Chương 55: (Book 2 Chapter 6)

Concealed presence had just failed to activate, so I knew something was watching me. I looked around in as much detail as I could, taking care to look in all directions and at all the buildings around me. However, no matter how much I looked, I couldn't spot anything. Was it something flying overhead that saw me? Or could it be sensing me some other way? I tried the skill again, and surprisingly, it worked this time.

The shift I had become familiar with by now happened, but I immediately switched the skill off again. I then moved a few paces to the left, and tried again, and it worked. Huh…?

"Alex? What is it? What did you see?" asked Omar. I de-activated concealed presence yet again, "No idea. Something blocked my skill from working, but it isn't here anymore. Could be that something saw us in passing, but didn't take much interest in us. Could even be a passing bird, I'm not sure."

"Oh, okay…" said Omar in confusion while looking up, presumably trying to find the bird that had allegedly just seen me.

"Anyways, let's forget about that and move on. I'm going ahead, remember to stop at a building after we have crossed three intersections" I said. They both nodded, and started walking ahead. As soon as they turned around, I went under concealed presence. That was weird. Is something trying to ambush us? I played it off as cool for Omar and Sam, but I knew it was something serious.

Instead of following after them, I thoroughly went through the area, looking inside alleys and all nearby building entrances for anything living. However, I couldn't find anything at all. Looking up at the sky, I was able to pick up a few birds moving about. Was it really something as simple as a bird passing by…? I had a feeling that wasn't really the case, but Omar and Sam were now far ahead of me, so I raced ahead to catch up.

My mind was still mulling over the anomaly, and I paid careful attention to my surroundings, wary of an ambush. As time passed and nothing untoward happened, I gradually began to relax. I still didn't think it was a random bird, but I did believe that whatever it was, it had lost interest. I had done a few tests over the past hour or so, like sitting down with Omar and Sam and just taking a break, and suddenly trying concealed presence to see if it worked or not. It never stopped working again, which was a relief.

I was now just ahead of Omar and Sam, when I saw that the seemingly never-ending line of buildings was finally coming to an end up ahead. The buildings ended after two intersections, and we had already planned on taking a stop after the next one, which was perfect. We could scale up a building and finally see something other than buildings all around us. Omar and Sam stopped near an alley in the shade, and I undid concealed presence a few steps away from them.

"Dude, I will never get used to seeing you appear out of thin air like that!" exclaimed Omar yet again. Giving him a smile and a nod in return, I settled down to wait. I opened my inventory to take out a bottle of water to drink, when my I saw something that was still taking up a slot inside. Right! I completely forgot about this! I took out the Mana Sense scroll and held it in my hand. I had planned on giving it to Omar, but I had one thought that I needed to try.

If I used the scroll, would it somehow upgrade my own skill? It was an assumption that I had the opportunity to test, so I took it. Would you like to use Skill Scroll (Uncommon) to learn the Skill: Mana Sense? Yes. Error! Skill Scroll (Uncommon) cannot be used. Reason: User already possesses Skill: Mana Sense. Well, at least I know now. I was disappointed, but then again, I had been getting good hits from loot boxes all this time, and RNG was bound to hit at some point.

I knew I would probably be getting more and more useless items as loot the more time I spent within the system. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Still sucks though… Sighing, I held out the scroll to Omar, "Here, this is for you""What…? For me? What is it?" excitement shone in Omar's eyes as he reached out and took the scroll. I didn't answer, as I knew the system screen would reveal it to him.

Sure enough, just two seconds later he let out a surprised shout and looked at me with sparkling eyes.

"Really? I can have it? Won't it help you too?" he breathlessly asked.

"Aren't you forgetting that I already have the skill?" I reminded him. I knew I had spoken about my mana sense skill with him earlier when he had just reached E grade.

"I can't use it, but it will be very helpful for you." He nodded with excitement and immediately the scroll shone with a green light, indicating he had used it without wasting a second. Sam and I leaned forward as the scroll started getting brighter by the second before the light then flew straight to Omar's chest and disappeared. The scroll had vanished without a trace.

"Wow, this is mesmerizing!" Omar looked around everywhere with wide eyes. I completely understood his feelings, and let him enjoy the sensation of seeing mana for the first time.

