Chapter 43: Roommate
Vlad pushed Noah to his feet with a firm grip.
"Aghh... Man, what are you made of," Noah groaned, holding his other hand, its fingers now turned an ugly purple. "My fingers broke and my wrist dislocated."
"Why did you let me win?" Vlad asked, his tone serious, his crimson eyes searching Noah’s face.
"Tch, what made you think I let you win," Noah retorted, irritation flashing across his features. "I went all out and this is the result."
He pointed at his fractured hand, the swollen knuckles already darkening with bruising.
"You didn’t use mana," Vlad revealed. "Since you are a repeater, you must have formed a core already. Yet you didn’t use mana once."
Noah blinked, trying to figure out whether Vlad was thankful or irritated. The silence between them stretched for a moment, both of them looking for answers from each other.
"It’s not like you went all out either," Noah muttered, grabbing his dislocated hand and beginning to twist it back into place. "Not even once were your muscles stressed during the brawl. You didn’t even put half the strength into those punches."
With a few sharp twists and a wet pop, he placed his hand back into its proper position. From a space ring on his finger, he produced a potion tube filled with green liquid, the contents bubbling faintly in the dim light.
He pulled the wooden stopper out with his teeth and poured the potion over his injured hand.
Green smoke evaporated from his skin with a sizzling sound, thin tendrils rising into the night air. The air filled with the smell of burning flesh, acrid and unsettling. His fingers twisted and straightened unnaturally, his skin moving frantically like boiling water while droplets of blood splattered on the ground.
His eyebrows twitched in pain. He pressed his teeth onto the stopper to keep from crying out, yet still, groans left his mouth uncontrolled from the sheer pain.
"So this is how a healing potion works," Vlad murmured. He seemed more fascinated by the potion’s effects rather than the painful process of the treatment.
"Ugh... that looks painful," Max muttered, his brows furrowing and his eyes turning away from Noah’s hand. "Besides that..."
He reached before Vlad in quick, decisive steps and exclaimed, "What did I just see? A moment ago you two were fighting, and now you are already friends?"
"We are not friends!" Both Vlad and Noah shot back simultaneously, their voices overlapping in perfect unison.
"Y-yeah... sure," Max said, clearly unconvinced. He released a sigh of relief and exhaustion. At the end, the two seemed to have made up. It was still unbelievable for Max that Vlad had defeated Noah in pure physical combat.
He gave a glance at Vlad, who had already started walking toward the dorms, his eyes filled with questions and curiosity.
Although Noah was a repeater, he was well known as a martial arts genius. His reputation preceded him throughout the Academy. This only made Max more curious about Vlad’s actual talent level. He wanted to know, but he held himself back. He did not want to be too forward on the very first day of their friendship.
Now that he thought about it again, from the moment he met Vlad, he had been on one hell of a ride.
"I wanna rest now," he yawned, stretching his arms above his head.
Coincidentally, he was walking together with Noah when they began heading inside.
’Crap! Why am I stuck with this lunatic?’ He exclaimed inwardly. He slowly turned his head, looking at Noah sideways with a gulp. ’Surely, he wouldn’t take his anger out on me just because I am friends with Vlad.’
"Just spit it out if you wanna say something!" Noah snapped, getting irritated by his sideways glares.
"N-nothing."
Max went inside the dormitory with quick steps, followed by his boots and mini cart clattering behind him.
---
The dimly lit common lounge was as silent as when Vlad had first arrived here. The freshers must have already gone to bed since they had classes early in the morning of the next day.
At one corner of the lounge beside the bookshelf, the warden was still seated on his chair, laid back lazily with a bottle of grog placed in his lap. His chest rose and fell in the slow rhythm of deep slumber.
Vlad released a sigh of relief that the warden was fast asleep. Noah and Max arrived behind him, their footsteps soft on the worn carpet.
They were about to climb the stairs when the warden said, his deep voice echoing through the lounge,
"Brawling just outside the dormitory. I don’t know whether ya kids are brave, stupid, or both."
His heavy eyelids slightly opened, revealing gems like emerald eyes that struggled to focus on the trio.
"I’m sorry," Noah said, his tone anything but apologetic.
From his space ring, he produced a fine bottle of wine in bloody red color. On the label of the bottle, in italic letters, Silverberry Vintage was printed.
He threw the bottle towards the warden.
"I will let it go this time since you two already seemed to have made up," the warden said, catching the bottle without even looking at it.
A faint smile formed on his face, his eyes lit up as if they were filled with vitality again as he received the bottle.
"Now scram."
’He is accepting the bribery so openly?’ Vlad raised an eyebrow, a flicker of disbelief crossing his face. ’Well, no surprise there since he is a drunkard.’
Vlad shook his head in disappointment as he climbed the stairs, each step echoing softly in the narrow stairwell. The faint smell of old wood and candle wax followed him upward.
Max’s room was on the third floor, so he bid them farewell for the night with a small wave. Noah and Vlad continued alone to the second floor.
Vlad opened the door of the room and said, "Since we are stuck together in this room, let us set some rules so my lungs and your clothes will not suffer the same fate again."
The room was exactly as it had been when he left in the morning. Neat and Orderly.
"Thank god, he did not make a mess again," he released a sigh, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
"What are the rules?" Noah asked in an awkward tone, looking sideways.
"You have turned surprisingly obedient," Vlad chuckled, slightly taken aback by the sudden compliance.
Noah flinched, his face contorting in irritation. The muscles in his jaw tightened.
"Don’t push your luck, bastard."
He removed his shoes. They seemed to be a new pair, since the last ones had been thrown out. Naturally, they were removed in the same careless manner as before, one flipped upside down and the other with its half sole hanging out, as he reached the bed.
"Old habits die hard," Vlad facepalmed himself, shaking his head at the familiar sight of scattered footwear.
He opened his wardrobe, took out a fresh pair of clothes, and went inside the bathroom for a shower. The sound of running water filled the small room for several minutes.
When he came out, he said, rubbing his damp hair with a towel, "Noah, I am sorry for throwing your clothes out. I was also at fault there. Tell me if you want them to be washed or if you want a new pair of clothes. I will pay for either."
For a moment, no response came from the bed where Noah lay with his face buried in the pillow.
"Just forget it," he muttered with a sharp tone, a faint hint of awkwardness hidden in his voice.
