Heaven Defying System

Chapter 9: Another Campus Goddess

Monday morning.

Zevian entered his classroom with a piece of bread in one hand.

By now, most of his classmates had stopped staring at him like he'd undergone illegal human experimentation.

Most.

"Zev?"

A familiar female voice made him turn.

A beautiful young woman stood near the classroom entrance.

Long chestnut hair framed an elegant face, while her simple white blouse and dark skirt somehow looked more expensive than Zevian's entire wardrobe.

Elara Whitmore.

Second-year student.

One of Auremont University's Three Campus Goddesses.

She had been away for several days because of a family matter and had missed Zevian's sudden transformation entirely.

Now she was staring at him.

Zevian raised his bread.

"Morning."

Elara walked closer.

She examined his face.

Then his shoulders.

Then his arms.

"Take off your shirt."

The classroom went silent.

Zevian stopped chewing.

Several male students nearly broke their necks turning around.

He swallowed.

"Buy me dinner first."

Smack!

Elara hit him with her notebook.

"I meant your jacket!"

"Should've said that."

"Idiot."

She grabbed his sleeve and inspected him more closely.

No glasses.

Clear skin.

Broader shoulders.

Even his posture had changed.

But the worn black bracelet remained around his wrist.

Same bag too.

More importantly, nobody else could reproduce that irritating expression.

"It's really you."

"Who else?"

"What happened?"

Zevian took another bite.

"Ate a nut."

Elara stared at him.

"A nut."

"Yeah."

"And that did all this?"

"Apparently."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No."

"..."

Zevian walked toward his seat.

Elara followed.

"I leave for a few days and you turn into a completely different person."

"Still me."

"Your face disagrees."

She sat beside him and took something from her bag.

A small wrapped box landed on his desk.

Zevian looked at it.

"What's this?"

"Something I brought back."

He opened it immediately.

Elara's eyebrow twitched.

"You could say thank you first."

"Thanks."

"You already opened it."

Zevian held the box toward her.

"Want it back?"

"No."

"Problem solved."

Elara sighed.

There it was.

Definitely Zevian.

During class, their lecturer presented a complicated mathematical problem.

Before the System, Zevian had always been good academically.

Now?

He looked at the problem once.

The answer appeared almost immediately.

Grandmaster Mathematical Proficiency made the lecturer's supposedly difficult example look like elementary arithmetic.

Elara noticed him writing.

"Already solved it?"

"Yeah."

"Let me see."

Zevian slid his paper toward her.

She studied it.

Then frowned.

"This method wasn't taught."

"I know."

"Where did you learn it?"

Zevian thought about the translucent screen nobody else could see.

"Around."

Elara gave him a suspicious look.

"You're getting stranger."

"I've been told."

After class, Zevian passed through Auremont's Business School building.

Ding!

[Eligible Check-In Location detected.]

'Check in.'

[Check-In successful.]

[Location: Auremont University School of Business.]

[Reward obtained: Grandmaster Business Management.]

Corporate finance.

Accounting.

Valuation.

Negotiation.

Operations.

Mergers and acquisitions.

Investment analysis.

Years upon years of accumulated knowledge flooded naturally into his mind.

Zevian stopped walking.

For once, he nodded approvingly.

"Finally something useful."

[...]

"What?"

[FINALLY?!]

"Cooking wasn't exactly urgent."

[Host eats every day!]

"The cafeteria exists."

[YOU UNGRATEFUL-]

"Relax."

[I AM A HEAVEN DEFYING SYSTEM!]

"And now I can manage businesses."

[CORRECT.]

"Without owning one."

[...]

Zevian smiled.

"Progress."

By lunchtime, he and Elara were sitting together in the cafeteria.

This wasn't unusual.

Before Zevian transformed, they'd eaten together numerous times.

Elara never cared that he bought the cheapest meals available or wore clothes without expensive labels.

Today, however, people noticed them far more.

A handsome Zevian sitting with one of the Three Campus Goddesses attracted considerably more attention than the old bespectacled scholarship student ever had.

Elara pushed part of her side dish toward him.

"You always steal this anyway."

"That's a serious accusation."

