"I didn't blackmail anyone. That was my friend who asked me about how I won the lottery. I was just joking with him that I blackmailed the one that's handling it," Ryder made an excuse. "That's what you probably heard. We both know that it's not true."
"Oh, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," Claudia apologized to Ryder.
"Bye."
Ryder bid her farewell before he left the place.
'It's crazy to look at her. I took a life that day because of Janus, but if I hadn't done that, she wouldn't be here. I got blood on my hands, but I got a good deed by saving a life as well. I wonder if that makes me a hell material or a heaven material,' Ryder thought as he entered the lift.
Ryder left the building and entered his car, which he drove back home.
****
"Is he the same person?" Claudia muttered as she looked at her tablet. "He definitely wouldn't accept it if he was. No sane person would admit that considering what happened, but I do believe that he's the one that saved my life. I get the same feeling from him."
****
Ryder was driving back home as he called Shu and put his phone on speaker.
"Is your meeting over?" Shu asked as he picked up the call.
"Yeah, You nearly got me in trouble. The person I was meeting heard my words when I was talking to you," Ryder said.
"You don't sound mad. You must've handled it well. Anyway, let's continue the story. What did you do?" Shu asked.
"It's not that big. When I went to his office, I entered his room without knocking and saw him doing some embarrassing things. I recorded his video and forced him to apologize to Alice," Ryder replied to him.
"Ah, That was lucky. I was wondering how you would handle the guy, but it looks like god helped you. Anyway, what was the embarrassing thing he was doing?" Shu asked.
"He was singing and dancing naked," Ryder answered him.
"Ahh…"
For quite some time, Shu didn't say anything. It was like he was shocked at what he heard.
"Forget that. How's your training going? Have you been leveling up?" Ryder asked Shu.
"Yup. I'm doing great. You'll understand what I mean when we meet," Shu said.
"I'll know soon after the Level Ranking release for players," Ryder replied.
He knew that today was the day when the Level Ranking became public. Then he would be able to see the level ranking of the top 100 players. He thought that it would be good if Shu were there on the rankings.
"I'm sure you'll be on the top of the ranking when it is released. It will be you, or Lucifer. It might even be Darkness. You 3 are the most popular now," Shu said.
"It will become clear soon. When that happens, the Treasure Ranking will also update, and this time, it will be something that updates daily, unlike before," Ryder muttered.
"There's a big shock in store for everyone when it happens," Ryder added.
"Yeah, I was wondering when it would update. It hasn't updated since it was released the first time," Shu said. "I want to see who else got treasures other than you."
"You won't have to wait for long. It should be today according to the rumors," Ryder told Shu.
He already knew that it would most likely happen today if everything goes like last time with the number of players. There was also a chance that he was wrong as history was already changed.
"Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I'm picking up, Alice," Ryder let out as he applied the brake of his car after reaching the University.
"Alright."
The call was disconnected.
Ryder got out of the car and stood near it as he looked at his watch. It should be the time for her to come out, he thought.
He could see students leaving the campus. Many girls looked at him, standing before the car with curious gazes.
'I should get some new clothes as well. I always attract these weird gazes,' Ryder thought.
After some time, he saw Alice come out. She was walking together with two girls. Ryder recognized one of the girls as the one who had informed him about Alice's arrest while the other girl was unknown. He didn't know that the other girl was Misha, who had caused all the problems.
Alice reached the car.
"Is that your brother?" Misha asked Alice.
"Hmm," Alice nodded her friend.
Ryder looked at the girl in confusion as he saw her bowing her head before him.
"Sir, I would like to apologize to you for what I did to Alice. Please forgive me. I was stupid and naive, but now I understand my mistakes," Misha said.
"Ah, Are you the Dean's Daughter, Misha?" Ryder asked.
"Yea," Misha nodded her head.
Before Ryder could say anything, Alice also started talking. She told Ryder everything that happened in class and that Misha apologized. She also asked him to forgive Misha.
"Alright. If Alice says that, I won't pursue the matter. It's good that you learned from your mistake. Just don't repeat that again," Ryder replied.
"Thank you," Misha thanked Ryder politely before she walked back towards the office of her father.
"Bye Alice,"
Alice's friend also left.
Ryder and Alice got in the car that started driving back towards home.
"I didn't know that you were taking legal action on them. You became so big in such a short time without me even realizing," Alice said to Ryder along the way.
"You can call it a god's blessing, I guess. Things are getting better," Ryder replied.
After some time, they reached home. Ryder parked the car, and they entered the house.
While Alice went to her room to change her clothes, Ryder went to his room to rest.
"Tomorrow is a free day. I can spend the whole day in the game," Ryder muttered as he laid on his bed.
He cozily rested his head on a pillow as he closed his eyes.
Even though the gaming substituted for sleeping and provided the same benefits now, he still thought about taking a nap. There was still some time before dinner.
He decided to sleep for some time as it had been a long time since he actually slept.
It didn't take long before Ryder fell asleep. The cold air of the AC filled up the room, making Ryder's sleep even more comfortable.
Ryder was sleeping, and soon he started dreaming.
It was a weird dream where he found himself sitting in a strange place. It seemed as if he was sitting on the ground made of clouds.
