81: Thank you

Ronan traced the source of the subtle Spiritual Power back to the director's office within the Secretariat.

Once the opponent realized their Spiritual Power was locked on, they abandoned their concealment and attacked Ronan with full force.

The two waves of Spiritual Power collided across the distance, reaching a stalemate.

Ronan felt the opponent's total Spiritual Power was less than his, but their control was extremely refined, always managing to use one part of force to cancel out three parts of his.

If they had the same level of Spiritual Power, he would definitely be no match for them.

The reason for the current stalemate was entirely because Ronan's total Spiritual Power was large enough.

However, for Ronan, this was only temporary.

Because he had already begun trying to mimic the opponent's control methods to manage his own Spiritual Power.

"So it can actually be used like this..." Ronan marveled repeatedly.

The opponent's control over Spiritual Power was as precise as a machine, or like the optimal solution to a math problem.

Ronan could even clearly feel...

...that there was absolutely a complete and perfect system supporting it, far beyond what an individual could figure out.

Time passed bit by bit. By learning the opponent's techniques, Ronan gradually gained the upper hand.

Originally, the opponent could use one part of force to cancel out three of his; now, that ratio was starting to drop.

Noticing Ronan's control techniques were becoming more like their own, the opponent suddenly unleashed a massive burst of Spiritual Power and withdrew from the silent confrontation.

"What a pity..." Ronan clicked his tongue repeatedly.

If the confrontation had lasted a bit longer, he might have actually been able to steal all of the opponent's techniques.

While he was feeling great regret, a fat, middle-aged man walked out of the Secretariat director's office—it was Director Dick.

With a gloomy face, he immediately locked his eyes on Ronan and said,

"I don't care whose disciple of a Mentalist you are, get out of here right now!"

Arabella stepped in front of him at the right time, holding up the chairmans order.

"Special Operations Team. Director Dick, please cooperate."

"Arabella, is this how you talk to your direct superior?!" Director Dick's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water.

"Do you really think the people here don't know about you going to the Chairman's office to commit adultery with a man?"

Boom.

An overwhelming wave of Spiritual Power swept in, condensing into a single point in an instant and landing on Director Dick.

The massive pressure from the Spiritual Domain poured out, nearly making Director Dick's legs buckle and forcing him to kneel on the spot.

Director Dick had to immediately concentrate his Spiritual Power to resist.

"Whatever Director you are, it's true that we, as a young couple, shouldn't have gone to the Chairman's office to get intimate..."

Ronan naturally put his arm around Arabella's waist, causing her delicate body to tremble.

Then, he glanced around at the crowd of onlookers in the Secretariat and spoke.

"But if we're talking about adultery, it's probably more suitable for you and this gaudily dressed older sister, right?"

"I discovered it with a sweep of my Spiritual Power; she still has quite a bit of your bodily fluids on her..."

Everyone around froze upon hearing this.

Their eyes kept moving back and forth between Director Dick and Secretary Lena, then bursts of low-voiced discussions broke out.

"I always said that usually..."

"I saw it last time..."

"One night..."

...Director Dick's face turned blue and purple. He tried to cover it up, "I, Lena and I are also..."

"Director Dick, do you not even know the basic information of your employees?"

Arabella reminded him, "Lena is a married woman."

"See, that's what you call adultery."

Dammit, committing adultery himself and yet he dares to slander me.

Ronan immediately seized the moral high ground, "We are a young couple in a consensual relationship, it's normal to be passionate. Don't compare us to a beast like you who destroys families."

He turned and asked loudly, "Who is this Secretary Lena's husband?"

"I know, it's Mentor 'Blood Duke'." Someone in the crowd who knew the truth answered.

Hearing this, Director Dick's face instantly turned ashen.

The look he gave Ronan became increasingly dangerous, as if he wanted to swallow him alive.

Ronan felt his malice, curled his lips, and immediately stared back.

3, 2, 1.

Malice perceived, and three seconds of eye contact.

The full version of "Spiritual Fear" on the mask of truth was instantly triggered, acting on Director Dick.

This wasn't a simple contest of Spiritual Power like before, but a magic spell taking full effect.

Once "Spiritual Fear" was triggered, it would force the target into a state of terror and make them attempt to flee from the caster.

"Ah!!" Director Dick screamed in terror.

In his eyes, Ronan seemed to have turned into Mentor Blood Duke, transforming into a giant blood bat pouncing toward him.

"Don't kill me, Lord Blood Duke, don't kill me!!"

Director Dick crashed around like a madman, desperately trying to get away from Ronan, stumbling and falling along the way, not even caring that he was bleeding profusely.

Ronan looked at the onlookers who were staring at each other in shock, shook his head, and sighed.

"With such little courage, he still dares to commit adultery in the Academy. Simply lawless..."

He turned to Arabella, "Are we still dealing with this Lena?"

Ronan meant taking her for interrogation, though he didn't know if the two of them had that authority.

Arabella didn't speak, as if she hadn't heard his question.

Her eyes were like water, tenderly gazing at the person before her.

Many Phantasms of Ronan appeared before her eyes:

The polite and humble Ronan, the messy and focused Ronan, the Ronan who stood up and held her, the Ronan who lashed out in anger to defend her... these Phantasms intertwined and overlapped, becoming deeply frozen in Arabella's mind.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing her silence, Ronan thought she was affected by the slanderous adultery comments, so he spoke to comfort her:

"That prick of a director was hit by my magic; he's going to suffer for it..."

"To be honest, the first time I saw him, I knew he wasn't a good person..."

"If you can't swallow this insult, why don't we find someone..."

Ronan stuck out his tongue and made a throat-slitting gesture.

"I'm telling you, the New Lord has connections for this kind of thing..."

...Arabella looked at the man in front of her who was trying hard to comfort her. The emotions in her heart quietly sprouted and took root, filling the young girl's throbbing heart.

"Oh, right." Ronan suddenly thought of something and walked toward the unconscious Lena.

Then he pulled a rune stone out of her pocket.

He had perceived this rune stone through his Spiritual Domain; it felt very similar to the one Arabella used to open the door earlier.

"It seems we can go back to the Chairman to finish the task." Ronan nodded with satisfaction.

Leaving the Secretariat, the two headed for the Chairman's office.

Unfortunately, the Chairman wasn't there, and the office door was locked.

Ronan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and placed the initial seed stored in his mind onto the doorframe of the Chairman's office.

The initial seed hardly grew while stored in his mind, but if released, it could autonomously absorb external energy.

Ronan had never known where to put it.

He almost never went out, so putting it at the door of 761 was unnecessary.

But for an important place like the Chairman's office, installing a camera on the doorframe was more than reasonable.

This way, as soon as the Chairman returned, he could immediately rush over to hand in the rune stone and report.

But before that, the current Special Operations Team could only disband for now and everyone go home.

Walking on the way back, Arabella, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked:

"How are you sure this rune stone is the same as the one I used to open the door before?"

"It should be correct." Ronan said confidently.

"What if it's not? Aren't you going to test it first?"

"How can I do that! You're still right next to me!" Ronan said with an air of righteousness.

"Didn't you say we were getting intimate in the Chairman's office, a consensual relationship, passionate?"

Arabella said with a mischievous smile, "I see you know quite a lot, but your body is so honest. As expected..."

"You're just not capable in that department!"

"Slander! Pure slander!" Ronan said, exasperated.

Is this world ever going to get better?

Just as he was about to turn back for a passionate debate, he saw a fair arm grab his collar and pull him down out of the corner of his eye.

Then, a pair of soft red lips lightly pressed against his cheek.

"Thank you."