"I won't beat around the bush," Folinic said, looking at the file and the person in front of her. "Your physical does not look promising. You're slightly overweight, signs of muscle disuse, extreme stiffness of joints, your posture suggests you spend most time in a chair, and your stamina is very short lasting. Yet, here you are, at a physical for combat training, under Professor Kal'tsit's order no less…"

Evan just gave her a look that said he clearly knew all of this, which led to Folinic narrowing her eyes at him.

"Do you even take care of yourself?"

"Not particularly-"

"And yet you're going into combat training? Honestly, with how glued you seem to be to sitting, it's a wonder she wants you there at all…"

"Look, I know I have issues, but I came here because I needed an assessment of if I can train at all, not have all my problems piled onto me. All I really need to know is if I'm not going to keel over or get bed-ridden from my mandatory training."

"Oh…" Folinic was clearly surprised about the harshness in his voice, but it really was a pet peeve of his. He knew he needed to exercise, to improve his mobility, his flexibility, his stamina, he knew all that. People like Folinic laying it thick on him in an effort to seemingly shame him into a lifestyle change like it was easy or naturally just put a bad taste in his mouth. "...Sorry…I…"

He may have laid it on a little thick in response though. Folinic seemed nervous and ashamed of herself at his outburst.

"I should also apologize, I know you were trying to help, but this is something I've heard thousands of times from various people in my life. My mother in particular was quite worried about me, having been a doctor herself. I may have projected my frustrations on you unfairly."

Folinic's eyes brightened a little and she smiled before shaking her head and saying, "Ah, no, I understand. All I'm trying to say is all these subclinical issues can be easily fixed with exercise, which you would be getting anyways. So to answer your question, no, you won't die or become ill from intense exercise. You may feel tired after training, but in a few weeks you will start feeling better than ever. Just let me update your medical profile and…"

An unnatural pause came and she blinked a little, looking at the profile then back to Evan with a look of shock.

"Oh, I think I see why Professor Kal'tsit wants you to take combat training. These results…on your blood alone…"

"Yup, not a trace of originium in the body, I know. That's kind of why I was sent to Rhodes in the first place."

"I see, well, at least we don't have to worry about you getting infected for now, it seems. Well, either way you have the green light."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome. In fact, if you ever want some pointers, I'd be more than happy to help smooth your transition to a healthier lifestyle. Also, it seems Professor Kal'tsit wants to monitor your vitals and blood through this whole process too, and since she's been a bit busy these last few days, we may be seeing more of each other. Until then, good luck."

Evan nodded and left the doctor's office before heading down to the cafeteria to finally get some food since he had to fast for this physical. One unremarkable, but arguably nutritious meal later, the next piece on his daily agenda was to meet who would be his private combat instructor. Yes, private, because it probably had to do with his special condition. Then again, he hadn't been present in the room when the enigmatic Doctor Frewgar and Kal'tsit had made the decision. No, the enigmatic Doctor ushered him out of the room before he could witness their discussion. He knew it was about him, but something in him trusted The Doctor to see to it proper responses were taken, as though he could trust the man despite knowing next to nothing about him.

Then there was the fact he was back to working on writing up projects. Now, while he had to admit they had gotten lucky with the combustion engine and some battery on account of having the devices, and the solar panel was something he already knew how to do, they were going to need to enter the realm of problematic somehow.

As if on cue, his PDA/phone beeped, implying he got a message and he looked to see a small profile picture of the Rhodes Island mascot modeled after their CEO, along with her name.

Dear Mr Carvey,

Please report to my office at your earliest convenience, there's something important I want to discuss with you.

Checking his time, he assumed it wouldn't be more than an hour at worst, and it wasn't like he was doing any training today, hopefully, which led to him scarfing down his remaining food with impressive gusto before walking to the office.

As soon as he entered, ears perked and stiffened past a wall of paper and Amiya poked her head out with a smile.

"Ah, Mr Carvey, come in. I wasn't expecting you so soon, sorry for the mess."

"It's an impressive workload…I don't envy you, so don't worry."

"Ah, it is a little more than usual, but that's partly because of you, not that I mind. It's nice to have some spotlight for once. In fact, there's a few letters and documents I've had to review before handing them off to you in person. They should be here somewhere… Oh, and feel free to take a seat."

Amiya's ears were the only thing he saw for a short while before she pulled out a thick stack of documents and folders and set them aside.

"Ok, I shouldn't keep you long, but I wanted to have a short chat, is that ok with you, or should I schedule a meeting?"

"Now's fine."