"You did it last time."

"You weren't eating it."

"I was saving it."

"Same thing."

"No, it isn't."

Zevian took it.

Elara stared.

"You just did it again."

"Now your accusation has evidence."

She kicked him beneath the table.

Then the cafeteria became noticeably louder.

Elara glanced toward the entrance.

Seraphina Sinclair had arrived.

Her gaze swept across the cafeteria.

Then stopped.

Zevian.

Elara.

Together.

Something unpleasant flickered through Seraphina.

She didn't know why.

It didn't matter who Zevian ate with.

He was merely her Love Box target.

If anything, another attractive woman being near him made the challenge more interesting.

That was all.

Seraphina walked over.

"Elara."

"Seraphina."

Elara looked mildly surprised.

"You're back."

"This morning."

Seraphina's eyes moved toward Zevian.

"We're having lunch."

Elara glanced at the food.

"I can see that."

Seraphina's smile almost stiffened.

Zevian continued eating.

Elara turned toward him.

"So, what did you do while I was gone?"

"Not much."

"You look like you replaced your entire body."

"Besides that."

"Weekend?"

"Amusement park."

Elara smiled.

"Fatty dragged you there?"

"No."

Zevian pointed his fork toward Seraphina.

"Her."

Elara slowly turned.

Seraphina smiled.

"Zevian and I went on a date."

Zevian looked up.

"You finally called it a date."

Seraphina's eyebrow twitched.

Elara looked between them.

"You two are dating?"

"No," Zevian replied.

"Not yet," Seraphina said simultaneously.

Silence.

Zevian looked at Seraphina.

Elara also looked at Seraphina.

Seraphina maintained her smile.

"What?"

Zevian shrugged and returned to eating.

For some reason, that irritated her.

Later that afternoon, Seraphina sat with one of the few girls who knew about the Love Box.

"Elara and Zevian," she said casually.

Her friend raised an eyebrow.

"What about them?"

"Are they close?"

"Why?"

"Research."

The girl smiled.

"Of course."

Seraphina ignored the tone.

"They've known each other since first year, apparently."

"How close?"

Her friend's smile widened.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

"You just asked."

"She's another Campus Goddess. If she's interested in him, it affects the game."

"Elara?"

The girl thought.

"I've never heard anything about them dating."

"Has Zevian ever pursued her?"

"No."

Seraphina frowned.

"Never?"

"Not that I know of."

That answer bothered her.

Zevian had spent more than a year around Elara Whitmore.

Elara was beautiful.

Wealthy.

Popular.

And he had never pursued her.

Seraphina suddenly understood something she should have considered before drawing his name.

Perhaps Zevian Rook had never been as easy as his old photograph suggested.

Her friend watched her expression.

"You're jealous."

Seraphina's eyes turned cold.

"Excuse me?"

"You're jealous of Elara."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"He's only your target, Sera."

"Exactly."

"So why do you care who he eats lunch with?"

Seraphina went silent.

"I don't."

Her friend laughed.

Seraphina ignored her.

That evening, she lay on her bed with her phone.

The giant stuffed bear from the amusement park sat nearby.

She opened Zevian's messages.

Typed.

[What are you doing?]

A reply arrived.

[Eating.]

Seraphina immediately typed another message.

[With who?]

Her finger hovered over send.

She froze.

Why was she asking that?

Seraphina stared at the words.

Then deleted them.

She tried again.

[Tomorrow. Lunch. My treat.]

Three seconds later:

[Sure.]

Seraphina stared at his response.

That fast.

Of course.

Free food.

Her fingers tightened around the phone.

"Bastard."

Across campus, Zevian put his phone away.

Miles looked at him.

"Who was that?"

"Seraphina."

"What did she want?"

"Lunch tomorrow."

Miles stared at him.

"Another date?"

"Free lunch."

Miles slowly covered his face.

Meanwhile, Seraphina tossed her phone onto the bed.

She wasn't jealous.

There was absolutely no reason to be jealous.

Zevian Rook was merely her target.

Elara Whitmore was merely an obstacle.

That was all.

At least, that was what Seraphina kept telling herself.