Infinite Mana In The Oasis

"Yo, Eren. How is it going, my friend?"

Eren heard a voice from behind him just when he was waiting for Reece.

This deep male voice seemed welcoming. But the New Eren knew that it was anything but. This was the person original Eren hated the most because of the torture he had put him through.

Eren turned around and saw a young man in his early twenties come toward him with a gracious smile on his face. He suddenly disappeared from his position when his gaze met Eren's and appeared right in front of him. In an attempt to scare the unranked loser that had just turned around.

Eren blinked his eyelids and saw the guy's face up close in the next moment. Ideally, it should have shocked him as well. But the Vik part of the new Eren knew how scare tactics worked. He was accustomed to implementing them himself. So he stared at the black-eyed young man fearlessly before responding.

"Listen punk. You may think that you are some bigshot in front of me because of your Rank 1 status. And maybe you are. But don't get cocky with me. At least not the current me.

I'll yank your balls off, skewer them before roasting them over a campfire, and feed them to you along with your chopped dick as a side dish if you try to mess with me anymore.

It would be one hell of a gourmet meal you'd ever have a chance to taste. Proceed if you find the opportunity tempting.

Do you understand me, Stan Bigman?"

***

There was only one reason Stan Bigman hated Eren Idril. He hated him for the attention Reece was used to giving him. What made him madder at Eren was the fact that Eren was a non-ranker.

Life in Elysian cities was not as simple as it looked. It was different from the life Vik was used to seeing.

In Elysian cities, an energy field was raised to prevent the populace of barren lands from entering. Elysian cities had the majority of their population as rankers.

Metahumans were at the lowest level of hierarchies. Mortals were even worse off.

The denizens of Elysian cities didn't know much about what happens in the barren lands or desolate lands. For the most part, they were isolated from what was happening outside their cities or the Elysian cities nearest to them.

The denizens of Elysian cities were not allowed to visit barren or desolate lands either. Basically, humanity was divided into various pockets of categories according to the various statuses and positions they served in.

People of Elysian cities had only heard a few things about mortals living in the desolate lands. By now, these mortals had been stereotyped as backward and uncivilized.

There were various reasons or hoaxes given for preventing people living in Elysian cities from entering barren lands. The first rumor was that the population had been infected with a deadly virus. The second was that people living in Barren lands were so savage that they would eat a person whole if they found out that they belonged to the Elysian city.

Being from one such place, Vik knew that all the facts about "Bourgys" that were being sold to the normal populous of the Elysian cities were bullshittery. He had also come to realize why the governments of all the countries would do nothing to resolve these hoaxes. They even promoted it so that people wouldn't ask to go into barren lands.

The MCP chip.

Vik had zeroed in on one possibility of keeping the populations separated from each other. The secrecy regarding MCP chips might be one of the major reasons behind this setup.

The world was filled with even more cruelty than during the previous era. It was designed to suppress the weak and support the strong in a much harsher way than before.

There were unwritten rules about societal hierarchies in Elysian cities. Therefore, Stan was not the only one who was trying to mess with Eren. His closeness with Reece bothered a lot of guys who were officially members of the guild because of their ranking status.

If that was the only source of envy, it would have been fine. But even captain Miranda Bloom treated him well. She allowed him to use various facilities meant for rankers for his benefit. He just had to do a few technical tasks for the guild in return, apart from his regular chores.

Most teenagers in a society shaped by such rules were used to holding grudges for petty things. The raging hormones in their veins made them think from somewhere other than the brain. This effect was only multiplied further when they became rankers.

Eren had been beaten in dark alleyways. He had been trashed when nobody was looking. He would be called names for his non-ranking status.

Most rankers Eren met would tell him that he should stick to mingling with mortals. That's because it became increasingly difficult to be a Metahuman as one got older. Even if they become Mtahuman late in life, their potential to advance to the next rank would have been exhausted.

With the way Vik was, he was bound to stay as a non-ranker even if he could sense mana around him.

Even Eren knew that things would be a lot easier if he just gave up being a ranker and hung out with Mortals. But there was some part of him that refused to give up.

***

"Do you understand me, Stan Bigman?"

Stan was so shocked by hearing Eren's response that he forgot to speak. This was the first time Eren had ever talked back to him. Most of the time he hadn't even uttered a word when Stan had trashed and beaten him various times when Reece wasn't looking.

Plus, Stan could have never imagined that a mild-spoken guy like Eren would use such words to threaten him. This was the first time he had ever heard about a man skewering another man's balls before serving them to the same person as a gourmet dish.

For some reason, Stan felt like Eren was trying to convey that his own balls would be better than superfoods for him. And for some reason, he began to be afraid of this new Eren.

Stan Bigman was livid when he finally processed the words that were said to him by Eren with cold eyes and blank expressions. He even hated himself for briefly being intimidated by a non-ranker.

"Listen here you little shit…"