I stood up from the bed, and walked towards the closet. I picked out some clothes, and changed into something casual that fits nicely for a stroll through the streets. A white shirt, black trousers, and a black hoodie. I walked downstairs, and went to my mom.
"Mom, I'm going out for a while. I'll be back before dinner."
I said, causally.
"Okay. But, don't be out for too long. And be careful, okay? Take care."
My mom responded, causally, telling me to be careful when going outside.
After I told my mom that I'm going outside and will be gone for a while, I left the house, and began walking to my first stop, to collect medicinal herbs, which I learned from Wisdom that they grow in the mountains. So without wasting any more time, I left for the mountains. And with the ingredients for making a mana potion now known, I went outside my house to get those ingredients. And I had to collect all the ingredients in 1 or 2 day's time. Any more time than that would not have sufficed. So for day 1 my targets were medical herbs, and crystallized mana. And luckily for me, both items could be found in places rich with mana, and filled with positive energy, and one of those few places rich with mana were in the mountains. All I had to do was locate exactly what areas in the mountains are rich with mana, and filled with positive energy, and I will find the items I'm looking for.
—————
In this world, every single person possesses mana, but it is up to them to risk their lives to fight the Wormhole Portal Monster, and defend their own country.
It all began 50 years ago, when a 50-meter-wide Meteor landed in the Monarchy of Zeus, doing significant damage, and devastated almost half the country, as such, many lives were lost. The meteor transformed into an obscure hazy black cloud, like a nebulous glow, and 3 hours later monsters began emerging from the circle shaped black cloud, and did even more damage than the meteor. This happened all over the world, one by one. Humanity fought back against the monsters coming out of these black clouds, but nothing worked. Normal military weapons did not work at all against them. Fighting the monsters as an individual country meant self-destruction, so every country, all 51, came together, and joined forces to have a better chance against fighting these monsters.
Humanity tried everything, but none of the weapons worked. This was the survival of humanity, and if this kept going on, humanity would cease to exist. With their survival on the line, humanity relied on a weapon that causes complete, and total destruction once it is released. Humanity unleashed Nuclear Bomb. One after another, Nuclear Booms were released in the Circle shaped black clouds, and on the world until no more monster survived.
The circle shaped black clouds disappeared, and no more monsters were left to worry about. Humanity began rebuilding the planet after all the destruction that was caused, and it was finally a time peace. But, what people did not realize was that, the monsters left "Something" behind when they were whipped out. In the last 5 years after the war, humanity began experiencing change. Humanity had experienced change before, and it was many times, but this time the change that humanity experienced was different, completely new. It was unprecedented, and unknown. People began developing powers of all kinds. First it was just one person, the next day it was ten, the day after that were hundred, the day after that were five hundred, and it continued on until one month, and in that one month, the number of people that developed powers were 50,000. Researchers began searching for answers, but nothing came up. In that same month, the same monsters appeared once again, the process of them appearing was the same, a circle shaped cloud formed out of nowhere, and the monsters came out of it, but this time, a metero didn't land on Earth. After the monsters appearance once again, the researchers minds went back to when the monsters first appeared on Earth. And the only explanation they came up with was that, "A meteor landed on Earth, transformed into a black gas cloud, allowing monsters entry in our world, and affecting our world, and the people, resulting in humans developing powers in order to fight back against such threats. We should be thankful. Because in a sense, humanity has evolved because of these monsters."
As the monsters appeared once more, humanity was ready to fight back, not with Nuclear warfare, but with powers, which were more effective against them than the Nuclear Bombs. The powers did not only granted humans the ability to fight the monsters individually, but it also granted several other advantages, such as being able to enter to circle shaped black clouds, and being completely unharmed by the harsh environments inside them. The circle shaped black clouds were wormhole portals, which are now known as Nebulous Wormhole, and monsters coming out of them are now known as wormhole portal monsters. The emergence of monsters kept going on, and on, until 50 years. Humanity progressed significantly, and strong figures emerged in the world, leading humanity to greatness.
The people who hunt these monsters are known as Scythes. While some choose the life of a Scythe to earn a living, and some choose it to be the best Scythe in the world, and some choose it to defend their homeland, others choose not to do that at all. Every in this world possesses mana, however, their ability to grow as a Scythe stops at the age of 30. Some are lucky enough to keep growing as Scythes even after the age of 40, but the final stop is at 50 years of age. Everyone possesses mana, even before birth, and for some people, their power is inherent, passed down through generations, and for some, it develops a little late, at the age of 12. The Scythes keep developing their power, and keep getting stronger until they hit their stop, and reach their limits.
