Some weeks passed after the operation and things started to ease up on the island
For starters, Caroline picked up the pace and started to train more seriously which was something impossible to accomplish before since Caroline was so laid back, she didn't want to repeat a similar event to what happened on top of the ship
Destiny also became stronger and caught up to her supporting skills while still maintaining her ability to win against stronger opponents the longer she fought, and the guardian she summoned during the previous fight also became easier to summon, of course, he was a trump card that Destiny could only use when she is completely hopeless in a fight
Luck was also recovering from the trauma of killing so many defeated people, even though they committed crimes Luck didn't feel like he had the right to kill them even if he didn't do it on his own will
"It is my body so I take responsibility" That's what Luck thought
As for Floga?
He is currently searching for mana zones to get stronger
Absorbing monsters from mana zones was a bad way to improve your strength after you reached a certain point which Floga had passed, but he wanted to train on his attacks
Plus there is a rare occasion where mana zones host a strong beast worth slaying
That's what Floga was searching for, and considering that the island was generating a crazy amount of mana every day Floga had a good chance to come across one
He was scouting the whole island by flying around
'No sign of anything... It's been three hours now...' Floga thought angrily as he kept on flying
Suddenly his phone started vibrating so Floga remained static in the air and picked up the phone
It was Kamira
"Floga how many times do I have to tell you to not push yourself? It's been two weeks since the incident you should only do in-house training in case anything happens, and by anything I mean coming across a sin or even worse Lucifer himself"
To Floga, Kamira sounded a bit excessive so he agreed to stop his flight and hung up the phone
But to his surprise, while he was hovering on the ground he felt an insanely strong mana source but Floga debated if it was one of the sins or not
'If it's a sin I can end up really hurt or even dead but if it's a strong monster I can possibly get a good power boost and also valuable loot...'
The tempted Floga's mind went blank and unconsciously decided to figure out what or to who that mana belonged
Upon entering the mana zone Floga was surprised to see a Hawaiian-type beach with a slightly purple sky and bubbles floating around like they were clouds
Surprisingly Floga didn't see any monsters but a single guy on the beach creating what seemed to be a house
"What is that idiot doing here?" Floga said to himself before flying up to him so he could talk to him
"Yo man! I see you are preoccupied with creating a house? But would you mind telling me what you are doing here?"
The man looked afraid of Floga
"W-W-Who are you? A-Are you with the U-U-U-UMP?" The man asked as he shook like a tree during an earthquake
"What? Those losers? Why would I be with them? I simply detected your mana and came in! Is this like yours? Or did you just decide to build a house here?" Floga didn't know what to ask him but he was certain if he told him he was with the UMP things would have gone south
"Thank God! Many agents of them have come after me! They tell me I'm an important person while they try to take away my lucky stone! After finding this I got this amazing ability and I have been able to do anything I wanted!" The man said happily
"What stone? Like a mana gem?" Floga asked confused
"No what even is that? I have this!" The man said as he showed his lucky stone to him
Floga was taken by surprise
'This idiot! This ain't no lucky stone! This is a Sinister Shard! I can tell since Kamira showed me one! But this one is cyan... Could this be the creation shard? If yes then it makes sense why the UMP chases this guy' Floga thought as he stared deeply into the stone
"NO! I WON'T SHARE IT WITH YOU!" The man said as he built a wall between them
"Calm down dude I don't want your stupid rock! I simply thought it looked nice!" Floga said in order to calm him down
"Oh okay I'm not used to people wanting to be friends with me after I took this stone!" The man said as he evaporated the wall
'I said I liked your stone! Not I want to be your friend!' Floga thought angrily
"So what are you doing here? You never answered!" Floga told him with a calm tone
"I didn't tell you? I-I was building a house can't you see?" The man said as he presented an abomination of walls put together
"I see that but the house is looking more like a shack than a house! Do you need help?" Floga asked hoping to achieve something
"You can? Can you build walls too?" The man asked confused
"No, but if I borrow your stone maybe I can work it out!"
The question made the man take a defensive stance
"Who are you? You are trying to take my stone aren't you?"
