Leon opened his eyes. He woke up in the same room as Clyde earlier. He wanted to sit up immediately but the straps and shackles kept him lying in place.
Leon frowned because he felt like a madman in the asylum. Exactly how Clyde felt when he first woke up.
"What the fuck is going on? Where am I?"
Leon cast his eyes around but he only saw an empty room with nothing to give any sign of his whereabouts.
"Excuse me!" Leon shouted. "Is anyone there?"
Moments later James came through the door. The bespectacled youth stared at Leon with a surprised expression on his face. But then he immediately smiled, though it was an awkward-looking smile.
"Hi, how are you?" James asked while walking towards the bed where Leon was lying.
"Uhm, I don't know how to answer you," Leon said.
"Ah, don't worry. It's fine," said James.
'Then why did you bother asking?' Leon thought in a slightly irritated tone.
James picked up what looked like a clipboard and looked at Leon from head to toe. His eyes that were behind the glasses looked lit up when he saw something that Leon couldn't see.
For this, James didn't need to use his abilities because he knew that Leon had not reached the same stage of healing as Clyde at that time.
After a moment James nodded, as if satisfied with what he had seen. Leon can't help but ask.
"How is my condition?"
Leon knew that James had just examined him using only his eyes. He didn't know how it worked but it didn't matter because Leon saw James nodding in satisfaction, so he was most likely fine. But he still had to ask.
"You're fine. Just need a little rest," said James. Then he chuckles. "I'm not too surprised by your speedy recovery since I've seen someone with a more shocking recovery."
Leon frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You know, Clyde. The man who came with you is now recovered. Even now he's probably doing training in the plains."
Leon came to a realization. Suddenly his brain, which had only been thinking about his situation and the straps pressing against his body, now remembered what happened before coming here.
'I almost died that time. Then, the man with the dark purple coat came to save us.'
James noticed the look on Leon's face that looked dazed as if he was remembering something important.
"You don't need to worry. Here, you are safe," James said with a smile. "My name is James, by the way."
"James!" Leon said, suddenly. "You know where the man who was saving us is?"
"Oh, he's away right now," said James.
"I want to thank him. We owe him our lives," Leon said.
James smiled. "We all owe our lives to someone in this fortress. And you don't need to worry about that because you will have a good chance to thank him later."
Leon looked at James questioningly. "Fortress?"
"Yeah." James nodded. "I know there's a lot you don't understand."
James took a chair and sat beside Leon's bed. "I'll explain as best I can."
James started telling him about this fortress and everything he needed to know. At that time, the other members of Leon's group began to regain their consciousness one by one.
Meanwhile, Clyde, who was still in the plains, had begun to grasp the power of lightning in his hands. Just like before when he wanted to use his fire power, Clyde only needed to concentrate a bit.
A moment later he felt a tingling all over his body. It's different from his previous fire power which is [Skill: Burning Hand] which means fire only appears in his hands. [Skill: Pure Lightning] enveloped his whole body when he used it.
Several people who realized that turned to Clyde with eyes full of amazement.
"Yes. It's fucking lightning."
"Wasn't the last time he had the power of fire? The last time he fought with the power of fire with Nikos."
"Well, he definitely has an affinity for one more element."
When they talk, lightning starts to appear around Clyde's body. Nikos was there, being one of the people looking at Clyde.
"Hey, Nikos. Do you want to challenge him again?" one member of his group asked with a mocking tone. Those words were greeted with laughter by the other group members.
Nikos, who was with his group members, already knew that they would tease him about this. It can't be helped since he himself started the problem.
"Fuck you, man. Why don't you try fighting him yourself and then let's see if you can still laugh like that after that," said Nikos with an irritated tone that was clear in his voice.
"Ha! I'm not stupid enough to do that like you."
Then, his other friends responded with the same laughter. Nikos actually realized his stupidity at that time.
He thought himself to be one of the strongest people in this place.
He genuinely thought that he was indeed strong because he had once fought Samuel and he said that he had a good affinity and Mana control.
It made him feel a little bit arrogant. However, he was suddenly humbled by that newcomer.
Nikos couldn't even feel anger or grudge towards Clyde because he realized the difference in their strengths. That did not allow him to feel that he could take revenge.
So Nikos didn't. Even he knew at that moment Clyde only used a little effort to beat him.
Nikos felt that if Clyde knew he was planning revenge, Clyde would not hesitate to roast him alive.
"Let's restart our training." Nikos thought there was no point in thinking about Clyde anymore. He thought that not getting involved in any longer business or animosity with Clyde was the wisest choice he could make.
And after all, Clyde can become an additional force in this fortress to deal with threats that come and plan attacks on the Celestials.
Just as they were about to restart their training, they heard a distinctive sound of rustling thunder. Then, flashes of lights on a bright sunny day appear.
This shocked everyone on the plains and made them all turn to look at Clyde, who was the source of all the commotion.
Bluish-white lightning flashed and shot from around Clyde's body. The lightning whipped wildly around and sent grass and pieces of earth flying.
Clyde felt a surge of lightning power in his body just like when he had felt it on the Selection Stage. But he felt that the power of the lightning was not as strong as before.
'What happened? Is it because I just started using it now?'
He didn't feel the same about his fire power. Back then he could use that fire power with the same power as in the Selection Stage.
However, Clyde didn't think too much about it and continued to practice using his lightning powers.
He was sure that with time and the more he used it his lightning powers would get stronger.
There was a big tree located not far from where he stood. He dashed towards the tree with the power of his lightning allowing him to get there in the blink of an eye.