Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

SLASH

The big sword moved in the air and slashed powerfully.

KIEEEE

The monster was hit again right where the previous scar was. That made the small wound on its face become wider and deeper. 

KIII 

Blood oozed out of the screaming centipede's wound. It shook its head from pain and glared angrily at the human being that had injured its face twice. 

Before the monster could find the time to counterattack, team leader Dains attacked it with bullets.

BANG BANG

Bullets that couldn't pierce its tough skin on the back and sides easily dug into its face through the wound.

KIEEEE KIII KIIIII

The monster screeched from pain and twisted its body. It then moved back a little bit. It twisted its tail and tried to circle around its body once more, but it suddenly flinched and stopped moving.

KIE?

The centipede turned its head and looked at Karien.

OOOOO

A huge orb was floating on top of its prey's head. An orb made out of mana. 

The sphere that was floating on top of Kairen's head wasn't a spell. Kairen didn't have the time to cast a spell at that short period. It was only his mana that has taken the shape of an orb. He just hurriedly took out as much mana as he could and condensed it in one place.

"What the-"

Other's looked at him, dumbfounded. 

No one here was a mage or could use mana, but they had all seen magic spells before. They weren't that clueless not to understand the differences between a magic spell and pure mana. It wasn't hard to understand that the boy in front of them was only condensing his mana and not casting a proper spell. 

The unit members were all speechless for a moment. 'What the hell is this fool doing?' was written all over their faces.

Kairen had said that he would attack the monster, but now he was wasting his mana like this instead of casting a spell. Why would someone condense his mana into an orb? 

They couldn't understand him. No sane person would waste their energy doing such a useless thing.

Kairen saw their faces. He understood the meaning behind their gazes. They were probably thinking that he was a fool. 

But it was alright. Kairen didn't care about that. They would soon get what he wanted to do. Kairen was confident. 

He didn't know the reason, but killing monsters was easy for him. No matter how strong, he had managed to kill them with ease.

He had thought about that a lot. 

Why does my mana feel different? 

Why do monsters react strangely to me?

Why are my spells more powerful?

Is it because I don't belong to this world? Because I came from another place? Or is it because that previous Kairen had done something?

He had heard that the previous Kairen also had strong magic, but not as strong as his. 

He had thought about those questions a lot. He first thought it didn't matter much, but his opinion changed the more he completed the missions. 

But in the end, there was no way for him to know the right answer. He neither had the time nor the resources to search for his answers.

Kairen looked at the mana orb. It contained almost half of his mana. Mana, in itself, didn't have the power to hurt and damage things. You had to shape it with a spell in order to make use of it.

But Kairen had tested it before. In the entrance exam, he had seen how his pure mana could kill a monster. It was mixed with a half-complete spell, but having a half-complete spell was not much different from not having any spells.

His confidence was weird even for himself. He had never felt so confident in himself before. 

Unlike the people who were looking at Kairen as if they were finding him stupid, the monster became restless by any passing second.

KII? KI KIII KEEIEIII

It made weird noises, its body twitching. It hurried to move back, but before the monster found the time to get away, Kairen sent his mana orb towards it.

KIEEE

The monster flinched. It moved its antennas and its countless legs shook violently. It screeched once more and attempted to retreat, but the orb hit its body before the centipede could move back. And then, the moment that the monster and the orb collided...

B-B-BOOOOMMM 

Loud explosions happened. 

BOOOMM BOOOMM

The earth shook. Dust rose to the air and the grass burned.

KIEEE

The monster screamed, rolled on the ground, and shrank its body.

The impact of such an explosion was too big for the unit members. They were also greatly pushed back. The unit members hurriedly retreated back to avoid getting hurt. They could hear the monster's screams between the sound of the explosions.

"What the hell!"

Darren grabbed a large tree root to hold himself down on the ground and looked up. He could see the monster wiggling around and screaming. He could sense the smell of something burning. 

