Noctis
This was so boring that I couldn’t even begin to explain it.
My only job throughout the day was to keep an eye on the soldiers.
Watching them and pointing out their mistakes was one thing.
Watching them make the same stupid mistakes over and over again was something else entirely.
I had expected the beasts to scare them away eventually.
Unfortunately, they were more stubborn than I thought.
Alice had simply told me to keep an eye on them, leaving me to deal with this mess.
These people couldn’t seem to do anything properly.
They didn’t want to become prey, yet they kept putting themselves in situations where even a newborn beast could kill them.
Still, I supposed I could whip them into shape.
I divided them into two groups.
The first group would hunt beasts and collect their Star Cores.
The second group would absorb those cores and increase their strength.
Once the second group reached Two Stars, I would switch their roles.
The first group would then absorb the cores while the second group went hunting.
A simple plan.
Efficient, too.
Wow.
I really was becoming a Buddha.
At this rate, everyone would reach Two Stars thanks to me.
Nameless would probably laugh himself to death if he heard me say that.
Well, whatever.
I could do much more if I wanted to.
I simply didn’t feel like it right now.
After all, lying on a tree branch and watching the moon was far more enjoyable than babysitting a bunch of idiots.
I stretched my arms behind my head and gazed at the night sky.
“Alice, you really want to turn these people into human weapons, don’t you?”
My voice disappeared into the darkness.
If these soldiers discovered her true intentions, I doubted many of them would willingly continue following her.
Some had lived in this place for years.
They had families, friends, and dreams of their own.
Yet Alice was sending them toward a battle where many of them would probably die.
People were strange.
I’d met countless people throughout my life.
Perhaps I hadn’t experienced as much as some of them, but I’d seen enough to understand a few things.
And that was what mattered.
People wanted to live for a long time.
They feared death and desperately clung to the future, believing that more time would somehow make their lives better.
But perhaps that was their biggest mistake.
Living a long life meant experiencing countless things.
Meeting countless people.
Watching them change.
Watching them leave.
And, eventually, watching them disappear forever.
Loss accumulated over time, like cracks spreading across a piece of glass.
Most people couldn’t bear the weight of it forever.
Some broke quietly.
Others became monsters long before their bodies died.
And some simply continued living, pretending that nothing was wrong.
So, if someone could live happily for a short time instead of suffering through a long life, would they really need those extra years?
I didn’t know.
Perhaps there was no correct answer.
Fifteen days from now, only a handful of these two hundred people might still be alive.
Alice could inspire them.
She could give them hope, make them believe they had a chance, and convince them to fight with everything they had.
But she couldn’t save everyone.
No one could.
And me?
Well, that was a different story.
Whether people lived or died, I would continue doing whatever I pleased.
I’d have fun.
To me, everything was more or less the same.
An ant or a human.
A monster or a king.
I wouldn’t choose between them simply because one was supposedly more valuable than the other.
I’d go wherever I found something interesting.
If I hadn’t met Nameless today, perhaps I would have met someone else tomorrow.
If that person disappeared, I’d find someone new.
That was life.
When one thing disappeared, another eventually took its place.
I turned my attention back to the moon.
It was beautiful tonight.
Unfortunately, even that was beginning to bore me.
What a shame.
If some enormous beast suddenly appeared and began slaughtering everyone, at least the night would become more interesting.
Their screams.
Their desperate attempts to escape.
The hope that they might survive, followed by the despair when they realized they couldn’t.
It would certainly be a memorable sight.
I might even applaud.
Unfortunately, nothing like that was going to happen.
Not tonight, anyway.
With a long sigh, I adjusted my position on the branch and closed my eyes.
For now, I had no choice but to spend my precious time watching the moon.
What a miserable existence.
### Ronan This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
On the other side of the forest, I stood before a group of exhausted soldiers.
In front of us lay the bodies of several beasts, their Star Cores already collected.
More beasts remained in the distance, but the soldiers had reached their limit for the day.
Not because the beasts were particularly powerful.
No.
The real problem was the soldiers themselves.
Their coordination was terrible.
Some rushed forward without waiting for their teammates.
Others failed to use their abilities properly, wasting precious mana on attacks that barely scratched their enemies.
A few even left openings so obvious that the beasts could have killed them with their eyes closed.
I’d already instructed them to fight in groups, but the moment a battle began, their formation fell apart.
It was almost impressive how quickly they could turn a simple hunt into a disaster.
They needed to learn how to cooperate.
Strength alone wouldn’t be enough.
If they couldn’t trust their teammates to cover their weaknesses, they would continue making the same mistakes until one of those mistakes cost them their lives.
The sun was beginning to set.
“Everyone, gather together!
That’s enough for today!”
The soldiers gradually retreated from the hunting grounds.
Some were wounded.
Others could barely stand.
I looked over them and sighed.
“Tomorrow is another day.
For now, absorb the Star Cores you’ve collected and recover your strength.”
After giving the order, I left them to their work and sat beneath a nearby tree.
But even after closing my eyes, I couldn’t stop thinking about one particular person.
How can someone enter the Awakened Star Gate without a Star Core?
I had never heard of anything like it.
As far as I knew, entering the Star Gate without an established Star Core was impossible.
Yet that blind man had done exactly that.
Perhaps Lady Alice valued him more highly than I’d initially realized.
He didn’t see with his eyes.
Instead, he seemed to rely on his other senses to perceive his surroundings.
That should have been a weakness.
Without sight, he would struggle to recognize distant movements, distinguish subtle visual changes, or react to attacks that depended on deception.
