First Mission, Pt. 2

Several trips passed, as Rick and Layna's strength finally reached a point where they could take one container each, greatly speeding up their progress.

The sun was beginning to go down.

Thanks to the night-vision goggles, the darkness had no effect on their pace, instead only adding a hint of weariness to the mission.

"Man, we're still only halfway there?" Kane groaned.

Kane didn't bore easily, but the amount of training he could do while sharing cargo and hiding his strength was minimal, lifting something as easy as a single shipping container didn't exactly challenge him.

"We were told it would take us two days, so obviously it's going to take us two days..." Layna frowned.

"Two days for you guys maybe," Kane teased.

Rick clicked his tongue, "You've hardly done any more than we have!"

"That's because I'm lazy, and I've gotta leave enough for you guys to actually train."

"Excuses," Rick pouted.

They continued working into the night, gradually bringing container after container to the drop-off zone.

Kane began using shadow step as often as possible, slowly becoming better and more accurate at bending light. He hoped to reach a point where he could hide in broad daylight.

He was pretty sure the spell wouldn't hide his mana signature though, or his body temperature.

Kane theorized using space to hide these things would probably be possible, but his level of control and comprehension simply wasn't enough.

Kane had set up an anchor over by the piled containers earlier in the day, but he didn't have the mana capacity to teleport anything bigger than himself over to it.

Rick set his cargo down and accessed his radio, "We're two containers past the halfway point."

There was a long delay before a beep and a voice came up on the other end, "Very good, please keep up your current pace if possible so we can pull you out early."

Kane was considering how to help the two train more effeciently. The possibility of enemies had been mentioned, and Kane would feel responsible if his teammates died on him.

He had no clue what they did and didn't learn in Ember though, or what techniques they'd even be compatible with.

"... Hey guys, have you ever tried freezing your mana in place, did they teach you how to do that in Ember?" Kane said while making sure they'd already set their cargo down. He'd rather not have them do it and then collapse under the 8-ton containers.

Rick had a look of confusion plastered on his face, "Do what with the huh now?"

"Y'know, hold your mana completely still inside your body?"

"Oh! I've never tried that, does it do anything?"

Kane smiled at the thought of teaching them something useful, "You'll see."

"I can't do it," Layna said dejectedly.

"Me neither, that's really hard. Are you sure freezing your mana's actually possible?"

Kane was surprised, he figured that would be one of the easier things they could use mana for at their level.

Kane had his blindness and years of meditation and practice to thank for this.

He had no point of reference, so Kane wasn't quite aware, but his attunement to his own body and sharp senses allowed him to grasp mana control far faster and more precisely than normal manalites.

Hence he could do higher-level things like send condense it in specific muscle groups or freeze his mana in place right from the get-go. This was also a moderate part of how he grasped the space attribute, the other being his experience in Ember.

You may be wondering why there isn't some other blind manalite with explosive growth like Kane's?

The simple answer is that the chances of a blind person with senses on the level of Kane's having the right genetics to become a manalite, the comprehension and willpower to survive the second dose, and a powerful attribute was ridiculously small.

There would probably never be another person as specifically attuned to being a manalite as Kane, much less one who gets a week-long headstart on their training or a legendary attribute.

"I guess it doesn't matter, I was scared to test it so I used you guys as guinea pigs, sorry!" Kane lied.

"You're an ass sometimes..." Layna scolded.

Kane chuckled, picking up his container and sprinting past them like it was nothing.

"I kind of miss the other guy, I'd rather deal with his crying all day than whatever freak of nature Kane is," Rick sighed.

He'd always wanted to be great at something, then right as he suddenly developed superpowers and got put into a top-ranked military squad, bam, his new teammate came in and was practically a god.

Kane had even figured out something as hard to comprehend as invisibility within a single day of joining the squad, Rick was sure the man's growth would be explosive on top of having a great start.

"I'm gonna beat that guy, I swear!" Rick smirked to himself.

"Uh... huh?" Layna glanced at Rick as if he were a moron.

While Kane was sprinting out ahead, he could sense people nearby. The slight flutter of mana as it passed through living creatures, the gentle snapping of twigs and brushing of plants, these were all distinct signs.

The shape of the mana wasn't clear enough to tell if they were humans or wild animals, what gave them away was how they would crouch behind trees in a synchronized manner before advancing forward.

It was far too cautious and organized to just be a pack of animals.

Kane set his container down, feeling glad they weren't ordered to kill the scouts. He didn't believe he was even remotely ready to handle taking someone's life.

