22 - Interesting Person

"Why would I be afraid of something that I will eventually achieve myself?"

Hearing Noah's response, the woman was surprised. If what he said was true, then he was probably also a Blessed Rank C, but he didn't look like a Blessed Rank C, since when someone awakens such a powerful Blessing, the person instinctively starts to relate to other people in that rank and consequently begins to absorb those customs and mannerisms of the social circle that would be fitting.

But this man in front of her was not like that. He was obviously past the age of awakening his own Blessing some time ago, so he would have interacted with these people long enough to absorb part of the customs, even if subconsciously. This was part of the mental programming for humanity: if you want to join a group, your brain, without you realizing it, will start copying what people of that style do so that they see you as one of themselves.

None of this was present in this man in front of her; he did not try to integrate himself in this circle of people, so he had his own style that simply would not mix. "Interesting..." she said to herself in a low voice. "Thanks for the conversation. I hope to meet someone as interesting as you again in the future," she told Noah before leaving.

Noah watched her leave until she was out of his sight. He was always that kind of person: if someone came to talk to him without aggression or ill will, he would be polite to them. It was like an old saying that he once heard: "Give me a grain of good rice and I will give you a handful in the future, but give me a grain of bad rice and I will give you a bucketful in the future." Basically he wouldn't be arrogant or treat anyone badly for no reason, but if the person treated him poorly, he would lose all decorum with that person.

After what happened to the fat man, Noah found nothing else worth noting, so seeing that his plate was already empty, he took it and prepared to go get more food. But before he could start heading over to the food table, he heard someone speaking to him. "It looks like you haven't eaten in days. Don't you have food at home?"

Hearing that, Noah was not angry but opened a big smile on his face when he turned and saw Carlos looking at him with a genuine grin as big as his own. The two were like that: at any opportunity to make fun of each other, they would go at each other, but of course, without getting into a personal fight.

"While I don't have food at home, you look like you've eaten your whole house!" Noah laughed while giving Carlos a hug and mocking Carlos' belly, which when they had been in school didn't even show up, but after staying at home or at his parents' company, he started to get rounder with time.

Hearing what Noah said, Carlos punched his friend in the shoulder and laughed. "At this point I cannot argue. After all, I am talking to the one Blessed by the god of beauty, the one who eats as much as he wants and still has the perfect physique without putting on a single gram more than he should!"

"Touché!" Noah responded with arms raised in surrender, laughing with his friend.

"I missed you, bro. We haven't been together in a long time. How is life? Have you given up invading Fortresses?" Carlos asked worriedly. He knew that Noah was not a high ranked Blessed, so the chance of his best friend dying in any random Fortress was very high.

"I missed you too. Today I invaded a Fortress that in the end turned out to be a Super Fortress." Noah answered honestly.

"Wait a second… were you in *that* Super Fortress? This is the subject of the moment. Everyone I know is commenting on the note that the government released informing us all about this Super Fortress that only 4 Blessed people left from alive, while the other 11 died inside. Robert's younger brother keeps telling everyone how spectacular he was for surviving this Super Fortress," Carlos said with an astonished face.

"Oh… are you serious? I didn't know that was happening. I spent the whole day with Maggy, so I didn't pay much attention to the news. But you talked about someone who also participated there. Who was it?" Noah asked, surprised. He didn't think Carlos would know anyone from that Fortress.

"He's Robert's younger brother. Robert awoke a Rank C Blessing at 16 and nowadays at 23 he has already reached the strength of a peak Blessed Rank D, almost crossing the threshold between Rank D and Rank C. His younger brother also awoke at 16 years, but unlike his brother, his Blessing was only Rank D, so people don't pay as much attention to him as they do to the older brother," Carlos said.

After hearing his friend's explanation, Noah already knew who he was talking about. In that Fortress, only one person fit the characteristics described by Carlos. Now, what Noah didn't know is that Harry had an older brother with a Rank C Blessing, and mostly that he had almost reached the full strength of the Blessing itself.

With each rank, the strength of a Blessed person gets a very big jump, not to mention that with such a high rank, the amount of skills that a Blessed person knew would be much greater, since when a person receives a Blessing, they just learn to basically control the Blessing a single way. Harry knew how to make ice stones; the man Noah killed knew how to turn his body into wood; the other man knew how to heat the temperature around a person.

For one to be able to control their Blessing to do other things besides a single skill, one would have to train a lot and have a high talent, as there were some Blessed Rank D who had never been able to control their own skill in any other way than the way they learned along with receiving the Blessing.

For Harry's brother to almost reach Rank C so fast, he certainly had good talent, so he would also have at least one extra skill up his sleeve.

"Wait... Robert's younger brother described all the people who came out of that Super Stronghold alive, and they all had a good Blessing ... if you got out of there alive... don't tell me that..." Carlos looked at Noah with a shocked look.

Noah said nothing and just raised his hand and in his palm a small flame appeared out of nowhere and floated in that empty space as if it had a life of its own.

Noah wanted to have a camera to record the surprised face that Carlos was making. "I told you that I just didn't know how to control my Blessing well yet. I was going to tell you that I managed to control it recently."

Carlos was in shock for a few seconds until he finally opened a big smile on his face, truly happy that his friend managed to control his own Blessing. Noah had said that to him since the time he woke up his own Blessing, but even though Carlos was his best friend, it was hard to believe the story that his friend told. There was never a case of a Blessed person who couldn't control his own Blessing. But now, seeing Noah manage to control the flames above his hand as if it weren't simply a wisp of flames but an actual appendage attached to him made all Carlos' suspicions disappear.

"We must celebrate!" Carlos said with a big smile on his face.

Hearing what he said, Noah's face lost its color and he showed a worried expression instantly. The last time he saw Carlos wanting to celebrate something like this hadn't ended well. The only thing Noah remembered was that sometime in the morning he opened his eyes and saw several empty bottles of vodka and whiskey on the table while Carlos was sleeping on the floor hugging the dog.

"No. No! Definitely not! Don't even think about it! I have an appointment tomorrow!" Noah did not let Carlos continue with his idea at all. Noah had to evolve his skill and get more experience to unlock another skill; he couldn't waste time now drinking for an entire day and spending three more days with a hangover.

"Damn… Okay, we might not get to celebrate it today, but one day we will!" Carlos said just a little less excited than before.

As the two laughed and mocked each other, Noah noticed a familiar face from the corner of his eye looking at him with malice. When he turned to see who it was, he saw that it was Harry, still with a tired look on his face, but you could see the pride behind that tiredness - probably because he was so proud of himself while everyone else praised him.

And to Harry's side, there was a handsome man with a face that Noah already knew as well, looking at him with a puzzled look. That man was the owner of the Mercedes that sent Noah to park his car thinking he was a valet.

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Sunday's Extra Chapters Challenge!

[1.300 Stones = 2 Extra Chapter]

[1.500 Stones = 4 Extra Chapters]

[+500 Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]