"By the way, you should come to the academy tomorrow. After lunch is the club showcase, all the clubs are going to be there trying to get members. You can probably get a lot of resources from some desperate clubs."
With the issue of Ellen's mana core being settled. The two of them discussed a few other things—namely, the upcoming club showcase.
Raymond had already promised Willow Francesca to join the Coffee Club. But he still wanted to join a few other clubs and the club showcase was a good opportunity for him to see what clubs the academy had to offer.
None of the clubs were actually official academy clubs. Every club was created and maintained almost exclusively by students alone. At best, they might have a few academy employees to help out occasionally.
But the academy clubs had become such a large part of the academy that they soon made them official. Providing funding, help and support for the clubs.
She asked, "Other then Sky Soaring and Mages For Life what other clubs are you joining?"
"I've already promised to join the Coffee club- wait what do you mean other then Sky Soaring and Mages For Life?" He paused halfway through his sentence.
"Well obviously you need to join those two clubs.", she said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I already told them I didn't want to join though..."
"Then tomorrow you go up to them and tell them that you've thought it over and had a change of heart! It's not that hard Raymond."
It wasn't hard, but Raymond felt embarrassed thinking of it. Admitting his own mistakes and asking them to take him back, he felt himself turning red just picturing it.
He whined, "Do I have to?"
"Raymond. Don't you remember a certain bet that you made?"
Raymond had really shot himself in the foot there.
If he could go back in time, he would have slapped the past him for even thinking of such an idea!
'oh wait. I can go back in time...'
"Ellen I would literally do anything else please. Can't you just apply for me?", he pleaded with her. Putting his hands together as if he was begging.
She stared at him, her eyes peering right into him. 'How is someone like this the strongest mage in this entire dimension...aren't you supposed to be several hundred years old?'
Oftentimes, it seemed as if Ellen was the older one when she was only 40 years old mentally including her past life.
Then again, it seemed like the older one got, the more cuckoo they went in the head. She could think of several people who were definitely not sane who were much older then her.
"Fine. I'll do it for you this time.", she closed her eyes. Leaning back into the beanbag, wishing she had some sort of cushion for her head.
"Raymond, can you get me a cushion. My head feels uncomfortable."
"Maybe don't throw my stuff around."
He muttered under his breath as he picked up the several tossed couch cushions and handed them over to her. But he obliged anyways, like a good little doggy.
Not that it mattered, checking the time. She realized it was already ten, the sun had already fully set long ago.
Ignoring Raymond, she stood up and almost left before she paused for a moment—turning to Raymond.
Warning him with the kindest smile she could muster, "Raymond, you better wake up early tomorrow. Don't make me do something I might regret okay?"
Again, not that it mattered. In their several hours of talking, she had already noticed a certain bucket sitting inconspicuously on the kitchen top counter. Naturally, her incredible eyesight let her see the miniscule words printed out on the cover.
SUPER GLUE (made for industrial usage)
As much as Raymond tried to act indifferent to it. His eyes kept flicking to it every once in a while, letting Ellen catch on to his obvious intentions.
Ellen's eyes glimmered slightly as she closed the door behind her.
'Raymond...you've got a lot of nerve...such a shame...'
...
"Raymond if you don't open this door in the next minute I am going to bust this door down and I am NOT messing around!"
Knock Knock Knock
She knocked another three times as loudly as she could.
Mentally counting the time in her head, she sighed after a minute had passed and Raymond still hadn't responded.
"Suit yourself then."
Stepping back slightly, she looked at the door and its frame. Entirely wood minus the handle, she didn't know what material the academy used but for a special class student it was definitely more then just a regular oak.
Steadying her feet, she got into a stance—lifting her right leg while she tilted back slightly in order to compensate. Taking a deep breath, she channeled some of the mana in her body. Moving it to her legs and feet.
Snapping her leg forward, she straightened it—aiming the sole of her shoes straight, slightly above the handle.
BANG
With a satisfying crash, the entire door nearly flew off its hinges. Her mana enhanced kick doing much more then just breaking the lock.
She mentally thanked Lin Qinqyi for teaching her this technique back then. Who would have thought that such a simple front kick could be so versatile?
Pushing through the destroyed door, she navigated the apartment. Making her way towards the bedroom. Luckily all of the special class apartments had the same layout making it easy for her.