Kane used shadow step, hoping to avoid any night-vision they might have active.

Instead of risking detection from clumsily sneaking across the forest ground, Kane teleported every time he wanted to move.

Kane made sure to absorb mana whenever he stopped. Letting him maintain shadow step and the multiple teleportations he was using at the same time.

He'd learned his lesson on mana conservation after the 40-foot fall and 'finger' incident.

Kane eventually came to a stop just behind the group, there were 8 people.

All of them had pistols, knives, scouting equipment, camouflaged gear, and some strange gadgets. One seemed to have a sniper as well.

Kane couldn't sense any mana from them, in fact, he wasn't even sure if the other countries knew about manalites.

Surely there was a reason they were investigating things like this gel.

Kane decided to stay behind them and watch their movements through his scanner, which worked just as well in darkness as it did in light.

As Rick and Layna passed by, the scouts' eyes widened in shock. The last thing they expected to find on this mission was two teenagers lifting massive shipping containers over their heads in the middle of a forest.

They were only supposed to steal the content of a container for research and figure out why they were being stacked and delivered in the middle of a forest.

Kane saw one of them reaching for their radio.

'Not so fast,' he smirked to himself.

Thanks to his increased thinking speed, it took Kane only a second to figure out what to do.

Using aport on all of the weapons or radios right now would just be stupid, he didn't have enough control over his mana bullet to take them all out or avoid killing them, this left one major and probably over-complicated option for Kane.

He dissabled shadow step to conserve mana, then used aport on the scout's radio.

"What the..."

He'd already found some rope in one of their backpacks, immediately using aport on that too.

In just a split second, Kane slowed his perception of time and precisely teleported around them in a circular motion, tying the rope around each individual scout at blinding speed.

With the scouts tied together, Kane aported all of their weapons and radios one-by-one.

Were there more efficient ways of dealing with them? Absolutely.

Kane only cared about incapacitating and disarming them, he hadn't yet worked on controlling his strength, so he wasn't confident in attacking them without accidentally killing someone.

The scouts were bewildered, "H-how, when did that guy get here?!"

Kane smiled, "I've been following you all the way back from your camp."

He was just trying to scare them of course.

"No way, for that long..."

"We're screwed."

The scouts seemed pretty depressed, which was understandable given what might happen to them soon.

Kane wasn't even remotely happy with what was happening, he wanted to stop himself and let them go, but he wasn't capable of protecting his friends and family from the military.

Killing them might honestly be better for their future lives, but he wasn't strong enough to do that either.

Kane began pulling the group along while calling the military, "I've apprehended 8 suspicious individuals, requesting transport," he put on his best military lingo.

"Request acknowledged, keep them under supervision until a squad arrives."

Kane decided he wouldn't report on the possible location of their base, it was the least he could do.

---------------

A truck arrived a few hours later, taking the scouts into custody before heading off. The rest of the night was uneventful, as Kane put his all into training.

He moved several stacked containers at once while freezing his mana and constantly recovering, it felt like every fiber in his body was bursting as he pushed through the pain and walked.

In just 4 trips he'd brought in the remaining cargo and increased his strength to ludicrous degrees.

Screw his teammates, he didn't want to leave them weak and at risk, but protecting himself and his family couldn't be achieved if he was leaving behind opportunities to get stronger just to help them grow.

Kane felt like a scumbag, but he had steeled his motivation.

"Christ Kane, to think you were actually holding back," Layna said amazedly.

Rick stared silently as Kane set down the 4 containers.

"I guess it's time to go back," Kane said dryly.

----------------

The same scientist from before approached the group as they entered the base.

"You've successfully delivered the shipment a full day ahead of schedule, and captured all known enemies without a single injury to either side, I'm impressed! Looks like the resources being spent on your squad won't be going to waste."

"I'm the one who captured the scouts, and delivered the most shipments. I'd appreciate it if you could increase the difficulty and frequency of my training," Kane stepped forward.

His team seemed a little annoyed at him casually claiming so much credit for the mission, but it was true, so they said nothing.

The scientist nodded as he began walking away, "I can definitely have that arranged, your personal training begin tomorrow, by the way."

Kane nodded, "... I'd like one more thing."

He stopped walking and turned around, "Oh?"

"I'd like to be taken out of this squad, I want to move independently from here on out."

It hurt to ask, it really did, but he couldn't be dragged down by them, and he couldn't let his future plans drag them down. This was for the best.

"That... would be a bit tricky. While you're certainly the best in the group, you can't leave a squad unless you demonstrate a 2-rank gap in strength, which I thi-"

"Great, please take me to the training area, I'd like to re-test."

