Chapter 106: Blessing

"Alex Mercer."

The two shook hands. Stefan’s eyes widened for the briefest moment upon hearing his name before his expression settled again, though Alex still caught the reaction.

"Alex Mercer. I didn’t expect to meet you this soon. The video of you online was... pretty shocking," Stefan admitted.

Alex noticed the woman and the giant looking at him with newfound curiosity after hearing his name. Tina seemed confused by the conversation, probably because she hadn’t checked Dwitter since the apocalypse began, but she wisely chose not to interrupt.

"We can talk about that later. Standing around in the middle of the street isn’t a good idea. We should move," Alex said.

Stefan nodded immediately. "You’re right. We should."

He quickly introduced the woman and the giant with him before Alex introduced the members of his own group.

With the introductions out of the way, both groups continued through the streets together. Their pace remained steady as everyone kept an eye on the surroundings while exchanging information.

As they walked, Alex noticed Stefan occasionally glancing at him. More specifically, the man’s gaze lingered on Alex’s thin arms and frame, as though trying to judge how well he would perform in close combat. Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Why was everyone and their mother so obsessed with how thin he was? It wasn’t as though he had known an apocalypse was coming and should have spent his free time preparing for it. He had always been busy studying, and many times he became so focused on his work that he forgot to eat until much later.

He had never bothered exercising either because he thought it would be a waste of time. His goal had always been getting into a good job, not building muscles. That was why his arms were so thin, though none of that mattered anymore.

As far as Alex knew, he was probably the strongest person in the two groups. If people still wanted to judge him by appearances alone, they could eat shit.

The combined group naturally settled into a formation while they moved. Robert, Kevin, and the giant man from Stefan’s group watched the rear, while everyone else capable of combat remained closer to the front.

Alex, Rae, and Stefan stayed near the middle. Stefan probably should have been at the front instead, but he was sharing information with Alex.

Stefan explained that his group had been trying to rescue the people trapped inside Jaelo Supermart. The problem was a giant monster that refused to leave the area outside the building, making any rescue attempt impossible.

Fortunately, their group had a Priest whose abilities seemed well suited for the situation. She possessed the Blessing [Agility Up] and the Curse [Fear]. Blessings and Curses were a Priest’s equivalent of the Spells used by Mages and the Techniques used by Warriors.

Their plan had been simple in theory. They would lure several Doom Bulls into the giant monster’s territory, and once the monster noticed them and attacked, the Priest would cast [Fear] on the Doom Bulls. If even one of them fled because of the Curse, she would immediately cast [Agility Up] on it so the giant monster couldn’t catch it.

As long as the Doom Bull escaped, the giant monster would continue chasing it and leave the area around Jaelo Supermart. That would give Stefan’s group enough time to enter the supermarket, kill the monsters inside, and rescue the trapped survivors. On paper, it had seemed like a solid plan.

Unfortunately, it had fallen apart almost immediately. Out of the five Doom Bulls they used, two were killed the moment they entered the giant monster’s range. For some reason, the giant monster ignored the remaining three instead of chasing after them.

Stefan’s group immediately tried to hunt down the surviving Doom Bulls before they could endanger anyone else. However, the [Agility Up] Blessing had made them far faster than expected. By the time Stefan’s group realized they couldn’t catch them, the monsters had already escaped.

Alex silently organized the information in his mind. The first thing he noticed was that Stefan already had a capable team of fighters. Likely because they were all from Normal Difficulty, and knew how to fight in groups.

The second thing interested him even more. Stefan’s group was also trying to rescue the people inside Jaelo Supermart. Alex doubted that was a coincidence.

Ben, the person with Mana Circuit Spell, and S-rank Mana Fruit, was smart. He didn’t strike Alex as someone who would place all his hopes on a single group. If Alex failed to arrive, another rescue team would still have a chance to save everyone. It was a sensible decision, and Alex couldn’t fault him for it.

The only thing Alex hoped was that Ben hadn’t promised Stefan the S-Rank Mana Fruit as well. That would annoy him.

Stefan hadn’t mentioned any reward, and Alex wasn’t about to ask. For all he knew, Ben had negotiated with them using something completely different.

The conversation naturally came to an end as they neared the building Stefan’s group had been using as a temporary base. Since there was nothing more to discuss for the moment, everyone focused on watching the streets ahead while continuing forward.

Alex resumed practicing the Mana Sense Spell. He repeatedly expanded thin ring-shaped pulses of mana outward, trying to keep each one as uniform as possible. Every new pulse gave him a better understanding of where his control was slipping.

The knowledge of mana manipulation he had gained from practicing his other spells proved surprisingly useful. Whenever he noticed an inconsistency in a mana pulse, he immediately corrected it in the next attempt. Little by little, the spell became smoother and more stable.

A familiar notification suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Mana Sense Spell has leveled up. Level 8 → Level 9.]

Alex felt a quiet sense of satisfaction. Mana Sense had been his slowest-growing spell until recently because he hadn’t understood how to train it properly. Now that he had figured out how to create mana pulses, its proficiency was increasing much faster. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the spell was ready to evolve.

A few minutes later, the group arrived at another building two streets away from Jaelo Supermart. According to Stefan, this was the temporary base his group had been operating from while planning the rescue.

Several people waiting inside immediately stood up after seeing Stefan return. At a glance, Alex counted five more Ascendants, bringing Stefan’s total to eight, along with around fifteen civilians.

It was obvious Stefan had been rescuing survivors just as Alex had. The civilians looked tired, but none of them appeared seriously injured. Seeing children among Alex’s group also seemed to put some of them at ease.

Everyone introduced themselves one after another. During the introductions, Alex mentioned that he already had an agreement with the people trapped inside Jaelo Supermart. There was little point hiding it since Ben and Ben’s group would reveal it themselves after the rescue.

"I’m helping them in exchange for a Spell," Alex explained. He deliberately left out any mention of the S-Rank Mana Fruit because there was no reason for anyone else to know about it yet. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Once the introductions were finished, the civilians were escorted upstairs while both groups of Ascendants remained on the ground floor. The giant man from Stefan’s team motioned for everyone to follow him toward the middle of the room. There, an old pool table had been turned into a planning table.

A large map covered the surface, marked with circles, arrows, and handwritten notes. Stefan stepped beside it and pointed toward one section with his finger.

"This is Jaelo Supermart, and a giant monster has been circling this area ever since we found it. It’s not leaving no matter what we do," Stefan said.

He traced several nearby streets before continuing, "The bigger problem is that nobody can get close to it. It has some strange ability that freezes anyone who enters its range, but monsters don’t seem to be affected by it much."

Stefan looked around at everyone gathered near the table before stopping on Alex.

"We’ve been trying to think of another approach, but we haven’t found one yet. Do you have any ideas?" Stefan asked.

..

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