good use of the day off,' he thought calmly as he walked along the stone path leading toward the cafeteria.

Though he hadn't been present when Sir Kaelen dismissed the students and announced the free day, Mabel had already filled him in on everything that had happened during the evening assembly.

She had even explained the upcoming graduation ceremony and the ranking announcements scheduled to follow it.

Because of that, Liam almost felt as though he had never actually lost consciousness after the duel.

'She really is more useful than I initially thought,' he reflected as Mabel came to mind.

Her efficiency during the previous night alone had been impressive.

'And she's taking that "guardian" role far more seriously than I expected.' His thoughts paused briefly. 'For some reason…' he frowned slightly. 'It's actually amusing.'

The realization confused him more than anything else.

Liam wasn't exactly used to finding people amusing in a positive sense.

Unable to fully understand why the thought lingered the way it did, he simply dismissed it and continued walking.

As he moved further down the path, however, he began noticing the gazes directed toward him.

They came from everywhere.

Students from his own year, second-years, and even third-years

Some of those looks carried something close to admiration. Others held a sort of stunned curiosity, the lingering disbelief of people who had witnessed something they still hadn't fully processed.

But not all of them were positive.

There were others filled with fear.

Suspicion.

Disgust.

Open hostility.

Liam had already grown used to those reactions ever since the academy had learned about his identity as the last dark mage. However, he couldn't help noticing how much stronger those reactions had become after yesterday's duel.

Every emotion seemed intensified.

More eyes lingered on him.

More whispers followed him as he passed.

But honestly, he had expected this.

After all, what else could happen when a first-year defeats a third-year ranked One in a public duel—while also being a dark mage?

'As much as I don't care about any of this,' Liam thought quietly, 'damn you, Percy.'

He felt a faint irritation creeping in.

Percy could have chosen a far more discreet setting for their duel. There were dozens of secluded training grounds scattered throughout the academy where they could have fought without drawing the attention of the entire student body.

They could have even fought at night when the academy grounds were mostly empty.

But instead, Percy had dragged the entire thing into broad daylight, right in front of nearly everyone.

Students.

Instructors.

Even the headmaster himself.

'The more I think about it,' Liam reflected, 'the more I wonder how he even managed to arrange something like that.'

The academy wasn't exactly the kind of place where spontaneous duels in front of hundreds of people just happened without authorization.

'Guess I'll ask him about it when I see him.'

By that point, he had reached the cafeteria building.

Pushing aside the lingering thought, Liam stepped forward and opened one of the large double doors.

The moment he entered, the familiar sounds of the morning cafeteria greeted him.

The room buzzed with conversation.

Students sat scattered across long tables, eating breakfast while exchanging stories about the previous day's matches. Plates clattered softly, chairs scraped across the floor, and the air carried the scent of warm bread and brewed tea.

For a few seconds, everything continued normally.

Then someone noticed him.

One student's voice faltered mid-sentence.

Another turned.

Then another.

Within moments, the entire cafeteria seemed to fall under the same quiet wave.

The noise didn't disappear instantly, but it faded quickly.

The same gazes he had felt outside now turned toward him again.

Whispers started spreading between tables.

Students leaned toward one another, murmuring quietly as their eyes remained fixed on him.

Those standing nearby instinctively shifted away, clearing space as if they had just realized something dangerous had entered the room.

Some even moved aside with visible discomfort, as though they were avoiding contact with something unnatural.

But Liam paid none of it any mind.

He ignored the stares completely.

The only thing occupying his thoughts at that moment was the steady growling of his stomach.

Spending hours replenishing Myst reserves had drained him far more than he realized.

Without slowing down, Liam walked straight toward the serving counter.

Food.

Right now, that was the only thing he cared about.

As Liam collected his tray and turned from the serving counter, his eyes briefly scanned the cafeteria in search of a place to sit. The room was still heavy with attention—whispers trailing through the air and students pretending not to stare while very clearly doing exactly that.

He had barely taken a few steps when a familiar voice cut loudly across the hall.

"Hey Liam!! Over here!"

Dylan's voice carried easily through the cafeteria, loud enough that nearly half the room instinctively turned their heads toward the direction it came from.

Liam paused for a moment, glancing across the room until he spotted the group gathered around one of the long tables.

Dylan was waving both arms in the air as if signaling a ship through fog, making absolutely no attempt to be subtle about it. The others seated with him looked far less enthusiastic about the attention he was drawing.

Seeing the familiar faces, Liam let out a faint scoff under his breath before changing direction and heading toward their table.

As he approached, he noticed what he had expected.

The group was mostly complete.

Dylan sat leaning forward with his usual restless energy, while Asher sat across from him with his arms crossed and his usual irritated expression already present. Ariana sat quietly nearby, her posture calm but observant, while Charlotte lounged in her seat with an air of effortless confidence. Max was there as well, relaxed but attentive.

The only person missing was Sheila, which Liam had already expected.

Reaching the table, he set his tray down and took the empty seat beside Asher without saying a word.

"Woah, man," Dylan began immediately, leaning forward with a grin that looked like it had been waiting the entire morning for this moment. "You've seriously become even more popular than before."

He gestured vaguely around the cafeteria.

"You're literally the topic of the entire academy right now." His grin widened. "I mean, it's you after all. What else were people supposed to talk about today, right?"

Liam ignored him and began eating.

"Yeah, Liam," Max added calmly from across the table. "Your fight with Sheila's brother yesterday really got everyone talking."

He shrugged lightly.

"As chaotic as the situation is… some of it isn't entirely bad."

Liam glanced at him briefly.

"Especially with the ladies~" Dylan chimed in immediately, leaning back in his chair with a mischievous grin. "The ladies are absolutely losing their minds over you right now, Liam boy." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He leaned closer, lowering his voice in exaggerated secrecy.

"Honestly, I think half the girls in the academy are in love with you now." He paused, then pointed a thumb toward Charlotte. "Though I guess some of them are just as crazy as Charlotte here."

Charlotte didn't even hesitate.

"Well," she said smoothly, brushing a strand of her hair back with deliberate elegance, "I must say they have excellent taste."

She glanced toward Liam with a slow smile.

"But unfortunately for them," she added sweetly, "our brooding and charming Liam already belongs to me."

Her voice dipped slightly into a teasingly seductive tone.

"So they're all a bit too late."

Dylan nearly choked trying not to laugh.

Asher groaned quietly under his breath.

Max simply shook his head.

Meanwhile, Ariana looked like she wanted to sink into her seat out of secondhand embarrassment.

Liam slowly raised his eyes from his food and looked at Charlotte.

His expression was completely blank.

'This is one thing I truly wish I could erase from existence,' he thought flatly.

Charlotte, of course, remained completely unaffected by the deadpan stare.

If anything, the lack of reaction seemed to delight her even more.