Legacy World 2.9 Keeping It A Transaction

The moment their hands touched, they grabbed onto each other. Ethan pulled her up the last part of the wall with ease.

The sight that greeted her was breath-taking. A meadow of sparkling differently coloured trees expanded across a wide area and ended at some grandiose house in the distance. Some trees had golden leaves, some had silver leaves, some had pink leaves, some had the normal green leaves. Small shiny ruby red berry-like fruits hung off the branches of each tree. She landed on the wall and took in the sight. The meadow blended into a large blue lake that currently sparkled just as brilliantly, as it reflected the sunlight. It was like a scene out of a fantasy book. The sight overwhelmed her and struck her speechless. This place was more than nice. She did not know that such trees existed. It had never appeared in the original soul's memories. She looked at Ethan for answers.

He put his finger on his lips with a slight smirk. "It's someone's private garden. These trees are the person's experiment using his plant and earth ability."

"His? You know him?"

Ethan froze for a short while, then laughed weakly. "You catch on fast." He breathed in deep before he admitted, "He's my elder brother."

Alice learnt something new about the second male lead that the original soul never knew. "So you live right beside the school?"

He pointed at the white grandiose house far off in the distance and explained, "My house is there. This here is the end of my family's back garden and plot of land."

Alice studied his house a little longer. /To own this big plot of land... He must be an aristocrat. His family should be full of talents./

"Why do you stay in school instead of returning home then?"

"It's a way for us to learn to live and survive by our strength. Who in this school goes home at the end of the day?"

Alice realised that she may have asked a dumb question. Her lips twitched and she lightly rubbed the tip of her nose. "True. So, where can I go to?"

"Follow me." Ethan jumped down the wall and Alice followed him. "From this point on, only ever walk the path I did. Anywhere else and you'd activate the earth traps that my brother had set up." Ethan warned her in a serious tone. This was the true reason why no one bothered sneaking in to the private garden. When he saw her nod her head in understanding, he moved off.

After walking for around 5 minutes, they reached a white pavilion by the lake. "You can come here anytime you want to from now on. No one comes to this end of the garden unless a trap is activated. I'll let you know whenever my brother would come around to maintain his garden too. So you have no need to worry about people disturbing you."

Alice stared at him for awhile before she voiced her thought. "Why?"

Ethan cocked his head slightly as if puzzled by her question. "Do I need a reason to do so?"

Alice cast her eyes down. "Guess not."

"...I guess I just felt like giving you a place where you could relax."

Alice looked up at him again. "What do you mean?"

"I just had a feeling like you were highly uncomfortable back at the plum blossom tree. So much so that I got the feeling you wanted to escape." /I'd rather you escape to somewhere I can find you./

Alice was looking at him with unfathomable eyes. Ethan could not tell if she was pleased or not. She then walked to the end of the pavilion closest to the lake and looked out at the lake. She sighed after awhile then said gently, "Thank you. This place really is perfect."

Ethan smiled. He felt incredibly satisfied that he was able to give her something she liked. /She really deserves all the good things./

[Alice... It's so hard to not like the second male lead... He is always treating you so well that it makes things ambiguous...] BaoBao was crying and complaining.

/I'll just have to keep things like a transaction. Anything I get from him, I'll give him something in return. Also, never forget, he's still a character in a book./ Alice's reminder was not only for BaoBao but also for herself. She steeled her heart once more. The beautiful sight from earlier had overwhelmed her and shook her heart. After calming herself down again, she felt back in control.

"Ethan?"

Ethan cocked his head slightly to show that he was listening.

"...I'd like to share with you how I alter the state of my water element." Alice said after contemplating for a while.

Ethan widened his eyes in surprise. "Can I really learn it?"

Alice nodded. "Remember how in class it would always be emphasized how we should understand our ability like we understand ourselves?"

Ethan nodded.

"I didn't take it in terms of style and personality but literally. I understood the chemistry and physics of the element." With just this hint, Ethan already looked like he understood everything.

"How did everyone overlook this simple fact?" Ethan wondered aloud.

"Perhaps due to a habitual way of thinking." Alice shrugged.

/This meant that she was the only one who thought out of the box./ He felt pride swelling in his heart again. There was also happiness from how she made him privy to this knowledge. He walked close to her and looked at her in the eyes. "Thank you." His voice was affectionate and his gaze grateful.

Alice turned around to face the lake. "No need." She whispered.

"Do you mind if we spend a little while now to practice together?"

"Sure." She said as she turned back to face him again. She then explained how she visualised her ability down to its particles and imagined controlling the particles instead of it as a whole. To aid his own understanding, Ethan drew similarities of her description to what he has already done with his abilities.

After explaining and demonstrating a slow alteration of her element, it was Ethan's turn. As expected of a talented person, it took him only 1 minute of full concentration to make the surface layer of a water ball frosty. Her lips twitched. /How unfair must the world be?/

She left him to his practice then started studying.

After two hours of revision and learning of new content, she started warming up her body to begin her physical training. She looked at Ethan who already had a completely frozen water ball floating in front of him. However, it was not solid ice yet and would break if touched. His hands were gripping onto his knees tightly as he forced himself to prolong the period of his full concentration. His eyebrows tightly locked together and sweat dripping off his forehead.

