Chapter 5

5 … no … 6 miles away. I’ll be there in 30 seconds. Ethan thinks this while sprinting down a long, open road that leads out of the town. He is currently searching for the large Chi source which he has sensed since the moment he stepped foot into the territory.

For some reason, the Chi levels of the source have spiked this morning, making it incredibly easy for Ethan to track. Sensing they are close, Ethan slows his sprint to a leisurely walk and continues towards the Chi source.

After walking for a few minutes, a small farm comes into Ethan’s line of sight. Along the fence separating the property from the road, he notices a young teen intently staring at a fence stake.

I recognize him.

He’s the same kid he locked eyes with yesterday when he apprehended that car thief. Ethan then starts walking towards the teen, wondering how to strike up a conversation.

I have no experience with being friendly. I guess I could just threaten him, but I feel that approach could … Huh?

Ethan, while staring, suddenly lock eyes with his target and stops in his tracks. The teen then raises his finger and points at Ethan.

“SHIT! YOU'RE THAT BOUNTY HUNTER!” Stunned, it was the only thing Chris could manage to say at the moment while pointing his wavering finger at Ethan.

After getting pointed at, Ethan does the same back to Chris.

“Your the one I've been looking for.” Grim words for Chris to hear. He tenses up, attempting to hide how nervous he is.

I didn't expect to meet him face to face right away. Ethan is slightly surprised about how easily he encountered his ‘target for observation’. Originally, he had been thinking of ways to meet Chris.

Since Chris is a teenager, Ethan assumed he would have to speak with the parents before coming face to face with the teen.

However, now that the opportunity has presented itself, Ethan won’t let it slip through his hands. Seeing his target right in front of him, he moves closer to the fence.

Chris gulps as a result.

What the hell?! Why is he here?! I figured I'd at least be safe on the farm! Did he just say he's been looking for me?! Shit! Wait, maybe he doesn't know yet. Just play it cool.

Chris tries to relax but finds the task more difficult than he thought it would be.

I need to initiate some sort of communication with this potential threat before shit hits the fan. After all, the road to peace is bumpy, so I shouldn’t procrastinate like usual. Wait, what the hell am I even thinking?

Chris realizes thinking is probably bad in this scenario, so he just shuts off that part of his brain.

“Why would you be looking for me?” His words almost catch in his throat.

Unfortunately, Ethan has no idea how nervous Chris is, so he answers casually.

“Out of curiosity. I wanted to ask about your enormous power level.” Ethan realizes he shouldn’t tell Chris that he considers the teen a potential threat and that he came to eliminate him if he determines him to be a risk factor.

To Ethan’s words, Chris's face barely reacts. However, in his head, his jaw just hit the floor.

DAMN! I knew he knew!

“M-My enormous power level. Wha-what are you talking about?” Chris realizes that his plan to feign ignorance is no longer viable. However, he doesn’t know what else to do. In Chris’s mind, Ethan could attack him at any second.

Hearing Chris’s response, Ethan stares at him in disappointment. Although Ethan’s face is not expressive, Chris still notices the slight change.

WAIT! WHY THE HELL IS HE LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!

While Chris is inwardly freaking out, Ethan is evaluating him with a doubtful eye.

It's hard to believe this scrawny nerd possesses the strongest Chi in the territory. But, standing next to him, I can feel massive power radiating off him. He’s almost as strong as I am.

Due to Chris’s lack of control over his energy, the pressure he exudes to those with trained senses, like Ethan, is suffocating.

In response to Chris’s denial of his powers, Ethan simply smirks.

“You have a terrible poker face.”

His words shatter any remaining hope Chris has for his ignorant act. Abandoning all pretense, Chris takes a step backward from the fence and plants a foot into the ground, darting off towards his house.

His eyes are wide and his heart is pounding like crazy. The force created from accelerating up to high speeds smashes a hole in the ground, kicking up a ton of dust into Ethan’s face.

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! Why me!? I know I said I wanted to meet him but he's a lot scarier in person.

In reality, Ethan is not very intimidating, given his small build and relaxed demeanor. The image of him that Chris has in his head has been spawned from Gertrude’s attempts to implant fear into him.

