Novel Full Chapter 547 - Taming the Fourth Year: Connections - Bad Guidance
Chapter 547: Chapter 547 – Taming the Fourth Year: Connections – Bad Guidance
Things you wear besides your clothes, not… not…”
He couldn’t even finish the sentence without his face burning brighter.
Ren rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
“Like scarves, bands, or bracelets, or…!” he gestured frantically, trying to explain while simultaneously trying not to think about the images his brain had decided to helpfully supply.
“Ah,” the three boys looked visibly disappointed. “That’s… much less exciting.”
The disappointment in their voices only made Ren feel more embarrassed about his own involuntary thoughts.
“You guys are perverts!” he exclaimed, but his voice cracked slightly, suggesting that perhaps he wasn’t completely immune to the same thoughts.
“We’re normal teenagers!” Trent protested. “Surely you’ve thought about that sometime too!”
“I’M NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING!” Ren practically shouted.
Which was, of course, a complete lie, and from the misuse of verb tenses, now everyone knew it.
The three boys looked at each other and began smiling knowingly.
“His face says otherwise,” Roran observed.
“He’s definitely thinking about something,” Jun added.
“Something that has him very flustered,” Trent finished.
Ren, completely overwhelmed by embarrassment and frustration, decided that violence was the only solution.
“SHUT UP!”
He proceeded to hit all three with enough force to send them sprawling, though not enough to cause real damage. It was more ’therapeutic’ than punitive… Well, maybe more therapeutic for Ren than them.
The physical outlet felt surprisingly satisfying. Even without the seed or his fungus’s influence, he was discovering that sometimes the direct approach to problem-solving had its merits, even if it wasn’t particularly mature.
“GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW!” he continued, pointing dramatically toward their quarters in the academy. “And if I hear even one more word about this topic, I WON’T GIVE YOU THE NEXT STEPS FOR YOUR GOLD CULTIVATION!”
The effect was immediate and total.
The three boys, who had been sprawled on the ground rubbing their heads, immediately scrambled to their feet and began bowing apologetically.
“We’re sorry!”
“Forgive us, forgive us!”
“We’re idiots!”
And with that, they ran toward their room as if their lives depended on it, leaving Ren alone with his thoughts.
Ren stood in the hallway, still feeling flushed and trying desperately to get his mind back on appropriate tracks. The problem was that now, thanks to his ’helpful’ friends, his brain kept drifting toward topics he definitely shouldn’t be considering when he was about to go shopping for gifts for Luna and Liora.
’Focus,’ he told himself firmly. ’They’re accessories. Simple, appropriate, thoughtful accessories. Nothing more.’
But despite his best efforts, part of his mind kept wandering toward territories that made him feel simultaneously guilty and curious.
The voices of his idiot companions were starting to seem reasonable.
’This is completely normal,’ he assured himself. ’Every guy my age thinks about these things sometimes. Doesn’t mean anything… Right?’
The internal debate was exhausting. Before losing his fungus, he’d had a constant analytical voice helping him process any complex emotions and situations. Now he was left to navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence entirely on his own, with only his increasingly unreliable hormones as guidance.
Still feeling uncomfortably warm, he decided he needed to distract himself completely.
Shopping.
Focus on the task at hand.
He began walking toward where Jessy worked, hoping that the familiar routine of browsing materials would help clear his head.
♢♢♢♢
He arrived at the exchange warehouse without fully realizing how long he had been walking, still lost in his conflicted thoughts about growing up and changing interests and whether it was normal to feel so confused about everything.
Jessy was, as usual, organizing inventory behind the counter. Her cat, Musy, was sprawled across a pile of soft furs, looking perfectly content to be a living decoration.
“Ren!” Jessy looked up brightly when he entered. “Back so soon! Did you decide what type of gifts you want?”
“Yes,” he murmured, hoping his voice sounded normal. “I need some high-quality skins, the usual equipment for writing with rune liquid, and some bright solutions from Light beasts. And maybe some small enhancement runes…”
“Oh, exciting!” Jessy immediately became animated. “What kind of creations are you planning?”
Ren began explaining his ideas for accessories, but apparently his face was still showing traces of his earlier embarrassment, because Jessy kept giving him curious looks.
“Are you okay?” she asked eventually. “You look… I don’t know, uncomfortable about something.”
“I’m fine,” Ren lied quickly. “Just… thinking about design details.”
Musy, who had been ignoring them completely, suddenly raised its head and fixed Ren with an unblinking stare that somehow made him feel like it knew exactly what he had been thinking about.
The cat’s judgmental expression was remarkably similar to what his fungus might have conveyed in similar circumstances. Even without telepathic communication, some disapproval transcended species barriers.
“Design details?” Jessy tilted her head. “Like what?”
Ren’s brain, apparently deciding to be ’helpful’ again, immediately conjured images that definitely weren’t related to scarf and bracelet design.
“Just… just give me these colors,” he managed to say. “And… these sizes.”
“Sizes?” Jessy’s expression became more curious. “Oh, are you making something small with fabric?”
’Think straight,’ Ren panicked internally.
“Accessories to… to activate small runes close to the body,” he managed to explain.
“Oh, of course!” Jessy brightened immediately. “That makes perfect sense! Smaller runes would be more subtle but also less powerful.”
“Exactly,” Ren said, relieved to have found a legitimate topic. “I want them to be a bit useful but not obvious or too expensive.”
As they began examining different furs and discussing rune options, Ren gradually felt his mind settling back into more appropriate channels. Talking about crafting techniques and practical applications helped distract him from… other considerations.
The technical aspects of rune inscription were genuinely complex enough to require his full attention. Without his fungus’s enhanced analytical abilities, he had to work much harder to calculate optimal placement patterns and energy flow distributions.
Musy eventually went back to ignoring them, apparently deciding that Ren wasn’t about to do anything interesting enough to warrant continued surveillance.
By the time Ren left the warehouse with his materials, he had managed to completely focus on his gift-making plans and push all other thoughts to the background of his mind for good.
At least, that was what he told himself.
♢♢♢♢
Ren arrived back at his dormitory carrying several packages of materials, feeling reasonably pleased with his purchases and his ability to overcome adolescent awkwardness through sheer determination.
This feeling lasted exactly until he opened the door and found Min, Taro, and Liu all waiting for him, clearly having noticed his packages.
“What’s all that?” Min asked immediately, gesturing toward the bags.
“Materials,” Ren said cautiously.
“For what?” Taro pressed.
“Projects.”
“What type of projects?” Liu joined in, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at Ren getting a bit reddish.
Ren looked at his three roommates, all watching him with obvious curiosity, and felt his heart sinking. After his experience with Roran, Trent, and Jun, he really didn’t want to go through another round of awkward questioning about his gift plans.
The familiar gleam in their eyes was unmistakable. It was the same expression his earlier tormentors had worn before launching into their embarrassing assumptions about his intentions.
Slowly, deliberately, he looked toward the ceiling and let out a deep, long-suffering sigh.
’Not again,’ he thought desperately. ’Please, not again.’