My name is Reginald Sanchez. I am eighty years old this year. I have served as Joseph Chapman's security officer for fifty-six years. This qualification is unmatched among all security officers.
Calculating the time, it was 1993. I was serving in the Army at that time, and my assessment results in all military projects were excellent. One day in April, my commander came to me and asked me a question that, at the time, seemed to be enough to change the trajectory of my life. Omit those red tape greetings... Well, I have to admit, I actually forgot that the things I once thought would be etched in my heart were not worth the erosion of time in the end. So in the end, it can still be remembered vividly by me. In fact, it is just one sentence:
"Corporal Sanchez, would you like to be Major General Joseph's guard?"
My answer is: "I do."
I am definitely not the only one who is willing, how many dozens? several hundred? It doesn't matter anymore, because I am one of the people who finally got what he wanted.
Colonel Joseph Chapman participated in the war in the Middle East three years ago. After his triumphant return from Iraq, he was promoted to major general. I was fortunate to be a member of his guard.
A few years later, I looked back with emotion at the moment when my superior asked for my opinion. At that time, I thought that question changed the course of my life. Now that I think about it, this is an understatement.
It should be earth-shaking.
Because of the War of Fire.
If I hadn't become Joseph's guard, I would have been forced to die in Australia in the early stages of the Fire War, just like Pao Ze in the army, and turned into ashes under the dazzling laser of the alien weapon.
Although at the most difficult moment in the middle of the battle, even the general himself had to wield a submachine gun and fight with those weird alien creatures, I was no exception. But I am actually quite satisfied. I am not afraid of death at all. After all, I am lucky to have lived a few more years.
I never thought I would survive until the end of the Battle of the Fire, nor did General Joseph, and we ended the battle as victors.
It's just that, except for the general, I don't have any other familiar faces left alive, and the same goes for the general. Oh...no, not counting those children living all over the world, he at least still has young master Trick, and I am truly alone.
One year after the Battle of the Fire, the Confederacy was formed. The reason why it took a year to be established was mainly because of a series of complex political games, including wooing, buying, annexing, and alliances... There were especially many politicians who were assassinated that year. It seems that they were all solved by their own people. But the murderers in official reports are, without exception, "remnants of alien invaders lurking on the earth."
Well, speaking of it, this is eerily similar to the situation in Southeast Asia in recent months. The four heirs are still too young, and their methods are so gentle. In terms of their ability to eliminate dissidents, their father is a great master.
Ahem, that’s too far off topic.
After the establishment of the Federation, I resigned from my post to Joseph, who had become a member of the Federation Cabinet. I am nearly fifty years old, and my body has long passed its peak. Transformers and ability users are better than me. I can no longer take on the role of a guard.
I came to Joseph, and before I could say anything, he handed a box to my hand.
"During the war, this thing was too scarce and could only be used by younger people with more potential. But now that there is peace, there is finally some surplus."
"It's from Well No. 30 in Singapore. It just arrived this morning. You came at the right time."
"Don't let me down." After saying that, he waved me away.
As expected, the contents of the box were divine mist potions.
It is the most exquisite high-grade divine mist potion. One dose can turn an ordinary person into an ability user, with a probability of over 90%.
Is there a reason why I shouldn't use it?
No.
Especially when Joseph said to me, “Don’t let me down.” If I keep this magical mist potion, or even resell it... I don't know what he will do to me.
Joseph's generosity has been gratifyingly rewarded: my ability has been of great help to him, and I am very good at dealing with "problem people" with sensitive identities.
My ability is: "Hidden Arrow".
Frankly speaking, this ability is not good at fighting, but it is very destructive. Joseph once jokingly called it an unsolvable "head-lowering technique", which is an apt description.
At the human level, I need to have physical contact with the object. Once this condition is met, the object becomes the target of "hidden arrows".
Then, the target will start to have bad luck, ranging from stepping on dog poop while walking to being hospitalized due to accidental injuries.
When I was at the human level, no matter how unlucky the target of the Dark Arrow was, his life would not be in danger. But when I rose to the Tiger level, death was the final destination for most of those marked by the Dark Arrow.
When I was at the ghost level, I had full control of my abilities, so that I could impose varying degrees of bad luck on the target according to my wishes, instead of causing random damage.
As I became more proficient in using my abilities, I gradually became a little worried: Dark Arrow is a causal weapon for those with ghost-level abilities and below, but it is not a high threat to those with higher-level abilities. Even if I can make a dragon-level ability user have a 1 in 600,000 chance of being struck by lightning, considering the dragon-level physical fitness, it won't be a big deal. What's more, at this level of ability users, most of their skills are very comprehensive, including movement and defense. What kind of accident can hurt them?
It wasn't until I reached the dragon level that I understood a truth: a person's biggest enemy is himself.
Six years ago, there was a criminal with dragon-level abilities who fled from the western Borneo County to Baoxiang County. Rather than saying he is a criminal, he is more of a madman. He fought his way from the westernmost state of Gujarat in the Borneo County to the easternmost state of Meghalaya. He committed numerous murderous crimes and was invincible. Abram, a member of the federal cabinet and the lord of the South Asian subcontinent, sent two dragon-level guards and several ghost-level guards to hunt down this person. He killed one dragon on the spot and wiped out all the ghosts. .
Under the illustrious reputation, Abram cooperated with Joseph, and the two sent four dragon-level guards to jointly capture the key criminals. The lineup was unprecedented. Kambalan and I participated in this operation.
We intercepted him at the border between the two counties and a huge battle broke out. The final result was that none of us were injured, but all of us were injured; and the lunatic suffered dozens of minor and severe injuries. We can never figure out how he managed to drag his mangled body and escape for hundreds of miles while fighting, and finally jumped into the Chindwin River, a tributary of the Irrawaddy River.
For such a guy, it is too difficult to make him belch by "accident". I thought that using "hidden arrows" against him would not achieve anything, but it turned out to be the opposite.
Afterwards, we reviewed the battle and found that after he was hit by the "hidden arrow", his behavior pattern changed: he seemed to suddenly suffer from difficulty in choosing whether to advance or retreat, to go forward or to defend, he was hesitant, and repeatedly missed the opportunity to fight. And his condition continued to worsen as the battle continued. By the end of the battle, he almost lost his ability to make decisions. He was helpless, but Cambalang saw the opportunity and wounded him with several consecutive heavy blows. If not, at least half of our four-man ambush team would have died.
After the Dark Arrow reaches the dragon level, it no longer requires physical contact between me and the target to be activated. It only requires verbal communication. I have read the Chinese classic "Journey to the West", and I was deeply impressed by the gold- and silver-cornered treasure gourds and jade purification bottles in it. The condition for launching a secret arrow is "Do you dare to agree if I call you?"
Over the years, I have been sitting in the position of "Secret Agent Chief" relying on the convenience of hidden arrows and Joseph's decades of trust, and countless sensitive people have died at my hands.
It's funny to say that my hidden arrow is a delayed-effect ability. Often when my assassination target dies due to various accidents, I am thousands of miles away from the target. Over time, my abilities were rumored to be capable of ultra-long-range attacks.
Of course, I won't explain it. It's necessary to keep it mysterious and unknown.
By the way, after all I have said, have I not revealed my nickname yet?
My name is Reginald Sanchez, Joseph Chapman's dragon-level guard officer. My ability is called "Dark Arrow", and my nickname is...
Conjurer.
