Chương 24: Why Are You Here? (2)

(2)

"Everybody has a mana core, whether they are a skill user or not. Skill users are people who have an awakened mana core, meaning they can use mana freely and hence they can use skills." That was common knowledge already in our group of skill users.

"However, when portals open to new planets the mana from the portal spreads. It's like a virus. You can think of it as the mana being airborne. Living beings living on that planet then take in the mana from the portal, which in turn helps their core to awaken." The theory of mana transfer. This was something that was never mentioned in Night Hoppers, but that might be because it was a recent discovery. And Devon was giving such a concise explanation of it. Maybe he really was a nerd. Devon continued speaking.

"This was what I was most worried about when you decided to hop to this planet. I've been studying planets for almost my whole life, and this is something that I noticed frequently. But I didn't have the courage to turn it into formal research and publish it." It was an extremely plausible theory. It was also an extremely realistic theory. Mana from portals acts like a virus and infects certain living beings, allowing them to awaken their core, use skills and control the amount of mana in their bodies.

"This can explain why I'm surrounded by skill users not from our home planet," Devon continued.

"The mana from the portal to Planet Earth has spread to other people, and it doesn't necessarily have to affect the people near the portal at the time of activation." That could explain why Theo was affected and became a skill user despite living the furthest away from the portal room out of our group of friends.

"So you were scared of me going to Planet 500 because you were worried that the people living on that planet will become skill users," Cayman said, trying to summarise and confirm Devon's research. Devon nodded.

"It's a scary thing. You never know what will happen if you give people on Earth powers. People tend to have an insatiable desire for power and status, and I'm only saying this based on experience. You know what happened with The Leak back at home, right?" The Leak? That name sounded oddly familiar…

"What the hell is The Leak?" Maya chimed in.

"Are we supposed to know what that is?" Cayman sighed. Even he knew that what happened with The Leak back on Planet Zero was something to be deeply concerned about.

"It's better to know than to not know, but I'm not sure if this brat here," he pointed to Devon, "wants you guys to know." Hanging his head, Devon continued talking in a sombre tone.

"There are so many things all skill users should know, but it will take too much time to explain all of it to them. That's I would rather not teach any new skill users, because there's a high chance they go rogue anyways." Theo and Maya looked at each other with grim looks on their faces.

"It's not just that." Devon had more to say.

"Mana beasts emerge because mana from the portal activating has spread to animals. That's why they are able to use mana so proficiently and attack people, regardless of whether they are skill users or not. That's why the theory of mana transfer is considered the most groundbreaking theory in modern history." Cayman appeared to be extremely confused.

"You seemed extremely happy to be fighting mana beasts, but you worry so much about meeting new skill users. I don't understand it."

"You don't have to understand," Devon snapped.

"All you need to know is that new skill users tend to be stronger than new mana beasts. They can be more destructive. That's why they need to be kept a secret in this world. Who knows what the hell would happen if The Leak decided to invade this planet?" Cayman shrugged his shoulders.

"Surely by now you would've claimed this planet," Devon added. Cayman shook his head.

"We weren't given any missions when we got here. We didn't even think about claiming this planet. We weren't even thinking about staying on this planet for long." Ellie nodded in agreement. Devon, on the other hand, was distraught. When he finished reprimanding Cayman, he sat by the fence and buried his face in between his knees. He looked like he was about to cry a whole ocean of tears. Cayman turned to face us.

"Looks like I'll be giving you all lessons in the future." He sighed. Then came the flood of questions.

"What's The Leak?"

"When was this theory of mana transfer discovered?"

"Is it true that we became skill users because the portal to this planet was activated?"

"Does that mean that there will be more skill users on this planet?"

"What would that mean for the peace and serenity of this planet?" Theo, Ben and Maya began letting out their questions like water flowing out of a tank. I could tell they didn't understand a single word that left Devon's mouth. And to be honest, neither did I, but I was certain that Night Hoppers would have at least some of the answers to my questions. Cayman sighed again.

"Looks like I'm going to have to explain what The Leak is to you then." he grunted.

"Please do," Theo, Ben and Maya said in unison. And Cayman did just that. Unlike his previous lectures, he actually asked whether we had any questions during his explanation, and when he did, around ten questions would follow every time. According to Night Hoppers, back in the day, there was an organisation that governed skill users and made laws about what skills skill users could and could not use; they were called the Skill User Association.

