Preparing to Return Home

Karyl calmly raised his hand, interlacing his fingers to slightly obscure his eyes.

Two people sat in front of him; the one on the left was in a terrible state, and the one on the right was in an even worse state.

One of them had a calm expression, while the other looked slightly uneasy. Bandages were layered beneath their uniforms, and splints rested quietly on their knees or arms, rising and falling with their breaths.

"The attacking side won this training exercise," Karyl suddenly said. "We made it very clear before the mission even started. Victory is achieved by bringing the Adamantium out of the mine, and your team did a good job, Shen. Congratulations."

The seventh squad leader, with a restraint on his jaw, nodded with difficulty.

"As for you, Sevatar," Karyl glanced at him, "If we ignore the fact that you deserted your post, you actually did quite well."

"Thank you, Instructor," Sevatar said, bowing his head.

"But why did you hang Kassati Nuon?" Karyl asked again. "Not only did you hang him, but you also deliberately chose a place where the sound of his blood dripping would echo throughout the entire mine—a truly poetic duel invitation."

"I have no intention of dueling with him."

"Perhaps, but you did it," Karyl said. "Night Lords doesn't forbid duels, battles, or even ambushes. In fact, we encourage you to send each other to the infirmary. It's better to be wounded by your brothers than to die on the battlefield."

He glanced at Sevatar.

"But that's no reason for you to abandon your squad and the target you need to protect during a training mission to fight one of the enemy commanders. You won against Shen, but what's the point?"

"It makes no sense, Instructor," Sevatar replied softly. "I just think..."

"What do you think?"

Sevatar forced a smile, "Perhaps it's not good to say it to his face, Instructor, it might hurt his feelings."

Shen shook his head, opened his mouth, and said slowly and indistinctly, "I don't care."

Sevatar's smile vanished quickly.

"Speak," Karyl said. "Give me a reasonable explanation, Jago Sevatarion."

"I think the Seventh Squad leader needs to be reformed," Sevatar said. "He always puts the mission first, and he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his team members, or even himself, to complete it."

"We don't have many men, and his idea would cause a lot of completely unnecessary casualties in actual combat. Therefore, I don't want him to smoothly advance to the end and become an officer with command authority."

After speaking, Sevatar took a deep breath and lowered his head, falling silent as if awaiting judgment.

Shen frowned slightly and looked up at their head instructor.

He expected to see anger or disappointment, but Karyl Lohars' face remained completely expressionless, as if Sevatar hadn't actually said anything at all.

Shen was already uneasy about this, not to mention Sevatar, who was directly involved.

The Night Lords's "first reserve" was currently trying his best to maintain a steady breathing pace, but his eyes were unusually darting around, showing no sign of stopping. Silence spread, Karyl remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.

"Um"

A few minutes later, the Night Lords instructor slowly nodded. He didn't give any evaluation, only a faint murmur echoed in the room.

Sevatar finally couldn't hold back any longer. He opened his mouth to ask, but someone beat him to it.

"Do you agree with what he said?" Shen asked, looking slightly nervous.

"What if I agree, and what if I disagree?" Karyl raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried I'll misunderstand why you always risk your life to complete missions, like he does? Don't worry, Shen. I'm not as oblivious as this kid who's so focused on honing his skills."

He finally managed a smile, and reached out to poke Sevatar's forehead. The latter sat in the chair, bewildered and helpless, his expression unusually blank.

"Listen carefully, Sevatar. The reason he always sacrifices his teammates or himself is because the enemy he faces is always your squad."

Karyl poked Sevatar's forehead hard again, staring into his eyes and emphasizing his words.

"In other words, if he wants to win, he has to make sacrifices. And the fact that his teammates were willing to obey his orders and make sacrifices proves that Shen's actions were not coerced."

He shook his head and sighed. "That's war, Sevatar. Sacrifices are inevitable. It's a giant meat grinder. If you don't throw your own flesh and blood, or the flesh and blood of others, it won't even start turning."

"Huh?" Sevatar unconsciously uttered a single syllable.

He abruptly turned to look at Shen, but the latter didn't even bother to glance at him, instead bowing respectfully to Karyl.