Despite Chris is sprinting at full speed, Ethan follows closely behind. Chris turns around to investigate the distance between Ethan and himself, only to panic when seeing that Ethan is only an arm’s length behind him. Chris finally understands what those people in horror movies feel like.

Freaking out, he tries to increase his speed, but Ethan, utilizing Flash Step, appears in front of Chris, much to the latter’s dismay.

Chris, instead, now tries to decelerate, but his sudden decrease in speed causes him to trip and fall. Due to his previous running speed, Chris rolls on the ground for a considerable distance, tumbling passed Ethan who stood in front of him.

After finally stopping his roll, Chris picks his face up from out of the dirt. He frantically looks around for an incoming attack, only to notice his vision is blurry. Confused, he feels his face, discovering his glasses fell off in the tumble.

FUUUUUCK!!!

He then starts blindly feeling around on the ground for them in a panic. While he would, under less frightening circumstances, make a ‘hitting a guy with glasses’ joke, the current moment is neither the time nor the place. He knows he won’t be able to defend himself if he can’t see incoming attacks.

In his haze, his ears perk as he hears Ethan’s footsteps next to him. He becomes frozen, hoping not to set Ethan off with any sudden movements.

However, what Chris hears can hardly be considered threatening.

“At your 3 o’clock.”

“Huh?”

No threat? Am I so weak that he can be polite to me? Or is he just trying to lure me in with a non-aggressive tone? Either way, just do as he says. Now, which fucking side is my 3 o’clock. Is my head the 12 o’clock? Then 3 would be the right, right?

Chris looks to his right to spots a pair of shoes. He then tracks upwards from the feet to see Ethan holding his glasses. The glasses are then tossed at him, land on the ground in front of him.

“People with your level of speed should get some sports goggles. Otherwise, you'll keep losing your glasses.” Ethan is imagining how frustrating it would be to run at Mach-1 and trying not to lose one’s bifocals.

Chris quickly picks his glasses up and shoves them onto his face. He then stands up and tries to act composed, skeptical of Ethan’s kindness.

He's not attacking? He even gave me back my glasses. Is he even trying to ... wait a minute … Chris finally processes what Ethan said to him.

“For your information, I do have sports glasses.”

Why am I telling him this?! Despite his confidence, Chris realises that what he just said was pretty strange considering the situation.

“Hm, I see.”

“Why'd you give me back my glasses?”

“What would I need your glasses for?”

That’s a good fucking point! The teen is startled by Ethan’s far too logical counter. But Chris still thinks of a reason in Ethan’s stead.

“For not letting me see you as we fight.”

“You want to fight now? It looked like you were running away a minute ago.”

Chris feels the heat rising from his stomach in anger. “WELL, I THOUGHT YOU CAME HERE TO CAPTURE ME!” To Chris, Ethan has absolutely no right to mock him for running away.

However, Ethan had not been mocking him and had simply given an observation.

“Capture? Why? Are you worth anything?”

Chris tilts his head in confusion. “What? Worth? You mean .. like a bounty?”

“I can tell that the answer is no.”

This guy! Chris is starting to get extremely annoyed at how easily Ethan is picking apart everything he’s saying. However, Chris will not voice this complaint as he is also quite nervous right now.

“Um, so just to clarify. You’re not after me?”

“Depends on what you mean. In a sense, I am after you, but I am not a hostile.”

‘I am not a hostile.’ Who talks like that? Chris inwardly makes fun of Ethan rather robotic way of talking. He takes off his glasses and spits on them, noticing that dirt has been smudged on the lenses. He then starts rubbing them with his shirt.

“But you are after me? You said it was because I have a high power level?”

Ethan nods his head. “One of the strongest I've ever encountered.” Ethan has encountered extremely powerful people before, but even then they were mostly 4th tier and 5th tier Awakened. They cannot be compared to Chris, who Ethan estimates to be a high level 6th tier.

“How did you know I have a high power level?” Chris nervously asks. How could anyone tell that he was strong? Chris is sure that he never revealed his powers in public.

Chris puts his glasses back on, satisfied by how shiny the lenses are. He then hears the answer to his question.

“I can sense anyone with abilities using a Chi technique called External Energy Perceivement. Not only this, but I can sense how strong someone is, how far they are from me, if they are currently using their abilities, what their present state of being is, what their mood is, and if they are Power Gem users or not.

