Grabbing a towel, I wiped the sweat that had umted on my face from the past three hours of training.


    Staring at the metal dummyid out across the floor, I smiled before de-manifesting my daggers.


    Grabbing a piece of paper and pencil from my pocket, I wrote "Maintenance Required."


    pping the note on the wall, I took onest nce at the AI dummy, which was practically in shambles, before heading to the door.


    "How does it now feel now, damn bot!?"


    Wait... they don''t have security cameras here, do they...?


    Cringing internally as I realized that some security personnel may have just watched me scream countless curse words at an inanimate AI Dummy while harming it to the maximum, I sighed.


    "Revenge feels good at first... but what follows is always a period of self-reflection and emptiness that causes you to think, ''Was it worth it?'' ."


    Thankfully, my journey of revenge was not yetplete, so my body was still filled to the brim with energy.


    Sliding open the door, I embraced the cold breeze that had slipped in through the door before wrapping the towel around my neck.


    As I exited the AI dummy room I was in, I saw an excited student, who had been waiting by the row of AI dummy rooms, immediately ran towards me.


    As he passed by me, I heard this random student exim.


    "Finally...I''ve been waiting three hours for a room to open up! I can''t wait to test out my new abilities and power-ups! This is going to be the highlight of my week!"


    "..."


    Yeah...who''s gonna tell him?


    Resisting the urge to smile and break out in theughter, I just let the student pass by me and entered into the AI dummy room I was just in.


    Quicking my pace as the random student entered the room, I stopped to get a fruit before arriving back at the main area of the training hall.


    As I walked by the countless machines, I was quickly surprised to realize that there were no familiar figures in sight.


    Even Liam, who had been known for training every single day, was nowhere to be seen.


    Had Astrid already coordinated with Alya and the rest of the main cast?


    Well...maybe not the real Astrid, but the cloned one could have, considering how excited it was to team up with Alya earlier.


    The real Astrid is probably off-signing documents or something like that.


    Heading out of the training halls, I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing the cold night breeze to cool me down.


    However, just as I opened my eyes, a soft and sweet voice that reminded me of cakes and candy sounded from in front of me.


    "Oh...what a surprise it is meeting you here, Ren!"


    In contrast to the night-ck sky and the waxing crescent moon above, a girl with long, curly blonde hair and matching orange eyes stood in front of me.


    Trying my best to resist the urge to ignore her, I calmly replied.


    "Princess Charlotte! That''s two times in a day I''ve met you...how lucky can I be!?"


    Then, before she could respond, I quickly moved out of the way and starting walked toward my dorm building.


    "I would hate to interrupt your schedule of training, so I wish you the best!"


    Yet, as I attempted to walk another step forward, I felt the back of my shirt being pulled back, holding me in ce.


    Slowly turning around, I made eye contact with Charlottle before curtly asking.


    "Do you need something?"


    Shaking her head, Charlottle simply smiled, causing the few students watching our interaction to immediately contract diabetes.


    "Ah, I just needed someone to show me the royal dormitories... my new dorm building for the rest of the year."


    Thinking for a moment, I came to the conclusion that the event had been sped up.


    At the beginning of the second year, the fight for the crown and the next sessor of the King of The High Dominion would start.


    Of course, the two contestants, the prince and princess, couldn''t live in the same building, which would cause some major problems, both violent and non-violent.


    And since the prince was supported more than the princess at the time, he got the ability to choose or stay in the building from the king.


    Thus, at the beginning of the second year, Chartlotte was forced out of the building, reserved solely for those from the Royal family, and into the next best building, which was usually reserved for the top ten ranks of each year.


    Regaining myposure and gathering my thoughts, I scratched my head and pretended to reply ashamedly.


    "Unfortunately... I do not live in the royal dorms... due to extenuating circumstances that are out of my control, so I am unable to lead you there."


    Charlotte obviously knew that someone with my backstory and personality wouldn''t be in the royal dormitory, but she still decided to ask me.


    Was she trying to embarrass me or something?


    No...I had probably been one of the few people so far she had told about her departure from the Emperorial dorms, so she would be embarrassed in this situation.


    There was also the situation of the fight for the crown starting now instead of at the end of the second semester.


    But that wasn''t something I could do or change.


    What''s done is done.


    The real challenge is adapting and evolving to not be blown away be these new developments.


    Hesitating for a moment, Charlotte, for some reason, smiled even more before replying.


    "Is that so? I had just asked the student council president for directions... but she told me she, alongside the other first-year upants of the royal dorm building, was busy."


    Raising her hand, Charlotte pointed at me before saying in a slightly less sweet tone.


    "Instead, she told me that I could talk to you for directions."


    "..."


    Really Astrid?


    After everything that happened during the attack on the dormitory incident!?