''Then again... How did you even open the passage?'' Haize suddenly asked, and John looked at him strangely, ''Uh, by using Mana to see your fingerprints?''

''Makes sense.'' Lyse nodded.

''Oh.'' A sudden realization came to Haize's mind. As someone who came from the ''outside'' of this place, he must know a bit about the factions. Maybe there were some of his subordinates there, ''Hm... How many factions do you know? Is the city's situation the same as ours, only being able to leave after defeating the strong monsters?''

Under the siblings' intense stare, John even felt a bit embarrassed. It was as if he was explaining high-tech to people who didn't even know what computers were, ''Yeah, the situation is the same as here, only by defeating the Lord-level being of the city can we leave. I know some factions as well, by the way, one of them call themselves Covering Sun faction.''

''Covering Sun? Who is the leader of that faction?'' Haize's curiosity was picked up. There were only a few people who had his permission to lead the Covering Sun Corps.

As for someone impersonating him... That would be impossible because no one in this world dared to do such a thing. Even if someone did, they wouldn't end well.

If the leader of that faction wasn't one of these people... Haize's eyes who were gentle, suddenly turned as cold as an iceberg. John's body shivered as the black-haired man stared at him, he felt as if he was in a pool of ice with a temperature of absolute zero. Maybe he noticed his own actions, as Haize retracted his gaze.

''Um... The leader just calls himself Zian, nobody knows his true name.'' John said in a cheerful manner after noticing that Haize was as calm as gentle water. The black-haired man truly was a bit surprised. This was the codename he gave to his most trusted subordinate, the person who acted as the hidden blade.

The man was trying to send him a message, that he was still alive. Haize silently nodded, aside from being his most trusted subordinate, that man was also considered family for them.

Lyse's ears perked up after hearing John's words as he said, ''Zian? Isn't that uncle Zian? He's a good person, I like him, yup. He even taught me how to use a dagger, you know?''

'Of course, I know. I instructed him to teach you!' Haize thought while rolling his eyes, feeling slightly speechless. Shaking his head, the black-haired man brought his phone out. An automatic update started, and so he waited while meditating.

''Huh? My phone says that it'll take a day before starting the update, wow, I can only guess the crazy dude who started this apocalypse blessed you!'' Lyse and John said while feeling slightly dejected. Haize had to admit, these two were practically the same in personality, except that one is super cheerful while the other is just cheerful.

Another thirty minutes passed as the trio quietly waited. Haize completely recovered his Mana while noticing that it somewhat increased and that the size of his Mana Sphere also became slightly bigger in size. Haize decided that they would attack in about half a month.

And so he said, ''Our current food, that is, an ordinary White-furred Bear and an ordinary Horned Lizard, one Leader-level White-furred Bear and one ordinary Blue-scaled Gecko can last for about half a month.''

''Our battle strength is high, so we should focus on increasing the control of our abilities, and also increase our Mana Stage the maximum we can. The biggest disadvantage we have over these monsters is that they were born fighting, they know how to use their abilities to the best.'' Haize said, and Lyse immediately nodded. He knew that this is indeed their disadvantage.

John also nodded as he had experienced a lot outside, ''I can prevent the food from decaying, this is something I learned before coming here. By the way, did you two see that there are words on the sky saying that the monsters would invade the rest of the Earth in a week?''

''I didn't, but man... The rest of the world is goddammit f*cked up, lol.'' Lyse said while chuckling before turning serious, ''This means that we need to overtake this place as soon as possible, I believe that this time the invasion will take longer than before since the rest of the world will be prepared.''

Haize also nodded in agreement, the monsters would invade in a week and the world can most likely delay it for about two weeks. Unless even stronger monsters come, as long as they use tanks, it's possible to at least delay the monsters up to 1-Star.

''This means... We won't have half a month, but only a week to dominate this place. The faster we do it, the better.'' Haize said after a bit of pondering, he knew that this couldn't be delayed. They needed to get a foothold on the apocalypse before sh*t completely hits the fan.

As someone who evolved and awakened Mana, Haize was deeply aware of the terrifying abilities a user of Mana has. Even someone who just became a 0-Star being is nearly immune to bullets. He can also faintly feel that someone at 1-Star can resist tanks while suffering just minor injuries.

At the same time, Haize was confident that in a week, they would be able to completely dominate this area. The confidence that he has in his own talent is overwhelming, and he felt that in a week, his goal was indeed possible. On the side, both Lyse and John started meditating while Haize took out the updated phone.

Its apps changed, as only a big app with the words 'Low-level Intergalactic Network' was shown on the screen. After opening it, Haize noticed that the only thing he could do was to open the Planet Earth's forum, as any others were censured and gray in color. There was also the option to create a forum, and so he did.

It was named Covering Sun Forum, with the leader being Sol Haize. This was a message to Zian, a sign for the man and the rest of the faction members to join it. Only those who had their solicitation accepted by him could enter it.

Shaking his head, Haize decided that before even trying to focus on that, getting stronger was the most important goal. As such, he quietly closed his eyes before starting to meditate, slowly increasing the size of his Mana Sphere. At the same time, he was also training his Mana control, as it was directly related to the control of his skills.

A week quietly passed, and every day Haize would take some time to check the forum he created. On the first day that the updates were made, Zian had already been accepted in the forum and was responsible for recruiting the members with the role Vice-Leader.

After exactly seven days passed, the trio opened their eyes. A strong aura oozed out of them, Haize's aura being overwhelmingly stronger than the other two. Lyse and John had the same intensity, being equally strong.

Haize stood up, his gaze was as sharp as a sword. A fiery golden-colored Flame burned deep inside his eyes, as he muttered, ''It's time to go, Ly, John.''

The duo smirked after hearing his words.