A stroll.

Rasmus roamed around the academy after his conversation with Monica. When he walked toward the training hall, he noticed someone was doing a lap, it was Maximilian. He observed from the door until Maximilian noticed his presence and stopped running.

"Instructor," Maximilian caught his breath as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Rasmus arched his brows as he removed his suit and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.

Maximilian raised his brows, then he smirked as he nodded his head. He got excited when Rasmus wanted to join his training because he could see how big Rasmus's stamina and endurance were.

"It's a bit lonely training on my own," Maximilian said as he stood straight after he recovered his stamina. "I hope you can keep up, Instructor," he added with a smug smile written on his face.

"I doubt it," Rasmus chuckled softly as he rolled his sleeves. "I'm ready whenever you are, brat," he said as he stood beside Maximilian.

Maximilian began his lap again, and Rasmus followed him from behind. He immediately noticed how soundless Rasmus's steps were that he couldn't hear anything at all. He knew a few people who could walk or run without making any noise, those people were experts in stealth.

"How did you do that? Your steps don't make any noise," Maximilian looked over his shoulder at Rasmus.

Rasmus smirked and was amazed that Maximilian could notice it immediately.

"Isn't your instructor amazing?" Rasmus raised his brows.

Maximilian scoffed, and then he fastened his pace to see how far Rasmus could follow him.

10 laps were fine for Rasmus and he could follow Maximilian without breaking a sweat. Then, another 10 laps and he began to break a little sweat, but he never left Maximilian's shadow. On the 40th lap, Rasmus began to breathe heavily and slowly lost his pace while Maximilian was widening the gap.

Rasmus stopped on the 50th lap because he knew his limit and didn't want to push his body too hard. He was amazed that Maximilian could still run and that his breathing was still steady. Not to mention that Maximilian had done a few laps before he joined in.

"So this is the body of a Northern Star," Rasmus shouted as he pulled his hair back and looked at Maximilian.

Maximilian stopped running and started walking toward Rasmus.

"They trained me like I'm a warhorse, Instructor. This is nothing," Maximilian explained with a smirk on his face. "But I have to admit, you're not bad, Instructor. You're above average compared to the warriors of the North," he pointed out as he stood in front of Rasmus.

"Is that title really important for Northerners?" Rasmus raised his brows, still catching his breath.

"Yes, it's like a life goal. But there are still two above a Northern Star," Maximilian nodded as he wiped off the sweat on his neck. "There's a Northern White Star and then a Northern Black Star. It's similar to mages for Sage and Great Sage. The Northern White Star and Northern Black Star are either experts in physical ability or magical ability, they're also on par with Swordmasters of Neva," he explained.

"Who has reached the White Star and Black Star?" Rasmus asked.

"There are three White Stars, my father, and the Wolffein family. For Black Star, there's only one and that's one of the Northern elders, my grandfather," Maximilian answered. "So my path is still far away."

Rasmus couldn't imagine how strong those people would be with those two titles. He heard about Swordmasters, and there were only a few people who had given such a title in the whole Neva, except for Northern Neva because they had their own system and a title for it.

"Instructor, I believe you have an amazing physical body because of your late mother," Maximilian pointed out. "Since your mother was basically northerners," he added.

Rasmus stopped his thought and slowly moved his gaze toward Maximilian's eye.

"You know about Orthias?" Rasmus asked, his expression changed into a serious one.

Maximilian opened his mouth but stopped himself from answering the question. He suddenly felt anxious for some reason and thought of an answer.

"I apologize, Instructor. I'm not allowed to speak such matter," Maximilian lowered his head, hiding his expression.

Rasmus furrowed his eyes as he stared at Maximilian's sudden change of behavior. He wondered why both Lenin and Maximilian didn't want to tell him anything about the origin of his mother. His mother, Aristoria had such an enigmatic aura around her and he only met his mother once in his whole life.

"That's all right. Continue your training," Rasmus said as he walked past Maximilian and then left the training hall.

Rasmus wandered the main building and there were only instructors and the other staff. Everyone stared at him with scornful looks and didn't bother to greet him. He didn't care about them and continued his walk until he looked at the library and found Isador having a conversation with Valari and Alexander.

Rasmus once again observed them and listened to their discussion. They were discussing issues that were happening in Central Neva. They immersed themselves in the discussion until Valari noticed Rasmus was staring at and listening to them while leaning against the door frame. Everyone stopped talking and followed Valari's eyes.

"Instructor, good morning," Valari said quietly.

"Don't mind me," Rasmus smiled as he walked into the library.

Everyone continued their discussion while Rasmus grabbed a random book to waste time. He read the book while he listened to their conversation because it sounded interesting. It was about the mining site that was discovered on the border a while ago, the one that Eduard told him back then.

"Instructor, can we ask your opinion about this matter?" Isador looked at Rasmus who sat on the furthest chair at the big long table.

"The mining site?" Rasmus asked as he read the book in his hands.

"Yes. The Suvian Kingdom and the Erlon Empire. They both found the mining cave, but they both didn't want to share it because of the rich and rare minerals that were found inside the cave, both wanted to monopolize it," Alexander answered.

"And that issue hasn't been solved? Even though it's easy to solve the problem," Rasmus asked as he flipped the page.

The three of them furrowed their brows because they had been trying to find a solution to this issue. They tried to make sure there would be no war or conflict in their solution, but they found none.

"Use a third party to solve that issue, a powerful and neutral party at that, and doesn't belong to both factions as a mediator," Rasmus pointed out. "Since we are talking about the Central Neva continent, it's a lot easier because we have that powerful party since everyone believes and devotes to that party. The Holy Nation, the Angelis family. With that, the problem is solved. Both can share the mining site and share the profit with the Holy Nation," he explained.

"Using the Holy Nation, both parties can't do anything and are forced to share ownership of the mining site," he added as he closed the book and looked at them. "Authority outmatched everything else, remember?" he smiled.

The three of them chuckled in disbelief because they never thought of that. The solution was simple and yet they couldn't see it and wasted their time thinking of the complicated solution.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" Rasmus asked as he stood up. "One day, you'll be the one who decides the future. You have to be able to make such a difficult decision. You need to understand that you will never be able to satisfy everyone," he said as he looked at them.

"Then what should we do?" Isador looked at Rasmus with a serious expression.

"Who knows," Rasmus smirked as he walked toward the bookshelf and put the book back in its place. "Read a lot of books and you might find the answer yourself," he said as he walked toward the door. "But again, the best teacher is experience," he added and then left the library.

Rasmus looked at the sky as he walked back to his dorm room.

"Now the Wraiths should know my existence and location from the news. I wonder what are you going to do with that information," he muttered as he entered his room to take a bath.