Connor had some idea of what an esper meant, but he needed more information. Now that the system no longer answered his questions, he realized how reliant he had been on it to resolve his doubts.
He felt the weight of his own ignorance and inadequacies pressing down on him.
'It's not just my knowledge', he thought, 'my fighting skills are lacking too. I've been relying too much on my abilities without a proper foundation in any martial art.'
The karate he knew was also half-heartedly learned, and he now saw himself from a broader perspective.
'To others, I might seem strong, but in front of a truly formidable opponent or monster, I'm just weak', Connor admitted to himself.
As he pondered how to improve his overall capabilities, Elena interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey, are you listening? Where are you lost?" she asked, a bit annoyed at being ignored by him.
Normally, Elena was the one ignoring other males when they tried to get her attention, but now she was on the other side, and she didn't like how it felt.
"Sorry, I'm still not feeling well. The confrontation with Thor really took a huge toll on me, What were you saying?" Connor said, trying to explain his distracted thoughts
" I was saying that with this Esper I can unleash almost the same strength as the blessing, it is just that the cooldown time has doubled from 12 hours to 24 hours"
" Makes sense, there is always a catch to such things" Connor said while nodding his head, understanding the term Esper a bit more.
" So, how... how were you able to do it?" Elena asked with some reluctance. She hesitated to inquire about his strength, but since he was already sharing details, she had to ask and try her luck.
"How was I able to do what?" Connor asked, not understanding what she was getting at.
" About how you could imitate Thor's lightning powers" Elena clarified.
Connor hesitated as he did not know how to answer but decided to reject her.
" I am sorry, I can't say that to you. But what I can say is that I am totally human, a normal human like you all. It's just I have a secret I cannot share with anyone" he said.
Elena became a bit disappointed but was happy that at least he was honest. Then she arrived at her final question, which she was very embarrassed to ask.
" So... like... um... do you... like... umm" She tried to ask him, but the words just could not come out as she felt like a high school girl asking her crush on a date.
" Speak clearly, I cannot understand you" Connor asked with irritation as he remembered he couldn't waste any more time on miscellaneous things since the x2 perk would expire in six days.
" You said you wanted to get close to me, right? So do you like me, Connor?" Elena asked with a red face, her expectations and heartbeat rising with every second.
"Hahahahahahaha" Connor rolled on the bed as he laughed like he had heard the best joke of his life.
" What made you think like that, you silly girl? I just meant to get close to you since we need to work together from now on" Connor replied, still barely holding back his laugh.
After all his rage had calmed down, he managed to think more clearly, which led him to believe that Elena would be a valuable asset to the kingdom he had decided to build.
He planned to conquer the entire city of Cambridge and be its leader. To achieve such a feat, he would need people who were not only strong but also wouldn't betray him.
Connor realized how stupid and childish he had been when he got mad at Elena.
"She isn't that bad of a person to deal with," Connor thought, noting she was somewhat similar to Silvia.
Before he could finish the thought, Elena's fist connected with his stomach in a full-blown punch. Elena had become enraged as he ridiculed her, with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
Connor doubled over, clutching his abdomen. 'Or not' he grimaced, trying to catch his breath.
"You bitch, are you mad?" he spat out, the pain fueling his anger. With that hit, the usual Connor came back in full force.
Then they started bickering and cursing at each other until Silvia and Alya showed up.
"What are you both doing screaming out loud in the middle of the night?" Silvia interjected, stepping between them like a mother scolding her squabbling children.
"She was the first to hit me" Connor said, pointing at Elena.
"That's because you laughed and made fun of me," Elena countered, her voice tinged with both anger and disappointment.
"If you behave like a high school girl asking her crush if he likes her, what am I supposed to do?"
"You... you are not my crush!"
"I never implied that I am. There you go assuming things on your own" Connor retorted, finally silencing her as she had no comeback.
"Anyway, you can lead the camp starting tomorrow. I'll be heading out at dawn to search for survivors" Connor announced to the three girls.
"What? But didn't you want to be the leader?" Elena asked, baffled by his sudden change.
'Then why did you throw all that tantrum?' She couldn't understand this human called Connor.
"Nah... It's too demanding to manage a camp. I'd rather have you three girls handle it. Or you three girls could be my secretaries and manage everything while I just chill"
He said with a sneer, prompting the three girls to glare at him with anger and disappointment at his lack of responsibility.
Connor's real plan was to hunt and train, he did not have to play Leader now, he could later take that position from Elena.
*************
The next morning Connor could be seen running around the outskirts of the university searching for any powerful monsters.
So far all he had found were a few fallen and some small rats, bunnies, cats, and other small animal mutated monsters that were too easy to kill for him.
Their levels were not even above 8 but he still managed to harvest a lot of SP and leveled up once.
"Looks like I need to head even further North from here" he muttered to himself recalling what Elena had told him.
--- Flashback---
"When we were out patrolling and looking for survivors nearby we felt a strong Astral Pressure from the North whe-" Elena was interrupted as Connor asked his doubt.
"Astral Pressure what is that?" Connor asked with a clueless look which shocked the three girls.
"You don't know what Astral Pressure is? What were you doing during the announcement?"
Alya asked incredulously. Even she who thought she might be the least knowledgeable in the room knew about Astral Pressure.
"I was inside a dungeon for a week so I didn't hear the announcement."
"Oh so the announcements don't reach inside dungeons? Wait what were you doing inside a dungeon?" Alya's initial nod turned into a dumbfounded expression.
