Chapter 273: Stalking

Aria noticed Asher arriving, and a slightly surprised expression appeared on her face.

Asher noticed the surprised expression on Aria’s face. After seeing it, he placed his food tray down and then asked, "What happened? Why are you acting so surprised?"

Aria replied casually, "Nothing much. You arrived late today. That’s not really like you."

She paused for a moment and then looked at Asher’s outfit. He was wearing his Academy uniform.Why are you wearing an Academy uniform today?"

Asher replied in a slightly confused tone, "Of course, because I’m planning to attend class today."

"Are you planning to cause some trouble today?" Aria asked immediately after Asher answered.

"Nah, why would I?" Asher replied while taking the first bite of his breakfast.

Aria looked at Asher for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out whether he was being serious or not. Then she said, "Is the new game you’re playing having its server down today or something?"

Asher replied, "Nah, why would it be down today?"

Aria then asked,

"So why are you coming to class if the game’s server is okay?"

Asher looked at her and made an expression as if he had just realized something important.

"Ohh, nothing. I have finally been successful in my research on making flavored mana potions without causing much decrease in their effectiveness."

...

Aria remained silent for a moment.

Then she said, her expression becoming strange,

"You did what?"

"Flavored mana potion. The one I told you about a long time ago."

"Yeah, I remember those two subjects you chose, then got bored of them soon after and never attended them again. And now you’re saying that you actually did research on flavored mana potions and even succeeded?"

Aria said this with a strange expression on her face, clearly finding the whole thing difficult to believe.

Asher simply nodded.

Aria looked at Asher with an expression that made it obvious she didn’t believe a single thing he was saying.

After a moment, she finally asked, "You paid someone to do this stupid research of yours, right?"

Asher looked at Aria and then made a surprised expression.

"You are half right and half wrong. Someone else made this for me, but I didn’t pay him. He found it interesting and helped me make it."

Aria couldn’t believe what Asher was saying.

"Someone actually found that interesting? Who would be interested in something like that? No one cares about the taste of mana potions. People only use them in emergencies. Who would care about the taste when their life is at risk?"

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"That person who helped you make this is probably someone completely mad."

Asher nodded without hesitation.

"Yeah, he is a little mad."

After that, Aria didn’t ask anything further about the topic and simply focused on eating her breakfast.

And then, suddenly, Asher said,

"By the way, don’t you find it annoying when someone keeps watch on you all the time, and also everyone near you?"

Aria’s expression turned to confusion.

She didn’t understand what Asher was talking about. She hadn’t noticed anyone watching her, nor had she seen anyone suspicious around her recently.

Then who was he talking about?

After thinking about it for a moment, she asked Asher,

"What do you mean by that?"

Asher replied, his tone calm but slightly surprised,

"You don’t know about that? I thought you knew about it. Your family didn’t tell you about that? That’s some family you have."

Aria became even more surprised by what Asher said. ℴℴ𝘮

She stared at him for a moment, trying to understand what he was talking about. Then, after thinking about his words carefully, she suddenly realized something.

It was when he said, "your family."

As soon as she realized what he meant, her expression changed.

Aria suddenly stood up from her seat and looked directly at Asher.

"Tell Professor that I won’t be attending today’s lecture due to a personal matter."

Asher simply nodded.

"Okay."

He didn’t say anything further, and Aria immediately left the cafeteria without even finishing her breakfast.

Asher just continued eating his breakfast as if nothing had happened.

After taking another bite, he thought,

’I guess I just made things difficult for someone. Well, not my fault. Her family should have told her about this.’

He remained quiet for a moment before continuing his thoughts.

’Observing someone through their own senses is some next-level observing. And on top of that, not even telling them that they are being observed? That’s some ultra next-level stalking.’

After that, Asher didn’t think much about it and simply went to the classroom to attend his classes.

Meanwhile, at the Southern Sea...

A battle was taking place between Ravena and a powerful Sea Beast.

The creature looked like a giant octopus, with numerous long tentacles moving through the water and attacking Ravena from different directions.

However, Ravena had the advantage in the battle for now.

The creature was already seriously weakened; its body was bleeding from numerous places, and Ravena had made sure that it couldn’t regenerate its injuries. Because of that, the longer the battle continued, the weaker the Sea Beast became.

At the same time, Ravena continued becoming stronger.

Her ability allowed her to absorb the blood of her opponents, and the longer she fought against a wounded enemy, the more power she could obtain from it; she kept absorbing the Sea Beast’s blood.

After some time, the battle finally came to an end.

Ravena had won without suffering even a single injury.

The Sea Beast’s body floated motionlessly on the surface of the sea. Its remaining blood slowly spread into the surrounding water.

However, that didn’t last for long.

Soon, all of the blood began to levitate from the water and slowly moved toward Ravena, as if it were being pulled toward her by an invisible force.

The blood gathered around her before being completely absorbed into her body.

Only the dried remains of the Sea Beast were left behind.