'So, why did I come here again?' Alec asked himself mentally. The sight of the empty lot was definitely appealing but didn't mean much. Albeit the awkward clearing, there were only trees and more trees surrounding the place. What was weird was that Alec had found himself unintentionally coming to this place, much like how one would go to another room and forget what they would do there.

With a deep sigh and a frown on his face, Alec turned around to leave.

'This kind of thing has been happening a lot to me. I wonder what's the reason?'

However, before he could actually leave, he found a familiar face standing in front of him.

"Fuc-" Alec was about to shout before a patch of dirt suddenly formed in his mouth out of nowhere, making him choke momentarily. With tears gushing out of his eyes, Alec started coughing.

"Swearing is not particularly something I would call unethical. Still, do try not to mouth bad words in front of other professors. For your own good," the white-haired man said. Once Alec managed to get all the dirt out of his mouth, he wiped the tears off of his eyes and looked at the person in front of him.

"Was there a need to do that?" he asked Professor Howard. This man was a true expert. Not only was his knowledge immense and his strength boundless, but he was also very eccentric, which made Alec not know what he was supposed to do or say in his classes.

"It builds muscle memory," he said with an expressionless face. Alec gulped loudly once he fully realized that he was actually face to face with Professor Howard, an almost 100-level fire mage. This man could so much as wave his hand and Alec would be dead before he even realized. He wondered what would happen to The Author's Pen if that happened.

On one hand, the fact that the man was known for being strangely gentle relaxed Alec slightly. On the other hand, he was in close proximity and direct conversation with a walking talking nuclear bomb, which wasn't an ideal situation if he were asked.

"T- That's great..." Alec muttered. Once he noticed that he stuttered, he realized that he was being pressured by the man's immense aura. And there was a very good chance that wasn't even intentional. 'Maybe his stats are too high for him to not intimidate me...'

"I guess I should leave, Professor. Have a nice day," Alec said before turning around with a swift motion. Apparently and unfortunately not swift enough, as he felt a hand grab his shoulder. What horrified him was the fact that he was stopped immediately.

If he had to be honest, Alec was trusting his unusually high physical stats to overwhelm the Professor's grip. What instead happened was that all of Alec's momentum died in a mere moment, leaving him unable to walk. His entire body went stiff as he couldn't even move his fingers.

"Wait a little bit young Alec. Let's talk," the man said. His voice wasn't loaded with any emotions. Instead, they were spoken as dryly as possible.

The next moment, Alec found his body to unintentionally turn around, which was eerie. It wasn't a mind control type of thing as his muscles weren't the ones doing the moving. His body had just turned around because of an unknown force.

'Telekinetic? No, that isn't his specialty and telekinetic magic doesn't work like this...' Alec mentally tried to guess.

"You are thinking too loud, Alec. I can see your question on your face," Professor Howard said. Alec couldn't understand if he was talking about actually reading his mind. The man could very well be trying to joke and failing miserably, as his voice and expression didn't betray any irony.

'This guy... You know facial expressions are a part of communication too, right?' Alec questioned in his mind. He then panicked for a second that his mind was being read. However, the man did not comment on his rude thoughts, which made Alec relax once more.

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"I'll tell you just because you are this curious, I tightened the air molecules around and encased you in a net to move you. I guess a level 60 fire mage would be capable of doing such a thing. Though, I doubt levels make much sense to you," Professor Howard explained. That made sense. After all, the man was a legendary fire mage. It would have been uncool if he used telekinesis in their first interaction.

"Thanks for explaining," Alec said confusedly, ignoring the blatant hinting at his disability. He couldn't see where the man was going with all this.

"Stay a little bit. I want to ask you some questions," the man said. Alec wanted to sigh at the fact that this interaction would go on for longer, but decided against doing so. He certainly didn't want to disrespect the man, after all. "Why are you here? This place doesn't lead anywhere. Neither is there anything interesting about it. I saw you look around in confusion. Were you waiting for someone?"

"Uhh..." Alec genuinely didn't know what to say. To be honest, he wanted the answer more than him. Unfortunately, Professor Howard didn't seem the type to accept 'I don't know' as an answer.

"I found this plot a bit too weird and wanted to take a closer look," Alec made something up. "Why is there a clearing here? I wouldn't be confused if it was newly cleared. I would have just assumed there to be a planned construction..."

"How did you know it wasn't cleared recently?" Professor asked. Alec quickly threw a glance to the side and answered.

"The grass is too tall."

"An okay observation," Professor Howard praised Alec. At least that was what Alec assumed him to do. This was the first time Alec saw the man smile. Well, he wasn't sure he actually smiled. After all, his mouth had barely moved. But there was some movement Alec hoped to be indicative of a smile. "I've decided on building an infirmary here."

"What? Why?" Alec asked. He felt an uncomfortable sting deep in his head but ignored it. His hand reached up to scratch his chest.

"I've recently found some writings between the notes left by The Headmaster," Professor Howard answered while turning toward the empty lot. He didn't seem to really care about the confidentiality of the matter. "He wrote about the construction of an infirmary."

"Just like that?" Alec asked. Professor Howard turned back toward him with a raised brow. Alec gulped at the man's reaction before continuing. "There was a note about it, and you are going to build it just because of that?"

"Oh. I can see how that might seem weird," the man said. He took a deep breath, causing visible vapor to form because of how cold it was.

"Question a sage's order, then do it anyway, -Commissar Petrovsky."

"Umm..." Alec waited for him to continue. He had thought that the man would've gone on to explain, but they stood in silence for half a minute.

"I wanted to give you some time to think about it," the man finally opened his mouth. Unfortunately for him, Alec hadn't thought about the saying at all. He was more busy thinking of a way out of this encounter. "The obvious political load under the saying aside, it's a saying that really works for the headmaster. You don't know him, so this might seem weird but, he always has a plan. Always."

'I wonder...' Alec mentally muttered, keeping his silence. He felt like too many things were happening in this academy that seemed completely out of control. Though, Professor Howard didn't seem to care about Alec's indifference.

"Did he leave any other notes?" he asked, curious. Then, however, he realized how that might have come off as rude and corrected himself. "Other notes that would be okay for me to hear, obviously."

"Hmm..." the man caressed his chin thoughtfully. There was probably more than one order left to him but he couldn't tell Alec all of them. "He also ordered there to be food ready in the infirmary for all times, enough to feed more than a hundred people."

"What, why?" Alec asked with a frown. Let alone the fact that the whole thing was a waste, it was also very creepy. Who was the food going to be made for?

Unfortunately, Professor Howard didn't seem like he was interested in talking any further. Without saying another word, he turned around and started walking away. Alec was watching his departure for a few short seconds until he wasn't. The man had suddenly disappeared from his sight, which was something Alec had gotten used to seeing happen.

'These people... Why is everyone so obsessed with looking cool? Does leveling up come paired with unhealthy levels of self-obsession?' Alec mentally grumbled before turning around to leave. However, before he could, he felt a gentle touch on his cheek. His body turned almost instinctively, eyes tracing the surroundings with fervor.

'What was that? Is the Professor playing pranks on me?' He guessed. However, that felt a bit too uncharacteristic for him. Although there was an itching feeling inside Alec, telling him to look for the source of that touch, he had to go back and meet up with Evan. 'Never mind. I should leave...'