"You know Ashley lives on the other side of the city. There's no way ill find her anytime soon. What about you; are you going to find Michelle, the girl you have been talking to?" asks Joe.
"Michelle should be on the way to my family's house, but if I can not find her, then I move on. You know the family comes first."
"Let's get to some serious talk, Joe. Why can't you use your mana better? It's a disgrace to call you my best friend."
"Bro, you know concentrating was never my thing. Be lucky I can get my fist on fire already."
"OK, let's get out the independent space for now and head to your roof where we can do some practicing."
"I'll follow your lead because I don't think I can get out of here on my own."
Swoosh! Joe appears back in his apartment and my mind back in my body. Following Joe to the roof, I teach him how to focus on the mana in the air.
"It's a lot of visualization to get what you want from it. Focus your mana on a point in your hand and think of it as a small sphere. Visualize the flame mana being a ball in your hand that you can throw. If it helps, think of like a baseball before you try something big like basketball."
"OK, Dwayne, I think I get what you are talking about; let me give it a try."
I watched as Joe followed my advice and created a small sphere the size of a baseball made of burning yellow flames. Before he could make the Fireball, his flames kept going in and out, trying to make a sphere. I saw bulging veins on his head and sweat dripping from his forehead before he finally got it. He was so excited he dropped it on his foot and burned his shoes again.
I tell Joe to try shooting the Fireball off into the distance to check his range. Joe points his hand forward and with a boom, he hits the building across the street setting the side of it ablaze. I congratulate him and ask if he knows if anyone was in the building why he used it as target practice.
Joe turned around and gave me the I don't know the look. I could only facepalm my face and continue the training, telling him not to hit any more buildings.
Joe and I stayed on the roof for the next 5 hours of training before calling it quits for the day. On a good note, Joe did acquire a few skills by the end of training.
[Fireball – forming a ball of flame and shooting it at your opponent. 10 MP per use]
[Flame Thrower – a concentration of flames shooting out. 50 MP per use 5 MP per second]
I was trying to teach him some more concentrated shapes like an arrow, but it seems he can't yet wield his element to that degree of control.
Joe and I had a lovely meal or what could have been before we made plans for the next day.
"Joe, after talking with my system and getting what little information I could get out of it, I have some thoughts for the future. I would like to know what your plans and goals for the future in this crazy world are?"
"Dwayne, I don't have any plans for you right now, as it will take a lot of time and power to get to the next state to see my mom. For the future, you know I got your back, so you are stuck with me. Don't even think that you can dump me somewhere and go off on your own."
"Joe, according to the system, the world is reset. All technology is dead, from cellphones to satellites. It's not so simple to fix them because we must recreate everything to function with mana. So basically, it's a new start for the world, and I've decided to grasp it from the start."
"The government is out of commission for, and that's if they are alive. Money is useless, and food is the only thing that matters now."
"I want to create my faction following my own rules, and I need capable people like you, Joe, to help me run it."
"Wow, bro, you are thinking world domination. I love it; count me in. I always wanted to be the leader of the army now I have a chance."
"Firstly, Joe, world domination is far from my sight right now. I want to set up a spot for myself in this new world order. Anyone who crosses my bottom line I will eliminate."
"Damn, bro, that's so dark, but you know I'm done to ride for whatever you have got planned. Plus, you know when it comes to removing problems, I'm always by your side."
"That's great, Joe, glad to have you on board. First ill locate my family and see what to do from there. Then once we settle, we can investigate your mom, but you don't need to worry too much you know your mom is bad a** already."
"Bro, you don't have to tell me. That's why I'm not too worried about her out there in Florida. If anything, we might have to get her here to save us instead."
"I know, right. Remember that we got into a fight with some gangsters, and she showed up with a shotgun, ready to kill everybody involved. If my mom wasn't there to stop her, there might have been bloodshed that night."
"Hahaha," laughed Joe and Dwayne.
"That was a crazy night. Your mom, Joy, came out of nowhere and stopped her from dropping bodies. But do you remember how those gangsters almost s**t themselves when she had them at gunpoint?"
"Joe, those were some crazy times, but for real, I'm planning to take over territory for ourselves. Then we can build on it from there. Let's find somewhere near a river to get a source of water first. Then we can save some people from being workers and soldiers. Have to find some people with specialties like a mechanic and scientist."
"I have the passive military skill already, so I can easily train all the recruits, but for all the other fields, we will have to search in the city for them."
"Yea, I think so too, but let's find my family first, then a place to establish our home base. Then we can look for talented people."
"Let's get some rest, Dwayne, and head for your family tomorrow. The sooner we get this started, the better."
"Why do I feel you are more excited about this me right now, Joe? What crazy plans have you got in your head about the trainees you are to train."
"Nothing, nothing at all. Hahaha," laughs Joe