SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

His gaze shifted back to the four of them. They looked unusually stiff standing around him, which made perfect sense after everything they had witnessed.

Hoping to ease the tension, Alex spoke as naturally as he could. "So you guys actually went to the concert after all."

The four of them stared at him for a moment, almost unable to process why he was bringing up something so ordinary.

Only Sophia had the mental capacity to look embarrassed.

"I mean, I get it. Today was Pink Wave’s concert, so it makes sense that everyone was going. But ’we’ had an exam tomorrow. How did you end up staying out this late instead of sleeping on time?" Alex asked,

"I don’t think we need to worry about the exams anymore," Sophia mumbled under her breath.

Alex rolled his eyes at the remark. Technically, she wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t like anyone had predicted the exam would be canceled because of an apocalypse. They just got lucky with it.

Even so, he was certain every one of his friends would rather be giving an unprepared exam tomorrow than standing in the middle of this nightmare.

He looked at the four of them before his expression became more serious.

"I know you all probably have a lot to say, but before that, tell me something. How much do you actually know about the situation?" Alex asked.

Robert exchanged glances with the others before answering. "We saw some posts on Dwitter about people’s consciousness being summoned to another dimension, and that something calling itself ’System’ started integrating Earth into that dimension. We tried reading more, but honestly, it was really hard to understand."

Alex nodded before giving them a brief overview of everything he knew. He skipped over many details and only explained the parts they needed to understand right now.

Even then, their expressions gradually became more nervous as the pieces started falling into place.

"So that’s what all of this means. This isn’t something that’s going to be over by tomorrow, is it?" Sophia asked.

"I don’t think so. If what I learned is true, which it likely is, then this is only the beginning," Alex replied. "

After letting them absorb that for a moment, he looked around the group again. "How is your family? Were you able to contact them?"

"We did. Our families are safe for now. Kevin’s situation is a little different, though," Robert answered with a nod before his expression dimmed.

He glanced toward Kevin, leaving the rest unsaid.

Kevin lowered his head, his expression grave since the beginning.

Alex could tell Kevin was close to crying again. The guy had always been like that. But because Battle Instinct was still active, Alex didn’t feel his own emotions being stirred.

Instead, he found himself calmly observing Kevin and everyone else around him.

As he looked at them, Alex noticed a clear difference between the people here and the ones he met in the Land of Origin.

[Adaptability.]

Back there, nobody spent time crying over their situation because surviving had always taken priority.

Even Sarah, who had not wanted to fight powerful monsters, stepped forward whenever there was no other choice. Here, however, most people were hiding, crying, and hoping someone else would save them.

Perhaps that was how the System had chosen pioneers. They were people who could adapt the fastest.

"Kevin?" Alex asked after a brief pause.

"My mom and dad are alright. I managed to reach both of them, so I know they’re safe. Bella isn’t answering her phone. After hearing what you said, I think she must have been chosen as one of those pioneers and summoned to the Land of Origin," Kevin replied as he bit into his lips.

Alex nodded quietly. Bella, Kevin’s younger sister, attended the same high school as Alex’s sister, Ava. In fact, Bella was the reason Alex had become part of this friend group in the first place.

During their first year of university, Robert and Alex had shared a dorm room. Robert was naturally sociable and somehow became friends with almost everyone around him, including Alex. Later, they discovered that Bella and Ava were already close friends.

After that, the rest happened naturally. Alex often helped everyone study before exams and assisted with difficult assignments, so he gradually became close with Kevin, Tina, Sophia, and Robert.

Otherwise, someone as quiet as him probably would have finished university without ever having a real friend group.

"Meow!" Mia walked over to Kevin and rubbed her head against his leg affectionately, as if telling him everything would be alright.

Kevin frequently visited Alex’s apartment with Bella whenever Ava invited her over, and he never forgot to bring treats for the cat, so Mia liked him quite a lot.

Alex was fairly certain Kevin was the reason this glutton had started to become a little too fat over the past year.

Kevin smiled bitterly before crouching down to pick Mia up. He gently scratched the top of her head while holding her close.

"Thanks, Mia," he said quietly.

Mia purred contentedly before looking toward Alex with an unusually smug expression. It almost felt as though she was proudly claiming that she had comforted Kevin far better than he ever could.

Alex stared back at her for a second, wondering if he was imagining things or if the cat had actually become smarter.

He pushed the strange thought aside and looked back at Kevin. "I’m going to Patrick High School since Ava should still be there. Do you want to come with me?"

