Chapter 171: Need to Talk
Chapter 169
The next day arrived swiftly, and with its dawn, Ray’s world resumed its usual, rhythmic motion.
From rigorous training to lectures and then back to even more training; he had become thoroughly accustomed to this grueling cycle.
He no longer appeared affected in the slightest by the "gruesome" physical conditioning he was forced to endure daily.
They had just concluded their homeroom session, and Ray was hurrying toward the combat class for his next set of lectures.
On his way through the bustling corridor, he accidentally collided with Trisha, who was walking at an uncharacteristically slow pace.
He hadn’t noticed her presence because Bruce was, for some inexplicable reason, screaming at the top of his lungs inside his head.
When Ray had first woken up, the werewolf mockingly informed him that since he had been unable to physically eliminate the boy the previous night, he would settle for relentless mental torture instead.
Consequently, Ray’s focus was completely disrupted, causing him to bump into Trisha... hard.
The moment the impact occurred, Bruce fell silent instantly, the sudden quiet almost as jarring as the noise.
"You are dead meat, boy," the werewolf chuckled darkly within Ray’s mind.
Even though Bruce often acted disinterested in the outside world, he saw everything that transpired through Ray’s eyes, and he was well aware of Trisha’s reputation.
She was a cold beauty possessing a deadly ability—someone who could likely rip a person’s head off if the whim ever struck her.
At one point, Bruce had even planted a preposterous idea in the boy’s head.
"Wait. Why don’t you just make her your queen? She would be perfect as your life partner."
That was the nonsense he had spewed once before.
For some reason, Ray found himself recalling those exact words as he watched the girl slowly turn around to identify the fool who had crashed into her.
The boy’s face was suddenly flushed; his cheeks burned a bright, vivid red as Bruce’s irritating suggestion looped like a broken record in his mind.
Trisha stared at him for several seconds without any discernible change in her stoic expression before she began to turn away.
"Uh... I’m sorry for bumping into you. I—I didn’t see you in time," Ray hurriedly offered a quick apology, his voice slightly strained, before the girl could fully walk away.
"Okay," Trisha uttered simply, her tone flat.
She shifted her weight to leave once more.
Shaking his head vigorously to banish the silly thoughts from his consciousness, Ray quickly adopted a more serious demeanor and stopped her again.
"Er... I never did get to formally thank you for what you did back in the Gate."
Upon hearing those words, Trisha slowly turned back to face him, her blank gaze boring into his.
Scratching the back of his head nervously, he continued:
"Yes, I dealt the finishing blow to... to..." He stuttered momentarily, scanning the hallway to see dozens of Aspirants moving around them.
Clearing his throat to find his composure, he spoke again.
"... You know what I mean. Anyway; though I delivered the final strike, if you hadn’t provided assistance toward the end, I wouldn’t have ever gotten the chance to kill it. You... all of you helped a lot that day, so thank you."
Trisha stared at Ray for a long second, her neutral expression like an unreadable mask.
Finally, she turned her back to him.
"Doesn’t mean I won’t still kill you if you lose control. Just so you know."
Tak. Tak. Tak.
The girl walked away with steady, rhythmic steps, leaving Ray standing there completely stupefied by her parting threat.
’What the hell is her problem?!’
***
Class continued as usual, with Captain Jake transitioning into teaching the Aspirants how to effectively wield the various armaments they had selected from the wall.
Aside from Ray and Trisha, who had earned their specific weapons as a personal gift from the Captain, the others were strictly required to return whatever gear they took from the rack once the session concluded.
Anyone caught attempting to pocket a weapon would face heavy punishment administered by the Captain himself.
Consequently, at this moment, every student held the instrument they felt most confident in and was diligently practicing a basic set of movements.
It wasn’t necessarily that Jake was completely versatile in every single type of weapon available; however, with his extensive knowledge of the sword, he was able to provide valuable pointers and help the Aspirants better utilize their chosen tools.
The rest was ultimately up to them.
They would eventually have to research their specific gear and discover how to master its unique properties.
All Jake was currently doing was assisting them in fighting more efficiently with steel while seamlessly mixing in hand-to-hand combat to make them all well-versed in different styles of engagement.
Ray, on the other hand, didn’t have to stress much at all.
His choice of weapon was the gauntlet, and his task was relatively straightforward.
He simply had to slash with the gauntlets’ claws as if they were his own natural talons, a sensation he was already quite used to, while simultaneously performing the various types of punches Jake had previously taught the class.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t utilize Rending, and neither could he activate any of his specialized skills in this setting.
Felix, in contrast, wasn’t nearly as active in the lesson as his peers.
He remained notably laid-back, barely even engaging the humanoid training doll positioned before him.
In short, he wasn’t doing much of anything at all, instead choosing to scan the hall to see what the others were accomplishing.
He was watching, observing, and simply being himself.
Jake didn’t bother with him at all after witnessing how fundamentally unserious the boy appeared to be.
The Captain was doing his absolute best for the entire group, but if an individual refused to help themselves, he wasn’t going to waste his breath.
After all, it wasn’t him who would lose his life on the battlefield at the end of the day, right?
’Tch! What a bunch of sloppy bastards,’ Felix scoffed inwardly as he watched the Aspirants failing to execute even the simplest tasks correctly.
Contrary to what Jake assumed, Felix wasn’t just being lazy.
Unfortunately, the werewolves were incredibly strict about what they would accept from their own kind.
Being a direct descendant of a prestigious Beta family, he was obligated to uphold the ancient rules and codes of the werewolf world, regardless of whether he was currently residing there or not.
One of those ironclad laws was that no one was permitted to learn any battle style or martial art outside those developed by the werewolves themselves.
This was the reason he remained rooted in place, watching the others—including Ray—actually adopting human fighting styles.
’I know that he was possibly born and raised in the human world, but doesn’t he know anything about the werewolf code?’
Exhaling tiredly and giving a small shrug, Felix kept his eyes on the room until, finally, the class came to an end, accompanied by the sounds of exhausted gasps from the Aspirants.
Before Felix could even move from his spot, someone had already made his way over with purpose.
It was Ray!
"Felix, we need to talk. Now!"