Utopian System

While Elio conversed with Milo's group at the other crystal, his team rested in front of the green crystal along with Arnaud.

The atmosphere was more relaxed here, though a particular curiosity hung in the air.

"So, Arnaud," Kriz began with a mischievous smile, "you've never really told us about that day."

Arnaud visibly tensed. "What day?"

"Oh, come on," Brok joined in, his voice mixing amusement and curiosity. "You know exactly which day we're talking about. When you gave Elio that crucial moment to recover. We missed that fight, you know?"

Arnaud's face darkened slightly, and his discomfort became evident. "There's not much to tell."

"Your face says otherwise," Kriz insisted, leaning forward. "There must be a juicy story there."

Lila, noticing Arnaud's discomfort, tried to intervene. "Guys, if he doesn't want to talk about it..."

"No, no," Brok interrupted, his smile widening. "Now I'm more curious. What secret are you keeping? It seems to bother you."

Mei also tried to defend Arnaud. "You should leave him alone. What's important is that he helped when it was needed."

But the combination of Kriz's jokes and Brok's insistence finally broke Arnaud's resistance. With a sigh of defeat, he put a hand on his face.

"It's not a secret," he finally said, his voice low. "It's just that... I don't feel particularly proud of it."

"You don't feel proud of helping to save the city?" Kriz asked, genuinely surprised.

"It's not that," Arnaud shook his head. "It's that... It was Tarec who pushed me to do it. I should have been the one to make that decision from the beginning. I should have acted on my own will, not simply be the echo of another's words… I don't deserve the huge praise everyone…"

Before he could continue, a deep laugh interrupted him.

To everyone's surprise, including Kriz's, it was Brok who laughed, and his laugh had an edge that made even Kriz uncomfortable, as if his friend had gone too far this time.

But then Brok spoke, and his words carried unexpected weight.

"You know what? It's okay to be the echo of something like that," he said, his voice unusually serious. "In fact, we should be the echo of those elders we admire. Like Tarec, Lucien, or whoever it is for you. There's no shame in that."

He stood up, and the muscles he had worked so hard to develop tensed under his armor, stretching it and changing its shape.

"See this?" he flexed his arms. "A lot of people tell me it's useless. 'Why bother developing muscle when you get the first level?' they say. 'The System determines your strength, not your muscles.'"

He paused, his expression softening. "But this... this requires perseverance. It's something I admired in someone, someone who taught me and asked me to do it too. I'm the echo of that voice, and I'm not ashamed of it."

His eyes met Arnaud's. "But although it didn't start as my own decision, I made it mine. Now it's part of who I am, and no one can take that away from me."

The silence that followed was laden with meaning. Even Kriz, normally ready to make a joke out of anything, remained quiet.

"It doesn't diminish your action that someone inspired you to do it," Brok continued, his voice softer. "What matters is that when the moment came, you acted. You took that echo and made it your own voice."

Arnaud seemed to process these words slowly, as if seeing them in a new light.

"I'd never thought of it that way," he finally admitted.

"Few people do," Brok responded, sitting back down. "We all start as someone else's echo, or of many echoes really. What matters is what we do with those."

♢♢♢♢

In front of the crystal that would take them to the sixth level, Zara's group waited for their mana to fully recover. The tension from the previous challenge had given way to a moment of calm, allowing for relaxed conversations.

Valeria watched with growing interest as Zara related some of her experiences at the wall. "You know," she commented with a smile, "you're tougher than I expected. You remind me of Selene."

"Are you complimenting me now?" Zara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I definitely am," Valeria responded, laughing. "Strong women are rare in this world. Most prefer more... traditional roles. Though don't get too confident, I can still take Elio from you."

Aria, who had been listening attentively, moved closer to Zara. Her usual vibrant energy now mixed with a kind of admiration.

"Leave Von Elio out of it, he's Zara's. I'm going to support her from now on... She's my new big sister," she commented, provoking a surprised smile from Zara.

Micah, sitting somewhat apart, tried not to roll his eyes at the conversation. It wasn't that he disliked it, he simply couldn't find a point of connection in girl talk.

He decided to turn toward the wall, preferring to count the points in this weird rock than continue listening.

Taron noticed his discomfort and approached, sitting beside him. "Does the girl talk bore you?" he asked with an understanding smile.

"A little," Micah admitted.

"You know," Taron began, changing the subject to help distract him, "I met Elio when he was barely level 3. He was teaching the magnetism technique back then."

This caught Micah's attention. "Really?"

Taron nodded, his eyes lost in memories. "From that moment I knew there was something special about him. The way he explained things, how he worried about everyone understanding..."

He paused, smiling.

"I was also the first to see when he created the first vortex in the monster sea. At that moment I didn't know it was him. When they threw him in, I thought it was his end, that he wouldn't return. But he did, and he changed everything..."

"And you?" Taron asked, turning to Micah. "When did you meet Elio?"

Micah remained silent for a moment, as if deciding how much to share. "My story is... older," he finally began. "I met him some years ago, when he was crying."

Taron looked at him surprised, but didn't interrupt.

"It was shortly after he lost his father," Micah continued, lowering his voice. "I didn't know it at the time, but I've always had a certain sensitivity with people." He glanced sideways toward Zara. "Unlike a certain tough girl we know."

"I decided to approach him," he continued. "When he told me what had happened, I felt immediate empathy. I had also recently lost my father..."

He paused, organizing his thoughts.

"Although my situation was different. My family was bigger, we had more support, other men in the family who could help. We didn't suffer poverty like him and his family."

Micah ran a hand across his face. "But the pain of absence... that was something I could understand. I wanted to cry with him at that moment, but instead..."

A small smile appeared on his lips.

"I gave him an excuse to overcome his pain. I told him, with the most stoic and sarcastic face I could put on, that I also hated that my father had abandoned me."

Taron seemed unsure how to respond to this revelation, but Micah wasn't finished.

"He stopped crying then, but… What really struck me was realizing that Elio wasn't just suffering from his own loss. What hurt him most was seeing how his family missed his father, especially his mother. He's always been like that, you know? Always thinking of others before himself."

The silence that followed was laden with meaning. Even the girls had stopped talking, having caught fragments of the conversation.

"That explains a lot," Taron finally murmured. "The way he leads, how he's always willing to take the biggest risks himself..."

"It's who he is," Micah concluded, his voice mixing affection and concern. "And that's why we have to rise to the occasion. We can't let him carry all the weight alone."

The five exchanged understanding looks. Perhaps that's why they were there, facing this challenge while Elio faced his. It was their way of sharing the burden, of proving they could also be strong for those they loved.

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