Chương 55: Reasons

A few days later, in the training facility of Planet 500. Slash! Slash! Slash! I had finally fully recovered. I, along with Theo, Maya and Daniel, had gotten discharged from the hospital after being classed as 'fully recovered'. I never thought that being a Hopper would entail suffering from fatigue from using portals, but I guess you learn something new every day. And here I was, defeating advanced-level mana beasts like it was nothing. Slash! Slash! Slash!

I was still at the bottom of the advanced level, on stage 5. It was not a new feeling; it is akin to the feeling you get when you start middle school for the first time, and you have to get used to being the youngest in your new school despite previously being the oldest at elementary school. Yet still, the advanced-level mana beasts I was fighting couldn't put up much of a fight. Slash! Slash! Slash!

Despite having wielded the sword only a few times in the past, whilst fighting the beasts in the training facility, my moves were elegant and extravagant, and I swung my sword with great finesse and alacrity. Slash! [You have gained 50 XP for defeating 10 'Black Spotted Jaguar (advanced)'.] [Total XP: 1815/5000] That was definitely a decrease in XP.

I couldn't remember how much XP I gained for defeating advanced-level beasts when I was at the basic level, but I could tell that it was slightly less than what I had been earning previously. However, that didn't matter to me anymore. In this game-like system, it gets harder to level up when you progress. Just like in any typical game.

"Guess I have to defeat more beasts now," I said, wiping sweat and tar-like beast blood from my face. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Slash! Slash! Ever since that incident on Planet 505, in cave 33, when I went berserk and murdered two people as well as countless mana beasts, I haven't been able to activate the elusive eyes that made my vision turn yellow, causing my mind to go haywire.

I continued defeating mana beasts in the hope that the eyes would show themselves again, but I couldn't bear the fruits of my hard work. The reason why I wanted to activate the eyes and go through all of that suffering again was because of one conversation I had with Cayman a few days back. He had taken me to a separate room that was far enough from the hospital ward to ensure that nobody could hear us. And there, he began talking, his tone of voice gruff and serious.

"There was one thing I overheard you saying," he had said. In response, I had given him a look that resembled a blank slate. I wasn't able to work out what he was trying to say.

"It's about the eyes that make your vision go yellow, turning you into a monster." Oh, that was the message he was trying to convey. It was something involving those eyes.

"They're dangerous. I know the power of those eyes because I've seen it before. I've seen the sheer power people with those eyes hold, and it's not nice to be anywhere near those guys." Still, I couldn't muster the strength to give Cayman a reply.

"There's a word I'm trying to say that links to the eyes, but I can't say it for some reason. Whenever I try to say it, I start stuttering and I can't finish saying the word."

"I-Is it that a-word?" I blurted out, not knowing when the right time to speak was.

"I heard someone saying it on my solo mission." When I finished speaking, Cayman flinched, visually taken aback. His reaction implied that the answer was yes.

"It's a word that begins with a. I want to say it, but at the same time, I don't want to say it."

"Y-You don't have to say it then." Cayman sighed, looking at the ground. It looked like this was something that deeply concerned him. I didn't know how else to respond.

"That's not it," Cayman continued.

"I had a feeling that you've had this condition from the outset. I've watched your fights against mana beasts in the training facility as well as on Planet 501. The fighting style you display and your personality don't match." Was that truly the problem though?

"That's not the real problem. Whenever you defeat beasts, you like confirming that they're dead before you move on. And that's when you go berserk. It's like there's some kind of anger lingering inside you that's pushing you over the edge. That's what I've heard other people who have this condition talking about." I still didn't reply. I thought my head was going in circles since I couldn't really understand this information.

"I've been concerned ever since you defeated that boss on Planet 501. All of a sudden, you went berserk, and I had no idea why. You're usually a quiet, nonchalant kid, and the temperament you showed back then belied your usual nature. That was when I knew something was wrong." Silence followed, prompting Cayman to continue speaking.

"Listen carefully, Robert. I'm being lenient on you right now, but other skill users might not be, and I might eventually change my mind if your condition gets worse. What I need you to do is to control your eyes. Try to ensure that you can consciously activate and deactivate the eyes. Make sure it's not a virus or a parasite eating at your brain as we speak, turning you into a hideous, malevolent monster. If you can do that, I bet you can excel as a skill user."

And that was what Cayman had said to me back at the hospital. They had been serious words which I needed to ponder over, and since then, I've tried everything in my power in an attempt to activate those eyes again, but nothing had worked. I was just defeating mana beasts like normal. I couldn't remember what led to the activation of the eyes. My memory of when my eyes turned yellow was becoming more fuzzy as the days rolled by; it was like gradually losing something very dear to me.

