"Ehhh? For real? I really asked a question in class today?"
"Yeah! Don't you remember?"
"It feels kind of hazy, to be honest. Almost like a dream…"
Rey walked past a group of students who were talking very loudly.
He recognized them to be Justin and his closest friends, and Rey simply acted like he didn't know them. Likewise, they ignored his presence.
Either that, or they genuinely didn't notice him.
He was just coming back from the library, so Rey made for his room where he planned to figure things out in solitude.
However, before he could reach his room door, he was approached by someone.
"Hey, Rey."
Rey was initially startled to hear someone call his name, but after recognizing the voice, he realized he shouldn't have been surprised.
Bracing himself before turning back to see who called his name, Rey sighed slightly.
'Let's get this over with quickly…'
He turned to see the Hero, Adonis, smiling at him with a pleasant smile on his face.
Behind him were two students whom Rey recognized.
'Billy and Belle, huh? I wonder what they're doing together…'
Of course, he didn't change his expression in the slightest and maintained his dull demeanor.
"A-ah, Adonis. Hello." He responded, raising his hand slightly.
"I heard you weren't feeling too well today." Adonis drew closer to Rey, grabbing his hand softly.
'What the heck?! This guy—!'
Rey controlled his expression, but it felt weird having someone caressing his hand.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Fine! I'm fine now, thank you!" Right now, Rey just wanted Adonis to let go of his hand.
Their little conversation was drawing some attention, and he didn't like it at all.
"Is that so? That's a relief, then."
Once more, Adonis gave a warm smile—enough to warm the heart of anyone.
However, Rey wasn't buying it.
'He does this for everyone. There's no need to make it a big deal.'
After Adonis asked Rey a few more questions, he finally let go of his hand, and the latter was so relieved that he unintentionally leaked out a sigh.
"Well, I suppose I'll see you later, Rey." Adonis beamed a smile at him.
"Yeah… likewise." Rey returned his smile with a slightly uncomfortable one.
For a moment, there was silence between them, so Rey decided to take the initiative to leave them to their business.
It wasn't like he had all day too.
"Welp, bye the—!"
"Wait! Won't you even speak to your friend, Bill? Weren't you guys very close back in school?"
The moment Adonis said that, the pretense Rey had put up for so long nearly shattered. He turned to Adonis with a glare, opening his lips to address the matter instantly.
"You're mistaken, Adonis. I don't think we were ever friends."
Rey shifted his gaze to Billy, and he noticed that the boy was trying to speak to him.
"Don't bother. I really don't care anymore." Rey whispered in a sigh.
He already knew that the only reason Billy would try to talk to him was due to Adonis' influence.
He had an image to maintain to Adonis, and he would do anything to keep it up.
'There's no need to bother with this. It'll all blow over soon enough.'
"I'm really not feeling too well. I should get some rest." Rey shuddered slightly, reaching out to the knob of his door.
"Really? You said you were already fine, though."
The one who spoke this time was Belle, the last person in the trio.
She was a blond girl who was known by everyone in class to be the cutest thing. She was short, but surprisingly had a very busty appearance.
Many guys in class had dirty thoughts just looking at her, and Rey was no exception.
At least, until more important things began to occupy his mind.
'I didn't think she was paying attention to our conversation. Damnit!'
Her inquisitive smile, and the way she tilted her head so cutely, made her seem like a doll.
But Rey wasn't going to fall for anything of the sort.
"It seems I haven't fully recovered yet." He slowly began to tilt his doorknob.
'Hopefully they catch the hint.'
"We understand. You should get some rest. I guess I'll see you in training tomorrow?" Adonis responded with his usual jovial smile.
Rey nearly felt like rolling his eyes.
'I knew this was what everything was all about. You just want to make sure I keep attending training.'
Adonis cared about the class as a collective and sought to have order. That meant ensuring the individual students were alright.
To Adonis, Rey was nothing more than a cog in a machine.
Sure, he was important.
But so were the twenty-eight other students.
"I'll make sure of that." Rey gave one more forced smile before finally retreating to his room.
'It's not like we're going to see each other in training anyway. Not while we're in different groups.'
Adonis' friendliness might have been appreciated by other students, but it had the opposite effect on Rey.
'At this point, I just want to be left alone.'
Was that too much to ask for?
*********
Once Rey freshened up and lay on his bed, he began to go over his thoughts a bit more clearly.
'Out of the Skills I have at my disposal, I haven't had the opportunity of testing out most of them.'
This was for two major reasons.
'One is the Mana Usage. Most of my Skills require a decent amount of Mana, so I can only use a few sparingly.'
The only reason he could use Skills at all was due to certain Skills that didn't require Mana or the Skills that boosted his Mana Level.
In essence, the Buff Category.
'The second reason is currently the most problematic one…'
And that was simply the fact that most of these Skills were conspicuous.
'I need absolute privacy if I am to be able to practice my Skills without restriction.'
A place away from Adonis and the rest of his classmates. A place far from the prying eyes of their guardians.
'My personal space where I can do whatever I want.'
A place like that wouldn't come to him very easily, but Rey thought he had found somewhere that came close to fulfilling his needs.
'The Royal Dungeon.'
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
I hope you liked the interaction in this chapter.
See you in the next one!