BXBX NOVEL Chapter 22: Smoke
That's why we've been clamoring for the City to recruit a new beginner Porter. Thankfully, Lizzie found a gem like you among the gray sands."
Neumann still remembered the hard times of giving less-than-stellar performances in missions because they didn't have a proper Porter.
"Where are they going?"
Neumann walked outside the reception and Atlan followed him. Once they were outside, Neumann pointed at the dark smoke cloud in the distance.
"See that? That's what happens if there's an outbreak of Canzers in the city"
The whole thing enveloped an entire chunk of the city, swallowing a lot of the residential buildings.
Even from a distance, Atlan could see people coming out of the smoke in a hurry to seek safety. Some soldiers tried to calm them down, but they couldn't contain the chaos.
"There's Canzers in there?"
"No. There are Canzers in the Remedium. Think of this City as God's body and Canzers are the disease inside Him.
The disease is not on His skin. It's inside His body.
In this case, the inside of God's body is the Remedium. To get rid of those diseases, we have to enter inside his body, the Remedium, and destroy it from there."
Atlan nodded as he quickly understood the concept. "Those Canzers wreak havoc inside the God's body, or in the Remedium?"
Neumann nodded. "Yes. And as they continue to destroy the sanctity of His body, it would show up in our reality as a disturbance in reality, just like that plume of smoke.
That is called a Symptom."
Atlan finally understood why the citizens of Genesis City were so grateful to the Saviors.
If it weren't for them, the Canzers would continue to destroy the Remedium, which converted to more destruction in the City.
"That's how we detect where Canzers are. If there's a symptom, then there's a Canzer present."
Neumann then pointed back to the giant Genesis City map behind the reception desk of the HeadQuarters lobby.
"Every time there's a symptom, it shows up in that map so that everyone knows that there's a problem to be solved."
Atlan looked back at the smoke in the distance. "Is that always the symptom? A giant cloud of smoke enveloping the city?"
Neumann shook his head. "The symptoms vary depending on the type of Canzer.
Us Vanguards don't know what kind of symptoms correspond to which Canzer.
There are so many things it could be based on. Things like location, frequency, side effect, and other kinds of criteria to narrow down which Canzers we are dealing with."
"Only those nerdy Quills know that," added Wemby.
"Call them Operators out in public," Neumann reprimanded him.
Looks like the Operators have a harder job than I thought. They had to know all of those things to know which Canzer they were dealing with.
Atlan wished that Garuun and those Saviors were able to deal with the Canzers quickly before more destruction appeared in the City.
After all, he was the only one who knew the Angels were already extinct. They weren't immortal anymore.
"Don't burden yourself with these things yet," Neumann patted him on the back. "Just go home and relax for now. It's been a long day for you."
"I guess…"
"You can keep training in the Remedium every day starting tomorrow if you want. We'll be there to help you out."
"I'll teach you all my cool moves," Wemby winked.
Oliver simply gave Atlan a thumbs up.
Since Neumann and the rest had actual families to attend to, they couldn't stay in the HeadQuarters for long.
They all fetched their mounts from the parking lot and went on their way back home.
As expected of Wemby, his horse had a great red mane that was very gaudy. He teased Neumann about his normal-looking horse. Meanwhile, Oliver had an unexpected white horse.
Atlan walked home since he didn't have any, and his house was relatively close to the HeadQuarters.
He was surprised to see that people were still lounging and walking the streets even though there was a disaster not far from here.
But he couldn't do anything about it. They were all confident that they'd survive anything—a side effect of thinking they had immortality.
Once he got home, he forced himself to lie on his bed. Even though it was uncomfortable, he needed to get used to living in luxury.
He took a look at his Soul System and decided to upgrade his Mage LifeSkill to the 2nd stage since he had enough experience anyway.
[Atlan]
[Bloodline: Angelic Reaper of Souls]
[Genus]
—1x (1-star) Pseudo Canzer
—1x (3-star) Human
—1x (10-star) Grim Reaper
—1x (10-star) Angel
[Mutation]
— (10-star) Gluttonous Soul
— (10-star) Lightspeed Angel Wings
[LifeSkills]
Specialty: GLOBAL
—God: (SSS) Grim Reaper Physique
———1st stage Student Realm
————(1000 / 1000)
Specialty: Vanguard
—DPS: (SSS) Cherubic Retribution
——— Consolidating to 3rd stage
———— 46 hrs : 25 mins: 01 s
—Mage: (D) Mucus Spray
——— Consolidating to 2nd stage
———— 12 hrs: 59 mins: 50 s
[Experience: 9,231.2]
[Upgrade Points: 999,000]
Once he did, Atlan had nothing else to do so he decided to sleep it off.
#####
When he woke up the next morning, he was surprised to see that the consolidation period for his Mage LifeSkill was already over.
[Consolidation period over]
[You have successfully advanced your D class Mucus Spray LifeSkill to the 2nd stage of the Student Realm]
It turned out that he slept for more than twelve hours yesterday, which was surprising given that he always slept for only four to six hours in the Unclaimed Lands.
He slept very soundly.
Maybe this soft bed isn't all that bad after all…
He was also surprised to see that his closet was filled with new green battle suits to wear.
It must have been Miss Lizzie.
He quickly took a shower and put on a new battle suit.
And once he was ready, he made his way back towards the HeadQuarters.
Among the sea of green and blue battlesuits walking up the steps, Atlan saw Wemby, Neumann, and Oliver all waiting for him near the steps.
As he walked towards them, he suddenly got the urge to look back.
And when he did, he saw the same black smoke still present in the distance. Did it get bigger?