She tested the door first, locked as well.
She wasn't complaining about that. It just gave her another opportunity to use the front kick Lin taught her.
BANG
"What the f*ck is your problem!"
Seeing Raymond hastily scramble out of bed holding his staff at the door made for a funny sight. His normal hairstyle which consisted of short messy hair with a low ponytail at the back was gone. Replaced by an absolute abomination of a mess that even birds wouldn't live in.
"How long does it take you to style your hair?", she asked. Unable to hold back her curiosity.
He shrieked at her, "Like 5 minutes max. Why the hell are you in my room!"
"How come I've never seen your hair like this before?"
They lived in the same mansion for nearly five years, how had she never seen Raymond like this ever?
"I used magic to style my hair. Is that not obvious?"
So he was a lazy bum who didn't even style his own hair manually.
"I told you to wake up early. When I knocked on your door just now and you didn't reply. I busted it down as well."
He stuttered for a bit before finally managing to utter a complete sentence, "My front door as well?!"
...
Checking himself in the mirror, Raymond carefully adjusted his own hair. Each strand meticulously being moved to perfect proportions. Not too messy, not too orderly.
Raymond paused while adjusting his hair.
'When did I become so obsessed with this?'
Never in his life had he ever worried about his own appearance. Yet now he was styling his own hair everyday in order to make it look good. He had even bought several skincare products!
His race as a perfect human already gave him flawless, perfect skin. As well as smooth shiny hair and a perfect body, slim and lean. Even before he had evolved his race he was already considered extremely handsome, with his evolution it was like adding wings to a tiger!
Analyzing the sides and back of his hair, he let out a relieved breath.
He checked his academy uniform as well. All males and all females in the same year might be wearing the exact same uniform, but some people just wore it better.
With its dominating grey color scheme, with hints of black and white. Accented by the occasional gold. The simple combo of a double breasted blazer over a white collared shirt paired with long trousers could make even decent guys turn handsome.
With the academy's insignia of a sword, shield, bow and staff on the chest and the several not so subtle references to past heroes. Anyone who saw him in this uniform would be able to instantly tell that Raymond was a student of the academy.
Smoothening out the blazer again, he unsummoned his staff from Ellen's earlier ruckus and went to the living room where he found Ellen lounging on his beanbags again.
The female uniforms were similar to the male uniforms, except that the long trousers were swapped out for a knee-length knife pleated skirt.
Raymond's only gripe with the uniforms was that the uniforms didn't distinguish between classes. How else was Raymond supposed to lord his special class superiority over the lower class plebians?
"I just checked the time and it is currently 5:57 right now. Was there really a need to wake me up this early?"
No wonder he had felt so tired and groggy. If not for the faint remnants of adrenaline in his system keeping him awake, there would be no difference between him and a zombie.
Dragging herself to her feet, she calmly replied. "You have a track record for not waking up on time. Plus, breakfast is important and also it takes a while to even walk to the academy in the first place."
Well he couldn't argue with that.
Stepping through the broken remnants of his front door, Raymond mentally wondered whether he would have to report it to the academy or whether the academy would just fix it by themselves.
Even more worrying was whether Raymond would need to pay points in order to repair it. While students usually didn't have to pay if it was an accident or unintentional, kicking a door down was very much intentional.
He already wasted points on his food delivery yesterday, he was occupied with his conversation with Ellen that by the time he remembered it had long gone cold.
He pushed that issue aside for now, after walking to the academy cafeteria for breakfast. The two of them ate a quick breakfast. Pancakes with lots of syrup for Raymond and a bacon egg and cheese for Ellen—costing them 3 points in total.
Stingy academy charging them even for breakfast, at least the coffee and other drinks were free.
The hall went quiet slightly as Raymond and Ellen entered for their first class. Everyone paused what they were doing to stare at them for a bit before going back to what they were doing.
"...That's it?"
Raymond's mouth felt dry, he had expected his arrival to entrance his fellow students. Generously gracing them with his presence after not coming for three days.
Yet, after seeing him—nearly everyone just went back to what they were doing originally while waiting for the teacher to arrive.
A teasing voice rang from behind him, "The world doesn't revolve around you Raymond, how unfortunate."
"Ellen...don't make me do something I will definitely regret in the future."