Chapter 5 Powers
?????
A few days ago, he could get so close that he could touch that pretty girl’s hair without her notice. Now he couldn't even stay within eyesight. They are getting stronger at an alarming pace. What amazing blessings. He could no longer enter the room to listen to what they were talking about. He thought it best not to come near these people anymore.
As he was about to leave, he suddenly felt a high concentration of mana on the other side of the door.
“How exciting! Are they fighting? This is good.” He thought to himself. The fight caught his interest and he decided to lean back on the classroom door, hoping to hear what was happening on the other side.
His world spun, stars and weird lines blurred his visions. He couldn't breathe. An iron grip held onto his throat. He didn't know what happened.
“You fucking pervert, I got you.” He looked down at the pretty girl holding onto his throat.
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Yuelian
Miyong suddenly stood up after Mali whispered something to her. I felt a burst of mana, then a vacuum. Is that her Infusion skill? She is sucking in the surrounding mana into her own body. That level of concentrated mana is really dangerous.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. She has gotten so strong while I was preoccupied with managing the group.
She suddenly disappeared from my sight. In the blink of an eye, the classroom walls were blown away. Miyong is holding up something invisible. Whatever it was doing to hide itself and its mana, that has been interrupted after Miyong caught it. Now I can feel it. An invisible person.
I was stupid to not even consider such a skill. There is no way to leave this building. The culprit is still here somewhere, and yet, we searched every nook and cranny for 3 days without even a trail. I was too naive about the powers of skills.
“Ugh, cough” The invisibility is slowly wearing off. A young, blonde boy is slowly choking to death.
“Miyong! Stop, we need information” I manipulated the mana in the air to support that kid’s neck, making sure he didn't break in two in her hands. Miyong looked back at me, surprised on her face.
“Damn, when did you get that strong?” Miyong smiles brightly and throws the kid inside the classroom. I opened the window for a split second and pulled the concentrated mana from the mana sea to create a mana chain around the kid.
“........ you become insanely good at mana manipulation. You learned a skill?” Miyong sat down next to me and casually started to touch my arms.
“Let's talk about that later.” I look at the blonde kid. The mana inside him was extremely weak, I could barely sense it even while he was in front of me. He could easily kill a normal person with that little mana, but compared to other players like Miyong, Mali, and Jessica, he was no different from a normal human. “I will get straight to the point, tell us your name and did you kill the other six kids?”
“Cough, cough, what?” The boy coughing on the floor looked scared and confused. “My name is Jackie, I am a freshman. Someone is dead?”
“So you are the kid being bullied. You are the prime suspect.” I feel pretty lucky. We caught the prime suspect pretty easily. “We don't know if they are dead, but the likelihood is high”
“Isn't he an amazing actor? Were you in the drama club? you fucking pervert!” I could feel mana bursting next to me. I noticed this when she first awakened, but Miyong is strong. I have only seen 5 others awakened aside from her, but none of us could even come close to the amount of mana Miyong has naturally inside her.
“Calm down” I held her hands and she stopped moving. “Seven students have disappeared in the last 3 days, including yourself. We heard that they used to bully you, that could be your motive. Their disappearance coincides with yours, and now you alone reappeared. Furthermore, you are caught eavesdropping outside the meeting room. Even you have to see what this looks like.”
“Wait, no! Those guys disappeared? It wasn't me!” The boy squirmed. I could see clear panic in his eyes. This doesn't feel right. “Those guys are assholes. I thought about taking revenge so many times, but I was too weak! I couldn't do it, and I was alone against six people. I couldn't win! I never fought back! Ask the girls in my class, I never fought back!”
“That was before you got that power. You can easily kill a normal human as a player. Even someone as weak as you” Miyong’s voice is cold. I saw Mali in the corner of my eyes. Her eyes and ears are covered by mana. Is that her skill?
“He is telling the truth. At least he believes what he said.” Mali looked at us. It seems she was confident in her skill.
