He gets to meet the new gene.
Seems like he can only fly while holding me around 5m — enough for real — but the moment I make sounds, it all snaps.
But I'm actually not expecting this from him. Mark my words, guys — today I know we will mess it up.
I just want to feel his ego as well. The moment I fall and he sees me almost die
I use my knowledge about them and survive, he will stop thinking that he was a failure from birth — but a failure the moment he let others call him one.
And I will just act distant so he can at least improve himself by doing exercises. And I will add this:
"Damn, I thought you could pull it off — I mean, just holding me in the air for around 5–6 minutes.
And not to mention, you can go higher and faster. Bro, have some courage.
You're just standing near the door and lifting me up — that's just your job.
Well, at least try to do it right. It's your first go, so go get some rest."
Isn't that brilliant? I'm gonna cook him — so that he would try and beg for my attention not out of brotherhood stuff, but out of guilt, shame, and patheticness.
Then the moment we got out, everyone was watching from the hill.
I took a spear and walked out.
He was nervous, but I was confident.
What mattered was for things to play out just like I planned.
Then I threw a huge stone.
One of the earthworms devoured it, and the moment that happened, I ran straight toward the monster and jumped on its back.
As I began running, the earthworm coiled and, in an upside-down motion, tried to devour me.
But then I jumped straight inside it.
Around the middle of its body, I stabbed both sides with the spear, which got stuck, and I used it to turn myself around as I was going down.
The spear sliced the worm in a curved motion.
Then I jumped out of its back again, slicing its body from tail to head while running.
After I killed it, the barrier kid came after me to get drenched in blood.
We got to work. All the others nearby came out the second they smelled their comrade's blood.
The barrier kid stood in the middle of the body, doing nothing, shivering.
I felt like there was an earthquake down there.
He held me up into the sky, but he was too slow.
The distance from the door to the underground basement was 500 meters.
I was around 200 meters away from the entrance when he suddenly dropped me, just as I expected.
He couldn't hold on any longer. The monsters were hanging onto him, and he made a sound out of cowardice and ran.
He would have been fine—they couldn't smell him, only hear him.
While he covered himself with a barrier and ran, he left me off guard.
One of the earthworms tried to devour me, but I jumped on its back.
Another one devoured me—but didn't digest me because, to eat me, it had to devour the back of its fellow earthworm.
I jumped out of its mouth, and another one devoured me again, but it ate the head of the second worm.
I survived and entered the basement.
It was a fascinating sight. I saw three trees lined up with golden fruits at the center of their trunks, like hearts.
Their roots were modified with mana. These legendary trees used mana and replenished it like a human.
Golden liquid from the roots flowed into a small lake surrounding them.
I poured some of the lake's glowing water and took the fruits.
The water was a deadly poison for any living creature with mana—one touch and you're dead.
Like the fruits, it can only be used for 24 hours. Any longer, and you're dead. But I'm different.
I can talk to my other self. I told Alpha to send me his mana.
Since we're spiritually connected, he did. I used his demon mana to collect a drop of the water.
Alpha asked why, and I showed him the golden root liquid.
He extracted the regenerative juice from it and told me to take it and drink some.
I escaped, dodging monsters, but suddenly, my leg was eaten.
The pain of losing a leg changed me.
Everyone thought I was dead, but I screamed and kept going.
They watched as I regenerated using the water. I lost an arm and regenerated.
A leg—regenerated. When I approached the door, they used sand magic to throw me inside safely.
Everyone celebrated.
After months of suffering, someone had finally brought back the Celestial Fruit.
The barrier user watched and thought to himself: "It's obvious he has no magic, yet he succeeded.
Maybe I am the one at fault.
I accepted being called worthless and became worthless.
I'm supposed to be the brave son of my mom.
I let them bully and humiliate me. I used my barrier technique to play hide and seek, and now people laugh at me."
He was the son of Duke Valerian Nightshade of Avangard kingdom—a legendary hunter's son. Yet, he lost to a non-magic kid.
He swore to become stronger, take revenge, and surpass everyone.
All that talk came from his ego. Now he understands the situation.
Good for him. He's useless now, but I'll help him—get him what he wants.
