Friday afternoon rolled around again, and once more, Mike accompanied Sheldon to the entrance of the University of Texas.
This made it Mike's third visit.
While the university lectures offered plenty of solid physics knowledge, Mike wasn't exactly thrilled to be there. The person he was actually waiting for had been a no-show the last two times.
He was starting to wonder if he should take matters into his own hands and track her down. After all, an NPC with an IQ of 190 was a high-value target—her experience drops would likely rival, or even exceed, what he could farm from Sheldon.
"Mike, how are things progressing between Meemaw and Dr. Sturgis?" Sheldon asked as they walked to the lecture hall, completely unaware that Mike viewed him as an XP farm.
Sheldon had genuinely enjoyed the last two lectures, and he desperately wanted this arrangement to continue indefinitely.
"Based on my observations, their relationship seems to be going very smoothly," Mike replied honestly.
Recently, Mike had noticed a subtle change: Meemaw was glowing. Her mood was better, her energy was up. It wasn't hard to deduce that things with the professor were getting serious.
"Really?" Sheldon looked delighted.
In his mind, if Meemaw and Dr. Sturgis became an item, his spot at the university was practically guaranteed. Essentially, he was pimping out his grandmother for academic access.
"So, when do you think Dr. Sturgis will propose?" Sheldon pressed on as they entered the building.
But this time, he didn't get an answer.
"Mike? Mike!" Sheldon frowned, annoyed that Mike had zoned out mid-conversation.
He followed Mike's gaze into the classroom and immediately scowled.
In the front row, dead center—Sheldon's spot—sat a young girl. She was busy pulling textbooks out of a pink backpack.
It was the exact seat Sheldon had claimed for the past two weeks. Seeing this little girl occupying his territory gave him a visceral, unpleasant feeling—like looking into a mirror he didn't like.
Mike, on the other hand, was grinning.
Finally. Found you—Paige.
The girl in the front row was indeed Paige.
Sheldon, however, saw her only as a natural predator encroaching on his habitat. Determined to reclaim his throne, he marched up to Paige and glared at her, trying to telepathically force her to move.
Unfortunately for Sheldon, his death stare had zero effect.
The girl calmly arranged her books on the desk before finally looking up. Her eyes flicked briefly to Sheldon, then drifted over to Mike standing beside him.
Mike was wearing a simple white T-shirt today, but he still looked effortlessly cool.
Realizing he was losing the audience, Sheldon decided to initiate protocol. "Hello."
Paige snapped out of her daydream, looked back at Sheldon, and replied, "Hi."
"Who are you?" Sheldon asked, opting for a direct approach.
"I'm Paige." At this point in her life, Paige was still struggling to find peers who could match her intellect. Seeing Sheldon initiate contact, she offered a polite compliment. "Nice bowtie."
Sheldon was dressed in his usual uniform: a well-fitted plaid shirt and a bowtie.
"Thank you." The compliment caught Sheldon off guard, but he quickly rebooted and tried a more subtle angle. "Paige, you look very young. Are you here with a parent who is taking the class?"
The implication was clear: Go find your mommy and give me my seat back.
Paige, however, sensed the hostility immediately. With an IQ in the 190s, she deciphered his intent instantly.
"No. Dr. Sturgis read my paper on Quantum Chromodynamics at High Temperatures and personally invited me to audit the class," Paige said, making no move to get up. In fact, she flashed a challenging little smile.
"Is that so?" Sheldon was taken aback. He hadn't expected this little girl to be a published researcher.
"Yep. Dr. Sturgis is super nice," Paige added, her smile widening as she watched Sheldon struggle to process this information.
Round one of the Battle of the Prodigies went decisively to Paige.
Realizing he was losing ground, Sheldon pivoted. "That's interesting. Just so you know, the 'Dr. Sturgis' you're talking about is my mentor. He is also my Meemaw's boyfriend. He even came over to her house specifically to cook Szechuan chicken."
"Szechuan chicken? Is that just chicken with Szechuan peppers?" Paige asked innocently. She clearly didn't know the dish, but she cleverly framed it as a question to keep control of the conversation.
"No, it's a very complex subject..."
Okay, so Sheldon didn't know how to cook either. He quickly changed the subject again. "Actually, Dr. Sturgis and I were discussing the quark model recently."
Seeing that Sheldon was trying to flex, Paige fired back. "So, do you know if Dr. Sturgis uses matrix control for golden field byte calculations?"
"I don't know," Sheldon admitted, deflated.
The physics she was referencing was clearly beyond his current curriculum.
"Do you know how to perform decomposition under an integral sign?" Paige pressed.
"I don't know," Sheldon admitted again, his frustration mounting.
Seeing Sheldon on the ropes, Paige delivered the knockout blow: "So, what do you know?"
Cornered and humiliated, Sheldon snapped. "I know that you are sitting in my seat."
"Is that so? That's a shame." Paige smiled victoriously, not budging an inch.
Round two: Paige.
As Sheldon prepared to retreat in defeat, Paige called out, "How old are you?"
"I'm almost ten," Sheldon said, stopping in his tracks.
"Me too," Paige smiled sweetly. "When's your birthday?"
"February 26th," Sheldon answered.
"Mine is March 17th." Paige grinned, delivering the final insult with surgical precision. "I can't believe it. I guess I'm the youngest student in the class."
She had perfectly targeted his biggest insecurity—being the special "youngest genius." Round three went to Paige.
Sheldon, having failed to gain a single inch of ground, was now in a terrible mood. He shot Paige—who was now giggling—one last death glare, then sulked over to the empty seat on Mike's other side.
In just a few minutes, the two super-geniuses had engaged in three rounds of psychological warfare, utilizing every ounce of their massive intellects just to be petty.
Mike, watching the entire drama unfold from the sidelines, was practically glowing with joy.
[Intelligence +3]
[Intelligence +2]...
[Intelligence +1]
[Intelligence +1]...
As the glowing orbs of experience absorbed into his body, Mike's Intelligence stat finally broke through the 170 barrier.
You had to hand it to them—Paige and Sheldon really were top-tier loot drops.