Alice took out a white cotton handkerchief that she carried around and placed it on his lap from behind him. He was so focused on his practice that he did not notice her actions. Alice smiled slightly. It did not feel bad to have someone practice this hard alongside her.

Another hour passed and the ball finally became solid hard ice. Ethan lowered his upper body while breathing out deeply as if he had been holding his breath and started panting. He immediately noticed a white handkerchief on his lap. Surprise flashed in his eyes. He took it then looked up to see Alice in the midst of executing moves he did not recognise. /Looks like there are still things that she knows but I don't./

Ethan smiled softly. He used the handkerchief she provided to wipe his sweat off. He marveled at the insane hard work she must have put into mastering this ability to alter the state of her element. It was already this hard for him. He could not imagine how hard it had to be for her who was considerably weaker by nature. /What a treasure. I hope that I can forever be by her side./

Ethan stood up and announced his departure. "I have to go. I'll return here for our sparring later."

Alice paused in her movement. "Not the battle hall?"

"The lake here can be used. You'll understand later. What's your plan for dinner?"

"I always cook something simple."

"I'll have it prepared then. You can just focus on practicing."

"Don't. I'll just return to get food from the canteen that's just across the wall."

"Don't worry. It's along the way for me. If you really feel bad, you can tell me about those moves you're executing next time." Ethan grinned then left without giving Alice a chance to retort.

Alice looked at him departing with an eyebrow raised. She sighed lightly then returned back to her practice.

Ethan returned to his room to freshen up before finding Violet and the others. When he opened the door, he saw Leah at the entrance. His good mood plummeted down to the negatives. His expression became frosty.

"Oh! You were really here." Leah said in a meek and shy voice. Her eyes peeking up beneath her lashes.

"What did you come here for?"

"Violet sent me to get you. We will be going out of school today."

"What for?"

"To shop. What else would we go out for?" Leah was genuinely confused.

Ethan could not help but compare their attitudes to Alice's. His eyes went dead. Everyone else really paled in comparison.

Leah noticed the change in his eyes. She guessed that he did not like shopping. "If you don't want to, we can change the activity..."

He thought about what he could get from the outside and realised that he could get something for Alice. This perked him up a little. "It's okay. Let's go."

Leah misunderstood his response as a favourable one for her so she happily thanked him. "Thank you for being so accommodating!"

Ethan followed Leah to meet up with Violet and Stephan at the school's gate. They walked to a nearby town together and spent time browsing through shops. The girls had a lot of fun together while the boys obediently followed behind. Stephan would grab any chance he could to tease Violet as usual while Ethan stayed quiet in the background.

Whenever Stephan interacted with Violet, Leah took the chance to start a conversation with Ethan by asking him for his opinions about things they were looking at in each shop. Ethan would always nonchalantly but politely cut the conversation by replying, "I'm not an expert in shopping, you'd be better off asking Violet."

2 hours crawled past. Although the constant nagging feeling that he had to be with Violet was relieved by being with them, it was quite agonizing for Ethan in a different way when he is apart from Alice. All he felt was boredom now. So, his spirits lifted when he saw the sun setting.

Ethan excused himself promptly but Leah grabbed onto the sleeve of his blazer. "Ethan? You aren't spending the night out with us?"

Ethan frowned slightly at her action. He was already annoyed at how Leah behaved especially close to him throughout the 2 hours.

Violet noticed his displeasure and quickly interjected before he said something scathing, "Ethan has something to do every night."

"You do?" Leah asked Ethan without sparing Violet a glance. She wanted Ethan to be the one speak to her. /Who does Violet think she is? Speaking up for Ethan like she's his girlfriend./

Ethan frowned more and shrugged his hand out of her grip. "I'll be going." He said to Stephan and Violet before leaving.

Stephan looked at Leah with raised eyebrows. /I see why Ethan has his guard up against her now. She really isn't a simple character./ He had not liked how she ignored Violet and asked Ethan for a confirmation.

Ethan stood outside a shop some distance away from the group. It sold different kinds of chowder. He noticed that Alice often bought the chowder in school. He guessed that she probably liked chowder and hoped it was not merely because all other food in the school's canteen was bad.

Just as he took a step to enter the shop, a light voice called out to him. "Ethan?"

Ethan looked to his right at a girl with light blue hair and orange eyes.

"Since you're here, this means that Violet should be here too right?" She asked.

"Looking for Stephan?" Ethan cut to the chase. He did not want to waste time and deliver dinner late.

The girl nodded. "I have a message for him from my parents."

Ethan immediately told her where she could find Stephan and she left without thanking him.

He did not spare her another glance and went into the store without a care. He was not worried about this girl's involvement with Stephan and Violet because she was honest about her feelings, unlike the deceitful Leah. This girl was a Blessing and Stephan's betrothed as arranged by their parents. When she found out about Stephan's interest in Violet, she openly looked down on Violet and dissed Stephan's taste in women. She never associated herself with them needlessly as she believed they were below her. Ethan never felt bothered about it since this was the normal state of affairs in this society.