Chapter 12: C-F

Feng Biao knocked on the door of room #132. Inside he heard the sound of movement, and a moment later the door swung open. There stood Song Zhilan, wearing pajamas.

"Oh, are you my roommate?"

"Yes, my name is Feng Biao."

"I'm Song Zhilan, nice to meet you," Song Zhilan said extending her hand out for a handshake.

Feng Biao grasped it and found despite Song Zhilan's petite figure her grip far exceeded his own. Testing how strong Song Zhilan actually was Feng Biao decided to grip her hand as hard as he could.

To his surprise nothing happened, it felt like he was a child gripping the hand of an uncle who worked in construction. Well, it didn't truly feel like that, Song Zhilan's hands didn't have calluses and were quite soft.

As Song Zhilan loosened her grip Feng Biao felt the blood circulate through his hand once more. Shaking his hand back to life, Feng Biao stepped into the room and. Before he could decide where to set his PDS down he heard Song Zhilan's voice.

"So you're not really much of a talker huh?"

Feng Biao turned towards Song Zhilan who was sitting down on her bed with a pillow against the wall.

"Excuse me?"

"I said nice to meet and you didn't even say anything back."

This was not untrue.

"Sorry, I'm not really used to talking to people I guess."

"That's not good, but at least it's just that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I couldn't tell if you were shy or afraid of me."

Being labeled as shy by such a pretty girl stung Feng Biao for a reason he couldn't quite describe.

"I'm not shy I'm just not good at talking to people. The slums don't really encourage you to be talkative."

"Sounds like an excuse Feng Biao, but OK. Since you're my roomie we need to talk ground rules," Song Zhilan said excitedly pulling out a whiteboard.

"Actually about that, I'd like to swap rooms if that's fine with you."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Song Zhilan said clearly less enthused than before. She sank onto her bed now choosing to face the ceiling rather than Feng Biao.

"Song Zhilan is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

"I barely know you and I can tell something is wrong."

"I don't like shy people who are also afraid."

"I told you I'm not shy, and I'm definitely not afraid of anything."

"Then why do you want a transfer?"

"Because I have a friend, Hunter Jackson, I already promised to be roommates with him."

"So you're not switching rooms because you're afraid of any strange rumors?"

"No, I don't think I've heard any strange rumors about you."

"Good, that's good. So then, who is my new roommate actually going to be?"

"Don't know, Hunter ran out of Divinity, he couldn't use his PDS to check who his roommate was."

"That's silly, he has a Partial Divinity doesn't he?"

"Uh, yeah, how could you tell?"

"Cause he ran out of Divinity, what was he training too hard or something?"

"No, he was in combat with another Marked, he won."

"He sounds a bit wild, fighting on the first day leaves an impression."

"He's a bit arrogant, yes."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of pride."

Laying down on his bed and treating it like a chair Feng Biao decided to steer the conversation to topics he felt were more important.

"Song Zhilan, how informed are you about Divinities?"

"That's a dumb question, just assume if you don't know something I was forced to learn it."

"Then where is Indra placed among other Divinities?"

"Indra?" Song Zhilan asked in a confused voice.

"Yes, do you know of him?"

"I'm guessing he's you Divinity? I remember he's ranked C in HCF God Rankings." grabbing her PDS, which looked much different from Feng Biao's own, Song Zhilan continued speaking, "but to be honest I don't know much about Indra himself."

"Is C a good rank?"

"No, it's pretty poor for a True Divinity and it's also the lowest a True Divinity can be ranked in the HCF's God Rankings."

"Here we go, according to the information available about him Indra has been recorded to have appeared to a few Marked in history," Song Zhilan excitedly said before trailing off, "none of the Marked with him have ever been recorded as doing anything exceptional. He never communes and he offers no Pantheon Quest..."

"None of that sounds good."

"It isn't, Feng Biao your Divinity is kind of bad. According to Eros-sensei's blog, he ranks him as an F Grade Divinity."

"Eros-sensei?"

"A very popular blogger on the DCN, if you ever get to a Divine Rank sign up to view his blog."

"I don't even know what a Divine Rank is..."

"Your Contract should just be calling it your Rank for now. When you reach certain Ranks your Contract will receive some noticeable changes."

"Anyways, for now, I'll read off what Eros-sensei says," Song Zhilan coughed and attempted to mimic the voice of an elderly man, "Indra? A garbage god unfit for the title of a True Divinity. If you have him the best you can do is work at some sort of plant and supply electricity if you get lucky enough to roll a decent ability in the sea of trash he offers."

"Even if you roll a high-grade Divine Ability I doubt they're any use, coupled with the lack of Indra's willingness (or ability) to Contact or hand out a Pantheon Quest I seriously feel for any sucker who gets stuck with him. I grade him as F, my personal lowest I've ever given a True Divinity."

For a moment the room was silent. Song Zhilan didn't know what to do, she wished to cheer up Feng Biao but she felt offering words of comfort would just come off as fake. She had been blunt because she felt Feng Biao needed the truth, but she didn't expect things would be this bad.

Laughter filled the room, Feng Biao laughed happily.

"Song Zhilan, don't worry I'm glad my Divinity is thought of so poorly. I had been thinking my path in life was easy."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Probably, but I think I was getting scared to have my life be set in stone."

"Well, that's a weird way of thinking, good luck and good night Feng Biao."

"Yeah, good night Song Zhilan."