CH 18

It's been three weeks since the day Emilia had received the system. Everyday she would fulfill the side quests, though it was strange that she was accumulating Exp Points much faster than Zel. But Zel only took that as a sign of her being special. She was the only person, other than himself, that he knew had a talent before the system found them. If she wasn't special, then no one could say they are.

The system was biased in how it only recognized individuals that can handle mana better than most. A privileged few who were able to get a head start in preparation of what's to come. Zel was given access when he had used more mana than he usually did by unintentionally activating his unarmed skill during his fight with Ray.

'No wonder I dodged his attacks in the beginning but felt more tired as the fight went on. With how my clairvoyance works, I would have been exhausting the few mana I collected in a less than a minute with how much of it I was using.' Zel was now able to understand how mana works with his skills, this was because of the Scholar's Bungle that let him see more than what can be seen in the system's Status Function.

'I still don't know if it is a part of the equipment's effects or just because my Intelligence reached a certain quota.'

However it happened, the fact still remains that it was useful to determine how much mana he has and how much mana skills consume so that he could effectively manage it during a fight. He knew that fights like those with Ray were not really that impressive compared to how intense the new few months would be.

Right now he was on vacation with Emilia. Since it was already summer vacation he wanted for them to experience the world before it all turns to shit. Though he was also going to scout out his candidates for his new team. Their first destination is Changhai, Cina.

'If it happens like before, the abdicates will be discovered in a little more than a week from now.'

The first disaster that would hit the Earth would be the abdicates. Creatures that were lucky enough to survive dimensional collapse if you consider death would have been their most likely fate. Though they were not lucky enough to keep their sanity intact due to the fact that their consciousness were burned upon entry. Meaning, their bodies are somewhat complete while only their instincts were left, no sense of self remained.

Thinking it was futile to wonder about something he didn't fully understand and cannot fully understand without getting more information, Zel focus on his reconnaissance as he 'stalked' the people who he wants to recruit.

'Charles McAvoy, a boy with the ability to move the earth with considerable amounts of mana. He would be scouted by the Coalition three months from now if he remembered correctly. He was forced by them to build the first walls made of mana that humanity ever had.'

The attacks of the abdicates were no joke. While most were easily killed by bullets fired off normal guns, some were not so easy to take down. That was because those who were taken out were either level 1 scrubs who had no good skills or high level rankers that needed the use of complex calculations to show their full capacilities.

'Even then, a Level 3 abdicate who had control of lightning instantly cornered the efforts of the Coalition.'

With the world surrounded on all sides, people had to flock together in order to protect what was left. Even he had no time to waste when gathering enough material to get a good plan going. Like how he had spent most of his recent uses of clairvoyance, in which he only gathered information that would serve as the basis of what's to come.

The presence of the system made it harder to get a timeline that could be perfectly recreated. It wasn't like before where he had less complex problems that had a few variables to consider, now even a random guy in the street could possibly be capable of destroying a city in a few blinks. Even if the possibility was miniscule.

The target right now was Charles McAvoy, who was a good kid to have with you if you want to set up a worthwhile base. His youth was exploited by the Coalition and made him work with relatively low pay with unfair conditions in place such as minimum hours of work a day and no real benefits other than them giving him a house. Even that was meant to make it easier for them to monitor him.

It was then that a blonde haired boy around the age of eight went out of the nearby stall selling cheap snacks. With a stick that held three fish balls and a cup of sweet pineapple juice at hand, he headed towards a bench so that he could enjoy his hard earned lunch while seated.

He wore a white sleeveless shirt that was dyed gray from the dirt that can't be washed out anymore. His shorts were made from a pair of ruined pants, shown by the fact that the sewing job on the hem of their openings were not well done, having threads that were left unattended on them. He had no shoes, only a pair of flip flops that he found while passing through an open trash can.

'Whoa! Lucky!' They were not worn out like his other slippers so he threw those away and wore this pair instead. It was 1 size too big but he could work with it. In fact, in his mind it was better.

'Now I don't have to change it for at least a year!"

While he was enjoying his meal while wondering about why Mr. Larkinson was so happy earlier, Zel wondered how much chewing a fish ball needs because he had been here for a minute now and he was still chewing his first bite. In actuality, he could have finished it in a minute if he ate normally, but the kid wouldn't have any more meals today after this.

The bite, which was only half a fish ball, which was now tasteless in the kid's mouth was getting too bland, even for him so he took a sip of his pineapple juice. He was bobbing his head from side to side while his tiny legs swayed in tandem from the sweet taste of his free juice.

'It's not everyday I get to drink pineapple juice, Mr. Larkinson was very kind to give me a free cup.' He had to do more work later on. He was supposed to carry three sacks of something every day but he had only done two yet so he had to go back.

This was his routine every day. School was not something he placed any mind because he never went to one. He only had his little sister who was five years old, and even she was forced to stay in the place where they stay with the other kids so they can be 'trained'.

It was only when a man who was holding a bag full of sticks of fish balls sat next to him that Charles woke up from his afternoon delight. He looked enviously when as he tried to count how many of them he had.

'One, two, three, four, umm, what comes after four again? He has so many!'

Charles was drooling from the sight but soon after just shook his head while staring at his own stick. He still had two and a half left as he only took one bite since a few minutes ago, it was enough. He didn't need to be jealous of the man because he still had his own.

'I got a free drink too! I'm just as lucky.' Charles continued his meal in peace, but it didn't last for long. He then watched as the man take one stick of fish balls that had five in them. FIVE!

He remembered that it was the number more than four and switched his eyes from the five in the man's hand and the two left in his and felt bitter. He hated his fate, he wanted more! But he was a good kid, he knew wanting more means nothing if people didn't want you.

People get more when they get paid, and he needed to have a job if he wanted to get paid. But he had no way to even try, let alone getting more, he might not even get to keep what he has. His thoughts wandered, but something he heard brought him back to reality fast.

"Hey kid, you still hungry?"