Chapter 564

The crystal exploded into hundreds of shards that flew through the air, clattering against the building’s wall and the cracked asphalt below. Tiny fragments skittered across the street, catching the light as they bounced and rolled. The vibration immediately spread through the connected crystals. One after another, they cracked and ruptured, causing the entire cluster to explode in a chain reaction and filling the air with glittering fragments.

One more cluster of crystals was now shattered, allowing Jake to proceed farther down the street. However, he remained where he was. He had been making his way through the city for some time now, shooting every cluster of crystals from a distance. And before that, he had been actively fighting crystallized mutants, first using his natural abilities and later the Aberrant, testing the gun in actual battle. Sure enough, all of it had taken a toll on his mana.

So he took a moment to check his inner reserves and saw that he was over 300,000 mana down. He now had just a little over half of his mana remaining, which wasn’t great. He wasn’t comfortable having only half his total mana at his disposal. Destroying a single crystal cluster required 10,000 MP, and considering he was going to need to destroy a lot more crystal clusters before reaching City Hall, he would run out of his remaining mana long before he could lead the humans there.

So he could definitely use a refill. Up ahead was a four-way intersection, at which he would need to take a right in order to continue in the direction of City Hall. However, when he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, he detected that the closest mana cloud was in the opposite direction.

It looked like he would need to make a little detour. Just as he opened his eyes, he heard people talking behind him.

“Why did he stop?” somebody asked.

“I dunno,” somebody else said. “Maybe he got lost?”

“By the way, I’ve never seen him check the map on his PDA. How does he even know where to go?”

“Does he even have a PDA?”

The questions were spoken in low voices, but Jake heard every word. None of the humans approached him, though. They remained a short distance behind. They clearly weren’t sure what to make of him, and after everything that had happened, they were definitely apprehensive of him.

“Don’t worry, people,” a familiar voice said. “I’m gonna ask him what’s going on. Wait here, everyone.”

It was Flynn who had said that.

However, after what had happened recently, Flynn’s people no longer viewed him as their unquestioned leader. Or at least some of them didn’t.

“Look who’s back on his feet already,” someone said with a mocking laugh. “I thought you were planning to spend the rest of your life sitting on your ass in the middle of the street.”

One or two humans chuckled at the remark.

Most of the others remained silent, though. A few merely glanced at the speaker, while others looked away, apparently not wanting to get involved.

Well, one of them did. The sharp voice cut through the quiet street.

“Shut your trap, Albert, you hear me?”

It was Roland who had said that.

“Why are you taking his side?” Albert asked in a whiny voice, sounding almost betrayed. “Weren’t you the one who shoved him to the ground?”

“I did, and I’m ashamed of it. I shouldn’t have acted like an idiot. I was angry and could barely control myself. I’ve already apologized to Flynn for what I did.”

“Roland, I only…”

“Shut up, Albert, I’m not done yet.”

Albert immediately fell silent. His cronies were no longer chuckling either. The few amused smiles on their faces disappeared, and they suddenly seemed very interested in keeping their mouths shut. The other humans, who had been conversing among themselves before, went silent too. Clearly, nobody wanted to get on Roland’s bad side.

“Flynn has been our leader for so long for a reason. He has always cared for us and has always been trying to find a way to improve our situation. For that alone, he deserves to be respected.”

Roland paused for a moment, his eyes fixed firmly on Albert.

“So, Albert, if you open your mouth to mock him one more time, you’re gonna have to deal with me. Do you understand?”

Albert’s expression stiffened. For a moment, it looked like he wanted to argue, but after glancing at Roland, he thought better of it. He simply looked away and muttered something under his breath.

And just like that, Flynn’s authority was restored.

Well, perhaps restored wasn’t quite the right word. Roland’s words had made it clear that at least one person still firmly stood behind Flynn, and that seemed to be enough for the others. Now that Roland had made it clear he stood beside the leader of the team, neither Albert nor anybody else dared to openly mock Flynn.

Jake found the whole exchange somewhat interesting. Other than Albert and the two humans who had chuckled at his jokes, the rest of them seemed like a fairly well-knit group. They had clearly been through a lot together, and those shared experiences must have brought them much closer. They might argue and disagree with one another, but there was still a certain bond between them. But even in such a close group, there were a couple of jerks.

Giving the matter no more thought, Jake continued down the street. He had already wasted enough time listening to the humans, and there was no reason to dwell on their little argument.

As he neared the four-way intersection, he heard the hurried sound of footsteps behind him as somebody tried to catch up.

“Mark, wait,” Flynn called from behind.

Jake didn’t slow down. He continued walking, halting only when he reached the intersection. He glanced down the street, then turned left and immediately spotted several clusters of crystals clinging to the walls of the buildings on either side of the road.

He raised the Aberrant and, with a precise shot, destroyed one of them. The crystal cluster shattered with a sharp crack, sending glittering fragments scattering across the street. Just like that, another 10,000 MP vanished from his reserves in an instant.

