''He''s strong'' this was the only thought flowing through his mind when he observed the man in front of him.


    William was assuming this was the strong presence he felt earlier when he used mana sense.


    Now that he took a closer look at the man, he could tell that, at least in terms of pure stats, he was probably stronger than him.


    Thankfully, he was mainly a mage or summoner, so aside from intelligence, stats were kind of useless for him.


    Yes, having a higher BF will benefit him and make his spells strongerpared to if he used them with a lower BF.


    But thankfully, William had multiple overpowered mana-rted skills, which should allow him to bridge the gap.


    The main problem for him will probably arrive in terms of the difference in experience between the two of them.


    But it''s fine he should be able to manage with that thought. William adjusted the level on his ring to level 5.


    **


    Not wanting to let his opponent get close to him, William created three swords of ice andunched them at the bearded man.


    However, just when the swords were about to pierce him, the man summoned a giant grey greatsword that was even bigger than him and destroyed the swords of ice with ease.


    After breaking his spell, Aron readied his stance as he charged towards William, preparing to slice him down.


    Seeing the man charging towards him, William remained calm andbined earth and water magic and casted (Ground Sink).


    The ground beneath Aron became muddy and started sinking, temporarily trapping him.


    Using the opportunity he created, Williambined wind and fire magic to create the spell (Fire Storm) .


    A giant storm of fire emerged from Williams arms and made its way towards Aron to burn him alive.


    ~Scorch~


    The storm of fire burned the old gang leader alive, enveloping him in a tall column of fire.


    Just when it looked like the fight was over, the mes got cut in half, and standing in the centre was a man with burn marks on his skin, breathing in a haggard fashion.


    And his sword was coated in brown light.


    ''Aura Weapon'' William thought.


    ording to his knowledge, mastery of aura had three levels: aura enhancement, aura weapon, and aura manifestation.


    In the first stage, it lets the user augment his body using aura; in the second stage, the user can enhance his weapon to be sharp enough to cut steel; and in thest stage, the user can manifest a physical manifestation of their aura. But William didn''t have much knowledge about thest stage, so he couldn''t reallyment on the topic.


    William himself was currently barely in the enhancement stage, and from what he just saw, the man seemed to be in the weapon stage.


    "This might be tougher than expected," William muttered. His opponent seemed to possess a level of mastery over his aura.


    The only saving grace In this situation, was theck of mana that William sensed in his opponent.


    This was also the reason why he still chose to start this fight despite already knowing about his opponent being physically stronger than himself.


    "Not bad kid, you''re strong," Aron spoke as he dusted himself off, his shirt already burned, exposing his hulking muscles and scars, a testament to the countless extreme situations he had encountered and survived over the year.


    "I see why my men weren''t able to stop you."


    "But you see, unfortunately, you''re exactly the type of person I hate the most in the world."


    That''s rights Aron was not only extremely greedy but also as petty as a child.


    He hated seeing others having and enjoying things he himself could never have, so he made sure to either steal these things for himself or, if that''s not possible, destroy them so none of them could have them.


    And what was the thing he was most jealous of, you ask?


    Mana is the living block of the universe, something abundant in nature.


    A thing that every 4 out of 5 people has ess to, most mechanisms in the world are built on the assumption that the person interacting with them has mana.


    Something that most children just get without even needing to put in much effort.


    He hated it; he hated everything rted to magic. The whole society practically ran on magic, and while people like to im that they have eliminated discrimination,.


    In reality, that isn''t true. Humans are disgusting creatures who always find something or someone to discriminate against. With discrimination based on race and other things being dered illegal, people have started discriminating based on whether someone has mana or not.


    While no one is actively being hostile towards non-awakened people, the upper echelons of society don''t let someone without mana hold significant influence and ensure to limit them.


    This was the reason why, despite his talent for aura maniption, people didn''t acknowledge him due to hisck of mana.


    Which is what pushed him to start his own gang, and unlike everyone else, people in the ck market didn''t discriminate based on mana.


    They respected him for his strength, which he had struggled hard to earn, unlike the babies, who had everything handed down to them by mana.


    All his strength was earned through rigorous hard work.


    Using the strength and influence he had amassed in the underworld, Aron kept raiding and ravaging viges for years.


    That is, until a mere 14-year-old anhted most of his gang and even defeated him using mana.


    It didn''t make sense how it was possible for a mere kid to defeat him and his men.


    Aron felt betrayed as if his whole life had been a joke, his years of hard work pointless in the face of a mere teenager still wet behind the years.


    Everything he had built his whole life was destroyed by a fucking teenager in a single moment. The only reason he was still alive was because the kid had pitied him and left him alive after destroying his lifes hard work andreputationt.


    It was humting.


    However, it was at his lowest point that he realised the reason behind all of his life''s hardships could be linked to mana.


    Ever since that day for the past 30 years, Aron has dedicated himself to never losing to Mana ever again.


    And now, after 30 years, the time for all his hard work to pay off has arrived. With great determination, he muttered.


    "Aura Manifestation"