The Only One Spared

(Noah's Pov)

In this world there are components. These components are like building blocks of the world.

Kinda like neutrons, electrons, protons, quarks, and stuff that makes atoms and all.

These components are what sustains the world, the very universe.

When all these components come together in harmony, they create something called the World's Power or you can say that's what the essence behind World's Power is

Having control of this thing called World Power could in a way make you a ..true god, or at least that's what Lea's words implied.

What are the components of World Power?

Mana, Aura, Soul Energy, Myst, Celestial Radiance, Nether, Numen, and there are more about which we have no idea.

My experience and studies made me realize that Mana is more helpful when used for delicate stuff control, like enhancing my senses, using it to control the flow of my blood, or using it as a string to control my own body moments due to its flexible nature.

Aura is more helpful with strengthening my body and making it stronger and more durable due to how viscous it is.

Soul Energy is more helpful to draw out energy from my very soul or life force, whichever's the right word but there's a way to restore the life force as well, of course, you might wonder if I can increase my life force the answer to that is yeah I can only if I fulfill some conditions which I can't as of now. 

Anyway, I will think about that later, for now, what matters is that I can increase my life expectancy but that's not all I can also manipulate other's soul as well or bind their soul to me but.. I need quite a high proficiency for that.

Myst is more mentally oriented, my psychic is kind of thanks to Myst and Mana both. But that's not all myst can do, it can also be used to control one's mind, manipulate it, or of others for that matter, it's all a matter of proficiency.

Mana and Aura is something I learned because it's common knowledge and everyone more or less knows about it though I do think it would be better to ask for books related to mana and aura as a reward for my next hidden dungeon...

After all, people don't know really know about how all this stuff really works, they are still in their trial and error phase, kinda like newton who has just discovered about gravity but the laws related to it are yet to be established or something along those lines, anyway...

Soul energy and Myst that I am learning about from the books, the one that I took as my reward for clearing the hidden dungeon and the one I got from Aurelias, in his world, they call it Dark magic, well it's nothing more than combined use of Soul energy and Myst.

What I am saying is that I am still learning about them.

As for other components, I still have no clue.

To begin with I need to increase my intelligence to be able to even comprehend these other components. Currently, my capacity is about 4 components and I already know which 4 they all are.

The rest is out of my reach for now.

Also, the more the user can create harmony between the various components using their control the stronger it becomes but if one can't they could end up killing themself.

This aspect is kinda similar to how elemental affinities work.

...Which makes me wonder if affinities are related to the various components.

Why am I talking about all this?

Well, because the person in front of me was questioning me about why I am able to defend against her attacks and why my attacks had more strength in them than they should have.

So, I simply ran through the true answer in my own mind.

Unlike others, who have low brain cells and are no different than monkeys, no, it's not arrogance, it's simply a fact, that my intelligence is too high and thus I can use 4 different components of World's Power.

Basically, unlike others, I am 4x stronger than I should be.

Of course, my attack packs a punch.

Well, on a fair note, I am an E+ ranker so I am simply stronger, way stronger than the person in front of me to begin with.

"What kind of tricks have you pulled to fool the academy!?" She shouted while huffing for air.

"Perfect words of a sore loser" I replied keeping my dagger in my hands.

Of course, you might question why am I even using all my components if I don't need to.

Well, I can't practice harmonizing them if I don't use them at once. Until now I didn't know what even those components were but now I do, I have an understanding of them and to keep on increasing my proficiency I do need to work on them.

That's all there is to it.

Nothing grandiose of a reason.

I sidestepped as the blade met nothing but air where my eye once had been.

Using my right leg, I attacked her right foot to throw her off balance but before I could she took some distance.

No, if I wanted to I could have landed my attack, it's not that she is faster than me it's just that I am holding back.

I am not making excuses.

She gnashed her teeth, sweat trickling down her face, exhaustion apparent on it.

"You clearly aren't going to win. We should stop. Take some rest"

"Not until I hit you at least once!"

I shook my head.

Deciding to end the match, I closed the distance ready to kick her in the stomach with enough force to knock her out.

"Mana surge!" She shouted her hands stretched towards my left leg which was approaching her.

Mana ..what?

Before I had the time to think I felt the mana itself distorting around my leg before I was hit by it, a sudden force sending me flying backward.

I did a backflip in the air as I landed safely on the ground, the clothes slightly torn but I didn't receive any injuries.

Well, I had enforced the components on the outside of my body to increase my defense.

"Yes! It hit!"

Ignoring her who now is pumping her fist in the air and jumping around I thought back to the information that I have read in the novel and what I have come to conclude regarding it.

