Meanwhile, when Kaelen returned to Xander's side, he immediately noticed that something was off.
Xander kept glancing over at him, the sleazy grin on his face harder to suppress than a plasma rifle's recoil.
"You've got some serious moves, Old Kaelen!" Xander struggled to hold back his laughter, giving him a thumbs-up. "What kind of corporate confidence boosters have you been taking lately? You just walked right up to the ice queen!"
Kaelen: "..."
Kaelen was speechless, rolling his eyes at his wisecracking friend.
"Oh, give me a fucking break..." Kaelen couldn't be bothered to play along. He shrugged off Xander's arm, his mind racing as he continued to ponder his situation with the System.
Although he felt he had unraveled the mystery of the 500-year time-skip, he still found it hard to believe.
Based on the AI's logic, only beings that would successfully survive the next five centuries and become apocalyptic threats triggered the alerts. The 'Sanguine Fiend' puppet wouldn't trigger it, but the ancient parasite controlling him would.
That's right. That's the logic.
Kaelen nodded to himself. He once again thought back to the girl he had just met. No, the future Empress.
According to the System's prompt, as long as I establish a Master-Disciple link with her, I'll get a massive reward?
But this task of becoming her apprentice was entirely backwards and humiliating.
Wait a second...
Kaelen suddenly smacked his forehead. He had an epiphany!
Why should I fall for the System's trap?
Last time, the System urged me to run for my life when I encountered the cockroach. But I did the exact opposite—I aggressively stomped it to death—and I forced the AI to cough up an even bigger, multiplied reward because I broke its threat-assessment model!
In the System's eyes, compared to a Supreme Sovereign Empress, I'm just a fragile, mortal ant. So it thinks begging to be her apprentice is the safest, most logical path.
But if I were to invert the dynamic...
Kaelen's eyes lit up as he murmured, "If I force the Empress to become MY apprentice, wouldn't the reward multiplier be absolutely astronomical?!"
That was the ultimate exploit!
Take her as his disciple while the Empress is still a young, impressionable teenager! Then, he could milk the System for god-tier rewards!
This was a massive win!
I'm going to exploit this glitch until I am invincible!
With his thoughts cleared, Kaelen was suddenly filled with intense anticipation. He abruptly turned around and started heading back toward Aurelia's location.
But after a few steps, he reached the lounge, only to find that Aurelia's seat was already completely empty.
She's gone?!
Kaelen looked at the empty seat, a sharp pang of regret in his heart.
If I'd known, I would have used my admin access to make up some library promotion and get her contact info!
"No way, Old Kaelen. You didn't actually fall for her, did you?"
Seeing Kaelen staring blankly at the empty chair, Xander poked his shoulder. "I never thought you'd be into the untouchable corporate-heiress type. That girl has a massive 'do not approach' forcefield."
"Sigh." Kaelen heaved a long sigh.
The girl herself wasn't important! What was important was that the god-tier loot drop he'd almost had his hands on had walked out the front doors!
"Holy shit, what's with this devastated reaction, Old Kaelen! Pull yourself together!" Seeing the look of pure loss on Kaelen's face, Xander couldn't stand it any longer. "If you're really serious about this, your bro here will go through hell and high water to get her corporate profile for you!"
"Hm? You serious?" Kaelen sized Xander up skeptically. "Don't you go tricking an honest man."
"Why would I trick you? This library has elite patrons coming and going all the time; my dad has connections. Just give me her name, and I'll hack you a dossier."
"Alright. Her name is Aurelia Sterling. Student at the Aether Academy."
Xander immediately thumped his chest. "A student at the Academy? That makes it easy! Just sit tight and wait, Old Kaelen. I promise I'll get you her routing info!"