"It's useless," I whispered to myself as the last mana beast fell.

"The eyes aren't activating." I sighed, and suddenly, I heard footsteps. Clop, clop, clop. Fervently clutching tightly onto my sword, I turned around and saw the source of the footsteps. I almost reflexively swung my sword, which would have injured my friends, Theo, Ben and Maya.

"Woah, you scared me there," I said, the words escaping from my mouth before I even had time to gather my thoughts.

"You could've told me you were here."

"Was it a nice surprise?" Maya questioned.

"Did you get scared?"

"N-Not really. But I could've chopped your heads off if you weren't careful enough."

"Too bad," Theo added.

"Besides, you're a murderer now. You told us that you killed two people during your solo mission."

"Umm…" I scratched the back of my head, deeply embarrassed. I didn't expect Theo to bring that up all of a sudden.

"You killed someone?" Damn it. I forgot that Ben was also there; he wasn't in the conversation where I exposed the truth. Ben, whose wound had miraculously healed and was back on his feet, displayed a quizzical look when he asked the question. I sheepishly nodded. I would be telling brazen lies if I said no and tried to deny it, because my facial expression would say otherwise.

"L-Let's not talk about that for now," I stuttered, trying to walk myself out of trouble.

"Are you guys also here for training?"

"Partly," Maya replied, adjusting the crown on her head.

"Then what are you waiting for? We're advanced-level skill users now. I can't wait to start training." Good. Ben was back to his boisterous, exuberant self again. Theo walked over to where the crimson button was and started banging on it. Almost immediately, a whole horde of mana beasts was summoned, beginning its stampede towards us. We didn't falter; we charged at the beasts with all our might. Slash! Slash! Slash! The lurid images of our fights during the solo missions were returning to our heads.

This wasn't enough to trigger fear in our body; seeing beasts being cleaved and eviscerated was nothing but the norm for us. Slash! Slash! Slash!

"How many did you get?" Ben asked Maya.

"Five. What about you?"

"I'm currently on seven beasts. I'm gonna beat you!" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. And with that, Ben and Maya charged towards a group of beasts completely unabated, slashing their swords with ardour wherever they could. Slash! Slash! Slash! This was just a training session, but all of my friends were taking it seriously; it was tantamount to being in a real fight with beasts at a higher level than us. Good.

Everything was going well. Everybody was back to normal. Heads went flying, blood was spilt and beasts fell to their unfortunate demise. After all of the beasts had fallen, we knelt down and began cutting their bodies open. For any ordinary person, this would be more than a gruesome sight; it would be something so alarming that it might make them faint and froth at the mouth or vomit their whole dinner out. However, we were Hoppers, and all of this was the norm for us.

It was one of the first things listed in the job description. It was all in a day's work for a Hopper. Slice! Slice! Slice!

"How many did you get?" Ben asked, directing the question at nobody in particular.

"I'll beat all of you right now!"

"Fat chance," Theo challenged.

"I've got five already."

"Five? I've only got three."

"Work your ass off then," was Theo's curt reply to Ben's remark. All I could do was smile.

"Are you guys training?" I averted my gaze from the mana beast I was busy dissecting. Initially, I thought this male voice belonged to Theo or Ben, but soon, I discovered that we had visitors. The person who asked the question was none other than Cayman William Grace.

"Looks like you're having a good time," Cayman said as he gazed intently at us, the people who were cutting open the beasts and exposing their bones to the fresh underground air. Ben looked up, slightly astonished to see Cayman in his field of vision.

"But I'm gonna have to cut that time short. I've got something to tell you guys, and it's quite important." In response, he got a deep sigh from Ben.

"Just come outside for a bit. It is something that might intrigue you." Hesitantly, Theo, Ben and Maya stood up and followed Cayman, who left the training grounds. I followed suit, contemplating why he would purposefully take us out of training to tell us something. This was not the person I knew from Night Hoppers.

In Night Hoppers, Cayman was someone who stuck to his training, had a rigid schedule and would never procrastinate, so to think that the same person wanted to take us, his students, out of their training to tell them something felt slightly bizarre to me. Nevertheless, we still followed him. Outside, in the portal room, stood Devon, Ellie, and strangely, Daniel De Souza.

Ellie displayed her usual steadfast demeanour whilst Devon looked ready to square up to Daniel and fight him despite Daniel being taller and more muscular. It was there that Cayman began his seemingly emotional speech.

"Do you remember when I told you about my mission and my goals?" he asked us all, despite the fact that Devon and Daniel hadn't been there to listen to him the first time round.