"I was on a date with a banshee. Of course I was looting it idiot" Connor replied sarcastically.
"You were inside a dungeon this whole time what rank was it?" Elena asked a sense of unease creeping over her.
"4th order" he said casually causing the girls to drop their jaws in disbelief.
Elena's hunch was right he really had been in that dungeon emitting the highest Astral pressure in the city perhaps even the entire country.
"You liar! Are you trying to impress us by spewing such an absurd lie? Who would believe..." Alya's voice trailed off as she saw the serious look on his face indicating he wasn't joking.
"Anyways, what is this Astral Pressure thing and what do you mean it's there on the North side?"
"Astral Pressure is the sensation our astral cores experience when they resonate with another core or when a core radiates its energy. It also happens with dungeons as the dungeon itself acts as a core emitting fierce energy It's like a 7th sense to all of us now in addition to mana sensitivity" Silvia explained to Connor.
Connor understood the feeling of danger he had felt when Elena had transformed as his core's warning to him from the astral pressure.
"When you feel pressure it usually means that the core or the person the core belongs to is stronger than you.
When we felt the Astral Pressure radiating from the North we knew a very strong person or beast was living there so we didn't dare go there" she added concluding her explanation.
"You asked which places were not safe right? Other than the 4th-order dungeon and the North side you can go anywhere" Silvia warned him with concern.
"Got it" he said aloud but inwardly he was planning something else 'I will enter that place'
---Back to the present---
Connor could not find any survivors on the campus.
He searched with fear that he might find Julia dead but thankfully he found very little to no corpses around the law department building indicating she had likely escaped and found refuge somewhere.
"Just wait a little longer Julia, I will become so strong in such a short time that this whole city will be mine to rule" Connor declared and proceeded forward.
On his way to the North, Connor encountered a trio of fallen that were a cut above the rest.
They had a level of 9 each and worked in unison like a team still, in front of Connor they were like rats running around.
Connor killed them swiftly with rapid strikes of his sword, each opponent falling in quick succession to his precise slashes
He saw this as the perfect moment to test his subclass skills: Soul Eater (1st order) and Emerge (1st order).
Although the banshee had a higher version of these skills, since he had chosen it as a sub class he got the inferior version.
Moreover, his core was at its limit as it could not contain any more space for a skill rune as the greater the order of the skill the greater the space it required in the core.
Pointing his hands at the corpses he activated [Soul Eater],
[ Soul Eater is absorbing the cores and it's vestige ]
[ could not absorb the corrupted core]
[ Process Failed ]
[ You have gained 120 (x2) SP ]
[ You have gained 114 (x2) SP ]
[ You have gained 118 (x2) SP ]
When he used {soul eater} that should take the vessel and eat it's core to control it, but with them being fallen the corrupted core turned to SP, hence the process failed.
'Tsk, My first necromancy failed' He realized his stupidity for trying to absorb(soul eater) and awaken (emerge) a fallen.
At least I received some extra SP, wait a minute...
"Hahahahahahaa"
He started laughing like a madman as he found another exploit to increase his level even faster.
After the successful failure, he headed further north on the outskirts where he sensed the strong pressure, Connor felt the presence of another person nearby.
The pressure radiated by this person was much weaker than the beast on the mountain, so Connor overlooked it.
He didn't feel threatened as the pressure the individual emitted was weaker than his own.
Connor knew the person approaching was of a lower level than him and posed no threat, but he still remained cautious as the figure emerged from the woods.
"Ethan Husk?" This was the last person Connor expected to see as he had assumed Ethan would be among the first to perish in the apocalypse.
After all, pretending to be strong was Ethan's only specialty—or at least that's what Connor thought, given Ethan's knack for acting like a shrewd politician, faking everything.
'Fake it till you make it' was Ethan's motto, defining how he operated.
He was adept at deception as only a few like Connor and Elena among the students could see through his facade
Connor studied the look on Ethan's face. Ethan always pretended to be the affable good guy, smiling like an idiot.
"To think this guy survived this long, maybe I underestimated him," Connor assessed Ethan's worth like a businessman.
Ethan, in turn, assessed ways to persuade Connor to join his side.
He knew Connor was strong, his pressure indicated an estimated level of at least 10 or above.
Having just lost his ally to that monstrous beast in the forest, Ethan now had no one to cover for him or leech off of.
Seeing a strong man like Connor appear, he felt like the heavens favored him.
But he remembered the kind of monster he was running away from and spoke to Connor in desperation.
"Connor, we need to escape from here. Don't ever go inside the woods; that monstrous thing will kill you in a second if you face it," Ethan warned, his tone filled with fear as he glanced nervously toward the woods."
"If that monster in the woods is so strong that it can kill me in a second, how did you survive?" Connor's question was sharp, reflecting suspicion after Ethan had spoken as if he had just escaped from the beast.
Ethan, realizing his blunder, began to think of an excuse when Connor gripped his neck tightly.
Gasping for air, Ethan saw resentment and rage in Connor's eyes as he asked again,
"If you think I'm someone you can trick, you're mistaken. I can detect lies with my skills. Answer me truthfully when I release you now. Lie, and you die, Fail to answer, you die. Answer me in 3 seconds" Connor threatened him
He bluffed his way through to get the answer. He knew Ethan was smart and cunning but he also knew he was a coward, so the threat should be effective.
" 1... 2..." Connor counted as he drew his blade.
"I left... my friend.... to face it.... alone and... ran for my life" Ethan gasped, his voice strained and desperate as he struggled for breath under Connor's chokehold.