"See what we mean!" Adam said , pointing at the pile of Earth lions the rest of team Cursed had killed. Lex and the others had carried the bodies of the 3 rank 2 lions back to the hill.
That's when he really saw what his teammates meant. The lions the others killed where not even close to being similar to the ones killed by Lex. The most obvious difference was that the other lions didn't have the rock-like mane and that they were way smaller than the 3 victims of Lex's slaughter.
"So i really fought 3 rank 2 beasts on my own "Lex muttered as the gravity of the situation set in. He went to sit against the container that housed the corpses but flinched as soon as his back touched it.
This caused Linda to almost run and scold Lex for not being careful but she stopped herself and instead signalled for Tina to follow her behind a nearby tree.
"Hey you kinda freaked out when Lex came back all bloody there, what was that all about?" Tina questioned as soon as they where alone.
"I don't know this is new for me too. Do you know that i once got pissed off at Jennifer coz she was looking at him."
Tina tried to suppress her laugh as she saw her friend to really be in some kind of predicament.
"Are you really going to do this right now ?" Tina became serious.
"Do what ?" Linda questioned
"Pretend like you don't know that you are in love with the guy." Tina replied with a straight face.
Meanwhile back at the camp site. Laura was busy trying to contact her superior about their next objective. Michael was sharpening his sword, Jennifer was scraping something off her combat boots with a disgusted look on her face.
"So how was it?" Adam asked Lex with curiosity
"How was what?"
"How was fighting rank 2 beasts dude come on!" Adam said, getting excited
"Well it was ....." Lex started thinking how to explain to Adam how the fight went.
"It was hard , very hard, these things are hard to kill. The only soft part is inside their mouth."Lex said before explaining to Adam every detail about his battle.
"I have to say I'm quite relieved though" Adam interjected
"Relieved about what ? that i survived?"
"That and also that you are not weak" Adam confessed
"What made you think i was weak ?" Lex was really interested in their conversation now.
"Well you kinda came back heavily injured and then you told us that you killed three beasts. I myself killed Four, but there was not a scratch on me. Then when we where going to get the bodies of the lion's you killed, I heard Michael joking with Jennifer about how weak our captain is."
"Now i find out that you actually killed beasts we where ordered to run away from" Adam chuckled.
"Yeah...." Lex replied with a nervous laugh.
{Angela, did you know those beasts where at the second rank} Lex asked his AI.
{Of course i knew that, you would have too if you had used the inspect skill before attacking} Angela said with a mental eye roll.
Lex was annoyed at Angela and also at himself. He was angry that his AI did not warn him of the danger. He was also angry at himself for not thinking to inspect the beasts beforehand.
{Why didn't you warn me that they where rank 2 beasts, or at least remind me to inspect them then?}
{ Because there was no need. I knew that you could defeat them } Angela said with confidence.
{Lex do you know that it's impossible for a rank 1 Cultivator to survive an attack from a rank 2 beast?. That first attack should have ripped your body into 4 peaces } Angela revealed
{Let me guess , i survived because im a hybrid} Lex said, still annoyed , but then he realized something.
{Wait does everyone know this ? that a rank 1 Cultivator can't survive a fight with a rank 2 beast?} Lex asked with a worried look.
{Yes it's common knowledge} Angela replied.
Lex immediately stood up and walked towards Laura. Ignoring Adam who was calling out to him after being left sitting alone.
"Yes sir our coordinates are 53,5° Latitude, -0,6376° longitude....yes sir" Laura said before putting away her communication device.
"Lex ? is something wrong" Laura asked after seeing Lex anxiously standing in front of her.
"Uhh..I.. I was wondering if you had already told the base about m...."Lex said nervously but was cut off in the middle of his sentence.
"Not yet i was waiting for you to tell me how you did what you did first" Laura said with arms crossed and a serious look.
"Can you please not tell them " Lex pleaded.
"Tell me the truth Lex. I will decide myself whether to tell my superior or not, depending on your answer."
This is what Lex was afraid of. He trusted Laura but he could not tell her the truth otherwise his life would be over. Lex did not know if he was the first ever hybrid or not but he didn't want to risk it.
Laura on the other hand was never going to tell anyone about Lex anyway. However she wanted to know the truth so she had no choice but to act like any other stuck up teacher.
"I...I took some drug i was given by a second year student" Lex lied while hiding his face from Laura by facing the ground.
"Why?" Laura questioned , not fully believing Lex's words.
"I am afraid of being left behind, my friends are the only family i have , and all of them are really talented and strong. I...i..i don't want to be alone!" Lex said emotionally, tears running down his face.
{Wow how did you make your tears fall on command like that! Have you ever tried a career acting?} Angela was clearly amused.
{Shut the fuck up!} Lex internally shouted.
What Angela did not know was that part of what Lex said was true. He really was afraid of being alone , he still is a 16 year old orphan after all.