"What do you mean old man?" Lord looked confused as he finished eating.
"Hehehe, don't play dumb with an old geezer brat, we're smarter than we look!" The elderly man only replied back mysteriously.
Grin
"Well, old man, your brain works faster than your hunched body, hehe!" Lord looked at the elder with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Brat, tell me, what and how did you know?" The elder pressed, his mysterious face an expression of curiosity.
"I wasn't sure completely but I had a suspicion from the early bits of our conversation, Grand Priest Kasim" Lord said in a more polite tone, much different than when he was arguing from before.
"Hohoho! Brat, a little guy like you with no money or influence shouldn't be able to know someone like me, so how?" The elder, who's name was Kasim, said in anticipation.
"I might not be from Elite families or someone of prestige, but I have some connections." Lord said, although he wasn't of prestige, being a scavenger and a high-level one who had proved their consistency of returning alive, Lord had made some acquaintances that gave information about the world of elites, including names of some hidden yet powerful people.
Grand Priest Kasim, was among one of the mentioned, Lord had deeper knowledge of the Grand Priest as he heard Kasim was temporarily staying in Avada, the name of Lord's [Ark].
"Then if you knew, what was that pointless argument?!" Grand Priest Kasim said in actual frustration. Lord had fooled him and forced him into a hard corner, if it wasn't for the convenient and timely hungry grumbling of Lord, Kasim would have lost all his reputation!
"I apologize Grand Priest, it was indeed a risky move, however, I wanted to know more about the person who wished to take me as his student." Lord said apologetically, although it seemed he wasn't being so sincere.
"You younger generations have no respect!" Kasim turned his head in frustration, he was supposed to be the one on the upper hand and yet?!
"My apologies, my apologies." Lord slightly bowed his head to show he was apologetic, but Kasim could swear he saw a small smirk underneath.
Although many who looked at the surface would believe Lord was fooling around and shouldn't have been wasting an opportunity, in truth he wasn't.
He had been gauging the situation and contemplating everything from the start, he had purposefully acted provocative to a certain degree to see what the old man's true motives were.
Opportunity is a double-edged sword, if you knew how to make use of it, you could win big, if you were to foolishly take an opportunity blind, then you would be strangled to death.
Lord held personal experience to why this was true, it was also because of that personal experience that Lord had never taken an opportunity blindly ever again.
He had been actively making himself provocative and unreasonable to make the old man show his true intentions.
After all, what if the "I want you to be my student" was a fake? What if that was bait for something sinister?
Although Kasim was a grand priest of a religion, the apocalypse still existed and even the Rubeda Church moved for gains and profits, so it was very hard to trust anyone other than yourself.
And Lord held more than enough capital to be suspicious of Kasim, after all, he was just an ordinary commoner who hadn't even awakened yet.
So for someone with a high and above identity to just come and say they wanted him to be their student was preposterous.
Lord held suspicions that there were more motives than just "I want you as my student " after all, nothing was truly the way it was said or looked in this world.
Returning back to the present, Lord's head rose up.
"So, let's talk properly!" Lord said as he gave an easy going smile.
"First, let me ask, Who are you?" Lord said something puzzling, he already knew Kasim's identity and yet still asked?
"Tch! Tricky brat! I am a S+ Awakener." Kasim responded, although others may have been confused at the question, he as someone who had lived for many decades knew the hidden meanings behind Lord's words.
"S+ huh? I thought you'd be stronger." Lord whispered in a quiet tone.
"Fuck you brat! I'm one of humanity's strongest! You think SS-ranks grow on trees?!" Kasim couldn't endure not swearing, he was so powerful and yet this country bumpkin brat called him weak?!
Could his pride have not been shot so hard?!
And did this kid think that the SS-ranks, the "Gods" of mankind grew on trees?!
One had to know that SS-ranks quite literally had the title of a god with their absurd level of power!
"I apologize!" Lord once again apologized, sometimes he couldn't help himself!
Luckily, it seemed Kasim wouldn't take any action against him on that.
"Bah! Get on with your questions kid! You and I don't have time to waste!" The old man Kasim said in annoyance! He just wanted all this to be done with and have a disciple.
