Leo did not expect to be dismissed from the Basics of Perception class a mere 35 minutes after it began.
However, much to his surprise, he was, giving him ample time to head for an early lunch.
Having already missed breakfast, he was starving, and so, without hesitation, he made his way toward the mess hall, though he quickly noticed he was one of the few who did.
Most students opted to head back to their dorms, preferring to rest before grabbing a meal later, but Leo chose otherwise. Lunch service had already begun, and with his next lecture still 2.5 hours away, he had more than enough time to eat and focus on solving his mana sensing problem.
However, just as he stepped out of the training grounds and onto the stone-paved pathway leading toward the mess hall, a quiet, feminine voice whispered beside him.
"You’ve lost your memories too, haven’t you? I can tell—"
A sharp chill ran down Leo’s spine as he heard those words being spoken to him.
His instincts flared, his muscles tensed, and his heartbeat rose as his hand moved on reflex, reaching for the dagger at his utility belt—only to grasp at nothing.
His weapons weren’t on him since he was not required to carry them for the first two classes, which only made his heart skip a beat once more.
"No need to panic. I won’t hurt you." The voice spoke again, calm and steady, as Leo turned his head slightly, his gaze falling onto the speaker.
To his surprise, the source of the voice was a small girl—no taller than five-foot-two—walking merrily beside him.
She had shoulder-length dark brown hair, large black eyes, and a youthful face that gave her an almost doll-like appearance.
If not for the Elite Class skill scroll clutched in her arms, Leo might have mistaken her for a faculty member’s child. But that scroll told him otherwise.
She wasn’t just a student—she was a colleague, someone who had earned her place in the Elite Class, just like him.
At first glance, she didn’t appear remotely threatening.
And yet, despite her harmless appearance, she had managed to sneak up on him and startle him.
Which was a fact that Leo did not appreciate.
His expression remained unreadable as he silently observed her, waiting for further explanation.
But the girl, unfazed by his silence, smiled slightly before continuing in an easy, measured tone.
"I’m Mu Ryan." She said, her black eyes meeting his directly.
"I have also lost my memories just like you… If you don’t mind, can I tag along? I don’t feel safe around the others alone."
Leo’s stomach twisted slightly at her words.
His first instinct was one of immediate suspicion.
He did not trust easily—especially not strangers who could seemingly see right through him.
How did she know about his memory loss? How could she tell?
Even Su Yang and Mu Shen—his closest competitors—had yet to pick up on his amnesia. But somehow, she had.
Was she bluffing? Taking a calculated guess? Testing his reaction?
Or… did she truly share the same experience?
His eyes narrowed slightly as he considered his next move, but before he could say a word—
Mu Ryan suddenly reached out and tugged at his arm, pulling herself closer as she matched his stride, as if walking beside him was the most natural thing in the world.
Leo tensed.
"I never agreed to you hanging around me," His voice was calm, though his body language remained guarded. He tried to pull his arm free, but Mu Ryan’s grip was surprisingly firm.
"You can’t say no." She tilted her head slightly, her tone carrying quiet certainty. "I’m technically your cousin. Or younger sister. Even if you don’t remember, you’re most likely from the Mu Clan as well."
Leo stilled.
His mind immediately went on high alert.
Twice now—twice in mere moments—this girl had pulled details about him out of thin air.
Details he had barely admitted to himself.
His suspected ties to the Mu Clan were something he had kept to himself, something he wasn’t even fully sure of. And yet, she spoke of it with such ease, as if it were already fact, making his weariness deepen.
At this point, he felt like he had no choice but to let her stay close.
Not because he trusted her.
But because if he didn’t, he might never figure out what exactly she had seen in him—what subtle tells he had unknowingly revealed—that had given his past away.
"How do you know I’m from the Mu Clan?" Leo asked, as Mu Ryan quietly hummed a song beside him instead of answering.
For a while, she ignored him, but then as the mess hall drew closer, she finally turned to speak.
"I’ll tell you once we fill our plates and are seated for lunch, however, if I satisfy your curiosity, you have to agree to letting me hang out with you from now on–" Mu Ryan demanded, as Leo cautiously agreed to her demands.
*********
Leo and Mu Ryan chose an empty corner table to sit in, as they ate in silence across one another.
For a while, none of them talked to one another and only focused on the food on their plate, until eventually Mu Ryan began with her explanation.
"How I figured out your identity is not Arc Ship Science, it’s pretty basic if I’m being honest—" She began, as she sheepishly looked into Leo’s eyes.
"Just like you, I have been sent here without my memories as well, however, unlike you, I’ve kept my original name–" Mu Ryan said, as she swallowed a bite of her food.
"I too was stressing out after arriving here about information about this universe.
About how to gain context to conversations around me that I might be missing.
And that led me to the academy library, but I apparently arrived there a day after you did," Mu Ryan said, as she gave him an innocent smile.
"The librarian there recommended the same book that you read the day before, and told me about how there was a student who came in there just a day ago with the same problem as me.
So that’s where I knew about your memory loss from" Mu Ryan clarified, as Leo suddenly understood where he had lapsed.
"Although many minor clans wipe off memory of their scions, hoping to pass off as Mu Clan spawns, none of them usually have the same talent as you.
Monarch level talents usually have a direct bloodline connection to Gods, and the only major clan with connection to Gods who wipes the memories of their descendants is the Mu Clan.
So I just made an educated guess about the same" Mu Ryan said, as she shrugged her shoulders in nonchalance.
"I’m suffering here alone, big brother, I don’t like the gazes of the men around me in class.
They see me as a weak doll although I’m a transcendent level talent, and without having any memories of what skills I possess, I feel like I need to stay around you, or I’ll be the target of a lot of bullying.
Just today, between the first and second class, they bullied the student who dropped the first during the morning training.
I wasn’t there but I heard that they dunked his face in the toilet for being trash, and I don’t want to be the next one getting that treatment.
Currently, between you and Mu Shen, you’re the more feared student in class, so I’ve decided to hang around you for my personal security," Mu Ryan shamelessly clarified, as Leo slapped his own face in disbelief.
Although he wasn’t 100% convinced about Mu Ryan’s innocence, for now at least, he perceived her to be harmless.