And in return, he'll get me what I want, without even realizing it.
Suddenly, a woman our age approached me.
She was talented at sand magic and said, "You're strong.
Thank you for helping my family." I replied, "Thanks, but I don't deserve your praise. I only did what I was supposed to."
She offered to pay me a bonus if I'd spare some free time with her.
I said, "Sorry, miss, I have my own plans." She asked where my friend was.
I said, "That kid? Is he alive?" She said, "Something about him feels royal."
I asked if she was royalty too. She said yes and introduced herself: "Princess Layla, daughter of King Fayes."
I stood up and apologized for my informal speech.
She told me not to draw attention and said we were the same age.
She asked me to help her talk to my friend.
I said sure but warned her he was struggling. She replied, "No, he's training hard."
We checked on him. I greeted him, "Yoo buddy, you working out?"
He said yeah, while doing push-ups.
I told him, "Don't feel sorry for yourself. This is your first time.
Failure isn't an end—it's a lesson.
You're being paid for the work, not the progress. Do your best. I believe in you."
He said, "You probably don't know a thing about me."
I said, "If there's something you need to spit out, tell me.
You thought you'd be judged for it? You told the wrong guy—I'm here to listen.
We'll be working together, so let me help."
Even though I say these words, I always wear a poker face. I don't show emotions.
That's why I use strong words—to distract people from my blank expression and make them see that I'm decent inside.
Then he told me about his past:
His mother was Zelda Fizz, one of the world's greatest hunters—beautiful, elegant, and forced to marry the duke.
She never cared for family until she had him.
His father, Duke Valerian Nightshade, expected greatness.
But the son ended up with just one aura skill: barrier. Ashamed, the duke remarried.
A woman with a kid the same age joined the family, and they harassed him.
One day, his stepbrother transferred to his class and stole all his friends.
From then on, he was alone, bullied, and discriminated against.
Even the lowest-ranked people looked down on him. He blamed his barrier skill and believed he was worthless.
He was sold by slavers and ended up here.
Then he saw me defeat the monsters without magic and realized how weak he really was.
The princess cried. She said, "You're not worthless.
You have your mom's beauty and strength.
You're more famous than you think.
My friends and I followed young hunters.
You're like a celebrity.
I was so sad when you disappeared and happy when I found you."
He asked, "Who are you?" She replied, "I'm Princess Layla, firstborn daughter of King Fayes."
He said, "Wow… the princess. Fancy meeting you here."
They kept talking. Me? I just sparked the reaction and let the product form.
Catalyst—or maybe activation energy. Doesn't matter.
They're getting close.
Time to make another pawn useful. Now he's grateful to me—and I'll use him to get to her, if I ever need to.
The next day, he came and properly introduced himself, saying,
"My name is Zephyr Nightshade. From here on out, I'll be in your care."
Still half-asleep, I groaned,
"Whatever. Would you stop yelling? I'm still sleepy."
He replied,
"But it's breakfast time!"
I sat up slowly.
"Wait—it's already morning? What a rough night. Alright, let's get ready."
We walked out of our room.
He seemed happy today—probably had a long talk with her, which must've reminded him of the time when he was well taken care of, before his mother passed away.
It's good to see him smiling.
Time to begin his first training. Actually, I had already planned everything in my head.
"Let's eat after we warm up," I told him.
We ran. Did a few light exercises.
Low-key, he looked really happy—and competitive.
She was watching him from her window while getting ready for the academy.
I guess her presence is all the motivation he needs to push himself.
Terrifying how much influence someone can have, right?
Then I said,
"Let's take a look at your skills. Actually—wait—I already know.
All of them are barrier-based. As expected."
This world lacks specialized knowledge. But that's perfect—I can help him grow.
"Now," I continued,
"I want you to create the maximum number and size of barriers you can."
He focused and produced 100 barriers.
Each one was shaped as an octagon with sides about 1.2 to 1.3 meters, giving a full diameter of roughly 3 to 3.15 meters.
Each could comfortably fit 5 people moving inside.
What the heck is this kid?
He could only hold them for 3 minutes, and that's without any weight or pressure on the barriers.
But even so, it looked like he was holding a ton of weight—like invisible gravity was pushing down on him.