A while later, the crowd slowly dispersed and the lead hunter plopped back down on the ground.
"Come, sit down and rest. You need it." he said, patting the ground beside him.
Phew!
I exhaled and the exhaustion that I had been keeping suppressed burst out, enveloping every part of my body.
"Yeah. Thanks." I sat down, then lay on my back, letting my body loose to relax better.
The lead hunter watched me for a while. When he saw I had relaxed a little, he introduced himself and the other two.
"I'm John, and these two are Dan and Miles, my best friends."
I nodded at the trio in acknowledgement.
"Give me your hand for a moment." he suddenly said.
I stared at him, confused and suspicious.
"Just do it. I'm not going to harm you."
I nodded and extended my hand. He placed his palm on mine and said, "Closed your and focus within you. Tell me if you can sense something."
My heart rate increased a little but I kept calm and did as he asked.
However… I felt nothing and frowned.
"You don't feel anything, right?" John's voice sounded.
I opened my eyes and nodded.
"I could tell after our spar, but I had to confirm." John said, sighing in disappointment.
"Confirm what?" I asked.
"That you are really not an Awakened."
Ba-Dum!
My heart skipped a beat.
"What's an Awakened?" I asked.
He leaned back and stared at the sky, watching white clouds drift by.
"In this world…" He began. "...there are two types of people. Awakened and non-awakened.
Most of the people you have encountered or will encounter in future fall in the latter category and they make up the majority of the human population."
I listened intently. This was extremely important information.
Also, if I was only suspicious that this world I had arrived in was a supernatural one before, this had all but confirmed it.
"What makes the Awakened different?"
"Mana." His gaze sharpened.
"...Mana," I repeated, a little surprised. This word wasn't unfamiliar to me as it was mentioned in almost every magic cultivation novel.
"Yeah. It's an energy." He nodded. "It is everywhere, in the air, the land and the living beings. Unlike the non-awakened, the Awakened ones can sense it and learn to harness it."
"How do Awakened… awaken?" I asked after a few moments of silence.
He glanced at me, a look of pity in his eyes, and said, "They born Awakened."
As he said this, I noticed Dan and Miles lower their heads, their moods falling. This told me they weren't Awakened.
However… from John's words and expressions, I realized that…
"You are an Awakened?"
"Yes." He calmly nodded, but I noticed a hint of pride in his tone.
"What can you do?" I asked, wanting to know more about the Awakened.
Though I got a feel that the Awakened in this world should be similar to the ones depicted in the fantasy novels I used to read, this was the real world while those were only fiction. So, for all I knew, everything could be different.
He didn't respond immediately, but then stood up and said, "Watch carefully."
Dan, Miles and I watched with rapt attention as he took a stance, and closed his eyes.
For a moment, nothing happened. But then the air shifted around him. The change was very subtle, but noticeable.
A faint aura gathered around his body. It wasn't visible, but I could feel it. And it multiplied the sense of danger he was giving me several fold.
Swoosh!
All of a sudden, he moved.
My eyes narrowed. This time, he was way faster than he was when fighting me. In fact, his speed was comparable to the Cave Runners.
In a few moments, he arrived before a wooden pole stuck in the ground a few meters away from my hut and punched it.
BANG!
CRACK!
The pole splintered from the point of impact before shattering into two.
Thud!
The upper part fell to the ground.
I stared at the pole. It was half a foot in diameter and from the looks of it, quite hard. If I were to punch it with all my strength, I was sure my knuckles would crack, but he shattered it in one punch.
The difference was glaring.
Fortunately, he didn't use his true strength in our spar, otherwise, despite my heightened perception, I would have lost badly.
Hu!
He exhaled and lowered his hand and the heavy feeling he was radiating vanished.
"This wasn't some special ability, but normal mana enhancement that most Awakened can do." he said, looking at me.
"That's impressive." I said, knowing he didn't want to show his ability.
John shook his head, "You are the impressive one, man. Despite not being an Awakened, you beat us."
As he said this, a confused look appeared on his face, then he asked, "How did you do it? If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were an Awakened with the way you could almost see through us."
"Maybe it's because of my perception." I said, pointing to my head, "It has always been better than others."
"Hm?" John furrowed his brows in thought. A moment later, he asked, "Were your father and mother Awakened?"
"No. They are ordinary people. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been clueless about the Awakened." I said, giving him an exasperated look.
I know these people were still suspicious of me deep down and it made sense. After all, I could have hidden my abilities in the spar and maybe I was an Awakened after all.
Still, the truth was that I wasn't one, and their continued suspicion was quite annoying.
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