Chapter 142: 142
"So what happened while I was gone? . . . " I asked everyone as we began scanning the empty city . . . . noticing some scenes of combat .
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"We don't really know ourselves . . . . . Once we got back we were orders to help hold the wall and gates . . . . " They all replied .
"Hmmm . . . see that large pile of ground over there that looks different to the paved ground? . . " Yuna asked pointing out a distant large mound of earth .
"Yeah . . . " I replied looking interested .
"They must have used some sort of tunnelling system to infiltrate the city assuming the guards will all be stationed on the wall . . . I assume they've been sealed with either explosives or a spell . " Yuna answered .
"Ohhh . . . so that's what Jay meant when they said there's a small contingent that got past . " I answered .
"Yes . . . but don't worry I'm sure overwatch has most the city covered . " Yuna smiled .
"What's overwatch? . . . " I asked curiously .
"Overwatch is what we call several elite team, each consist of three students designed for extremely long range combat . . . . . A Firearms sniper . . . . . A Sorcerer that specializes in sensory spells . . . . . and a close to mid-range student that specializes in neutralizing targets quickly and quietly to protect the other two members from anyone who could have potentially discovered their position . " Yuna explained .
"Fire arms? . . . " I asked curiously .
"Yes . . . . . Firearms fire is easier to hide . . . and maintain their element of stealth . " Yuna answered .
"Can't we just ask them where Jila is? . . . I'm sure they would know where she is . " Daisy asked in a hurry to find Jila .
"Sadly . . . . Once they are deployed they tend to stay out of communication so enemies can't use magic to locate them . Even our students don't know where they are deployed . . . . . " she answered .
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"Is this the first time you've been in a situation like this? . . " I asked curiously .
"Ummmm I've been on missions and things but nothing on this scale . . . . . I'm focused on close hand to hand combat . . . . so I'm not very good in situations like these . . . . . That's why Paul probably picked me to go with him . . . since otherwise I'd be pretty idle . . . " She sighed .
"So is teleporting division a set of students that focus on teleportation? . . . " I asked remember that Sven said earlier .
"Yes Atlantis is split into many divisions . . . Each play an important role in situations . . . . . Teleportation division members specialize in creating teleportation way points to help transport people large distances quickly . . . . Creating permanent way points is very time consuming and expensive . . . . . I think creating a permanent one for example in a city takes upwards of 5 years . . . . . And several students creating special runes with expensive inks and materials . " Yuna smiled .
"Are you in a special division? . . " Jay politely asked .
"Ummm not exactly . . . . I'm just a normal combatant like most students . . . . so you can technically call us the combat division? . . " I guess she laughed .
"Do you have to join a division? . . . " Grace asked .
"Nope . . . you have the choice to study and advance yourselves which ever way you want . . . but divisions have special requirements . . . for example the Overwatch each member needs to master hiding their Arcanum Presence from other Arcanum users . " She answered .
"Arcanum presence? . . . " I asked curiously .
"Yes . . . . everyone can sense someone's Arcanum presence . . . . . For most people it may feel like a gut feeling . . . like you can tell if someone is a wielder or Arcanum or not . . . . . But extremely strong individuals you will know . . . . it would feel almost overwhelming unless they've trained in masking it or hiding it . " She answered .
"So do you use Arcanum . . . . I don't see you use spells . . . " I asked curiously .
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"Yes I do . . . . Arcanum is like . . . a force . . . . . How you wield it differs from person to person . . . . . You guys harness Arcanum through the use of spells . . . for me I use Arcanume to enhance my abilities to fight in hand to hand combat . . . . I move faster . . . hit harder and toughen myself with the use of Arcanum . . . . . " She answered .
"Like a monk? . . " I asked curiously noticing the similarity .
"Ummm of sorts . . . Monks use something called Chi or Ki? . . . . . It's something a little different . . . . From my very basic understanding Chi and Ki comes from the inside . . . . . they utilize their internal force . . . . . Whereas I kinda absorb Arcanum from around us and mould it to enhance my abilities . " She answered .
"Ohhh . . . " we nodded in understanding . . . but to be honest I had no idea what she was talking about .