Skills.

They are more of an automated response.

...And they aren't bounded by the user's proficiency in components of World's Power.

This was something I came to realize on my own.

Just like me who once was using the components without knowing them, some skills allow people to do stuff that they normally can't.

Of course, they don't even realize it.

For instance, skills could make someone help use offense or defense that requires soul energy even if they only know how to use mana or even if they can't comprehend any other components except mana.

Skills have their own levels too.

From Level 0 to ...

Welp, don't know.

Enyo had her skills to level 4.

And honestly, that is the highest I have read in the novel.

Lvl.0 means really beginner, Lvl.1 means above decent, Lvl.2 means you are way too good, Lvl.3 means you are professional, Lvl.4 means monstrosity. 

On the fandom pages, there was a theory, that maybe the scale is from lvl0 to lvl 5.

But since it was never confirmed in the novel, I can't make any confident statement about it.

Regardless of that, you should understand that skills are in a way, op.

Well, they are useful and OP if you don't see the whole picture. Skills were basically given by observers, so then what's stopping them from taking it back from us?

Not only that, skills all start from lvl.0, and people increase their skills level, in a way if the observers were to take these skills back then ...they would only profit from it. People are in a way nothing but free slaves.

Of course, I didn't read the second plot so I don't know if something like this happens, I had just read a comment regarding this, and I don't know the exact thing but yeah, something like that happens.

I will say it again, I am someone with no skill, affinity, or class.

But that was fine, I don't want to be influenced by it. I can't let myself be influenced.

Well, all that aside, I looked at the person in front of me, Julianna.

That skill level of hers must have been 2, no way it was on beginner level.

But, having level 2 of a skill? She wasn't mentioned in the novel but ...she had to be important.

Having a skill of lvl.2 at her age is kinda incredible thing, not only that her combat skills are also good so then...

Why was she not mentioned in the novel?

In the novel aside from the main character cast, all the strong students were talked about and without a doubt, Julianna is going to be strong in the future but there was no mention of her.

"System-san, for the whole month, keep an eye on her"

I muttered as I slowly started walking towards her while both my hands raised upwards showing that I accepted my defeat.

I don't know when but at some point our duel turned into Julianna just trying to land a single hit on me and she did even if it didn't do me any harm.

"Get up," I said, looking at the sprawled girl on the floor.

At some point, she went from hoping around to lying on the floor, exhausted.

"Hehehaha! I hit you! I won!" She said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, great job," I said.

I wasn't lying.

She is an F-ranker and I ... am an E+ranker.

The fact that she managed to land a hit on me, someone 5 levels above her no matter how small is an incredible feat. Well, she doesn't know about the fact that I am an E+ranker though.

"Don't say it with that straight face! I feel like I am being mocked for just landing a hit on someone weaker than me!" She said propping herself up and continued "Still.. are you really G+ranked? I can't believe it, you don't look exhausted! You aren't even sweating at all!"

In response, I simply shrugged.

"Well then, are we done? Can I go back now?"

"And train with those slimes? Don't you want to eat something?"

"Meh, I have my food with me," I said as I pulled my burger from my dimensional storage. Stuff in dimensional storage doesn't rot.

"...You do realize that it's not normal" She asked, her eyebrow arching.

I simply shrugged in response.

"..."

She simply stared at me before rolling her eyes.

"Whatever but are you really okay with eating that?" She asked pointing at my burger.

Why is she calling my burger that?

"I am" 

I replied and she sighed.

"Fine, fine. I am going home, I want to have a nice bath. Enjoy your slime hunt" She replied and started walking away but soon stopped and turned around "By the way, where's your bracelet? The one given by the academy" She asked

The academy had provided everyone a bracelet to keep track of all the students, of course, they provided me one too which I didn't like so

"I broke it"

"You ..broke it?"

"Yup"

She didn't say another word for a few seconds and then let out a sigh

"Well, I will be going" Saying so she left for good this time and my system simply followed her.

Welp, with her and the system gone, I looked at the girl who had been passing me subtle glances throughout the day while she kept on training herself.

Her white hair along with a shade of a few black hairs flowed down to her waist, and her mysterious eyes with countless shapes of euclidian geometry within them.

Those eyes weren't the first time I had seen them. She had the same ones.

....I felt like everything was falling into place even though many pieces are still not discovered but all these strange things were happening for a reason, that much I am sure of now.

I took a deep breath as I started walking towards the girl.

Who is she?

A member of the main cast of the novel, a girl with exceptional genius, a genius only second to the original Noah.

And the only person whom Noah spared.