"Oh, thank goodness. Well, first off, I'd like to commend your performance. Despite having only been an employee for three months, you've increased our revenue, made new contracts and partnerships with powerful companies, and acquired more public relations for the company. Thanks to this, we've been busier than ever. Truly, thank you for choosing Rhodes Island, and I hope our relationship is a long one."

During all this, a shining smile was emitted from Amiya which seemed to shine a rather homely glow for some reason. Maybe it was the size, but he couldn't be sure. By now, he would be shocked if Amiya was a child, she was surprisingly mature and polite without feeling somehow distant.

"I would also like to offer you a promotion. I've been thinking about what you should do, and I've decided a new title is befitting of your stature. While I'm still working out the finer details of the contract, I was thinking of a title such as 'Alternative Energies Engineer' or 'Expert of Alternative Sciences' to speak to your achievements so far. This would bump your clearance level to a special grade that would allow you access to the ship's schematics as well as your own R&D facility and workshop among other benefits we're still working on. Among them, we plan to give you a sizable raise, and a stipend for your projects."

"Oh…wow. Thanks, that's…do you really think I deserve this? I've only been with the company for roughly three months."

"Ah, no, it's perfectly fine. Here we value our employees by their achievements and needs. Your achievements are rather astounding but no less worthy of reward. While it can normally take years for someone to end up at such a position in most careers, here at Rhodes Island we believe in rewarding merit where it's due."

"Well…if you really think I deserve such a position, I'd be happy to take it. I'm just shocked is all. I didn't expect this company to be so generous."

At this, Amiya gave a bright and cheerful giggle before answering with a beaming smile, "Rhodes Island is far more than a simple pharmaceutical company. We have many goals beyond monetary gain, in fact, it's rather low on the list. Our first mission is to the infected and those powerless to help themselves, at least that's the goal we founded this company with. We've been in the red for quite a while at times, where most would declare bankruptcy and dissolve the company, but thanks to the efforts of employees like yourself, we're still going strong with that mission."

"Well, you've certainly sold me at least. If your mission truly is to make the world a better place, I can get behind sticking around for the foreseeable future."

"That's wonderful to hear, thank you!" Amiya gleefully exclaimed with a clap of her hands. "Anyways, feel free to take your documents. I still have a lot of work to do, but should time permit it I would be more than happy to speak with you in a more relaxed setting."

With that, Evan took the folders and documents then waved goodbye to Amiya who returned the gesture before her head disappeared behind the mountain of paperwork. Really, she seemed impressive, and all that while having the body of a child. He honestly had to wonder what her own childhood was like to make her like that, but he didn't spend much thought on it. He had more pressing concerns waiting for him in the training area of the ship, and he still had some time.

Now, Evan had a particular image of a drill instructor, he imagined someone rough, callous in their language, disciplined, and was expecting an immediate show of tough love out the gate, but when he saw his chosen instructor, all those expectations flew out the window.

"Hey, Defense Operator Dur'nar here. I'll be your personal instructor, nice to meetcha! Also, here, have a candybar."

Something felt wrong.

"Is this a test?"

At this, Dur'nar began laughing heartily and unwrapped the bar before popping it in his mouth.

"Nope!"

One thing he had come to appreciate about Terra's chocolate in general was how it wasn't like chocolate back in the states. Hershey's could be as little as ten percent cocoa, making it barely chocolate. Since Terra in general had a limited supply of sugar circulating in its veins, the most common chocolate was actually on the darker side to save money on the precious resource.

The chocolate bar in his mouth though was clearly some high quality stuff, something he'd have to import from another continent back home in most cases. It wasn't too bitter or too sweet, and a faint hint of other ingredients actually gave it quite a deal of nuance to the flavor which really made him happy to be privileged enough to taste it, and he certainly had something to say.

"This is some gourmet stuff! Wow, that's the best sweet I've had in a long time."

Dur'nar proceeded to push out her chin and chest with her hands on her hips and her tail wagging wildly as she hummed to herself as congratulations on a satisfactory job.

"Well there's more where that came from, if you need a little pick me up, I'm the top snack supplier on the landship. Just…don't tell any of the medical operators, especially Hibiscus or Folinic, those two are sticklers for proper nutrition."

He had heard of Hibiscus in passing and seen peoples' reaction to her cooking firsthand. He's actually been tricked into having some of her treats before, and while he didn't want to throw up, he definitely saw why people complained about her food. Whatever she did to her food, it took out all the soul, and it left behind only a supplement with the shape and texture of food. Either way, he gave a little zip of his lips then said, "Say no more, Hibiscus's crimes on the culinary arts can't be ignored."

