"I don't need your help. If Anomaly #79 sees your face, it will bring more trouble than it's worth."
"Even I know that. I'm not that stupid," Jack said. "But I have a plan."
Jack scratched the back of his head at Neo's sarcastic tone.
"Believe me on this… Well, you know what? Forget it."
Jack turned around to leave.
"There is something we need to talk about."
Jack sat next to Neo.
Both of them felt prickling sensations all over their skin due to Sunshine.
"Do you know about the trial?"
"It was something about saving the Child of Mana, I think." Jack thought hard and answered. "I did search for it when I first appeared here, but I never found any clue related to the trial."
"That's normal. Information about Child of Mana is protected.
"A Child of Mana is a [Connector]. The people of this era don't understand how the abilities of a Child of Mana work, so they gave a grandiose name to them."
"Connector? What is that?"
Neo blinked, confused.
He turned his head towards Jack slowly and stared at him in the eye.
"You don't know what a Connector is?"
"Is that something I should know about?"
"Jack…" Neo grabbed Jack's shoulders with a serious expression. "I'm pretty sure you said you were going to pass all exams."
"The Academy's first semester's finals."
"Oh, yeah. I'll pass. Why are you asking about it suddenly though?"
"There was a question about [Connectors] in the History-I paper."
"That was the easiest question."
"How the fuck are you going to pass when you didn't know the easiest question's answer?"
Jack's smiling face froze stiff.
He broke the eye contact and looked away.
"I just realized, but I wanted to introduce myself to the blonde guy and the other awakeners—"
"Are you going to pass or not?"
Neo let go of his shoulders and massaged his brows.
"You could get held back or expelled if you fail. You do know that, right? Hell, you acted like you aced the exam. What was that all about?"
"What? I didn't hear you."
"I'm planning to use my credits and buy passing grades with them."
Neo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"That should work. Don't come to me when you get scolded by Sean or Felix though."
"You wouldn't be laughing when Felix finds out about this."
A cold sweat flowed down Jack's back.
"I-I'll manage, probably."
Before Neo could scold him further, Jack stood up and escaped.
"That idiot. Listen about Connectors at least."
Neo clicked his tongue and focused on meditation.
It didn't take long before a foreign presence entered his sensory range.
"Anomaly #79 is here."
Neo picked up the caterpillar and placed it in his pocket.
Just then, the hair at his nape stood on end.
Anomaly #79 appeared behind him, swinging the sword towards his neck.
He unsheathed his sword and used a wide slash.
The monster moved towards him instead of blocking.
It grabbed his wrist and swept Neo's leg to throw him off balance.
A powerful kick hit Neo's side before his falling body landed on the ground.
He flew back, destroying several buildings along the path.
Neo twisted in the air and plunged his sword into the ground.
He stopped rolling away.
His senses blared alarms. Multiple monsters attacked from different directions.
'Should I use my spells? Or should I go to the sea too?'
Neo's mind worked at high speed while he fought the monsters.
'If I use the water in the sea with my water affinity, it will lighten the burden on my divine energy core.'
He twisted his sword and tried to use Kane's sword technique.
Just then, the presence of Death, Darkness, and Shadow flared around Neo.
Confused, he saw his Shadow quiver, and Jack jumped out of it.
"Surprise! I told you I have a plan—"
Neo grabbed Jack's face—closing his eyes in the process—and bolted away from the area.
While he escaped the monsters, he growled,
"Give me one reason why I should not bash your face in."
Jack struggled to talk. Neo's hand covered his entire face and kept his mouth shut.
Neo used Necrotic Touch to decay the ground in a large area.
Dust and gravel covered the place.
He used the opportunity to hide inside a toy store.
"You fucking asshole, do you realize how dangerous Anomaly #79 is!?"
Jack stopped struggling.
Seeing Neo angry for the first time, he realized the situation was dire, and Neo didn't want to get him involved.
He tapped Neo's hand calmly.
Neo clicked his tongue and removed his hand.
"Sorry about that," Jack said with a bitter smile. "I did have a plan. I didn't explained it earlier because I wanted to surprise you, but I guess I should've done that differently."
"You have five seconds before I'm throwing you outside."
The Darkness beneath Neo stretched.
It wrapped the shop in a Coffin of Darkness to stop the monsters from attacking them.
"One is enough." Jack grabbed Neo's hand. "Don't resist."
Jack's shadow overflowed like ink and swallowed them whole.
Neo frowned as he followed Jack's advice.
He blinked, and they were standing on the top of a tower miles away from their last position.
"I hope running away is not your plan.
"The monsters can locate me at every moment, and they will reach us in a few seconds."
"My plan is 'Kaboom.'"
Jack grinned and stepped forward before he turned around.
"Can you sense it, Neo?"
He spread his senses.
For a moment, he didn't find anything weird.
Neo's brows creased tightly.
'It makes sense that corpses are everywhere in an apocalypse. But why are they spread out so evenly?'
He realized it was Jack's doing.
"Don't even think about Necromancy. The Anomaly #79 will target you if your corpses see it."
"That was never my intention."
Jack spread his arms and grinned.
Neo's eyes widened when he sensed the shadow elements spark around the corpses.
The shadow elements mimicked the fire element, and the temperature of the surroundings flared.
The corpses exploded.
It didn't take long before the city was engulfed in a giant explosion, burning away everything.
The shockwaves of the explosion hit Neo and Jack, and their clothes fluttered.
"There. I took care of the monsters with a snap."
Jack grinned, hiding his exhaustion.
He had been going around the city for hours, setting things up for his Unique Skill activation.
If not for his rank and stat boost from when he went berserk, he wouldn't have been able to use an attack of this level.
Jack stepped closer and hit Neo's shoulder with a fist.
"I'll take care of those monsters from tomorrow."
Neo looked at the city and back at Jack.
"Crazy bastard. Are you planning to blow up one city per night?"
"Yup," Jack said. "Don't worry about it. I won't use explosion in too many cities."