CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER 111: UNIQUE EXISTENCE

The Web of Fate.

If Lake was told about this before he went to the Simplistic Realm, he really wouldn’t be able to understand it.

Its complexity was both simple yet endlessly complicated to the point where Lake wasn’t even sure that he understood it despite being able to make use of it.

Simply put, the Web of Fate was a sort of subspace that existed parallel to the world. In this space, an endless amount of fates were connected to each other to form a web-like structure. These connected fates show the connection between two or more peoples’ fate and allowed Lake to see the histories, interactions, and even futures of that these people held in relation to each other.

Just now, Lake used the Web of Fate to track down Evelyn’s and Leah’s fate by observing Landur’s fate to the point in history where the two were near each other before jumping over to Evelyn’s fate.

Besides the Web of Fate, Lake also unlocked the ability to read a full twenty four hours into someone’s future.

This was naturally as broken as it sounded.

Right now, Lake had already observed the group’s future and had learned exactly how they were going to spend the rest of the day, from the time they sleep to what they eat.

Of course, this worked on everyone except Gwen. Lake had tried to read her fate after the skill was upgraded but the silver veil covering her fate blocked him once again.

Although, it seems that his ability was strengthened as he could now get some brief glimpses into her past. The information he acquired from this however was too scattered and short for him to make sense of it but Lake could estimate that by the time he increased the skill to level four, he should be able to break through her silver veil.

However, every time Lake thought of upgrading the skill, he would feel greatly disturbed.

Observer of Fate lv3 (1,000,000 RP to upgrade).

The price had directly increased a hundredfold. Every time Lake saw the rows of zeros, he felt his mind go numb.

In the end, he decided to ignore the upgrade cost and move on. In the future, when he had a steady income of RP, he would come back and look at the price again.

Another thing Lake came to realize was just how unique his existence had become.

When he was trying to observe everyone’s future, Lake had realized he couldn’t find himself interacting with them in any way. It seemed as if Lake simply didn’t exist as even when he observed five minutes into the future and looked at the scene where everyone was eating around the table, he wasn’t in it.

It was as if he had simply vanished. However, after observing a little more, Lake was able to find the reason for it. It wasn’t that he had vanished, but that he was simply outside the boundary of fate.

Putting it simply, Lake was like an outside observer. When he observed a person’s fate, it was like watching a movie. Naturally, he wouldn’t be involved in the scenes in the movie as he was only watching it from his phone or television and because of this, the scenes in the movie will always play out as if he was never there.

This wasn’t the only thing Lake had found.

In the grand scheme of things, a person’s fate wasn’t something that could be changed, at least not easily. People’s futures were already predestined and the action of trying to resist fate will force the world to correct itself.

Even if someone managed to resist fate for a moment, changing an event that was destined to happen, the world would rebound, causing an even greater event to occur that would ultimately result in the same conclusion.

It’s because of this that fate wasn’t something that could be changed easily. The more you resist, the greater the rebound and eventually it would reach a state that no matter how strong or careful you were, you would be swallowed up by your fate.

It is also because of this that Lake’s existence could be described as so unique. By simply just being near him, one gains the ability to change their fate entirely.

Lake’s simple existence is something that completely disrupted the basic function of the world and the Web of Fate.

With a wave of his hand or a simple word, he could blur the world’s perception and disconnect someone’s relation to another in the Web of Fate without even having to use any of his skills.

However, all of this came with its downsides. Because of how volatile he could make someone’s fate, it often leads to the future he sees when he observes their fate being entirely wrong.

The only way for him to see someone’s future and have that future come true, was to not interact with that person at all.

Because even if all he did was brush past someone, that alone was enough to completely disturb the world’s control over that person’s fate for a short period of time.

....

After stuffing themselves full, the group sat back and relaxed inside the restaurant.

Lake’s eyes were twitching.

Although he had eaten his fair share of the food, the gluttonous third years really showed him what it meant to be starved.

Looking at the bill, Lake felt his vision was failing him as he looked at the four digits.

"Ahhh... This is bliss..." Hana sighed as she lay back on her chair.

"Junior, if you ever need to teach someone a lesson in the future, just give a call."

"Same here. After today, so long as you give the call, I’ll be there to back you up no matter what."

Jayce and Landur also spoke out, causing Lake to helplessly smile.

Although he may have lost over a thousand dollars today, getting the promise of two Martial Warriors can be considered worth it.

Gwen also looked over, "Although I can’t promise much due to my family, if you ever need help, just reach out. I’ll try my best to help out in the future."

"No fair! Since when did you all get friendly with him? Are you trying to leave me behind? First year, if you ever need a hand, just give this big sister a call and I’ll be there to help out!"

Watching Hana pat her chest, Lake was in a good mood.

"That’s right," Hana suddenly had a look of realization on her face, "What are you all going to do for the festival tonight?"

"I’m training. The moonlight during the festival is rich in mana so I’m going to take the chance to absorb some mana."

"Uhhh- Come on, Gwen! It’s a whole festival and you’re going to spend it training?"

"It’s not like you need me to enjoy the festival. You can walk around with Landur."

"Why me?!"

"What’s that reaction supposed to mean? Do you not want to spend the festival with me?"

"T-that’s not it. I just thought it would be better if we spent it together with everyone."

"Hahaha, sorry, but I’m going to be moving with some of my old friends. I got a message from them earlier today saying that they were also in the city. I won’t be able to go with you." Jayce also spoke out.

Suddenly, Lake could feel someone kicking his feet underneath the table and immediately understood what was going on.

"I also saw some of my high school friends so I’ll go look for them once the festival starts. I’m sorry, but it seems that it will be only the two of you."

Hearing this, Landur’s face slightly paled as Hana folded her arms as she pretended to sigh.

"I guess it can’t be helped."

Lake smiled as he apologized to Landur in his mind.

Although Lake had only joined the group recently, he had already read through everyone’s fate and had a rough understanding of the group’s dynamic.

For example, Landur and Hana actually grew up together...

"Sorry senior, this is all for your own good. Hopefully you could take the hint this time."

After apologizing to Landur in his mind, Lake began to ponder on what he’ll actually do during the festival.

Obviously he lied when he said he was going to visit his friends. After all, he wasn’t on the best of terms with Evelyn and Leah right now.

If it was the old him, he would have decided to go train under the moonlight as the rich mana density would have been greatly beneficial to him. However, his Mana Heart worked passively and even if he did nothing, he would still be absorbing more mana than if he had actively practiced.

The training program for the quest was already underway and Lake had completed all preparations a while ago.

All that’s left for him to do was just wander around for the festival.

Since there was nothing to do, Lake decided to just stop thinking about it all together.

When the festival started, he would wander around the city and read through the fates of the people he passed by.

This way, he could both absorb the mana from the moonlight and also gain some RP.