As Lake left the training hall, he heard Kate mumble something under her breath with a disdainful expression but decided not to call her out on it.
Kate didn’t feel the need to keep up appearances around him so she often said things that she wouldn’t dare to say around anyone else.
It wasn’t because she felt comfortable or relaxed around him or anything like that, it was because she knew that even if she were to say the most absurd and outlandish thing imaginable, Lake simply wouldn’t care.
Although she hadn’t known him for long, she already had a rough understanding of his uncaring personality. She would only be wasting her breath by trying to converse with him like she did with everyone else.
"I’m going to continue my personal training. Are you having your training lesson today?"
"No, it’s already too late today and I have other things planned. I’ll start the lessons again tomorrow."
"Alright." Kate nodded her head before turning around and walking towards the private training rooms.
Lake didn’t say anything as he walked off by himself.
As he walked, he thought about the upcoming events and preparations he had to make for the coming days.
The first end of month exam was only a few days away and he needed to make sure that everyone was prepared.
Most students were originally at the level where they could enhance their physique with mana, but couldn’t strengthen it enough to be considered a Martial Apprentice.
However, after checking on the students playing Magic Pong, Lake could see that most of them were on the brink of breaking through.
He should be able to level everyone up to at least Low Rank Martial Apprentices before the exam.
While he was lost in thought, Lake continued to walk on the empty path towards the dorm.
Ahead of him, Lake came across someone he didn’t expect to see here alone.
On the silent path after classes had just ended, the sometimes friendly and sometimes strict face of his most mysterious classmate appeared before him.
His handsome facial features that could rival even his own had a solemn look on it as he sat on a bench along the pathway.
Besides himself and Kate, Lake thought that Bradford was the strongest among the normal students.
Just by looking at his mana flow, Lake could tell that Bradford had grown even more since he last saw him.
Although he hadn’t fought him before nor seen his fitness index test, Lake estimated him to be around the level of Peak Mid Rank Martial Apprentice.
Although Lake was stronger than him, he had relied on his system and the knowledge and skills it had granted him to reach his level.
Bradford on the other hand seemed to have reached his level through his own hard work and talent, making Lake, who was considered a monster by most others, see Bradford as someone who was even more of a monster.
Spotting the lonely figure, Lake didn’t immediately approach him but stood still for a moment, taking the chance to observe his fate.
When he had first seen Bradford, his Observer of Fate skill was only level one and he couldn’t look through his fate.
After it reached level two, he had tried again but still couldn’t look through his fate.
Now that he had upgraded it to level three and had access to the Web of Fate, Lake was willing to try again.
Looking at the silver sparks flying off the two hovering words, Lake silently observed the unique fate.
To his surprise, he was actually able to clearly observe it.
He saw from the moment Bradford was born to how he grew up, the people he met and the various stories of his past.
As he observed it all, he was immersed in the feeling.
Although everything he saw was no different from the lives of others, this was still the fate of someone who could block his Observer of Fate skill. Lake didn’t wish to miss a second of it.
As he watched through the entire thing, a few minutes passed.
Luckily, it didn’t have anyone walking along the street and he was pretty far away from Bradford so no one noticed his abnormal behavior.
As Lake was carefully going through Bradford’s fate however, he came across something that left him extremely confused.
’What the hell? That’s it? Where’s the rest?’
When he reached the part of Bradford’s past where he had turned eighteen, his connection to his fate had been cut off. Lake couldn’t observe any further no matter how hard he tried.
It didn’t feel like he had been blocked by an invisible wall like when he tried to observe his fate in the past. Instead, it felt more like he was walking along a bridge but midway through, the other half of the bridge had collapsed, only allowing him to go backward, never forward.
Beyond the collapsed bridge was a sea of lightning that blasted apart anything that dared to step foot into it.
While Lake was confused, he started walking again.
Although he didn’t know what the sea of lightning represented, he had seen enough of Bradford’s past to not have to be so cautious around him.
As he walked closer, he carefully observed Bradford’s facial expression.
He seemed rather depressed and appeared to be deep in thought.
When Lake walked up to him and suddenly initiated a conversation, Bradford was caught completely off guard.
"Ah- Lake, what’s the matter? Do you need something?"
"Not particularly, but you on the other hand look like you have a lot on your mind. You were glaring pretty hard off into the distance."
"Was I?" Bradford seemed to have calmed down as he now had a more relaxed expression on his face.
"Sorry if I bothered you."
"It’s fine, but I’m curious, what’s on your mind?"
Lake didn’t continue to ask as he sat down besides Bradford.
He didn’t feel the need to be as cautious with his approach as before.
Before, he had tried to completely avoid all contact with Bradford. It wasn’t only Bradford however, he did that with anyone who’s fate he couldn’t observe.
An unknown variable wasn’t something he liked to have around so he tried to stay as far away from them as possible.
Now that he had an idea of Bradford’s past however, he could try some things he didn’t dare to do before.
"How’s your training been going?"
Bradford didn’t immediately reply to Lake’s question. It seemed that his head was elsewhere during their short conversation.
Knowing that Bradford wasn’t in the mood for idle chat, Lake decided to just state his goal.
"Bradford, why don’t you consider joining my training program? You showed up to one of the lessons so you should know the effect."
This time Bradford showed a look of surprise.
"Straight to the point I see."
Lake shrugged his shoulders in response, "I just don’t see the point in sticking around, especially if you’re not even paying attention to what I’m saying."
Bradford smiled apologetically as he lowered his head in thought.
"...Sorry, but I would rather not."
Lake sighed but nodded his head.
"Can you at least tell me the reason?"
"I just prefer to follow my own style of training."
Hearing his reason, Lake got up from the bench without saying anything.
Although he would appreciate it if Bradford joined his program as it would greatly increase the chances of him completing his quest, he shouldn’t force it.
The quest only required him to have allies at the level of High Rank Martial Warrior and Martial Master.
It didn’t say anything about them having to join his training program.
In the future, if Bradford could make it to the level required by the quest, Lake would extend a hand to him and try to recruit him then.
Until then, Lake would just continue to do what he has been doing all this time.
As Bradford watched him walk away, he had a thoughtful expression on his face.
Lake returned to his dorm room.
Walking into the living room, he looked at the stack of boxes piled up in the corner.
Now that he had both the material and time, he decided that it was finally time to create the mana gathering formation at the training ground.
With the creation of the formation, Lake could speed up everyone’s progress by yet another level.