"I know, right? Seriously, that girl needs to actually understand food's more than just getting nutrients in your system."

"Hey, if you ever want to make a batch of homemade goods, I can certainly help there. I can make quite some interesting treats, including some unique pies."

Dur'nar's eyes took on a mischievous sparkle and her tail picked up speed.

"Oh that's great! I'll slip some notes under your door sometime. Also, I can use some of my connections to get you access to the kitchen, after hours of course. Can't have anyone coming in to inspect our work. Been too long since I've had a new partner in crime."

Honestly, the fact that this was their first conversation, he almost forgot this was to be his combat trainer.

"So, is there anything we should be drawing up on how to schedule our time in the future?"

"Oh, right! Silly me, yeah, I've read your physical. I think…four days calisthenics, then a rest on Friday, and then we'll do actual combat training on Saturday. That's just the first week though. Once we've got a rhythm down, I plan to fully drill you into actual combat, starting with basic self defense as per the Doctor's orders. That's next week though, but if you want you can always come watch or join if you have time. No such thing as starting too early. I'll message you the schedule once we find out where to squeeze in the practice times, though they might be very late or early, sorry to say. Wish I could make it more convenient, but Doctor Kal'tsit's orders prevent me from placing you in a regular course. Anyways, does that sound good to you?"

It was hard to imagine this woman as a drill instructor, but he supposed weirder things have happened. After all, most of his coworkers had rather eccentric personality traits. But, regardless it seemed Dur'nar's character would allow him to get along quite well with her, despite the fact they were supposed to be trainer and trainee. Hell, she already showed herself to be fairly lax in her approach, giving him candy, good candy, right off the bat.

"So long as it doesn't conflict with my schedule, everything should be fine."

"Oh, Doctor can help me fine tune the schedule, he's really good at that sort of thing. Beyond that, I don't know if we have much business to discuss…though I am curious, you mentioned pies are in your baking repertoire, what's the most interesting one you can make?"

"Blueberry Goat Cheese pie."

After some thought, Dur'nar had to wipe a little drool off her chin before answering, "I have not heard of that before, but it sounds delicious! I would love to try it sometime. I'll help you acquire some of the ingredients too."

"Well then, I'll make sure you're first to try it."

Dur'nar smiled warmly, and the rest of their allotted time was spent talking about the various treats Evan could bake. The two of them got so into talking about ideas for treats as well as some of their favorites that the two forgot what time it was. They were only reminded when Dur'nar's phone rang and she picked up to hear a harsh voice boring into her, chastising her for being late.

"Ah, shoot, I have some drills to run with Doberman, see ya!"

The cheerful vulpo was out the door in seconds, and Evan wondered how his next week would go.

By Friday, he felt like his body was going to melt, and he had already failed to get out of bed on account of his legs alone giving way under him. This led to him plopping back down on the bed and giving an open sigh as his lower half booted up like a lagging old computer. Once he was sure he wasn't going to simply fall flat on his face or ass, he found some strength to get up and get ready for the day.

It also didn't help that Weedy had been giving him sympathetic looks, as though she understood his plight in getting his body up to speed, and Closure had a few blunt comments to give such as "You look like hell" or "Are you ok?" which were accurate to his condition, but he couldn't be arsed to care anymore.

Dur'nar hadn't been cruel or overtly harsh in her training, no, quite the opposite. She gave him breaks and even allowed him snacks and water breaks when asked or not. She gave supportive encouragement and didn't criticize almost at all. In fact, she praised him far more often than not for his continuing to work and even joined him, even if she didn't seem to break a sweat during the hellish calisthenics. It was just that what she did give him was very good at pushing his limits.

Whatever it was doing was working though. In order to monitor his own progress, he actually took some ketone test strips from the medical department, which earned him a very odd look from Folinic who had still been taking over the now nearly daily medical checkups to monitor his vitals. When he explained how they would provide extra data on his metabolic process by allowing him to see if he was burning fat, she seemed surprised that he had as much of a nuanced understanding of metabolism as he did and gladly gave him some on the condition that the little strips he peed on meant for diabetes get written down and reported.

Now, when the body is burning fat, he had noticed a rather peculiar side effect. He needed to use the restroom a lot. Thankfully it was a quick number one, but this was sort of expected and made sense when he thought about it. As the body changed, burned energy, and even tapped into its reserves, all the metabolic byproducts had to go somewhere.

Regardless of all this, his days were rather busy yet fulfilling.

