Chapter 10 - Max's Doubts

Class started not too long after. Max ended up being in almost all of Theo's class which he found convenient as it would be easier to protect him while being in the same class.

By activating his Fade-out skill, Theo passed all of his classes uneventfully. Theo was too lazy to socialise among the students as he felt that they were too noisy and immature, being a middle aged man in a child's body, he naturally didn't mind being away from the cliques and social circles.

Max was a loner and didn't socialise with the rest of the students as well. Which made Theo and Max hang out together most of the time.

The only person he knew in the academy was Mac and vice versa. They would naturally help each other out in the classes.

Much to Max's surprise, he was the one that would be asking help from Theo. He had always been praised for being smart and mature for his age, he never interacted much with kids his age as he finds them too slow or dumb but around Theo, he felt like the dumb one.

Even in combat class, Theo picked up spearmanship rather quickly. In the first few classes, it was obvious that Theo was less skilled than Max in using the spear, but as the time passed, he notice how talented Theo was with a spear.

'Ah, that should be the reason he chose the spear instead of the sword. His talent in the spear is unparalleled' Max thought. Unknown to Max that Theo's mastery in swordsmanship were leaps and bounds higher than his mastery in spearmanship.

The more time Max spent with Theo, the more he felt that Theo was more than meets the eye.

From the moment they met, Max already felt that Theo was quite the looker. His uncommon ash white hair, a symbol of the Ashwell, his purple eyes which he has never seen before. The first thing Max thought was, 'He sure is going to be the the crush of many of the female students' in addition to his spear mastery and academic intelligence, he would definitely be the most popular student not only in their year but whole school.

Much to his confusion, most of the students didn't even know of Theo's existence. He finally realised an oddity when he was looking for Theo after returning from the restroom, as the class already ended he asked one of their classmates that usually sat at the spot near where he and Theo would sit at.

"Hi Claire, do you know where Theo went?"

"Theo? There's a Theo in our class? Are you talking about Thomas?" Claire asked Max.

"Theodore Ashwell? Ash White hair, purple eyes, very good-looking." Max repeated panicking a little

'Is my roommate and only friend in the academy a ghost? Did I make an imaginary person in my mind for being lonely for too long?'

"I think I've a vague recollection of such a student." No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember, "huh, I can't seem to remember, did he miss too many classes that we forgot about him?" She laughed.

'Uhmmm, no, his attendance is perfect.'

With a complicated expression, Max returned to his room to find Theo half laying in bed reading a book on one hand, holding a throwing knife in the other with it facing out the open window.

As Theo was about to throw the knife out the window to where he tied a wooden target to a tree diagonal to the window, practising the curving knife throw to increase his Proficiency while reading about the different beastman and their tribe. He noticed Max walking in and stop the knife from leaving his hands making it look slightly odd as the knife was half out the window like it was leaving but stopped by two fingers holding it in place.

Theo smiled at Max noticing that he had a weird expression on his face, "What's up, Terra, why the look?" Theo joked in hope to lighten the awkward mood.

"Uhmm, what are u doing?"

"Reading? It's so interesting that there are so many different types of beastsman in this world." Theo spoke, not hiding his thoughts.

"Sure... what's that on your other hand?"

Weapons of any kind are prohibited from the boarding, they take it very seriously. Before entering, they would have to hand in their weapons such as swords, spears, bows, arrows, knifes, etc. They are only returned during combat class to used and kept by the school again after.

Seeing Theo with a carefree smile holding a throwing knife he swore Theo would have thrown out it window had he not walked in which is worse than him keeping them hidden.

"Was a knife and... now it's gone." Max stored it back in his inventory making it disappear and laughed. It made Theo look more mysterious.

After spending some time with Max, Theo felt that it would be alright to show him a tiny portion of what he could do. He liked hanging out with him and didn't mind being in contact after graduating though he was against it in the beginning.

'Well, it's nice to have at least one friend.'

Dumbfounded with his eyes wide mouth open, Max ran closer, looked at his hands, outside the window, the bed. There's was no throwing knife.

"How???"

Max started to get serious,

"Who are you? Where's the real Theodore Ashwell? Why did you enrol into the academy? What's your aim?" Max bombarded Theo with a series of questions.

Trying his best not to laugh out which made it worse and Theo's shoulder were obviously shaking which made Max more annoyed.

"Calm down, stop over-reacting. I am Theodore Ashwell through and through. As for what you saw earlier, it was just a trick. I can show you but I won't tell you how I did it."

Max calmed down and thought that maybe he was really over-reacting. If Theo meant him harm, he wouldn't have shown what he did to Max and even offered to show him again.

Keeping a closer look.

"Show me again"

A throwing knife suddenly appeared in his hand out of thin air.

Taking the knife out of Theo's hand which coincidentally was the last throwing knife he made himself instead of the one he bought, so he felt slightly more attached to it.

"Hey, that's the last of the throwing knife I made myself" he blurt out.

"YOU MADE THIS??? YOU'RE A MASTER BLACKSMITH???" Max almost screamed getting agitated again.

Theo almost slapped his forehead for saying he made it. Well, what out is out. He didn't really care much if Max knew since he know that Max could keep a secret.

"Ahhh calm down. When running around back in my territory, I ran into an old blacksmith as a kid at the edge of the territory. He didn't have anyone to look after him so I often went to find him and he has been teaching me blacksmithing since I was a child." Putting all the blame on the old man back at in the county. "I didn't tell my family, so they thought I was out playing but was actually at the blacksmith learning to make knives and daggers."

'Phewww, alright, the story seem highly plausible, if he were to check, he'll find the existence of the old man and the forge.'

As expected, Theo's explanation convinced Max.