"A-are you a doctor?!", Brian asked with a shaky voice. The doctors he has seen until now have all been rich people who looked down on everybody else. Very different from Beta. Plus, can normal doctors even do the same thing like he did?
"Erm... kind of... I guess?", Beta answered, almost stuttering.
"What now? Are you a doctor or not? How can you be so unsure?", everyone wanted to blurt this out but held back. They felt incredulous listening to his confession after he just performed a very advance surgery operation in front of them. They already gave on Gerald's condition and yet Beta surprised them all. Even his closest friend Brian know nothing of this skill of his. But then again, they never encountered something like this before.
"It doesn't really matter what you are. Fact is, you healed Gerald. We will always be grateful for the rest of our lives!", Lars said loudly, grabbing everyone's attention.
The others felt ashamed. They actually got distracted by such a trivial thing and forgot about the most important matter. Beta healed Gerald. They then composed themselves as they all expressed their thanks a few times before finally settling down next to Gerald, waiting for him to wake up. Only Brian still stood next to Beta.
"Thanks, Beta. Once again, if you had not been there I would've probably died. And Gerald would be left with only one arm. All of this happened because I'm too weak. Too merciful.", Brian berated himself harshly with his face drooping down.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. If you had killed them at that time, their boss probably would have done it instead. Furthermore, you can't predict everything. But after the fight, there is one undeniable fact - we are too weak. Even some thug can make our life so much harder. And we thought we've become strong after going through endless training and instructions from school. Obviously, it wasn't enough. Thus, I decided. I plan to go to the wilderness after the next class. Do you want to come with me?", Beta said in a calm voice but it was clear to see that his eyes were burning of desire to gain more power.
"Yes! I will follow you everywhere!"
"Even to the depths of the wilderness?", Beta said with a mocking smile.
"I will advice you to not do it with our current strength, but I would definitely follow you if you decide to go anyway!"
Seeing Brian's determination filled Beta with warmth. He felt fortunate to have met him back then. Who knows how everything would have been if not for Brian? Maybe he would still be creeping around the village, stealing from old Mara. He had changed a lot since then. However, there were some things that would never change.
"Too bad I couldn't use Croobie's body parts... It's just way too troublesome to be a kid! Now that I think about it..." When Beta came to this point, he remembered something.
"Brian, did you find any talents with superior physique that are around our age?", Beta asked with a bit of anticipation.
"Ah yes! There's someone who supposedly has legs that make him as fast as a cheetah but other than him, I didn't really hear anything.", Brian said nonchalantly.
"Sounds good for a start! What's his name? Cultivation level? Where can he be found?", Beta asked in excitement.
Brian looked at him as if he was a stalker but he answered anyway. "His name is Gepard. He's in the Intermediate Elementalist level 1 and he's a part of our academy."
"Intermediate Elementalist... Looks like I will still have to wait for a while... Tsk!"
From that point onwards, Brian heard Beta cursing a few times with some sighs in between. He didn't know what was going on with him, so he decided to just let him be for now. Beta calmed down after a while and sat down cross legged, cultivating. Brian copied him, since he too, has a certain position to uphold. He had made Domian his rival at this point and wouldn't forgive himself if he lost to him. Especially after a fight like this, he felt the pressure of having a certain standard. This battle helped him create an arrow faster than expected, so he had more time than Domian. If he still lost just because he was lazy, he would definitely cry.
As they cultivated, the kids curiously looked at them and mimicked their actions. The ones who felt the most hopeless wasn't Brian, but these kids. One of their friends got killed right in front of them and the other one lost an arm. They had to endure to look at this all without being able to do anything at all. When they did try to do something, in the end, they only got hurt. Plus, Gerald had held them back because he didn't want to see any more casualties. Seeing their bosses working hard on their training, it made them desire to become stronger too. But, they didn't dare to disturb the duo, so they waited and followed according to what they saw on the surface instead.
After several hours later, Gerald finally woke up. When he looked around the room, he saw all of them meditating quietly. Suddenly, Beta's eyes shot open.
"How are you?"
"I'm alright, I guess. What happened? I can't remember much...", Gerald said scratching his head.
"I reattached your arm. Be careful for now though. Your bone has to recover. It's currently only held in place by a kind of glue.", Beta said while chuckling.