"What are you seeing?" asked Sam, still leaned forward with interest. Omar was completely lost in his own world and oblivious to what Sam had asked, so I replied in his stead. I explained how mana looked and acted to the best of my ability, but it was not something I could describe. It had to be seen and felt to really understand.

"Wow, really does sound great. Wish I could see it," said Sam. I nodded to be polite, but I knew the skill would probably be a waste for someone like Sam. If I got another scroll, I would probably hand it over to either Marcus or Madelline. Really hope I don't get another one though, I'd prefer something I can use myself. Omar was still looking around in wonder, and I don't think he had looked within himself yet.

If I reminded him of the mana veins and mana core, he'll keep sitting here in wonder like I had done when I got the skill. However, we didn't have the time for that, as we had yet to find anyone else. That reminds me, I should get back to my mana experimentation… The thought reminded me of another thing that I could quickly check right now. Getting up, I tapped Omar on the shoulder, making him jump in surprise.

"Can you look at me with mana sense on when I'm concealed? I want to see if you see anything." Omar nodded excitedly, and I asked him to close his eyes for a second. Sam, understanding what needed to be done, looked away as well, and I immediately went under concealed presence. A few seconds later, Sam called out to Omar, and he opened his eyes. I stood there motionless, while Omar moved his eyes all around the relative spot where I was.

"Can't see anything apart from the different wisps of mana everywhere" he called out. I moved around a bit, but Omar still seemed clueless. Getting an idea, I went right up to Omar and started moving mana through internal mana manipulation. He still didn't react, no matter what I did. It wasn't until I formed a wind bullet and shot it off that he jumped, and my skill also turned off at the same time.

"There! I saw something!" Omar spoke pointing at where I had fired off the wind bullet, before jumping in shock at my sudden appearance so close to him. Interesting. That anteater monster in the tutorial detected me moving mana internally through concealed presence, so it was probably a different skill it had. I really wanted to test some other things, but time really was running out.

"Thanks for the help. Now, turn off the skill before you run out of mana. We don't have the time right now; we'll experiment more later" I said. Omar reluctantly nodded and shut off his skill. I concealed myself, and we started heading towards the end of the buildings again. I could see from Omar's expression that he was bursting to start discussing what he had just seen, but thankfully he kept quiet. Soon, we had reached the point where the buildings ended, and a wondrous sight reached our eyes.

The road went past the last building and suddenly ended, like it had been sheared off cleanly. What looked like salmon-pink sand replaced the road. The sand stretched as far as I could see in either direction, and interspersed throughout the sand were short trees with yellow barks and red leaves. It looked like something out of a child's painting come to life, and all three of us stared at the sight in wonder. One thing was clear – this wasn't Earth.

Will we find one of the creatures from the other four planets here? We stood there for some time before a headache alerted me to my dwindling mana. Shaking myself from the stupor, I looked around, then made my way to the last building before the sand started. Once inside, I undid concealed presence and softly called out to Sam and Omar. They both jumped a bit and then turned around, before making their way over.

"I'm going to head up the building to see around, want to come?" I asked. Omar immediately shook his head, "No, I'm going to stay here. I just saw the sand through mana sense and it felt alive; I want to see if I can figure something out by going near it."

"Well, I guess I'll stay and keep an eye out for the big guy" spoke Sam. I nodded, and reminded them to be careful of the unknown sand, before I turned around and headed for the stairs. I started climbing, and was soon past the tenth floor and I hadn't even begun to breathe hard yet! I remembered the numerous times my legs started aching after I had climbed just two stories and chuckled, admiring my new stats yet again. I reached the thirteenth floor, which turned out to be the roof, and headed out the door.

I got out in the direction facing the line of buildings, and the neighbourhood stretched on for miles on this side. Going towards the other end and enjoying the breeze, I was soon staring at the pink landscape. It really is beautiful! The pink sand continued on as far as I could see in all directions, but there were patches where the weird vegetation was thicker. I was looking at one of those patches before a motion caused me to turn around. A chill ran down my spine at what I saw. Shit!

I looked down at the tiny dots that were Omar and Sam, right at the edge of the sand.

"Omar! Sam! Run!" I yelled desperately at the top of my voice. They couldn't hear me.