A Tale of War Spirit Warriors

In Rum Town, under the setting sun, the shadows on the ground were exceptionally long. As a gathering place of people in the southern region of the Gamma Empire, this place was famous for its delicious rum.

Countless merchants, no matter how busy they were, would all come to Rum Town. They would try their best to deliver the rum to the other towns of the Gamma Empire to obtain high profits.

Because of the prosperity of business, the human traffic in the whole town was extraordinarily high. Although the sun was setting, the bustling night in the town was only beginning.

In Rum Town, there was a remote area that was regarded as the waste field of the entire town. Tons of household waste and industrial waste would be piled up here every day. Over time, it formed a trash mountain.

Normally, other than the garbage transporting staff, no other town residents would show up at this trash mountain. Sometimes a few homeless people passed by, but even for them, it was difficult to endure this filthy and chaotic environment. They wouldn't be able to stay for long before they left in a hurry.

However, just as the night was about to fall, there was another lively scene inside the trash mountain pile...

"Carl, it's getting dark! We have to go back as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we are caught by the dean, he will punish us and not let us have dinner!"

A girl with short dark green hair and white linen clothes shouted at the boy in front of her, who was constantly overturning the garbage.

"Okay! I got it!"

The boy named Carl impatiently put down the things in his hand. He had searched in the trash mountain for such a long time but found nothing useful, which made him very unhappy.

Carl wanted to vent his anger, but he didn't dare to be angry with Sofia, who had just reminded him. There was a tacit rule among the children, which was that it was better to provoke Carl, the leader, than to provoke Sofia when she was angry.

Looking up at the almost-dark sky, Carl shouted to the side, "Arthur! Send the signal. Let's call it a day. Let's go back to the orphanage!"

Hearing Carl's shout, Arthur, who was also buried in the garbage dump, wiped the sweat on his forehead with his dirty right hand and then whistled loudly.

In the quiet trash mountain, the sound of whistling drifted out in all directions. After a while, the other six figures came from different directions.

Carl first glanced at the people who had come from the back. After making sure that everyone had returned, he was relieved.

Although the trash mountain was quiet and deserted, its surface area was slightly large. If one was not careful, they might get lost in the maze made up of garbage. Sometimes even picking up things could cause the garbage to fall from a high place and bury people underneath in an instant.

As the leader of this group of children, Carl was responsible to take them back to the orphanage intact after taking them out to scavenge in the trash mountain.

For this group of children, who were only 15 or 16 years old, the trash mountain could be an extremely dangerous area, as all the residents of Rum Town had strictly prohibited their children from approaching.

The parents even said things like, "If you don't listen to me, I will throw you into the trash mountain," to threaten the children.

Only Carl's group of children was different. Since they were little, they had already lived in the only orphanage in Rum Town. The trash mountain, which was regarded as a forbidden area by the residents of Rum Town, became the precious back garden of Carl's group.

The back garden was extremely important to Carl and the others.

Different from the other children in Rum Town, the children in the orphanage did not have parents to dote on them, high-quality toys, or a good education.

What they had were merely the love and care for each other as well as the time they spent together in the trash mountain, which made their special childhood.

All the orphanage gave Carl and the others was three meals a day to keep them alive. But what child does not want to eat snacks? What child does not want to wear new clothes? What child does not want to have their beloved toys?

For Carl and the others, who were still young, the only way of gaining income was to find some trash that was still in good condition in the back garden. Then, at a low price, they would sell it to the merchants in Rum Town to make new products.

That was also the reason why Carl became a little irritated because he had gotten nothing today.

"Have you found anything useful?" Although Carl did not find anything himself, he still had a glimmer of hope for the other children.

Unfortunately, after hearing Carl's question, the seven children who came later all shook their heads with faces full of dirt.

Carl sighed helplessly, waved his hand, and told everyone to go home with him.

"Carl! Carl!" A thin little boy in a shabby gray cloth gown with red hair ran up to Carl from behind.

Carl raised his eyebrows, wiped the dirt on the boy's face smilingly with his hand, and asked, "Ron. What is it? If we don't go back now, the dean won't let us have dinner!"

