Bab 17: Lost and Found
After Brian's side lost their defensive line, the enemy routed both left and right to capture and eliminate as many as they could.
It might be such a simple thing to order a retreat but retreating when you're under fire is very tricky. Once you turn around, your back is exposed to an enemy who was ready to shoot.
And if they didn't back off in time, they would get flanked by the enemy that breached their line. It was hellish for the losing side.
A significant portion of their defensive line has been eliminated, most of the central units were taken with only the furthest units on the left and right being able to make a swift enough escape.
"We lost." Brian admitted it to himself.
He was sitting on nothing but dirt. He held his head with both hands and shook it, but it did not change anything.
They haven't really lost yet. There were still a substantial number of their soldiers. However, morale was at an all time low and now that they have lesser numbers than the enemy that they were equal to begin with was heartbreaking.
'Should we forfeit?' That idea crossed Brian's mind. He shook his head at that thought and laughed at himself.
"Did he go crazy?" An officer was talking to a common soldier.
"I don't know. Next time, Brian shouldn't be commander." The soldier replied.
Everyone was already accepting their loss. They no longer had the will to fight. And due to that.
-Green Team has won the battle. Please head back to The Vault-
They could hear the sirens announcing the enemy's win. They just sighed at the result and then traveled back towards The Vault.
"He got me good." Brian said, still seated on the ground.
The things that just happened was a war simulation. They conducted the battle in a forest that had the occasional clearing here and there, whether naturally or artificially created.
The damages done to the forest were minimal due to game regulations and there were people with restorative powers that could heal the trees.
The trenches were fixed by a group of people who were composed of strength type ability users and earth elemental users.
And Brian, who had his powers sealed, helped in the restoration.
Before the event started, he was warned to not use his powers at all in this fight.
"What you need to learn is the power to command your soldiers. That is your role." The game magistrate said to Brian.
Brian volunteered for the position as he thought he would be able to lead the battle himself. But that was a mistake.
"If you want to use your powers, then I'll authorize Adam to use his as well." He was leashed by that statement.
Adam had a similar level of mastery in the arcane arts as he was. He was scared of Adam, but Adam was not that interested in studying magic.
"I already know of the concepts." Was what he heard from Adam when he tried teaching Adam new spells.
Once Adam sees and hears the explanation from Brian, he could use the spell without the need to study.
And that is because Adam's memory was waking up.
======================
Brian Soileward
HP : 500
Mana : ??
Memory : 20%
Ability : Devouring
Sub-ability :
Intermediate Magic
Ears of the Folinr (devoured)
Titles : The Cannibal
======================
Nevertheless, Adam never used his magic in front of other people. He always used his ears instead. Brian did not understand why Adam never used magic publicly.
On the other hand, Adam was worrying about what to eat.
'Should I eat some little a salami to reward myself?'
He did not think much of his victory. Because he was playing with kids in an adult's game. He did not relish in the fact that he won.
Adam is currently a 15 year old child. However, his alter-ego slowly collected itself and soon enough, Adam lost his innocence.
But this did not mean that Adam wouldn't be swayed by his instincts as a 15 year old boy. He was, after all, in the body of a 15 year old.
"Hmm. I already got that issue of PlayVault. There's nothing of interest here." Adam strolled through the market area within The Vault. He bought whatever caught his eye and talked to as many girls as he could.
The only problem was that he was an average Joe. At least he was to everyone else. He only displayed his super hearing as an ability after all.
He did not reveal his devouring ability or his arcane power, that is because he did not want to be in the spotlight. He realized that in his countless lives, being the center of attention is very tiresome.
However, he still had urges to reveal his talents. He was essentially a 15 year old boy. Nevertheless, his urges never prevailed against his logic.
'Sure is hard, living this life.' Adam thought as he whistled a tune and walked towards his living quarters.
The world around them was broken 10 years ago. But due to God's whim, they survived. The world slowly healed and the people thrived again.
The rotational speed of the Earth went back to normal. That meant that the clocks only needed some calibration and communications would work again. The second coming of the Internet was very much welcome.
And with everyone getting an ability, a special government unit was formed to regulate the ability users. It was the usual, you abuse your power, you get a punishment. However, the enforcers were now police with abilities on top of their training.
Things were chaotic at first but things normalized within 2 years. And once the world entered its calm state, the world shook once more to release creatures that could only be seen within fantasies.
They were territorial creatures and they also had a ruling system within their own groups. But they had enough intelligence to leave other civilizations alone. They didn't become a problem that the people thought they would be. Humanity is still wary of their actions even through all that.
However, the people who had any inkling towards the visions all warned everyone of what was to come. The Bible's Revelations were what brought chaos to the world.
This meant that only countries that had Judaism or any religion based on Judaism as the main religion took the signs seriously.
One certain country, namely China, who had Buddhism as its main religion, did not care whether it was a precursor or not. After recollecting their forces and reuniting their people, they waged war.
It might have been a bit hasty on their part, but that is because of the influence of the White Rider. He was set in China due to God's wishes.
