"Before revealing today's subject, who can recap the official monster classification system?" The ogre-blooded teacher scanned the classroom with his bald head gleaming.
As usual, only Benjamin raised his hand. The rest of the class remained silent, some even yawning.
"Benjamin, enlighten us."
"Per federal guidelines, monsters are classified into five tiers," Benjamin recited flawlessly. "D-Class (Standard), C-Class (Hazardous), B-Class (Extreme Hazard), A-Class (Catastrophic), and S-Class (Apocalyptic), in ascending order of threat level."
Though overly enthusiastic, Benjamin was genuinely brilliant—a consistent top-three academic performer.
(Not that Luo Qi lacked brains. By fifth grade, he'd self-taught most of the world's knowledge through sheer boredom. High school exams were child's play, though he deliberately scored average to maintain his "ordinary" facade—around 100th place, perfectly unremarkable. This position will neither be considered a poor student by the teacher nor will other students be envious or jealous.)
Surely a proactive guy like Benjamin wouldn't think he's made any enemies, right?
"Excellent! Then congratulations, class—today we're studying a C-Class specimen!" The teacher grinned as the room erupted in panic.
"C-Class?! Like last time when—"
"A-again...?"
"Hold on hold on! Class C is a danger rating! Since when do schools allow this?! This curriculum's insane!"
"Why am I... weirdly thrilled?! What kind of demon beast is it this time?"
"... ... ..."
The students' terror was justified. If D-Class creatures under the "Standard" category were mostly docile—aside from occasional frenzied outbursts—and could even coexist peacefully with humans and demons as pets, mounts, or emergency rations...
Then anything above C-Class existed beyond civilian reach. Most C-Class monsters possessed physical prowess and innate magic strong enough to solo a federal elite soldier. B-Class specimens could trigger regional disasters within cities, not to mention A-Class entities whose destructive power could reduce entire metropolitan areas to ruins.
It is worth noting that such incidents have been occurring several times annually, with a marked surge in frequency over recent years. This unsettling pattern has compelled federal authorities to suspect the orchestration of shadowy cults advocating the resurgence of so-called 'Extreme Demon King Revival' doctrines.
Theoretically, this lesson involved only observing a sedated C-Class specimen. But last term's "harmless" demonstration had accidentally attracted a B-Class monster that demolished the school building.
…So it's no wonder that the surrounding classmates are so nervous.
(What no one knew: The only reason that incident ended without casualties was Luo Qi's discreet intervention. As a Demon King striving for normalcy, transferring schools would've been disastrous for his "average student" persona. Imagine appearing on news broadcasts as "Student A"!...That's crazy...)
"Behold!" The teacher's remote control raised a steel cage from below the stage.
A collective gasp rippled through the classroom as the Orc instructor's remote triggered the platform, lifting the iron cage from beneath the floor. What emerged froze the students' faces in unison.
The creature shimmered with an unearthly beauty—a horned head crowned with crystalline protrusions, its body clad in emerald-scaled armor that refracted light like stained glass. Though its wings lay shackled, their iridescent membranes hinted at dormant power.
At first glance, it resembled a C-Class Flame-spitting Drake, albeit with chromatic mutations. Yet seasoned monster scholars would instantly recognize the truth:
Unlike drakes (mere draconic hybrids capped at C-Class), this was Faerie Dragon—an A-Class apex predator. Listed in bestiaries under 'Catastrophe-Level Threats', its kind could phase between reality and the Emerald Dream, their breath warping spacetime itself. The shackles trembled faintly, as if even enchanted steel struggled to contain primordial magic older than empires
But Fire-spitters were drake-kin at best. This was unmistakably a dragon hatchling, its sapphire-blue eyes locking onto Luo Qi with unsettling intensity.
"That's... a dragon?!"
"Dragons are minimum A-Class! Even hatchlings surpass most C-Class monsters!"
"Legend says Dragon Emperors reach S-Class! We're dead!"
"I'm outta here! Adult dragons can incinerate us all in one breath! We're toast—absolutely toast for messing with a wyrmling!"
"Relax! Specimen arrived just this noon. Y'all are the first class to test-drive this beauty," the Bald Instructor chuckled, patting the containment chamber. His bald scalp glistened under lab lights as he added with deliberate nonchalance: "And let's be crystal clear—this is no dragon. Merely a draconic hybrid subspecies. Zero danger protocol, I assure you."
The metallic clang of his boot kicking the cage punctuated the lie. "Besides," he drawled, scanning petrified students through half-lidded eyes, "when's the last time anyone spotted true dragons on this continent? Centuries? Millenniums? They're basically bedtime stories now."
"Right..." Luo Qi forced a laugh, sweat forming.
Because this was 100% a dragon whelp.
The Orc instructor's words weren't mere speculation. Indeed, the dragon clans that once served the 76th Demon King had vanished from the continent for over seven centuries, though theories abounded like wildfire.
Some whispered of a horrific alchemy—the entire dragon race refined into a singular Dragon Core, its consumption granting the 76th monarch his cataclysmic power. Others claimed the scaled beings now lurked in hidden enclaves, with the deepest bowels of the Blackroot Abyssal Forest being the prime candidate; timber merchants' tales spoke of shadowy leviathans moving through moonless nights.
Then came the outlandish theories: interdimensional exodus to the Draconic Sanctum, a pocket reality where time crystallized like amber. Most ominously, these legends converged on one prophecy—the dragons' return would crack open the seals containing the Demon King's slumbering essence.
At that moment, the Faerie Dragon's nostrils flared. Its sapphire-blue eyes snapped open with gemstone clarity, pupils contracting into reptilian slits that locked onto Luo Qi
'Oh hell.'
In his recent peaceful days, Luo Qi had almost forgotten: He was the Demon King.
And when an ancient apex predator meets its ancestral master...
Who knows what chaos might follow?