The Fourth Day of the Stationing Mission.
Toooooot….. Toooot…. Toooot….
Desper woke up to a loud sound coming from an array on the Beacon. It was different from the sound of a Spatial Crack.
"Monster attack," he muttered as he recognized it.
His body was much better than yesterday. His right arm was no longer fixed to his chest, and his leg looked normal. However, he knew he still hadn't fully recovered and would need another day.
Looking around, he saw Taros cultivating and Bron, unsure whether he was still unconscious or just sleeping.
Limping on his right leg, Desper opened the door and left the Beacon. Once outside, he saw Silas, Arkan, and Zen gathered around Eland.
"Five O-1 and twenty M-1," Eland stated the ranks and number of the monsters approaching the Beacon.
Silas noticed Desper and told him, "I will take the O-1 monsters, and you will take care of the others."
Desper's face twisted with anger. He was severely traumatized from what had happened yesterday.
"Right now, if I draw my swords, you will be my target, Silas!" Desper growled.
Silas surely knew that Desper's injuries weren't completely healed, yet he wanted him to fight the monsters like yesterday.
"Sighhhhhh….." Eland exhaled deeply. "Silas, just go and kill the O-1 monsters. Zen, you will finish the others."
Silas gave Desper a deep, cold look before he rushed toward the monsters, with Zen following him.
Eland turned to Desper and said, "Please, don't mind Silas. He is trying to help you."
"Help me?! He almost killed me yesterday after saving me."
Desper really appreciated Silas' help after saving him from that O-4 massive bear, but what happened after that was some kind of sadism.
Eland explained. "You don't know this, but three years ago, before Silas became a cultivator, he had an older brother who was a disciple in the sect. Similar to you, he was the ninth one in the sect to achieve a level above the First Stage of Muscle Cultivation after the primal three-month period."
'Had?' Desper didn't interrupt him and kept listening. Even Arkan seemed to focus on the story, as it was his first time hearing it.
"His brother kept overestimating his talent and kept fighting monsters stronger than him. I think I don't need to tell you what happened in the end."
Desper frowned, figuring that he had died.
Eland continued, "Silas just didn't want to see you repeat his brother's mistake, especially after you killed the M-7 lizardmen."
"Tsk."
Desper rubbed the back of his neck in annoyance. He didn't know if he should appreciate Silas' concern or not. The other didn't know about his clan and his hidden power, so he might think that Desper would overestimate himself after killing those M-7 monsters.
Far away, Silas had already killed all the O-1 monsters. Zen didn't shoot the others from afar. Instead, he moved between them, dodging their attacks and releasing his arrows at the same time. That was a type of training, in case he lost his horse at any point.
While watching their fight, Desper remembered something, so he asked Eland and Arkan, "Can I ask about Bron?"
"Hmm?" They seemed surprised.
Desper inquired, "Isn't he supposed to be stronger than Arkan? Why is he always the one who gets injured?"
In both Spatial Cracks, Bron was always heavily injured. Also, Arkan was the one killing most of the monsters, even though Zen was helping Bron.
"Stronger than me? Don't make me laugh." Arkan suddenly scoffed.
Desper was still confused. "Isn't he in the Tenth Stage and you're in the Ninth?"
Eland was the one to answer, "The problem with Bron is that his senses are really bad. Fighting a lot of monsters at once is very hard for him, even if they are much weaker than him."
Arkan said, "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been injured during the fight with the lizardmen."
Eland continued, "His only hope to improve his senses was to break through into Organ Cultivation. Unfortunately, his talent is really poor, and he's stuck in the Tenth Stage of Muscle Cultivation—too close, yet too far."
Desper was astonished and felt pity for the middle-aged man.
Eland paused for a second and said, "Actually, this will probably be his last mission with our team."
"Huh?!" Desper and Arkan were surprised.
A hint of sadness appeared on Eland's face as he explained, "You might not have noticed, but his senses are getting worse every day. I can't risk the lives of the other members for him."
After that, no one spoke. All that could be heard was the shriek of the last monster as Zen's arrow penetrated its neck.
Soon, Silas and Zen joined them. Desper still wasn't in the mood to speak with Silas, so he returned to the Beacon.
He gave Bron a last glance before blindfolding himself and starting his cultivation.
…
Eight hours passed.
Until the end of the mission, Desper no longer needed to follow the two-hour rule of cultivation, so he cultivated for the full eight hours until his body reached its limit.