Chris nods intently to that long winded explanation.

“Oh okay,” he answers nonchalantly. While Chris's face doesn't move, his brain has just fried.

What the hell is this dude talking about?! He can sense someone’s state of being?! Isn’t that too overpowered?!

Chi? I already knew about that. I think Kika’s boyfriend has that or something, and Gertrude said I might have that as well. But what the hell is a Power Gem?! Is that something I have? Gert never said anything about it.

Chris pushes his scrambled thoughts aside for the moments. He already decided before that thinking too hard would do him more harm than good.

They stand there for a moment before Chris finally voices a single, appropriate question.

“Um … what did all that mean?”

“Uhh,” Ethan sighs, thinking of how foolish he was to expect an ignorant, small town kid to follow the inner workings of Chi manipulation.

“You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Chris shakes his head to Ethan’s question.

“Ok, do you want me to explain it?” Ethan asks with sincerity. While he finds it tedious to try and explain the basics of Chi to an amateur, and logically he shouldn’t be telling his target any useful information, Ethan has now switched to a new game plan.

A young, naive kid with the strength of a high 6th tier? He is prime ally material. If I forge a good relationship with him I can be almost certain that he won’t betray me.

On that note, Ethan gracefully sits down onto the ground and crosses his legs all in one smooth motion. Chris, seeing that Ethan has lowered himself to the ground, does the same. He tries to imitate Ethan’s gracefulness but ends up merely plopping onto the grass field instead.

I don’t think he’s trying to hurt me, but what if he’s trying to get me to sit down so I’m within striking distance. Ugh! Don’t be paranoid!

Chris inwardly shakes his head, trying to dispel his useless worried thoughts as Ethan begins his explanation.

“Ok. Chi is an internal energy that is created within all living beings. Using a technique that allows me to read the Chi of others, I was able to track down your whereabouts.”

“But how? I was so far away.”

“Because your energy is strong enough to be perceived from miles away. Plus, your Chi’s wavelength is strange, allowing me to identify it easily. This leads me to believe you possess a Power Gem.”

“Awesome. What's a power gem?”

What? Ethan’s face creates an expression that mirrors his confusion. However, because his face is normally static, the sudden change slightly startles Chris.

“Did I say something wrong?” he meeks out after being hesitant on whether he should ask or not.

“You seriously don't know? Didn't you crush one at some point in your life.”

“I take offense to that,” Chris jokes as he is slightly taken aback at Ethan’s accusation. “I'm not so irresponsible that I would go around crushing precious gems.”

“You’re supposed to crush them.” Ethan sighs in a frustrated manner. He said he was clueless, but this is a bit much.

“Anyway, that's the only way to get the Gems to integrate with you. You had to of crushed one in your lifetime to have your level of strength, because it’s very clear you have not been trained. Even if you crushed one by accident, you still would have known as integrating with a Gem is quite uncomfortable.”

“Oh.” Chris inwardly sighs relief at the fact that he understood what he was told. After being enlightened by Ethan’s explanation, Chris falls into deep thought, trying his hardest to search through his childhood memories and see if he recalls anything like Ethan described.

But, after a minute, he gives up. “Yeah, I don't remember doing something like that.”

To Chris’s words, Ethan drifts his eyes off into the distance, deep in thought. With the pause in the conversation, Chris awkwardly bites his lip, waiting for Ethan to continue.

“Have you had these abilities all your life?” Ethan asks after a long moment.

“As far back as I can remember.”

“Ah.” Ethan then puts forth a theory. “Then you most likely smashed a Gem as an infant or toddler.”

“Whoa, I must have been a crazy strong toddler to do that,” he says sarcastically. However, to his off handed comment, Ethan's eyes sharpen with realization.

He's right. From what I’ve heard, Gems aren’t hard to break but it still requires a bit of force. A toddler wouldn't have the strength to crush one.

The wheels in Ethan’s head start turning once more.

Was the Gem forcefully integrated into him by a 3rd party? I guess it’s possible. Actually, it’s very probable when considering what he’s told me. However, I won’t tell him this, as I don’t think he cares about how his powers came to be.

