Chuckling at the seriousness of their words, I sighed before also hiding with them.


    It was normal for them to be paranoid.


    Imagine a creature that can essentially read your mind and see if you have good or bad intentions just appears.


    However, this ability of the griffins was different from Ruby, who could actually see a soul''s size and see its specific desire at all times, rather than just one moment.


    The griffin could see the morality of an intention, which is solely what you''re nning to do at this moment and nothing else.


    Whereas Ruby read and saw your soul as a whole, reading the desire of your whole life and how badly you want it or the size of its me.


    "wait... why am I even thinking about Ruby right now?"


    Clearing my face and thoughts, I stared down at the griffin, trying to form a new n.


    The griffin had keen eyesight as a magical beast... maybe even simr to mine.


    Right now, I was hidden by people, and like me, the griffin couldn''t see through physical objects, so I was fine.


    But, when the emergency rm went off, and the crowd rushed out, the griffin would be able to identify me.


    So, sending clones of me out wouldn''t work.


    I had to confuse and distract the griffin...


    "wait...what if I?"


    Finding something, I ignored the principal walking up to the stage and retrieved all my physical pieces of corruption.


    "Give the ck thing back."


    "... right."


    After retrieving my physical pieces of corruption from Jin, Han, and the floor, I stared at them before reshaping them.


    As the shape of the corruption changed and the weight altered in my hands, I smiled.


    They weren''t clones of me anymore.


    Keeping the physical pieces of corruption with me, I kept my head down to avoid the griffin''s gaze and intently listened.


    Within a few moments, the principal''s voice echoed throughout the multipurpose building.


    "For this next event... as you can see, we have a very special guest with us!"


    After a short pause, Seraphina continued.


    "In this event, you will have to hang on to this griffin''s body for as long as possible without it shaking you off!"


    So, like those carnival games where you get on the mechanical bull and have to stay on it while it tries to throw you off...


    As Seraphina''sst words echoed, the entire crowd of first-years in front of us jumped up and down in excitement.


    They didn''t even want to win the individual reward...they just wanted to touch and ride a griffin.


    As the cheers got louder, I eventually gathered the courage to peek my head for a moment before immediately ducking back down.


    Within that short second, I spotted a very familiar figure walking over to the bleachers, who was obviouslying to choose the first-year participant.


    "Professor Zia... I swear to fucking god if you choose me."


    I had put up with her bullshit choice of making me ss representative... but this was too damn far.


    Surely, she wouldn''t choose me.


    Surely.


    Jin and Han, hearing my anger and furious muttering, also peered their heads up for a moment before hiding again.


    Patting me on the back, Jin said.


    "...Ren, there''s no way Professor Zia hates you this much."


    Nodding my head, I sighed before basically lying down on the floor of the bleachers to hide myself.


    Professor Zia knows of my incident with Liam at the start of the year, so she should think I''m a person with immoral intentions.


    That means she won''t choose me, right?


    Right?


    However, despite Professor Zia having to be near the bleachers now with the pace she was walking with, when I nced upward, nothing was said.


    Eventually, the students in front of us began to whisper.


    "Why hasn''t she chosen anyone!?"


    "...IS SHE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE OR SOMETHING!?"


    "HEY, NO TEACHER BIAST ALLOWED...CHOOSE RANDOMLY!"


    "CHOOSE ME! CHOOSE ME! PLEASE CHOOSE ME!"


    Yes... choose him, PLEASE!


    Not daring to peek my head for a single moment, I stared at Jin and Han.


    Professor Zia knew I would be with the two of them, and it was just a matter of time until they found Jin and Han as they kept peaking their heads up.


    Giving a quick wave, I was about to start crawling away when a sudden voice sounded from ahead of me.


    " *ahem* The principal has told me to pick a specific student... but it seems like he is not an attendance, which is not very surprising to me."


    "..."


    "Instead, I will be choosing someone at random."


    "...oh Lily, you''re the first person I saw. Will you please go up instead?"


    Letting out a sight of relief, I vowed to personally thank Professor Zia the next time I saw her in ss.


    Also... really, Principal Seraphina?


    She really told the teachers to choose me specifically for this event!?


    I mean, it wouldn''t be far-fetched to the teachers considering the fame I was gaining for winning the battle royale, but still, she was targeting me!


    Disapprovingly shaking my head, I remained hiding with Jin and Han, just patiently waiting for the rm to go off.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Back at the front of the bleachers, the main cast stared at Lily with confused expressions.


    Ren was definitely here in the room...Liam had literally seen him enter when he was secretly guarding the doors!


    Identifying Ren as someone with bad intentions through the use of the griffin would take a huge weight off their back as they wouldn''t have to guess anymore if Ren was participating or not.


    Lily, staring at Professor Zia in front of her, sighed.


    She couldn''t decline and just say Ren was actually somewhere here.


    Only the teachers were supposed to know that Ren was the student to be picked for this event.


    So, Lily would be revealing the fact that the principal and the main cast were partnered.


    Nodding her head, Lily reluctantly got up before heading towards the griffin that was right below the stage.