Chapter 34: Never been to school
"How did you suddenly get a fever?" Tracy placed her hand on Ryan's forehead and asked, rather disappointed. She couldn't help but add, "Why is your body so weak? To fall ill after a simple training session."
"You should have been more careful," Jacob scolded him.
Ryan nodded, his throat unbearably sore and his eyes unfocused, barely registering their words.
"What were you doing on the grass with your pajamas covered in blood? Did someone bully you?" Jacob grumbled as he subconsciously shot a glance at Ryan's pale face and couldn't help but worry; even though the nurse said the blood wasn't his, she could have been bribed. There was no reason for Ryan, who was in his room, to be lying on the fence of the academy.'Throwing fake blood on such a good-looking face, what were those people thinking... Ahhh, if only I could have caught them in the act, I would have given them a good beating.'
Jacob was angry even thinking about it. He thought he wouldn't have to worry about Ryan being bullied since this world wasn't the novel, but he was wrong. He changed his tone of voice to a comforting one, saying, "It's a good thing Damion found you in time and took you back to your room. It could have been worse."
"Yeah."
"I already gave him an injection. Now the patient needs rest," the nurse said upon entering the room, giving them a non-negotiable glance. "You should leave now."
Tracy ushered Jacob out of the room and reassured him, "It's just a fever."
"Mhmm..." Jacob looked back, but still left with her.
"Are you okay, young master?" the nurse asked with a concerned tone.
Ryan ignored her and closed his eyes tiredly now that the two who had kept him awake left and drifted to sleep.
After hours of rest, the injection's effect kicked in, and Ryan felt refreshed upon waking up.
Wanting to change out of his sweat-soaked pajamas, he walked toward his wardrobe, only to notice a figure hiding in the corner of his closet.
"What are you doing inside my closet?" Ryan asked.
Noah, looking lost, replied after a moment of hesitation, "Noah didn't know where to go. Noah doesn't know a place to go."
'It must have been Noah who brought me back,' Ryan thought as he gazed at the guy in question.
"I will arrange for a helicopter to take you away from the island," Ryan offered, massaging his temples.
Noah shook his head vigorously, denying in a hurry. "Noah doesn't want to go. Noah wants to stay."
"No one will come after you if you leave. Don't worry; no one will dare come looking for you," Ryan reassured him as if coaxing a child, seeing the agitation in his eyes.
Noah's face turned red, and he mumbled in a low voice, "Noah also wants to go to school."
Ryan crouched down to Noah's eye level and asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
He was taken aback and surprised by the sudden change.
"Master is... Ma.."
"Don't call me master," Ryan interrupted him sternly. "I'm not your master."
'I'm not a human trafficker.' Ryan thought.
"Noah is... sorry," Noah replied timidly.
"Don't apologize. It's not your fault. You can call me Ryan, just Ryan."
"R- Ryan... Ryan," Noah repeated with a toothy grin. "Noah likes Ryan. Ryan isn't a bad guy. Ryan doesn't hurt Noah. Ryan helped Noah."
Noah smiled brightly; his smile could melt ice, but unfortunately for him, Ryan could only see irregular, weak amounts of radiation flowing aimlessly in Noah's body which drew his attention.
Covering his burdensome 'If you don't agree, you're a bad guy,' eyes, Ryan summoned the two foreign balls of energy that were flowing in his body and frowned a little.
[Necromancy: This superpower grants its user the ability to utilize the dead by injecting radiation into the body. The corpse will inherit its original power.
Side effects: The more it's used, the faster the user's body corrodes.]
[The essence of an evil imperial maid: ...]
This thing is useless.
Ryan sighed, realizing he had accidentally taken away Noah's power with the dead maid. He closed his hand, and the essence vanished.
"First, get out of my closet," Ryan said, pulling him up. He took two sets of pajamas with him as he first stuffed Noah into the bathroom and said, "You take a bath first; you're reeking of the smell of blood."
After Noah took a quick bath, Ryan told him to stay put before entering the bathroom to take a shower himself.
"You can eat those snacks; I don't want them," Ryan said behind the closed door to Noah, who was eyeing a mountain of snacks Ryan had received from his classmates.
Swoosh---
As Noah devoured the snacks, Ryan questioned as he stepped out of the shower, casually sitting on his bed opposite Noah, fully dressed in comfy navy-colored pajamas, "Are you sure you want to go to school? You're already 20 years old, exceeding the typical age for an Academy student, though it doesn't actually matter. You don't look that old."
He looks like a 17 year old at best.
Munch—munch-- munch.
Noah nodded while munching, "Noah has never been to school before."
Ryan simply nodded, using his fire ability to produce heat through his hand to blow dry his hair, and asked, "First, you need a new ability since I already have yours. I can modify it to eliminate the side effects, but do you still want your previous ability?"
Noah paused, his cookie-munching sprint halted, and he looked at Ryan, eyes filled with tears as he spoke. "Noah doesn't want it... It hurts; it's bad. Too bad."
"I can make it hurt less."
Noah shook his head, "Noah likes pretty things. Corpses looks ugly, weak and also... it stink."
'Corpses decompose after all, so he'll have to change his puppet regularly.'
It wasn't a desirable ability if he could only use corpses of someone lower ranked.
"If you don't want it, tell me what kind of ability you want, and I'll get it for you," Ryan asked, already anticipating Noah's response.
Noah didn't answer; rather, he reluctantly handed the last snack to Ryan.
"That mountain of snacks must have been delicious," Ryan said in a small mumble, sounding slightly pained. "But you can keep the last one."
Noah's face bloomed into a smile, and he ate the snack in one go, saying with a stuffed mouth, "Noah wants... that boom ability that moves rocks and tables, a big boom ability."
"A boom ability?" Ryan wondered.
Noah nodded, eyes sparkling. "It's cool."
"Do you mean gravity, like the one Mia used?" Ryan asked, receiving another nod.
"I see," Ryan closed his eyes slightly and said, "Sure thing."
'It was a shame; I wanted that for myself. It's a nice ability to control gravity; I could even fly using it.' Ryan thought, however, he had already made a promise.
Taking a deep breath, he attempted to manipulate the radiation, imitating Mia's radiation flow to make an exact copy of her ability. However, it moved slowly, most likely due to overusing radiation.
"Take a rest now; let's talk about it tomorrow," Ryan said, heading to the balcony to make a phone call.
"Good evening, Grandpa."
"Hello, my dear grandson," came the seer's voice from the other end of the line.