Chapter 44: Chapter 44 - The Awkwardness
Nathan, who felt Theodore had come to his side, shifted his eyes from the formation with difficulty and looked at his disciple with a confused gaze, expressing his bafflement.
Although Nathan was seemingly looking at Theodore, the truth was that he currently had his thoughts occupied with analyzing the formation and the hidden parts that Anna had previously disclosed.
Theodore looked at his teacher silently, hesitating whether he should call him.
Looking at his teacher being so focused and possibly in a particular unique state, Theodore also did not want to interrupt him.
After some consideration, he stood nearby, waiting until Nathan finished sorting out his thoughts.
His teacher had helped him so much today that he felt it was terrible and even ungrateful to interfere when he was possibly focusing on something seemingly significant.
Theodore had never seen Nathan being this enthusiastic before, whether in this life or his memory from his future life.
His image of his teacher was always that of someone who had already experienced everything life could ever offer.
For him, Nathan was a person who did not wish for death, but when the time came that he would genuinely die, he would be at peace without any regret or unwillingness.
Overall, seeing his teacher, who was so detached and uninterested in the world, being so motivated, Theodore could not help but feel reluctant to disturb him.
...
Theodore stood there silently, waiting for his teacher to recollect himself.
He did not know how long he spent staring and waiting before seeing a brilliant light flashing in Nathan's eyes as if he had finished contemplating something critical.
Theodore then saw his teacher blinking toward him with clarity, returning to his eyes.
Nathan, who had just wholly awakened from his thought, was blinking as his gaze met his student's eyes. He felt somewhat awkward thinking about his previous embarrassing behavior.
"..." Nathan slightly opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something to lighten the situation but did not voice it out in the end. His movement was so subtle that it almost went unnoticeable.
As a person with high perception, Theodore naturally caught this small movement. He took the initiative to start the conversation to make the atmosphere less uncomfortable. "Teacher, how about we go out first?"
Nathan looked fixedly at Theodore before he nodded blankly in response.
He then walked to return to the entrance with Theodore, ready to exit the artificial realm.
Seeing Theodore and Nathan walking out, the Impending Doom and the Misty Blade turned to each other to exchange their puzzled feelings before following the two people, a teacher and a disciple, to go out, respectively.
...
The moment Theodore stepped out of the space gate, he sensed the familiar yet unpleasant dizzying again.
Theodore stumbled a little before he felt a hand holding him to stop him from falling and helping him maintain his balance.
"Thank you, teacher." Theodore thanked Nathan respectively.
Nathan nodded in response.
Initially, he hoped to say a few words in response; however, he paused, thinking about what he should say to avoid making his situation less awkward.
It was a rare experience for him to act so out of his character; not many surviving people had seen him like this, and most of them had once experienced thick and thin with him.
In front of the others, he would either look at them with an impassive gaze on average time or slightly smile when he needed to negotiate something and to create a polite gesture for people he thought were noteworthy.
He never hoped for anyone to like and appreciate him, but he always maintained his proper conduct.
For Nathan, losing his conduct in front of Theodore, his apprentice, made him slightly perplexed.
Standing beside his teacher, Theodore also had a similar thinking but from an exceedingly different perspective.
He had reanalyzed what he had done today and discovered that he had made many loopholes in his actions.
Although he guessed his teacher would not ask based on his personality, he still felt he should take the initiative to explain or disclose some information.
Theodore lingered in deliberation before his thought drifted to the blood purification technique.
He then considered asking for basic or shared information about the relevant techniques opened to the privileged or high-level people.
He believed that his teacher should have more access to this kind of restricted knowledge compared to the current him or even the future him.
In this way, he could understand more about the risks of practicing the technique and 'unintentionally' disclose the information about the inheritance to lessen his concern.
Theodore lowered his head slightly as he organized what he would tell his teacher and to what extent.
He soon raised his head again, readying to explain some superficial information that he thought was inconsequential to consult with his teacher.
Theodore opened his mouth to clarify some issues; however, no sound came out unexpectedly.
He was briefly stunned before a piece of certain information gradually emerged in his mind.
It turned out that some restrictions were preventing him from exposing any information about the inheritance and the trial to anyone, not even people from the Hale family.
Although Theodore felt curious about the violation outcome in case someone indeed violated the restriction, he also believed it was not wise to try it out by himself now without any prior preparation.
He could only attempt to pretend that nothing happened and that he was trying to do nothing.
Unfortunately for Theodore, Nathan was currently focusing on him. Therefore, in response to Theodore's suspicious behavior, Nathan sent him an inquiring gaze as if asking if there was anything he hoped to say.
"..." It was now Theodore's turn to be awkward.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SleepyCultivator
SleepyCultivator I also hoped to start writing about the practicing part, but I felt it would be too abrupt to skip to that part immediately. So, I added a little transition about Theodore, Nathan, and Anna before getting to that part. I will try to focus more on the plot and stop myself from drifting too much again; please forgive me, friends...
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