Transcendent Gene
Chapter 114: Recovery [4]

Chapter 114: Recovery [4]

Gio backed away several steps and put his hands up.

"I never believed in ghosts. This must be a dream."

He pinched himself several times as Raymond burst out into laughter.

"I’m not a ghost, bastard. Are you really praying on my downfall that badly?"

"What downfall? Ghosts can’t fall. They float."

Raymond made a dumbfounded expression.

"Kid, did something change? Have I been asleep for 5 years? How did you learn what a joke is and how are you starting at Jax levels of terrible?"

Gio shook his head, smiling wryly.

"It’s not a joke, though? Even if it hasn’t been five years, it’s been two weeks. It was starting to look like you really would stay asleep forever."

The worry in Gio’s heart was clouded by a veil, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel it. Why else would he visit the medical ward so often?

The other team members were the same. Every time they came back from a mission, they’d always stop by this place before anything else.

Gio was just the one who happened to come this time.

Raymond received that wry smile with a kind one.

"It’s true. I’m awake, so stop treating me like a dead guy."

Gio almost couldn’t understand the grin on his face.

How was he able to present himself so calmly as if he wasn’t suffering from a traumatic injury? How was he acting like his entire life wouldn’t change from this day forth?

In truth, Raymond didn’t just open his eyes. He had several hours of silence to understand his current state before Gio walked into the room.

It was odd.

No, he could only say it was odd now because he was a strong person. The feeling when he woke up...

That feeling couldn’t be described. It was a hollowness that went beyond hollowness. It felt like there was a thousand-mile hole in his chest sucking him into the ground. Frustration, dread, hopelessness, anger, sadness, disappointment...

The combination of emotions was exacerbated every time he tried to move his legs. Every time he tried to rest his hand on his thigh. Every time he tried to feel the rest of his body, he realized there wasn’t a "rest" to feel.

The rush of thoughts and emotions swirled together and created a dark cloud of depression that kept him glued to the bed, running his hand over his torso as it all sunk in.

’Maybe it would be better to end it.’

That thought broke the cycle.

Because, disregarding the thoughts of ending his life, Raymond wasn’t one to consider even retirement.

’This kind of injury doesn’t have to be the end of me.’

He was shocked into reality by thoughts of leaving the world. His mind slowly cooled down, and that was the final conclusion he reached.

His life didn’t have to end because of this injury.

’It’s unfortunate. There are some things that’ll never come back...’

The sour feeling in his heart didn’t leave. His mind was still telling him to be pessimistic, but he forced it into silence and thought positively.

He would never be able to regain certain things. Unless he found a Healer that was at least a Lunar or even Stellar Class Sequencer, he would never be able to dream of having children again.

The fact that healing serum had to be used to immediately save his life meant that restoring his legs was now far more difficult. In essence, his body recognized his current form as its only form. It no longer remembered its lower half. His torso did not end as if there were supposed to be legs connected to it anymore.

’But I can still fight.’

He could still stand for his cause and stand on the battlefield. He could still stand even if it was no longer physically possible.

’There are others who sustained wounds like this and kept fighting even without their lower limbs. It’s difficult, sure, but it’s possible.’

And he wasn’t someone who had to worry about money. With enough time, he could have prosthetics made specifically for him to mimic the functionality of real legs. Robotics had come a long way in the past several centuries. It wasn’t wrong to say that the right prosthetic could even be considered an improvement.

In the end, he was alive and he was okay. He lived in a world of infinite possibilities.

Just seeing the usually cold and serious kid who rarely expressed himself showing so much emotion was enough for him. There were people who would support him along the way, so what did he have to worry for?

"Wait, what am I doing?"

He smiled as Gio’s sudden exclamation broke his train of thought.

"The others will be pissed if they find out I didn’t tell them immediately when I found out you were awake. Hold on, let me sound the alarm."

It didn’t exist before. In fact, it was a crude and newly installed system made for this purpose and this purpose only.

Gio went to the medical ward’s door and found a small box attached to the wall nearby. He grabbed the handle and pulled open its glass face, revealing the big red button inside.

He pushed it without hesitation.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Three consecutive beeps confirmed that the signal had been sent.

And the people bursting through the door less than a minute later proved that it reached its targets.

Amaya, Jason, Natalia, and Ulver –the four ground team members currently on the zephyr– shot into the room one by one. They all looked at Gio, who stood near the red button, before turning their eyes to the reason for the button’s existence.

There he was. With his eyes wide open and an infinitely helpless smile on his face was their Captain.

Right, he had finally opened his eyes.

***

The team members clearly weren’t comfortable enough to display their emotions in front of him. It was more so Natalia and Ulver than Amaya and Jason, but that was beside the point. Regardless of how many of them had to contain themselves, it was still best for him to leave the room.

’I can talk to him later. Plus, just seeing that he’s in good spirits is enough.’

Gio’s mind was put at peace by the glint in Raymond’s eyes. It wasn’t the look of someone who had been defeated by his injuries. He was clearly of the mind to fight fate and follow his ambitions in spite of them.

That was more than enough. The Raymond Gio came to respect would return as if he never left.

’Then, the most important thing is the world again.’

For him personally, training would always be the most important thing, but even that was for the sake of the world.

’The beast control array has already been completed. They didn’t use any beasts against us while we were fleeing, probably on purpose, but that means I don’t know how complete the machine is.’

He knew one thing for certain.

’The first time it’s used against others is about a year from now. The 2nd Stratum’s First Institute of Sequencing Studies was the location, and the students who would have become some of the next generation’s best and brightest Sequencers were the targets and victims.’

Among them were several students who had immense potential. There was a reason the First Institute was picked out from its peers.

’I need to be ready.’

His rate of progress had to increase soon.

But, for now, it was best to focus on what was going on in the zephyr.

After all, there were still two members of the team who were still rushing back to the ship at this very moment.