Chapter 33: A Look into the Past

As the video flashed before my eyes, the first thing I saw was a shaky footage of the school. It seems that Jolly recorded the preparation before they set off for the Living Stone. I also saw Franco in the footage explaining his way of awakening. In the later part of the footage, he fell asleep while his mind is fusing with a gaming system like an overlay in Isekai anime that was so popular during that period. I also saw the demonstration of his skills as a necromancer and an assassin. He can raise the shadow of dead beings to fight for him, and his personal growth is geared towards becoming an assassin. He knew what happened to me and Max; he decided to raise Max, but he couldn’t because the “system” in his head said that Max isn’t dead. Afterward, he tried to take the shadow of the dragon that killed us. He succeeded, and the dragon turned into the size of a puppy who he tasked to do his bidding. After Franco acquired enough means to protect himself, they headed to where the Living Stone is. The Living Stone is on top of the mountain where the subdivision of our school was built. Back in our high school days, legend states that it is called the Living Stone because it houses a giant rock that grows as time passes. It served as a hangout spot for students since it was breezy there and it somehow feels like an adventure as well.

At the point when they are on their way to the Living Stone, the video was not shaky anymore. I assume Jolly started using her action camera. When they finally reached the stone, the screen suddenly turned black, and a voiceover started playing. It is Dianne's voice saying that at that point, their consciousness entered the stone. It is acting as a sort of training ground to prepare their minds for combat where if they die, they just spawn back, but the pain they would feel is real. After a few hours, Dianne explained that the ladies experienced an awakening of a sort. Needless to say, they can now control mana. Everyone apparently had the same amount of trials except for Franco, who had and additional training exam. They didn’t know what it was about, but after awakening, the Living Stone stood up to become the golem that it is today. In exchange for mana-filled items, the stone swore to protect the territory of Franco and his friends. I was shocked to see that my friends experienced a comprehensive tutorial before heading out, not that I need it myself.

After their adventure with the Living Stone, for the next two years, my friends traveled all around the Philippines. They went through different training grounds, fought off people, and formed alliances in the name of Franco's growth. After those two years, with the blessing of the world, they all reached Rank-9 Mortal. This means that it has been 18 years since then they haven’t taken a step forward, so maybe I should help them as well. The voiceover continued to speak of the highlights they had when they were building the kingdom. It started with them just surviving inside the territory of the Living Stone with their acquired strength. After some time, they took in people who couldn’t defend themselves, and it grew and grew from there. With Son’s help, the technology the kingdom has now exceeded that before the apocalypse happened.

Eventually, other powers wanted to take advantage of the territory being governed by my friends. Fortunately, they were able to defend the kingdom from all the attacks. Some attacks were easy to terminate, but an attack from someone with a power stronger than the Mortal realm left them with no choice but to retreat back into the territory of the Living Stone which is too overpowered. Eventually, they stopped acting like the defenders of the kingdom and turned into the leaders that we see now. They started cultivating the people to grow stronger, they convinced the Living Stone to do the awakening tutorial exercise for everyone that wants to do it for additional mana stones. Mana stones became the money or the basis of exchange in the current era for larger societies where someone can absorb the mana inside the stones which corresponds to a particular value. Mana stones are naturally formed by the world and cannot be formed by anyone as of this moment. Once mana from the stone enters the body, it will take on the properties of the mana of the owner.

The video that played next is shot at the time when Anne went to the kingdom, and everyone filled her up about the details of what happened years ago. Seeing her that moment, she did not look a day older when we first met. From the video, I can also see that Anne has stayed strong even after all that has happened. When someone reaches the Mortal rank and enters the Demi-human realm, his or her lifespan would range from 100 to 1000 years. If she hasn’t aged since the last time we met, it is safe to assume because she is still as pretty as ever or even even prettier than what I remember. God, I miss her. I couldn't help but feel sad as the video shows the scene when she cried for nine days and nine nights before accepting what happened to me. What played next is a quick montage of the kids growing up.

Finally, I reached the footage, which I believe, is what Son wants me to see. It is a video explaining the situation of the world right now. From the video, I learned that everyone who is holding a kingdom has learned to form “shards,” just like back when I was at the school before I awakened. Basically, the space of the world grew not just by becoming bigger, but also by connecting several parallel worlds existing on earth. Most of them are empty while some of them have inhabitants. Even though the kingdom of awakening is just the Angono municipality, it is as big as the entire landmass of the Philippines before magic became real. Also, every municipality is being led by Rank-9 Mortals except for Manila, the capital of the Philippines, which is now treated as the Manila Imperium led by Rank-3 Demi-humans. Looking at the situation of the whole world, small and relatively young countries like the Philippines, which is only a little bit over 100 years old, discovered the existence of mana much later than the bigger countries like China, Australia, UK, and the USA. These bigger and powerful countries had knowledge and resources to prepare for the apocalypse.

The internet is still active in the form of a larger mana network, but the information being shared is restricted to what the creator wants it to be. Based on the data that my friends have collected, the Philippines is one of the weakest country in the world. The fact that we were not prepared, and we have been retrenched back to city-states compared to the united countries overseas brought us to a tough spot. Franco is just one of the handful of world awakeners out there who are backed up by the most powerful entities like private corporations. Right now, the peace is fragile in the kingdom, not to mention the offering we have to give to the Manila Imperium for them to honor our sovereignty. The last video that I watched contained a rundown of some of the problems being faced by the kingdom. First are the border issues with the Lake Lords of Binangonan City. Second are the trade disputes with the Taytay Heroes. Last is the annual tournament of young warriors that aims to show how weak the provinces are compared to Manila, kind of like the "Hunger Games," but with deaths not required. With this much problem in the kingdom of my friends, I need to get stronger as soon as possible.