Heaven's Greatest Professor

Chapter 204: Invited Thief

Jenni arrived early in the morning to report to her job in Warden's quarter, only to notice a distinct change in the atmosphere. Given that the guy was a Master Runesmith, her father had assigned him one of the better quarters to allow him to work freely, even from home, despite Warden's inclination towards outdoor work.

The house spanned over two hundred square meters, and not much had changed in its appearance, except for a swing hanging from the branch of a tree in the small garden. What truly surprised her was how fresh the ambient energy had become around the house... Had Warden changed the array formations overnight?

Jenni had been here every day for the last few days, and just yesterday, the place had felt vacant and ghostly... like nobody lived there. Well, that was true. Nobody lived there a week ago. Even after he was assigned the house, the guy was hell-bent on staying outdoor for the most part.

"Looks like he pulled another all-nighter," she mumbled. Well, she expected nothing less from someone of his caliber, a person who seemed to derive pleasure from both inflicting and enduring pain.

After scrutinizing the new and revised scripts that Warden had left exposed for several minutes, she let herself in with the spare script key he had provided her.

Jenni found him in the drawing room, dozing off on a couch with various materials for runesmithing scattered around. He had probably nodded off while working... and judging by the plated armor he had completed, it seemed he had finished it.

By the gods, this man! Jenni swore silently as her eyes fell upon his tall figure resting on the couch like a contented house cat, with a dirty white blanket draped over him. Just yesterday morning, she had seen him planning out the designs for the plated armor, and now it was done... Not to mention, he had also renovated the house's array formation point as well.

Obviously, Warden couldn't compare to her father in terms of work rate. But her father was a gold ranker, and this guy was merely an Iron ranker—surely stronger than her, but still just an Iron ranker.

Although Iron rankers didn't need to take care of their health as much as Copper rankers, they still needed regular sleep, at least four hours, especially for a runesmith, given that heavy rune work took a great toll on the mind.

"I've said it many times, this guy is not human," Jenni muttered, inspecting a piece of the armour, "but nobody believes me..."

Then she remembered those desserts as her eyes darted around the room in search of them. She put aside the piece of armor she had taken to check and focused entirely on searching for those tasty, tasty ice desserts. Warden was probably hiding them somewhere deep, perhaps inside his dimension cube... she just needed to find it.

Jenni wouldn't get such an opportunity any other time, considering the guy rarely sleeps. She didn't see it as reasonable to draw out her neophyte spiritual awareness to spread around the room by another, specifically not directing it towards the sleeping Warden in case it alerted him to wake up.

She was sure he had some form of awareness ability awakened before reaching Silver rank because it was completely impossible to reach Adept rank, much less Master, without one.

Jenni felt like a thief as she scoured through the whole quarter, only finding work-related items, kitchen appliances, and nearly consumed ingredients, but no ice cream.

"Now where could the guy keep his dimension cube?" Jenni thought out loud as the answer became evident in her mind.

She returned to the drawing room and peered at Warden, silently moving closer to him. She was sure he was keeping the dimension cube on his person, considering how irresponsible he was in taking care of himself while he worked; it was probably in his pocket.

Sucking in a slow inhale, Jenni caught one end of the blanket and slowly pulled it off from him. Instantly, her pupils widened to find the man laid half-naked. Well, he had his shorts on, but the upper body was bare, with toned, jagged muscles, a sheen of mostly dried sweat, and bulging veins all over.

Jenni froze for a moment and inhaled a sharp breath. Her cheeks turned bright red. Stupid girl, why are you blushing? Did you forget how merciless this guy is?

After chiding herself, her eyes looked for the item she was looking for. There seemed to be something pressed under him... Jenni pushed her palm over to take it out, but just then her world tilted.

Just when her palm made contact with his skin, Jenni found herself tossed in the air and shoved onto the couch, a tough arm choking her neck with a strong boulder-like body pressed onto her.

"Gyahhh ahh!" she groaned, barely managing to see the arm with dark tattoos before the palm stopped choking her. She coughed and finally saw the guy looking at her with an oblivious awkward look.

"Jenni, you, I thought—"

"What?" she husked, finding her throat sore. The guy hadn't shown any mercy, not even on instinct. "That someone broke through the protective barrier you laid around the house and came to assassinate you?"

Warden had the audacity to look embarrassed.

"I can't believe you," she said, still panting. The quick turn of events had surely caused great turmoil in her. "And get off me. Gods, you're so heavy."

"Sorry," he said.

Jenni sat upright, breathing in and out. Her eyes darted to the tattooed arm that she hadn't seen gloveless before. There seemed to be some intricate runic work in the tattoo, but she was too out of her place to consider that... Her mind only fixated on the terrible and brittle feeling the arm had caused her.

"I'm really sorry," Warden said. "It's been a bad habit of mine, but you shouldn't have to sneak up on me like that…"

She snorted and stood up.

Warden let out a yawn, feeling the tension release from her body.

"When did you sleep?"

"Hmm, I don't know, probably a couple of hours ago," he said, checking the clock. "Anyway, you're free for an hour, right? I need your help with some shopping."

"I must remind you, I'm only to take care of matters related to runes and—"

"Do I smell bad?" he asked, then sniffed his underarms, letting out another yawn. Gross!

Jenni wrinkled her nose. "I'm out. If you need anything about runesmithing business, call me…"

"Wait, I really need you," Warden shouted, but Jenni didn't give him an ear. "Just wait, I'll give you those desserts you desire so much."

Jenni faltered in her spot. "How many of them?" she asked, turning her head.

"Two, not four," Warden said, still standing tall with his physique on display.

For once, Jenni paid no mind to his physique, no matter how impressive it looked. "Ten," she said.

"That's too much," Warden complained. "I can almost finish laying runes on equipment in that time. How about six?"

"Fifteen," she said.

"Hey, that's not how negotiations work," Warden shouted.

"Twenty," she said again.

"Fine, fine, ten it is," Warden sighed. "Happy?"