Chapter 210: Chapter 210

"You figured out it was me?"

"It was easy to figure out once you went around healing people."

Lake sighed after seeing the wide grin on their faces.

He had half expected to get caught one way or another, so it wasn’t came as a surprise.

"Hehehe," Jayce chuckled with a wide grin as he patted Lake on the back. "So, junior, what brought you here? And how did you get so strong?"

Everyone’s ears perked up after Jayce spoke. Even Hana who had her face buried in Landur’s lap had her ears twitch slightly.

They had all witnessed his combat prowess these past few days, and it wasn’t something that a first-year they’d fought with less than a month ago should be capable of.

Their gazes were all trained on him, but even after a while had passed, he just got up and dusted off his cloak.

"I’m here because of a punishment."

Hearing Lake’s unexpected reply, it left everyone incredibly puzzled.

’I mean, it’s not like I’m lying.’

He had been brought here by Liam, who was overseeing his ’punishment’ for the trouble he’d caused during the field exam.

"...And what about your explosive growth in power?" Instead of dwelling on the strange topic, Jayce decided to move on.

Lake answered plainly, but all that did was make the group of third-years even more confused.

"Last I checked, your magic wasn’t that strong," Gwen suddenly pointed out.

Instead of trying to explain his sudden growth, Lake decided to just blame it all on the one thing he knew no one else in this world understood.

Gwen frowned as she rubbed her temples. Her head started to hurt from trying to wrap her mind around the concept, much less for the other two who were just staring blankly and Hana who groaned uncomfortably as if to show her dissatisfaction with that answer.

"Hey, Junior," Landur suddenly called out, drawing everyone’s gaze to him.

"Is it too late for me to switch professions to mage?"

Jayce’s eye twitched. "Are you serious?"

"Do I sound like I’m joking?" Landur shot him a serious look before turning back to Lake, awaiting an answer.

"...It isn’t impossible."

Lake finally answered after a long moment of contemplation.

In his opinion, it really wasn’t too difficult to teach Landur magic, its just that it would be rather time consuming.

"Huh?! For real?!" Jayce shouted in shock, not expecting Landur to get a positive response.

"Then, can you teach me too, Junior?!"

As both Landur and Jayce looked toward Lake with expectant eyes, Lake could feel his eyelid twitch at their shamelessness.

At moment a sudden tremor spread through the forest, causing everyone to go on high alert.

After a few moments, the tremors eased off, but everyone had already drawn their weapons and was warily observing their surroundings.

Landur asked warily as he held Hana in his arms. From the moment the tremor started he had already covered her body with his instinctively.

Hana shouted as she struggled to push Landur off.

Landur coughed awkwardly as he moved back, causing Hana to finally shoot up from his lap, a piercing glare highlighting her flushed face.

She seemed ready to chew Landur out at any moment.

"...We should prepare for the worse."

Lake spoke absentmindedly as he stared into the distance.

’As expected. She’s gone.’

The strange jester he had noticed earlier had disappeared from the hill top.

At that moment, the flaps to the command tent fluttered open.

Liam stepped out and scanned the surroundings with a leveled gaze.

The first thing his gaze scanned over was the injured hunters, who had mostly recovered under Lake’s healing.

It didn’t take long for him to come to a decision after that.

The long march through the woods had begun.

A few hours had passed since they left the camp behind, taking only the essentials.

This time, Liam led the group, while Lake, Gwen, Hana, Landur, and Jayce guarded the rear.

At some point, rain began to fall in the temperate forest, mud sliding beneath everyone’s boots.

"Ugh, this is the worst."

Hana grumbled from atop Jayce’s back.

"You just have to deal with it," Landur responded with a shrug.

Hana growled softly, shooting him a glare.

"He’s right, Hana. I don’t like the rain either, but there’s nothing we can do about it."

Hana groaned but stopped complaining after Gwen intervened.

Instead, she turned her gaze toward Gwen—then quickly noticed something odd.

’No interest, my ass.’

Hana silently watched as Gwen glanced sideways at Lake, who trailed not far behind her.

Deciding she didn’t want to deal with that, Hana faced forward again, absentmindedly resting her chin on Jayce’s short brown hair.

At the back of the group, Lake walked steadily, carefully controlling his expression.

If even Hana had noticed Gwen’s strange behavior, how could he—the target of her intense ’interest’—not?

Still, he kept moving, eyes scanning their surroundings.

Surprisingly, despite how deep they’d ventured into the forest, they’d encountered no abnormalities beyond the occasional corrupted tree.

Despite the rain and minor skirmishes, they’d made significant progress—more than halfway to their destination.

Ahead, the massive mountain loomed ominously on the horizon, its peak vanishing into the dark clouds above.

Lake’s mind churned as he took in the world around him.

The rain, the clouds, the day-night cycle, the sheer scale of the rift.

Before, he’d theorized that rifts were pocket dimensions—fragments severed from larger ones.

But the functioning weather system, the ’sky’ above—none of it made sense.

If rifts were truly isolated fragments, why did they have a sun and moon cycling normally?

The questions gnawed at him, occupying his thoughts until the group reached a large mound of dirt in the middle of a clearing.

Lake frowned. Something felt off.

Grass grew over the mound, making it look like a picturesque glade—but the moment the group stepped into the clearing, another tremor shook the forest.

Some hunters groaned, though they remained vigilant, scanning the treeline.

The tremors had grown frequent enough to be an annoyance—but this one was different.

"...Do they usually last this long?"

Jayce’s voice sent a ripple of tension through the group.

Lake didn’t hesitate—he sharpened his senses to their limit.

Up front, Liam’s frown deepened as he barked orders, rallying everyone into position. But the quake didn’t subside. Instead, it intensified.

The ground beneath them split.

Landur cursed, leaping aside as a ravine tore open where he’d just stood.

Lake barely dodged in time, hopping to safety—but the chaotic fractures in the earth had already scattered the group.

Hunters scrambled, formations shattered, as zigzagging crevices divided them into isolated clusters.

Hana’s shout pierced the chaos as a yawning ravine split her off from Gwen, its depths swallowing the light.

Lake vaulted across fractured terrain, closing the distance until he reached Gwen’s side.

Gwen drove her sword into the ground for balance.

Dust billowed from the ruptured earth, obscuring vision.

Lake’s expression darkened as he pushed his sixth sense past the haze.

Hana, Landur, and Jayce were stranded near the clearing’s edge with a handful of hunters—safe, for now.

The others floundered, desperate for stable ground.

Something huge, something hostile, surging from the ravine.

He grabbed Gwen, encasing them both in a mana barrier just as—

The force hurled them backward, nearly sending them tumbling into a chasm. Lake barely stabilized their flight with mana, but the impact still sent them skidding across mud before they slammed into a tree stump.

Gwen gasped as they crumpled to the ground.

The dust cloud vanished—ripped apart by a sound like the sky itself tearing open.

Gwen’s face paled as she finally saw what had burst from the earth.

Lake’s voice was grim.

Towering hundreds of meters into the sky, a grotesque tangle of vines and roots loomed over them—twisted, pulsing, alive.