Gerald was stupefied. The arm he scratched his head with was supposed to be forever lost. He moved it a bit and inspected it closely just to confirm that it was really his.
"Tha- hng…Thank you, Beta!", Gerald said sincerely while crying silently.
He didn't care how it was possible, he only knew that he got his arm back. He was very grateful and couldn't help but let go of his pent-up sadness. Earlier, when he showed a proud face to everyone, it was only his façade to cover up his feelings. He knew that if he wallows in pain and sorrow, the kids will take it badly too. Thus, as an older member of their group, he didn't want to make these kids, which he counts as his siblings already for a long time, be saddened about his situation. He sobbed softly, trying hard not to wake the meditating kids. Beta on the other hand, just silently looked over him and let him cry for awhile until he finally settled down. Gerald dried his tears swiftly as he shifted his head to look at him.
"How can I ever repay you?", Gerald earnestly asked.
"Follow me and Brian. We will teach you how to fight and cultivate.", Beta said with a serious face.
Gerald was astounded. He had not expected something like this. But given this opportunity, how could he refuse? Of course, his decision was clear. He has these kids to look after, so obtaining strength to protect them was the best thing he can do for them at the moment.
"I am willing, but I can only speak for myself.", Gerald said.
"That's enough for me."
Soon, the others opened their eyes as well and happily gathered around Gerald. Some laughed, some cried. After discussing Beta's proposition to them, they didn't hesitate at all and agreed to follow Brian and Beta after some time. Brian was probably the one who was affected the most by it. He was so happy that he suddenly started laughing loudly and went out to train with them. Beta just let them be and went back to the dorm, cultivated for a while until it was a school day again. On the way to class he met Brian, who seemed to be happier than ever.
"Did you have fun with the kids?", Beta asked with a smirk.
"What do you think?", Brian answered with a creepy laugh.
"Ugh…", hearing him laugh like that, Beta couldn't help get goosebumps, mumbling that this friend of his has become even more creepy and weird.
Beta didn't say anything else though, as he already knew the answer just by the look of his face. When they entered their classroom, there were the usual early birds that greeted them with a curious glance. They sat down and waited for the teacher. This time, Lores, instead of sliding in, simply appeared in front of his desk suddenly. Most people were amazed by that sight but Beta's train of thought was different. He imagined of how easy it was to kill them all with a power at that kind of level. What if he met someone like that now? He wouldn't even be able to survive if he used everything he had.
"Be quiet please!", Lores said.
He then waited until there was complete silence and finally continued.
"Another week has passed, my students. Now it's time to show me what you have been doing all the past days I've given you!", Lores said with a voice full of excitement, anticipating his students results.
Lores chose to use the same order as last time and started with Domian. Domian showed them an arrow with a metallic lustre that reflected its surroundings on its surface. However, he did not dare to shoot it anywhere after what happend last time. He recalled his soulpower and signaled that Brian can start now. Brian, of course, didn't wait. He directly called forth a flame arrow which seemed to be quite a bit bigger than Domian's metal one. Domian looked at Brian in shock. How could he have improved so fast after just a few days? Seeing Domian's downcast face, Brian held an air of superiority.
"Life and death situations truly make one stronger... If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't have a much larger arrow than him...", Brian thought, recalling the arrow.
Now, the moment came many had waited for. Beta's turn. Before he could even do anything, Sophie shot him a dangerous glance.
"Ugh… A woman's wrath is scarier than death...", Beta thought.
This may not mean much out of the mouth of someone who lived in the void for hundreds of years, but many men would agree to it.
Beta slowly willed his soulpower out and started forming an arrow with his void element. It wasn't much larger than Brian's, which disappointed quite a few. But then something happened. Another one appeared! Right next to the arrow Beta had formed, another one appeared. It wasn't any smaller than the first one, which was truly surprising for everyone. The difference between creating one large arrow and two normal sized ones was just too big. The control you needed to have was much higher than with just a large one. Thus, they clearly knew how far the distance of their abilities, compared to what Beta was capable of at the moment.
"Marvelous!", Lores exclaimed, while looking at Beta with eyes full of admiration.
Sophie couldn't say anything bad about this, even if she really wanted to. So, she shut her mouth and just kept on glaring daggers on his back. Then suddenly Beta said something which shocked even more people.
"Teacher, I want to go to the wilderness!"