No time for pretty-faced jade beauties

"Excuse me…!"

A voice reached Theo's ears from behind his back.

The long time he spent before actually gaining control over his body taught him well what this sort of approach most likely meant for him. The few days that he spent actively using his new body only served to further reinforce those lessons.

'Seriously?' Theo thought, quickly connecting the dots and steeling himself for another round of his bullies trying to mess with him. 'They cannot give it a rest for a single fucking day?'

Theo tightened his hands and gritted his teeth. And yet, as annoyed as he was by the disturbance, he still turned around to face the trouble.

His position in the sect made it so that trying to ignore such an obvious callout would only brew more trouble down the line.

'It had to happen just as things were starting to go… well?'

Theo's face twitched a little when his eyes fell down on the person who had nothing better to do with their time but to bother him. And to say that it wasn't what he expected would be a gross understatement.

'Shit,' Theo cursed under his breath when he saw the beautiful face and the long, blue hair of the girl that he noticed for the nth time in the few days he spent in the sect.

'She was in the library, then I caught a glimpse of her during the showdown with bullies. I just saw her observe the selection and now she's approaching me directly?' he thought in the time it took the girl to catch up to him properly and then lightly nod her head in a greeting.

"How can I be of help, respectable senior?" Theo asked politely, opting to hide behind the shield of formal courtesy.

'Shit! Horse's dung shitting the shit out of shit!' the curses in Theo's thoughts multiplied as his mind worked overtime to figure out the girl's possible intentions.

But just like he guessed before, there was only one possible reason for an inner disciple from a different division like this girl to approach him.

'She might not be one of my bullies… but that's what makes this pretty fucking lethal,' Theo had to use every last ounce of his willpower to stop himself from cursing out loud. 'It's that fucking, bugged system, isn't it?'

This was the only weakness that Theo couldn't prepare for. A magical system. A proof of his heresy and a taboo that he broke.

And at the same time, the only reason why someone as important as an inner sect damn disciple could pay him any mind!

"Ehm…" the girl's face initially flashed with happiness when she saw Theo turn around… only for an intense blush to cover her cheeks when she stumbled for words once attacked by Theo's cold politeness.

Theo wasn't an expert in reading people's faces. Even back in his original life, he was more of a socially retracted person who knew just enough not to make a fool out of himself while out in the open in the midst of the crowd.

And even for someone so desperately lacking in social skills, reading the emotions that flashed on the girl's face turned out to be an easy task.

'She is… No, she has no idea what to say?' Theo thought, recognizing all the clues written on the girl's face simply because he was too damn accustomed to seeing them all on his own face.

'She's not with my bullies, that's for sure,' Theo made use of the girl's awkward pause to study the situation even further. 'And if that's the case… the elder?' he attempted to guess, only for the small embroilment on the girl's shoulder to prove his idea wrong.

But not in its entirety. And it was this small decal that served to foul Theo's mood even further.

'She's with someone from a different division?' Theo realized, unable to stop his hands from forming into fists.

No matter how hard he tried to appear polite and respectful, his flight or fight instinctive response was kicking in.

'Just when did they start to investigate me?!'

"I'm sorry, but I have some questions for you," the girl finally got over her embarrassment. She cleaned her cheeks from the flush and looked straight into Theo's face…

Only to see him bow his head down.

"I'm extremely sorry, respectable senior," Theo apologized right away, opting to go along with his instincts and cooking up some crap with the addition of the glue of the sect courtesy rules that he heavily studied back at the library. "Right now I have strict orders from the elder of my division," Theo announced only to push his head even lower.

"I'm thus unable to satisfy your curiosities as I cannot delay my proceedings," he explained with all the politeness he could cram into the few sentences he actually spoke.

Theo then cupped his hands together to show his respect before shaking them a little, turning the gesture into one of farewell.

Ting.

A distant part of reality twitched.

Aware of the feeling, Theo quickly and sneakily moved his attention to the part of himself that he could only ever complain about, so far.

'It moved,' he thought, gulping down his saliva while hiding his reaction by pushing his face lower by yet another inch. 'The progress of that damned system installation… it finally moved!'

The installation process didn't finish. In fact, it was still pretty damn far from completion.

But for the first time since Theo could see it, it actually moved!

"May you request me at a later date, I will be sure to answer whatever inquiry a respectable senior may have for me," Theo then amped up the courtesy meter to the absolute maximum, desperate to leave the girl's presence as soon as he could.

He was uncomfortable to be anywhere near someone of her status, to begin with. And now that something about his system changed, he couldn't bear the idea of wasting even a second more on a random jade beauty when he could try to learn more about the situation of his system!

Unwilling to let this chance pass, Theo turned around and brought himself back to a natural position before resuming his walk at the same, slightly hurried pace as before.

'Even if she's not with the elder, I can't distract myself with her pretty face,' Theo then thought, finally noticing the possibility of the girl actually not being out for his blood once the pressure of her presence disappeared from his mind.

'If I want to fool around with a girl, I will have all the time in the world for it once I'm done with my tasks here!' he thought, encouraging himself as he continued down the path, heading in the direction of his division's elder.

The selection was now over. As such, it was his responsibility to report its results to the man who ordered him to conduct it!