"Cough! Yes, let's get back on track!" Lord had a short cough and resumed back on track.
"Okay then! Tell me, why DID you take an interest in me? And please refrain from saying it's the 'intuition' of an old man." Lord once again asked a question he had asked previously.
…..
A silence of a few moments lasted between Kasim and Lord before it was abruptly broken.
"Tch! Smartass brat, you know sometimes being too smart can be dangerous?" The old man said in discontent, he wanted to get this done quickly and yet this smart brat kept making him stumble!
"Are you going to answer or not?" Lord calmly asked, he just wanted to know how or why THE Grand Priest Kasim, an S+ Awakener, was interested in him.
'Brat, once you become my student, prepare for hell!' Kasim thought in secret, he would definitely make Lord suffer!
"Fine brat! You know the basics of how an awakener senses another right?!" Kasim nearly shouted the last part, if Lord said he didn't know, Kasim might literally explode from built up frustration!
"Yes, of course?" Lord half-questioned in return, it was near common knowledge how awakeners sensed each other.
"Okay! Then that makes it easier!" Old Kasim said in half-relief, it seemed that he had now momentarily forgotten that general things about Awakeners were near-common knowledge.
"So! The concept is the same but far more intricate!" The old man began explaining with hand gestures.
"Rather than looking at the energy signature, we look at the Dantian itself!" Kasim explained with pride and wonder.
The Dantian was where an awakener's energy and core was placed, if the Dantian of an individual were to ever be crippled, the individual would never be able to use Mana.
"Huh? Looking at the Dantian itself?" Lord was confused, he had never heard of there being a way or person who could look into a Dantian.
"Yes! The Dantian! This technique requires energy manipulation and control of oneself that only A+ and above Awakeners can effectively use!" The old man said a shocking fact with excitement!
An eerie silence like that of a volcano waiting to erupt took place, and it was broken as soon as it came.
Thud!
"What?!" Lord jumped as he yelled! He couldn't be blamed, for what he had just heard was beyond shocking!
A technique that required Control equivalent to that of an A+ ranked Awakener and above?!!
The sheer madness of this technique was absolutely brain-numbing!
One had to know that while there were one hundred-twenty million humans left on earth only 2.4 million were Awakeners!
Among Awakeners, only 0.04% were A-rank!
Meaning in 2.4 million Awakened humans, only a bit more than nine-hundred were A-ranked!
And only thirty percent of A-ranked were A+ ranked Awakeners!
So a technique that only 0.0002% of all HUMANITY could use was simply ABSURD!
Insane!
Mad!
"GAHAHAHA! Brat! The world of those who stand at the peak isn't something a little boy who hasn't awakened yet can comprehend!" With boisterous laughter, Kasin took pleasure; the stupefied look on Lord's face was simply too funny!
"T-th-this, this is absurd!" Lord yelled in madness!
He hadn't become too surprised at the fact Kasim was a S+ ranked awakened simply because he understood what the position of Grand Priest meant.
A Grand Priest was the second-greatest position in the Rubeda Church where only the Pope, an SS-ranked Awakened, was above in position!
So it made sense that a Grand Priest should be S-ranked or S+ ranked!
However, even an S+ rank Awakened did not feel as absurd as a technique limited only to 0.0002 of the total human population!
"Tell me! I want to know what this technique is and how it works!" Lord had gotten so excited, that he had forgotten about basic manners and the identity of the old man Kasim.
"KAHAHAHA! Brat! you're going to have to be my student before I teach you how!" The old man didn't forget to advertise himself. He had purposefully made Lord so excited as to catch him off guard!
Thum-
Hearing that, Lord immediately came back to his senses!
"Old man! Tell me what this technique is! I don't need you to teach it but just tell me how it works!" Lord said as he couldn't hide the anticipation glowing bright in his eyes.
Although Lord acted mature and calm all the time, inside was still a burning and passionate youth who wished to know more about the beings he had idolized since young!
No matter how harsh the apocalypse was, it couldn't take away the burning spirit hidden underneath the cool exterior of Lord!