Training immediately started from the moment Connor got up. The sunset shined on the snowy field as the soldiers began practicing battle formations.
"I never fired a gun in my life," said Connor while holding a rifle, which had been kept attached to his backpack.
"Yeah, but it does come in handy. You can also turn it into a spear with a bayonet," said Luka, the captain of the group he was assigned to.
Connor was humbled when he lost the duel against Wassim. Generating mana daggers was cool and all since they were more powerful than regular ones...but their durability wasn't the greatest. The boy made sure to equip some knives. He also realized that mana seemed more powerful in the atmosphere, in people. Nine years had passed after all.
Does it have something to do with the Void? I should ask someone about Centuria later.
Shooting at targets in the snow. Blade practice. Formation training. Endurance training. But worst of all, Connor had to socialize. It wasn't too bad, but, considering the fact that he was from nine years ago, he couldn't keep up with the new slang, pop culture, etc.
If I didn't get thrown into the Void, I would've been 23...damn.
Pierre, who seemed to be the general's right hand man, was observing Connor with a look of suspicion, before going off to discipline some soldiers.
By the end of training, it was already midday. Connor lay exhausted.
He got up and went to town, hoping to find Lumi.
The town hall had a destroyed roof, snow flowed in.
"J'espère qu'ils vont vite réparer ce putain de toit."
"Hier soir, c'était fou!"
The two men continued chatting.
Connor listened in and, with his little understanding of french, barely made out that a fight had broken out between a group of demons and the town guards, destroying the town hall's roof.
"Oh, hey. It's Connor!" exclaimed one of the soldiers in the lobby.
A few others glanced at the new guy.
"Hi," said Connor awkwardly.
A dark-skinned boy, the one who stopped the duel with Wassim, approached. "So, why did you join this regiment?"
"It's only temporary. I just need to go to the Kingdom of Norva."
"Kingdom? Norva is a republic now."
They looked at Connor with confused looks.
Shit. I hope they don't question me on that.
"You're only here for transport? Man, I thought you were pretty decent against that demon yesterday."
"Nah, he would've died if the Lieutenant Colonel and Scarface hadn't intervened. Anyone could've stalled the demon," said a ginger-haired boy.
The Lieutenant Colonel is obviously that Pierre guy with the net-launcher...but who's Scarface? It's probably the sniper, thought Connor.
"Do you even know why we're even here?"
"Uh, no. I wasn't informed," responded Connor.
A few laughed.
"Come on, man. You gotta lock in. We're here to track down some elves and demons."
"The locals reported that they've seen them," said a serious-looking boy with broad shoulders, turning towards the town hall's broken roof, "They probably tried to rescue that green-haired demon. Too bad he's dead now. At any rate, I found a lead. Time to head out."
"Let's go kill those filthy migrants."
"Watch your language. And killing is only permitted if necessary. We should aim to capture and deport them."
The animosity and racism against demons and elves had grown severely during the nine years since the incident in Centuria.
"I'll come too," said Connor, before stopping.
They all gave him dismissive looks.
"Bro thinks he's on the team," laughed a soldier.
"Come on, let's leave him alone," said a bored voice.
Welp, I got rejected.
The group walked away with some of them laughing while looking at Connor. They were probably making fun of him. Being the "new guy" had its shortcomings, but he didn't really mind.
The boy suddenly looked to some adventurers carrying the corpse a monster. It was a large spider, covered in fur and light blue crystals....with too many limbs and the head of a sabercat sprouted out of its body. The receptionists of the town hall as well as many other people looked at it with horror and curiosity.
"It's a mutation caused by the Void," said a receptionist.
What the hell happened to the world? What is this regiment even doing? Are the demons and elves really evil? Or is it morally grey? Even so, there will come a time when I'll have to kill...well, I killed someone in the Void, but that was out of desperation in an extreme situation.
Even with Lumikki's bond, Connor wasn't confident in his fighting skills. He barely survived an "easy zone" of the Void, even with the help of a fallen angel. And he didn't even know what he was doing when he fought the demon.
I need to train every aspect of myself. And I shouldn't rely on Lumi's mana.
"Those guys made fun of you. Are you just gonna take that?" whispered a female voice, it was Lumi, invisible.
"Being passive isn't a bad thing. Anyways, what have you been up to."
"Just passing the time. Can't wait to go to Norva. It's safer. And I could research dimension crossing to go to Earth."
"Uh huh. So, about the demons and elves, do you think-"
Suddenly, a female soldier approached. "Excuse me, are you talking to yourself? Cuz, I don't want to interrupt you if you are."
She was a Black girl with braided hair and dual swords strapped to her belt. Another girl stood next to her...no, it was a boy: Sacha.
"I'm Noémie, I was kinda given the role of relaying info and stuff. And this guy is Sacha, he's so cute, isn't he?! He's a Best Boy!"