"It was a few weeks back now, so I think some of you might have forgotten."* Although Ben and Maya had blank looks, they still nodded in agreement. It happened just after we had progressed to stage 3 and became Hoppers. It was then when Cayman told us about why he was doing this and why he had arrived on Planet Earth. His reasons were wholesome and sad simultaneously, and it was enough to make an ordinary person cry a waterfall of tears.

"Well, that's not the full story," Cayman continued in a despondent tone.

"I feel like I've been keeping secrets from you, and it's not a nice feeling. A teacher should never keep secrets from their students about the content they're supposed to teach. That's the feeling I have right now."

"Why haven't you told us the full story yet?" In response to Ben's question, Cayman said, "It's because at that time, you were still new to the industry, and you didn't have a complete understanding of the skill user world. I didn't know if you were ready to hear the full story, so I left some parts out. But now, I think you're all ready to hear it." Ben's face depicted a wide smile; his brain was filled to the brim with pure zeal.

"Tell us," he said, trying to push out the truth from Cayman.

"We'll do our best to support you all the way. We're Hoppers now. Don't forget that." Cayman gave Ben a wry smile despite feeling a tinge of apprehension. Then, after a few seconds of awkward silence, he opened his mouth.

"I told you that Ellie and I have been Hoppers for many years. I told you that we've been to and claimed 499 planets in this universe. I told you that we're collecting items to try and save someone dear to us from eternal suffering, and that there's something on this planet that we need. However, that's not the full story." Theo, Ben, Maya, and even Daniel nodded as if they understood every word that left Cayman's mouth.

However, in truth, I was the only one who could genuinely understand Cayman's perennial feelings of guilt, hurt and anger.

"I haven't told you how we're going to save this person and why we're trying to save this person. I want you to listen carefully because I'm only gonna say this once; I don't know if I can muster up the courage to say it a second time." In response, we gave Cayman another nod. Even Devon, who was standing next to Daniel and Maya, nodded, despite having an unyielding grudge with Cayman.

"The person so dear to us that deserves our help is our mother," Cayman began solemnly.

"We lost her a multitude of years ago, but I remember it so clearly. The way she was taken from us, the ferocity in the eyes of her kidnappers, the utter ruthlessness that was displayed right in front of our eyes. Everybody around us told us that she was dead and that it was impossible to bring her back, that everything we tried was futile, but I kept saying that there is a way. I was an optimist besieged by pessimists. I was the only person who believed that there was a way."

Maya looked like she was about to shed tears.

"That's horrible," she said, trying her best not to wince.

"I can't believe someone would want to do that." Theo and Ben hung their heads, speechless.

"The trauma was too great. Miraculously, after the harrowing incident, I was fine. But Ellie, who was almost killed in that incident, suffered, and still suffers, from unimaginable PTSD. It was so bad to the point where she lost her ability to speak. Either that or she's unwilling to speak. All of the emotions had faded away from her face, and since then, she's been a shell of her former self." When Cayman finished speaking, we all averted our gazes to look at Ellie.

As always, she had a lifeless, expressionless demeanour with a face devoid of any emotion or colour. She was basically a walking ghost. This was exactly how she was described in Night Hoppers. Throughout the whole novel, in all 570 chapters, I couldn't remember a scene where she spoke even one word. She really was the silent killer. It was devastating to hear the reason behind Cayman and Ellie's trauma being confirmed.

It's not everyday that your favourite novel characters come to life and emerge from a mysterious portal after all. But still, all of this was heartbreaking to hear. Cayman and Ellie, who had worked so hard for almost their entire lives, two Hoppers who built their own reputation from scratch, from the foundations upwards, were doing so because they had lost the person they loved the most. Ellie's PTSD was so significant that her speaking ability ceased to exist afterwards.

It was a poignant event, and even thinking about it as a reader evoked a strong sense of sadness that was virtually impossible to suppress.

"However, all hope is not lost yet," Cayman said, trying to lift our spirits. Theo, Ben and Maya all had their heads bowed, and Daniel and Devon's expressions were blank.

"There is a way to get her back, and I know what it is. It could be costly, but I can confirm that it works." Maya's head shot up; all of the ardour inside Ben's body had suddenly been transferred into her body.

"What is it?" she asked vehemently.

"Is there a way we can help?" It was then that Cayman sighed deeply, indicating that it was something he was reluctant to share. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and started speaking.

"It's a skill," Cayman said in a gruff, raspy voice.

"I've found a skill that can bring her back to this world. This is the main part that I haven't told you guys yet, and I'm not sure if Danny boy here is ready to hear it."

