บท 267: Citizen's POV (I)
[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
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A middle-aged man dressed in a black suit and long coat walked to his apartment complex. Once he reached his house, he placed his hand in front of the small pad of the door numbered 236.
Then, a mechanical voice said:
"Fingerprints identified…Soul Fluctuation Identified…Aura Frequency Identified…Welcome home, Mr. Chris Tiu."
Chris was used to this sound and greeting by now, and it had long since lost its wonder. He walked inside his three-bedroom and one-bathroom apartment. He placed his shoes on a rack and put on slippers, and hung his work bag as well.
"Angela, open the TV."
Then, in the living room, a large screen appeared that seemed to be made of light appeared. A news channel was on.
"My name is Akana Mikasa, and today on Arcane News: Is power detrimental to a person's mind?
"Over the past 3 years, there have been a great number of Tier 5 Arcanists recently advanced in the Empire. However, the majority of them seemed to have been greatly influenced by the rapid increase in strength, thinking that they are "gods".
"Luckily, the Empire has laws that anyone who advanced to Tier 5 must spend few a weeks to months undergoing Psychological Treatment to ensure that their minds are not affected.
"However, not everyone seems to follow that rule."
Then, the channel changed to a video. It was a man dressed in a blue magical robe. He had blond hair and blue eyes that matched his robe. Holding a staff, the man screamed:
"I am a god, how dare you people try to restrain me? Even the Emperor cannot fathom my power."
Then, countless magic circles appeared around him as the man prepared to launch a large-scale spell. As a Tier 5 Arcanist, this kind of spell is capable of sinking a continent, even if it is the smallest one.
Fortunately, before the man's spell functioned, the Earth's Enchantments activated, creating an Anti-Magic Zone around the blond man. Then, Aurors who were also Tier 5 apparated and arrested the man.
They placed cuffs on his hand that essentially sealed his mana and repressed his soul. Despite being arrested, the man kept screaming that he was a god and should not have to follow mortal laws and regulations.
Chris looked at the blond man and Aurors with envy:
'Magic. One day…'
He shook his head to remove these distracting thoughts before changing the channel. He soon realized that many of them were about Singing Shows and Talents.
He noticed that recently, the Empire seemed to place some focus on training people with singing abilities. But he did not care. He turned off the television and prepared to take a shower.
"Sir, what do you want for dinner?" asked Angela.
"Sinigang and Lechon."
While Chris headed to the bathroom, a cabinet in the kitchen suddenly opened up and a robot rolled out. She was dressed in a maid outfit, however, her face was metallic and her legs had wheels.
Chris was not too fond of robots or golems that looked like humans, so he specifically design his robot caretaker to be such. After entering the shower, Chris used another holographic pad to determine the temperature of the water, the pH level, the type of soap, and so on.
In the current Interstellar Era, showering is very important as it is another form of disinfectant. The Empire is coming into contact will all kinds of foreign races and unknown places.
Although all the citizens of the Empire are genetically enhanced and free from most diseases, new ones are being discovered every day. So, showers and soaps are specially made as preventive measures for new and undetected viruses.
They are designed to create an invisible barrier on the citizen's skin. Additionally, all houses have artificial intelligence that can do blood tests to detect diseases in advance. Although healthcare was free, no one wanted to be sick as even in this era of magic, it was not guaranteed that your life could be saved on time.
While showering, Chris was thinking how great it would be if he had a house with a Cleaning Enchantment. Just by activating it, not only would he be instantly cleaned, but also be cleaned of foreign viruses and would not have to go through all that trouble.
Once he was done thoroughly cleaning his body, Chris pressed the button to dry his body and chose an outfit to wear. A drawer came out from one of the walls with the clothes he chose.
He left the bathroom with tight-fitting clothes that looked like armor, heading straight to the kitchen where a full course meal was already prepared. After thanking Angela, he began to eat.
The food was delicious. From Chris' memories, in terms of ingredients and the skill of the chef, the food on his table was once only available to the rich and powerful in the Old Era. But now, anyone could eat this level of the food as it was no longer considered fine cuisine.
He had once tasted fine cuisine at a gathering for the company he worked for. That food was not only delicious, but also have many benefits to the body including strengthening it, increasing mana, and even increasing the power of the soul.
It was unfortunate that every employee was only allocated a certain portion.