"Hahaha, little Ron, are you hungry? Go to Carl and ask him for candy!" Joel, who had always been good friends with Ron, laughed at him from not far away.

Upon hearing that, Ron blushed and said in a low voice, "No, I'm not," and looked at Carl with respect.

"Carl, today I went to the top of the garbage heap and found a group of soldiers outside the back garden!" Ron was relatively thin and flexible, which also gave him the advantage to be able to easily climb to the top of the trash mountain.

Carl answered in surprise, "Soldiers?"

Carl turned around to take a look and asked, "Tom, Jerry, the two of you were in charge of the same area with Ron today. Did you see this?"

Tom and Jerry were biological brothers of this group of children, which was rare. They were abandoned by their parents when they were born and were sent to the orphanage in Rum Town.

Tom and Jerry nodded. Although they couldn't climb to the top of the trash mountain like Ron, when they got a little higher, they saw a large group of people in military uniforms gathering around the trash mountain.

Carl then looked at Vivian, who hadn't said anything. She was a cute little girl who looked like a doll. Chris, a boy with a dirty braid and brown skin, had also been silent.

Both of them shook their heads. They did not find anything unusual in the area in which they were in charge.

"That's strange... This group of military soldiers is usually in charge of public security. Why do they have time to come to the trash mountain today?" While Carl was thinking in his heart, the children were about to reach the exit and they encountered the military soldiers!

"Carl!" Arthur, who was the same age as Carl, saw him approaching the exit and had no choice but to shout.

There was no stipulation in Rum Town that the town residents were not allowed to enter the trash mountain, so Carl and the others were frequent visitors to the site.

Then suddenly, this group of military soldiers appeared for no known reasons. If Carl's group were to be seen by them inexplicably, it would only cause unnecessary trouble!

Carl frowned. He could think of things that Arthur would take note of. After spending so many years in the trash mountain, he knew the area like the back of his hand and knew where the various escape routes were. What made him reluctant to leave was that he wanted to find out the reason for the abnormal behavior of this group of soldiers.

"Forget it! I can come back tomorrow!" Gradually, they could hear the noises from the group of military soldiers. Carl pointed to the side in time and motioned for everyone to follow him.

There was a thick wall of garbage and the military soldiers were talking to each other, outside. Carl ran quickly along the wall with his companions.

From time to time, a few words drifted to Carl's ears from the gaps between the mountains of garbage.

"Really? It's the first time I've heard of such a creature and I've been in Rum Town for so long!"

"Tell me about it. It's different from the local garrison. I heard that the people who came this time are all big shots in the regular army!"

"That's horrible! That's horrible!"

Carl did not say a word and quickly ran through the mountains of garbage with everyone else. After a while, everyone slowly showed up in a low-lying area.

Putting his index finger to his lips, Carl pointed to a place not far away, where a large number of soldiers were talking loudly.

Everyone tried their best to hunker down, leaning against the cover of the terrain and followed Carl's lead in moving quietly. After a long while, they left the area of the trash mountain.

"Hurry up, it's completely dark now!" Looking at the street lights that had been turned on, Carl started to run.

After a long day of hard work, the other children were already starving. At this time, as soon as they saw Carl running, they immediately ran along.

"Carl! The gate seems to be locked!" Joel looked at the gate of the orphanage from a distance and shouted with some concern.

According to the rules of the orphanage, after sunset every day, the gate would be locked to protect the children.

Carl shook his head and did not say anything. Arthur, who had been by his side this entire time, laughed and shouted at Joel behind him, "Don't worry, Silas will leave the door open for us!"

Silas, a white-haired elder who was over sixty years old, was the guardian of the orphanage in Rum Town. He did not have any children of his own, so he was like a grandfather to this group of children, taking care of them in every possible way.

Sure enough, when Carl and the others ran to the gate of the orphanage, the gate looked tightly locked, but the padlock was left dangling and unlocked.

Carl opened the big lock easily and then let the others into the courtyard, one by one.

"You brats, you're back so late again!" Suddenly, a voice that had a slight trace of blame, came from the side.

