"Bro, are you saying we can actually cast our skills now? Like right here?" Rey was the first one to ask the obvious question.
"Sure. Try and see." Liam shrugged. The thing was… if it was that easy, they wouldn't have suffered so much in his last life.
Human beings from earth had the worst affinity for mana, with the only exception being a handful of people. Liam looked at Mia who naturally belonged to his handful of people unlike him who had taken the tutorial's help.
"You guys should all try to sense mana and use it to cast something. Just try it out." He leaned back, patiently waiting for everyone to get a feel.
One by one Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and the others tried to close their eyes and see if they could feel the mana or even something out of the ordinary.
A few seconds passed by and no one could sense anything. Many had constipated looks on their faces as they tried to discern this new presence.
However, right after 30 seconds… "Ouch." Mia shook her hand with a calm look on her face. "I can feel it." She said.
Seeing this Liam shook his head helplessly and smiled. Of course, he had already expected this. Probably only she will be able to sense it now. Others would need some help.
And he had already thought about this and made preparations. "Crawford, come out. You… help them."
The soul minion nodded and then Liam showed the first candidate to Shen Yue's apartment. "Huh? Why bro? Right here is fine?" Rey was confused.
Liam shook his head. "No, you need the privacy."
Rey still looked confused as he entered the apartment alone with Crawford. This was the girls' place so when he entered he curiously looked all around.
"He He. I wonder if Alex is still messy, which one do you think is her room?" He had only barely finished talking when unexpectedly a punch landed on his back.
Thwack!
Rey went tumbling forward. "Yo! What the fuck! You are beating me?" He rubbed his ass and whined, glaring at Crawford.
However, the old ghost was emotionless as he again stepped forward, this time landing a kick at another vital area.
"Hey! Dude! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Rey shouted in pain but the other party mercilessly continued kicking him and punching him.
Half an hour later…
Rey returned back to Liam's apartment with several bruises on his body. "Bruhhh" He made a grunting sound and then collapsed on the couch. He wanted to ask why he was betrayed like this but he simply did not have the strength.
He could only look at Liam and then at his sister pitifully. However, the two of them...
"Good. Next person should go now." Liam casually said.
As for Alex, she leaned closer and examined her one and only brother, "What do you mean good? Some more could have been done."
You heartless monsters! Rey silently lamented inside seeing the two jerks having fun on his behalf. Just as he was about to protest even at the cost of his pain, suddenly a warm sensation nudged his skin.
Rey instantly forgot about all the pain and stood up in shock. "Bro! Bro! I can also sense mana. Very little. Very very little but it's there. Ai ah ah aahhh aaaahhhh," he then fell back down in pain. Nevertheless, a big smile appeared on his face.
"So it really works?" Alex licked his lips.
"Of course. And it's not random beating. You have to target specific nodes in the body." Liam examined Rey's hand as he spoke.
Everyone finally nodded in understanding.
"How do you know all of this?" Alex as well poked Rey's bruises.
"I don't but luckily for us, our tower master does. You guys can also ask him to execute some basic skills and learn a few things."
"To get your body accustomed to mana, everyone should do breathing exercises from now on for at least an hour a day after this sparring session," Liam explained. "Among all our to-dos this is the most important."
Everyone silently listened and tried their best to get a feel for it. In the end, Shen Yue, Rey, Alex, and Mia were the only ones able to achieve this on the first day, first try itself.
"Alex and Mia… should be because of their high affinity. Rey.. he took the cleansing elixir. But Shen Yue…" Liam was surprised. At first, he thought it might be because of a certain reason. However…
"It should be her class. The effect she had on Gu Donghai was really something." As he thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder if mana had been present even then. Maybe even before that?
Liam was thinking about this when he suddenly realized something important. All the natural disasters!
He never did connect the dots between the two but ever since the game began there had been a lot of earthquakes, and other incidences. Volcanoes that had been dormant for years had become active.
Could all of this be because of mana?
He ruffled his hair and decided to not delve into these things. Why and when did not matter at the moment. Only right now mattered.
"Mia, come here," Liam called the woman who was also silently observing the group. "Take care of things here. I have to leave the city for a bit."
"You don't need anyone with you?"
Liam shook his head. Actually, someone else wouldn't be too bad but unfortunately, everyone here was too eye-catching. "No, it's best if I go alone."
"Ok," Mia nodded.
"I am only traveling within the country. So it's good."
"When will you be back?"
Liam again shook his head. It was best if he did not return back too soon but once again this could only be ascertained after he checked out his target. "I will be in touch if I need something."
He then headed inside to pack some things and meditated for a while. After Crawford was done sparring with everyone, he immediately set out.
His first target was only a train ride away. This was also one of the important reasons, Liam had set up camp here in this city.
In his last life, this same spot became everyone's terror at the beginning but later on, the Gu family used it to come ahead on top.
And now, he was going to use it and get ahead of the whole world. He felt his blood pumping as he watched the passing scenery on the train.
Two hours later, the train arrived at the destination. It was a small remote farmland village that no one had paid attention to before. However, after some days everyone would pay attention to it.
Liam got down at the train station and started walking out into the village. A few passersby glanced at him wondering what was a new face doing in their village but Liam kept walking.
No one knew but his heart was pounding. "Please be there. Please be there." He hummed and walked. He headed out of the village into the small cluster of trees and wild plants, grown without any restraint.
"Little brother, don't go there. There are a lot of mosquitoes and insects there. Some villagers have been bit and all of them ended up suffering from fever and other ailments for weeks."
"Thank you, sir. I just need some plant samples. I won't be long. I applied some mosquito repellants." Liam awkwardly explained and continued walking.
The elder didn't care about it any longer. He clicked his tongue and muttered something about arrogant youth while going back to his own work.
Liam on the other hand headed deeper and deeper into the wilderness. As he went further in, the number of insects buzzing around him likewise increased.
"That person was not lying." Liam smashed an inch big mosquito popping the thing like a balloon. Blood splattered everywhere like a crushed capsule.
"It's still weak now."
Though he had crushed one easily just now like an ant, after some days these same things would be reproducing rapidly and taking over entire cities, terrorizing everyone.
"So the mutation process had also already begun." Liam nodded and continued walking. Right now, there was no one around him so he summoned his soul minions to take care of these pests.
They were useless at the moment so he did not waste his time with them. His target was further up. Liam marched along with his minions, soon arriving at a huge tree.
The tree was unnaturally huge compared to the rest of the trees around it, but it was also dead and dry. There were no leaves, only a huge trunk standing tall.
"This is the landmark." Liam paused. He looked around and suddenly moved 5 feet to the right of the tree. Almost instantly, something threw him back, and… a flickering screen appeared.
[Ding. Initializing underway. The dungeon is currently not available. Please try again later.]
[Ding. A dungeon has been discovered]
[Ding. Rewarded 10 extra stat points and 10 extra skill points for first discovery]
[Ding. All experience points gained and dungeon drops are double for the next 12 hours]
[Ding. Error]
[Ding. Error]
[Ding. Error]
[Ding. Rewards are momentarily paused]
Liam gaped in utter shock as he dumbfoundedly stared at this flickering screen.
