Michael's eyes swept across the apartnt quietly.
Though smaller than his villa by far, it was very comfy. It had a similar layout to the two-bedroom apartnt he lived in with his family in Woodstone City, but better in many ways whether in scale or what it had to offer. Though the building blocked his senses, Michael could tell there was also an underground space underneath. He also imdiately noticed sothing else.
"It seems your roommate isn't ho."
Rynne, who had just taken off her outer coat, paused briefly before answering.
"I don't have one."
"…You don't?" Michael was surprised. Wasn't this the two-seater dorm?
"Aren't two-seater dorms supposed to be for two people?"
Rynne's lips twitched faintly again.
"With my status, the academy turns a blind eye to things like this."
Michael blinked in confusion.
"My master is the Vice Dean. A demigod-level awakener."
Rynne continued calmly.
"I'm also one of the academy's core students. As long as I don't do anything excessive, nobody cares whether I occupy the second room for myself or not."
Hearing that, Michael imdiately beca envious.
This…
This was the effect of having a terrifying backer.
If he had also beco the disciple of the Vice Dean or even the Dean himself, would he need to negotiate and trade information just to gain access to dinsional cracks?
The access would probably have already been placed directly into his hands from the start.
Michael suddenly felt a little tired.
As expected.
Connections mattered everywhere.
anwhile, Rynne was still speaking calmly.
"After all, not everyone is like you, the first rank among their year with a villa all to themselves."
For so reason, Michael could hear a faint trace of sass in her tone.
Michael beca a little confused.
Though he was not particularly gifted socially, he was not stupid either.
Over the past few minutes, Rynne's tone had occasionally carried a strange edge toward him.
At first he thought he had imagined it. Now he was less certain.
After thinking for a few seconds, Michael decided not to overcomplicate things and simply asked directly.
"…Do you have an issue with ?"
The apartnt beca quiet.
Rynne looked at him.
Michael looked back honestly. He genuinely wanted to know.
Was it because of his hairstyle statent?
Rynne stared at him for several seconds before suddenly turning her head away slightly.
"…No."
Rynne was quiet for a mont.
Then she exhaled softly.
"Sorry," she said. "I was being petty."
"How are you so powerful?" Suddenly her voice rose a notch, startling Michael.
"After our last battle and what we went through together in hell, I could already see the gap between us was significant. But I told myself there was still a chance. That if I kept pushing, I could at least close the distance."
She then turned to look at him directly.
"Then I ca back and heard that not only had you advanced to Rank 3, but that your power within Rank 3 was unrivalled. How are you so powerful when you awakened two years after ?"
The apartnt was quiet after she finished speaking.
Michael felt awkward and did not know how to respond. For so reason Rynne's words reminded him of Arianne back in the land of Origin, except the feeling was different. The distance he had felt toward Arianne was not sothing he felt toward Rynne. Perhaps it was because Rynne was an awakener. That shared identity had kept him seeing her as an equal even as the gap between them widened.
If Michael had understood Rynne's background, her current state would have made more sense to him.
From a young age, Rynne had always been a genius, always at the top among her peers. However, everything changed when she t Michael. The possibility that she might never surpass him unsettled sothing fundantal in her.
This was the particular affliction of geniuses. None of them could comfortably accept being less than soone else. What Rynne was experiencing was the sa thing Brian, Michael's forr classmate, had gone through when he witnessed Michael's true power back in hell.
A genius you could imagine surpassing was manageable. A seemingly unstoppable one was a different matter entirely.
However, the solemn mood did not last long.
Rynne straightened slightly, and just like that the weight in her expression settled back into sothing closer to her usual composure.
"In any case," she said, her tone returning to normal, "I just wanted you to know. Keep growing. When I finally surpass you, I want it to an sothing."
Michael stared at her with an odd expression.
The shift was so sudden that for a mont the whole exchange felt slightly unreal. The heavy atmosphere of a mont ago had dissolved into sothing that felt almost childish.
What Michael forgot was that he and Rynne were the sa age. Both nineteen. He had no grounds to find it childish.
Then sothing occurred to Michael.
He gave Rynne an odd look.
"Don't tell ," he said slowly, "the reason you invited to your apartnt wasn't just to hand over the space materials, but to tell this."
Rynne's composure cracked.
A faint flush rose to her face. To Michael she suddenly looked like a completely different person.
"I said what I said," she replied firmly. "Rember it."
Michael nodded helplessly.
"Okay."
A brief silence followed. Then Rynne seed to rember sothing.
"What exactly made Director Lin curse earlier?"
"She saw my level," Michael answered honestly.
He had barely finished the sentence when he felt a gaze settle on him. Familiar in its intent. He knew imdiately what it was.
Rynne had used Detect on him.
Michael felt a wave of helplessness wash over him.
It seed he extended more courtesy to others than they extended to him.
Then Rynne's brow furrowed.
"Why can't I see your level?"
Michael let out a slow sigh.
"Are you still planning on surpassing ?"
"Get out."
It did not take long for Michael to be kicked out of Rynne's apartnt without rcy.
However, Michael could not bring himself to care much about that. Right now his attention was fixed on the materials now arranged within his storage space.
It was ti to finally evolve Wisdom to the average level of his legion.
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