"Sir, this is not fair!" Erik said with anger. Though, he couldn't raise his voice too much with his employer since he could risk losing his job.
"Don't make it look like I didn't give you enough opportunities already, Erik. It's not the first time you have been late!"
The young man could do nothing but stay silent since he knew that Mister Fox was right. Besides, he was still on edge due to Conal, Orson, and Logan's deaths.
"Now, let's start working, shall we?" Mister Fox said.
"Yes, sir..."
Erik then silently went to the fields that Mister Fox cleared the previous day; he remained quiet for the whole trip, thinking about what happened inside the forest. Did he just kill three people? He did. He couldn't understand his emotions clearly. On the one hand, he was happy about the three bullies' deaths, but at the same time, he felt regret.
<Am I really regretting killing them?> Erik thought with disbelief.
Mister Fox noticed something wrong with Erik; he knew the young man well. It wasn't like Erik was a chatterbox, but he wasn't even a mute like today.
"Is something wrong, Erik?" Mister Fox asked, thinking Erik was upset because of the pay cut.
"Nothing, sir," but that was not true at all. Inside the young man, internal turmoil was going on.
He just realized he killed three people in cold blood and that he was even happy for their deaths. The young man felt as if he wasn't himself anymore, as if he had just lost part of himself.
This wasn't his only emotion because, at the same time, he felt wrong, as if Logan and the others made him lose his innocence.
Erik then arrived at the fields and, almost robotically, started channeling mana through his body. As he did so, an electric sensation permeated his entire being and caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.
The usual pressure Erik felt was much stronger than usual; the young man guessed it was thanks to his higher energy points. It was probably like that the pressure increased due to the additional mana he gained from the stats.
Most of the brain crystal powers were strictly related to the amount of mana that every individual possessed. The higher the mana one could manipulate, the stronger the power could be.
Erik pumped mana through his entire being for some time; it was an amount he had never manipulated in his entire life. Once he could not hold onto it anymore, he pushed it toward the ground, releasing the energy trapped in his body.
The usual heat wave suddenly washed over him, and the air all around him turned hot and humid, filling his nostrils with the scent of vegetation.
However, Erik heavily underestimated the current strength of his brain crystal since he could make a very consistent part of Mister Fox's fields grow in a matter of seconds. Previously, he could only do so for some square meters at a time.
As the vegetation grew, a sort of small jungle appeared in front of Erik, he was astonished to see the scope of his power now.
Mister Fox watched everything from behind him with a shocked expression; Erik had never been this powerful. He was surprised by the magnitude of the plant's growth. Previously, they could, at maximum, be a couple meters high, but this time they were several meters tall or large, with fruits unnaturally big.
Mister Fox went to a nearby tree affected by Erik's power. He grabbed a fruit and gave a bite to it.
"What the hell?"
The fruit sweetness was unexpectedly high, even more so when compared to those produced by normal crops or the ones Erik previously grew. Its size was also larger than anything previous fruit the young man grew.
A few moments later, another tree started growing. This repeatedly happened until, finally, there were dozens of new trees. As Erik continued using his ability, other things began appearing, such as the flowers and bushes that bloomed without any need for sunlight or water.
"Erik..." Mister Fox said. He couldn't believe how stronger Erik's power got thanks to a slight improvement in his brain crystal.
"We are going to be rich..." mister Fox added.
"We?" Erik puzzledly said. He couldn't believe what the usual greedy mister Fox said.
The farmer knew he couldn't lose Erik now because his power was too strong and too useful for him. He had to give enough reasons to the young man to stay working for him.
"From now on, I will only ask you to use your power, I will hire more people to harvest the products..." Mister Fox said. "And I will pay you fifty new dollars a day."
"What? Fifty new dollars?" Erik asked. He knew Mister Fox was taking advantage of him but couldn't find another job now, especially considering that school was going to end in a couple of weeks and that he had to go to the military one after the summer break.
Besides, working for mister Fox was basically a part-time job; he didn't have to work a lot, could train freely, and could go to school without problems.
If he was really going to earn fifty dollars a day, he was basically earning a regular salary without having to work as much.
"Well, I mean, if you can grow this many things in so little time, you are making a huge contribution to the farm. It would be unfair if I paid you less," Mister Fox sheepishly said.
Erik trembled at the thought of earning this amount of money. If he worked every day, he would earn enough to live comfortably without even working a lot. It was too bad he had to go to military school just after summer.
For the next few hours, Erik helped Mister Fox work by moving the earth, clearing away rocks, and harvesting the vegetables.
"Ah, mister Fox, once school ends, I will come work during the early morning. Is it ok for you?"
"There is no problem, kiddo," the young man replied with a huge smile; there was no way he was going to let the golden goose escape his grasp.
Since there was nothing else to do on the farm, Erik headed back to the train station. As he walked back, he went past the place where Logan, Conal, and Orson chased him.
Images of what happened earlier flashed back in his mind. He remembered how terrified the three men felt when he killed them. He felt an incredible pleasure thinking about how they probably died in agony. This, at the same time, made him feel upset because he didn't want to be like that.
Erik shook his head as he tried to push these thoughts out of his head. These guys deserved their fate, especially Logan; the guy always bullied everyone. The same applied to Conal and Orson, as they were real assholes, too, but it was much less than their leader.
It wasn't fair to kill someone like that, but Erik knew they wouldn't have left him alone despite being an awakener.
<Maybe this was the right decision to make despite everything...> the young man thought.
When he arrived at the train station, Erik decided to wait near the tracks instead of sitting on a bench. As he looked around, he saw many people waiting for the train and a couple of police officers patrolling the place.
His and the three bullies' previous stunt on the train must have made a lot of people mad since Logan pushed several people onto the ground to chase him. That had to be true since there were many more guards around than before.
As the train arrived, he boarded it and sat, as usual, near the window. He thought about what he had done during the whole trip back to the western district but still couldn't feel sorry for the three men. After all, they were the ones who attacked him first. Though, he was in a terrible mood.
As Erik arrived at the train station inside the western district, he quickly left the building and started walking back toward the school. As he arrived, he immediately went to the gym, where he met Gwen, Floyd, and Amber.
"Hi Erik," Amber said energetically.
Though the young man was overthinking and wasn't in any mood to chat with the trio, he only muttered a weak "Hi..." and then approached professor, McAllister.
"What's wrong with him today?" Floyd asked.
"I don't know," Gwen replied.
"Maybe he fought with someone..." Amber didn't know how close she was to the truth.
Erik then trained under professor McAllister, but not even the completed quest notification was able to lift his mood.
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