Jordan began to walk on the road and when he was ten meters before the improvised gate the guard started to shout. "stop right there!" Jordan stopped in the middle of the street and with the best smile, he could muster up shouted back "I come in peace! And I brought food!"

Jordan showed a bag full of food, it contained all the food he had from before and some he found in various houses when he was making his preparations. The guard peeked from behind the fence and hesitated for a while, then he talked to someone for a while.

The guard "Wait there!" Jordan predicted that much but still, he had to act like a scared mutated friendly person "Can you hurry up? I don't want to be fed to the big beast that was searching around!" the guard hurriedly ran away and in few minutes a person with two very small around 30 cm long white wings on back jumped on the gate.

Through the entirety of Jordan´s body went shocking feeling and he wanted nothing more than to run to the angel-like mutant and tear him to shreds, rip his heart out and pluck his wings, even the air suddenly smelled like shit but Jordan was sure that blood of the angel was the sweetest thing there is, with all his mental strength Jordan focused on himself, controlled his expression and suppressed the feelings of hatred and looked at the angel-like mutant.

From the expression of the angel mutant Jordan could see that he wasn't liking him any better, while looking at the angel-like mutant one thing started to bother Jordan. ´if he is supposed to be an angel am I a demon? ´

Jordan left his existential crisis for another time and focused on the situation at hand. "Hello my name is Jordan Hall" Jordan had no reason to hide his name, after all, nothing would change if he made something up, he had no family or friends before which he had to hide his identity, it took a while of silence before the angel-like mutant responded "… I am the leader of this place and my name is Jack Hillman…"

Jordan could see that Jack´s smile was as fake as his own but at least he looked like a reasonable person. Jordan "so, can I go in?" after another while of silence Jack spoke "…yes, but we will search all your belongings and we will also question you," Jack said so and then pointed to one of the guards "Simon, take the self-lock plastic strap and tie him up" The guard named Simon tried to say something but before he could even open his mouth the angel-like mutant Jack interrupted him and spoke to Jordan.

"You would comply, right? It would be a shame if you didn't and we couldn´t let you in…" Jordan could already predict that he won´t stay here for long and will be moving somewhere else, ideally somewhere where demon-like mutants are.

The guard took away Jordan´s backpack and started to go through it while also the other guard named Simon tied up Jordan´s hands, Jordan didn't panic because he knew that something like that could happen so he brought only two knives and a pipe as weapons and also most of his stuff such as bottles of beast blood, paper notebook, the two-handed hammer, and some other stuff stayed hidden in place Jordan prepared beforehand.

The guard named Simon lead Jordan and took him inside the school, there were people everywhere they were sitting around the hallways or in the classrooms, some were training by doing a push-up and sit up, some were just sitting on the ground or chairs and chatted between themselves.

Also, some of the people there had veils around their mouth´s, it looks like the pandemic is still around and hitting hard, Jordan decided to ask Simon "how is the covid around here?" Simon answered, "don't even ask… the virus mutated when the mana came and its fatality went through the roof, 8 out of 10 die now, thankfully the infectiousness dropped otherwise we would be all dead, still anyone that starts to show symptoms will get thrown out on street and that is basically dead sentence right now."

Jordan wanted to say something, but rather stayed quiet, with his constant smile the guard won´t take him seriously anyway and the guard was in no mood for Jordan´s bad jokes. While they were on their way Jordan could hear many whispers thanks to his enhanced hearing but what he heard was nothing nice "he looks like a demon" "why is he smiling, creep" "hopefully he won´t stay long here" After a short walk they arrived at the headmaster office.

"Wow, never thought that I would get detention at my age" Simon "hah, at least you can still joke" Simon opened the door and let Jordan in, then locked the door and went away.

Jordan sat on a chair that was before the headmaster´s desk and began to recall how his schooldays, Jordan didn't really have any true friend, no one could relate to him and the hell he had at home, and rather than having to deal with their pity Jordan would stay silent, no one Jordan asked helped him anyway, that was how he learned that if he wants something he has to get it himself.

While waiting Jordan also tried how strong was the plastic self-lock strap and after Jordan confirmed that if he tries with all his strength, he can easily break out from the self-plastic strap, after that Jordan patiently waited for Jack to show up.

It took about 20 minutes until the door was unlocked, Jack went straight behind the headmaster´s desk and sat down. "so, why did you come here?" Jack didn't beat around the bush and asked straight away, Jordan didn't hesitate and answered "it was the first settlement I found so I decided to check how are things going there and how much you know" Jack "hmm.. and what can you offer in exchange for staying here and the knowledge we have?" Jordan "well I can share what I know, also I am a bit strong now so I can help around"

Jack looked very displeased, it was obvious that he didn't like Jordan staying there but the benefits were as sweet as honey, not many people mutated so every strong person was worth its weight in gold and Jordan looked very strong, with his huge build. menacing look and constant smirk Jordan not only looked strong but also scary.

Jack "ok, for now, we will cooperate, but it´s only fair that you share all you know, as it can save many lives early on" Jordan "so you will tell me all you know as well?" Jack "of course not, you want to stay here right? You can consider this advance payment"

Jordan stayed silent for a while before saying "well, I think I will just leave, no need to stay here, I am sure there are many more settlements where they aren't complete dicks, after all, you need me much more than I need you" Jack could see how serious Jordan was and how he was already standing up, at the last moment Jack changed his mind ´I don't know why but I just hate him, I can´t let my personal feeling endanger people living here´ "wait! I was a bit rash, sit down and let´s talk!"