While eating his food, Chris could not help but wonder how Arcanist ate. He once read on Skynet that some powerful Arcanists can use their mana to break Gump's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and create food out of nowhere.
And recently, there was news that the Empire discovered a Food Dimension. The rich and powerful can pay to summon food from there. According to rumors, the food inside has many wonderful effects beneficial to both non-magic and magic users.
At the same time, there are rumors that some of the food is simply poisonous just because of how bad they were.
Chris wanted to try doing this. Unfortunately, with his salary, although he could barely afford the price after saving for a few months, it was not worth it. Plus, the Empire has already released news that they would try to make this new technology available to the general population as soon as possible.
He could wait.
Once the meal ended, Chris did not waste time as he headed to his gym. The room was large as he paid extra to have an Extension Curse placed inside.
Countless pieces of equipment were inside, and he did not waste time beginning his workout. When it comes to exercise, Chris liked things to be old school, otherwise, he could have bought one of those dumbbells that were enchanted to allow the user to change the weight at will.
After stacking up all the necessary weight, Chris began to lift them. He easily bench-pressed more than 1000kg. In the process, he accessed the Gate of Truth inside his soul to feel the energy inside his body.
The food he previously ate was designed to preserve both the life force and mana of the animal. Then, Chris began to use the official training method of Aura Master that was free to all the citizens of the Empire.
He mixed the mana with life force to create Aura. And with intense training, he could strengthen his body and increase the amount of Aura inside his body.
Chris knew that his talent was very poor. If it was not for the Gate of Truth, he might not even be able to sense any form of energy. So, only through hard work and effort could he barely control any of them.
Once the workout finished, he checked the increase in [Aura] inside his body before shaking his head. His talent was truly mediocre. Fortunately, he still had hope.
He took another shower in the gym before heading to the second room. This room was divided into two: one side was a large bookshelf full of books, while the other had a somewhat spacious and empty area.
Without pause, Chris took a piece of chalk before drawing something on the floor: a Transmutation Circle. Chris then placed his hand on the circle as he mobilized the tectonic energy to activate the circle.
Sweat began to fall on his forehead, then, a minute later, the ground changed shape into that of a bird.
"Angela, how long did it take this time?"
"1 minute and 15 seconds."
"An increase by 3 seconds. My talent is truly poor," muttered Chris. One of his friends also did not have magical talent. However, after acquiring his Gate of Truth, his ability to sense and control energy was activated.
Now, his friend can even control the mana in nature to cast spells, officially becoming an Arcane Sorcerer as the Empire labeled this new class.
"Master, there is no need to be discouraged," said Angela.
"You're right. As long as I can save enough to buy that Dragon Potion, then everything will be fine."
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Next Chapter Title:
บท 268: Citizen's POV (II)
[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
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After the first trial, Chris did not stop practicing Transmutation. With the Empire's education, he understood the science behind them. Unfortunately, his talent for energy detection and control was abysmal. So, he wanted to make up for that with hard work.
For the next few hours, he drew countless Transmutation Circles on the floor while also reading books on the subject. By the time he finished, it was already 4 AM.
So, Chris went to take another shower before sleeping in his Virtual Network Cabin, which could put people into a deep sleep. Two hours of sleep inside was equal to more than 8 hours of normal sleep.
At 6 AM, Chris woke up and ate a healthy dinner. This time he chose Hawaiian breakfast, then dressed up in the typical black suit before heading to work.
As he walked into the always of his apartment complex, Chris encountered one of his neighbors and nodded his head to the young woman, who in turn saluted back.
The young woman looked at Chris' departing back and secretly shook her head. She knew that this strange neighbor of hers was infamous in the complex: he was known for being extremely cheap.
He essentially lived off the government. The apartment he lived in was the standard three-bedroom, one bathroom granted to all single citizens of the Empire.
Despite having a decent job as a Computer Programmer, this Chris never goes out to eat, never goes to any entertainment events, he never buys jewelry, and he has no girlfriend or children: Essentially, he never used his money on anything else.
Many people have commented that if we did not leave in a society of free housing, free food, free healthcare, and low-cost public transportation, they would wonder how someone like him would survive.
Chris–who was not aware of his neighbor's thought–walked steadily to his destination: the bus station. On his way, he would look in the sky with slight jealousy in his eyes, along with a deep longing.
In the air, cars, jets, and people could be seen flying. Each of these groups had a designated altitude at which they could fly in. People could only fly 30 meters to 60 meters in the sky, vars between 120 meters to 350 meters, and so on.