"I'm not dude! Why would I want a stone? It simply helps your walls I work with fire so I don't actually need it you see! Oh, my name is Floga and I'm a teenager from Biol! How about you? I have never seen you in Biol!" Floga said changing the topic
"Y-Yeah... I work in the salt factory... My name is Mike..." Mike replied awkwardly
"Cool! How did you find this stone?" Floga asked as he truly wondered how such a clueless guy was able to find a shard before Lucifer or the UMP
"I found it buried in the sand near my workplace! I was depressed after work so I took a walk and luckily I found it! This stone changed my life! Suddenly I could sense this incredible thing and I can now create stuff! You see I always wanted to own a house but they are too damn expensive but with this stone, I can build my dream house!" Mike said as he held the stone across his face
At that time Floga thought it was the perfect time to snatch it from him but to Floga's surprise his kick was blocked by a pillar created by Mike
He suddenly had a serious look on his face
"You lied to me..." He said without stuttering
Floga didn't reply, he simply tried to blast Mike with fire but Mike created multiple walls to protect him and many other pillars to act as attacks toward Floga
The pillars were fast and too many for Floga to destroy even though he tried so they forced Floga to back down
'This dude has incredible power! Is the shard giving him all that power?' Floga thought as he flew backward
He was doomed when he hit a bubble that ended up trapping him
"God damn out of all the times!" Floga yelled as he tried to burn the bubble
Floga failed and the countless pillars ended up hitting him and crushing him to the ground
"N-N-Nobody messes with me and my stone!" Mike said as he kicked Floga's head which happened not to be covered by the pillars
'This dude defeated me? You must be joking...' Floga thought as he tried to get himself out of the pillars
His heart froze when he saw Mike standing above him with a wall full of spikes behind him
"I can throw these spikes like bullets at you so please don't fight me anymore! You are a kid that's why I didn't kill you at once like how I did to the UMP members" Mike said with a cold yet cowardly voice
After hearing that Floga remembered Kamira talking about casualties near Biol but everyone assumed it was the Sins' fault
"I guess you are stronger than I anticipated!" Floga said as he was able to take his arms out of the pile of pillars on top of him and then placed them together
"Specialized Mana Zone: Blooming Blazing Flower"
After Floga placed his hands together a SMZ wasn't created since it wasn't a pocket dimension
Floga's experimental SMZ was a large-range attack that extended to a big circle around Floga
Although SMZs are meant to be a mana zone but used to enhance the caster's power throughout history there were records of people creating dimensionless SMZs but it was a special case...
Almost one out of a million could use this kind of SMZ and many didn't know how to use it correctly but Floga being the prodigy of mana that he is, managed to develop such a SMZ
Not only because of his lost fight with Daniel but also because of his lack of use at the operation before
He couldn't allow himself to remain weak so he used everything he had to get stronger
Even if it means creating a SMZ that turns the world around him into an inferno
…
After the effects of the zone took effect most of the trees around were burned to the ground and the sand had turned black, most of the walls created before by Mike were burned too but something remained
It was an egg of cement that slowly cracked
From inside that egg, Mike emerged unfazed by the flames
"What the hell was that kid? Are you trying to kill me?" Mike said with a smile as he walked toward Floga with ill intention
Floga noticed that so he simply used his remaining mana to break out of the mana zone and fly as fast as he could away from the zone and to Biol
"I can't possibly compare to that fucker! He is way out of my league!" Floga thought
After many hours of training, Floga had become very aware of his strengths and weaknesses and wasn't afraid of admitting them so he could tell his flames weren't strong enough to burn Mike to the ground like he could do at any other opponent
He had to improvise and he knew that
…
"What is all that for? Destiny got a powerful attack and now you want to do the same? Also, you are oddly specific about your request. Who are you getting ready to attack?" Gnomon asked confused upon hearing Floga's weird request
"Come on now dude! ONE attack! That's all I'm asking!"
"I'm not even a destructive element instructor! Why do Destiny and you keep on coming to me for help?"
"Well, you are our teacher after all!" Floga said implying the fake job he does in their high school
'Destiny said the same...' Gnomon thought as he recalled the time he spent with Destiny
"Okay, I get it! What exactly do you want me to teach you? I can work it out if I can!" Gnomon said as he left out a big sigh
"So as I said I want an attack that can help me obliterate walls! Many strong walls, I say walls but I mainly mean sturdy and hard material so walls made of rock came to mind first!" Floga said
He still tried to hide the fact he found someone with a Shard
"Okay... How about a fire explosion or something?" Gnomon suggested
"THAT'S IT! YOU ARE A GENIUS!" Floga said excitingly
The silence was quick to follow
"How am I supposed to do that?" Floga wondered
"Maybe by pressuring fire! You see a fire creates a very strong wind current and for example, if the fire is burning inside a room surrounded by closed doors it is natural to break down the doors after a while so it can spread and when the first door breaks it always breaks violently and with enough pressure to harm people! My point? Create the pressure of a room but do it thrice as much and learn to direct this explosive power toward the walls you keep talking about" Gnomon explained to Floga
It was incredible how great of a strategist Gnomon can be
Although he is ranked high in the UMP, people tend to underestimate him because he refuses to fight most of the times
But nobody knows how strong Gnomon can actually be when times demand it, only Caroline and Luck have seen him go all out with their own two eyes
"I see... That's easy to imagine but hard to put into action..." Floga said unknowingly if he could learn to do this in some hours
"Hahaha! You two are sure alike!" Gnomon said as he laughed
"You and Caroline are saying this all the time! Luck and I are nothing alike damn it!"
"Who spoke of Luck? I was referring to Destiny!"
Floga was surprised by his response
"She said the same thing about her destructive technique but due to the situation she learned to do this red arrow of her in some hours... I'm sure you can do the same!" Gnomon said before leaving the training room
Floga stood frozen inside the training room thinking deeply about what he could accomplish
He was always one step ahead of most in his life
But he was overtaken by someone "lesser" than him
And it was not the first time either...