Aria
Soon enough the colonel walks into the room and stands at the front with his hands held behind his back before he declares, “After following the spiritual trail of the attackers, we have learned of the invaders’ whereabouts. It would appear as if a portal has opened up to another world within the Great Divide mountains.”
A tense atmosphere immediately fills the room as I furrow my brows.
“These invaders are not only attacking us, but also attacking the Arterians on the other side of the Divide. However, their presence is now putting the war on hold until we deal with this new problem,” the colonel continues, sounding like he has mixed emotions about this. A common sentiment from what I’ve heard the other officers speaking of.
Apparently leveling up does improve your physical body and magical power, but at the same time, we are only able to level up because of these invaders who are attacking our world. Invaders who want to take it from us.
And no matter how much we hate the Arterians, they are still from our world. Unlike these invaders.
Still…
“Has a temporary ceasefire been called with the Arterian forces?” Second Lieutenant Jamison asks after raising his hand and getting permission to speak.
The colonel shakes his head and answers, “No ceasefire will be called as of now. The emperor of the Arterian Empire has directly rejected the ceasefire the Council called for. Therefore all soldiers of the Empire are to be killed or captured on sight as per usual.”
…yeah. While our generals are reasonable people, the emperors of the two nations aren’t. Especially the Arterian Emperor who still has all of his power, unlike our emperor who is just a figurehead with some power now.
I hear the sound of leather beginning to creak very quietly as the colonel answers a few more questions, making me glance down at my fist held in my lap underneath the small desk I’m at. And I immediately find my fist clenched so hard it’s making noise as my stark white hair falls into my face.
So I take a deep but quick breath and let it out again before relaxing my fist and looking back up at the colonel again right when the colonel continues speaking, the questions having run out, “Our new orders from the Council are to scout the invaders’ forces and return with news of their numbers.” His eyes narrow. “Peace is not an option after they have so brazenly attacked us without provocation, even if they weren’t already invaders. So if you run into them, do not feel hesitant to kill. Do whatever you must to return alive and with the intel we need. Radios will not be active during this as we do not know what sort of technology they may have. You are to report in person after the mission is completed or failed.”
The man pauses as he looks around the room before saying, “I will be announcing the officers who are assigned to this mission now.” His gaze pauses on one officer after another each time he speaks their names, “First Lieutenants Warner, Lawson, and Erickson are to each lead a small force encompassed by soldiers or officers of your choosing through the Northern Pass to scout the invaders forces’ numbers and combat power. Captains Striker and Vargos are to lead forces of your own choosing to scout the invaders forces, political makeup, and leaders. And Major Curtz is to lead a force to counterattack the invaders and act as a diversion for the other teams.”
Oh? I’m not going this time?
That’s…
The colonel’s gaze turns towards me, making my thoughts trail off as the man continues, “Furthermore, Warrant Officer Crimson is to conduct her own mission to sabotage the invaders in some way. Alone.”
…yeah, that’s more along the lines of what I expected.
“That will be all for the Invasion Counterforce Teams, the rest of you will all be stationed at the base to defend it from any future attacks and to watch for any attempts to enter the Dark Forest,” the colonel continues.
“Understood, Sir!” I shout along with the rest of the officers in the room.
“Next matter at hand,” the colonel says before glancing to the top right corner of the room, “I’m sure the majority of you have noticed the new icons in the corner of your vision. One of them you should already understand is your status, but the other we have identified as a sort of list of magical System related skills. Powers that are granted by the System sometimes upon leveling up based on your Classes. So far not many people have gotten them, so they appear to be rare and only given out when you truly accomplish something the System deems worthy of a skill, and only after you level up. Please keep this in mind when you’re deciding on whether you should follow your purpose and level up or not.”
So they’re just another ability, then? One related to your Class?
Interesting.
I wonder what sort of Skills I’ll get from a Class like mine?
“That is all for now,” the colonel says before glancing at me again and adding, “Everyone other than Warrant Officer Crimson is dismissed.”
I blink in surprise and hold back a frown.
Guess he’s having me stay behind to discuss the mission he mentioned.
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“Aria Crimson reporting, Sir!” I declare after all of the others have left the room and I’ve walked up in front of the colonel.
The man looks me over once, his eyes briefly pausing on my own faintly glowing crimson eyes before he says, “This mission was directly assigned to you through Lieutenant General Herman. I assume you understand what that means?”
I hold back a grimace as I answer, “I do, sir.”
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It means it’s a mission from the emperor.
“Very well,” the colonel says with a nod of his head before I notice the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, “since this isn’t a mission from me or the generals, and the orders weren’t exactly clear, I’d say it is safe to say that so long as you feel satisfied with the sabotage you conduct on the invaders, the mission will be marked as completed. Furthermore, the Fifth General has decided without the lieutenant general’s knowledge that should you complete this mission, your rank will be raised to second lieutenant.”
