CHAPTER 69: JUST A NORMAL GUY

Outskirts of the Capital City of Plenaria Empire

Normally, sleep would be something people engaged in as the day headed for its routine end.

In the second army war camp, however, abnormal was the new normal, and the old normal was looked weird upon.

It was in the middle of the day, when the sun was at its daily highest, that the "guests" from another world were told to sleep.

Normally, only those who truly learned the pains of adulting and working for pennies just to survive would appreciate such a mid-day nap.

Then again, in the second army war camp, normal...

All twenty-eight of the former students, now lowly recruits, slept like logs.

After all the constant training and exercise on the level bordering outright bullying, they were happy to catch any rest they could. Midday, midnight, in this hellish place no one gave a damn about such grammar issues like that.

And so, all twenty-eight of them, the two outliers included, locked themselves in their tent, covering their heads with whatever they could use to block the sunlight.

Or so, the drill sergeant of the group would believe.

Because in one of the tents, one of the mere four private ones, Lukas opened his eyes.

’It’s time.’

His body was battered. There were huge, dark circles under his eyes. By all means, his body was screaming for some rest.

And yet, rather than making use of the opportunity to get some, he endured the hour it took for everyone to believe he had long since fallen asleep.

With the scrutiny of the guards around the "guests" camp now decreased, he rose up before reaching out with his hand.

Lukas closed his eyes, sensing the mana flowing through his body. His body relaxed.

Then, he suddenly tightened all up, as if he was about to drop the biggest and fattest dunce right through his pants and into his relatively comfortable bedding...

Only to relax again as he opened up his eyes.

This time, however, it wasn’t the insides of his narrow, cramped tent that he looked at.

It was the skeletal remains of his system. A scattered corpse of what was once a complex and profound logical construct that bound his very mana into a much greater, more intricate design that permeated every inch of this world.

Lukas, the normal guy of the class. So normal, even teachers struggled to sometimes notice him in the class - that’s how much he blended into every crowd he would step in.

A quality born from his surgically altered face, magically altered aura and set of perfectly honest skills he never stopped practicing even for a second.

He was just a normal guy... And the singular healer within the group of the summoned otherworlders, the only one to receive a system described by more than just a set of letters.

’Back then, I really thought the ruse was up,’ Lukas thought, taking one last look at the slowly scattering remains of his system before waving it away and then moving his open hand down against his chest.

With a sliver of thought, his mana rushed inside, healing all the wear and tear from the recent exercise, bringing all of his well-honed body right back to its peak state.

All, with the exception of his outer appearance.

’Honestly, even now I’m not sure whether I should be thankful or hateful over it.’

The only reason why no one dared to doubt the weird rank of his system, the only letter with a plus rank in the history of this world, was because the systems were absolute.

A blessing of Jahel, a local deity... or a named interpretation the locals came up with for the forces they couldn’t quite yet grasp with their minds.

What Lukas saw, however, was quite clear and omnipresent, a constant drag on his mind from the moment he cast aside the chains of his own preconceived fate.

He was just a normal guy.

Above that, however, he was free.

Or so he thought, until his sixth birthday, when his father revealed the truth about Earth to him.

"We are all slaves to a greater design, one we will never be able to fully explore even if we spend our entire lives trying to," his father said back then, setting young Lukas on the journey towards enlightenment. A path as filled with relief and happiness as it was with plight and anguish.

He took those words to his heart. And ever since that day, he prepared.

He endured pain, constant lessons, even the study of the craft that he was bound never to properly practice! He overcame training that made this war camp seem like a summer outing!

And now, it was finally time for him to make his move.

"The remains of this thing will only last for long enough," Lukas muttered to himself as he skipped the whole "system" part of the process of using magic and used his once useless expertise to properly grab hold over his own mana and infuse all of it right back into his body.

The energy he obtained from destroying his system from within was but a sliver of what his system, despite its measly rank, was composed of. Most of it, however, was simply too entangled, too convoluted, too complex for him to use properly.

And yet, for his current purpose, it would be enough.

’Let there be light.’ Lukas chanted in his thoughts, even though there was absolutely no need for him to do so.

The magic that he knew, the mystical art he learned back on Earth, developed as much by theoretical physicists as it was born from the delusion of those deprived of their sanity... It was way too advanced to require something as crude as an incantation.

Just a thought would suffice.

As Lukas’ mana now bent the light around him, he finally pushed the cloth of his tent open before sneaking out...

And standing upright, acting as if he was right where everyone in this world expected him to be.

A nearby guard looked over, his eyes passing over Lukas as if he wasn’t even there.

A patrol of three guards marched right next to him, none any wiser about his presence.

Lukas’ eyes, however, were already on his prize.

The very middle of that devilish marathon track, a circle of a path beaten into the dirt by the constant running of the recruits.

And for Lukas’ intents and purposes, just the right spot to properly replenish his reserves and allow him to unlock the full potential of his powers - potential formerly stifled and limited by his so-called system.

It truly was a clever design.

A system that rewarded one’s effort to pursue greater strength with growth they would never be able to achieve otherwise.

But it was all a lie, a clever scam, a manipulation rooted so deeply into everyone’s common sense, there was not a soul left to question it.

It was a system that limited everyone’s potential and then rewarded them with a fraction of their supposed rewards while using what it parasitically skimmed to further reinforce the chains that held its victims down.

’Now, let’s see...’ Upon arriving at his destination, Lukas sat down and crossed his legs, letting his light-bending spell cover his presence as he focused on the task at hand.

Here, in the middle of a field over which countless men pushed their bodies to their limits, mana was simple, a product of purely physical effort constantly present all around.

A rare spot where the system’s influence didn’t reach as deeply as it did all around this place.

A perfect place for Lukas to cultivate.

’Thinking about it, I’ve managed to escape everyone’s attention back then, only because of that poor Leon fellow,’ he thought, the active part of his brain freely moving in any direction that would strike its fancy while his inner self started to suck on the mana like a starved toddler would suck on its mother’s teat.

’And while I saw it quite clearly, while he was the one that this transmigration sigil was after...’

Lukas’ face darkened for a moment, only to then twist as a small, cheeky smile appeared on his lips.

’On one hand, I can only hope he will be okay,’ he thought, able to - to a degree - peer into the dangers that Leon’s sudden dislocation would lead to. ’On the other hand though...’

Lukas sighed before adding up the active part of his brain to an ongoing exercise.

His time in the field was limited. He had to return before anyone would wake up and even think about checking up on him. Right now, he couldn’t afford to take any risks and waste time.

Yet, as even the active part of his brain started to fall into a cultivator’s slumber, Lukas just couldn’t help but ask himself a slightly different question.

’If he survives all of that... I wonder just what will he achieve, as the only man in this whole world whom the summoning sigil protected from the system’s imprint?’