"That’s too far. You shouldn’t go there. There are monsters all over the city. It’s too dangerous," Robert said with concern.

"I’m going," Alex replied simply.

Robert opened his mouth as though he wanted to argue, but after studying Alex’s expression, he quietly gave up.

"I’ll come with you," Kevin said after several moments of silence. Fear still lingered in his eyes, but there was determination there as well. It was the first time Alex had ever seen Kevin wear such an expression.

Before making any further plans, Alex asked everyone about their situations in more detail. Robert and Tina’s parents lived in another state.

Kevin’s parents were on the opposite side of the city, and Sophia’s parents were overseas on a business trip. Fortunately, everyone except Bella had answered their phones.

Although they knew their families were alive, they wanted to go to them.

Unfortunately, traveling across the city was already dangerous enough, while going to another state or another country was completely impossible right now. Patrick High School, on the other hand, was close enough that attempting the trip wasn’t unreasonable.

"We should either hide or get moving," the elderly woman finally grunted.

While everyone else had been talking, she remained alert with the rifle resting across her lap. Her eyes stayed fixed on the sky, where several vulture-like monsters continued circling overhead.

"They might come down at any moment," she warned.

"Just wait a few more seconds," Alex replied. He had noticed the flying monsters as well, but they looked to be only around Level 2 or Level 3, so they weren’t his biggest concern.

The others looked at him with confused expressions when he didn’t explain himself.

The real reason Alex was waiting had nothing to do with the monsters. Ever since his friends stepped outside, he heard people inside one of the nearby apartments hurriedly packing their belongings.

The conversation with his friends had given that family enough time to finally decide whether they would remain hidden or place their trust in him. It was the same apartment where he had seen a little girl before fighting the Doom Bulls.

He didn’t tell his friends that he could hear the family packing their belongings. Saying something like that would only make him seem even more abnormal than he already did.

Besides, the only reason he could hear them so clearly was because almost everyone else on the street was hiding inside their apartments and trying not to make any unnecessary noise.

While waiting, Alex continued training the Battle Instinct Spell. Every moment counted, and since he wasn’t fighting, he experimented by shifting the spell’s enhancement between different parts of his brain.

He paid close attention to how each adjustment affected his hearing, sense of smell, balance, and the rest of his senses, and he could feel himself making slow but steady progress.

Only a few seconds later, the apartment door opened and a woman stepped outside while carrying the little girl in her arms.

She had brown hair tied into a side ponytail that rested over one shoulder, and although her face looked gentle, her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

She wore thick clothes with a large camping backpack on her back, while the little girl was bundled up just as heavily.

The little girl looked at Alex with sparkling eyes and didn’t seem scared of him at all. Considering she had seen him fight, he probably looked like a superhero who had stepped straight out of a comic book to her.

"Since you came out, I guess you’ve decided to travel with us. Are you planning to stay with our group, or do you just want to follow us until you reach your destination?" Alex asked.

"We wanted to go to the police headquarters. There should still be officers there," the woman answered nervously.

"That’s fine. It’s on our way, so we can drop you there," Alex replied.

While he would have preferred if she wanted to stay with his group, it made sense that she wouldn’t immediately trust a complete stranger. Most people would still expect the police or military to restore order within a few hours or a few days.

That was fine with him. Once she realized this wasn’t a temporary disaster and saw how the world was actually changing, there was a good chance she would reconsider. If that happened, she might even choose to join his faction.

As for military and police, Alex believed they would already have their hands full protecting themselves, and would have no time for others.

Alex knew he was being unusually proactive about building a faction. Before today, he never imagined himself leading other people, but he had two good reasons for making his decision.

The first was regret. Looking back at his teenage years, he had wasted too much of his youth by letting opportunities pass him by because he believed another chance would eventually come. He did not want to do that again.

This apocalypse was as much an opportunity as it was a danger, and if he survived, it offered him a chance to rise far above the masses, and improve himself.

That was why he had no intention of joining someone else’s faction. If he was going to belong to one, it would be the one he created himself.

The second reason was even simpler. With the Battle Instinct Spell active, his emotions stayed calm while his thoughts remained clear, allowing him to judge situations logically instead of emotionally.

If he joined another faction, there was no telling what its leaders might demand from him.

They could ask him to hand over his valuable items or force him to hunt dangerous monsters for their benefit. Alex had no intention of becoming someone else’s dog.

"Alex Mercer," he said as he offered the woman his hand.

She adjusted the backpack on her shoulder before shaking it. "I’m Ophelia, and this is my daughter, Charlotta."

..

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