“Mark, where are you going?” Flynn asked as he finally caught up to him. “City Hall is in the opposite direction. I just checked the map on my PDA.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

Flynn stared at him for a moment, clearly confused by his casual response as if he had expected Jake to be unaware that he was heading in the wrong direction.

“Then why are you going this way? The others are starting to think you’ve gotten lost.”

“I have not. I’m running low on mana. Need to replenish it.”

Jake raised the Aberrant again and shot down another cluster of crystals. The moment it shattered, he refilled the gun’s reservoir with mana, restoring what had been consumed by the shot.

Since this gun didn’t have a cylinder, it couldn’t actually be considered a traditional revolver. Still, it kind of looked like one, and Jake had gotten used to thinking of it as a revolver.

Flynn just stared at him for a second in disbelief.

“What? You said you need to replenish your mana?”

“Yes,” Jake said as he took aim at another crystal cluster.

“How exactly are you gonna do that, though?”

“There’s a mana cloud ahead of us. I plan to absorb it.”

Flynn looked at him in total puzzlement. Even if humans knew about the existence of mana clouds, they couldn’t see them with their bare eyes, let alone absorb mana from them.

Jake destroyed the final crystal cluster with another precise shot and lowered the Aberrant.

“Look, it’s gonna take too long to explain, so just trust me, okay?”

Before Flynn could say anything else, Jake strode down the street. He had no intention of telling the humans who he really was. As for his ability to absorb mana from mana clouds, there was no particular reason to keep it a secret. He also didn’t want to waste time coming up with some elaborate explanation for why he had to take this detour.

The humans already knew that his gun operated on mana, so telling them that he could also detect mana clouds and absorb the mana within them shouldn’t be too difficult to accept. It was unusual, certainly, but not nearly unusual enough to warrant hiding it.

A couple of minutes later, Jake located the mana cloud. It was a large one, containing over 300,000 MP. He stopped for a moment and reached out with his senses, confirming its location before absorbing every bit of mana it contained.

The mana flowed into him, filling his depleted reserves surprisingly quickly. Once he was certain he had absorbed every last bit of it, Jake turned around and headed back.

The humans, who had been following behind him, stepped aside to let him pass. None of them said anything as he walked by, though Jake could feel their curious gazes following him.

He soon returned to the intersection and continued forward, shooting down every crystal cluster on his way. With his mana reserves restored, he didn’t need to worry about mana for the time being.

“You’re full of surprises, Mark,” Flynn said, walking by his side. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone capable of absorbing mana clouds. It’s the first time I’ve even heard of them. I thought we could obtain mana only from various mana items.”

Jake glanced at him briefly before turning his attention back to the street ahead. Flynn’s curiosity was understandable, so he wasn’t surprised that the man had more questions. Since it was clear Flynn wasn’t going to let the matter go, he decided to give him a simple explanation.

“I only recently learned about the existence of mana clouds myself when I completed the mission that rewarded me with this gun. Along with the gun, I was given a perk that allows me to locate mana clouds and absorb mana from them. Without that perk, I wouldn’t have been able to use this gun nearly as often.”

“I see. I suppose it makes sense that you were given a perk like that along with this gun.”

Jake shot down yet another crystal cluster and immediately refilled the Aberrant with mana.

“Have you always been alone?” Flynn asked.

He seemed to simply be unable to help himself when it came to being curious about him. Fortunately, Jake was well prepared for that particular question. Thanks to viewing the memories of Mike and his people, he knew the entire history of this city. He’d seen what had happened in the past several months, so he knew enough to come up with a convincing story for his alter ego.

“No,” he said. “During the Borgs’ invasion and the subsequent crystallization that overtook the city, I was with a team of survivors. Not long ago, we received the mission I told you about. We decided to complete it, as it wasn’t too far away from our safe zone.”

Jake paused for a moment, his expression becoming grimmer.

“Unfortunately, all my friends were killed in the process, and I was the only one who managed to survive and finish the mission. But I wouldn’t have been able to do that without them. They bought me the time I needed to reach the end.”

Flynn remained silent, listening attentively.

“Maybe it’s survivor’s guilt, I don’t know. But now that I have this gun, I feel like it’s my responsibility to find all the groups and bring them all to City Hall. I feel like it’s the least I can do to make up for the sacrifice my friends made to help me finish the mission.”

“I see,” Flynn said.

There was something different in his voice this time. He no longer looked merely curious. Perhaps Jake’s story had struck a chord with him. After all, Flynn had his own people to worry about, and he probably understood better than most what it meant to feel responsible for the lives of others.

Jake didn’t say anything more. Flynn had clearly bought his story. So he raised the Aberrant and shot down yet another cluster of crystals clinging to the side of a building. The explosion sent fragments scattering across the street, but Jake was already moving again by the time they hit the ground. With his mana replenished and the path ahead slowly being cleared, he continued down the street, leading the humans toward City Hall.