Darren looked at the scene for a moment and turned his head and looked at Kairen in disbelief. He looked at the boy's hazel eyes that were glowing gold in the light of the explosions. 

'What did he just do?'

He couldn't understand the situation. How did that boy do this? Darren couldn't help but be confused.

The whole team worked together in order to create a small wound in the monster's weak spot, but this newbie just blew up the whole thing. How was that possible?

It wasn't just Darren, almost everyone in the team was looking at Kairen with similar looks. 

They weren't fools. They could see it with their eyes. They could sense the unique nature of that boy's mana. They could all understand what he had done just now wasn't normal.

While everyone was looking at Kairen with disbelief, there were only two people who didn't seem that surprised. 

One was Reyan, who was now more than used to his friend's weird attacks. And the other one was team leader Dains, who was smirking with a satisfied face while staring at the burning monster.

Deputy team leader Bray looked at the monster again. One-third of the monster's body was burnt to ashes and was still burning. 

She had never seen, nor heard of a magic spell capable of doing such. It wasn't impossible for high-ranking mages to deal such damages, but even they couldn't do such a thing with pure mana.

'Such a weird mana...'

It wasn't natural. Mana was an essential substance in their lives. It had various usages till ancient times and the need for mana increased every day. 

It was used in creating different types of equipment devices. It was used as a fuel in many facilities. It was used by scientists, doctors, researchers, and almost everyone. 

If the ordinary mana had such a power, if it was as dangerous as the one in front of her eyes, there was no way that humans could use it as freely as now.

She scoffed in disbelief and turned to look at her team leader, only to find his satisfied expression.

'He knew about it, hah!'

She had been wondering for a while, why team leader Dains had chosen these three cadets. 

She could understand why Serria and Reyan were chosen to some degree. One was a talented woman, in both fields of magic and swordsmanship. And the other one was a skilled swordsman. A swordsman from the Heartz family was guaranteed to become a powerhouse in the future, she had no doubt about that. 

She agreed with the team leader. These two were definitely two perfect choices. It was great to have such talented youngsters in their team.

But she wasn't sure about the mage boy that was with them. He was indeed talented and powerful. He was also quick-witted and smart, though he acted stupidly most of the time. 

He was a good choice, but not a perfect one like the two other people. She didn't understand why the team leader had chosen this guy. 

However, she could get it now.

'He is unique.'

There was also a case about him, wasn't there? It was reported that he was seen using an unknown power. 

She remembered how team leader Dains was interested in that case. She remembered that he even visited that man who worked in the academy. He had a long conversation with that professor back then.

A unique power. Unknown mana. 

And an unknown thing was better to be kept close. To be watched closely. And to be controlled closely. 

Be it a good power or a bad one. Be it a nice person or a wicked one. It was best to keep him close. 

Whether that boy was aware of his power or not, it was best for them to have him on their side. You could help the clueless youth polish his skills and use his power properly, or you could suppress the evil person who wanted to use his unique power in the wrong way. 

If it was a new, pure talent, you had to snatch him away before others could notice his potential. If it was an enemy, you had to stick close to him and suppress his power before he had the chance to reveal his true colors.

It was like a gamble. A gamble that her team leader had done. He would either obtain a powerful subordinate or get rid of a unique enemy.

'Haha, Fidel. Really!'

She remembered the things that had happened in the past few days. Wherever the team leader went, he would take that young boy with himself. That boy was always in the same team as the team leader. 

'He is watching him... No. He had been watching him for a long time.'

She thought about the young mage and her team leader's first time meeting each other. It was the rescue mission. 

'Was he there only by accident?'

What happened to unit 6 wasn't expected, no one thought that they would need to send people for their help. Team leader Dains also had chosen to take the cadets with him after contemplating for a while. But, why was team leader Dains there on that day?

'I can't say it was an accident anymore. He is a scary man after all.'

Her trusted team leader suddenly felt like a scary person to her.