"What?" Ensen said in confusion, not understanding why she would ask that.
"Well you were screaming at yourself a few minutes ago weren't you?" Leah said with a doubtful look on her face.
'Oh… that's right she saw that.' Ensen thought to himself.
Knowing he needed to make up an excuse, Ensen spent nearly no time thinking and just blurted out "I was on the phone with an old friend."
Leah stared at Ensen for a few moments before slowly nodding in acknowledgment.
After saying his goodbye, Leah and Brian returned to their textbooks whereas Ensen continued on the path deeper into the park.
A few minutes later he had entered into the forested part of the park. Not thinking much of it, he continued on.
'I can't believe she heard that. Well, at least my lie wasn't too far off the mark. I mean I wasn't talking to the system on the phone, and it's debatable if it's my friend.' Ensen thought to himself reasonably as he passed by an elderly couple.
'There really are a lot of elderly couples around here, huh? Well, I got two students today at the very least, so that's good. But I might as well try for the remaining three today too.' Ensen pondered.
After walking for a few more minutes Ensen noticed a sizable number of cheers in the distance.
Curious about what was going on, he continued on the path until he came across a large baseball field in the middle of a forest.
'Well, that's kind of weird.' Ensen thought to himself as he continued walking closer.
He soon noticed that there was actually a game going on right now, and while there weren't a lot of spectators there it was still a sizable portion.
Looking over towards the rather beat-up wooden bleachers that had begun to rot, Ensen heard numerous shouts coming from over there.
"You got this, hit a home run!"
"Do your best guys!"
"No don't slide, I need to wash your clothes later!"
Deciding to see if he could spot any talents, Ensen slowly walked towards the bleachers and sat near the other spectators.
Throughout the next few minutes as Ensen was watching he managed to get a decent understanding of the two teams. The first team was actually from Littlewood, and the other team was a regional team for young people living in the area outside the city.
The game was nearly done at this point with only around 20 minutes left in the game. Staying there for the remaining time, Ensen realized just how good the Littlewood team really was.
They were dominating the entire game, leaving no chance for victory for the other team. In fact, the game even ended earlier because of the mercy rule being used to save the regional team from further humiliation.
Ensen truly understood what a monumental effort would be needed in the future if he wanted to expand his private academy into the sports area.
Although he had been playing close attention, there wasn't much talent he could see on the regional team. Even if there was, it was greatly overshadowed by Littlewood.
Deciding to head back and go to a different location, Ensen thought that scouting a park might not be the best way to search for talent.
'Maybe I should try a library? I mean not many people use them anymore but it's worth a shot at the very least.' Ensen thought to himself.
After a few minutes of walking, Ensen arrived back near where he had first met the siblings, although they were no longer there.
Entering his car, Ensen grabbed his phone and searched for nearby libraries. After finding a small one not too far away, he proceeded to make his way there.
As he was driving, he came to a realization 'Wait, a man in his mid-20s looking for teens at a park is kind of weird. Well, I don't have any bad intentions but still.'
Realizing how that could be interpreted, Ensen decided that he would search in more respectable settings in order to not come off as a pervert or something similar.
After driving for around five minutes Ensen had finally arrived at the local library. From the outside, it seemed like more of a house than an actual library.
'It must have been converted to a library.' Ensen thought to himself as he slowly pulled into the parking lot.
Noticing the low number of cars parked nearby, Ensen was unsure if he would even find any young people inside. But still, he was already there so he would as well go inside.
Exiting the vehicle, Ensen slowly entered the building. Immediately after he had opened the door, Ensen's nose was assaulted by the heavy smell of an air freshener in the air.
Not sure if he should continue, Ensen decided to breathe from his mouth for the moment as he walked farther in.
Unlike what he expected, it seemed like a proper library, however small it was. To the right were 3 large shelves full of books, whereas to the left was mainly the seating area.
Quickly looking for any potential recruits, Ensen only saw three people. An elderly couple and a man in his mid-30s reading at a nearby table.
Disappointed, Ensen decided to find a book and read for a few minutes before leaving so he didn't give off the wrong impression to the locals inside.
Not caring much about the book he picked, Ensen reached out his hand and grabbed the nearest book.
Looking at the book title with a slightly odd expression, Ensen muttered to himself "The all-slaying… dog? Is that supposed to be the other way around?"
Reading the passage on the back, he soon realized that it really was about a ruthless pit bull who cultivated to the pinnacle of a world. The pit bull ruled in tyranny, slaughtering any and all that insulted dogs while waging war against the feline nation.
'What even is this?' Ensen asked himself, although he was actually pretty interested in the novel.
Deciding to read a little, Ensen began walking over to a table when he heard a lovely voice from behind.
"Oh, you're reading the all-slaying dog? That's my favorite!"
Turning around, Ensen was greeted by a rather young girl with naturally black hair and green eyes wearing rather worn-down clothes. The designs that used to be on them had faded.
Quickly analyzing, Ensen said, "I haven't started it yet, but it seems interesting."
With shining eyes, the girl looked at Ensen and unknowingly raised her voice in excitement. "You'll love it! It's the best book ever!"
After finishing her speech, she immediately realized how loud she had been and her cheeks became flushed in embarrassment.
Ensen looked around to look at the others in the library and noticed they were all staring straight at the girl with unimpressed eyes, holding a finger in front of their mouth to signal to her to be quiet.
'Well these people aren't too friendly, are they?' Ensen thought as he looked back at the girl.
With an awkward expression, the girl muttered "Sorry."
Immediately after that, she began to walk away towards a nearby bookshelf, seemingly looking for a book while hiding herself from the others.
Quickly finding a seat, Ensen was about to open 'The all-slaying dog' before his curiosity got the best of him like usual.
'What an odd girl, she seems so passionate about reading. She must be good talent.' Ensen thought to himself while willing the talent scanner to read her information.
A few moments later the talent scanner had returned her stats.
[Name: Alina Bradley]
[Affiliation: None (Homeschooled)]
[Talent Rank: A]
[Specialty: Literature]
[Innate skill: Reading addict]
Nodding in satisfaction from the find, Ensen asked the system with a low voice, so nobody else would hear "What does reading addict do?"
[Reading addict causes the person to be overly passionate about all these about reading, from making it a hobby to overriding their personality when certain conditions are met. For example, you picked up her favorite book and were going to read it, so her innate skill forced itself to the surface even though her personality is far from what you have seen.]
Looking at the system's answer, Ensen had mixed thoughts about the innate skill. He had mixed thoughts about it, while it could be useful it also could take control of the person which was scary.
Beginning to feel okay at his own unimpressive innate skill, Ensen began thinking about how to properly approach her. Like the system said, her personality was not what he had seen, just the byproduct of the skill.
After thinking for a few moments, Ensen's face wore a crafty smile as he looked down at the book.
'Why not use her innate skill to my advantage? While it did seem morally questionable, I have good intentions. In fact, it would even massively help improve her life. Plus, it's just a way to connect with her so I would have an easier time proposing she joined Evergreen Academy.' Ensen thought to himself reasonably.
While he would by no means use the innate skills of individuals to harm them. He didn't seem any harm in doing this.
Raising the book from the table, Ensen began to read 'The all-slaying dog'.