According to principal Lovren, he could come for it anytime he wanted, and with his busy schedule and eyes on beast cores, it didn't take long before he forgot about it.
'I wonder if the cultivation rooms are as good as beast cores?' Blake was praying his so-called reward wasn't a waste of time.
[I bet you will still go even if they are not as effective as beast cores.] The system rolled its 'eyes'.
"…" Blake had wanted to retort the system's words but not even a sentence could form in his mind. The system had once again at a sore spot and his silence was a confirmation of the allegation.
"Now to address the rank issue, since we lost 4 students in the survival exercise the vacant spots would have to be replaced." Professor Gibson said in a sad tone when he remembered the murdered kids.
This made Blake furrow his brows, but he had no beef with professor Gibson he didn't stress much about.
"The 8th, 11th, 34th, and 59th ranks are empty. That means from the 9th to the 64th rank will move up in rank." Professor Gibson inwardly shook his head in disappointment when he saw some students rejoicing because of the increase in rank caused by the death of their fellow students.
'That means Ansgar will move to the 8th rank, Esmeralda 9th, and Layla 10th. So, I know 6 out of the top ten. It will really be a nice idea to form a cult with the top ten students as its member who their main goal is to prevent anyone else from entering our ranks. But Hehhh, too much politics involved.' Blake fantasized.
From this chain of thought, the system thought that Blake would make a nice schemer if not for his innate laziness.
It didn't take much longer before the meeting was dismissed and as usual, he didn't hang around to chat like others, he headed straight for the door.
"Hey, can… can we have lunch?" A somewhat familiar voice asked while he was on his way out.
After he had advanced to the champion realm, the space coalescer increased the effects of the locator ability, boosting his perception range to more than double the previous range. He could hear a lot of conversation in the hall, but it was hard for him to believable that the question was for him.
'That isn't Camilla's voice, are you sure it was meant for me?' So, he had stop and slowly turn to the voice.
'That's the girl I knocked out in the forest! Isn't she meant to be angry?' Blake was confused by everything happening.
"Were you talking to me?" Blake asked with a confused expression.
"Ye… Yes." Tessie stuttered with her cheeks burning red. She was trying her best to keep her facial expression in check, but Blake who hasn't yet answered her question was making the situation worse by every second he wasted.
'I don't know how she will do it, but why do I have the feeling she wants to poison me. Because it is unthinkable for someone to go on a 'date' with the person that knocked her out.' Blake's paranoia didn't let him notice the flushed color of her cheeks.
Because of his rank, Tessie had been afraid that she would be rejected without a thought if she asked, but rather than being eaten on the inside by her emotions it was better she got rejected so that her feelings for him would quickly fade away.
So, she mustered enough courage and approached him with the mindset that she would be rejected, but Blake's reply put her mind in disarray for a moment.
"Sure." Feeling that he had wasted a lot of time thinking Blake agreed to her request.
"Really?!" Tessie asked in surprise.
"Ehh… Yeah?" Blake replied with a raised brow.
"Oh, where are my manners… Sorry, I am Tessie nice meeting you Blake." She felt like smacking her head for not letting him introduce himself, but since he wasn't stressing over it, they both went to the canteen.
"So, are you angry at me for being knocked out?" Blake felt it was pretty awkward to have lunch with the damsel he had eliminated. 'Scan the food for anything harmful.' Blake was paranoid and couldn't eliminate the thought that he could be poisoned.
[When did I suddenly have the ability to check if your food is poisoned?] The system was confused, for a second it began wondering if he had gotten another system that could that.
'Out of everything you can do, you can't check if your host is about to be poisoned. Useless.' Blake shook his head in disappointment.
[Well I can, but that is when you have tasted it, only then will I be able to.] The system said with an evil grin.
"Well, it doesn't because I would have still been eliminated by either the sklades or that team of jerks. So, you knocking me out made things easier for me." Tessie said while caressing the path of her head that was struck by Blake, not noticing that Blake was in a 'mind conflict' with the system.
"So, how do you it?" She asked snapping Blake out of his reverie.
"Do what?" Blake's mind went to a topic totally different from what she was thinking, because from where he came from, 'It' had a lot of definitions.
"I mean… how are you so good at everything?" She asked with a blush as she tried to hide her face by playing with her vegetables.
"Hmm, I haven't thought of that." Blake began pondering over the question for some time before he answered. "Well I can say that; I work very hard and smart."
[Idiot, that is what anyone will say. Can't you see from her expression that she is expecting a lot from your answer.] The system was now the one shaking its 'head'.
'But that is exactly what I do, what else do you want me to say, I have a system that guides me?'
[I can see why you never got a girlfriend in your world.] The system face-palmed.
"Are you alright?" Tessie couldn't help but ask when she saw Blake suddenly paused. She had no idea that a certain voice in his head had struck another sore spot twice in a day.
'C'mon enough with the punchlines.' Blake was now begging; he wasn't sure if he could take more of it.
"Sorry, I was just stunned." He said apologetically.
"Stunned by what?" She asked with a raised brow.
Her question put Blake between a rock and a hard place, he couldn't say he was arguing with a voice in his head neither think up a reason because further thinking would make him look weirder, so he quickly went with the first thing that popped up in his mind.
"Your beautiful smile…"
Both he and Tessie were taken aback by his words. He couldn't help but put on a mind shade because of his quick thinking. While he was feeling himself, Tessie's mind was thrown into total disarray.
Her face had become beet red and felt sensitive parts of her body heating up. She was literally stunned, she had no idea of how to react because this was her first time of feeling this way, but luckily for her, she was saved from being embarrassed.
"OH! That was slick."
Both Blake and Tessie turned to the voice and it was none other than Brian, accompanied by Castiel.
"Seriously?!" Blake couldn't help but face-palm. He began wondering if Brian was stalking him because anytime he was with a girl Brian would show up from nowhere.
"Sorry man, I couldn't help it, but I must confess that was a killer!" Brian kept on giving multiple nods.
Having gotten used to Brian's way of apologizing Blake introduced his friends to Tessie. "Tessie meet my friends, Brian and Castiel. Guys meet Tessie."
"Nice to meet you guys. Never thought Blake had friends." Tessie said with a giggle.
"We could say the same." Both Brian and Castiel said in unison causing Blake to laugh sheepishly.
"So, how was the survival exercise for you guys?" Being in an awkward spot Blake decided to change the topic of discussion.
"Heh…" Both of them helplessly sighed.
"Alright, I'll go first. My team was comprised of mostly nobles who hadn't meant hardship in their lives. Immediately we came in contact with our first beast, most of them crumbled to their knees, while some even wet their pants." Castiel said while shaking his head.
"If not, I had at least a reliable teammate, we would have wiped out on the first day. Also, our points weren't that impressive because they were more of sass nobles than elite students… No offense." Castiel said to Tessie.
"None taken…"