Jordan "my deal is this, I will tell all I know and help you around, in exchange, you will tell me everything you and your people know" Jack "that's outrageous! What can you know that is everything we know? We have knowledge of several hundred people!" Jordan "well for example I know about the behavior of the beasts, their types, their nearby locations, and how to increase the maximum amount of mana, and I doubt that everyone here has some useful knowledge, if you don't want that then I am leaving"

Jack calmed down and began to think. ´knowledge about the beast sounds extremely useful especially their locations would help, with this scouting will be much easier and we could safe many lives, even though we established our stronghold here we killed almost no beast as all mutated assets stay here to defend the panicked survivors´ Jack "ok, but tell me everything"

Jordan nodded and began to talk about the pain that started after the mana came and how he transformed, about the behavior of the beasts and their elements, about few packs that he discovered when he went here and where the packs have their territory, Jordan made up some stuff up to make it more valuable but he mixed it with truth, if something isn't 100 % correct he can just say that the beasts must have migrated there or something like that.

Jordan also talked about his experiments with mana and in the end, he got to the final thing and that was absorbing hearts of the dead beast "and also the heart of the beasts can be absorbed to increase one's mana"

Jordan chose to be vague and did not reveal anything about himself, his abilities, or even changes in his anatomy. Jack´s eyes lit up when he heard about the increase of mana and asked. "how do you do it?" Jordan "that's personal to my mutation, sadly I don't think it will work for any of you" Hearing that Jack was a bit displeased and said with a frown. "we agreed to tell each other everything" Jordan replied with a smile "then why don't you tell me what those pretty wings do or even better how your center of power operates?"

Upon hearing this Jack didn't know what to say so instead he began to talk about what he knew "I transformed just like you, after several days of extreme pain my wings grew, and then the white beams came and took my little sister away…" A painful expression appeared on Jack´s face but Jordan didn't care about him at all, instead, he waited for Jack to continue, when Jack didn't get any consolidation he looked a bit bewildered but continued anyway.

"after all kid bellow the age of 16 vanished, things went sour, murder, violence on street, oppressing the weak…" at this point Jordan began to be little irritated, Jack mumbled his speech about how everything is so horrible and so bad, how he pities everyone and continued like that for several minutes. "after that the beasts began to roam the streets and I got everyone together to stay here in safety, at the day it´s the dog-like beasts and at night it´s the rats and let me tell you, you don't want to meet the rat horde at night, they move around in hundreds and devour everything in their way"

Jordan thought to himself ´finally something useful, I almost began to think that I got scammed´ "we don't know much about the beasts because so far we only focused on fortifying the defense, and for the magic… At the start, we had around 800 people here and 7 awakened, including me, there are 2 angels 5 humans with an awakened center of power, we have a basic understanding about the magic thanks to them, for those that awakened their center of power it depends on which organ the mana fused with, if it´s the brain you will get a boost in mana control and you will be able to produce small fire, few spark, small gust of wind and so on, generally you will be attuned with one or more elements and will be able to cast small fireballs or wind blades and if the mana settles in heart you get a boost in physical strength and it is also easier to reinforce yourself with mana, the awakened humans can do that instinctively but still they are a bit behind those that mutated completely, not in mastery, the mastery of awakened humans is quite superior but their complete combat proves staggered behind ours"

Jordan didn't miss how Jack referred to himself as an angel, he thought that Jack is a bit self-centered but he can be right, also he got new information that was of great benefit to him, the number of mutated people was crucial to know, he could now establish that circa 1 of 100 people mutated in some way.

Jack "as for the spells themselves, Cecil and Marie says that mana itself can manipulate matter and change itself in it, the mana will create or complete the things you manipulate it to do and then the mana will move away from you as if repelled, the mana operates on the principle of conservation of matter and the mana itself can´t be spent or destroyed only transformed when using the mana that wasn't changed to any element you can do this"

Jack took the pen from the table and focused for a few seconds, after that the pen slowly began to levitate. Jordan "nice trick" Jack "thanks! Even though we can barely move things now I am sure that with training we could use it as a strong attack with huge destructive power! Also, it is crucial to learn how to control the raw mana for any spells, if you want to cast a fireball you have to collect the mana, transform some of the mana into a fire, and then envelop it in pure mana that will lead the fireball and keep it under control, the mana bubble in which you envelop the fireball will also act as protection for the caster, when you hit your target the bubble will burst and the fireball will explode, the principle is same for other elements"

Jordan took another pen from the desk and began to focus as well, in few minutes the pen started to stagger, and shortly after that the pen started to levitate ´that is quite nice´, Jordan played with the raw mana for a bit and then asked: "and how do you physically enhance yourself?" Jack "that´s a bit harder, you control the mana in your body and infuse it with meaning, then you have to evenly distribute it, there is a problem though, send too much mana to your body and your muscle will explode, and you have to keep the mana going otherwise the boost will shortly after that fade away, also the meanings are like strength or speed and with the meaning you gain the corresponding boost, if you can maintain the meaning you will get the desired effect but it´s very hard to keep it stable only Eric who awakened his heart as the center of power can do it"

Jordan began to think ´how am I different with a completely new organ for mana? I can´t instinctively enhance myself neither cast spells but I should have higher potential´ Jack continued "as for others that haven´t undergo any mutations we discovered that they have mana in their bodies but very little, close to the amount in the air and they can´t store more, you need to have organ fused with mana that attracts the mana to effectively use it, that's about all we know"

Jack continued "for now go and rest, Simon, will show you to your room, tomorrow you and the group I choose will go to the supermarket and gather food"

Jordan "And what about my stuff?" Jack "you will get the weapons when you leave for the supermarket, the rest will be given back to you"

Jack called the guard named Simon in, Simon was holding Jordan´s backpack in hand, and with a knife, Simon cut the self-lock plastic strap with which was Jordan tied up, after that Simon went and showed Jordan his new room.

It was the janitor´s closet for mops and brooms but at least Jordan will have a bit of privacy.