Great Potential

Alex maintained a blank expression as he stared at the child who struggled against a monster slightly strong than the dogs he had fought. If the situation was analyzed by a beginner, they would find nothing amiss. However, Alex could easily spot something extraordinary about the situation.

A child who looked barely twelve years old held a knife in his hand. He struggled against a wolf twice his size and was barely injured at all. People who hadn't fought the creature would heavily underestimate it, but people who had experienced the true horror of monsters would easily recognize that the child was special.

It was almost impossible for even a grown man to block a single strike of a wolf monster, yet the child was doing so without entering close combat. He wasn't even using the knife.

"Hey, kid!" Alex called out, waving his hand slightly in the air. Realizing his mistake of trying to distract the kid from his battle, Alex instead decided to approach him slowly. That's when he realized the truth about the situation. The elemental dark energy that encompassed the wolf's body was being drawn towards the kid, which meant the latter had an affinity with the element of darkness.

'Is it an inherent skill?' Alex wondered, scrunching his eyebrows to think. 'I don't think we met in my previous life, so he should have died here. But if it's an inherent skill that grants affinity to the element of darkness, I can't let him die.'

The wolf paid no attention to Alex, and instead pounced at the kid, whose eyes widened as he watched absent-mindedly. Alex wanted to interfere, but he needed to test the value of the kid before helping.

"Kid, lean towards the front and take one step forward as if doing lunges," Alex spoke calmly, and surprisingly, the kid followed his orders perfectly. Entering a bowing position while taking a long step forward while stretching his inner thighs, the kid ended up behind the wolf, who had already reached the kid's previous location.

Alex nodded proudly before announcing another move. "Clutch your knife, turn around, and take one step to the left. When the wolf is in the air and is heading towards your direction, retract the step and pierce its abdomen."

The kid did what Alex said without question, inevitably digging into the wolf's skin using most of his strength. What surprised Alex was the fact that the darkness coating the wolf was being drawn into the kid's knife and then his body.

'Yep, it's definitely an inherent skill involving not only affinity but also the manipulation of the element of darkness,' Alex concluded his thesis, walking towards the boy before locking eyes with him.

The kid was petite, to say the least. He possessed immature features which had the potential to become attractive in the future. With his dirty-blonde hair and a blank face, the child stared back at Alex, blood covering his clothes and most of his body as well.

"Thank you," The child muttered as he locked eyes with Alex. "I'm Maxwell Thompson."

"Alex Horatius," Alex responded immediately, waiting for an opportunity to ask what skill the boy possessed. Maxwell had proved to Alex that he was valuable by following his orders perfectly. Now, the only two things that mattered were what skill he had and if he wanted to become Alex's partner.

"Why did you help me, Alex?" Maxwell asked with an emotionless expression as he scrutinized Alex's appearance. 'He's strong, very strong,' he concluded.

"Why shouldn't I have?" Alex responded as if it were obvious, but it was most definitely a lie.

"It's an apocalyptic world," Maxwell began. "Scary creatures appeared, meteors fell from the sky, a big, ugly face is staring at us, and a cute voice threatened our safety. In this situation, do you really think someone would be willing to help another unconditionally?"

Alex shook his head, maintaining his poker face. However, his actual emotions consisted of pure elation at having discovered a hidden gem. 'This kid is perfect!'

"Then, why did you help me, Alex?" Maxwell persisted, awaiting an answer as he wiped the tip of his knife using his orange shirt. "Are you a kidnapper?"

"A kidnapper, huh?" Alex chuckled as he awkwardly covered his mouth using his palm. "What would you do if I were a kidnapper?"

"Usually, I would run if you didn't have a weapon," Maxwell answered calmly. "But you have a weapon, and a good one, too. Plus, you're strong, maybe even stronger than my elder brother. Now, I'll ask again. Why did you help me?"

"I'm going to be perfectly honest with you," Alex announced. "I believe you have a 'skill' that involves the manipulation of elemental power. I also believe you have mana, which is extremely rare."

The reason Alex was being so honest was purely due to the fact that Maxwell had impressed him. Whether he was just a child or not, his reasoning and observation skills were on point, and he even managed to judge Alex's strength, although the latter didn't know how strong Maxwell's brother was.

Maxwell raised an eyebrow, but soon nodded. "So, you believe I have something called a 'skill' and 'mana'? To conclude, you believe I have the potential to be useful to you, is that correct?"

Alex revealed a slight grin before nodding, causing Maxwell to fall into deep thought.

"How do I know if I have a skill or not?"

"You can't find out until all of Vancouver is destroyed, and when Canada itself is combined into one territory," Alex responded. "To put it simply, you won't know for about… a month."

"You seem to know a lot about this apocalypse… are you a prophet?"

Alex scratched his chin as he thought for a while. Finally, with a content smile, he nodded. "I guess you could think of me as something like a prophet."

Even though it was a lie, Alex really felt a prophet was the perfect word, since he knew of the events that would eventually occur. He coughed awkwardly, however, as he noticed Maxwell staring up at him with glittering eyes.

"Do I have to follow you now?" Maxwell asked, attaching his knife to a hook on his jeans. The blood on his face caused his appearance to degrade into that of a murderer or assassin, but Alex found that pleasing.

"No, not yet," Alex responded, not paying mind to Maxwell's instant dejection. "You need to become strong enough. Absorb at least 20 Stones of Soma before we meet again."

"What are Stones of Soma?" Maxwell asked, unbeknownst to the terminology used in Telos Dou Dromou.

"The stones that monsters drop after their death."

"Like that?" Maxwell quickly ran towards the corpse of the wolf he had slain and retrieved two shining stones, staring at them with eyes of curiosity. Alex nodded and raised an eyebrow at the fact that two stones had dropped, which meant that the strength of the wolf exceeded his expectations.

'That only makes him a better potential companion,' Alex smiled inwardly.

"Swallow it," Alex ordered, and Maxwell did so without raising a single question or showing any change of expression. The former watched as Maxwell groveled on the ground beneath, struggling to cope with the pain caused due to swallowing the stone.

Alex remembered the time he and a couple of others had discovered how to absorb a stone. 'I believe it was a couple of hours ago in the previous timeline.'

When the bleeding and pain diminished, Maxwell stood up with a blank expression, obviously traumatized due to the intense pain. However, after recovering, he noticed several drastic improvements in his physique and immediately thanked Alex.

"I'm going to take my leave, Alex," Maxwell announced before waving slightly. He had noticed Alex's urge to leave and had reacted before he could.

"Yes, I also have something important to do," Alex said as he walked the other way towards the tower of Bryxton, clutching his knife tightly due to what seemed to be nervousness.

'I really hope this goes well.'