Chapter 28 - Pitiful

The man in the next room was an unparalleled genius, the old man had to admit. When he was younger, he was also called an unparalleled genius, and so the old man wasn't very surprised. However, someone casually advancing a mana stage while having true awakening shocked him to the core.

It led to his Mana to become chaotic, shaking his internal organs. This made him cough up blood because he had never been so shocked before. Only in the 4-Star would people start truly awakening their abilities.

Up to 3-Star, people can only use their abilities in a basic manner, never delving too deeply. This doesn't happen because they want, but because they can't truly comprehend their ability. Most ordinary abilities don't even have the so-called True Awakening, making them stuck at 3-Star for the rest of their lives.

0-Star is often called Mana Core because the Mana takes the shape of a sphere. 1-Star and 2-Star are called Mana Sea, because the Mana Core melts into a liquid-like substance, making it easier for the Mana Users to manipulate and shape it.

The 3-Star is called Mist Stage, because the liquified Mana will become more ethereal, akin to a mist. However, starting from 4-Star, the lifeform will undergo an evolution, making them more powerful than others. Even so, this is not the most special thing about 4-Star.

Because at 4-Star is when the Mana User truly starts delving deeper into their abilities. This is the 'True Awakening' stage, and what Haize did was delving a bit deeper into his ability. While it can't be even near 4-Star beings, any Mana User who has their 'True Awakening' earlier than 4-Star is simply a monster.

The old man was one such person, having his True Awakening on 3-Star. This gave him the title of an unparalleled genius, but Haize actually had it on 0-Star, three whole stages before him! Not to mention... After only one week of learning about the existence of Mana!

It was understandable that the old man coughed up blood. Standing up, he had an urge to immediately go and ask Haize to be his disciple, but the old man decided that he won't do that so early, 'It's not like these old b*stards will even dare to fight with me for him to be their apprentice, anyway.'

That was his overwhelming confidence. Confidently, the old man stood up and was about to leave his room... When he tripped on a pen that was in the ground, but luckily, he quickly twisted his body in the air and stood up as if nothing happened.

Yes, the old man was that kind of unlucky person. Even if there was plain ground in front of him, it was possible for him to just trip over something and fall. If not because of his experience over time, the old man wouldn't be prepared all the time.

This also caused him to have a cautious personality, afraid that lightning would suddenly fall from the sky and hit him. It happened more than once. In the same day!

''I wonder why my luck just hates me...'' The old man asked himself, before a lightning bolt suddenly fell from the sky, ''Ha! I was prepared, do you think you can hit me, huh? Huh? Hit me if you can!''

''...'' Haize just came out of his room and saw the old man yelling at the clear skies. The old man suddenly became embarrassed, before noticing that the lightning bolt that just fell was teleported somewhere else, so there were no traces. The old man was sure that Haize was thinking he was a crazy person.

'His life must have been hard...' Haize thought while feeling pity towards the old man, he couldn't imagine how hard his life was on that last week. He had seen the 3-Star being fighting against the young man, and it was insanely scary. That old man must've been hit hard by a strong being.

Patting the old man's shoulder, he went to see how the food-growing plan was doing. Besides the main house that could accommodate up to 70 humans, many small houses were made, 'Hm, these wood-element Mana Users are working hard. I'll give them a break later.'

''I... I'm not crazy.'' The old man sat on the ground pitifully, nearly crying. If it was another person that saw him like that, he wouldn't care. But that was actually the person he wanted to become his disciple! He suddenly realized that his bad luck wasn't going to hit him, but to embarrass him!

''Boss!'' The plant-element Mana User greeted him before quickly saying, ''Everything is going according to the plan you made, boss! Even the use my ability improved after I used Mana the way you said! According to the current progress, not to mention our current base population, even if it doubled, there would have no problem feeding them all!''

''The only problem would be meat since we don't have a stable source...'' He said, a bit disappointed. Haize noticed that the young man was very excited about growing vegetables and trees as food. Maybe that was his dream, increasing his efficiency.

Haize nodded lightly, before saying, ''I'll think of a way to get a meat source later, thanks for your hard work.''

It had been a day since the group of survivors and the Covering Sun Faction were accepted on his safe zone. They quickly discovered that while Haize was very ruthless and cruel to enemies, he was very kind to his allies and subordinates.

He took out the group skill scroll from his storage before selecting three members of his Covering Sun Faction that had Fire abilities, along with himself and Lyse. Maybe it was a coincidence, but Lyse had just awakened after meditating for hours.

''Ah, much more comfortable!'' Lyse said after stretching his body, before getting silent after seeing John and Edward still meditating. He quietly left the room, before a notification appeared in front of him.

[=- You were selected by 'Sol Haize' to learn the group skill 'Fiery Beacon' -=]

Knowledge suddenly poured into his mind, and he instinctively knew how to use that ability. Lyse opened his palm, like a pyramid-shaped Flame appeared, its top being square-shaped. He brought both hands near each other, and the Fiery Beacon floated between them.

Hitting both hands together, the Fiery Beacon was 'swallowed'. Then, from the center of his right hand, Lyse shot out a beam-like Flame towards the sky to avoid unnecessary destruction. After it went about 10 meters upwards, the beam exploded in a firework-like manner.

''Meh, Fiery Beacon is kind of lame. I'll just rename it Sunlight.'' Lyse muttered in dissatisfaction. Since it shot a fiery light, and his ability is named Infinite Sun Flames, he named it Sunlight.

Feeling satisfied, Lyse was about to go and talk to his brother, when he saw an old man sitting on the ground, crying pitifully.

======

Support me on Pa treon for advanced chapters: patre on.com/onyat