Hearing this, Carl laughed, handed the padlock to the last child who walked in and said, "Chris, lock the door."

Then Carl turned his head and saw Silas, who was a slender, pale-haired elder, leaning against the door of the small room with a smile on his face.

"Silas, I am sorry for troubling you. Thank you so much!" Carl said with a warm laugh.

Silas nodded in a friendly manner, watching Chris lock the gate. Then, he pointed at the main hall of the orphanage and said, "All of you, hurry and go in. The food is in the dining room. However, dean seems to be looking for you, Arthur and Sofia. Remember to see him after you are done eating."

"Okay!" Carl could not wait to say goodbye to Silas and ran to the dining room with the others. The dinner, which was simple but filling, was quickly devoured.

After the meal, along with Arthur and Sofia, Carl went to the door of the dean's office, feeling a little uneasy.

"Carl, why did the dean suddenly ask us to come over... Will we be punished?" Arthur asked, feeling a little worried.

"That's possible... We are the oldest among this group of children..." Sofia said indifferently, rolling her eyes.

Since they were little, they had been the leaders of the children in the orphanage. They were often scolded by the dean if they made mistakes, so this was nothing unusual.

Carl snorted unhappily and finally knocked on the wooden door before him.

With the permission of the dean, the three of them slowly walked into the room. The simple office had not changed for so many years. The only change was the dean, who was getting older and older.

Carl, Arthur and Sofia thought that after entering the room, the dean would scold them immediately. Unexpectedly, this time, the dean looked at them with profound eyes and did not say a word.

After a long time, seeing that the three of them were feeling uncomfortable, the dean said, "Carl, Arthur and Sofia, you three have been here for almost 18 years, haven't you?"

The three of them nodded silently. Although they did not know the exact date of each other's birthday, judging from their ages, they were indeed about to reach adulthood.

The dean sighed and said, "According to the law of the Gamma Empire, when a young man is 18 years old, he has to go to the nearest administrative district to do the qualification test of the War Spirit.

"If you qualify, you can become a noble warrior of the empire. If your aptitude is not good enough, you will serve in the ordinary army for three years."

When they heard that, the three of them felt shocked. Although they almost reached adulthood, the common knowledge that almost every civilian knew was new to them because of the lack of a good education in the orphanage.

"Dean, what is a War Spirit warrior?" Carl was the first to come to his senses and asked the questions that the three of them were most concerned about at the moment.

The dean took a deep look at Carl and explained, "You've all heard the fairy tale of The King and His Sword, haven't you?"

The King and His Sword referred to the founding emperor of the Gamma Empire, King Caesar. When human beings encountered any catastrophe, he wielded the long sword in his hand to kill all the invaders, to guard the last pure land of human beings on the planet of Lorran, which was now the Gamma Empire in the world.

This fairy tale did not tell about the catastrophe that the human beings encountered and who the invaders were. But the residents of the Gamma Empire all knew that the land that they lived in now was all dependent on King Caesar and the long sword in his hand.

Carl and the other two had heard of the fairy tale of The King and His Sword, but they had always treated it as a myth.

But now, all of a sudden, the dean talked about the warriors of War Spirit and specifically mentioned The King and His Sword. The three of them were so smart that they immediately grasped the key to this matter.

"Could it be that King Caesar is a War Spirit warrior?" The three of them asked in unison.

The dean nodded with a smile, drummed his fingers on the wooden table in front of him and said slowly, "Let's start with the catastrophe in the story... The so-called catastrophe refers to an alien tribe-the Zergs, which have nothing to do with those little bugs we see in our daily life..."

At this point, the dean slowly rolled up the sleeve on his right hand and the sight that greeted them, made them take a deep breath.

They had never imagined that under the dean's loose robe, his arm was marked with spreading circles of scars which looked rather frightful!

The worst-looking scar looked like as if it had made by something sharp, which had pierced through one side of the arm to the other side...

The dean chuckled and then pulled back his sleeves. His purpose was not to frighten the three of them, but to make them aware that the Zergs were not some little meek animals.

