===Ifan===
Ifan had been filling some reports in his office when his secretary ran inside without hitting the door.
"Sir, I…" she seemed anxious, but Ifan didn't like her just getting into his office like that.
"What is the meaning of this !?! I have told you always to knock first. This is your LAST warning, Lady. Once more, and I will demote you into cleaning toilets."
He couldn't have people doing whatever they wanted against his orders. He was in charge of this base and a Colonel in the Allied Army. If his secretary acted as she wanted, the order would be lost, and chaos would take over.
"But, sir, there is…" she tried to continue what she wanted to say, but Colonel Ifan hadn't finished his scolding.
Ha continued doing so for almost half an hour before letting her speak.
"I am sorry, Colonel…. I am here because we received a report. Somebody attacked one of our bases and dealt with some serious damage. They also said that there was a Red Code damage in it."
Colonel's eyes got wide, with evident fear appearing in them.
"Which base was that? And how long ago?"
He was afraid of the answer, but he already knew the answer.
"Base 17, Sir. The attack happened almost 4 hours ago, and we received the report more than half an hour ago. They had been sabotaged, and they couldn't communicate for that long. They reported the attackers were werewolves, and they had sent parties to look for them. No reports if they had succeeded or not, though."
Ifan stood up, took his jacket, and ran outside his office as she finished her sentence. His secretary tried to keep up with him, and even if both of them were over their fifties, Ifan was in better physical shape than her, so he moved faster.
Ifan brought out his phone and called for a ride to be prepared, but his secretary didn't hear where.
"Sir, sir, you can't leave. The recruits will be here in a few minutes, and you need to…. "
But once more, she got interrupted by her boss.
"This is more important. You take care of the recruits. I need to go speak with the Major General."
He didn't let her say anything else as they reached one exit from the base, where a military car waited for him. He got in and left his secretary behind, clueless about what to do.
'Why didn't he inform us about it? Damn that useless Elder, ' he thought as he made it outside the base.
At that point, a van reached the same entrance, and almost a dozen people got outside.
Those were the recruits of the research department.
===Callam===
Callam was excited about today. Two weeks ago, he had reached the age of 18, and this was the last requirement he needed to fulfill to become part of the Research Department of the Allied Army.
He had to pass some tests, but he had been training for them for a long time. Finally, he had passed them all and had been assigned to a base.
They assigned him to the base where the Professor was currently in charge of their research department. It seemed like he genuinely impressed some people to be given this chance.
The Professor was a genius; because of him, the Allied Army could handle the magical creatures.
He had created machinery and tools that allowed them to use magic or control the Elements, as the magical races called it. Many scientists had tried to do the same in the past, even before the 8 Races became public knowledge, but the Professor was the first to make it a reality, and he kept providing new gadgets and ways of producing them.
An authentic genius that everyone who wanted to be called a researcher wanted to meet one day.
But Callam had one more reason to meet him. He didn't just want to discover how he could create these tools; he tried to use magic alone without help. He had used none of those gadgets in the past, but he had researched them and knew they still hadn't reached the same level as the real thing.
Still, they were strong enough to turn the war in their favor, especially since they combined different elements much easier, which seemed that most magical races had trouble with.
Nine more individuals were with him, and during the ride, he understood that more than half of them were rich brats whose families made a significant donation to bring them here. They probably thought that sending them to work for the Professor would bring glory to the family, but this wouldn't be a simple task.
People like the professor wouldn't be easy to please, and Callam could tell their skills and intelligence were far from remarkable.
Since he was a little boy, he could detect an aura of each person, who he later found out was letting him know how smart they were. He always thought this was some magic, but other than that, he didn't seem to have any other power or ability.
He had to see them in action as the aura of someone could change when they were doing a specific action that they needed to focus their mind on, but he had never found anyone whose change was too significant.
They brought him and his group in front of an old lady, which was weird as they should have met with the person in charge of the base. In his research, Callam found that the person in charge of the base was a man named Ifan, not a woman.
"Hello, everybody. My name is Kimra, and I am your guide for today. Normally, Mister Ifan, who is the base's leader, would be here with me, but there was an important meeting he needed to be part of. So if everyone could kindly follow me, I will show you around."
Callam was curious about what that meeting could be about, as he knew he was also a Colonel, which meant that the meeting was significant if he had to be a part of it.
But he couldn't ask a question like that, as he knew they wouldn't answer him.
For now, he focused on the tour.