"Of course I'm ready," Daniel blurted out; his feeling of disgust was brazen.

"I became an advanced-level skill user before the four of them. Of course I'm ready to hear what you have to say." Cayman sighed, knowing that any form of argument about Daniel's skill user knowledge was fruitless.

"It's called Regression," Cayman blurted out all of a sudden, without giving us any prior notice that he was going to open his mouth and say something so unexpected.

"The skill in question is called Regression." Regression. The power to turn back time. Perhaps the most overpowered skill in the whole of the skill user world. It had not been explicitly mentioned in Night Hoppers, but that might be because the story hadn't reached that point yet. After all, it had been on hiatus for quite a while. This statement infused shock into all of our bodies, including Ellie's; she took a step back once she heard Cayman's words.

Cayman was going for Regression, the most elusive, mystical, enigmatic skill in the whole universe. He wanted to turn back the clocks and save his mother from the horrors of her kidnappers. Although it was an ingenious idea, it would take him ages to find all the materials needed to create the skill. That could explain why he had explored 499 planets beforehand and numbered each planet he claimed. It might be because he was trying to hunt down the materials required to create this mythical skill.

Of course, I knew what Regression was beforehand since I had read Night Hoppers and the novel briefly mentioned the skill. However, it wasn't the same story for my friends.

"Regression? What is regression?" Cayman wanted to slap Ben on the face after he heard the question.

"Use your damn brain," was his harsh reply. To add further insult to injury, Cayman tapped a part of his skull, indicating that Ben needed to pay more attention to what he was saying.

"He wants to turn back the clocks," Theo said, providing a vague explanation to Ben. That eliminated my need to speak, thankfully.

"You want to turn back the clocks?" Maya asked, wearing a quizzical expression on her face.

"You want to save your mother by going into the past?" Cayman nodded.

"That's impossible," Daniel chimed in.

"The only way to go is forward. How the hell are you going to turn back time? Are you gonna step into a time machine and change history?"

"Shut up!" Cayman snapped.

"This is why I don't want you to hear it. It's because you barely know anything about the vast, expansive world of skill users. Just be quiet." Daniel did as he was told.

"Yes, I want to try and turn back time and save my mother. It's no easy task. I've lost a loved one in a demonic way, and I want to save her from the demons out there who have kidnapped and potentially killed her." Maya winced.

"But I can't do it alone. This skill has never been created before, and the widespread effects of it are unknown. So I want to ask you this question." We listened intently; even Daniel, who practically had no idea what was going on, and Devon, who harboured a long-lasting grudge with Cayman, listened.

"I need a few extra hands to support me. Exploring and claiming planets is only going to get harder from here. I want all of you to help me in my journey to create not just the Regression skill, but the Regression skill at the infinite level. I want to prove all the haters wrong, create the skill and save my mother. I'm only going to ask this once, and I'm not going to influence your decision. I'll respect your decision and I won't force you to help if you say no. So, will you help me create the Regression skill?"

Was I going to help Cayman create the Infinite Regression skill? You don't even have to ask me. Cayman is the only protagonist that I revere deeply; I admire his determination and his courage, as well as his rational side. I've admired him for as long as I can remember, so of course I was going to help him. The chances of me turning down this once-in-a-lifetime offer was close to zero. And it looked like the rest of my friends had the same idea. Theo, Ben, Maya, and even Daniel, nodded.

"I've already said this once in the past," Ben said, "and I'll say it again. I will help you no matter how risky it is. I don't care about the haters. I don't care about the peril. I don't care about putting my life on the line. I'm doing this for you, your mother and Ellie. You've helped us become the skill users that we are, so it's only right that we help you in return. Is that a fair deal?" Cayman gave Ben a wry smile. A true friend helps others in need.

They don't expect to be repaid, nor do they do it because it's the rules. They help others because they want to. They do it to make others feel better. And those qualities were on full display when Ben made his bold speech in front of Cayman. It's not about money, fame or duty. It's about comradeship. It's about forming a stronger bond. It's about togetherness. Even Devon, who hated Cayman with all of his guts, somehow acquiesced.

"Thanks guys," Cayman said, the tears in his eyes ready to burst.

"That really means a lot to me. Right. Now that all of this is cleared up and I've opened up to all of you, including Danny and Devon, let's talk tactics." Theo, Ben and Maya grinned.

"Now that you're all at the advanced level, I think this is the perfect time for you to learn something that only higher-level skill users should learn." At that point, I knew exactly what Cayman was going to say next. And I couldn't be any more right.

"I think it's time for all of you to learn skill creation."