He met the combat mage a few days ago on the stairs. His first impression of the student was that he was weird.

What made him feel wary was the combat mage’s strength, back then when he met the student, his senses were tingling crazily.

Compared to normal Elementalists, combat mages mainly relied on their physical strength. Although Harry’s stats had increased considerably, he still didn’t think it was enough to fight on equal ground with combat mages.

He found Nathan’s gaze slightly uncomfortable, it seemed to be a mixture of curiosity and shock. Harry didn’t put much thought into it as he simply turned his head away and continued heading for the exit.

He had no business with Nathan, unlike the other students, Nathan didn’t take part in the bet.

Although he didn’t show it, he was inwardly happy that the black-haired student didn’t call his name or do anything weird.

****

Harry stood in front of the weight plates once more, the last time he wasn’t able to complete his quest because Justin interrupted him, however, he would make sure he complete it this time.

He walked towards the rod closest to him, it had one black plate on each end. On each black plate, the number 250 was written.

Harry took a simple weight-lifting stance, he then placed both his hands on it and slowly lifted it.

His brows furrowed slightly as he realized something—it was too light!

He had used both hands because he wasn’t sure he would be able to lift it using one hand, however, what he didn’t expect was that it would feel so light.

He even cross-checked it on the quests interface just to be sure.

——

—Lift a total of 1300kg (status: 500/1300kg)

——

‘Wow… lifting 500kg is no longer difficult for me.’ Harry thought. A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he remembered how he used to struggle to lift the three-seater sofa which was barely 35kg.

‘How about I… do this?’ Harry thought as an idea popped into his mind. He released his left hand and held the rod using only his right hand.

This time he could feel little pressure on his hand as he lifted it, however, it wasn’t to the point where it was unbearable or painful.

Harry nodded his head slightly in satisfaction. Since he didn’t have any equipment that he could use in gauging his strength, he didn’t know the extent of his strength.

He returned the weight. He walked towards another rod at the far end of the room, this one also had black plates at each end. The only difference was the number written on the plates, this one had 500 written on each plate.

Harry held the weight with one hand and lifted it. He was still testing the limit of his strength.

He could feel more pressure and strain on his right hand as he lifted the weight, his veins bulged on his hand as he slowly raised it. Although he felt some strain in his hand, he still managed to lift the weight.

He lowered it and lifted it a few more times before dropping it.

‘I guess that’s my limit…’ Harry said inwardly as he stared at the quest completion notification from the system.

[Daily Quest Completed]

[Rewards Granted: 1500EXP 10 stat points]

Harry felt happy and satisfied as he looked at the notification that flashed across his eyes.

“Hey, Harry.” He suddenly heard a voice behind him.

‘That voice…’ Harry mumbled inwardly. He immediately turned around, he kept his guard up just in case.

His brows furrowed slightly as his gaze met that of a certain black-haired student. After his duel with Justin, he saw Nathan, however, Nathan simply stared at him without calling or approaching him.

Harry was quite surprised that he approached him now.

But that wasn’t why Harry was unsettled. ‘I couldn’t sense him.’ Harry thought.

“No need to be so tense…” Nathan said in his usual playful and nonchalant tone. “You’re pretty strong Huh?” He continued.

Harry’s brows raised slightly when he heard Nathan’s words. That caught him off-guard a bit, however, he wasn’t too surprised as he had always viewed Nathan as weird. “It’s you… again. What did you want?” Harry asked.

“I’m here to thank you actually, I won some money because of you,” Nathan said. Unlike the other students, he didn’t bet on Harry’s loss, but rather on his win. But his bet wasn’t general as he only made it with a friend.

“You also took part in the bet?” Harry asked. The total number of students who made the bet against Harry was twenty, Harry couldn’t remember seeing Nathan among them.

“Yes, except I only made mine with a friend,” Nathan replied.

Harry nodded his head slightly in understanding but he still found something strange. “What made you think I would win?” Harry asked.

“Ohh… that. Luck.” Nathan said while making an awkward expression. “You seemed so confident… so let’s just say it was a risk on my part.”

A puzzled expression appeared on Harry’s face. Any ‘normal student’ would have called him stupid for accepting a duel against an Elementalist, he was quite surprised that someone actually believed he could win.

“Oh… okay,” Harry said. Although he knew his reply was awkward, he didn’t know how else to phrase it. It had been a long time since he engaged in a normal conversation with a student. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.

After exchanging a few awkward glances, Harry simply turned around and started leaving. Since he had completed his quests, he didn’t have anything else to do in the training hall. Although a part of him felt that leaving between a conversation like that might seem somehow rude, he left anyway as he didn’t know what else to do or say.

A weird expression appeared on Nathan’s face as he watched Harry’s figure, however, it was only for a moment.

“So does this means we are friends?!” Harry heard Nathan’s shout from behind him. He paused his steps before turning around. “No!” He replied.

A wry smile appeared on his face as he turned around once more and started leaving the training hall. ‘So he’s still on about that friendship stuff?’ Harry mumbled inwardly.

A low tsk left Nathan’s lips, as he turned around. He could see an orange-haired boy walking toward him from a distance.

The orange-haired boy’s uniform was similar to Nathan’s with a white top that had two thick stripes across it and blue trousers. He was also quite tall at 1.7m with a slightly buff figure that showed through his uniform.

Nathan rested his back on the wall as he waited for the student to approach him.

A wry smile was on the orange-haired boy’s face as he finally reached Nathan. “I keep wondering… why are so curious about that student?” He said as he also rested his back on the wall.

A strange glint flashed through Nathan’s eyes for a second before vanishing without a trace. “I just find it weird… he is strange,” Nathan muttered.

“Nah… I think you’re the weird one.” The orange-haired boy said while placing his hand on Nathan’s shoulders. “No matter how I view it… he seems like a normal human unfortunate enough to be born without a mana core foundation.”

A smug smile suddenly appeared on Nathan’s face as he faced his friend. “Ohh, that doesn’t change the fact that you lost 75000 credits to me, Stan,” Nathan said as he nudged Stan’s shoulder.

Stan gritted his teeth as memories of the last few minutes replayed in his mind. Even though he didn’t expect the result of that duel, when he heard Nathan’s choice to bet on Harry, he thought Nathan was simply stupid.

To make matters worse, he was the won the increased the stake to 75000!

However, he could only shake his head in regret. “Whatever… let’s just go back to our training.” He said nonchalantly as he walked forward.

Nathan followed him from behind, still with that smug expression on his face.

*****

Hey guys! I’m extremely sorry for not updating for so long. Here’s a chap!

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