“Anyway, your power gem gave you these abilities.”

“Dude, that's so cool.”

And I was right. That mystery concerns him quite a bit, but he just threw it to the back of his mind. Ethan sighs aloud before asking, “So, do you know what your abilities are?”

To this question, Chris smiles and puffs out in chest, as if he’s been wanting Ethan to ask. “Super speed and strength,” he says without hesitation.

“Ok, what else?”

What else? Chris was not expecting that response. What does that mean? Those are the only abilities I have.

“Um … that’s it,” Chris confusedly admits.

“What?”

“Eh?”

The two awkward stare at each other, both trying to figure out what the other is thinking. Ethan stares intently as he tries to dissect the ever growing enigma that is the teenager in front of him.

He doesn’t even have other abilities? Is he really a Power Gem user? No, sitting next to him, I see that his Chi is colored. He is definitely a Gem user. But how does he not know what his own abilities are?

“Your physical abilities are a result of your incredible Chi, but I’m no different in that regard. I’m asking what your gem's primary ability is.”

Chris blankly stares back at Ethan. Shit! I have a ‘primary’ ability? That’s news to me pal. Will he be disappointed if I say I don’t know?! I can’t tell with this guy because he’s as expressive as a statue playing poker.

“Um, S-super s-spee …” Chris meeks out, but he’s cut off.

“No.”

“THEN I DON'T KNOW!”

“Okay. Okay.” Ethan raises his hand in front of his chest, signaling for Chris to calm down. “From what you’re telling me, you probably haven't experimented with your abilities that much.”

Chris nods his head. “Yeah, I'm not allowed to use them except on the farm.”

“Why?”

Chris raises an eyebrow to Ethan’s question. “Duh, because people can't find out,” he says in a tone that implies his statement’s obviousness.

“Why not?”

What, does he not know anything? However, Chris rightfully chooses not to voice this hypocritical thought. Instead, he informs Ethan that “My parents just told me that people will hate me if I do.”

“Why is that?”

“I DON"T KNOW!” Chris throws his hands into the air in frustration with Ethan’s annoying line of questioning.

This time, Ethan ignores Chris’s outburst. “Interesting. So abilities are considered taboo here? I wonder why, since they're fairly normal in the rest of the world.”

This catches Chris's attention. He pushes up his glasses in excitement as he asks “Really?! Is that actually true?!”

Ethan nods his head in confirmation. “Yes. Powers and abilities aren't uncommon in the rest of the world. Sure, they're slightly more rare in Long Continent, but in the rest of the world, Awakened and Gem Users hold all the power.”

Chris’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “That sounds awesome. We never learn about this stuff in school.”

Ethan lets out a sigh of disappointment. They apparently don’t teach basic world knowledge here. I learned about Power Gems when I was 5.

“Did they not teach you anything here? I mean, what about basic geography and political structure.”

To this, Chris nods his head. “Yeah, I learned some of that.”

“Then you know what Conquerors are, yes?”

Adjusting his glasses, if only to seem more intelligent, he then blurts out, “Yeah, of course. Who wouldn’t?”

“Well, then how do you think they came to power?”

“They taught us that these people hired mercenaries to take over the Territories. Of course, I thought that they might be powerful like me, but I was never taught so.”

As he massages his temples with his hands, Ethan falls into deep thought.

You’ve got to be kidding me. This town is so prejudiced towards Awakened that they won’t even teach their kids about them. I guess only a small isolated town like this can cut off all knowledge of Awakened.

Well, I know why I’ve been receiving hateful glares in town. The only question now is, what happened here that turned people against Awakened. I can’t imagine anything major happening out here.

Suddenly, Ethan notices that Chris has been staring at him. Is he waiting for me to say something?

Just then, Chris opens his mouth. “Um … so, what’s the outside world actually like?”

What? Ethan blankly stares back at the teen. How should I answer that question? It’s too broad.

“What do you mean … um … what’s your name?”

Chris freezes for a moment. Oh yeah, I don’t know his name either. I was always taught to not give your name to strangers. I won’t tell if he wo…

“I’m Ethan, by the way.”

Dammit, he told me. Guess I have no choice then.

“I’m … uh … Chris.”

“Ok Chris. What do you want to know about the outside world?”