"Sadly… . I've spent most my energy for today . . . . . Although I am very good in hand to hand combat . . . I can only enhance my abilities for 5 minutes before I need to rest for a few hours . . . . . And I couldn't risk getting seriously injured when we was surrounded earlier . " She added .
"Ohh my God . . . I thought that was amazing!!! How you so easily defeated all those Dark Elves in one hit . " I gushed in awe .
"Yeah luckily for us . . . they were mostly Men . . . . . And someone diverted the attention of the two women buying me an opening . . . otherwise it would have been very hard trying to save you . " She said to me .
"OHH!!! That was me!!" Daisy smiled .
"What on earth was that? . . . " I asked shocked never seeing her use that spell in our week of training .
"It's a spell I don't use often . . . it called . . . . 'Consecrated Flame' . " Daisy answered .
"Ohh that was you? . . . thanks for the save . " Yuna smiled .
"Yeah and the fireball and Hail of arrows was from us . " Jay and Grace added .
"Ohh very nice for first years . . . A Blue Flame caster . . . . . An Adept Paladin . . . . . A shifting Druid and a very accurate Ranger . . . Paul, Scarlet and Travis picked well this year . " She smiled .
"Picked? . . " I asked curiously .
"Yeah!!! After the preliminary examinations . . . each institute takes turns picking the student they want to enrol into the Atlantis . " She answered .
"Ohhh . . . " I nodded in understanding .
"So are the other institutes like Atlantis? . . " Jay asked .
"Well I can't say for certain how the other Institutes are structured . . . . but I imagine so . . . . but unlike the others Atlantis doesn't have a region to rule over, no economy to watch over . . . and civilians to take care of . . . . So we aren't as wealthy . . . . . But we do fine . " She smiled .
"What made you come to Atlantis? . . . . . What was your life before this? . . . " I asked slightly interested .
"Well . . . . Before Atlantis I was just an ordinary girl . . . . . To be honest didn't have much in terms of future . . . . . My father was small time merchant and my mother was a tailor, some time when I was twelve much to our surprise we received a letter letting us know that I was eligible to be enrolled . . . . so when I was thirteen I was taken away for preliminary testing . . . . and to my surprise Atlantis picked me . " She smiled .
"Are you happy being taken away from your family?? . . " I asked a little worried in how she worded it .
"At first I was scared . . . . I showed no ability to harness Arcanum . . . even now I struggle to cast even Cantrips . . . . . And if you're not picked by an institute . . . . you basically get enrolled into the milita . . . . which is probably even worse . . . but it all turned out okay . . . . I earn enough money to support my parents . . . . . Every weekend if I'm not busy I'm free to meet them . . . . the closest way point is a little far . . . . but it's worth the travel" She smiled seemingly extremely grateful and happy .
"Is the mailia really that bad? . . " I asked wondering what it could be like . . . .
"It really depends on where you stationed . . . . it could range from peaceful to extremely hazardous . . . some may even pay well like in the capital and in some cities probably no pay at all . " Yuna answered .
"Is that why the guards here treated us differently to the other town? . . I asked jay curiously .
"You mean those guards that were rude to us? . . . " He asked .
"Yeah that happens often . . . . . If Atlantis didn't pick them they'd probably feel that Atlantis and the system failed them and just have some sort of disdain against Atlantis . . . . . " Yuna answered .
"Hmmm I see where they are coming from . " I answered .
"What about you? . . . . How's Atlantis been treating you?" She asked .
"It's all pretty good!!! Food . . . . classes all fun . " I smiled .
"Enjoy it will it lasts . . . no doubt you guys will be getting detention . " She laughed .
"Wait what? . . . " Daisy and I asked in shock .
"Yup all first years returned to Atlantis . . . . you guys should have been with them . " She answered .
" . . . . . . . . . we're doomed . " Jay muttered .
"Yup . . . Chain of command is important . . . . . " She laughed .
This all felt so weird . . . . having a casual conversation walking inside an empty city with a war outside, but what else can we do . . . . Helen hasn't given us a call nor have we seen a soul for the last 10 minutes . . . . Can Paul really last this long getting bombarded with attacks and spell? . . . .