Connor cringed interiorly at the latter sentences.
"Stop it...wh-why do you keep embarrassing me?" muttered Sacha with an exasperated expression, before turning towards Connor,"I'm Sacha, um, nice to meet you..."
"We're visiting the forest later to hunt monsters and gather clues on the escaped targets. The Colonel wanted to have soldiers experienced in creation arts to accompany him."
"Why?"
Sacha took a breath, before channeling mana. A pair of crystal-blue, mana-generated skis appeared under his boots.
He smiled. "We're going skiing. It's to have better mobility in the mountains."
Connor was surprised. It was pretty effective.
"Can you do it?" asked Noémie.
Connor channeled both his mana. It didn't work.
He added Lumi's mana and suddenly an immense pressure shot under his feet. A pair of light-silver skis generated under his boots.
"Look at you. I saw how you generated those daggers, so it was as expected," said Noémie.
"Wait, you can generate weapons? Sorry, I didn't see that," asked Sacha in awe.
Connor felt like he didn't deserve the praise. He used borrowed mana, after all.
Then he slipped and hit his head against a board, then his mana-generated skis dissipated.
"Woah, are you okay?" exclaimed Noémie.
"Owww, I'm okay, it's fine."
Sacha let out a shy laugh, then froze, before muttering a panicked apology.
"Well, we're going to the forest in thirty minutes. See you there," said Noémie, before handing ski goggles to Connor.
Then, the boy focused his attention on the board. Multiple posters were on it: job offers for adventurers, notices, missing people and newspapers. Connor informed himself about the war against the demons and elves, as well as the neutrality of the Eastern nations. One article had an illustration of the Demon continent, a massive floating island that overlooked one-fourth of the Eastern continent. The headline read: The United Nations of Etheria's Possible Decision to Invade the Demon continent and end the War.
"Hey, Connor? I found something interesting," whispered Lumi.
I forgot she was here, thought Connor, before heading towards the source of the voice.
What seemed to be a large warning sign stood at the centre of a board:
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THE 4 EVILS PHENOMENA: Otherworlder, Reincarnator, Transmigrator, Regressor
Otherworlder: a person from another world who is transported to a new world
Reincarnator: a person from another world who is reborn in a new world as an infant
Transmigrator: a person from another world whose soul takes over the body of someone in a new world
Regressor: a person who travels back in time, returning to the body of their past selves (they may or may not be able to regress multiple times)
IF YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE OF BEING AN EVIL, PLEASE CONTACT THE NEAREST MAGE AUTHORITIES.
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It was embossed with the official logos of the United Nations of Etheria and the International Mage Association.
Connor was shocked. "Four evils?"
"They're all story tropes that you'd see in manhwa and web novels," said Lumi, "If this warning notice is real, then there really are people out there who've been affected by these phenomena."
"It definitely has something to do with the Void..."
Connor decided to ask a nearby adventurer.
"The Four Evils? You don't know about this? Did you live under a rock, kid? Well....only twenty or so of them have been identified. And, yes, as the name suggests, they've been causing problems all around the world. The Void did some fucked up things...excuse the language...yeah, so the Four Evils are definitely the worst that has come out of it."
"It's unreal...so, I have another questio-"
"Not all of them are evil. Some are neutral and don't cause problems. And some actually help out society. There are rumours going around that the current, top-ranked Archmages are actually Evils."
"Thanks."
"Hahaha, this guy is such an NPC, providing info like that," laughed Lumi.
The old adventurer looked in confusion at the sudden voice, before shrugging it off and going back drinking with his friends.
Four Evils... does it have something to do with the Four Evils in Chinese mythology?
Connor inspected the warning sign's board, before turning towards another one. And sure enough, there was a paper with drawings.
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A drawing of Hùndùn, representing chaos, was above the description of Otherworlder.
The other drawings were as followed:
Tāotiè represented gluttony and was associated with Reincarnators.
Qióng qí represented evilness and was associated with Transmigrators.
Táowù represented stubbornness and was associated with Regressors.
--------------------------------------
"Mmmh, I didn't know you had knowledge of Chinese mythology."
"I only remember a little, but I was basically forced to learn about other cultures."
"Ah, forgot you were a noble."
"But still, how is it possible that these story tropes are actually happening in reality?"
"I honestly have no idea...but if we encounter an Evil....who's evil....damn, the phrasing is awkward.....then maybe we could, like, outsmart them or something with knowledge on manhwa and web novels. Thank God, I still have my phone!"
They walked out of the town hall.
"Wait, I need to check something," said Lumi.
Through the bond, the boy could feel the angel channeling mana.
A silence soon followed.
"What's wrong?"
Even though she was invisible, Connor could still feel the fallen angel's distress.
Lumi's voice was panicked. "There's an Evil in this town."