"Thank you for explaining on my behalf. I've said it myself several times, but this fool never listens. He claims I'm a cold-blooded, purely rational person who would only send my team to their deaths. He also constantly smears the Ultramarines who helped us build Nostramo."

"How did I smear them?!" Sevatar continued to be poked while trying his best to glare angrily at Shen.

"You think they've built too many large bathhouses, and that they're not big enough. You see people queuing up every time you patrol," Shen replied emotionlessly.

"That's enough." Karyl shook his head, put his hand down and rubbed his temples, temporarily relieving Sevatar's forehead as well.

"Let's stop discussing the public bathhouse issue and your disagreements. I hope you can resolve them completely by next week."

"Why next week, instructor?" Shen asked immediately.

"Because we'll be leaving Nostramo next week for a new mission," Karyl replied.

"A new mission?" Sevatar immediately pressed, beating Shen to the punch. "What mission, instructor? Suppressing a rebellion, retaking a territory, or hunting down enemies?"

"Neither." Karyl glanced at him, his right index finger tapping slowly and heavily on the table. "Neither, Sevatar. This mission isn't actually that large in scale, but it will involve multiple factions. Therefore, we need to proceed with extreme caution."

"Could you reveal a little bit?" Shen asked rapidly. "Since you've brought this up with us, it means we're also on the list for this mission—could you give us a heads-up?"

"Alright." Karyl nodded. "This mission consists of three steps. First, we set off. Second, we arrive in Terra. Third, we complete the mission."

"."

Sevatar hesitated, blinking repeatedly, but ultimately didn't speak despite the tapping of his index finger on the table. The flickering lightning patterns illuminated his face, making his expression appear utterly absurd.

After a moment of silence, he finally caught the most important information in Karyl's words. "Terra? Holy Terra?"

"Unless there's a second Terra," Karyl said. "And there clearly isn't a second Terra in the Milky Way, so yes, we're going to Holy Terra."

"This means we'll be dealing with the Departmento Munitorum, the Administratum, the Terra Terran defense forces, and the Imperial Fists. Furthermore, since this operation is being led by a legion commander, it inevitably carries political significance."

"Primarch Rogal Dorn, the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, is on his way back from the other side of the Sol System. He hopes to meet with our Legion Commander then—"

He paused for a moment, then gave a meaningful smile, "--At that time, you will inevitably have to interact with the Imperial Fists. I don't want things to get too ugly."

"What do you mean by 'this level'?" Shen asked cautiously.

"If anyone challenges you, fight them back," Karyl said expressionlessly. "No moves are forbidden. As long as it doesn't cause permanent disability or death, you can fight as you please, just like you did back in Nostramo."

"But I must make this clear from the outset: we won't be staying in Terra for long, at most a week. We're there to investigate and gather evidence, not for tourism. Therefore, you'd better keep your team in check."

Sevatar suppressed his excitement and nodded. Shen, however, keenly thought of something else, "Instructor, are there only two hunting teams like ours on this mission?"

"There are three more Dalians." Karyl looked at him. "We haven't just received one mission; the other hunting teams also have things to do. Don't worry about them, worry about yourselves first, Shen. Will this operation be able to earn your team a name?"

Shen nodded silently.

The conversation ended there. The two wounded soldiers slowly stood up, intending to leave, but were stopped by Karyl just as they reached the door. Meeting their puzzled gazes, the Night Lords's head instructor smiled and nodded at them nonchalantly.

"By the way, the legion commander also wants to see you," he said. He seemed to be in a bad mood.

As soon as he finished speaking, he watched with satisfaction as the two men left his office with extremely stiff steps. But the feeling vanished just seconds later.

Karyl calmly shook his head, stood up, and went to the window. His desk on the Nightfall already had a brother in the Nest, also made of Adamantium, with ever-changing lightning patterns.

The decor here was no different from there, but he was thinking about something else.

He gazed at the peaceful and serene night of Nostramo and couldn't help but imagine what Terra looked like.

Or, let's use an older term.

Earth.

What would an Earth without water look like?

Update complete.