(Gimme Powerstones, this week's goal is 500 PS)
Akeru was moving at high speed toward a forest in the commoner realm.
He was currently wearing a blue t-shirt, white tracks, and grey shoes.
The wind was hitting him in the face as he moved, and if he hadn't used his mana to shield his eyes, he would probably have to either use a helmet or something similar in this world—or move while closing his eyes.
However, with mana and Akeru's skill set, both options were possible. He preferred to keep his eyes open, as he couldn't completely trust his mana sense or Ki sense for ambushes.
'If my Silent Nobody spell can even surpass Ki detection, then there's definitely a possibility for some other individuals to have a similar kind of magic or even better. I hope the rune arrays I have inscribed on my clothes are enough for such cases,' Akeru thought with a thoughtful expression.
In this world, just on the island where the Four Card Kingdoms reside, there is enough space to comfortably house nearly 40 million individuals.
Most of the populace has grimoires, and the minority who don't are generally beggars, whom Akeru had once encountered on his first visit to a city in the commoner realm in this life.
However, those were very few in number, as a lot of institutions like orphanages exist to take care of such people.
Heck, even people of the Forsaken Realm have grimoires.
Akeru continued his journey through various terrains.
The gap between the Black Bulls' hideout and the royal capital was a large one. However, with Akeru's current capabilities, such a journey could be completed in a few hours at a comfortable pace.
With the help of the mana method, he technically had infinite mana.
The only thing limiting him was the quality of techniques he used, as a technique doesn't necessarily become more powerful if more mana is put into it.
If such a technique does exist, it would also reach its limits before requiring a skill set upgrade.
Soon, Akeru reached his destination.
The familiar building came into view from his meta-knowledge about this world.
Akeru looked at the building in shock.
No, he wasn't shocked at the condition of the building.
However, that itself was something to worry about.
'No way! This is the same forest where I fought my first battle against a magic knight,' Akeru thought, having checked multiple times as he closed in on the area.
On his way, he even came across various streams where he used to train during his run.
'I wonder what would have changed if I had actually stumbled upon someone from the Black Bulls at that time. Though knowing me, I probably would have avoided it,' Akeru chuckled as he entered the hideout.
Just as Akeru started walking forward, he felt a strange sensation that made him stop.
'My mana... It's being sucked by a weak force,' Akeru closed his eyes as he noticed small units of mana trying to leave the core where they usually resided.
Akeru consciously focused to stop them.
After nearly a minute, he sighed.
'I won't be able to adapt this quickly. I would love to train my control to the next level using this, but not now,' Akeru thought while stretching his palm.
For the next five minutes, he focused intensely on his palm. Then, he placed it on the part of his t-shirt where his "mana core" was.
The mana stopped moving out of his body.
'I just cut the connection of that foreign mana trying to lure out my mana, rather than preventing my mana from leaving. If the latter were possible, it would be an invaluable stealth tool. Though the possibility of such a rune array is at least for someone at an advanced level,' Akeru hummed as he made his way toward the large area at the end of the corridor.
As he reached the area, he registered four individuals in his peripheral vision.
His eyes were currently fixed on the food on the table that was being devoured by a small-sized girl.
His mouth watered, and he didn't even bother stopping the drool falling to the floor.
The aroma had seduced him to a point where he didn't care about anything other than the food.
Though Akeru had leaked a bit of mana when creating that rune array, nobody sensed him due to such little mana escaping and their guards being down.
Charmy suddenly shuddered. 'My food is in danger!' instincts blared in her mind.
Her head snapped up.
'That creepy kid is looking at my food with such a greedy gaze!' That was her first thought as she looked at the boy's drooling face.
"YOU FOOD THIEF, I am not giving you any food!" Her grimoire opened, and many sheep materialized.
Akeru was startled and immediately snapped out of the wonderland.
"Wait, no, there's some misunderstanding," Akeru said, lifting his hands in a surrender position.
This alerted everyone else in the room, startling them as they took combat-ready positions.
'There goes my first impression. Though it's not my fault—that food's aroma, along with its visuals, is just too much for poor little me,' Akeru thought, surprised that there was food in this world that could make him feel like this.
Like a child who got a new chocolate.
Everyone already had their spells ready Akeru noticed a lot of red lines on him from various directions.
'Bystander's Magic: Still Spectator.'
The world slowed down again as Akeru started analyzing the combat capabilities of his squadmates.
Though it's not normally possible without a battle, he had reached a level where he could get a close estimation of people weaker than him.
'I am really surprised. On paper, all of Yami's squad members are Junior Magic Knights, and I thought that was due to the many arcane stages present here. However, even without considering that, these guys are clearly above that,' Akeru analyzed.
A magic knight's rank is determined in two ways—the first is straightforward: strength.
However, this is not how things are officially done.
Officially, only merit is considered.
So, it made sense that all of them were at the Junior level.
They rarely took missions, and even in those, they caused too much collateral damage.
'Finral should be a Fifth-Class Intermediate Knight, Gordon is Fourth-Class, and Vanessa should be Third-Class,' Akeru ignored Vanessa's almost naked figure.
Normally, as a teenager, it would have been hard, but to him, the food on the table seemed more sensual than Vanessa at the moment.
Akeru undid his spell as he looked at Charmy's increasing magic reserves.
'Ridiculous. Though her reserves haven't stopped increasing in my sensory field, I would estimate her to be around Third-Class Senior Magic Knight,' Akeru was shocked by the fellow glutton in front of him.
"Wait, how do you have that robe?" Finral asked.
"Captain Yami gave me this nearly three years ago, and told me to join when I got a grimoire. So here I am," Akeru said, not dropping his raised arms.
Charmy's rising mana calmed down instantly.
"Oh, you should have said that from the beginning. You can have the food," Charmy said in a nonchalant tone.
Everyone deadpanned at her reaction.
"Really? I am a big eater," Akeru said as his fingers twitched.
Today, he realized there were some aspects of his self-control he needed to train.
"My magic can take care of that," she said while summoning multiple sheep, which started cooking.
"Don't mind my impoliteness, then," Akeru said while ferociously eating food.
He ate while maintaining the royal manners he had learned a few years back.
So, it was just fast.
Though it might have looked like he was swallowing food directly, he was just chewing very quickly.
"Hehe, you really can eat," Charmy said while taking a bite from a mini cake.
---
"I really don't understand the point of gambling. We didn't even fight there," a boy said, his voice sounding like a whine.
"Hmph, only real men will understand that," Magna said while opening the front door of their hideout.
He stepped inside and saw the most ridiculous scene of his entire life.
"PLEASE ADOPT ME!"
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