Also, he had started working with Glaucus more since she had started calling on him for his 'expertise' in electromagnetic properties that her device relied on. During these exchanges he had learned something rather fascinating about her device, originally it was a scrapped Raythean anti-communication prototype discarded due to the fact it kept damaging friendly communications as well, which made sense considering its overreliance on EMPs. That was when he took a moment to think and proposed an idea.

"Maybe we could make something similar, but not to quite the same scale using different properties…" he said before walking over to the smartboard and pulling up a drawing board. At this he drew a few crude drawings and labeled them. "So, Terra mostly relies on radio for long distance and portable communication, right?"

Glaucus nodded, showing she was following along.

"Radio Waves fall under the electromagnetic spectrum of waves, basically making them a form of light, though they have several unique properties, such as being able to simply go around or through obstacles. I've actually done minor research that required me to think about how radio waves are emitted, travel, and are interpreted. So first off, interpretation of these signals are still digital. One still needs to emit the wave in pulses which then need to be interpreted by an algorithm. So, one anti-communications weapon we could make is a signal jammer that is basically just a noise machine for radio waves, rather than trying to damage the communication devices directly."

"Wouldn't that just mean our allies can no longer communicate with radio too?"

"Not entirely…you see, this device could actually hone in on specific frequencies. All we would need to determine is which radio frequency the opposing party broadcasts in, which can be achieved with a simple RF spectrum sweep, pinpoint frequencies of great magnitude which aren't allies', and then emit a bunch of noise at those frequencies. That would ruin the message and the one supposed to receive the message would only receive nonsense signals they can't interpret."

"Is there any downside?"

"Well, yes. If the opposing party notices, they could triangulate the signal back and stop the jammer."

"I see, but being able to prevent messages being sent between enemies without touching their communications devices is certainly valuable."

"Yes, it just means you have to balance the risk versus the reward of jamming a signal. For instance, if you wanted to cut a force from the outside, this would be one way to do it rather than trying to destroy their communications devices."

"Hm…would you mind helping me write a proposal for such a device? As far as I know, I carry Raythean's only attempt at communication disabling devices, but yours seems far less troublesome in theory, if a bit more nuanced."

"Sure, if you want questions, I'd be more than happy to help."

"Oh, before you go, I have something I'd like to share with you as thanks for helping me. Costs due to damaging allied electronics have come down since I implemented your concept of a directional EMP."

After that, Glaucus handed Evan a little treat box with a single slice of cake in it. The cake itself had a blue and pink theme to it, and it was clear that whoever decorated it put a lot of time and effort into making it, even if the coloring and design was a little unorthodox.

"It's a piece of cake operator Blue Poison made, I thought it would be a good present. She makes very delicious treats. Don't worry, it isn't poisonous, despite what some people think."

"Well, thanks, glad I could help," he said while taking it with a smile. "Well, I guess I'll take it back to my room, there's still some paperwork there that I need to mull over anyways."

"Goodbye."

With that, Evan left to his room where he placed the cake down and slumped back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. His muscles still ached, but thanks to some little techniques he wasn't suffering severe aches, but it definitely made him just want to lie down and take a nap. Maybe he could get away with a ten minute break. So he set a timer and did just that before returning to Closure's office with a stack of paperwork that he decided to tackle after his downtime. This smoothed over the fact he had gotten a free break in quite nicely, though she did suggest he ask next time so she knew where to find him.

It wasn't until he was in the library, assisting Suzuran and Ifrit with their homework along with getting more free arts education from Skyfire did anything odd happen. At some point, he saw a certain blue messenger hovering over Skyfire, staring at the book he was currently loaning her.

"Hm…very interesting…" she mused which caused the fire caster below her to burst her hair and tail into flames, which led to Evan grabbing his book before it got burned.

"W-What are you doing here?!" Skyfire blurted, her tail still burning before it was put out when fire alarms started going off.

"Well, Rhodes Island's resident anomaly is here, and I was on the ship, so I thought I'd come to say hi," Mostima replied before eying Evan with that unsettlingly sinister smile which widened to an uncomfortable degree.

"Anomaly?" Skyfire asked before following Evan's gaze and a light of understanding flashed in her eyes. "Oh, I see…I'm just going to assume you know by now."

"Oh…know what?" Mostima asked Skyfire who suddenly remembered she was talking to a Nuncio about Evan and began sputtering, looking for an excuse which led Mostima to start laughing. "Of course I know, Evan's not exactly the most tight lipped individual. We kind of came to an agreement really."

Skyfire sighed in relief then looked at him with knitted brows as though to silently say 'really?' to the fact he had told Laterano about his situation.

"Either way, I got some mail, and good news. Which do you want first?"

"Good news is always welcome."

