Chapter 92: Special Lesson 2
Samuel brought his arm close to his chest, stretching his shoulder, his face shrouded in darkness. "He told you about a few things, but that wasn’t everything we desired to achieve here."
Switching to his other arm, Samuel continued. " Do you really think we gave every single one of these so-called talents what we gave you?"
Moon stayed wordless; events played in his head one by one.
It hasn’t been a very long time, but eventful nonetheless. Every single day was.
Starting with the fading mark on his neck, Rowa’s interrogation and how Samuel brought him safely from her hands without asking a single question or demanding clarification.
How he tried hard to bring out his Echo and resolve his abnormality. Or when he didn’t give up on Moon when Death Echo erupted uncontrollably from his body.
At first, Moon thought that the world outside the first floor was an easier place to live, maybe too easy compared to what he was familiar with,
It was even more so after he met Roran and Dorbish for the first time.
’These idiots wouldn’t even survive a single day on the first floor.’ Or so he thought back at that time.
Even Uon talking about how these guys weren’t worth teaching didn’t feel threatening, or the fate of unaffiliated who are incapable of protecting themselves.
None of these gave Moon the slightest sense of danger or urgency; none of the newcomers felt threatening to the point of being utterly undefeatable.
They were, without exception, people he could defeat... Based on his personal judgment at least.
It wasn’t until that time that Ed opened his heart and spoke out his troubles. Only at that time did Moon for the first time since leaving behind his brothers felt connected to someone else.
Close to him.
Moon knew best how hard it was for one man to speak out of his hatred and defeats, and he felt closest to Ed since that day.
More than he was to the younger Uon, Ed was someone Moon held in high regard.
In his heart, Ed was the coolest adult he ever met, if he even thought of himself as a kid, that is.
Samuel snapped his thoughts, his memories. "Did you think it really stopped there?"
Puzzled, Moon questioned. "What are you talking about?"
Samuel’s body, in the darkness, began to shimmer.
Starting at his eyes, one point after another rapidly started glowing on his body. A matrix of golden seals, each but a dot, shone.
Together in harmony, each at a mesmerizing perfect distance from one another.
Like a god descending in the mortal body of a human, Samuel looked, and more importantly, felt like an unstoppable force.
’What am I even seeing now?’ Moon questioned his eyes.
Samuel, right now lost the aura of the grumpy uncle and also the looks. Each seal shone on his perfectly trained body.
Moon, who was standing at a distance, felt his blood run cold. It was a sight nearly as magical as the man in the bright space, yet it also felt unreasonably threatening.
Samuel waved his hand, as if giving permission to the seals to show themselves.
And when he did, Moon, who couldn’t take his eyes off Samuel, also started having the same changes to his body.
"Look at yourself!" Samuel reminded.
Moon snapped back; he looked down, and the first thing he saw was his very own hands.
They looked the same, exactly like Samuel’s.
He dragged his shirt off, taking a look at his own body... It was the same.
The only difference was the two ring-like seals on his left hand front and back.
"What is this?" Moon asked breathlessly.
"this is my entire life’s worth of research, pain, failure, and success." Samuel paused, looking at the dark sky. "This is what I made, and through it, I became who I am now."
Samuel exhaled slowly, setting his eyes back on Moon. "Edmond said you’re the perfect candidate to have that."
Moon’s eyes questioned; Ed never mentioned his intention to him.
Samuel walked around the arena slowly. "Now tell me, why are we doing this?
"Tell me, what are we looking for?
"Tell me why we waited here for all these years."
Samuel walked closer to the bewildered Moon. "We didn’t want talents, unaffiliated, students, or successors.
"We didn’t want to raise our own faction like Lucen, or build an army.
"What we wanted was to nurture peers!"
Moon’s eyes widened at the realization.
"We wanted to restore our disbanded group, to make it even stronger.
"We abandoned so much, lost even more...
"We only wanted to break the siege, to climb further than we were told."
Moon could understand it...
Their desire for peers. He also desired peers, someone to cheer for, someone to entrust his back to.
To march without a care of getting stabbed in the back, it was something so precious to him that he didn’t realize how priceless it was while it lasted.
But, to climb higher...
He didn’t know about that. In his mind, a good life could be good anywhere.
As long as food and shelter were provided, he could live well. He didn’t have any grand dreams or hopes.
Moon thought hard and deep. He remembered Ed mentioning his grudge. His desires.
He also had his grudges and a revenge he wanted to take, but was that everything about his life?
Or did he start to forget the misery he lived through, the hell he saw on the first trial.
’Did I enjoy my life here too much?’ He questioned himself.
He wasn’t sure if it was Samuel who was mad, or if he...
’Maybe I am the one who has gone insane, enjoying everything, food, sleep, little conflicts and victories.’
Moon admitted, his life here was the perfect life. He got bored and found someone to fight and beat, or even kill he wanted to. He felt hungry and found food three times a day ready, tasty and well cooked too.
He felt tired; he would just lie down on his bed. Even if he slept for days, no one would bother him or attack him.
There was also Fate Alert, always keeping things beyond his capacity of fighting away... Always making sure he would stay safe.
For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Deep in his heart, Moon knew he wanted revenge. For his brothers, for himself.
Even though he had not the slightest clue of how to get back to the first floor, nor was he able to assess the strength of the eyeball.
He wanted them, he wanted them so badly. But he also was tired. All these years in slavery on battlefield, followed by the death of his brothers, ending with death loop he couldn’t escape.
He was too tired.
Moon raised a hand. "I don’t get it." His gaze fell to the ground.
"After so many years, why wouldn’t you just live well?" Moon wasn’t simply asking, but demanding an answer.
"Why wouldn’t you enjoy these years?
"Why couldn’t you let yourself rest?
"Don’t you feel tired too?"
Moon once again asked, lifting his gaze back into Samuel’s eyes.
"What are you exactly fighting for?"