Clyde looked up at Samuel who was behind him pushing a wheelchair. The man of course noticed the frown on Clyde's face.
Samuel smiled slightly. "You know that all the suffering you've been through is just the beginning of something big, right?"
In fact, Clyde had known about it ever since he met the other beings behind this apocalypse. Like the World Masters and those who claimed to serve the Celestials.
But Clyde didn't know where to start. Samuel seemed to understand about that so he started explaining without Clyde asking first.
"How much do you know?" he asked.
"I know that the apocalypse is only the Selection Stage," Clyde replied.
He snorted. "I heard that you already know a lot more than you should because you have met the World Masters and the servants. And that's good."
Clyde didn't answer. He was still busy looking at the layout of this strange city.
"You are referred to as Players in the Selection Stage, as if you are playing a game. But the Celestials refer to you as Candidates."
Clyde was silent and listening.
"Candidates exist for various reasons. Some are recruited to become warriors, servants, and even champions. Those are good possibilities.
However, some are unlucky and will only become slaves. They are in charge of hard labor and sacrifice when necessary."
Clyde winced at the words 'sacrifice' and 'slave'. He remembered hearing from Rodney that they would be judged by Grades. That's why they wanted to kill him so that he and his friends would get a good Grade.
Without realizing it, his hands gripped tightly on the arm of the wheelchair.
Samuel, who had been pushing the wheelchair from behind, felt a huge pressure from Clyde that made him flinch.
Even though Clyde was being held down by the shackles, Samuel still couldn't be sure that the shackles could hold him down if he intended to unleash his power.
"Calm down, why are you so tense?" Samuel asked in a tone he tried to keep as calm as possible.
"Did you know that I was betrayed?" Clyde said in a cold voice. "Those bastards stabbed me in the back and wanted to kill me after I helped them. It must be because they wanted to get a good grade."
Of course, Samuel knew about that. He was also shocked when he found out. Luckily at that time, he managed to come on time despite sacrificing a lot of Mana.
"You intend to take revenge?" he asked.
"Of course I want revenge!" Clyde said sharply. There was a heavy weight of emotion in his voice.
"You will be able to do it." Samuel nodded. "In fact, this place is filled with people who want revenge."
Clyde blinked a few times. He still didn't understand what Samuel was saying.
"But before that, you have to fully recover yourself first."
"Right," Clyde said. "You still haven't told me what this place is."
"Oh, right," Samuel said. "This place is called the Shivagadh fortress. It is where we, the people, and all kinds of creatures called the Resistance are based."
'People and various kinds of creatures?' Clyde frowned, surprised.
"You must be wondering, what we resist against exactly."
Since Samuel had already said it, Clyde didn't bother to ask.
"We resist, rebel, and fight, against the Celestials."
Clyde turned his head back to see Samuel's face. He already knew that the Celestials were powerful beings. Then, if they intended to fight those Celestials, who exactly were they?
Clyde knew that Samuel was the one who saved him from the Regressors. That shows that he is not an ordinary human like his appearance.
Samuel noticed Clyde's questioning look. he smirked. "We are indeed quite strong. However, we are still not strong enough to challenge those Celestials head-on and can only move in silence for now."
Samuel didn't say that Clyde being here was part of the plan. Samuel knew how strong Clyde was.
He had even managed to kill that replica of the Outer God. Clyde will be something very useful to increase their strength.
But he'll save that for now. He wasn't going to risk Clyde thinking he was just being used by them if he heard it.
"Why do you want to fight them?" Clyde asked.
"You have no idea what those Celestials have done. They are so powerful that they see the lives of other creatures below them as mere insects."
There was a special pressure when Samuel said that. Clyde also saw his red eyes which were dim slightly flash for a split second when he said that.
"The Selection Stage was also their cruel act so they could take new toys," Samuel continued.
"We, are humans and creatures who have gone through countless Selection Stages. Then we joined here because of the same feeling, that is hate for those Celestials."
Clyde looked back up. He should have expected that something like this would happen.
Usually in novels or movies, there will indeed be resistance groups hiding in the underground because they hate the powerful rulers.
He thought back to the time when he was still on the Selection Stage, in the Main Control Tower after he obtained the Nightmare Orb.
It feels like it was just a few days ago. But apparently, so much time has passed.
At that time Clyde felt worried because he thought that at that time everything that happened was just a dream that wasn't real. And he will only return to the gloomy days in his life before the apocalypse happened.
But it all turns out to be just the beginning of something bigger. He got into a bigger plot than before. And it seems that he remains the protagonist of his own epic story.
Even though Clyde had just been betrayed, he could still see a bit of the bright side. At least, he didn't return to his previous boring life.
Was that any better than nearly dying at the hands of the people he previously helped? Once again, Clyde only thought of it as a plot of a story that he had to experience.
In a fictional story, there are indeed some things that readers don't like. But, it can't be helped if it's part of how the story goes.
So, yes. Clyde considered his near-death experience a little better. It was also because he didn't really die.
Realizing that his thoughts had wandered too far, Clyde returned to focus on what they were currently talking about.
"Who are the members of this group?" Clyde asked.
"Our numbers aren't too many. But it can't be said to be few either. We can do minor operations like saving you, but we still can't afford to attack those Celestials openly," Samuel replied.
"There were many humans that we saved from the Celestials' clutches after becoming their slaves. Several beings from other worlds, as well as several servants who defected."
For Clyde, it's all still quite confusing. However, all of that seems too much to process right now. So he focused on the more important things for him to do first.
"I don't think I can understand any of that for now. Do you know the way so I can recover quickly?" Clyde asked.
"Yes. But it looks like it's quite difficult," said Samuel.
"What do you mean?"
"Your body will probably recover before long. But your power... I can't say the same about your it."
Clyde tried to feel the change in himself. But he couldn't feel anything. So Clyde tries to summon his Character Information.
However, all he saw was a Window with blurry and distorted text. The Character Information looks like a badly damaged computer screen.
"Are you trying to look at your Character Information?" Samuel asked when he saw Clyde's gesture.
"Yes. I can't see it," Clyde replied.
"Yeah. That's what I said. We got that power from the system when we entered the Selection Stage.
Some of us only have damaged Character Information, it depends on the injury each individual has. But for you, you even almost died so…"
Clyde understood what Samuel wanted to say. So, did that mean he could no longer use all the power and stats he had acquired? If he looks at the current condition of his Character Information, it is very likely to happen.
However, there is something he has that can create an extraordinary forte. That is his [Private Attribute: Easy-Mode].
Based on what happened previously, that [Private Attribute] of his had helped Clyde escape from a difficult situation. Perhaps, this time the [Private Attribute] would do something extraordinary again.
'Wait, could it be that the thing that sent the text to me was that [Private Attribute]?' Clyde wondered.
"Don't worry," Samuel wondered. "Even though you can no longer see your Character Information, you can still gain your power again by training. Just like me."
"You can't see your Character Information either?" Clyde asked.
"No. I can't." Samuel shook his head followed by a bitter smile. "That's why I'm training hard so I can still fight."
'Even without his Character Information, he was able to have the power to save me by himself.' thought Clyde.
~~~