"Sweet, good news is we managed to get His Holiness to issue 'observe and wait' orders to Notarial Hall, so you don't have to constantly see the liberi I just ditched or any of her colleagues, for now. As for the letter, well, you can read it."

With a minor sleight of hand, Mostima produced a letter and handed it to him. He eyed it over a little, impressed by the detail of the envelope it was in. From Skyfire's reaction, it seemed the letter was something valuable. A special wax seal held it together, and the writing was in a fine Victorian cursive. The stamp was also something he assumed could only be given under special conditions. Sadly, he didn't collect stamps, but it would be interesting to start if the letter was as valuable as Skyfire's bewildered stare implied it was.

He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a letter which read as follows.

Dear Mr. Carvey

I write this letter on behalf of Laterano to formally welcome you to Terra. When Mostima delivered the news I could hardly believe it, a visitor from another world. That, and the information Miss Fiammetta provided show you as a man of unique insight and knowledge not yet seen on Terra. It brings joy to my heart that you would use this knowledge to better our world rather than yourself. Perhaps one day we could speak face to face, but it seems that for now I have my place and you have yours. I will say that I am rather curious about the affairs of your world, how civilization might differ and what wisdom we could provide each other from such differences. Until then, I wish you well and luck to your endeavors. May the Lord guide you.

Blessings from Pope Yvangelista XI

He blinked a little at the letter then looked up to Mostima who was genuinely smiling in a non-eery way for once.

"So, what'd His Holiness have to say?"

"Mostly well wishes."

Mostima gave a couple laughs before commenting, "Yeah, that does sound like him. Anyways, I've gotta go before a certain liberi blows her top at my absence. See ya."

With that, Mostima simply walked off and left Evan in a surprisingly interesting position.

"So, a letter from the big man in Laterano, cool, I guess."

"It just means Evan-san is an amazing person. I would love to go to Laterano one day to try their treats."

Skyfire for her part seemed to have stopped registering what anyone was saying and opted to continue staring in his general direction, as though what happened must not have been possible. Of course, the air danced and shimmered around her as the ambient temperature around her rose. After some moments where he considered grabbing the fire extinguisher, she finally shut her mouth and the air started to cool.

"...To think…you of all people would receive attention from the pope, you never cease to surprise it seems."

"Well, unique case and all that I guess, I certainly didn't expect to catch the pope's attention, hell, I didn't even know this world had a pope. It's kind of jarring how that has carried over…"

"Wait, are you saying your world has a pope?"

"More or less, but I imagine the faith is different. Rather, the religion that does have a pope where I came from is split between…three major…schools of thought, only one of which recognizes the pope as leader."

"Huh, can't say we have that here. Those who worship under the Lateran faith recognize Laterano as the center of the religion and the pope as the leader."

"What's even with the deal of worshiping gods and all that junk?" Ifrit commented before her eyebrows shot up and she looked down to mumble, "It's not like they answer your prayers anyway."

He couldn't lie, that last bit stung, personally and empathetically. Yet surprisingly he somehow had an answer that seemed to come naturally.

"It gives people hope, more often than not. Though I agree prayer is ultimately useless objectively, it really depends on whether or not you have the power to give that hope to yourself. I believe that hope is something we give ourselves in the end."

He didn't entirely know why, but he felt like he was ready to say that little tidbit, but given the reactions, he believed he said the right thing.

Author's Note

Aight, so expect a massive update next chapters because I'm on a roll. I've almost written four chapters since the last update. Now, I didn't actually force these out uninspired, so expect a bit of the soul from the first few chapters might be in there somewhere.

So, to preface, they're gonna be our first 'arch' related to an ingame event. Destination: Wolumonde.

I'm already reaching halfway point of the arch lol

Ok, now for Q&A

Frivilousy: Nope, reality. But who's to say reality is not in of itself a dream?

AxnPuffyHair: Yeah, deliberate seed planting: Insignificant detail may or may not grow into big plant later.

Yay-man: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Bastion: I'm garbo with movies, so nope! But expect some game talk from Kirara when we see her. Also no, not the only one wanting people to DM in Arknights. Would be cool if I ever was a support unit for ya'll.

Reinkashi: Hehe, teaching Closure to drive is gonna be a wild card I plan to keep around. Also, I love seeing introspection, it gives me ideas. wink

TheLastSterling: Lemme pull up toolbox, god damn AK has a lot of ops. Mostima? Check, Ch'en? Check, ERROR? Came out with multiple criteria filler clarification needed.

SpicyArbiter: Realistically, that's a gen or 2 down the line for Terra imo.