“But… Do we know how strong their shields are? What level of strength is needed to crush it? I mean cultivation base level… You are aware that these forces aren’t elite! They just got their first big cultivation base opened, with just a few small bases unlocked.”

“I know,” I sighed, “but I lack such info.”

“Then…”

“Don’t forget we are going to get Hescos soon. So we can test them out and see for ourselves.”

The two girls went into deep silence, thinking about such game changing news.

And I didn’t speak or try to interrupt them. I got the same reaction once I heard about this news.

“So we are going to use the forces of cultivation to crush them… And that requires a change in tactics…” Lily spoke after ten minutes of deep silence and contemplation, “how about we use the southern continent for that purpose? I was planning to use that place to train the most formidable forces we got. But…”

“I didn’t ask for you to do this,” I stopped her line of thoughts before going any further. And when she gave me a questionable gaze, I added:

“Remember that old project of ours? The way to unlock cultivation for anyone?”

“This… Damn! How did I forget about it?!!!”

Even she, the one who was responsible for it, totally missed it!

“Are you planning to let all of them start cultivation?” Angelica pointed at the direction of the training ground nearby.

“That’s a given,” I nodded, “besides… I also want our humans to start cultivating as well.”

“But… Last time it took lots of time to make these potions and… The ones we tested these potions upon took weeks to produce results,” Lily expressed her worries and doubts.

And they were the same I got before.

“I have a way to solve this…”

“Here? The time difference is great, but I doubt it’s going to be enough! Even if we started working over an entire continent… Just the building process… The production rate of the potions… Everything is against us!”

“We got another place where time runs differently here,” I slowly said and stopped there when I saw two looks of horror over their faces.

All of sudden it hit me! Damn! How did I forget that these two were entrapped inside that world and got out with deep trauma and shock?

I got so damn excited about this plan to even forget about their personal experiences there.

“No… No… I won’t go there ever again in my life! No!” Lily screamed in such panic and fierceness that made me inwardly sigh.

And before I could say anything, Angelica lost all power and fell on the ground in a shaking body and running tears.

“Calm down, I don’t ask for you two to come inside that place,” I tried to correct the grave mistake I made. “I’m just telling you my plans.”

“…”

Lily kept glaring at me with red eyes, while Angelica lost herself in crying in silence.

I looked at what happened to them, and my heart ached. That pocket world… It was my victory there but at what cost?

Three of my mightiest girls on my side, three of my most entrusted and capable friends by me… They reached such a miserable state.

Could I say the end of that big war back there was my victory? I couldn’t believe that!

I paid a hefty price in return for crushing that world!

“Listen… I want you to just prepare your men and send them in there. They’ll do all the work and…”

“That secret method is something I have to do myself,” Lily interrupted me as she said in such a fierce tone.

“But…”

“I’ll go!” she declared, and even with her strong voice, her shaking body failed her. “I… Will go…”

Just like she broke something inside, she paused for a long minute while repeating the same words, as if she was surprised she even took such a step.

“Are you sure?” I got that she had crossed a big gulf in recovering from that mental trauma. Sometimes, facing one’s demons was the best way to get freedom.

“I will,” she nodded, and this time her body stopped shaking, “I will go in there and lead everyone to open their cultivation bases. This isn’t the time for me to stop out of fear. Too much is on the stake here, so…”

She kept listing all these reasons, yet I got that this wasn’t the real reason behind her decision. It was her fierce soul! She was such a fierce person, one who wouldn’t settle with such weakness or watch her soul break apart without fighting with all her might to amend it.

Unlike her, Angelica was still in her lost state. Unlike Hectors, humans were just as fragile as thin layers of glass in front of an avalanche!

We used to run away from our traumas. Even the jumper, the fiercest person on my side, did this as well.

Even IF… I ran from my past to here, hoping that things would go better.

Yet I knew for sure that no matter how I climbed high and became stronger, I wouldn’t be able to fix what I suffered back in my early years.

And I would always carry such a deep wound inside me, walking forward while my heart and mind were still pained from the past.

This was how humans were like, this was how we were like.

“I… I… I can’t…” as Lily declared her decision, Angelica said in a trembling weak voice. She finally raised her head, slowly as if she was just struggling to keep it over her shoulders, “I can’t… I can’t go back… I won’t…”

She stuttered while rivers of tears broke like a dam just vanished there. Lily leant over her, and the two girls held each other like they were in their mother’s wombs.

I could only watch this while engraving this scene deep into my mind.

‘I swear I’ll find whoever left this damn cursed hellish place here and deliver justice over them… I swear…’