He stared at them inquisitively.

"Miss Makima, Zeldris — should I say nice to meet you?" Zeke walked toward them.

"What are you doing here? You don’t look like you’re part of the guild," Zeldris said in a gruff voice.

"I should ask you that. Well, Miss Makima, I know the brute is a member of the guild."

"You still have a foul mouth." Zeldris’s expression was annoyed.

"Let the lady speak."

"Obviously, I brought her to the Tower the last time I went back to Earth."

Zeke ignored Zeldris, staring straight at Makima.

"It is exactly as he said." Makima gave a weak smile. Zeke was still petty.

"Oh, that makes sense." Zeke nodded sagely.

"What about you, Zeke? Why are you here? You don’t seem to be a member of the guild," Makima asked, seeing that Zeldris might not get answers from Zeke.

"Yeah, I’m not a member of your guild. Oh, your guild’s defense is abysmal. How can anyone just walk in?"

"It’s the same in every guild. Otherwise, guilds would be unable to attract potential members and certain missions." Makima explained patiently.

"That makes sense. Nice to see you again. I’ll be going now." Zeke nodded and continued his walk.

It was strange talking to Makima again after everything that had happened. And again, he belonged to Yeon now. He could not be too friendly with other girls. Especially girls he had gone on dates with.

"Oi." Zeldris placed his hands on Zeke’s shoulder.

Zeke sighed and turned his head to face Zeldris. "This is irrational and won’t end well for you. Remove your hand."

Zeldris ignored him. He tightened his grip. "Where are you going? You’re not a member of this guild. Leave."

"I wish to meet someone. Remove your hand." Zeke said calmly.

Makima sighed. "Who do you want to meet?"

"Your guild master."

"You can’t meet with him. Zeke, just leave. It’s equally irrational to expect to meet with our guild master as an outsider."

"What if I have a mission I would like to hand over to your guild?"

"Then you meet with the receptionist," Zeldris interjected.

"Haha. What the hell kind of Chinese novel is this?" Zeke smiled as he placed his hands on Zeldris’s chest.

His hand moved slowly, but Zeldris could not dodge it.

"Fuck off."

Ice formed from Zeldris’s chest, encasing his entire body.

"I’m no longer in the mood to meet your guild leader." He addressed Makima. "I’ll be back."

He waved and walked past them, leaving the building.

---

Feeling underwhelmed by his visit to the Althelgard Guild, Zeke put a stop to his visitations and simply strolled around. He ended his stroll on the third day and headed back to the house, where he resumed his shut-in lifestyle.

Up until the early week of the third month, when he received a notification from the system.

[You’ve received D-Rank Stat potion ×12]

Zeke paused the anime he was watching.

"Zero?"

{Oh, you saw that? Someone might have resigned before he was fired.}

"You petty bastard." Zero had switched on the system’s notifications. Zeke now received notifications for "minor gifts."

"Did you do it recently?"

{Nah, I did it the day we spoke of it. You’re just receiving a gift for the first time since then.}

"C’mon, switch it off."

{Nah, I’m retired.}

"Peak." Zeke nodded.

{...}

Zero was more worried about Zeke’s response. It meant Zeke’s revenge might be worse.

Before he could do anything about it, Zeke received a message.

"I’m free."

Yeon had sent Zeke a message for the first time in weeks. Zeke immediately prepped himself and replied.

"I’m not. I’m quite expensive. Can you afford me?"

She texted back: "Sorry, I’m a salary earner. I can’t afford you. I’ll come back when I’m richer."

"Ok."

"Are you richer now?"

"No, I’m even poorer than I was before."

"I can reduce my price."

"No, that would be an insult to yourself."

"Too bad, I’m outside."

Zeke texted as he spotted Yeon. He stopped his run and made himself presentable.

"I’m blind. I can’t see you."

Yeon texted back, having already seen him.

"Yo." Zeke waved as he walked closer.

"Yo."

Thus began their frequent meetings.

---

From then on, whenever Zeke timed it that Yeon would be free, he would send a text to schedule a "hang out." And if she mentioned walking somewhere to clear her head, he would appear there.

He made friends with Rose and Yeon’s teammates. Whenever Yeon left, Rose would inquire and relay the information to him. All at the cost of a phone.

These encounters spanned from the third month to the eighth month.

In between the dates and the budding love life Zeke was building, other things happened in his life. At times when he was not going on dates, he returned to the academy. His return, as some would describe it, was detrimental to their mental health — Nox and Elio’s mental health, specifically.

---

With nothing else to do, when Zeke returned to the academy, he would head to Nox’s office. A behavior Zero had dubbed shameless.