Without needing the dean to say anything more, Carl and the others also understood that these scars were caused by the so-called Zergs!

"At that time, the Zergs invaded the whole Lorran planet. Almost ninety percent of human beings on the planet were slaughtered."

"Fortunately, we were blessed and given a way out at that time... Perhaps due to the influence of the Zergs, the human genes changed and some people could summon their second soul-War Spirit."

Carl and the other two gaped in wonder, deeply engrossed in the dean's story.

Looking at the appearances of the three children, the dean smiled gently and continued to talk.

"Back then, King Caesar was the first person to awaken his spirit to fight. The current empire was established by the first batch of spirit warriors who aroused their spirits to lead the remaining humans..."

At this point, the dean's eyes flickered slightly. He was recalling the scene of the big battle back then.

While Arthur and Sofia were still trying to understand these stories in silence, Carl had already asked excitedly, "Mister Dean, so thirty years ago, did you also follow King Caesar to fight against the Zergs? Then you must be..."

The dean chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm not that lucky to be a warrior of War Spirit. But every man would have fought to the end for the survival of the human race as I did..."

Carl lowered his head in slight disappointment, while Arthur suddenly said,

"I already roughly understand the importance of the War Spirit warriors to the Empire. Then what's the reason why the three of us are going to take the qualification test tomorrow... And the most important thing I want to know is that if the three of us do not qualify to be the warriors of War Spirit, what will happen?"

The dean nodded approvingly. Carl was brave and responsible, Arthur was sharp and careful and Sofia was smart and bold. He had watched the three of them grow up and they were his favorite children.

"According to the law of the Gamma Empire, any young man who has reached the age of 18 will have to take the qualification test of the War Spirit of the local government. Those who qualify will automatically attain citizenship of the Gamma Empire immediately."

"Citizenship? Does it mean one can live in the capital or become an officer by having this citizenship?" Sofia said in surprise.

Although they lived in an orphanage, they had met the citizens because they occasionally needed to do business with the residents of Rum Town.

Superiority and power were things that Carl and the others had never been able to attain before. Now, as long as they could pass the qualification test, they could easily become citizens. They felt excited immediately!

The dean nodded with a smile, as an answer to Sofia's question.

"Well, about the citizenship, when you pass the qualification test, you will naturally learn more about it."

After a pause, the dean continued to explain, "If you don't pass the qualification test, you have to join the army of the empire. After three years of military service, you can return to the town and be civilians of the empire."

"Then... What if we don't pass the qualification test and refuse to serve in the military?" Arthur caught the crucial point and looked toward the dean's horribly scarred arm.

Carl, who was excited and Sofia, who was silent, also looked over, along with Arthur.

If they could not become a warrior of War Spirit, they would become an ordinary soldier, just like the dean. Although it would only be three years, it did not seem that it would be a safe journey...

The dean was silent for a while and said in an earnest voice, "According to the laws of the empire, anyone who refuses to serve in the military will be hunted down by the warriors of the empire. There is no time limit until the target dies."

Carl and the other two took a deep breath at the same time. Being hunted down by warriors for an ordinary person was already unfortunate, but it was even worse to be hunted forever. To put it bluntly, as long as one refused to serve the military, he would only end up dead.

After taking a look at the time, the dean slowly stood up from his seat and walked over to the three of them. In an amiable voice, he said, "It's getting late. All of you should get some rest. Tomorrow, Silas will bring you to Rum Town."

After hearing this, the three of them nodded and began to walk out of the door.

"Carl!" When the three of them were about to go out, the dean suddenly called out.

Carl looked back in confusion. The dean nodded at him and said, "No matter what happens, don't take it to heart. Believe in yourself!"

Carl raised his eyebrows, not knowing what the dean meant, but still nodded and walked out with the other two.

"Carl, if you have a War Spirit, what do you want your War Spirit to be?" On the way back to their room, Sofia asked excitedly.

Carl glanced at Arthur, who was silent and said, "Hmm." But he did not know what kind of War Spirit he wanted to have after thinking for a long time...

At this moment, several fireflies flew past the window as the starlight brought a hint of summer air to the whole courtyard.