Kane gritted his teeth, he wanted to keep his power level secret for as long as possible, this was a very tough choice.

But maybe he could make the outcome work to his advantage?

"A re-test? I'm not sure I... well, I guess it's fine, you've probably entered at least Rank-2 anyway."

The scientist guestered for the squad to follow him. Rick was boring a hole into the back of Kane's head, while Layna didn't seem too bothered.

After some walking, the training room entered Kane's scanner.

"So Kane, let me tell you the requirments for the rank you'd need to leave the squad," the scientist motioned him over.

"You've already passed the requirement for sensory, defensive, and agility skills, which was that disk test you took. Now you need to pass a strength and endurance test, show you have the required magic force and capacity, prove you're capable in a real combat scenario, and demonstrate 3 skills unique to your attribute. Am I understood?"

Kane nodded, "Yes sir."

The man brought Kane over to a large room with a compactor, the goal was to hold up a piston progressively increasing weight for 30 minutes.

That one was almost too easy, as Kane had only just started feeling tired by the time the test ended, the final weight was only around 30 tons.

Rick and Layna were speechless.

The scientist especially seemed shocked, "Extroadinary... now for your skills, do we need to go to a combat room or are you fine here?"

"I'm fine here, thank you."

Kane teleported, aported the scientists clipboard from his hand, and then opened up a small black hole far away from anything it could damage.

"Having three attribute skills this soon is extremely rare, then again, so is the level of strength and reflex you've demonstrated," the man carefully examined Kane while speaking meticulously.

"You must be quite intelligent to have deconstructed such an abstract attribute to this degree!"

Kane faked a smile, "I appreciate the compliment."

Now it was time for mana.

Kane was brought to a larger crystal wall than the one he'd used previously, this was the wall Rank-3 and 4 manalites tested on.

Kane readied his spell, he decided that if he was going to blow his cover, he'd do it fabulously.

He would need to take advantage of every resource he could, many of which would need him to stand out greatly to be given access.

He would have to rank up quickly, at shocking and blistering speeds, before the government's amazement wore off and they decided to treat him as a potential threat.

Pouring everything he had into his spell, he launched it at the wall. Only pure bolts of mana were allowed, as to keep the measurements consistent.

There was a sharp snap, a tiny fragment of the wall chipped off from the impact.

With this, the score measured at 8,254. The high end of Rank-3.

Jaws were dropped. Rick was staring blankly at the score, Layna was focusing on the chipped off piece of wall, and the scientist was focusing on hurrying Kane to the next test.

Kane sat down and let his mana regenerate, once full, he poured all of it into the gel chamber.

It quickly soaked up everything he could dish out, measuring a capacity score of 8,043.

The scientist turned to face Kane, a massive smile on his face as he called in the district commander.

"Congratulations on achieving Rank-3 Kane, the commander will be here with your medal in a few minutes!"

"Wait, didn't I need to go through a combat test or something?" Kane furrowed his brows.

"I'd say taking down 8 enemy scouts without receiving a single scratch is good enough qualification for Rank-3! Though with your abnormal growth, I would've let you pass regardless. You were definitely holding back on your first tests, weren't you?" The man smirked.

"Who knows," Kane 'eyed' him cautiously.

Layna spoke up, "I guess the team's disbanding already?"

"Looks like it, sorry guys, it was fun while it lasted... hey science guy, although I'd possibly be going solo, could I still keep my dorm with these guys?"

"Hmm... you should probably ask the commander about that, with how special your case is, I think it'd be a yes."

"I'm not completely sure I want to stay in the same dorm as this guy," Rick complained.

"Oh, I can just move out if-"

Rick quickly corrected Kane's misunderstanding, "No, you don't have to do that. I don't really mean it like that, this whole thing is just weird for me... sorry."

Moments later the commander came rushing out into the hall, an oak box in his hand.

"Kane! I knew you had it in you!" The commander gruffly cheered from across the hallway.

Kane raised his eyebrow, "You thought I was going to die from my third shot though??"

"Eh, who could blame me. Listen kid, I'll let you go solo, and I'll get you the resources you need, but you have to promise to take your training and your missions seriously."

"Deal," Kane reached out and shook his hand.

The commander pinned a medal onto Kane's suit, it was a simple badge-shaped piece of titanium alloy with a '3' carved onto it. The medal seemed to merge into Kane's suit, becoming one with the fabric.

"Welcome to Rank-3 kid, this is the fastest anyone's ever reached it."