Professor Ratio

The Trailblazer woke up groggily.

Little March was still asleep in her arms.

Stelle slowly shifted back, making sure she would not wake March 7th, then sluggishly got out of bed.

She had no idea how long she had slept.

She checked her phone and was surprised to find that it was already evening.

Stelle strolled from the guest car back to the party car, then went upstairs from the party car to her own room.

Inside, Pom-Pom and Trash Cake saw their owner return and excitedly hopped over, rubbing themselves against the Trailblazer.

"You're so cute. You're both such good babies."

The Trailblazer pinched Pom-Pom's soft nose, then scooped the cat cake into her arms and gave it a few vigorous rubs.

She had taken a two-system-hour nap that afternoon. Wouldn't it be hard to fall asleep tonight?

No, she couldn't mess up her sleep schedule before arriving at Amphoreus!

After some thought, Stelle took out several Jade Lotus flowers from her Four-Dimensional Backpack and placed them in the vase nearby. Then she rummaged through the backpack's inner compartment for a long while before finding a small spray bottle.

She gave the centers of the Jade Lotus flowers two quick sprays.

There had been a time when Stelle had trouble sleeping.

After going to the Xianzhou Luofu to see Bailu and Lingsha, this was the advice they had given her.

Before bed, she should place calming flowers in her room, preferably with a little fragrance diffuser sprayed in as well.

That way, it was like taking medicine—she could fall asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

But medicine always had its side effects, while this fresh-flower therapy was completely harmless.

After all, its only drawback was being expensive.

The Trailblazer, however, had gone all out. Since money was no object, she had bought ten courses' worth of Jade Lotus flowers and stuffed them into her backpack for emergencies.

At first, the Trailblazer had been quite skeptical.

But after bringing the flowers back to the train and following the method above for one night—

Stelle had truly gotten a good night's sleep.

After fixing her sleep quality, she had never used them again.

Now, in order to maintain a good sleep schedule before reaching Amphoreus, she followed the same routine once more.

Breathing in the refreshing floral scent, the Trailblazer sat on the sofa, ready to open her phone and browse some posts.

Just then, as if on cue, a new message appeared before her eyes.

Dr. Ratio: It's been a long time, Stelle. Are you on the train right now? I need to discuss something with you.

Stelle's eyebrows lifted unconsciously.

Oh my God, it was Professor Ratio.

She really had not seen Dr. Ratio in a long time.

Though he was usually quite sharp-tongued, he was not a bad person.

He could even be called extremely generous.

How generous, exactly?

Generous enough to give himself to the Trailblazer for free.

In short, the Trailblazer had a very favorable impression of Dr. Ratio!

For the moment, she could not figure out why Dr. Ratio was looking for her, but regardless, she welcomed him.

"Ah, Professor, I'm here, I'm here. If you need me, just come directly to the second floor of the party car. The only room there is mine, so just come in."

Not long after the message was sent, the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs came from outside.

Stelle placed the vase neatly on the table and went to open the door for Dr. Ratio.

Before the man even had time to knock, the door suddenly swung open.

A cute little gray head popped out from the brightly lit room.

The moment Stelle opened the door and saw Dr. Ratio, she hurriedly welcomed him inside.

"Hehe, Professor, it's been a long time."

"It certainly has."

Dr. Ratio glanced around. The room's layout... hmph, it had some taste, at least.

His previous free lessons for the Trailblazer had not gone to waste.

Dr. Ratio had long regarded the Trailblazer as his student. Since she was his student, her taste naturally had to be refined.

The Trailblazer invited Dr. Ratio to sit on the sofa and went to pour some water.

As she turned around, Aha's shrill laughter suddenly rang out.

Aha: Oh my, I didn't expect you to win over a genius.

Stelle: Huh? Which genius did I win over?

Aha: Ruan Mei. Ever since you ran away, her favorability toward you has been climbing at an unstoppable pace.

Stelle: Talk about an unintended effort bearing fruit.

Aha: You're amazing at winning over geniuses. So, Stelle, do you have confidence in winning over the genius in front of you?

Stelle: You mean Professor Ratio? The two of us have an unbreakable, perfectly pure teacher-student relationship. Since you put it that way, then you... need to pay more.

Aha: You're going to Amphoreus anyway. You won't have the time or opportunity to pursue anyone else. If you can win this one over, then you'll receive an absolutely unprecedented, exceptionally worthwhile script next.

Stelle: You seem really determined to make me go after Professor Ratio, Aha. Can I hear why?

Aha: Who knows? Maybe it's an Aeon's sixth sense. I just feel that the two of you will definitely spark some wonderfully joyous flames. So please, my little Emanator♪

That certainly made her feel fired up.

Aha had personally guaranteed it—a legendary "unprecedented, exceptionally worthwhile" script.

The Trailblazer was truly very curious.

What would it contain? Surely it would not be full of padding like the previous scripts.

Having made up her mind, Stelle secretly glanced at Dr. Ratio.

After making her decision inwardly, she carried two cups of water toward the sofa.

"Here, Professor Ratio."

"Thank you."

The man accepted the cup, then pulled several sheets of paper from the folder on the table and handed them to the Trailblazer.

"This is a brand-new version of the Simulated Universe jointly developed by Herta, Screwllum, Ruan Mei, Stephen, and myself. It has a new name: the Divergent Universe."

"Everyone agreed that having you go to Herta's office every week for testing was too far away."

"So, for this Divergent Universe, we decided to connect the terminal interface to your Trailblaze's Tail, which should make testing more convenient for you."

"Stelle, what do you think?"

"That sounds great! I agree."

The Trailblazer accepted the documents with a grin, swiftly signed her name with two strokes, and handed them back to Dr. Ratio.

"I'll grant all of you landing clearance for my airship. Feel free to come play on it whenever you have time."

After saying that, Stelle gave Dr. Ratio a few exaggerated winks. "Soolada is free for all of you—unlimited refills!"

Dr. Ratio had never had any interest in such cloyingly sweet flavors. Just thinking about the scent of Soolada flowing through Penacony's air made him nauseous.

He lifted his cup and took a sip.

"If you can accept a drink that tastes like Soolada, you should be careful. Your brain may already be clogged with sticky syrup and rusting away."

Well then, Dr. Ratio's sharp tongue had erupted again.

No wonder the Trailblazer had felt that something was a little strange ever since she saw Professor Ratio today.

But if she had to say exactly what was strange, she could not put her finger on it.

Now she had finally traced the problem to its source.

Ever since Dr. Ratio boarded the train, he had not said a single cutting remark.

Hearing the professor's words just now, Stelle did not feel mocked at all.

She only felt:

Wow, wonderful. This was the Dr. Ratio she knew!