While Chris was observing the people flying, he discovered that one of them had flame boosters coming from their feet and hands.
'Is this the recently developed class, Bionic Arcanist?
He remembered reading the official debriefs regarding this new class. Essentially some people can replace their body parts with mechanical ones, turning themselves into cyborgs.
There are different levels of modifications. Some just replaced one or more parts of their bodies with metal ones. For example, some amputees preferred to have robotic arms: even many soldiers and Aura Master will willingly change some of their body parts with mechanical parts–especially ones made with magical ores.
Meanwhile, other Bionic Arcanist modified their entire body and have an Energy Core installed inside of them.
Some energy cores functioned with miniaturized nuclear fission and other forms, but the most expensive ones are made of mana. Additionally, there are different modules created for this subclass that grant Bionic Arcanists different abilities.
Some modules are designed specifically for modern weapons. This type of module used nanotechnology to allow different weapons to come out of the user's body.
Other modules focused on Magical Weapons, some modules focused on spells, some focused on increasing intelligence or computer processing, etc.
With this new subclass, countless companies with the sole purpose of designing modules were invented. one could say that an entire new industry was created.
And Chris once read that a new movement or idea is circulating with the concept that flesh and blood have limits, and only mechanical life can live and evolve forever.
Of course, he sneered at this idea. We live in a world where some powerful Aura Arcanists can use their flesh and blood to tank Nuclear Explosions. Just one search on Skynet and there are many such videos.
So, where does the superiority of mechanical life have over flesh and blood? The only advantage that Bionic Arcanists have over other classes is the fact that with enough money, any of them can reach Tier 3 in just a month or less.
However, to reach Tier 4 and higher, they have to either strengthen their souls to have certain control over the Energy Core inside their bodies, or they have to do an extensive transformation of their brains to increase their computing power.
However, the latest research is that doing this has severe consequences on the soul, and requires a lot of time, energy, and resources to ensure that nothing goes awry.
While deep in thought, Chris continued his walk towards his destination. As a generally quiet and reserved person, he liked to observe everything around him. And one of his favorite past times is to see the changes in the Empire over time.
As a person who was more than 40 years old when the Empire was first established, he knew how much things have changed in the past 4 decades.
Chris looked at an empty spot on the side of the road: this was one thing that has recently changed in the past five years. In that empty spot was a white, translucent rectangular barrier.
People could be seen suddenly appearing inside that barrier before leaving. And he knew that there were many of them across the city.
This was the designated [Apparition Area] that was recently established by the Empire. Arcanists with the right license can apparate anywhere they wished, but it has to be in the designated area.
Anyone who Apparates in any other place will be arrested or fined a certain amount, and that is only if it was possible. The Spatial Control Department monitor and control the space of each planet to not only prevent foreign intruders but also to prevent any spatial disturbance or disasters.
After a long looked at the area, Chris promised himself that after becoming an Arcanist, he will place Apparition as one of the must-mastered spells. He then removed his eyes to observe other things.
He saw many people with cat ears and tails, fox ears and tails, and so on.
'I wonder if they are the real race or genetic modifications?'
In recent years, the population of the Empire has greatly increased after the Space Fleet conquered a small star system. And the main race of that system was a hybrid of humans and animals like the cat race, the fox race, and so on.
This race has magical capabilities that allow them to enhance its physical abilities and cast a few basic spells. However, this was not important. The main point is that their inclusion into the Empire has created a new trend where people genetically modify their bodies to resemble the cat race and fox race: it seems that people's unnatural obsession with catgirls has not vanished.
When this new technology was introduced, only the rich and powerful could afford it. However, not even 6 months later, a breakthrough was made that even ordinary people can afford it after saving for a few months.
So, now, it has become a fashion trend popular amongst both magical and non-magical people. Of course, there was still some backlash with many people calling this practice unnatural and unorthodox.
Chris knew that there were many people from the Old Era that could not keep up with the rapid change of the Empire. Their conservative ideas and mentality make it very difficult to accept how rapid life, technology, and many other things are changing.
Luckily, he was not one of them. The moment he witnessed the Dementor Invasion, Chris was prepared for the changes of the new world. Although he still had some conservative tendencies or preferences, he knew how to properly manage them.
While deep in thought, he soon arrived at his destination. Without hesitation, he paid the fee for the train and headed to his designated area.
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