Chapter 582 - A WARM HEART (1/2)

Taiki felt like he was just a puppet of a rotten system.

Even his efforts in studying law and becoming a true master had not helped him achieve what he dreamt of all his life. Eventually, he just gave up on being a better person and an instrument of change and peace.

He accepted his role as a cog in the machine.

However, after living in the outside world for a while, he realised something about human beings. Not the human beings on Martial Island who were constantly pursuing strength they could not use, money they could not enjoy and long life on an island they could not live.

He realised that he wanted something more from his life. He did not want his life to always be in black and white. He wanted the splashes of colour that came with the natural messy lives of human beings. He wanted to try.

Because life was about trying.

Human beings were only amazing because they were helpless and useless. But they woke up every morning trying to make something of themselves. Trying to do the impossible… And when they did the impossible, they would try something else.

But Martial Island…

It was a dead place.

Since the moment someone discovered the island and the rare material, everyone stopped trying to be better. No one focused on true cultivation anymore since they could depend on the rare material to increase martial power and longevity.

Everyone thought that they had achieved the peak of humanity. The most effort made was to improve the effects of the rare material for even more strength and longer life. No one thought of trying to advance the world more.

For instance, the research labs did not consider if the rare material was only useful when consumed. Perhaps, it might have been an important energy resource. Maybe, it could resolve the energy crisis on the globe.

And even worse, the elites of Martial Island refused to consider a safer approach to mining the rare material.

When Taiki first discovered that the extraction of the material meant a loss of lives, he was angry and frustrated. He wanted to run to the secondary island and rescue everyone. He wanted to shout and scream at the unjust world.

However, he discovered how powerless he was, even as one of the elite Guardians of Martial Island. He did not even have clearance to know the location of the secondary island. He could not even use the law to prove the atrocious acts on Martial Island.

So, he gave up and decided to protect the Iekami clan.

He hoped that his efforts would give him peace. As long as he could, at least, become a true guardian to his family, he might be able to live with himself.

But again, this decision only led him to take his nephew against his will. He thought he was doing the right thing for Kaito, but once he truly knew him, he realised that Martial Island was not for someone like Kaito.

He was a person who lived life to the fullest. He needed his freedom, and he found his happiness with a nice girl.

Slowly by slowly, Taiki felt his heart thawing. He felt his passion for changing the world returning into his soul. He believed that he could be like a normal human who tried, even when the result was probably going to be a disaster.