He took off the blindfold and saw Silas and Arkan sitting on their beds, cultivating. What surprised him was that he couldn't see Bron.
With nothing to do, he decided to leave the building again.
Outside, he saw Eland sparring with Taros. This time, Taros used his tower shield and kept his eyes wide open.
Desper stood there and watched their fight for a while. Their movements were very fast, but he could still follow them.
Eland thrusted his spear toward Taros' stomach, but it was deflected by the large mace, so he dashed to the side and whipped his spear. Taros used his tower shield to parry it, then swung his mace at him. Eland leapt backward, barely avoiding the attack. He was about to strike again when he suddenly ducked, evading an arrow that struck the spot he had just left.
Desper's eyes widened. He looked up and saw Zen above the roof, preparing another headless arrow to shoot.
'The Organ Cultivators are really on another level,' he thought, impressed.
After some time, he suddenly realized that he wasn't the only one watching their fight.
"Oh, hello, Bron. Sorry, I didn't see you," Desper said as he approached the middle-aged man.
"No problem, I also didn't see you coming out of the Beacon," Bron responded with a smile.
He looked fine, but Desper knew that his body was still injured, just like his own.
Desper sat next to him and watched the fight together.
"Aren't they amazing?" Bron broke the silence.
"They are," Desper replied.
"I'm sure you will be as strong as them in the future," Bron muttered.
Desper could feel pain and depression in his words.
"Can I ask you a question?" Desper suddenly said.
Bron's eyebrows rose. "Of course."
Desper took a deep breath and forced himself to ask, "Why don't you just tell the Elders about your condition?"
Bron was stunned and confused. "What do you mean?"
Desper said, "It must be really hard to get heavily injured every time you fight monsters. I'm sure that if you inform the sect about your condition, they will let you retire and give you an administrative job like the others."
He really felt sad for him. It must be very hard for him to endure those injuries in every mission.
Bron opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He looked down for a minute. His face filled with sorrow as memories surfaced.
"You know…." After a while, he finally spoke. "Since I was a child, when everyone hoped they wouldn't become cultivators, it was my dream to become one. It might seem childish, but I wanted to become a hero who would save everyone from the wrath of monsters. I even imagined myself becoming the savior of our world and everyone hailing me."
Desper stiffened when he heard that and thought, 'It seems that I've made a mistake.'
Bron wasn't forced to fight monsters; he wanted to do that.
Bron didn't notice his reaction and continued, "I waited year after year, but my Origin never awakened. That filled me with sadness and depression. However, in the end, I accepted my fate when I was 26 years old."
Desper had to listen and not interrupt him. He didn't know how to get himself out of this situation now.
Bron continued, "I married a woman from my village. I loved her very much, and we were blessed with a boy the next year. I forgot about my dream and thought that I was the happiest man in the world."
He stopped for a minute. His face softened as he continued, "Just one month after the birth of my child, my Origin suddenly awakened. On that day, I was so shocked, but absolutely happy. I didn't think I was the happiest man in the world, I was the happiest man in the world. The dreams of my childhood bloomed again: the dream of being a hero, of saving the world."
"I went to the sect with my wife and child. There, I started my cultivation and began following my dream." At this point, his face twisted with anger, but he didn't stop. "Although, my talent was very poor, I didn't give up and focused so much on my cultivation that I neglected my wife and son. We argued too much, and I felt she would hold me back; in the end, I divorced her."
Desper was shocked. In the distance, Taros and Eland had finished their fight, but they pretended they hadn't.
"After five years of fighting, bleeding, and cultivating, I reached the Tenth Stage of Muscle Cultivation and couldn't progress anymore. I refused to give up. I refused to see my dream vanish again, yet after three years of no improvement, I gave up and accepted my fate once more."
Bron's body trembled Tears started falling from his eyes. "I went back to my wife, trying to fix everything, but I found her living a good life with another man. She even had a daughter with him."
He looked at Desper and started yelling, "If you ask why I am still fighting, it is because I have nothing else to do! I lost my wife, I lost my dream, I lost my life."
Desper stayed silent and looked down.
Bron stood up and raised his voice, "Maybe my senses are bad, but somehow, my hearing is very good. I heard everything you said about me."
This time, he wasn't only talking to Desper, but also to Eland.
"Don't worry. After this mission, I will leave by myself. I don't want to be a burden on the team any longer."
After saying that, he entered the Beacon, slamming the door behind him.
Desper bit his lips. All he wanted was to help, but instead, he had escalated everything.