“If he is not the culprit, who is?” Miyong’s voice returned to normal. She leaned her back on me. “Why would anyone else target the freshmen boys specifically?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Those guys are complete assholes. They are not just bullies, they are racist, sexist and they have done some criminal shit too. I have seen them beaten up and stolen from a priest's family before. They have pissed off a lot of people.” The kid saw his chance and almost bit his tongue speaking so quickly.
“That is also true,” Mali nodded. Her skills are extremely useful.
I felt a big movement of mana below us.
Boom!
The building is shaking.
“Jennifer please go take care of the kids. Miyong and Mali let's go.”
—--------------------------
??????
A humanoid rock creature is charging towards me. I was about to punish this wicked creature but it suddenly turned into this monster.
Why?!? Why would god bless this trash?! After what they did?! Is he giving me a test? Yes! A test for the prophet!
His body is strong, but it doesn't matter. God gave me the most holy weapon to punish the wicked.
The holy light was so strong that it even affected my body. The prophet’s body. Wicked monsters could never endure holy light.
“What the fuck do you want?!” A talking humanoid rock, what an ugly power. Truly a monster. It was absorbing the building and getting bigger.
“To punish the wicked”
“Ahhhh! It hurts!” The monster screams
The holy light burned through that ugly monster like the morning light chasing away the darkness. This is my duty. The prophet’s duty.
I heard footsteps. It seems the corrupted nobles have caught me. Yes, I must punish the corrupt who deemed themselves above god. Evil people that seek to control God's herd.
“Sam! What are you doing?”
“Jason, it's a shame you have been corrupted. But I can cleanse you of your corruption. Come, bathe in God's light” I can save him at least. I tried to bathe him in God's light but that annoying noble got in the way.
“Jason, Mali moved back. Both of you can't fight yet.” The corrupt noble is saying something. “Please reinforce the building, make sure it won't be destroyed in the fight.”
Ah, I see. Those two only received God's grace but not God's blessing. Pitiful creatures.
“Hey, jackass. Are you crazy? Suddenly throwing fire at people. Were you always like this? I thought you were a decent guy” Ah, that vile girl. Look at that disgusting power around her. She must be the Devil's spawn to have such power. I will cleanse the world of this evil. “If you won't listen, we will just beat you up until you listen.”
That girl suddenly appeared in front of me. She was so fast I could not see her movements. Her fists landing on my body felt like being touched by sin. The devil’s power is disgusting indeed. The dark power is containing God’s light. I can't control it properly.
I can't win against the devil’s power in my current state. Luckily, God had a plan.
[Tutorial]
The world has changed forever. Learn to survive in the new world.
[Awaken mana veins - Complete]
[Learn a skill - Complete]
[Unlock a stat - Complete]
[Punish the wicked - Complete]
[Kill 6 players - 6/6]
Reward - level up
Next invasion 22 days
God had a plan for all of us
Level Up!
—----------------------
Mali
My heart is beating so fast. It's like I am in a fantasy world. MiMi disappeared from next to me suddenly, and now she is fighting Sam. They are so fast that I can't see them until I use Echo.
MiMi is incredible. Her entire body is like a vacuum sucking in all mana around her. The amount of mana inside her body is already incredible enough, but with that skill infusing her body with even more mana, she is like a walking disaster. We still don't know much about mana, is it even safe to use that much at once?
The mana in the air is burning as Sam’s white flames heat the hallway. Amazingly, the building is still standing. I can feel a very soft vibration from the building. The cement, metal, and even grain of sand in the building contain mana. Perhaps that's the reason the building could withstand this much mana without disintegrating.
MiMi is charging at Sam while covering her own body with concentrated mana. Sam’s white flames couldn't burn her no matter what he did. She unleashed a flurry of punches at Sam. He was able to block a few but the majority landed on his torso and face. If he was a normal human, his body would have become dust. Luckily for him, MiMi doesn't seem to have any real martial training. She is only charging and punching wildly, not even aiming for the chin or throat. The overwhelming amount of mana she is using makes her look scary, but she is a total amateur as a fighter. Sam staggered back, bleeding and wounded but not in critical condition. MiMi was completely unharmed. This result was obvious, she wasn't fighting alone.
