In front of Chris was a woman with a small animal. He looked at the animal who looked like a poodle, except with a horn and two small wings that appeared to be only decoration.
Chris secretly shook his head. He knew that this was a new magical animal discovered in another Star System that is currently called hornoodle. Its body naturally released a pheromone that can alleviate people's anxiety and depression.
Many people have been buying it recently, however, a single one was worth more than 5000 AC (Arcane Coins), and there were more expensive ones. For an economically reserved person like himself, he would never waste his money on something like that.
After entering the train, Chris entered his designated booth, which was a secluded one with only him inside. He tapped on the watch on his wrist–which was the only accessory he had–and a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
He was checking the local news to see whether anything had recently occurred. This has become his daily task, essentially becoming a habit. Soon, something caught Chris' attention: it was a video.
In the video, a man and a woman were arguing on a sidewalk. And with each passing second, the video showed that their arguments became heated. Then, they started to fight.
The man took one step back to launch himself forward. His step broke the floor, leaving a footprint as he rushed towards the woman. However, despite being sneaked attack, she responded with great reflexes.
They punched each other as their fists left shadows in the air. Additionally, slight exploding noise could be heard when they crashed together.
'These people's strengths are at least 3 tons,' thought Chris. However, he was not surprised. At the current time, Aura Training has become mandatory in the Empire.
Since [Aura] is one of the few extraordinary paths that only requires a body to begin, the training method has become available for free on the internet. Additionally, the Empire has created many incentives for ordinary citizens to encourage them to train. As long as a person meets a certain standard, they will receive rewards from the government.
Additionally, Aura Training has now become mandatory in all schools in the Empire and must start at a certain grade.
When this law was first published, Chris remembered that many people were against it. They argued that with such transcendent power, the majority of people will let power get to the head, which would in turn cause chaos and safety issues for the Empire in general.
However, the Arcane Emperor insisted and even gave a speech on how he envisioned the Empire to be one where everybody is extraordinary, where everybody has powers and abilities.
As for the safety issue, this is a problem for the Aurors to worry about, and so far, they have done a great job.
Truth be told, Chris agreed with the Emperor's choice since it benefitted people like him. However, he was also aware of the overall benefit of this law.
For example, if the Empire ever wanted to recruit soldiers, with this law, all the citizens will have some form of training. So, they can rapidly become real soldiers and elites. And in case of an invasion of the home planet, all citizens can take arms to fight.
In conclusion, all the citizens of the Empire are essentially reserved soldiers.
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Chris continued watching the battle which only lasted about 3 minutes with no victor. The reason for that was that two Aurors apparated next to them and separated their battle with one binding spell. Then, one of them wrote the two of them a ticket.
According to the audio, this was the third public fight between these two. Another time and they will be sent to prison. Meanwhile, the second Auror used a Repairing Charm to fix all the potholes and destruction that the fight between these two had.
Finally, the video ended with people complaining about how the response time of the Aurors has become quicker. Previously, battles like this could last at least 5 minutes and more, and now, not even 3 minutes and someone came to stop it.
During the entire train ride, Chris was on the web, either reading articles about Gate Alchemy, reading the news, or chatting with a few friends. His job was located in South Africa, however, in the current Pangea Continent, it will only take him a little less than two hours to get there from the Philippines.
So, he arrived at 8 AM, one hour before work began.
While walking to the main building, Chris saw one of his coworkers named Abu, and the two knew each other. Although not close, they still talked or say hello to one another.
"Did you take the train again?"
"Yes."
"You know, the company just paid a great price to install a Warp Gate less than a dozen meters from here. Why not use it? It is instant and does not waste any time."
"Too expensive," replied Chris.
"You can get a company discount."
However, Chris shook his head, and Abu no longer said anything as he knew that his coworker was like this. Almost everybody in the building knew that Chris was a man who does not like to spend money.
As for Chris, he did not care despite knowing that people called him cheap behind his back.
"I heard a rumor regarding public transportations," said Abu to change the subject.
"What rumor?"
"The rumor is that every form of public transportation has a Tier 3 Arcanist or more capable of using Mass Teleportation Spell. Their purpose is to teleport all the passengers away in case of any accidents or danger."
"Hmm, that would make sense. If a plane, train, or public spaceship malfunctions or was attacked by some terrorists or foreign invaders, it's a good idea to have someone capable of taking everybody away.
"So, the rumors most likely are true. However, I do wonder why not make this knowledge public."
"Who knows. Maybe to protect the Arcanist so not to be targeted by anyone with ulterior motives."
The two then briefly chatted before entering the building. Immediately, Chris felt his mind being extremely refreshed; his thought process, logical abilities, and even communication skill seemed to be elevated.
Chris was not surprised as he was used to this feeling. The entire building is enchanted to increase the productivity of all the employees. And as their company is quite famous and powerful in the Empire, this was only the most basic enchantment in the entire building.
"Chris, go ahead, I'm going to meet someone." Right after saying this, Abu disappeared from sight. Chris just nodded before taking his badge and activating it, and just like Abu, he also disappeared.
One of the enchantments of this building allowed the employees to teleport to different parts of the building. This was put in place to facilitate easy movement, and also increase productivity.
Chris headed to the Cafeteria to eat a second breakfast. He always ate there because the food was not only more delicious but also contained more mana and life force.
The person serving the food was not a golem, but an old Chinese man. This man was an excellent cook, however, he seemed very stubborn when it come to certain things.
For example, he only spoke Mandarin. In the Empire, the language barrier is long gone. With the existing technology, a person can learn the most difficult language like Cantonese or Ancient Egyptian in just a week or more through Neural or Soul Link in Skynet, having memory and experience of the language directly transferred in the mind.
Or, someone can just buy a Language Potion to instantly learn any language.
However, the cook refused to speak any language besides his mother tongue, and that includes the Arcane Tongue which has been the official language of the Empire for the past few decades.
Chris quickly ate his food before going to one of the company's training rooms. With the blessing of the Wisdom Blessing Enchantment and the food rich in mana and life force, he was able to create a lot more [Aura] than his typical training at home.
Then, he teleported to the Main Office for the morning debriefing with his manager.
(AN: The next chapter is the end of this POV and will return to Edward. One person gave me the suggestion to write from an ordinary person's POV. If you guys have some ideas or things you would like to see me write, message me and I will consider whether to do it or not.)