Test Targets

After the weird talk between Chris and Max, the mood between the both was a little awkward. Although, the awkwardness soon evaporated after Max suggested the drinking games.

Luckily Chris had an above-average alcohol tolerance so he was just a little tipsy but not fully drunk. Walking slowly towards the exit, his eyes suddenly caught sight of familiar figures sitting in his now favorite store.

'La Patisserie'

In the small and aesthetic bakery, a big table was occupied by a group of teenagers that Chris very well recognized.

The group was the same that he had left Cassie with. And there she sat, beautiful and cute in a clean and neat blue sundress. Her cute face blossomed as she chatted with her friends.

Chris smiled at the refreshing sight, however, soon another group joined Cassie's group of 6 people. The new group contained 5 people out of which 4 were male and one female.

Chris squinted at the unknown group that was heading toward the group of his cute little sister and her friends. From their looks, it was quite fair to assume they were what are usually called 'delinquents,' or something like that.

"Hmm?" Chris hummed and walked into the store, of course, he had hidden from the sights of both groups.

"Hello! You are all students of St. Paul School, aren't you??" the male delinquent with blonde hair and metal piercings on his ears, asked Sophia curiously. His muscles bulged and were adored with black tattoos.

"Yes, who are you?" Sophia glanced at the sudden intervention of the delinquent group and the rest of the friends also stopped chatting. If looked at by normal measures, the leader can be considered a little handsome and by looks was nearly similar in age too, maybe a couple of years senior at most.

"We are all students of your neighbor school! What a surprise to meet you people here!" leader smiled brightly, sweeping glances at every female in the group and thoroughly ignoring the males.

"I see," Sophia nodded and then turned her head away, not interested in talking anymore. After all, why would she be interested in talking to the students of the infamous and notorious Mersi School?

"Don't be so cold missy, aren't we all just students of the same locality?" the leader's crony scoffed while resting his elbows on the table.

"I am not being cold. If you are done then please leave," Sophia glared at the crony and bit into the pastry, that at least improved her mood quite a lot.

Cassie nodded, agreeing to Sophia's words. The delinquent group had its own aura that made Cassie feel repulsed by it.

"The rest of the tables are taken already, we have no choice but to share the table." the blonde leader shrugged carelessly and pulled a chair next to Sophia. Seating himself on it.

"There are enough tables empty," Cassie pointed at an empty 6-person table, implying that they should just fuck off and not make bullshit excuses.

"But isn't this table big enough for all of us?" the crony who was recently glared at by Sophie, asked Cassie with a tilt of his head.

"And, so what?" suddenly a cold voice whispered behind the crony in a soft, demonic tone. Cassie's face brightened up hearing the cold yet familiar voice while the crony's face paled and he turned.

Crony turned in fright, coming face to face with a tall young man of just about 19 years old. Dressed in an elegant blazer with marine slim-fit trousers, he was emanating a regal and suppressive aura naturally.

"Who are you to ask?" the crony still a little surprised, asked in an alerted voice while the rest delinquents looked at Chris simultaneously.

"Does that matter?" Chris tilted his head and asked casually, however, his casual words didn't sound 'casual' to anyone but him.

Sensing his bad mood, his awakened aura and mana automatically radiated from his body as the temperature of the surroundings dropped by many degrees and time was as if it was stilled.

The crony stood pale in fright while an invisible but immense amount of pressure pressed on him, making him feel as if he was suffocating and a big boulder was kept on his chest.

The effects of awakened aura and mana on an unawakened wasn't something that can be scoffed at. Especially when the unawakened were of E-Grade City with no bloodline purity to speak of.

Frozen by Chris's sudden outburst, all of the delinquents gaped. Luckily Chris's aura was mainly targetting only those that harbored bad intentions against him.

"Bastard, how dare you attack us?!" unable to stay cool-headed under the intense pressure, the blondie clenched his fists and threw a powerful punch at Chris, maybe he was hoping that the pressure would end once he defeats the cause of it.

"Because I wanted to?" Chris heard the bullshit question and threw an even more bullshit answer from his side, grinning in his mind, 'Yes! Be my test subjects to test my mana channel and new strength!'

Although he was just a C-Grade awakened and didn't possess any affinity to any element, he could still use the naturally neutral mana.

Standing with his hands crossed, Chris tapped a finger on his arm, and suddenly, the incoming fist that was coming as an attack fell on the ground.

The blondie fell to his knees, his stretched arms placed like he was trying to beg for mercy rather than attempting an attack on Chris!

'Telekinesis, interesting, haha! Chris grinned widely in his mind after successfully managing to complete the first and easiest manipulation of mana.

'Hmm... Can I manage to use a magic bullet...?' Chris rubbed his chin in thought, while to others it just seemed like he was flexing his strength and thinking whether he should spare the kneeling blondie.

'Nah, I don't want to pay the hospital bills,' Chris sighed dejectedly and removed the extra suppression over the blondie.

And he swept his gaze all over the delinquent group, however, there was one anomaly... unlike the males of the group who were even struggling to breathe, the girl was relatively normal. Standing a little farther, her cheeks in a shade of pink while it was as if the suppression did not affect her!

'...' Chris didn't even have any words left for this weirdness... He had already etched it in his mind that girls were different, and he should never treat them with common sense. Naturally, the source of such a ridiculous theory was Max.

Sighing at the anomaly and rest delinquents, Chris said coldly, "Leave."

Even the indignant and cocky blondie had no choice but to tuck his tail and run away when he was clearly no match for Chris. Though, he didn't forget to shout a curse for Chris...but... that just caused him to fall headfirst on the cold and hard tiles of the floor...

"Brother! What was that?!" Cassie asked in surprise, she had barely felt any change except that the situation had got a little serious, and before she knew it, the leader of the ragtag delinquent group was kneeling on the floor, begging for mercy.

It was only natural that Chris's suppression did not affect his dear sister. Unfortunately, her friends weren't as lucky as Cassie and had to tolerate the effects of suffocating pressure with fake smiles painted on their faces.

"Your sister. Let's go, we are getting late," Chris lightly implied his unconscious and idiotic twin before shrugging and taking his leave with Cassie, giving a sneaky cold look at Cassie's friends.

"Don't speak of this." he mouthed the words and left, finally the exhausting mall endeavor was finished... or was it?