—————
The High Rise City was a huge and magnificent city, with the population of over 100,000. The High Rise City was filled with skyscrapers, buildings, Scythe Association's headquarters, and different Scythe Guilds. If a normal Scythe sensed a massive amount of mana all at once, he would get brain damage, and be paralyzed, and won't be able to do anything for for a maximum of 2 days. However, Wisdom had no problem whatsoever. People, and naturally things that grow in the world have different frequencies of mana. Wisdom could differentiate between the two, and pinpointed the location of the medical herbs, and crystallized mana.
After I left the house, and was on my way to the Sunny Mountain to collect the ingredients, I had a little chat with Wisdom.
"Hey, Wisdom. Are you there?"
I said, getting Widow's attention.
[ Yes, I am ]
[ You do not have to worry, because from this day on, I will always be by your side ]
[ And I will help you in any way I possibly can ]
"Well, that's reassuring to hear."
I said, with a light smile.
"Can I ask you something?"
I asked, having some questions in my mind.
[ Yes ]
[ You may ask me anything you wish ]
"I know I asked this before, but what can you do?"
I said, even though I knew what Wisdom's answer was going to be.
[ I am Wisdom ]
[ I possess knowledge of all things ]
[ And if I do not possess knowledge of something ]
[ Then it is not real ]
As expected, Wisdom answered what I thought It would.
"Okay. So tell me. How do someone wear a shoe?"
I asked, feeling stupid for asking such a stupid thing.
[ … ]
After sensing that I asked something stupid, Wisdom stayed quiet.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
[ Grab the shoe, slide your foot inside, and tie the shoelaces ]
To my surprise, Wisdom answered. I thought It would stay quiet, and not say anything.
[ I am Wisdom, not foolishness ]
[ Please refrain from asking me such foolish things ]
[ We are in a serious situation right now, and you asked me that ]
"Okay, I'm sorry. Let's just focus on our current task."
I said, as I made a note to not ask useless questions to Wisdom when in serious situations, and stored it in the back of my head. I wouldn't ask useless questions when I'm in serious situations with Wisdom, otherwise I'll definitely do it again.
I reached the bus stop while having that conversation with Wisdom. Some people were already there. I had already missed the first two buses of the five for the morning shift, and I was not going to miss the third one. So I waited with the already waiting people at the bus stop for ten minutes until the bus would arrive. After those ten minutes of waiting the bus finally arrived. The passengers stepped out, and I, with the people who were waiting for the bus, boarded, and sat in our respective seats. There were not many people on the bus, which meant I got two whole seats to myself. After everyone had boarded, and sat down, the bus driver began driving. The ride to Sunny Mountain was one hour long, and the driver had to stop at every bus stop, meaning thirty more minutes were added to the one hour ride, making it one hour, and thirty minutes longer. Passengers would get dropped off at their desired bus stops, and more people would get picked up at other bus stops. So now I had to wait for one hour, and thirty minutes until I would reach my own destination-stop.
With nothing else to do, I scrolled through my phone, and saw some news about new Scythes joining big, and respectable Guild. This time, I didn't feel jealous of the people that were fortunate enough to become Scythes,and fulfill their wishes, and dreams. I didn't feel jealous because in this life, I myself would become one, and not have any regrets unlike my previous life, which was filled with ruin, misfortune, and misery.
After one hour, and thirty minutes, I finally reached my destination-stop. The bus driver stopped at the bus stop, and the only people who needed to be dropped off were me, and three more passengers. I stepped out of the bus, and those other three passengers came out after I did.
Sunny Mountain was a ten minute walk away from the bus stop, so without wasting any more time, I hurried to the Sunny Mountain. After arriving there, I saw stairs leading up to the top. I ran up the stairs, and reached the top. It took me another twenty minutes to go up to the summit. After arriving at the summit of Sunny Mountain, the first thing I saw was a beautiful scenery. Sun shining through the clouds, and the blue skies, it was all beautiful. I had seen this in my previous life, it was not anything special to me, but this time, I felt differently, it was beautiful, like I could tell by just looking. I had never witnessed anything more beautiful in my previous life than this. I could say without uncertainty that this was more beautiful than the entirety of my past life by a thousand times.