“When did you awaken?” Yue was standing next to MiMi before I realized it. Jason looked like he wanted to charge out there, but I pulled him back. Something is going on between Jason and Yue. I am not quite sure what.
Yue is doing something to Sam’s fire, bending and containing it. It looks like the white flames are trapped inside itself. I have no idea what he is doing, but that is probably the reason MiMi didn't suffer a single burn. Yue might be scarier than her. His intelligence, understanding of mana, and control. It's difficult to believe he was awakened only a few days before us.
“On the first day, god blessed me as the flood came” Sam, bleeding all over, smiled eerily.
The mana inside his body suddenly doubled, almost tripled. I don't know how he did that. Is that his skill? But that white flame is his skill, he has two?
“Sudden mana increase? Is that a Level up?……..your mission was to murder people?” Yue gritted his teeth.
“Murder? No! God gave me a sacred mission to punish the wicked.” Sam’s smile is twisted. Has he always been like this? How could we not notice? “Those monsters use violence and worse on the innocent. They deserve death.”
“I don't disagree with that, but why are you trying to kill us right now?” MiMi is a very practical person. She didn't care that those kids were killed, only that it was done under her watch. I am not sure if she has always been this way or if the flood has changed people’s common sense to this extent.
“Because you are corrupted. You wish to shepherd God’s herd. Heretics.” I could only see anger in Sam’s eyes. Did he always hate us? We were only organizing and maintaining stability in the community.
“Sam, please don't do this. We can maybe come to an understanding if you would just calm down and talk” Yue is very naive for someone so intelligent
“HERETICS!” His screams shook the floor. That level-up made him so powerful, he is on the same level as MiMi now. Maybe more.
“I worship God too, crazy asshole. Hey, this guy is completely insane. Can I just kill him? I am tired of holding back.” MiMi’s mana grew even stronger.
“I don't think we have a choice. Please do it without too much damage to the building.” Yue touched MiMi’s hands. The wild mana covering her arms turned very stable and took on the shape of gauntlets.
“Ohhhh! What the hell is this? Awesome” MiMi's laughter echoes throughout the hallway as she charges at Sam again. However, even with that gauntlet and more mana, she couldn't land a proper blow.
That level-up did more than just increase his mana. His base physical abilities went up drastically. Even when her punch got through his defenses, Sam did not seem to suffer any damage. The mana covering him is too strong. MiMi finally had to retreat. Her hair and skin are charred even with Yue containing the fire for her.
“Do you see God’s true power? Devil’s corruption is insignificant in the face of his glory” Sam spread out his arms and white flames came down on us like a tidal wave. Both Jason and I reinforced the building with all our mana to make sure the building didn't collapse. Yue is blocking the waves of flames in front of us.
“Accept his love into your heart and be blessed by his glory-! Gu…gu..” Sam was yelling incoherent things then suddenly stopped. He was choking on his own blood.
“I asked you to stop………please don't blame me in the afterlife” A moment ago, I saw Yue wave two fingers from left to right. An iron pipe from the wall behind Sam flew into his neck. He was so focused on showering us with his flames that he did not protect his own body with mana. Just a simple iron pipe was enough to end the fight.
MiMi broke through the wall of fire that suddenly lost power. Her punch completely disintegrated Sam’s body to ashes. Concentrated mana is not something a human body can withstand. He did not have the chance to say another word.
Yue walked up to MiMi and embraced her shoulder as she leaned on him. Both of them stared at the empty place where Sam had just been. I think both of them are coming to terms with what they have just done. Taking a human’s life.
Jason did not say a word.
It has only been a week since the old world ended. As I watched the back of that couple, I realized more and more that we could never return to that peaceful world again.
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Yuelian
Fuck the gods or whatever made this system. I see what it is trying to do. Bastard!! All hopes for a peaceful existence in this world are gone.
[Player eliminated]
Magic power + 1