Chapter 32: Learning to give up
Instructor Ty's boisterous laughter filled the air a moment later despite his constant tries to suppress himself.
"Haha... I'm sorry, it's just that your expression was too hilarious." He said as his laughter died down.
"Well, I'm not surprised. It is a shocking sight indeed.
Arbus looked back at Instructor Ty in utter confusion.
"Instructor Ty... What just happened?" He asked incredulously.
Throughout his time here, Arbus had never seen a score below 7 anytime he passed a mission, despite how hard each of them were.
He had just passed the highest level of difficulty available for the device in what could be considered record time, compared to his other attempts.
And yet, he had just gotten a score of only average, exactly fifty.
It didn't make any sense to him.
Arbus suddenly thought of something.
"Is it because of the error earlier. Is something wrong with the device!?,"
Before Arbus could continue on, Ty shook his head.
"No, that's your score. The device had an error because of you, actually."
Arbus said nothing as he waited for Ty to explain.
"The answer is in the description." He continued with a smile.
Arbus frowned as his gaze shifted back to the screen.
His eyes landed in the mission synopsis at the top most left corner.
DESCRIPTION: A REINCARNATOR IS COMING FOR YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE BASE. DO YOUR BEST TO SURVIVE..... OR DON'T.
For several moments, he couldn't understand what in the description would cause him to be judged so poorly despite how long it had taken him to clear this mission as cleanly as he did.
Most of the backup Renegades had still been alive at the end, despite everyone in his base dying.
His previous attempts had all ended with everyone dying, and him being forced to witness it, even when his simulated self was already deceased.
The machine would keep him in the game until every single Renegade was dead.
Then – as if struck by a bolt of lightning – Arbus had an idea.
His brows furrowed.
"Ah... So, I'm not supposed to win, am I?"
Ty's smile widened.
"That's correct."
That was the secret! The final mission of the mental training room, no matter the participant, contained an enemy from a preselected option this time, who could not be beaten.
The purpose of the scenario was to survive until the Reincarnator had come and left.
Clearing it was nearly impossible.
Which was why the system had taken so long to provide an assessment. Arbus had ended the mission early instead of surviving till she was gone.
Technically, he failed the assignment, but he had also killed the Reincarnator.
The system had been at a loss for the first time in decades.
Ultimately, it judged that meeting in the middle was the best solution.
Arbus's mind raced as he went over a few things.
'Her power, it made her immune to almost every weapon in existence. There was no way for me to kill her normally, even if I had my regeneration.'
He took a deep breath.
Arbus realised that he would have lost over and over if he had been alone against her.
With her full attention on him, there would be nothing he could do.
The plan he came up with was also something almost no knight trainee would be able to replicate, even if they thought of it.
After all, there was no one on his level that had the same amount of pain tolerance as him.
"....Why does a mission like that exist?" Arbus asked, glancing back at Ty.
"If there's almost no hope of winning, then how is that supposed to help us prepare?"
Ty leaned back in his chair, his burly size causing it to groan slightly.
"It's to teach you how to give up."
"You were supposed to realise there's no possible way of winning, run away and then hide."
Ty let out a breath.
"Despite your accomplishment today, I want you to remember something."
"And what's that?"
"Don't die a fool's death. If a situation is hopeless, then tuck your tail– if you have one– between your legs, and run."
"Yes, it's true that we Renegades are the proud and brave shields of the innocent citizens of this universe."
"Yes, it's true that we have to do our very best to protect and save as many as we can."
"But, our lives matter as well."
Arbus remained silent as he listened to the captain's words.
He hadn't expected an ideology like that from the Renegades.
Especially when Arbus had never seen any full-fledged Renegade follow that particular advice.
Despite how outmatched they were, not a single Renegade in Terytl-B ran from Ronin's onslaught.
Which was why he had so much respect for them and couldn't bring himself to hate them.
But, he understood the idea as well.
The advice wasn't useful for him, since he'd never run from a Reincarnator again.
But it was a way to try and prevent the unnecessary sacrifices of Renegade life.
Ty let out a small laugh as he got up to leave since Arbus was the only person using the room at the moment.
"Well, it's a bit unfortunate that this point isn't as impactful for you as it could've been, given the fact that you somehow managed to be the second person from this base to pass the impossible level."
He groaned.
"The other teachers are really missing out on properly mentoring a one in a million talent like yourself."
Arbus's eyes followed Ty as he headed for the door, his curiosity piqued.
"Second person? who was the first?"
Ty halted and then turned back with a grin.
"Tristan, one of the high Commanders. A one in a trillion genius who trained here decades ago."
"Honestly, It's only natural for him to be an exception, considering he's from that terrifying Dune lineage."
Arbus's eyes widened slightly at the family name.
Naturally, he knew of the family that had rivaled the Grimm lineage for generations.
His mother had often spoken about them In annoyance and exasperation.
He had also discovered a few weeks earlier that the white mornan girl, Rin, was also a part of that family.
His gaze fell for a moment, then returned to Ty.
"how did he do it?" He asked curiously.
Ty chuckled.
"Believe it or not, his mission was actually the same as yours. Unlike the other missions, we have to actually program the last one ourselves, to make it unwinnable."
"You both got the same thing out of a dozen."
Then Ty's gaze shifted slightly.
"From what I heard, he didn't take the path you and most Renegades took, of waiting for her to attack."
"Instead, he made both the base he was in and the backup base match toward her through the snow-covered mountains."
"When the battle began, he waited till he saw a slim opening, and then leapt off a cliff, bringing her down from the sky. After that, he smashed her brains out with his fist."
"Quite the troubled guy, if you ask me." Ty said as he strode out of the room.
"..."
"Yeah... definitely."
Arbus distinctly remembered doing the same thing to the Reincarnator Ronin, so he was really in no position to comment on that.
What bothered him the most about the story though, was how easy it was for Tristan to use his fellow Renegades as Canon fodder, while he waited.
Arbus had done the same to a lesser extent, but it still weighed on him greatly. It had also taken over a dozen tries for him to come to terms with the hopeless situation.
His mind drifted to the silver face of the quiet head commander he'd seen years ago in the Hold.
"Hmph, guess it's time to move on."