After Aumo and LisiA both agreed that they wanted to know about the machine, Guardon told the two to follow him. 

 

During the walk, Aumo felt somewhat awkward, as she wasn’t used to skirts at all. She hadn’t paid much attention about the dress she was wearing on the first day since they weren’t in a place with a lot of people, but now that they are in a city with a lot of people, she felt somewhat embarrassed.

 

You’ll get used to it. Ria sounded in her head.

 

------------- 

 

Aumo and LisiA followed Guardon to the Guild building, but instead of going inside, they went around the building to the back. Guardon then touched the wall, and slowly moved around as if trying to find something.

 

“Here it is,” said Guardon as he pushed a small part of the wall in with his hand, “The button’s location changes every time, so I have to look for it every time.”

 

“Surely this isn’t the normal entrance that people normally take?” said LisiA as she saw how complicated it was to get to wherever they were going.

 

“It’s a secret entrance. The actual entrance is much further away, so it’s quicker if we go through here,” said Guardon.

 

Just as Guardon said that, the floor started rising, and a box with doors appeared.

 

“Woah!,” exclaimed Aumo.

 

“Whoever made these secrets really love this box with doors,” said Guardon, “They use it in literally every single secret entrance.”

 

The doors slowly opened and Guardon led Aumo and LisiA inside. Then, the door closed after Guardon hit a button and everything was still…

 

“The doors closed. What’s next?” LisiA was on alert as it was just the three of them inside a confined box with no exit.

 

“We should arrive about… now,” said Guardon suddenly.

 

The doors opened and the scene before them was no longer where they were before.

 

“We were actually moving?” Aumo was amazed by how seamless the movements were, as not a single hint that they were moving was found as the elevator moved towards its destination.

You have moved a considerable distance at a decently high speed.

 

Ria sounded in Aumo’s head.

 

Estimated around 100m/s over 30 seconds.

 

“Welcome to the Yuhsar Guards base,” said Guardon, “We mainly defend the city, but I don’t think I need to keep this a secret from you two now. This is also a place we plan our defenses against the Reformers.”

 

“What makes you think that we are trustworthy?” asked LisiA.

 

It’s only been a week since they had met, and while they did save Guardon and possibly the city, there is no way that they would allow some random people in so easily.

 

“The truth is, we try to recruit almost anyone that has the ability or courage to fight against the reformers,” replied Guardon, “The reason why we allow practically anyone, even criminals, is that the reformers don’t have any human spies.”

 

“How are you so sure that they don’t have any human spies?” asked Aumo.

 

“That is because they kill any human on sight,” replied Guardon, “What we find interesting, however, is that if a human hides from them, the robot no longer chases them. It’s as if their ability to realize that something exists even if it disappears got removed by the virus. They only recognize androids and automatons half the time, which means that they don’t attack them at all half the time. That said, it seems that that doesn’t apply to the higher ups. They will still chase you even if you hide.”

 

“Has this been tested before?” asked LisiA.

 

“Yes, in fact multiple times. There are captured reformers that we did tests on before freeing them from the virus,” replied Guardon, “Now if you don’t realize already, me bringing you here was to show you what we got from the machine last week. Follow me.”

 

Guardon continued to lead Aumo and LisiA through the base, through multiple corridors and rooms. All the walls were white, which signified that the base was most likely designed by robots.

 

Every time that they passed by some people, the people would stop working and greet Guardon, and then resume what they were doing.

 

Eventually, they entered a giant room with the machine that was moved into the base the other day. The people in the room saw Guardon, and gave a nod, after which they gathered their notes and started leaving the room. Some stayed and continued working on what they were working on.

 

“At first I thought that this room was unnecessarily big, but now with this machine in here, it feels way too small. What would we do if we needed another one in here?” said Guardon.

 

“We can’t fit another one in here,” commented one of the people in the room, before they went back to examining the machine.

 

The machine had actually taken up almost half of the space in the room. The rest of the room was filled with giant structures, some that look like arms, some that have lenses on the end, and some more stuff that isn’t a normal sight in this world.

 

“This is nostalgic. Or rather that would be if I could feel nostalgia,” said Ria suddenly.

 

“Do you have a third member?” asked Guardon all of a sudden, “Some prophets have prophesied that an Ancient Trio would help rid this world of the Reformers. I didn’t really pay much mind to it since there’s only the two of you but if there is a third, you three might be it.”

 

Originally LisiA wouldn’t have reacted, but now it was different as Ria had unlocked it. It was the reaction that a woman gave when they were asked for their age or if they were called old.

 

“Did.. You just call me Ancient?” asked LisiA with a smile on her face, “Get this, I’m only one.. one hu.. ah”

 

She was over a hundred years old. At that sudden realization, she immediately calmed down. It wasn’t like her to react like this. She also wasn’t going to let some of the new features in her get the best of her, though some already have.

 

“Ancient huh,” said Aumo, “Technology really improves fast enough to make 100-year-old technology feel ancient.”

 

“If you two were made over a hundred years ago, then technology hasn’t improved at all!” exclaimed Guardon suddenly, “Ahem, aside from that, show these two, or three, the text.”

 

Guardon quickly composed himself and signalled someone to move the machine.

 

“Alright! Fred, move away from the machine, we’re moving it!” said one of the people near the wall where buttons and switches could be seen.

 

The person who was examining the machine quickly packed up and moved away from the machine.

 

The giant arms then came to life and started moving the machine around and removed parts of the outer plating of the machine and revealed some text and a picture of some sort.

 

“You see that picture there? That’s the Reformer faction’s symbol,” said Guardon, “But the scarier part is the text.”

 

A small rod with a cylinder attached to it with glass lenses on one side came down from the ceiling and moved towards the text. Afterwards, the rectangle on one of the walls lit up and showed the text.

 

It read: PROTO II-1

 

“This seems to be a prototype, so most likely more will be coming to not just this city, but all the rest of the cities,” said Guardon, “We have already sent data to many of the other guard bases, so we will try to build something to counter this.”

 

“Surely you have something else to tell us after bringing us here, especially since you mentioned something about recruiting people,” said LisiA.

 

“Alright, I’ll be straightforward with this,” said Guardon, “Could you two join our Organization to fight the reformers?”

 

Status:

 

-----------------------------

Name: Aumo

Core Level:8

XP: 5/300

Status: Somewhat Embarrassed

HP: 2200/2200

MP: 1200/1200 

MP Stored: 153

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Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Sight, Mana Sense, Mana Analysis, Levitation, Mana Vibration, Small Fireball, Ice Throw, Air Slash, Body Reinforcement, Body Strengthening

Upgrades: None

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