章 34: - Return to the Academy
"Ohhkay, that's a lot of stuff," Gus murmured. Overwhelmed by the amount of messages he received, he could not help but utter the words out loud.
"What's a lot of stuff?" Connor asked, approaching him.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a part of my thing I told you about," Gus responded quietly, not wanting anyone to hear about it.
"Ahh. Gotcha."
'First, a level up. Didn't unlock anything like I did with the last one, but that kind of makes sense at least. I got my points, and there was a box. I completely forgot about the box from the last level up, too.'
"Let's go," he said, picking the box back up and leading the others out of the room.
As they walked back to the vehicle that took them from Munich to Frankfurt, Gus thought about the rest of his rewards.
The most confusing part was the EXP rewards he received. Back during the game, he earned 50 EXP per elimination. During the light training session they carried out earlier that morning, Gus received 25 EXP per victory, exactly half the reward. Even when he fought William Dean, someone the system itself deemed an enemy, he still only earned 25 EXP. Therefore, it could not have been due to the fact that Joel and Connor were his part of his squad. But now, he was earning 100 EXP per kill. Was it intentionally inconsistent, or was the system just inept in some way?
It was not just the numbers themselves. The wording of the messages also changed. In the game, it said 'enemies eliminated.' In the Pit, it said 'opponents eliminated.' And just now, it said 'enemies killed.' While he could understand the change here, since he had killed them, the difference between the Pit and the game was strange to him.
'Holy shit… I killed someone. No. FOUR PEOPLE! I killed four people!'
Four people had actually died by his hands. And, sure, they were mercenaries. They were likely to have been a threat to them, so Gus was justified to act first. Right? The question bounced through his mind, like an annoying song you just can't seem to shake the memory of.
Gus's stomach turned as he thought about it. Within a matter of moments, Krista's words to him mere minutes ago held an entirely new significance in his mind. They should be ending the lives of aliens countless miles away from here, not people who were largely the same as them.
But… they were ruthless criminals. Surely that is justification to strike first without warning.
'If your life is in danger, you have to act however severely you see fit to ensure your survival.' Those words were supposed to comfort him, and make him feel better about the situation. But all they could do was force him to think of his father.
Wasn't that the entire philosophy he was working with when he violated Gus's life, along with the nineteen others that made up the Evolved? Sure, they were now humanity's greatest heroes, securing their influence in the frontier and acting as the front line of defence against the Bloody Dawn, but did they actually want that? He sure didn't, and although he could not speak for most of the others, he at least knew that Kaya wouldn't have wanted it. She would never have agreed to it had it been consensual, or at the very least not coerced.
'You have to act however severely you see fit… Jeez, you really did a number on me, didn't you? Would I even be here, if not for you? If not for your ridicule, for your hate of me, Andrew?'
When he spoke with Krista, he thought about why she was here, but, why was he here? How does killing a group of mercenaries help him achieve what he wanted? How does it get him to the stars?
'I have this thing, with all of these different names. Achilles, Hercules, Alexander, Hou Yi, they're all people, I think. Surely they had to kill to have their names etched into history, to earn a place in this system. How did they react? Did they not care, or did they break down about it? What were the circumstances, were they justified? I don't know, I can't know. It's meaningless to ask, I just have to work through it my own way.'
The system had also given him another kind of reward. It gave him a leadership point for each kill his squad got, not including himself.
'This is morbid,' he thought, looking at the others. 'Not only do I get praise for killing, in the form of system rewards, but I get rewarded for making others do the same thing? Where does it stop? Would I get a reward for obliterating a planet filled with innocent people? If so, should I even have a thing like this?'
"Gus, you alright?" Claire asked him, stepping closer to him as she spoke. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," he lied. Although he thought he knew her decently well, he could not tell her about the system. He had taken a huge risk in telling Connor and Joel, and he only did that because it was necessary to tell them so that he could test in in the Pit. While she would be one of the next people he would tell, now was not the time. And he could not tell her about the doubt that he was filled with over what they just did. Following a doubtful leader would breed mistrust in that leader.
The ride back to Munich was filled with silence, as were the two trips that came after. Gus had no wish to speak following what had just happened, and spent the time thinking back to the library. It was clear that he was having an affect on the others, and as badly as he wanted to he could not stop himself from thinking about the situation back at the library.
Upon arriving back at the academy, they found Jet waiting for them in the shuttle bay. Gus handed the box over to him, and received thanks in response.
*Mission Complete: Book Recovery.*
*Reward: [500] EXP.*
*Legend Mission Complete: Carry the Books Alone.*
*Reward: [750] EXP.*
*Reward: [50] Strength Points.*
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