LIGHTNOVELONLINE The Past Year
7/26/1060
[1 year after the fateful encounter with Nanik in Trizen, Tekuno.]
I have been working with Nanik since the day he found me in the city park. In the time since then, he taught me about the world of Aruya and its happenings. I basically had Nanik give me lessons every day, and when I wasn't having my mind boggled by those, I either tinkered with scrapped computers for fun or sat in deep contemplation about my memory loss, which eventually led nowhere, much to my dismay. A sense of depression and anxiety seeped in from hitting this brick wall, but I thought it better to just ignore it for now…
The country I'm staying in, Trizen, is a bustling nation with a port city, rich in innovation, and brimming with life. It is one of the few technologically developed countries in Aruya. According to Nanik and some supplementary sources (me scouring online), these technologically advanced countries are referred to as “Entwick countries”, whereas the ones that have favored the use of magic over the development of technology are called the Mittelreich countries.
Most Entwick countries refuse to engage in trade with Mittelreich countries, but Trizen does not adhere to this formality. Instead, they freely engage in trade with Mittelreich countries and Entwick countries alike – at least, that was what Nanik had explained to me about the Entwicks and Mittelreichs, but honestly, I don’t quite understand it…
Notifications flashed on the monitor before me.
["Data flow anomaly detected. Please review."]
After a night of slumping over at the desk, I straightened in my chair. My black hair draped over my face and the keyboard as a stray yawn escaped from my lips. It was clear that working late into the night does not do my sleeping habits any good. After groggily wiping my face, I placed my glasses back on, which were on the side of my desk, and squinted at the monitor. It only dawned on me after a few moments that the message I was looking for had been received.
"Whoa… I thought he was just messing with me - guess he was right," I exclaimed, thoroughly surprised.
I had been vaguely informed by Nanik that there would be two “Data Anomalies” that would show up this month. He said it could have something to do with my oh-so-mysterious past. Apparently, these Anomalies are actually humans — they must be volatile or something of that nature because Nanik urged me to take action as soon as they were sighted.
My only concern was what entailed after actually encountering one: I had to recruit them. Something was definitely amiss, but Nanik wouldn’t put me in danger, so I decided to just take his word for it.
'Though… When he was talking about it, he had this devious grin on his face like he was plotting something… I wonder what he's up to.'
The Anomalies, which were marked by red beacons, seemed to be blinking at different spots on the digital map produced by the monitor.
'The Anomalies seem to be in Hollia and Clefton.' I mused for a moment. "I'll need to prepare to track both of them down."
The continent of Erbium, where Hollia was located, would be the first to be visited as it directly bordered Tekuno and had counties containing big cities, which were reminiscent of those in Tekuno. Ishunay, on the other hand, was another story. Apart from the fact that Clefton and Hollia were separated by a vast ocean, the societies of both varied vastly. On one hand, Clefton is Mittelreich, a society that wholeheartedly believes in the tradition of practicing the art of mana control, whilst Hollia is Entwick, and as it is not as well-versed in mana, opted for a path in innovation that would push their civilization to new grounds.
Such a contrast in their upbringing and cultures ultimately led to hostility between the masses of both. In the case of the inhabitants of Mittelreich nations, any who pursue the path of technology are met with intense scrutiny and oftentimes blatant discrimination.
'It seems like I'll have to take some precautions before I head there. I'm not very fond of the idea that I have to go to a Mittelreich Country myself. Since I can’t use mana, I’d practically be treated as some sort of wild animal there if people were to find out…'
Emerging from the confines of my room, I made my way to the hangar to prepare the "Airblade," which was originally designed for reconnaissance missions for the Trizen government. This vehicle resembled an enlarged quadcopter, devoid of visible propellers and sized like a commercial car. I, like usual, meticulously inspected the Airblade, confirming it had enough energy to sustain a ten-day trip.
"That should be more than enough to finish this task," I noted with satisfaction.
After gathering a few essential items, I opened the hangar door and climbed into the Airblade. Following a series of preliminary checks, I pressed my thumb onto the fingerprint scanner that started the vehicle. The electric motors purred to life, their steady hum vibrating through the Airblade, lifting it gently off the ground. Slowly, it glided out of the hangar, ascending to a comfortable cruising altitude before accelerating, swiftly closing the hangar door behind it.
7/27/1060
[6:00 pm - Over the largest city in Erbium, Hollia]
During the past year, Nanik helped me discover my abilities as a Technician. In Aruya, there are four pathways that a person can awaken with. A Sorcera is a person with great control over the creation and usage of their mana, with the ability to cast spells in an instant. Martial Artists are those who build and strengthen their mana and its purity, imbuing their limbs and weapons with this power to achieve superhuman feats. Alchemists use their mana to imbue objects around them, giving them special properties. And last, but not least, the Technician. Technicians are unable to use mana even though they possess the organ to use it; instead, they gain strange abilities that give them unparalleled prowess when it comes to technology or mechanical implements. Technicians remain the most mysterious of the four due to the lack of consensus about the origins of the pathway’s powers, with Alchemists a close second for its wide array of perplexing techniques.
I awakened as a Technician and a rare one at that. I'm what’s known as a “Data Engineer”. Nanik had mentioned in passing that the total number of known Data Engineers in the world could be counted on one hand, so there aren't many available resources for us left over by predecessors. However, as a Data Engineer, I have the ability to peer into the world's data through something called the [Developer's Eye]. I was really stoked to find out how cool I was until I tried to use it for the first time…
I got a quick reality check and learnt that using the [Developer's Eye] required strong mental fortitude to be used for longer than a second because, as soon as I managed to see through it, I blacked out. Later, when I woke up bedridden, Nanik ended up going on and on about some ‘Way to utilize one's abilities correctly’, blah blah blah. He essentially said that I was an idiot. Then, he proceeded to walk outside my room and broke out into laughter so loudly that I could hear it from inside the room! That jerk didn't even warn me against using my abilities!
Later, after a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears (a whole lot of tears), I managed to create a pair of special glasses containing an AI program called [Neuro] to help take the burden off my mind when I use the [Developer's Eye]. Of course, I also practice using the [Developer's Eye] without the glasses to ensure they don't become a crutch that I can't part with in the future, but the progress is slow and demanding. So far, I can only keep it up for about a minute straight before passing out once more.
Sliding my finger across the side of my glasses, I heard the operating system come to life, and different projections of information flashed across the lenses, showing the relative position of the Anomaly I was tasked to track down.
"Looks like the first one should be somewhere in this city," I mused aloud, my hair fluttering in the wind as I looked down at the sprawling city below. A wide grin emerged on my face at the thought of showing Nanik how good I can be at my job. "It's time to start 'recruiting'."