A Bug In Fate

The next day, the sun had already risen above the horizon as usual, but one thing was different today. Alden hadn’t woken up early. He was still asleep even though it was already 8 AM.

One hour later, Ravenna was sitting in a chair, and in front of her, Alden was having his black tea as usual. His expression was calm now after getting a good night’s sleep.

"Are you alright? You pushed yourself too hard yesterday."

Ravenna said in a gentle tone. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment longer.

He glanced at her before exhaling a long sigh.

"Yes, thank you for worrying about me." Alden’s voice was sincere.

"I think I need some time to calm my mind, as everything I read is still running through my head."

Alden picked up his tea and took a sip, his shoulders relaxing as the wonderful aroma of the tea filled his senses.

"You should, and don’t worry about the bet." Ravenna stated and swirled her cup to mix the cream into her tea.

They returned to their breakfast in a peaceful atmosphere. Suddenly, a cold breeze blew past them, and it seemed that the monsoon was approaching the northern continent.

Alden looked around them, and his mind seemed to calm down from the scenery ahead of him. The field was open and filled with beautiful flowers, while some butterflies were flying around them in a gentle rhythm.

His gaze then shifted to the lake. The crystal-clear water was dazzling in the sunlight. He kept staring at it for five minutes without caring about anything else, as his eyes couldn’t pull away from the lake.

If one said that only his physical body was at the chair while his soul was inside the lake, they might be telling the truth to some extent.

Ravenna didn’t disturb him, as he needed the time to relax himself. To be honest, she had brought Liam and Mina here so he would relax, but contrary to her expectations, he kept studying while the two played around the lake.

At least he isn’t studying now, she thought inwardly and shook her head.

Meanwhile, Alden, who was staring at the lake with a lost expression, noticed something.

He hadn’t noticed it when he first came, as at that time all he saw was a beautiful and clear lake.

But now, as he looked at it carefully, he couldn’t help but notice something unusual about it.

He turned towards his teacher and tilted his head in curiosity.

"Teacher."

"Hm?" She glanced at him.

"Where is this water coming into this lake? I don’t see any river around here." Alden glanced at the lake again.

"Hm... Oh, you noticed it even though you are late." Ravenna smiled softly.

Alden remained silent.

Ravenna looked at the lake before meeting his eyes. She stood up from her seat and gestured for him to follow her.

He stood up from his seat as well, and together they began walking towards the lake. They stopped at the edge, and finally, Ravenna stopped as she pointed towards the lake.

"The water isn’t coming from a river or anything like that," she said. "It’s coming from underground."

His eyes widened a little, and an understanding passed through his mind.

That makes sense, he thought inwardly.

Meanwhile, Ravenna continued in her gentle tone, and an amused smile formed on her lips.

"You might be thinking that the water is coming from the earth and that’s it, but there is an interesting thing about this lake."

She paused for a moment before glancing at him.

Alden tilted his head to the side.

"What is it?"

"The interesting thing is that the lake isn’t natural. Instead, it’s the result of a fight between two Crownheart Realm individuals."

She finished, and a silence settled between them.

What the hell? Crownheart? Isn’t that the highest realm one can achieve?

Alden’s mind went blank for a moment as he stared at the lake in front of him with a bewildered expression.

Mind you, the lake was nearly 50 kilometres wide, and as for its length, he couldn’t even comprehend it. Wherever his eyes followed, all he could see was water.

"...I didn’t expect this lake to have such history behind it," he muttered under his breath.

"Interesting, isn’t it?" Ravenna smiled at him in return.

"Yeah... Seeing something simply and seeing it while knowing exactly what it is are completely different experiences." A smile formed on his lips.

"I guess that’s why historians always write things down, so the next generation can see something for what it is and not just see it as something beautiful."

Ravenna remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"You sound like a scholar."

Alden’s mouth twitched at the side, but he didn’t bother to argue, as he was in no position to do that.

He looked at the lake with an impressed expression as he tried to think about what level of power was required to create a crater this huge on the surface.

"So they fought here, and at one point, the ground was damaged to the point that water began leaking from underground, causing the birth of this lake."

It seemed his overthinking trait was doing its work.

A laugh escaped Ravenna’s mouth because of how serious he was looking right now. Meanwhile, countless scenarios formed in Alden’s mind, where two people were exchanging sword moves and spells without holding back and destroying everything around them.

"I don’t think the lake was formed overnight... Maybe it took years or even longer," Alden said as he looked at the enormous amount of water before him. The lake was simply too huge. If something like this had formed within just a few hours, he wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to think.

Ravenna decided to put an end to his curiosity.

"You are right. Historical records confirmed that although the crater was already enormous, it wasn’t always filled with water." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"And the crater itself has grown larger over time because of the continuous supply of water."

She gestured towards the lake before looking back at him.

"So we can assume that the lake formed gradually over time rather than appearing within a few hours."

Alden listened carefully and nodded in understanding.

"...It’s impressive to think that the lake before us might have once been nothing more than a small pond," he murmured.

Ravenna heard him anyway and simply nodded.

Alden fell silent once again.

Every day, he seemed to learn something new about this world. Sometimes it was from books, sometimes from Ravenna, and sometimes simply by looking at the things around him.

He couldn’t help but wonder what else was waiting for him in the future.

His gaze remained fixed on the lake as his mind slowly connected the pieces.

So... the crater adapted to the continuous flow of water and gradually became something completely different.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

It’s similar to my—

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