However, there was a small minority of skill users that didn't agree with the rules set by the organisation, and they set up an informal organisation called The Leak, named because they were the ones that 'leaked' out and became rogue skill users, preaching against the Skill User Association. Eventually, The Leak's teachings gained traction, and more and more skill users stopped following the guidelines set out by the Skill User Association.

This in turn dethroned the Skill User Association, and the organisation ceased to exist only a few years afterwards. That was when The Leak rose to power as an organisation for rogue skill users, and with their immense strength and power, they have been terrorising Planet Zero for at least fifty years.

"It seems like a very scary thing," Maya whispered with her hand covering her mouth.

"The worst thing is that the monopoly of The Leak leaves the skill user world lawless," Cayman added.

"That's why The Leak continues to grow even to this day." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"And that's why you have to watch out for them," Theo said.

"Well, at least you understand something," Cayman replied with some joy in his voice. However, everybody knew that he was feeling extremely gloomy on the inside. Beep! That was the whistle to signal the end of lunchtime.

"Devon," Cayman said to Devon, who still had his head down on his knees.

"You're coming with us to the portal room after school. No excuses." Devon raised his head to make eye contact with Cayman.

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah, sure." Then, after fixing his hair, he got up and trudged back to class. The skill user world is so vast, I thought to myself. It was impossible to know everything about it. However, it was also important to know the most important parts. And the presence of The Leak was definitely one of those important parts.

Four hours later. Cayman, Ellie, Theo, Ben, Maya and I were all standing in the torch-lit portal room, anxiously waiting for the arrival of the new kid, Devon. His arrival had shocked us all since he also wasn't a citizen of Planet Earth. It would take a while for us all to get used to his presence. We eventually heard the sound of someone descending the ladder. It was Devon.

"OK," Devon snorted, still appearing irate.

"What do you need me here for, Cayman Grace?" A part of me still had the impression that Cayman and Devon still hadn't made up from that argument a few hours ago.

"This is Devon." Cayman pointed at Devon.

"From now on, he will be joining our team." Devon jumped back. It was more than a flinch. He was extremely taken aback.

"What? No, I never agreed to that! I only came here to take you home. I never said that I would be joining your team. You don't need my help for your mission." Devon was outraged. Cayman, on the other hand, smirked.

"You have no choice. All the skill users on this planet are going to be joining this team." Devon looked at the ground.

"Fine," he muttered, utterly defeated.

"But this is only a temporary thing. I want to return to Planet Zero, so I won't be on your team for long."

"Ha!" Cayman let out a maniacal laugh.

"You say that, but time flies when you're on missions. Before you know it, you've completed ten missions with us already! You would've forgotten that Planet Zero even existed!" Devon's face was red with anger. He stared at us blankly.

"Do you know everybody's names?" Cayman smirked, winding Devon up even further.

"Do I need to go through them again? Is your memory too small to remember four new names?"

"Yes, I remember everybody's names!" Devon hollered.

"Just tell me why you brought me here!" Cayman sighed.

"Alright. This is Devon. He is also a skill user from Planet Zero. Devon, the reason why I've brought you here is because I want you to talk about your main skill and give a demonstration."

"Is that seriously it?" Devon snapped.

"Can I even trust these guys?" Cayman nodded.

"They won't betray you at all." Devon glared at us with bloodshot eyes.

"OK, I formally admit my defeat. I just have to show them my skill, right?"

"Yes, that's all you have to do." Devon sighed.

"My skill is cloning. I can make clones of myself." Theo, Ben and Maya's eyes opened wide. They were about to see multiple figures of Devon in front of them. Multiple nerds.

"It's a good skill because you never know which clone contains my main body," Devon said in a dull voice.

"I can also switch between clones. So one moment, I'm in school, but simultaneously, I could also be in the portal room." My jaw dropped. Someone with a skill as powerful as this was never mentioned in Night Hoppers.

"Here's a clone of me." Without any further notice, and like cells in the body dividing, Devon split himself into two. There were two figures of Devon staring at us.

"Nobody knows how to create this skill," Devon said when he absorbed his clone back into his body.