At least, that was what I wanted to believe.
But something about him bothered me.
There was something I couldn’t quite understand.
And until I figured it out, I wouldn’t be able to judge whether he was an asset or a threat.
What exactly does Lady Alice want from him?
I had to survive.
No matter what.
Even if I had to sacrifice thousands of people to do so, I would survive.
That was the only rule I refused to break.
Still, I couldn’t understand why that blind man had come here.
What was he doing right now?
He’d gone hunting alone, despite not having developed a Star Core.
Nobody had stopped him.
Nobody had even insisted on accompanying him.
Was he genuinely confident in his abilities, or was he simply too foolish to understand the danger?
I couldn’t decide.
Perhaps he would prove useful.
Or perhaps he would become nothing more than another burden we had to carry.
Our ultimate objective was to settle things with the Seven Continents once and for all.
But before that could happen, I had my own priority.
I had to survive.
That was simply how life worked.
Everyone received only one life.
Whether they wasted it on meaningless ideals or used it to accomplish something worthwhile was their own decision.
As for me, there was only one thing I wanted to accomplish.
I wanted to pave the way for Alice.
Because the things I couldn’t achieve…
She could accomplish with ease.
That was why I would follow her until the very end.
Even if the path ahead was covered in blood.
Even if I had to become a monster to walk it.
I would continue moving forward.
For her.
After some time, the soldiers finished absorbing their Star Cores.
I stood and called their commander over.
“You performed terribly today.”
The commander lowered his head.
He didn’t try to make excuses.
Good.
At least he understood how badly they’d done.
“Some of your people went out to hunt and ended up becoming prey themselves.
Then I had to step in and save them.”
I glanced at the soldiers behind him.
“On a battlefield, one person’s mistake can get everyone killed.
If someone breaks formation at the wrong moment, the entire team might pay the price.
You need to fix these problems while there’s still time.”
The commander nodded repeatedly.
There were fifty Awakened soldiers in this group.
Twenty-five of them had already reached Two Stars.
They should have been helping the One-Star Awakened improve their combat abilities.
I rubbed my forehead.
What a headache.
“From now on, divide everyone into teams.”
The soldiers immediately paid attention.
“Each team will have five members, including one Two-Star Awakened.
That gives us ten teams.”
I paused to make sure they understood.
“But don’t simply divide them randomly.
Consider their abilities, personalities, and fighting styles.
Make sure every team is reasonably balanced.
No team should be overwhelmingly stronger or weaker than the others.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then I noticed something change in their expressions.
Their eyes lit up as they began considering the possibilities.
Apparently, all they had needed was a little direction.
Within minutes, the soldiers started discussing how they should organize themselves.
Some volunteered their abilities.
Others suggested which teammates would work well together.
I walked among them, inspecting their arrangements.
To my surprise, they did a reasonably good job.
The teams were balanced, and their members seemed to understand what their responsibilities would be.
“Good.”
I nodded.
“You can rest now.”
Several soldiers visibly relaxed.
However, before they could celebrate too much, I added, “Starting tomorrow, you’ll be hunting more beasts.”
Their expressions stiffened.
I ignored them and walked away.
There was no need to explain further.
I’d given them a problem, then shown them how to solve it.
Now they had something to work toward.
If I pushed them too hard, they might become frustrated and lose their motivation.
If I left them entirely alone, they would continue making the same mistakes.
Finding the right balance was important.
Besides, I wasn’t here to make them comfortable.
I was here to make sure they survived long enough to become useful.
And if they couldn’t even accomplish that much…
Then perhaps they didn’t deserve to survive.
### The Next Morning
The following morning, I woke the soldiers before sunrise.
After a quick breakfast, they immediately headed into the forest to hunt beasts.
This time, things were different.
Their movements were more organized.
The teams stayed together, the stronger Awakened covered their weaker teammates, and the soldiers began learning when to attack and when to retreat.
There were still mistakes, of course.
A few soldiers moved too slowly.
Some attacks lacked coordination, while others wasted their abilities at the wrong moment.
But compared to yesterday, the improvement was obvious.
They were finally beginning to understand one another.
I watched them from a distance, my arms folded across my chest.
I hope they keep this up.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be many survivors when the time came to face the Star Monster.
Only a handful might remain.
And perhaps I’d be one of them.
The thought made me frown.
I didn’t want that.
Not because I cared deeply about every soldier here.
I didn’t.
But every death weakened our chances of accomplishing what we had come here to do.
And if too many people died before the final battle, everything we’d worked for would become meaningless.
Still, I understood the truth.
No matter how carefully we prepared, something could always go wrong.
A single unexpected beast.
A poorly timed decision.
An enemy we hadn’t anticipated.
Any of those things could turn our plans into a disaster.
And if that happened…
Everyone could die.
I watched as one of the teams surrounded a beast, their movements becoming more coordinated with every passing moment.
For a brief instant, I allowed myself to hope.
Perhaps they would survive after all.
Perhaps the people standing here today would still be standing beside me fifteen days from now.
I knew better than to trust such thoughts.
Hope was a dangerous thing.
It made people imagine futures that might never come.
Yet without it, people had little reason to keep moving forward.
I let out a quiet breath and turned away.
How troublesome.
Everyone wanted to live.
Everyone wanted to return home, see their loved ones, and believe that tomorrow would be better than today.
Even I wanted to survive.
The difference was that I understood something they didn’t.
Wanting to live and being able to survive were two entirely different things.
And soon enough, this place would force everyone to learn the difference.