Ragnar grabbed the woman’s shoulder when he saw her face getting paler.

He thought that it was a part of the process, but he became worried when her fair complexion turned deathly pale. It was almost like she was a walking corpse. Something went wrong with the bloodline probing.

"Are you okay?" He asked, trying to remain calm.

"I’m... fine," the woman pushed his hand away and took out a cloth to wipe her shoulder, as if his touch was dirty. "It’s nothing for you to worry about. Please, refrain from touching me. I don’t like it."

"Ah, right..." Ragnar stepped away. "I apologize."

All this while, Kai was trying to read the woman’s feelings through her eyes.

It doesn’t look like she succeeded, but why does she look sickly?

Kai knew close to nothing about the Goddess, but from the few times he met her, she didn’t seem like a hostile divine entity. In fact, she was compassionate. If she didn’t want herself to be known by this woman, she would’ve simply blocked the woman from seeing anything.

Not hurt the woman like this.

Unless it wasn’t the Goddess whom she met.

I doubt the Nightborns would want to be seen by anyone, so it can only be one thing... the night.

Kai clenched his fists, wanting nothing more but to slap the night for pranking the woman.

Since this was the moment for him to solidify his bloodline on the Lower Olympus’ archives, he wanted the woman to see something. One bloodline that would get her—and anyone who wanted to know his bloodline off.

As the woman was trying to get her bearings, Kai closed his eyes and focused.

He wanted to use the Deep Slumber and enter the House of Night—so that he could smack the night for interfering with his business, but he refrained from doing so. Instead, he called out Perion in his mind.

Not to summon him, but to talk to him.

Perion, show her something. Maybe show your path.

Kai could feel Perion heeding his words, so he quickly opened his eyes again.

On the other hand, the woman stole a glance at Kai.

’What was that?’ She thought, eyeing Kai with wariness that wasn’t there before. ’Normally, I could see the divine symbol of the Patron God, but all I saw was an endless ocean of darkness. I can even see the divine symbol of an Olympian God, though blurry. What’s going on with this Lesser Angel? How come I can’t see his bloodline?’

"I must’ve been too tense," Kai offered a smile and scratched the back of his head. "Can you try again, madam? I haven’t gotten the chance to check my bloodline, too, so I’m curious about it."

The woman stared at Kai’s hand.

She was hesitant to try it again, fearing the darkness would lure her away again.

But when she did it for the second time, she wasn’t greeted by the darkness. Instead, she found herself standing on a featureless black shore with a motionless sea meeting an absent sky right before her.

No ripples on the sea. And no sun or stars in the sky.

Just a muted world that stayed in stillness.

The woman reached out her hand, using her mana to ask the owner of this inner world.

A symbol manifested from ash right above the sea, a perfect circle severed by a single diagonal cut. And seeing that gave the woman the answer she wanted. She blinked, and the grey world shifted, turning back into the same chamber with Kai sitting across.

"So?" Kai tilted his head curiously. "Who is my Patron God?"

"God of Doom, Moros," the woman answered and nodded at Ragnar.

Ragnar nodded and wrote something on his phone.

"Phew..." Kai leaned back, exhaling dramatically, which caught the woman’s attention. "Here I was thinking that you aren’t able to see my Patron God, too, seeing how pale you are earlier, or maybe you saw something you shouldn’t have seen.

"Seems like it was neither. I’m only being paranoid," He added and smiled.

A smile that showed his rows of white teeth.

’Is he... threatening me?’ The woman’s eyes narrowed.

Ragnar doesn’t seem to catch the threat, but the woman did.

She heard how Kai emphasized his second guess, that he thought she saw something that she shouldn’t have seen. And he even added the fact that he was paranoid. It sounded like he was threatening her not to say anything about what he saw the first time.

But she quickly shook her head, ’What am I thinking? He’s just a kid. But still, what exactly is that darkness?’

Once his bloodline was successfully probed, Ragnar gave him three intricate red vials.

Each one was the Crystallize Teardrop of Argus.

"I don’t know if you know about this, but whenever you are fighting a Star Beast, you will be constantly fighting back corruption—because of their Null Gem," Ragnar pointed at the three vials. "But if you digest those vials well, you’d be more resistant to the corruption. If you digest one vial, your mind would be more resistant. Two, your body would be more resistant, and you can even touch a Null Gem directly. And three, your Divine Locks would be more resistant.

