Chapter 2 New World

Miyong

It's been 3 days since the mists have flooded the city. Humans are amazing creatures. We have pretty much adapted to our new lives in that short time. All attempts to contact the outside world have failed, most of us have come to accept the fact that no rescue team is coming anytime soon.

The morning air is cold. That may be the only thing in this world that has remained the same. Waking up every day in this world feels surreal. After the second day, everything almost felt like a routine. We wake up in the morning and then spend the rest of the day scavenging the building for resources. We managed to find a lot of canned food in the teacher's office that was being kept there after a donation drive. We were happy but Yue said that is not a permanent solution. Food is still being rationed.

Yue only slept 2-3 hours every night since the first day. I wonder if he is ok. We have been friends since childhood, but I am not sure I recognized who he is in the last few days. The shy, sweet guy is almost nowhere to be seen. He is very intense, calculating, and commanding. His decision-making skills are quick and decisive. Even the two teachers who are still with us take orders from him.

The other students have been taking the situation very hard. No electricity, no cell service, and none of us can go home. A few girls cried all night for the last 2 nights. The rest of us had to comfort them but it's not easy for us either.

“Excuse me for bothering everyone in the morning, please tell Miyong to join me on the roof after she wakes up.” I can see the silhouette of a tall, slightly chubby guy on the other side of the door. He spoke in such a soft voice, there is only one guy that speaks like that.

“I am already awake. Give me a few minutes to freshen up then I will go up.” I said to him,

“Oh, sorry to wake you up.” A slight panic in his voice. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Cute.

—---------------------------

The morning air is really cold, even worse since my hair is wet after the shower. The stairs going up to the roof are blocked by a bunch of clothes tied up in a giant X, with 2 students standing guard in front of it. These two are from the group that has been following Yue’s orders very promptly since the beginning. They have taken to the role of peacekeepers or guardians as they like to call themselves. It's funny how quickly people started cosplaying as soon as they saw the chance.

Why did they block the entrance to the roof? Because of that giant eel thing? It has been harmless for the last 2 days. I wondered what was happening outside. On the first day, we could still see the ground floor from the classroom window. Now we only see the blue mists.

“Miss Miyong, Yue has given you permission to enter.” One of the guardians said as he lifted the clothes for me to enter. One of them is holding two broken desk legs, the other is holding a wooden plank in one hand and a broken desk leg in the other. makeshift weapons? I guess it makes sense to find ways to protect ourselves in this strange situation.

“Miss Miyong? What am I? A fucking grandma?” The two guardians laughed and I walked past them.

The roof was cold, but it felt good to see the sky after only seeing that blue mist from the window all day. The other tall buildings in the city can be seen from here, now covered by strange plants and flowers. Our roof is also covered by unusual plants and flowers that I have never seen before. Some of the flowers are as big as a frying pan. The roof almost looks like a botanical garden now. I look around at the surrounding tall buildings, and that strange eel is nowhere to be seen.

Yue was standing at the edge of the building, looking out at the city before him. It has only been 3 days since this entire situation started, but he is almost unrecognizable to me now. He looks haggard and also lost a lot of weight.

“Good morning, Miyong. You are still beautiful even in this situation.” He forced a smile, but what he said made me happy.

“What are you doing to yourself? You look horrible.” I tried to hit his back like usual, but I couldn't put any power into my hands after seeing him in that state. My hand stopped on his back and I felt his skin. Strangely enough, his body was really hot. “Come, let's go eat. You need a shower and sleep”

“Look at that.” He stopped me from pulling him inside. I looked at where his finger was pointing. The sea of blue mists.

“Are we going to get crushed by that if it rises again? We won't be able to come out on the roof anymore.” I was a bit regretful.

“That's not what I am talking about. This thing, it's a new energy source.” He said with a smirk.

“What?” Did he become delirious from not getting enough sleep?

He looked at me and smiled. The same smile I have seen since we were children.

“I will show you.” He said a little bit smugly and opened his palm. He closes his eyes and concentrates on something. I wonder if he has a mental break. I can take care of him until he is better.

But suddenly a small amount of mists pull away from the mass and coalesce in his palm. A blue ball of mists.

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“How are you doing that?” He seems to have picked up some type of magic trick in the last 3 days. Is this why I haven't seen him at all yesterday? Practicing magic tricks?

“This is not mists. It's mana.” He said while looking down at the ball in his hand.

“What? Did you go crazy after taking on so much responsibility? The real world is not an RPG game. You need rest and food, and sleep and shower. I will tell the others to do things on their own until you wake up. Come with me” He has gone completely crazy, even if that magic trick is impressive. I tried to pull him away but he was surprisingly really strong. He did not budge at all even when I pulled with all my strength.

“Miyong, I am serious! Take a look” Yue pulled me to one of the flowers growing on the roof. It's gigantic and strange looking, but I could kind of see that it used to be a rose. It's pretty in a scary way. “Remember where we saw this rose in the school before?”

“Is this the rose in the flower garden? Did it grow all the way up here? This is the tenth floor!” Why is he showing me this? I just wanted to eat breakfast together.

“I think mana has the property to enhance and evolve other things at a rapid pace. Not just organic matters either. Look.” He picked up a few red bricks on the floor nearby and pulled another wisp of mana from the sea of mana, then he put the mists inside the brick.

