Chapter 91: Special Lesson 1
"It failed, uggh... It failed... I’ll turn into a snitch..." Moon staggered, still trying to sink his teeth into the lump.
His frustration reached its limit. He sat down, fixing his Echo like a head, or someone he was trying to beat, under his knee and held it firmly with his left hand.
He punched.
Whoosh~
His hand bounced violently.
"FUCK DAMMIT, ARE YOU PICKING A FIGHT?" He punched again.
All of his tries were not violent, or at least not done violently... until now...
He tried to carve with the knife, with Liquid Mountain... He tried to let the bed weight settle.
He kept punching, getting his arm whipped back in front of his face, before throwing another punch.
He didn’t know how much time passed until he was panting at last. His stamina improved thanks to ascension, but the violent bounce did a good job draining it faster than it should.
Huff
Huff
Huff
Moon sat down cross-legged on the floor. "Huff, what am I missing..."
He sprawled on the floor with a soft...
Thud~
"Am I even missing anything at all?" he started to think, doubt slowly settling into his heart.
He closed his eyes, trying to imagine the circle being drawn without anything done.
Like how the old man, Grandmaster Zen, did it.
But, as obvious as it may be...
It failed.
GROWL~
"You still want to eat, even though you’re soon to become a snitch?" he lamented as he stood up, ready to head to the eatery.
"Hope I’m not too late..."
With that, he headed there to get his dinner... and the event he had no idea what it’d be about.
As soon as dinner settled down into his stomach, he gave it a pat twice. Satisfied.
Uon and Samuel had already left a while ago, and he should get moving to the arena for the lesson.
The lesson Uon called, ’Special Lesson’.
"Hope it’s nothing weird again," he sighed while getting there, leaving the eatery.
Unaware of the minute change in Edmond’s expression, his sudden unreadable gaze, and mysterious smile.
Making his way toward the arena, Moon came across a few familiar faces. He didn’t remember their names, nor did he bother greeting them.
Yet, considering he was now the star of the branch, he received a lot of attention.
"Oh, after all of that, he looks fine so fast?"
"I heard he didn’t even receive treatment."
"Maybe the damage wasn’t that bad to begin with."
"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, his body seems to be quite resilient."
"That’s what it means to be talented."
"Talent, you say?"
"What else if not talent?"
"Not his background, for example?"
"What background? He’s not from any known or unknown clan or faction."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don’t you all know already he came from the first floor?"
"Are you saying that everyone who came from that floor is a monster like him?"
"That’s what I heard."
"I don’t believe it."
Moon heard a few of their conversations in passing, yet he wasn’t interested in whatever they were saying.
It was the attention he worked hard to earn; thus, he let out a long breath. "What a beautiful night!" he exclaimed softly while walking.
’Hierarchy is almost set, you lousy brats. The top predator is blessing your useless mass of flesh with his presence.’
He praised himself, admired their admiration of his prowess.
But, if anything... one thing they said was somewhat of interest to him. Or rather, he only realized it now that they mentioned it.
His body was in a perfect state, completely inside and out.
Not a single bruise, not even a scratch.
’This is too fast; even a few days of sleep can’t do that.’ He rubbed his chin, not sure about the reason.
’Who cares?’ He dismissed the deep thoughts.
Being healthy and fine, walking around with a pain-free body...
Who hates that?
Who questions that?
As long as he was good, everything was good.
’Life is good, brothers... I’ll make sure to enjoy your share of this nice food and soft beds.’ Moon smiled, a gentle and warm smile befitting his face for once, but not his character.
People started thinning out; it was nighttime and most were heading to sleep. Also, the further he went from the main buildings, the less he could see.
By the time he finally arrived at the arena, it was completely empty. He made his way there; somehow, in the distance, he could see him waiting.
Teacher Samuel.
Standing at the center, hands clasped behind his back.
"Am I late?" Moon asked.
"You are," Samuel answered flatly.
Moon couldn’t help pursing his lips. "Ehm, anyway... What’s that special lesson bi... I mean, assistant Uon spoke of?"
Moon asked, standing at the opposite side from Samuel.
Samuel didn’t answer immediately; instead...
he walked to the edge of the arena.
He took off his golden-rimmed robes, then the shirt underneath, before proceeding to take off his shoes.
A body that looked like it was drawn, perfected, and toned without a margin of error.
Muscles perfectly trained; not large nor over-shredded that skin would look too thin, but just the right amount of everything.
"Holy..." Moon stared at the details, the more he couldn’t take his eyes off.
Compared to him...
He shook his head instantly; he didn’t want his body to be compared to this.
"How do I get muscles like these?" he asked the obvious question.
Samuel, once again, ignored his question.
Though Moon couldn’t tell if anything was different about Samuel today, there definitely was something different.
"Why do you think Edmond is doing so much for you?" Samuel asked.
Moon thought for a moment. "I’m not sure. You guys said you wanted to teach talented unaffiliated to let them stay unaffiliated."
Samuel asked again, "Do you think what we are doing now is merely that?"
Moon scratched his head before he shook it.
"Tell me then, why do you think we’re doing this?" Samuel again asked.
Moon opened his mouth; he wanted to say something... but no words came.
He wasn’t sure; he didn’t know how to answer... and that made him feel uncomfortable.
It somehow challenged something that was deeply hidden within his heart.
’Did I get hold of something I don’t deserve?’ he questioned himself.
"Let me ask you a different question if that one is hard." Samuel snapped his thoughts apart. "Here, both myself and Edmond... why do you think we stayed here for all these years?"
Moon’s eyes opened wide.
He remembered when he first came to the facility, that talk they had.
That day, Uon said that Mishu was here for over a couple hundred years... He also remembered his conversation with Edmond.
After he woke up, after the new wave of ascenders started arriving... he sat in the eatery and had his very first long conversation with Ed...
How much they had fought and how much they had given up... How many they had taught and what fate brought onto them.
Moon opened his mouth and spoke slowly, "Grooming talents, for hundreds of years without success."
Samuel brought his arm close to his chest, stretching his shoulder. "He told you about a few things, but that wasn’t everything we desired to achieve here."