Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

There was no time, no space, no matter, no fluctuation, just boundless darkness... No, even the concept of darkness did not exist here; this was pure "nothingness." It was impossible to know how much time had passed when suddenly, a spark appeared within this "nothingness"—Winters regained consciousness.

The first sense to come back to him was his hearing: the surroundings were noisy, but what were the sounds? Then his sense of touch came back: he seemed to be lying down, was it on a bed? Was it a very hard bed? Finally, his vision began to return; Winters first felt light, and then he struggled to open his eyes, but his vision was blurry, unable to focus.

After regaining sensation in his body, intense pain followed. This pain was not the normal kind of pain but more like the pain one feels when using magic. The pain was not emanating from any particular part of Winters' body, yet it was genuinely tormenting him.

Winters wanted to scream in pain, but he could only weakly open his mouth, and no sound came out from his vocal cords. He tried to lift his arm but did not feel any response. It seemed he had only regained sensory awareness of his body, but not control over his muscles.

For Winters, this was all like a sudden, deep sleep; he could not even remember when he had lost consciousness. He had no memories, no concept of time, not even dreams.

The last moment he remembered, he was fighting fires in Guidao City. He closed his eyes, and upon opening them, he had lost control of his body, lying on a hard plank bed somewhere unknown, enduring agony.

"He's awake! He's awake!" Winters heard someone shouting excitedly.

"Who is it? Where am I? What's happened to me?" Winters' consciousness was still very sluggish, and thinking was a strenuous task for him. His eyes still could not focus, and it seemed like his vision was filled with a deep brown color.

A warm liquid flowed into his mouth, seemingly not water, with a hint of bitterness. Swallowing reflexively made Winters subconsciously drink it down. It turned out someone had propped up his upper body slightly and was spoon-feeding him bit by bit. Seeing that Winters could swallow, they continued to spoon-feed him.

After being fed, Winters was placed back in his original position, lying down. His consciousness began to blur, and soon he fell into a heavy sleep.

Again, he closed his eyes and opened them. There were still no memories, no concept of time, and no dreams.

But upon waking up the next time, Winters felt his condition had significantly improved. Although the pain had not gone away, it was no longer so intense that it made him want to roll around on the ground; it had become bearable.

Indeed, for Winters, the last time he woke up was "just now." He had no real feeling of the passage of time; it felt as if he had just regained consciousness between the closing and opening of his eyes.

This time, Winters' eyes could finally focus. He carefully identified his surroundings: the ceiling was very close, it seemed he could touch it with an outstretched hand, and it appeared to be... wood planks??

His limbs could move as well, and he immediately reached out to feel the bed, which was right next to a wall, seemingly also made of... wood planks??

Winters could no longer lie still; he sat up with a forceful movement of his waist and abdomen, struggling to discern his environment: a narrow and gloomy wooden room, many ropes, with the whole room swaying rhythmically... was he in a ship's cabin?

What? I'm on a ship?? Winters was taken aback.

"Ah?! You're awake?" A voice like a ringing bell came to Winters' ear, its loudness causing his ears to buzz: "Go report to the Major! Someone's awake!"

Hearing this distinctive booming voice, Winters could recognize who it was just with his ears. Without needing to use magic to amplify his voice, there was only one person who could be this loud: his fellow Cavalryman from the Sea Blue Republic, Andrea Cherini, whom everyone called Andre.

Winters' own temper was not exactly pleasant, so his friends were usually very tolerant. However, Andre's temper was cast from the same mold as Winters', both being typical fiery Venetians. Similar tempers often repel each other, so even though the two were compatriots from the Sea Blue Republic, they weren't very close.

However, to Winters, who had just awakened from a deep coma, Andre's loud voice brought a sense of relief.

Winters looked around, noticed several unconscious classmates beside him, and realized he wasn't actually on a bed but simply on a plank with some padding. He was eager to understand his surroundings: "Am I on a ship?"

"Yes, you're on a ship," Andre confirmed.

"Why am I on a ship?" Winters was still Very confused.

"You were carried on. You all passed out, and no matter what, we couldn't wake you up, so everyone carried you onto the ship," Andre explained, interpreting the question from a rather unique perspective.

"I mean, what are we doing on a ship now?" Winters asked again, this time rephrasing his question unambiguously.

"Heading home by ship, back to Veneta (Sea Blue)."

"Shouldn't we be returning by land?" Winters was more baffled than ever.

"They said the road is difficult to travel this year, so a ship was sent to pick us up." After explaining the current situation to Winters, Andre asked a strange question: "Do you remember what you did?"