Chapter 134: the lyrics of life

After settling down, they decided to slow down and rest properly as Captain Oxford would not be available for a while due to him over-exerting himself.

They also needed rest, as they were practically sapped of all strength from this battle. This battle was a nightmare to them while also being a wealth of valuable experience, as they definitely gained more battle knowledge from it.

No pain, no gain. This quote was true, as without being soaked in battle it was very hard to improve.

A perfect example just verified this claim in the person of their leader, Captain Oxford. Perhaps, he would have never advanced to become a 4th rank high-grade soldier in his life if he followed the normal training route.

But just one traumatic but desperate battle was able to drain him and draw out his hidden strength. He was able to break and expand his limits when such a fierce battle stimulated his potential.

Apart from him, though no other soldier broke through in the battle, they all improved to a certain extent.

Especially Clark, he did not know when, but he knew that he was extremely close to crossing the first great divide of the 3rd rank. His short but eventful life has brought him to high heights that he could not have even dreamt of if he decided to live a normal-like.

Despite some being as a captive and extremely traumatic, he treasured all his experiences. And most especially, he treasured all the people and friends that he made for these short few years.

Another perfect example was the great mechanic Han of Galaxy. Though he is just a fictional character created in a novel, Clark learned a lot from him as his experiences were so broad and insightful.

Despite him having a training cheat like a system, he was still only able to attain such great heights because of his many battle experiences and the powerful friends he made.

Hard work was the main reason that he was able to fulfill his destiny of being the greatest muscled mechanic in history. If he just left his life to fate, he would have never become the legendary mechanic.

Clark never knew when he would fall into a situation that he needed the help of others to be saved. But if such a day came, he was confident that there would be others that would come to his rescue.

Show me your friends, I will tell you who you are. If you look at his history since he graduated as a soldier of the Spartan republic, all the friends and people he encountered were mostly all influential or strong people.

Though it may seem like it was not genuine relationships, they were beneficial relationships so there was no fuss to be made.

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. Like the mysterious old man once told him, every individual in this world is all connected by invisible strings of fate. That’s why humans are social beings.

Everyone came to this world as the main character of their own life, the first thing you need to start the fulfillment of your dream is acknowledging that. Lionel Messi accepted his fate as the main character of football, and he went forth to do exploits throughout his career.

Only you can decide the way in which the lyrics of your life will be written. No other person can decide your fate, you are the owner and the decider of your fate by your actions.

Despite being talented, Lionel Messi wrote the lyrics of his life by being hardworking. When you decide to take the writing of your life lyrics by the horns, that is when your life will be like a beautiful melody.

Though Clark’s career as a soldier was still in the blooming and beginning stage, he was ready to take over the writing of his career lyrics. He was ready to take a firm grasp of his advancement in the ranks as a soldier.

After going through this huge mental session, he finally turned in to rest. After making sure that there was no more danger, the other soldiers also finally slept peacefully as the weariness overwhelmed them.

…

The clock slowly ticked forward, as the atmosphere of the room’s surroundings grew darker and darker.

After 5 uneventful hours of rest, they finally woke up again. Though 5 hours was not too long, as soldiers they were able to retain most of their strength in this short time.

Under the orders of their new temporary leader, Captain Jack, they finally decided to count their losses in this battle.

Despite emerging as the winners of the battle, their losses were still hard to stomach. After so many consecutive uses, they were left with only 20% of the initial resources they came with.

They used up more than 50% of their resources, during this single battle. This was unacceptable as they did not know how much more complicated circumstances, they had to pass to leave this military base.

Having no preparation for the unknown was preparation for death. The Persian army was able to overwhelm the brave 300 Spartans of legends, only because they were more prepared and had the advantage of information and resources.

This directly placed them in a difficult situation, as having no more reserves definitely spelled death despite them now having a General to be in their midst. In this era of exotics and technology, energy was life for soldiers and a lot of people.

Almost everything that needs technological skill to be operated and used, made use of energy. Losing energy to them felt like being cuckolded, and losing your wife or fiancée.

In this battle, they used up all their shield reserves, leaving them with less than 10% of their original stash. This spelled danger no matter which direction they looked at it from.

Most, if not all of the soldiers now had the energy reserves of their armor below the critical 20%. They were now in their most vulnerable state.

The only bright side was the energy reserves of their various weapons. Apart from the 2 guns Clark overloaded and destroyed, all their weapons still had an energy reserve of above 50%.

This was only possible because weapons hardly used energy like armors and other equipment. Their energy reserves are only drawn upon when the users use their force fields. In the case of guns, their energy reserves are drawn upon when the wielder decides to shoot out energy beams.

Practically all guns made in this era have 2 modes of outputting their power. It's either the physical by using different types of bullets, or the energy-based by shooting out beams as their mode of outputting firepower.

Despite all these losses, they were not too disheartened as life was the most important. They would face any situation that came with their best, as worrying about the future would only decrease morale.

The dead could not lament about losing energy reserves, they appreciated their lives more than their energy reserves.

After taking note of their losses in the battle, Captain Jack finally ordered for them to search around the room for any loot that they could find. Though the losses were huge, they were still within his calculated range so he was not too anxious.

Though there was no material resource loot like Arcanite metal or anything of the sort here, there were still valuable substances and resources that can be looted here. This time, instead of material resources, it was lots of knowledge.

The research books originally kept in the library were all loot, they were all resources with inestimable value. At least, Arcanite metal can be quantified, but the importance of knowledge cannot be quantified.

Their country’s biological research department would increase in skills and techniques immensely from such valuable knowledge.

Such hardcover books like the ones kept in the library were all exclusive and secret textbooks belonging to the original owners of this military research base.

If this military base really belonged to any of the big 5 organizations, then they’ve struck it rich. The research capability of the big 5, was something that no other organization could contend against.

After Captain Oxford woke up, Captain Jack already decided to hand over all the loot they found to him. He originally still harbored some secret plans of his own, but he discarded them all after this man directly broke through in battle.

It was only normal for him to have some lingering ambition despite their desperate situation, he was a human Afterall. But this could not affect his thinking faculty, he still loved his little life.

Going against a newly advanced 4th rank high-grade soldier was still a suicide mission to him. He was ready to even fawn on the Spartan Captain if that was what was required to continue staying at his good side.

His strength as a high-grade soldier was not his greatest strength, his greatest strength was his flexibility in different situations.

He was clever enough to know that his authority in this operation was now less than 10%. His secret plots would no longer be effective, in the face of absolute strength.

As the soldiers checked, they found parts and pieces of the books, which they gathered. The explosion did a lot of damage. Though the majority of the books only had fragments remaining, some of them still remained intact.

They did this for the rest of the day, as they were not ready to leave without Captain Oxford recovering his strength. Despite him still sleeping, his presence alone was just like a morale booster to the soldiers.

Some fragments of the walls were also collected by them, as the battle made a lot of its protective cover break and fall down. The wall was made completely out of Arcanite metal, so this was extremely valuable loot.

After this series of looting, the day was already dark according to their electronic time. So they just decided to rest again for the night, as Captain Oxford was still recovering.

They just took this as an opportunity to recover their full strength, before going deeper into the military base tomorrow.

As they were already disadvantaged in terms of energy reserves for their equipment, they would just make up for it with their personal strength as high-grade soldiers.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]