In the sitting room, Ravi was waiting on the sofa while fiddling with his tablet, taking a close look at some data. On the coffee table in front of him was a plate of snacks, a bottle of some kind of beverage, and two crystal glasses.
'Why is Jack taking so long? He should've returned by now,' Ravi thought.
At this moment, Ravi heard muffled noises from the front yard. He lifted his head and looked at the front door expectantly. Shortly after, two men entered the mansion.
"What happened to you two???" Ravi blurted as he saw the men's dirty and slightly tattered clothes.
"Just a small accident. Please don't ask for the details," Jack replied expressionlessly.
Ravi stared at Jack before moving his eyes to Drai, who hurriedly nodded agreeingly with a half-pleading expression.
Ravi's eyes moved back and forth between the two several times before he decided not to pursue the matter of their peculiar appearances.
"Very well, just keep your secrets then. Looks like you're both unhurt anyway. So, do you want to change clothes first, Drai? I can lend you some if you want."
"It's okay, Professor. I can't stay for too long here, since there's a gathering for my activity group later," Drai politely refused.
"Oh? You mean Valiant Ventures?"
"Yes, but… how did you know about that, Professor?" Drai asked, slightly surprised.
"Before that, take a seat first. By the way, thank you, Jack. I'll let you know when we're done," Ravi said as he gestured to his butler. Jack nodded in response before walking away, leaving the two to their business.
"Please," Ravi gestured at the sofa across him. Drai promptly took a seat. His eyes wandered to the foods in front of him, looking at them curiously.
Noticing this, Ravi started explaining, "These are assorted pastries from the famed Sugar Garden. I don't know if you've heard of them, but their products are really popular with the ladies. Go try them."
Without further ado, Drai grabbed one of the pastries and took a bite. He usually wasn't too fond of sweets, but he noticed that this particular one wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. Instead, it had a mild sweetness and carried hints of fruitiness, which Drai quite enjoyed.
Seeing that Drai seemed to be savoring the snack, Ravi smiled. He then grabbed the bottle of beverage and poured its content into both glasses. The drink was a dark red liquid that seemed to be a tad viscous.
"And here we have some museberry wine. Its alcohol content is under five percent, so there's no need to worry that we'll get drunk," Ravi said as he offered a glass to Drai.
Drai accepted the drink and carefully sipped it. He may not be a culinary expert, but he had a suspicion that these stuff that Ravi had prepared were quite expensive.
As the fragrant wine entered his mouth, Drai's eyes widened and he couldn't help but take a few more sips before stopping.
"How's the wine?" Ravi asked as he took a sip himself.
"I like it, Professor. It's mellow and refreshing, and also slightly sour and bitter. It also smells great. It makes me feel like I'm lying on the grass in a forest of berries. And it also compliments the pastry quite nicely," Drai said appreciatingly.
"Hahaha. I didn't take you for a gourmet, Drai, especially after seeing you eating a lot of meat without any care in the world."
Being reminded of the scene of him and his dad gulping down two mounds of meat at The Evergreen, Drai felt slightly embarrassed.
"I'm not really a gourmet or a picky eater, but my mom sometimes lectures me about foods and flavors during dinner. She doesn't want me to end up as a glutton who can't appreciate the delicate flavors in her dishes like my dad, or so she says."
"Ah… such are the woes of a wife. More than often their hard work goes unnoticed and is taken for granted," Ravi remarked in a lamentful tone.
"Are you married, Professor?" Drai asked.
"My life's work is my wife and this research is my child. In other words, I'm not married, Drai," Ravi said.
"Oh… Then I'll ask my mom later if any of her friends are available."
"Cough! D-don't worry about me, okay? A-anyway, weren't you asking why I knew about Valiant Ventures?" Ravi quickly steered the topic away from marriage.
"Oh right! How did you know about that, Professor?"
