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"Is it just me, or does that look like... the Crater?" one of them stammered, his voice trembling as he fought to comprehend the sight before him.

"Yes, yes! It\'s definitely him!" another whispered, eyes wide with shock.

"But… what happened to him? Why does his body look like that?!"

"Is he dead?"

"Of course, he\'s dead! Look at him!" The last voice held a tremor of panic as reality set in.

The students exchanged anxious glances, their expressions shadowed by dread. The body, twisted and hardened into something foreign and grotesque, lay frozen in a stone-like state. It looked almost like a statue, but the warped and petrified expression hinted at a suffering beyond what they could imagine. They had seen death before—but nothing like this. The sight of it left them uneasy, their stomachs twisting in fear. What kind of force could have done this?

"We have to report this to the academy! You two stay here. I\'ll go with Stanley," one of the boys urged, attempting to maintain some control amidst the building panic.

"You expect us to stay here with this... this *thing*?" another student cut in sharply, backing away from the body. "No way, man. I\'m coming with you."

A tense argument erupted, voices overlapping as each tried to insist on accompanying the others back to the safety of the academy. Finally, with reluctant nods, they agreed to head back together, their pace quickening as they left the horrific sight behind. They made their way through the academy gates, glancing around anxiously. Luckily, their path crossed with Kara, who was walking purposefully across the compound.

"Mrs. Kara!" Stanley called out, his voice carrying an urgency that made her stop mid-step and turn to face them.

"What is it?" Kara\'s voice was cold and clipped, her gaze settling sharply on the boys, clearly unamused by the interruption.

"There\'s something… something you need to see," Stanley began, his words tumbling over each other. "The man who crafts our weapons… we found him lying dead in an alleyway, but his body… it\'s turned into some kind of horrible rock."

Kara\'s expression changed subtly, her eyes narrowing as a serious look took over her face. "Show me where you found him," she ordered, her tone steely, wasting no time on further questions. She began moving forward, the boys hurrying to keep pace.

After a few steps, she abruptly stopped, turning to face them with an arched brow. "Where do you all think you\'re going?" she demanded, her gaze flicking over each of their nervous faces.

"Uh… we were coming to show you the body," one of them stammered.

Kara crossed her arms. "Only one of you needs to guide me. This isn\'t a battleground, and I don\'t need all of you trailing behind. Now, who\'s it going to be?" Her tone was unyielding.

The boys glanced at each other awkwardly before Kara\'s gaze landed firmly on Stanley. "You. Come with me."

Stanley swallowed, his friends shooting him looks of mild relief and annoyance as he rubbed the back of his neck, nodding. "Yes, Mrs. Kara," he replied, before turning to follow her.

In silence, they walked through the quiet streets, the eerie memory of the body lingering in Stanley\'s mind. Shadows stretched over the alleyway as they finally approached the spot where the petrified husk lay in grim solitude.

"There it is, Mrs. Kara," Stanley whispered, pointing a shaky finger at the hardened form sprawled on the ground.

Kara approached the corpse without hesitation, her face impassive as she knelt beside it, studying the texture and rigidity of the stone-like surface. Her expression remained unreadable, but her eyes darkened slightly with recognition.

\'Just as I suspected,\' Kara mused internally, resting her hand above the body. \'This is exactly like what happened to Caleb and his friends that night… no doubt, this was Silas\'s doing.\'

She had seen something disturbingly similar not long ago. That night, when she had found Silas lying unconscious in the academy\'s courtyard, Caleb and his friends had been discovered shortly afterward, their bodies transformed into solid husks, drained of life and left as cold, unfeeling rocks. She had hidden the evidence then, but now, seeing it happen again, her suspicions solidified.

\'He\'s reckless. This boy really needs to control himself. There\'s only so much I can cover up,\' she thought, her eyes narrowing as she traced a hand over the body\'s cold surface. \'What is he doing to them to cause this? It\'s almost as though he\'s draining them to the core, leaving nothing but a shell. And he keeps swearing he\'s not hiding anything from me, while he consumes human souls without a second thought? No wonder his power grows so quickly.\'

Rising to her feet, she cast a lingering glance over the corpse, as if silently weighing her options. Then she turned to Stanley, her voice sharp with authority.

"Return to the academy. I\'ll take care of this," she ordered.

Stanley hesitated, curiosity creeping into his voice. "Do you know what happened to him?"

Kara\'s face softened only marginally as she glanced back at the body, a flicker of thought flashing behind her eyes. "I\'m not certain. He may have been infected by a mutant during a raid, or something similar. It\'s possible that\'s why he ended up like this."

Stanley\'s eyes widened, his mind jumping to the stories and warnings they\'d been taught in the academy. "You mean… he was attacked by a Vroomtant or Shifter?"

His reaction was almost amusing, as he gripped his head in horror, clearly envisioning the mutant creatures from their lessons.

He thought of Vroomtants, Shifters, Creepers, Gliders, Scuttlers, Lurkers, and Drifters—deadly creatures categorized outside of traditional grading due to their unpredictable and evolving strength.

With a single scratch or bite, these monsters could infect humans, transforming them into mutants as well.This type of Mutants are extremely rare, and one could find them in any realm. Be it a high graded realm or low graded realm. Because they have no grade they can be find in any type of realm. Encounters with these creatures rarely left survivors, and only the rare few who did survive lived to tell the horrific tales.

Though Kara\'s explanation was a fabrication, she knew it would easily be accepted. Stanley would hardly question her word; after all, Kara was known for her vast experience, a well of knowledge about creatures most students only read about.

Nodding, Stanley swallowed his fear and quickly made his way back to the academy grounds, leaving Kara alone with the petrified corpse. Once she was sure he was gone, Kara took a steadying breath, gazing down at the body with an exasperated expression.

"Now… how am I going to dispose of this?" she muttered to herself, her mind already running through possible solutions. She couldn\'t leave it here, but moving it without drawing attention would be challenging.