I almost lose control over my facial expression and gape at him, but I manage to remain in control in the end.
His lips quirk upwards a little and he looks me over once more before patting my shoulder to my surprise and saying, “To be perfectly honest with you, young warrant officer, I don’t like the idea of people being forced to fight against their will. If you need my help, ask.”
Silence fills the room for several seconds until I eventually nod my head, not sure what to say.
This time he lets out a bark of laughter, pats my shoulder once more, and steps back as he says, “Remember that should you be captured by the enemy, you are to deal yourself a blow that would leave no question as to the fatality of the wound and play dead until you’re able to escape.”
“Understood, Sir,” I reply with a salute.
The colonel frowns before sighing and walking past me, patting my shoulder once more.
Even after he leaves the room, I find moving from my spot to be hard as I stare ahead in silence.
What just happened?
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The Great Divide
Invasion General Lucius Cornelius Caesar taps his finger on the table in front of him as he stares at the hastily made map sprayed out on it, leaving the two officers trembling on the other side of the table while kneeling in the snow within the tent. The map itself only shows a very basic layout of the mountains around them with a slightly less basic layout of the pass North of the mountains, but it is enough for Lucius to do his job.
So that isn’t the problem right now.
The problem is that the forces of the world he took the job from the emperor to invade are fully prepared for war. Almost as if they were already in the middle of warring against them before they arrived.
And to make matters worse, the technology of the new world is of a higher level than their own. Even if it’s not as high as some other worlds Lucius’s father has led him to during his campaigns.
“It’s not the technology that matters, but the power of those who use it,” his father, the emperor, would always say.
Because what can someone with sticks that shoot pieces of metal do when those pieces of metal are incinerated by pure power?
No, the problem that Lucius is facing is that technology does matter when it is a newly initiated world. Where all of his own forces are limited to level 1 soldiers, with the rest only able to trickle in through the gate as the average level of the world rises.
Lucius was raised by the emperor strictly to be the commanding officer in a new world the emperor had discovered the coordinates to two decades ago. He was trained without allowing his level to increase at all, leaving him stuck at level 1 up till now so that he could cross the gate. He was taught how to lead, taught strategy, and taught everything he would need to know to be the Invasion General for the invasion.
But what he wasn’t taught was how to deal with this sort of technology in a brand new world since this is their first invasion of a brand new world. They didn’t expect to find one with higher level technology than them.
To hell with Father’s ‘technology doesn’t matter,’ I need to deal with this somehow.
He finally raises his head from the map and looks at the two officers, only to glance at the one on the left when he realizes it’s not the one he put in charge of the attack on the Western side of the pass. So he asks with a frown, “What happened to your commanding officer?”
The officer lowers their head and says, “He was killed in battle by a monster, Your Highness.”
“Call me General while we’re here,” Lucius says before focusing on what they said. “You speak of monsters. Does that mean this world has necromancers and alchemists advanced enough to create them?” He glances at the other official. “And you? Did you find any monsters?”
“I did not, General,” the officer responds.
Lucius looks down and cups his chin in thought.
Then the monsters are only-
His thoughts are interrupted when the first officer speaks up again, drawing his attention, “I misspoke, General. What I meant was an ability user who was far too powerful even at level one.” Lucius’s brows furrow in annoyance. “It was almost as if the ability user was immortal. No matter how many spells, spellgun shots, cuts, stabs, or any type of attack we could think of she took, she continued attacking as if nothing was wrong. She just continued moving, recovering from each and every attack without any hesitation.”
That catches Lucius’s attention.
Perhaps a Class S ability? One focused on regeneration? That could help our forces if we can convince them to join us… I’m a little surprised that a world whose coordinates were as cheap as this one has such a high Class ability user though.
He thinks about it for a bit, ignoring the two officers, both of whom are shaking from fear as he does so.
There were twenty-four other worlds that were discovered during this planetary invasion phase, and it’s a regenerative power, so I doubt she’s the new horseman. I doubt the horseman is even on this planet considering that this is a lower Tier planet.
Lucius sighs at that thought.
Planets are tiered based on various factors including but not limited to the size of the planet’s population, the number of ability users they have, and the power of the ability users on the planet. And they are rated between Tiers Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, with Alpha being the highest.
This world, Vortel if Lucius remembers correctly, should be Gamma Tier. Meaning it should be about average amongst the planets, with a population of around seven or eight billion spread across several continents, and around a single percent of those being ability users. Most with average abilities.
Not a planet he would ever expect to find a Class S ability user on.
Lucius sighs again and raises his head to look at the two officers and says, “Have the men focus on raising their level for now. We need all the strength we can muster for the battles to come.”
Both officers give him a salute and run out of the tent as quickly as their feet can carry them. Then Lucius turns his attention back to the map.
So two forces on either side of the pass, and unbreachable mountains on most sides of us.
A grin stretches across his face.
I can work with this.
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