"So, same time tomorrow?"

"Please let me rest for a while."

"Fine by me, but still, great, that means you agree to spar again if it’s later."

"I never denied it in the first place, it helps me quite a bit as well after all." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

With the two of them standing in front of the crossroad between the male and female dormitory, both Medea and Novus continue to talk, ending their words with a little agreement as the two of them decide that it is now about time to rest for the day.

"What about the deal regarding the exams?" she asked, seemingly wanting to clarify all these before the two of them went their separate ways tonight.

"I don’t see any problem, you know my secrets now anyways, I can also use you as a scapegoat so that other students won’t know of it for now" he answered with a faint smile on his face, nodding at her suggestion that started it all, that faint smile a genuine one formed out of his respect for her.

"Wow, how cold, using a beautiful lady like me as a scapegoat to hide your own strength~~" she teased as she faked weakness, even using her dainty fingers to gracefully act like she’s wiping non-existent tears, causing a snicker to escape out of his mouth as he retorted.

"The hell you laughing at?" she immediately snapped out of the weak lady act as she heard him laugh, immediately getting triggered even when she doesn’t even know what he is laughing at yet.

Her womanly instinct is just telling her that he’s thinking of something offensive.

"Beautiful? Lady? Hahaha... Senior Medea, you sure are as funny as it can get..." he pointed out, causing her to feel like veins are popping up in her temple, the patience she often has whenever she’s dealing with other people just doesn’t seem to work against him, this in turn just making her all the more entertained when talking with him.

"Fufufu~~~ laugh all you want, brat, you’re just too young to appreciate my charms, when you do, see how bad I’m going to shut your attempts down~~~" she replied as her act goes as ladylike as it can get, moving her sleeves to cover her giggling face just like how she did when the two of them just met more than an hour ago, the graceful swiftness to her motion making her feel completely different to how she was before.

"Hahaha... Anyone is free to dream, Senior Medea, anyone is free to dream" as those words of hers reaches his ears, his laughter couldn’t help but grow a bit louder compared to his previous voice, the petty banters just continuing on going without any effort on each of their part making him well aware that if he doesn’t end it here, he might just stay here for longer than he would expect.

Hence why he decided to make the first move, walking down the path towards the male dormitory as he just waved goodbye to the lady, who was still speaking about a lot of things.

"Hey! Not even going to accompany a frail, weak lady to her abode right in the middle of a dangerous night?" she pointed out with a pout in her small lips, continuing the pitiful, helpless act of hers as if to really pull him into doing her bidding.

"You’re exactly the reason why the night is dangerous, Senior Medea." he replied, causing the two of them to enter another round of verbally jabbing at each other again.

"Or maybe you’re just too cold and dense, Junior Novus."

"Could be true, or also, maybe it’s because someone worked me up so bad that I am really tired right now."

"Fufufu~~ a man who gets tired before a woman is not a man at all, you know~~~" she said too ambiguously that others might get the wrong idea as to what they were talking about, and the young man just replied as if it was nothing at all.

"I mean, even if I do get tired before you, it’s not like you’re a woman at all, hahaha" he told her, the same unrestrained laughter she had heard a couple of times now making her feel like it is peculiar, a laughter natural and unforced, unlike how other men usually act when facing her.

"You!!" she replied in a louder tone with slender fingers pointed towards him, her eyes showing a genuine tinge of aggrieved expression as he had pushed it too far with that, however, all of it is still covered by the entertained gaze that covers near entirety of her eyes.

What is impressive is that, as small as that negativeness in her gaze can be, Novus just inexplicably noticed it, something that surprises even himself as well, to the point he’s even wondering whether what he is seeing is real or not.

Still, despite that, he decided to assume it is true just to be safe, forcing him to diffuse this little social tension by deciding to divert the topic to something else.

"Well, tonight was really fun, Senior Medea, have a great night." he said as he showed his respect, not as how a junior would show respect to a senior, but rather in another way.

Bringing his upper body down in a gentlemanly bow, he bid good night to the Heavenblade’s eldest daughter, a sign of courtesy a man would often show a lady, showing something that he doesn’t want to say, his unwillingness apparent as he still goes on to address her just like how he usually would.

And she picked up on his implication as well, causing her to freeze for a bit, her mind lost for words to reply before she finally found the right words to answer with.

"...Have a great night too, Junior Novus." she said as she curtsied as if going along with his act, making her giggle once again as the two of them met gazes after this little charade of theirs, before finally separating ways.

’What a crazy person, hahaha’ as the two of them finally reached their respective rooms in their dormitories, they looked back at the first meeting, the spar and the exchange and banters between the two of them, those exact same words running through their mind as they finished looking back on everything else.

Still, while Medea already headed to rest for the night, Novus is still sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at the notification screen displaying yet another piece of good news in front of him.

[Evolution Domain Access Restriction now lifted. You are now free to enter the Evolution Domain.]

[Do you want to enter the Evolution Domain?]

[Yes/No]

Looking back on the fight against Medea, he couldn’t help but realize that he has a lot more things to do and a whole lot more creatures to hunt if he wants to reach a level where he will stand unrivaled among any student level in the academy, the realization of these facts, along with the excitement of knowing just how much stronger he can grow moving forward causing that familiar maniacal smile to creep on his face.

’Let’s try not to lose against her next time...’

He made a mental note as the room around him disappeared, his sight now covered with a vast grassland expanding as far as his eyes could see.

[Entry of the system user detected.]