“This is a normal brick. This is a mana-enhanced brick.” He put two bricks side by side. The mana brick doesn't look any different from normal brick except for a slight blue glow. Yue’s index finger started to glow slightly blue. That is kind of pretty. He very slowly dragged his finger along the top surface of the normal brick. His finger went through the brick like butter, crushing and breaking it into pieces. Every piece that he touched with his finger gets crushed. He uses only one finger to effortlessly grind the brick into dust by just touching it. When he tries to touch the mana-enhanced brick, nothing happens.

“What the hell did you do?” I didn't know what I was seeing. Magic? Were we transported into a magic world?

“I have been experimenting with mana for the last 3 days. Reinforcing an object with mana gives it amazing destructive capabilities and increased durability. Even human bodies” He looked at his glowing finger.

“So?” I felt tired listening to this guy. I don't care about any of this. It was kind of cool but as long as the people that I care about are safe, I don't care about powers or mana or magic or whatever.

“If I found out about the power of mana, then other people must have found out as well. People will always abuse power, we need to prepare to protect ourselves.” He was suddenly talking about powers and fighting other people. I don't care. “But that's not why I called you here. Here take this”

He gave me a black binoculars.

“What?”

“Take a look around. Look anywhere you want. Look as far as you can see.” He pointed across the sea of mists. All I could see was a sea of blue mists and the occasional tall building sticking out of the sea. I could see people in some buildings far away, but no matter where I looked, there was only a sea of clouds. I could feel a lump forming in my throat, my body was shaking. This is why he curtains off the roof.

He turned to look at me with a sad smile.

“Mana has the power to forcibly enhance or evolve everything it touches. Look at these flowers and that fish before. The world under this sea of mists has already changed into a place that we no longer recognize.” I don't know why he is saying these things. We were about to graduate in a few months. I was planning to confess to him and we would start our romantic life as he went to college and I helped my family with the restaurant business. This was just a natural disaster, maybe it would take a while to get rescued but we would soon go back to our normal lives. Now he is talking about mana and fighting other people. I don't know what he is saying.

“You are so childish. This is just a flood, the army will probably come to rescue us soon.” I said with a shaking voice.

“We can't close our eyes. This is the situation we are in now. You can't look away.” He gently grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.

I knew the implication of what he was saying, but I did not want to believe it. I didn't want to understand. Tears fell from my eyes, and I cried uncontrollably. I must look so ugly right now. A warm feeling surrounded me and I surrendered my body to that warmth.

“Miyong, we can't go home again.”

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Yuelian

Miyong is crying in my arms. Sadly, the first time I embraced her was under these circumstances. I continued to caress her hair, waiting for her to calm down. She fell asleep in my arms after crying for a while. I sat down with her still in my embrace.

Our future was just taken away, our world, maybe our family. I am surprised that I am not crying with her. Perhaps my calm state of mind is thanks to my family’s training.

The next step to our survival is to follow this thing’s instructions.

[Tutorial]

The world has changed forever. Learn to survive in the new world.

[Awaken mana veins - complete]

[Learn a skill - Incomplete]

[Unlock a stat - Incomplete]

[Hunt a monster - Incomplete]

[Eat a monster - Incomplete]

Reward - level up

Next Invasion 26 days

I wonder if everyone with awakened mana veins sees these game-like messages. Where is it coming from? The fact that it is so similar to a game user interface gives me a very uneasy feeling. Is someone or something giving us these powers? I had thought that this mana flood was a freak natural disaster, but ever since this message popped up, it's clear that this is not a natural event. Also, the message said [Tutorial]. What will happen after the tutorial? Invasion? Invasion from where or what? There are too many questions and too little information.

There is also the problem of completing these quests. How do I learn a skill? What type of skill? Can I only learn combat skills or general vocational skills can be learned as well? Is there a limit to the number of skills that one person can learn? Are the learned skills permanent? What about stats? What kind of stats can be unlocked and how to unlock them? Is there a limit to how many stats can be unlocked? We badly need more information about this world.

The smartest choice would be to awaken a few people and use them as a test, but even that may be dangerous. Humans tend to abuse their powers, especially for people who never had power before. In the worst-case scenario, someone could awaken a dangerous skill or stats. I don't know the limits of these skills. What if someone awakens a mind control skill or some type of curse or berserk skill that robs them of their inhibitions? The risk may be too great, however I need more information without testing it on myself. I need a test subject.

If there is a limit to how many skills or stats one person can learn then it's extremely crucial to only learn the most useful ones. I have to avoid doing anything for the moment. I can't even pick up a weapon, in case that unlocks a weapon-specific skill. I have to be extremely careful with my conduct until we have more information.

There is also a bigger problem.

Monsters. We have already seen one such creature, that giant fish/eel. We don't know if all monsters will be of that size or what kind of fighting power it has. Are they mutated animals or magical creatures from a different dimension? If monsters are evolved or mutated animals, does that mean they all can use mana? That is extremely dangerous. Are these monsters going to be aggressive towards humans, will they actively hunt for humans? We don't even know how many monsters are near our current location.

But one good thing came out of this situation. It seems that monsters are edible. That might solve our ration problems.

I looked down at Miyong sleeping in my arms and brushed her hair. In this new world, she is the only person that I can trust. The only one I will choose to protect if I have to make a choice.

When she wakes up, I intend to awaken Miyong’s mana veins.