Oliver, a veteran of several battlefields, even without using any skills or talents could easily discern the general situation around him. It was nothing but sort of a general awareness, a diluted form of his one of the specific skills, [Extreme Battlefield Awareness], a High-Tier S-Rank Skill.
Even after his death, this particular skill got carried away with him, even arriving into this world. One might think it was abnormal or impossible, but in reality, it wasn't.
An Awakened being, after their awakening process, first learns contact with mana. Through sensing and feeling mana, that surrounds everything in their world, one could slowly guide this energy of nature through their bodies, slowly generating a formal pathway - to channel mana inside their body as well to absorb and release the mana stored in the body, whether it was during cultivation or battle or some other process that requires mana.
The formal pathway, through which one slowly channels mana in their body, slowly integrates various nodes that mana traverses through and forms the Mana Nodes. Once the formation of Mana Nodes has started in one's body, they could slowly absorb nature's pure energy into their body and store it in their Mana Nodes for further usage.
Thus, first comes the formation of the Mana Nodes, and only after that comes the most crucial step in the life of an Awakened being. Which is the formation of the General Pathway for Mana Traversal - The Mana Circuit.
Only by forming the Mana Circuit, overlapping and successfully joining this elaborated pathway with the previously formed Mana Nodes, one could hope to lay their actual foundation in the path of an Awakened.
Thus, only the process of Awakening, in which one could only sense the presence of mana in nature and the absence of the very same substance in their body - was merely the very first step in the path of becoming a successful and powerful Awakened.
Only after forming their Mana Nodes and successfully establishing the Mana Circuit Pathway, one could proudly declare oneself as Awakened, barely achieving the status of a Novice.
In his last life, Oliver himself had seen several cases where people could sense the mana present in nature but were unable to absorb even the tiniest amount of it in their bodies. He had also seen people who could sense mana, easily absorb it from nature into their bodies, channel it easily by a basic pathway, and form a decent amount of Mana Nodes at the beginning yet unable to complete the final step of the Awakening process - the formation of the Mana Circuit Pathway.
That was many people's limit. They could store mana in their body but are unable to channel it properly or use it at all. Overtime, the stored mana in their bodies would generate severe complicacies as mana was nothing but a form of nature's pure energy and just storing it in the body while unable to use it would slowly cause the erosion of organs and ultimately lead to one of the severe cases of Internal Mana Poisoning.
While storing mana in their bodies made their physique powerful and robust over time at first, differentiating them from that ordinary populace who couldn't even awaken themselves despite living within nature's pure energy, with time it slowly made their lives hell. They carried disease within themselves, unable to expulse it, which slowly eroded their very being - quite a horrifying process, which people understood much later.
However, compared to the ordinary unawakened populace and those who practiced Martial Arts and several other Battle Techniques and even the Old Earth's Combat Techniques before their Awakening or after failing in the process, these people were far more powerful. Temporary path of power yet glorifying. But still, all these people, even combined, probably wouldn't be able to manage a handful amount of people who had awakened themselves successfully.
Awakening, a long yet arduous process, which starts with sensing mana and ends primarily with the final establishment of the Mana Circuit Pathway. Of course, over time, one could establish more Mana Nodes in their bodies, store more amount of mana, refine their physique by constantly nourishing it with mana and one could also improve their already established Mana Circuit. One could do so with the increase in the realm, cultivation progress, and also with Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. which were formed by the nurturing of nature's excess amount of mana.
Scions from the powerful Families, Clans, and Groups enjoyed these benefits which awarded them with gifted abilities, even tremendous battle prowess through which they could even cross realms and easily challenge the Awakeners from the higher levels.
However, the world wasn't blind or one-sided to anyone. When there was such an easy way to achieve tremendous powers, there must be hard ways too, through which one who lacks resources and backing could cultivate themselves.
And, there was.
Oliver himself was in this category. He was originally an orphan of war, without any financial support or powerful backing, to help him gather enough combat prowess. Thus, like any other hard-working yet self-respecting person, he had also chosen the second path without bowing his head and surrendering himself to any Families or Clans to become their loyal dogs, just to sacrifice one day in their internal power struggles.
As an orphan, along with compulsory education qualifications, it wasn't hard for him to enroll himself in the Military. When he joined the Military, he wasn't even an Awakened being. But to support his miserable life, he had no other choice at that moment. He had always liked to keep his head high, thus while many chose to become someone else's loyal lapdogs, securing benefits and security, he had done no such things. He secretly despised these behaviors, but obviously, he never voiced out his thoughts loud. After all, his life was quite important to himself in the new Earth - where one could be easily killed and their traces could also be easily erased. As an orphan, he didn't even have the simplest background to resist a single powerful person, forget about those lackeys who had real support behind them.
Joining the Military was quite uneventful for him, as the Military had always recruited people like him, without any abilities, or with slight martial abilities, to serve effectively as the cannon fodders on the battlefields. The Old Earth Order had already collapsed several hundred years ago, and along with it, people saw the destruction of the Governments, Religions, and Societal norms among all other things.
The New World Order had been set up, along with a unified World Military, to serve the purpose of Checkpoint Guards for Galactic Gateways, along with the suppression of several Rebel forces.
However, the World Military mainly served the purpose of joining the Intergalactic Battlefields. The New Earth's progression in that matter was quite slow and the loss of human life was severe, but the New Earth Federal Government went ahead with it despite several protests. After all, they had the most advanced Military in the world, along with Awakened people joining the Military too. Suppressing the discontent voices was nothing out of the ordinary for the New Earth.
As for how the New Earth's most advanced Military suppressed those rebellious voices, no one other than him knew it better. After all, he had quite a large sum of bounty on his head for nearly 20 years, and several departments of the Military, Awakened people as well as the freelance mercenaries sought him multiple times to collect it. However, he was able to come out victorious every time, until the last time, when he was betrayed, trapped, and eventually killed in the process.
Oliver, who had once joined the New Earth's Grand Military never knew that just after some years later, he would be designated as a Terrorist by the Military and a Hunt-Order would be released, solely for him. Had he known at that time, he would've probably chosen some other path to live his life simply, marrying a good woman, and forming a little family of his own, thus avoiding the life of continuous battle, hunt, chase, rebellion, betrayal, and finally death.
Had he known at that time, he wouldn't have died so tragically, betrayed by those whom he considered close.
Had he not died, he wouldn't have been transported into another world, teeming with powers he hadn't seen before.
Had he not joined the New Earth's Military that day to live his life, he wouldn't be having a battle now to live his second life here, in this unknown world.
Alas, regrets have no undo.
Thus one could only move forward, cherishing the opportunities that lie ahead of them.
Back to the topic.
Oliver, who had joined the New Earth's Military at that time, was nothing but a greenhorn, trying his best to live and not die under any circumstances. While serving in the Military, he himself had thought of quitting it several times. But unfortunately, before completing the compulsory service of 5 years after joining, he couldn't leave. Thus he endured all the hardships, gritting his teeth, biding his time, and slowly accumulating some wealth, to use in the future to live a stable and somewhat better life.
However, dreams are always sweet and reality is harsh.
Oliver, who was then serving in the 7th Forward Galactic Gateway Checkpoint, was struggling and trying his best not to die some nameless death, received a notice, which shattered his dreams and eventually started the path of one of the epic Awakened Warriors - The Rebellious Night Hawk.