Few weeks passed. Now he had to Walk all the way back. Not that it was big deal... No it was... It was the first time he was now clear from the ice and snow. He wanted more than anything to get home, say his final goodbyes and then leave... Leave... How was he going to to that?
"How will we leave?"
Marx wanted to be angry. He had just lost his chance but that line of thought was completely erased. He also connected that these expeditions were used as a guise for them to study the hard disk... The 'core tech' he had destroyed. Also, even if he had left, what about when he arrived? What if he got caught? Would his stats even help him? He resorted to improving his stats first before the six month period. Maybe they could even be higher than 5. What Marx did not know was that once one reached their stats to 5, they had hit a bottleneck. The same was for his intelligence which never increased fast and it had just recently reached 6.1. This growth was substantial but had he not gotten the core tech, his intelligence would remain 5.1. When many people made their stats reach 5, it would take them even months or years to raise their stats to even 5.1. This is also one of the reasons the guards Marx had fought had only one exaggerated stats. Since it was hard for them to even reach 5.0, they decided to have those modifications that enabled them to rise only one of their stats exponentially. This was to mean that by the time Marx left the planet, his stats at most would be at 5.4 or lower. What Marx had not expected was for the journey back home to take this long though he had had a headstart that it would take long. He went at full speed. Activating Back Thrust and Feet Thrust. It took him seven months. He received no more Life Missions and the the training missions he took did not rise his stats which had reached 5 at all. The missions were getting tougher each day and sometimes as a reward, he would get the Feet Thrust prolonged for 30 minutes. This helped in shortening the distance. Coupled with Back Thrust, he would cover a substantial distance before the time ended. Though the missions were tough, there was not a single time when he was in danger. Most just took a long time to complete. To his dissatisfaction, he had not yet gotten any new skill. He had inquired but he had gotten the same reason. He had to familiarize himself with the ones he had. That could only mean that he was not using his skills to their full potential. How could he when he never even inquired? He had decided that he was going to inquire about the skills during his next mission. His stats increased by just a small margin. Strength- 4.7 Speed- 5.0 Agility- 4.6 Reaction- 4.9 Stamina- 5.1 Coordination- 4.8 Intelligence- 6.1 Maybe only him could call that increase a small margin. This was a result of gene activation. But that did not mean that his stats would still grow the same way after reaching 5. A bottleneck could not be bypassed just by activating genes. He would still undergo the same hardships though he would have a slightly easier time. He was currently at the grave. He had weeded out the weeds on the grave and renovated the cross. He was seated by the side. The sky was starry and Marx did not take his eyes off one of them. It was the brightest star. He had awarded it to her. "I hope you are one of them now. I usually feel that you are watching over me. From up there. I usually give thanks to you. Even if it was an accident, it has been the most meaningful encounter in my life. "I often wonder how my life would have been if we never met that day. I would still be exploring the fallen city. Maybe by now I would have been bored already. Living a meaningless life trying to find non-existent meaning it. "It was you who gave me meaning. I have learnt a lot this last years. I have also made it my mission to get you your revenge. I will make sure that your soul rests peacefully by taking those who ended you. "Am still not strong enough to set out but you can rest assured that after three months, I will set out on that journey. I know you have been lonely all along when I was away. Let me keep you company for a few hours and tell you of my experiences," Marx said taking a deep breath. *** Marx was not the only one having a sad night. Though, to Mia, it was day time. But it did not change the fact that she was having a sad day. She had already completed her examination and she was currently on missions to improve her stats. She would be joining a military school soon and she had to raise her stats. She had about six months left and it was only her agility, speed and reaction stats that had hit four. Why she was having a sad day was because it was her mother's birthday. She was currently in her room staring outside through the balcony. Even as tears fell from her eyes, she did not stop them. What pained her was that she never got her mother's ashes. Even her body was never retrieved though her aunt usually said that they were still searching. She did not know the details though she knew that it was not simple. The door rang and she hesitantly left the balcony. Wiping her tears with the long sleeves of her blue hooded sweater. She opened the door and it was her aunt. Her aunt opened her arms and hugged her. Mia the started sobbing on her aunt's shoulder who stroked her back gently soothing her. *** Marx spent an entire whole hour before he stopped. Just then a notification appeared on his screen. Ma was intrigued by this mission. If it was 75 days left then, he was going to set off for the shipment's location after two months and do the mission after 15 days. This also meant that he was going to be free with his family for a whole two months. It was going to be a good time to build memories that would last him for a long long time. He was sure that after he left them, he was not going to see them any time soon. He stood up and gave the grave a last look then he took off. There was not a change at all. Everything appeared the same but the only difference was that the path had faded and almost non existent. That was the village's problem. They did not want to move on. They did not want to change. He could guess that after he left no one ever set foot out of the village apart from the hunters. He could tell that even his agemates were already planning of getting married. They viewed life in only two perspectives. Life and death, black and white, up and down... To them, it was either staying in the village and also staying in the village. Those were the two perspectives they had created for themselves. It took all he had to convince his family to let him leave. He did not even convince them but he played them. There was no way they would ever let him leave. He reached the village perimeter. He could only sigh when he saw that truly nothing changed. Two youths keeping guard each night with shifts. He arrived just when they were about to shift. He could not understand what they usually defended from. He had been around the world but he had not gotten to see any other human. At least the places he had been. There were those who came here to cut down trees. But there was no way they were ever going to reach his village. Not any time soon, that is. He stopped his train of thoughts and sneaked in. He did not want to cause any disturbances. He knew just how everyone reacted when they saw him. He walked stealthily through the village as he headed towards his home. From the perimeter of their home, he could see the large red tree. He walked to the gate and bypassed the guards. He then clicked the door open. It was already past midnight and they were all asleep. He went to his room and found it as it had been when. He found the laptop still on his study table and the bedside lamp in his room was still intact. Now that he thought of it, he did not need it anymore. He was going to award it to his mother. It was tidier than he had left it. He could only attribute the cleanliness of his room to his mom or grandma. His grandma the most. He jumped on the bed and lay facing the ceiling. It was so nice to be home. It did not even take long before he fell asleep. The power of a person's bed was unimaginable...