Feeling relieved that he managed to change the topic, Ravi put down his glass and said, "You know that your mother entrusted me with your well-being, right? So I had Jack check up on you regularly. Well, he told me the other day that you're already registered as a member of Valiant Ventures."
"Uncle Jack has been surveilling me???" Drai exclaimed.
Seeing Drai's response, Ravi chuckled. "It's not what you think. He usually just looks you up in the database or asks about your class progress to the professors. Even I wouldn't go as far as telling him to stalk you, Drai."
"Ah, I don't really mind that, Professor. I was just thinking that it was very impressive that I didn't even notice Uncle Jack watching me during these past days. So, it turns out he wasn't really keeping me under surveillance."
"Even if you're fine with it, I won't resort to surveilling you unless you start being a troublemaker, Drai. And if you're not careful with your strength, there's a chance that you might just get into trouble before you know it. After all, I've heard about what you've done during Darius' class. In fact, most of the professors in your faculty have probably learned about it by now. Olly isn't exactly the quiet type, and there's some rumors spreading among the students too," Ravi said smilingly.
"Rumors? About me?"
"They say there's an abnormally strong first-year named Drai. I believe there's no one who fits that description other than you. And Professor Zar's words during his speech seemed to have made the rumors spread faster. Many students think you're one of the special students that he mentioned. But there are also many doubters, particularly upperclassmen, who think that this is just an exaggerated rumor by the first-years who had misjudged your strength due to their lack of understanding of power levels."
Hearing Ravi's words, Drai was dumbfounded. He had thought that it was quite remarkable that he had been famous among the professors, but now he was getting famous among the students too.
"Maybe I should've acted more low-key…" Drai said, feeling helpless about this unwanted fame.
"I'd rather you do your best and not mind the other students nor any rumors. Remember to tell me if you get into any trouble or face any problems. And I'm not saying this because you're important to my research, but because I've promised Lina to take care of you," Ravi sternly said.
Hearing these words, Drai couldn't help but feel reassured.
"Then I'll do just that. Thanks a lot, Professor."
"Good. Now shall we head to my lab? I reckon that we still have quite some time before that gathering of yours."
Drai glanced at his comm before nodding.
"Okay, then. Follow me, Boy," Ravi said as he stood up, followed by Drai.
Ravi walked toward the hallway where Jack had gone into earlier. Drai followed closely behind, looking around curiously.
The hallway was quite short, and at the end of it was a room filled with cabinets and a large desk with stacks of papers and a VC on it. Behind the desk sat Jack, who turned to look at the two people who had just entered.
"Going down?" Jack asked Ravi.
"Yeah. We probably won't stay there for too long, since Drai needs to get back soon."
Jack quietly nodded before going back to his work. Ravi then walked toward the end of the room and stood in front of the wall, facing what seemed to be a white decorative mask with curving golden lines and a pair of dark eye holes.
Just when Drai began to wonder what Ravi was doing, the eye holes suddenly shone and emitted a pale cyan light that covered Ravi's whole body. Following this, a click was heard and the wall beside the mask slid open, revealing a pair of metallic doors with a small digital panel on one of them.
Ravi moved toward the door and scanned his right hand on the panel. After a small beep, Ravi removed his hand and proceeded to type something on his comm. Finally, the metallic doors slid open, revealing a small space.
"Come on, Drai," Ravi said before entering. Drai was forced to shake off his astonishment and quickly followed suit.
Inside the small space was a panel similar to the previous one on the door. Once again, Ravi scanned his hand and typed in something on his comm before the doors closed. There was a low hum and Drai could feel the small space they were in moving downward.
"Is this an elevator?" Drai asked.
"Yes. My lab is underground."
Before Drai could say anything further, the hum stopped and the elevator halted. Following which, the metallic doors opened, revealing the space behind it.
Ravi stepped out and stood aside before turning to Drai. Seeing his slightly dumbfounded expression, he chuckled slightly.
With an exaggerated hand gesture, Ravi said, "Drai Boy, welcome to my basement."