Throughout years of waging war, China was able to take control of most of their bordering countries. But they were not able to fight and break through India and Japan.
China's main advantage is their numbers. They had one of, if not the biggest populations even after the beginning of the end.
And India was the same. India had strong ability users and had numbers similar to China, but they were passive and did not try to invade. They have enough problems maintaining their country, they were not interested in more headaches.
Japan on the other hand had strong ability users but not the numbers. Their rankers had powers that were out of this world due to their culture being focused on fantasy.
On the other hand, China had ability users that were strong but there was a problem. The ability users in China were divided, the people could not handle the restraint China was putting on the ability users. They were basically slaves of their own country.
'Sigh. Do I really have to put a stop to all of this?' Adam was conflicted inside.
He didn't want to save the world from the peril it is about to face.
'However, he kind of started all of it.'
He was mistakenly thinking that it was all his fault. The one at fault was clearly God himself but Adam only thought it was natural for God to do these crazy things.
'He has long been mad. Since a long time ago. After all, he already killed all of the population on Earth once, it is not surprising that he will do it again.'
Adam was talking about the event that almost everyone knows. The story that watered down the murder of the whole population, literally, and romanticized the struggle of one man and his family.
Noah's Ark was a staple story. It was told to children all over the world and people loved it. The only sad thing is that God's act of killing everyone was never emphasized in any of the story telling but instead focused on Noah's kindness towards the animals.
'Laughable.' Adam scoffed as he remembered exactly what happened.
He died at that time.
"Let's ignore that for now."
Adam decided to ignore his problems.
Which was the right decision. Adam is not the hero in this story. There is already a hero for this world's current crisis. What Adam needed to do is to set the stage for our story's hero.
Once Adam reached his room, he took a relaxing bath. He hasn't bathed in days due to the exercise, it was outdoors after all. Although there are Virtual Reality systems that could be used to simulate the exercise, these systems did not take into account the abilities that each person has.
"Aaaahh. That hit the spot." Adam was in catharsis.
He laid down in the tub and closed his eyes. He recalled the events that just transpired and he was happy. He may not admit it due to his pride as an adult, he still liked winning. It is the feeling smurfs get when they stomp on new or weaker players in online games. (look up "smurfing" if you don't understand)
He scrubbed his face and put his head underwater.
'I wanna stay like this forever.'
Adam was being sentimental. That is because he now has a very good friend in Brian, a loving father and a mother. He could not ask for more in this life of his, and perhaps it is what he always wishes for whenever he reincarnates.
'Sigh. If only it doesn't change like that every time.'
Adam was worried about something changing every time he died. And it does happen almost every time. It is his curse, and the reason why he wants to stay inconspicuous.
After quite a while. Adam finished bathing and soon changed into a new set of clothes. But this time, he wanted to try something other than white clothing, which was standard in The Vault, and training clothes.
He searched through his wardrobe. He had a memory that there was something else other than those standard clothes in his wardrobe. He took all of his clothes out but he couldn't find anything that resembled anything else.
'What? Where is it?'
He scrounged his wardrobe a lot harder but still found nothing.
"Why is it not here?" Adam spoke out his thoughts.
He rushed outside of his room and ran towards his parent's.
"Mom! Dad!" Adam knocked aggressively on the door as he said.
"Mom! Are you there?"
Adam could hear rustling inside the room. He determined that they were asleep and just woke up due to his incessant knocking. He was jittery and really wanted to find that thing that he lost.
Soon enough, the door opened and he was greeted by a still yawning Tim who had very ruffled hair. Adam didn't care though.
"Dad! Do you have it?" Adam asked as if his child was missing.
"It? What do you mean?" Tim was still sleepy. He scratched his groin and opened the door widely and let Adam inside.
"Dad! I meant the only thing I brought here when we arrived in The Vault!" Adam was still very attached to it and he didn't want to lose it.
Tim sat down and posed to think with his thumb on his chin. He took a minute before he started to speak, and Adam at that time was busy messing their wardrobe.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Tim exclaimed.
"It isn't here! Where did you put it?" Adam screamed at Tim but Tim didn't really care so much.
Jenny woke up due to Adam being too goddamn loud.
"Eh? What is happening?" Jenny asked as she wiped her eyes.
Tim explained to Jenny while Adam was busy destroying their wardrobe.
"Ah. You mean that? I gave it away."
This statement made Adam stop his movements. He just stood and did nothing. But he soon looked at his Mom with a very scary glare. Jenny was scared.
"Eek. I gave it to the people that just joined our happy family." Jenny explained as she held her hands up in defense. Though she was just acting as she is a strong ability user.
Adam thought for a while and remembered about the family that recently migrated in The Vault. The Vault expanded throughout the years, digging out more soil to make more room because Johnny was not satisfied with only two thousand people.
"That family with the 12 year old girl?" Adam asked Jenny with a cold tone.
"Yea! I gave it both the Goat and the Sheep-Dragon shirt to that little girl named Eve!" Jenny replied.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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