CHAPTER 169: PARANOID.

(A/N Big thanks to everyone for the Power stones and Golden tickets, they mean a lot. As usual, please don’t hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

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Power stones people, Gimme it.

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Especially not in the hormone-flushed body of a fourteen-year-old.

"Young Master," Riven continued, "I’ll try to gather more information about the party and if—"

"No," Orion cut in. "Riven, stop."

"I—yes, Young Master?"

"I’m sorry," Orion said, adjusting his clothes. "You’re right. I don’t need details about the party itself. I just need to know who the girl is...and why my classmates are so fixated on her."

There was immediate movement on the other end.

"I’ll look into it right away, Young Master."

The call ended.

Orion sat on the edge of his bed.

Hormones or not...

Party or not...

There had to be a reason his classmates were so obsessed with this mysterious girl.

And the entire situation...

smelled like trouble.

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Orion was on the balcony of his room, a thick history book open on his lap. The cool breeze ruffled his hair as he flipped a page. Riven’s call had come a few minutes ago, and the report had been... underwhelming.

The mysterious "birthday girl" was simply a third-year A1 student who had recently befriended the girls from their A1. No suspicious background. No sudden achievements. No behavioral anomalies. Nothing.

She hadn’t done anything wrong.

Except make friends.

Orion’s eyebrow twitched at that.

If that was truly all, then why did it feel off?

He closed the book, exhaling through his nose, and tapped his bracelet. Time to try a different angle. The line rang twice before Seris picked up.

"What’s up? Changed your mind about the party?" she asked immediately. Her voice carried that smugness she always directed at him whenever she thought she’d "won" something.

"No," Orion said flatly. "I’m still very far from interested in the party itself. I’m interested in the celebrant. Who’s she, Seris? This whole thing smells fi—"

"Paranoid," Seris interrupted without hesitation.

Orion blinked. "...What?"

"You’re being paranoid," she repeated. "There’s nothing wrong with the girl, so don’t go around tomorrow morning interrogating everyone like a detective. You’ll scare her off."

"I won’t," Orion retorted.

"Right."

Orion could practically taste the sarcasm dripping through the speaker.

"Seris," he said, tone warning.

"Relax, partner." Her voice softened, warm and teasing at once. "Nothing shady is going on. Everyone’s just grabbing excuses to throw parties. It’s our final month, after all—and if our newest friend says it’s her birthday, well, that’s a perfect opportunity to use up points that’ll become useless soon. At least for us A1 students."

Orion leaned back in his seat.

Seris continued, "So breathe, Orion. You should know better than to worry about something I’m in charge of."

He didn’t answer. His thoughts churned in circles. Maybe he was overthinking it. Or maybe he just didn’t like being out of the loop.

"Besides," Seris added, "you could try attending for a change. It won’t hurt you. Might even put a dent in that massive ego of yours."

Orion exhaled slowly. "...I’ll think about it."

"Good." Seris sounded pleased with herself. "I know a lot of girls who’d love the chance to show up with ’Orion the Undefeated.’"

Orion visibly cringed. "Don’t say it like that. It’s weird."

"That’s what the people call you," she giggled. "Blame them."

A thought struck him.

"Wait... are you taking a date?" he asked.

Silence.

Then the call ended abruptly.

Orion stared at his bracelet, baffled.

"...Why is everyone taking a date? We’re fourteen."

He rubbed his forehead. His mind was still untangling that when the air in front of him rippled—soft, but unmistakable.

A fluctuation in space.

Orion’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t even bother standing before he said, "Someone’s coming."

A heartbeat later, the seat across from him was occupied.

Jessica—General Administrator of the Academy—sat with one leg crossed over the other, wearing her usual relaxed smile.

Orion tilted his head. "This is the boys’ dorm, Jessica. Should you really be teleporting in and out like that?"

"Nice to see you too, Orion," she said brightly. "And yes, I’m fine. There’s nothing in the boys’ dorm I haven’t seen a thousand times over."

He gave her a bland stare.

Jessica leaned forward slightly. "That aside... for a moment there, it looked like you predicted I was coming."

"Your spatial fluctuations gave you away," Orion said casually.

Jessica squinted at him. "I’m fairly certain my spatial fluctuations aren’t something you should be capable of sensing—not even at your ridiculous level."

And she wasn’t wrong. Jessica was far beyond him—for now. In theory she should’ve been able to hide everything from him, no matter how attuned he was to space.

But Temporal Locus changed the equation.

In theory, the ability was locked to the present. He hadn’t yet reached the stage where he could extend it into the future. That was the Seer’s job—for now, anyway. He couldn’t afford to run the Seer eternally, especially not for future vision. The mana cost was insane.

So he kept Temporal Locus active at all times instead.

Combined with Protocol and his mana sense, nothing could slip past him—not even Jessica. Time, after all, was sensitive. Painfully sensitive. Especially to space and the way it rippled when someone teleported.

It didn’t tell him who was coming.

It didn’t tell him how or why.

Only where.

But that was enough.

A perfect, personal spider-sense for spatial mages.

Of course, Orion wasn’t about to say any of that.

"I’m beyond your calculations," he said with a shrug.

Jessica smirked. "You and your mouth..."

But she let it go.

"In any case," she said, leaning back, "I came for the other matter." Her voice shifted into something more official. "Any progress on breaking through?"

The breeze shifted around them. Orion closed the history book slowly, eyes sharpening.

His breakthrough was close—agonizingly close.

And Jessica could clearly feel it.

He met her gaze.

"...I’m working on it."