"This is my main skill. I can create a ton of clones within the same planet, but I cannot create clones on different planets, not even with the infinite-level skill." Although that was a disappointment for Theo, Ben and Maya, it made perfect sense to me.

"The clones I create can have different personalities to my main body," Devon continued.

"The Devon you guys saw at school today was one of my clones. I was actually somewhere else while you guys were at school. And the Devon that argued with you guys was a completely different Devon to the one in the classroom." Devon got a round of applause from Theo, Ben and Maya. That could explain why the Devon that argued with Cayman during lunchtime behaved completely differently to the Devon I sat next to in maths class. However, that also meant Devon's actual personality was still a complete enigma.

"Well, now that you've told us about your skill, Devon, why not test it out?" Cayman asked Devon.

"Huh?" Cayman led us all into the training room at the back of the portal room, where Ellie had been standing. There, with a remote in one hand, he looked ready to release a ton of mana beasts.

"Theo, Ben, Maya, Robert, it may be better to stay at the back of the room," Cayman explained.

"The mana beasts I'm about to release may hurt you if you're not careful." So now he was saying that mana beasts have the ability to kill people. Why did he not say it earlier? That got me thinking about the level that Cayman, Ellie and Devon were at. Surely they wouldn't be hopping to this planet if they were only at the advanced level, right? If planets could be classified using the Bali system, Planet Earth would probably be a legendary-level planet.

That meant the three skill users from Planet Zero had to be at the legendary level, and I was certain Cayman was going to release a horde of legendary-level beasts.

"Release the mana beasts!" Cayman yelled at the top of his voice.

"Huh?" Devon, who was unprepared, was rooted to the spot when a stampede of legendary-level black spotted jaguars began hurtling towards him at full speed. Eventually, when he saw that the beasts were running in different directions, he mustered up the courage and activated his cloning skill, splitting into three different bodies. Two of the clones then brandished large swords from their system and unsheathed them; the metallic sound it produced resonated around the room.

Then he and his clones charged at the mana beasts. His speed was too great for him to be running around; instead, it looked like he was using teleportation. Maybe he had the same skills as us, I thought. Stab! Stab! Pow! Devon and his clones were using completely different ways to defeat the mana beasts in front of them. One of his clones was teleporting all around the place which made us feel dizzy and another one of his clones was trying to punch the beasts to death.

However, eventually, all the beasts fell to the floor as corpses, defeated.

"Thanks for the free mana crystals, brat," Devon said as he knelt down and grabbed the mana crystals the beasts had dropped. He was panting and wiped sweat off his forehead. He had defeated at least ten legendary-level mana beasts in his tattered school uniform, which was still intact on all of his clones. The mana crystals that Devon picked up were yellow; they were as bright as a high-visibility jacket. Devon let the system eat up his crystals, but that just meant he was storing them in his inventory.

"Any guesses as to what stage Devon is at?" I asked my friends.

"Probably stage 10 or stage 11," Ben replied with a huge grin on his face.

"That guy looks extremely strong. I think he can match Cayman in terms of strength." Duh. Devon turned to face Cayman.

"What did you have me do that for?" he asked angrily. He was still fuming. Cayman just smirked.

"I'm planning on sending these guys on a solo mission to gain experience," he said.

"Of course, this is the first time they're hearing this, but remember that the rewards of being Hoppers are greater than the risks, so they'll be fine, and they'll end up rich."

"Is that the only thing you care about?" Devon boomed. If he shouted just one more sentence at that volume, our eardrums would have been cracked like they were egg shells.

"What are you going to have those guys do? They haven't even learned skill creation yet!"

"Relax," Cayman replied.

"I have my own way of teaching my students, and you may have a different way. Just trust the process. They're doing well." Theo, who had been at the back of the room with us, walked up to Cayman and Devon.

"Excuse me, but what are we going to be doing the solo missions for?" he inquired.

"Is there a particular reason why we're doing them?"

"You'll find out," was Cayman's blunt reply.

"The most important thing is that you need experience." Theo sighed. However, what Cayman had to say next was definitely going to lift the mood of everybody in the room.

"I was thinking that we start the solo missions this weekend. What do you think? I'll give out really good rewards, and if you do really well on these missions, I was thinking that we could all drop out of school and become Hoppers full-time."