Reboot: Mechanic

In times of chaos and havoc, people tend to be selfish with only their profits and benefits in mind. Such was the way humans are embedded with. 

Thus, Shi Tian never once believed his talents were enough to ever catch Isaac Aaronax's attention into accepting him as an apprentice. 

And even if his talents were high, there must still be an underlying reason why Isaac Aaronax would accept him. With that in mind, the only plausible explanation was his ties with Yolanda. 

At first, Shi Tian believed Yolanda had died because of the Tenceloras and that he managed to escape unscathed due to Tenceloras not paying his pathetic existence to mind. 

However, that thought process was now shattered by the appearance of Vanessa, who suffered similar injuries as Yolanda.

When he was bandaging her, Shi Tian had also used this as an opportunity to inspect her wounds and realized it was the exact same wounds Yolanda received upon her death. 

"The White Syndicate… Master Isaac's relationship with Yolanda. Everything just seems to be shrouded in a complicated mystery." Shi Tian muttered, feeling a heavy burden placed on top of him.

No matter what, the truth remained that Yolanda did die to save him regardless of whether she was truly killed by the Tenceloras or not. 

Sighing exhaustively, Shi Tian decided to keep this thought dormant and not divulged further. The current him was simply too weak to do anything- even if he learned of the truth, there was nothing he could accomplish with that information. 

'Master Isaac wishes to use me, then vice versa, I shall use him to increase my power and knowledge.' A hint of glint appeared through his eyes as he vowed to become stronger. 

After all, no tricks or schemes would work against absolute power. A prime example would be the Crimson Mage, a figure enough to deter even the military to pay compensation. 

Sometime later, Shi Tian left the house, not even bothering to check up on Vanessa. He doubted she would be foolish enough to venture outside and risk being detected. 

Heading toward Optic Mech, Shi Tian saw Mary walking from afar. 

He raised his hand and was about to call her out to give his greeting, but paused when he realized she looked a bit abnormal today. She always exuded an air of calm and casualness, even smiling amicably from time to time, but the current her was void of that. 

She looked a bit frantic and seemed to be cautious of her surroundings, directly rushing to an alley. 

'Weird, where is she headed to?' Shi Tian raised an eyebrow, lowering his hand. It was already daytime and the sun was brightening the street, so why would she be acting like a thief? 

While he was confused by Mary's confusing act,  he saw three more people that covered themselves with black clothes following in the footsteps of Mary.

Based on their movement, it was quite clear for him to realize they were spying on or tracking Mary.

"Forget it, Mary isn't some fool to not realize she's being followed." Shi Tian muttered, shook his head, and continued his pathing toward Optic Mech. 

As for her safety, Shi Tian was positive she was hiding her strength. In fact, she could possibly be stronger than him if they were to truly fight against each other.

Time slowly passed by, and Shi Tian arrived at Optic Mech. And maybe the employees were notified of his presence by Isaac Aaronax or Mary, but none of them went up to stop him or ask what he wanted and allowed him to go straight up to the fifth floor. 

Naturally, Shi Tian didn't bother to announce his arrival since he was merely a nobody and only wished to study under Isaac Aaronax. 

However, when he arrived at the fifth floor, he nearly choked on his own saliva. 

To his astonishment, he saw Mary sitting at the receptionist's desk, talking amicably to a customer.

'What the heck? Wasn't she just by the alley previously? How did she come back here?' Shi Tian exclaimed inwardly. He was shocked and dazed by her appearance, clearly not expecting to see her. 

"Oh, you're here Nathan," Mary suddenly called out to him when she noticed his presence. 

"Ahh, yes, Mary. I'm here to look for Master Isaac." Remaining composed, Shi Tian made sure to act naturally and pretended nothing had happened. 

Even if he couldn't predict how she managed to arrive faster than him, he wasn't going to be dumb enough to enquire about her whereabouts. 

They weren't that close, and asking where she went previously would be considered impolite. Not to mention, it might cause some rifts between them, and Shi Tian had no plan in offending her. 

'Hmm, why is he acting a bit unnatural?' Unfortunately for Shi Tian though, Mary managed to catch a glimpse of his unnaturalness. She had been working as a receptionist for a long time, so she could deduce something was amiss with Shi Tian compared to his usual self.

Despite noticing it, she pretended to not notice it and feigned innocence, "Mechanist Isaac Aaronax is currently working on a commission for a customer, so you'll have to wait a while. Though he did instruct me that you are free to use the training facility under his name." 

With that said, she stood up and guided him to the training facility. After all, the training facility was a restricted area and needed clearance to be there. 

As she walked in front of him, Shi Tian saw the edge of her clothes was slightly ruined, albeit minimal. Without keen eyesight, no one would be able to detect that the clothes were ripped. It was a very tiny fabric cut off from the clothes. 

And it didn't even seem like Mary herself had noticed her clothes were slightly ripped apart either. 

Squinting his eyes, Shi Tian shook his head and decided to stop inspecting her to avoid trouble. 'Gearits City is truly a place with many hidden dangers.'