"At that point, you’d basically be almost immune to the corruption from Pest-class Star Beast. To use it, you only need to infuse mana into the vials, and the contents inside would turn into liquid. Then you can digest it. Just make sure to do it when you’re ready to digest it since it can expire in about a day."

Kai looked at the vials again.

He was excited inside as this was exactly what he needed.

Sweet. I don’t know how hard it would be to take down a Pest-class Star Beast, but this would certainly make it easier.

Happy with the rewards, Kai excused himself.

On the way out, he walked past the same waiting area again, and Chester was still there.

"You really didn’t lie," Chester suddenly said when he saw the three vials, stopping Kai mid-track. "I really thought you were lying, but it seemed I’ve underestimated you. All three titles are really claimed by you, huh..." He was clicking his tongue repeatedly, almost like he was amused. "I am jealous."

"Two titles aren’t that bad," Kai glanced back and smirked. "It’s good enough."

Not even waiting for a response, he left.

By all rights, he should’ve let Chester’s remarks slide and moved on—offending another High Angel was the last thing he needed. But one look at Chester’s face told him the damage was already done. The offense had been taken long before Kai opened his mouth. So, there was no point in holding back now.

Either way, Chester is offended, so he took the route that made him feel better.

Kai made his way back to the dormitory.

He wanted to quickly digest these three Crystallize Teardrop of Argus.

Along the way, as he was about to step into the dormitory, he paused. Earlier, he’d managed to evade Bree and her relentless nagging about forming a group—rescuing her, supposedly, from the dull group she was stuck with.

She even went as far as threatening that she would get closer to Alex.

But when Kai seemed undisturbed at all, she went absolutely ballistic.

Earlier that morning, she’d have barged straight into his room without knocking. Then she’d glue herself to his side wherever he went, endlessly reminding him of all the things she’d done to help him—as if he could possibly forget.

In the past, Bella was also like this.

He was immune to it, but he couldn’t focus when Bree did it all the time.

Now, he was afraid that Bree might be waiting for him in his room.

"Talitha, you stupid idiot," Kai scratched the back of his head. He didn’t know when, but Bree had somehow convinced Talitha to hand over the spare key to his room. "I can’t be bothered right now. Let’s not go back."

Kai turned away and instead made his way to the backyard.

Behind the dormitory building, there was a small garden.

Couples usually use that area to do what couples do, but at this time of the day, with most of the students going mining, the garden should be empty. It would be perfect for him to start digesting the vials.

Besides, he didn’t need too much time.

Considering how fast he was at absorbing mana ores, it should be the same with this.

"Right, I also need to check on Dorian. Enough sulking already."

Kai entered the garden, but the moment he did, he heard the rustling sound of bushes.

His eyes flared wide as a student exploded from the bushes, hand shooting towards the vials with startling speed. Taken off guard, his body moved before his mind wrapped around what was going on.

He pivoted his body and yanked the vials out of reach. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Two more rushed in from behind, closing fast.

Without even turning, Kai arced a backward slash with his bare hand, which was surprisingly sharp enough to cut across their faces. They staggered—touching their masks that were now dented a little.

Kai, on the other hand, rolled forward and rose in a single fluid motion.

Both his eyes stared at his attackers.

"How the fuck?" One of them cursed, realizing the mask was cut.

The material used to make the mask is a special one, chosen with the aim of longevity.

But Kai’s hand actually managed to scratch it.

"Fuck is the meaning of this?" Kai asked as he pocketed the vials. "Stealing is prohibited."

"We’re not stealing," One of the attackers stepped forward. Brown eyes and brown spiky hair. "You’re going to give us those vials. Don’t make things more difficult than they already are. Aren’t you there when your friend was almost executed?"

Kai gritted his teeth.

He understood what this student meant by that.

If he doesn’t give them the vials, then they will find a way to accuse him of something.

A Lesser Angel’s words against three normal Angels... It was obvious which side the academy would side on. "Do you understand?" The student reached out his hand. "Hand the vials over like a good little boy."

Kai’s eyelids dropped halfway, making him look bored.

He didn’t know who these students were, but someone must’ve sent them to intercept him.

Not a lot of people knew that he had three vials of Crystallized Teardrop of Argus.

And then, to the students’ astonishment, he took out the vials and flicked the lids open one by one—all while raising a deliberate middle finger with his free hand. "You want these?" Kai tilted his head back, poured every last drop into his mouth, and swallowed. He smacked his lips and met their stunned stares. "Oops."