"Morgaine Dominare. Could she be the one?" The thought echoed through Ryuk's mind, long after it was well into the dark of night and the entire dorm area became grave silent.
Ryuk still found himself unable to sleep at all.
Somehow, his thoughts kept drifting back to the abilities of the Ultima geniuses, with various scenarios of them using their abilities and how he would be able to solo them.
But even more, he was curious about the top three.
The name of Morgaine seemed familiar, and Ryuk could easily bet his arm that it would be that girl he had first trained with.
Even though he had received the request of training from her Ryuk had only trained with her that one time. He never went to her training area after that.
He was already aware of her ability and fighting her at just 10% of her true strength seemed like a waste of his energy.
It would be much better if he focused on improving his own abilities, and even up till now, nobody knew of the existence of Isha, his pet.
He still didn't reveal Isha to anyone at all, nor did he reveal his Frost Veil technique.
If he had kept training with Morgaine, his chances of vastly improving his own strength would have been limited, and he wouldn't have been able to improve his coordination with Isha or properly train Isha, since he didn't want to reveal her existence.
For that reason, he had only trained with Morgaine that day and never saw her at all after that.
Still, it surprised him to realize she might perhaps be one of the top three geniuses.
But he somehow felt he need not be shocked.
Morgaine's ability, even at just 10%, was already overwhelmingly powerful and fully offensive. If she activated her ability, her power and strikes could keep increasing by the second until it overwhelmed her opponent completely.
How to stop or overcome such an ability, Ryuk wasn't well aware, but he knew it would be difficult to stop if Morgaine activated it while going at 100% power level.
"That leaves just the two—Calidor Wail and Ignatius Blade," Ryuk thought.
His focus was entirely on the top Ultimate Geniuses.
Ryuk knew well that if he were ever to gain a spot in the Ascension Academy, his major stumbling blocks would no doubt be those top ten who every genius had already determined in their hearts to be impossible to defeat.
Knowing of their skills earlier than normal was something that would greatly help Ryuk.
He was already aware of what little they were at least capable of, but they had no idea about him at all.
With Ryuk purposefully not challenging any other genius for a change of room, he was still the 60th-ranked genius. Only those ranked 50-59, the ones Ryuk trained with and all placed under Sir Kieran, were well aware of Ryuk's increase in strength.
Rumours might have spread, but that was all they were—rumours.
The top ten ultimate geniuses wouldn't be interested in him at all, and Ryuk would more than love to keep things that way, contrary to what he told Quinn before.
"I can decide to be naive and tell myself the announcement is just nothing but that—an announcement. But I know well, the test has already begun for sure."
"Somehow, I will have to fight my way through the hierarchy starting tomorrow."
"Limiting myself anymore will be nothing but negative and will backfire. I will have to go all out from tomorrow onwards..." Ryuk thought, unknowingly squeezing his hand tightly into a fist, but was brought out of his own thoughts when he heard the call.
"You asleep?" Quinn's whisper rang out, and Ryuk replied.
"I have to say, you arrived home quickly today, and not oozing with ice. You must have skipped cultivation today."
"Why? Because of the announcement?" Quinn asked, and Ryuk shrugged in response.
"Hehe, you still planning on securing a spot in that Ascension Academy?" Quinn said in his same mocking tone, and Ryuk shook his head.
"Wouldn't hurt to at least give it a chance. Who knows, maybe the test would give everybody a fair chance and not be determined by just strength."
"Perhaps, it would be determined by how nerdily paranoid a genius can be..." Ryuk replied in his own tone of mockery too, causing a loud snort to echo through the room.
"It won't be on that, not even in your dreams..." Quinn replied, earning nothing but a satisfied grin from Ryuk.
His words had hit the mark, just how he liked it.
Silence followed for a few seconds before, eventually, Quinn broke it once more.
"I'm curious though, when you came in, it was said that you were recommended by the Half-Fallen One. How did you come about her in the first place?" Quinn asked as Ryuk buried himself in his bed, trying to force himself to sleep.
"It's a long story..."
"Oh, and what would happen if you failed her?"
"What?" Ryuk asked as he forced open one eye.
"I mean, you are here based on her command rights. Meaning, somehow, she must have expected you to pass—something you won't. No one can top the ten ultimate geniuses."
"So, what will happen after your loss? Like, what's your backup plan?" Quinn asked as Ryuk looked blankly at his own feet, silence extending in the room for a minute.
'Now that he mentions it, it makes so much sense.'
'I have been so focused on getting a spot that I forgot to even ask myself—just what I would do if I ended up failing.'
'A backup plan, huh?' Ryuk thought, and soon his eyes regained their clarity.
"Would you believe me if I said I don't have one?" he asked in return, as loud laughter rang throughout the room, coming from none other than Quinn.
"Somehow, I feel like I already know you won't have one. So predictable once more..."
"What about you though, Quinn?"
"What's your backup plan?"
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In and Out_SnowySmoos.