{You threatened each other months ago, and here you are acting as though nothing happened.}

That’s something an assistant would be privy to. But oh well.

{...}

On one occasion, Nox, fed up with Zeke, had called the only stuck-up person for whom Zeke had a modicum of regard — Elio. A decision that cost him three months of advance payment to Elio.

Zeke, instead of leaving Nox alone, simply added Elio to the "band."

"Can you leave me alone?" Elio said exasperatedly.

"Nah, I don’t think so. I’m attracted to you."

"Attracted to who?!! Mr. Elio is mine!" Camille jumped up to assert her claim.

"Eh." She clasped her hands over her mouth once she realized what she had said.

"Why are you surprised? Everybody knows you have a crush on him." Beckett said with a smile. When Camille shot him a death stare, he placed his hand over his mouth. "Oh, my mistake."

Shudder. Zeke shuddered as he stared at Beckett. "Why did you have to call him?" he asked Elio.

"I did not call him. He came of his own volition."

"When I heard the troubled professor was making friends with the bandit professor, I had to come. The lovestruck professor following me was unexpected yet expected." He pointed to Elio — to say Camille would surely come when Elio was involved.

Elio stared at Beckett. "Really? ’Bandit professor’?"

"Sorry, I have a habit of saying things I should not say." Beckett’s smile remained.

"Well said, psychopathic professor." Zeke patted his shoulders.

"Why are you guys not teaching... it’s definitely your doing, you bad egg." Aldric pointed at Zeke. "You have finally brought out the evil in him." He pointed to Elio.

"Oh, it’s the boring and annoying professor." Camille said, then covered her mouth.

"He’s lonely. We should add to his blessing." Elio walked out of the room.

"As expected of the man I’m attracted to." Zeke called out as he followed Elio.

"You husband-snatcher! Leave Elio alone!" Camille rushed after them.

Beckett smiled and walked out as well.

Aldric stood alone in the empty office.

---

Aside from his rendezvous with his fellow professors, the highlight of his eight-month retreat was his system.

In actuality, the reason he even bothered speaking with his fellow professors was because of the system’s mission. The system gave him a mission — a very rare occasion.

[Social Worker]

[Establish a rapport with your co-workers over the course of one month.]

[Reward: A blank check. Not literally.]

The moment he saw the reward, a plethora of ideas went through his mind. An infinite beer dispenser. A sound effect squad. Infinite resources. Removing his immortality.

Removing his immortality was the only thing he took time to think about, but he rejected it. He might kill himself once he was allowed to die. And for some reason, he felt the system would not grant his request.

Aside from that, he had nothing he wanted. Infinite money? Being the strongest? Those things would come to him eventually. They were things immortality had made unimportant.

The only things he could think of were things that would make his life a tad more interesting. That was when he remembered the kids — Kai and Aaron. Aaron had a chance to elevate his talent, while Kai was stuck on hope. Hope that Zeke would find a way to get him help. Well, he might place hope on Anton and Michael, but Zeke wanted the adulation.

Once he had completed the mission, his request was for the highest material the system could give him that would grant a person the highest talent.

What he received was an EX-ranked pill: [Nirvana].

---

[STATUS WINDOW]

[Item: Nirvana — Rank EX

Type: Consumable

Effect: Why would you want to know its effect? Eat it. Okay, let’s assume you’ve not heard of this wonderful pill. This pill is the Nirvana variant of the talent modifier sequence. Its effect is to elevate one’s talent — in some cases, grant talent where there is no talent. That itself is elevating talent. Right? So yeah, there it is. But everything in this universe has a rank, and you’ve just stumbled on the highest-ranked Nirvana pill. You must have connections. This pill’s effect is the best at its pinnacle. Even if you’re the most untalented person in the universe, this pill will guarantee you demi-Godhood. Barring some cases, of course. And in those cases, your talent won’t budge an inch. That means you’ve been cursed. Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about that.]

---

"This is the most interactive description I’ve seen to date. Retired assistant, do you have any opinion?"

{Who are you giving it to?}

"Kai. Well, until Aaron receives something of this nature. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait until I have two before handing them to both."

{I thought it was because Kai’s your brother-in-law.}

"Partially. It’s the rational thing to do."

{If you do that, no one will believe you didn’t do it out of emotion.}

"You can’t say that."

{Bah, you’re the most impartial partial person I know.}

"You don’t know a lot of people."

{Doesn’t matter. If he wasn’t your brother-in-law, who would you have given it to?}

"Kai. He was the first to accept me. It’s only rational to pick him. I’ve done all the calculations, and I know the repercussions. That’s why I’ll wait until I have two, or until Aaron receives one from the angel."

{What do I know? I’m just a retired assistant.}