Huh? There's a magic school here.

(Robbery, hand over your brains!)

In the late autumn of 2026, on a battlefield in the eastern part of Blue Star.

Lynn squatted in a defensive bunker, smoking. He wasn't a smoker. In his thirty-odd years of life, he'd never learned to smoke. Back in school, in a humanities class of thirteen boys, he was the only one who didn't smoke. He simply couldn't understand the point of smoking something so pungent, until he went to war six months ago. Perhaps people smoke simply to pass the time or to forget some troubles and pain.

The story begins about six months ago, in early 2026, when people were still celebrating the New Year. Some rumors started circulating online, which, well, they've now come true.

At the beginning of the year, a shocking headline appeared on a major social media platform.

"Aliens spotted in a South American rainforest, causing panic among local residents!"

Then came a video link, showing a group of people screaming and running in all directions. The person filming was also backing away while filming a green object in the distance. But after filming for a short while, this person turned and ran away, and although the camera was now pointed at him, the green object could be vaguely seen waving something behind him.

As we all know, what videos you watch isn't important; the real gems are in the comments section. And indeed, the video was filled with countless comments.

"I mean, what era are we living in? A phone video can be this blurry? Don't tell me that thing is an alien, you could call it the Hulk!" - A netizen from a certain civilized beacon country.

"To be fair, the scene was quite impressive; so many people running together didn't look fake! The only problem was that the green creature wasn't captured clearly." This was a comment from a Hans.

"Don't be ridiculous, anyone can use AI! Look how many views this video has attracted in such a short time! Author, come out here and explain to everyone, are you even a journalism student?!" - Comment from a Frenchman

"As everyone knows, the Hulk was invented by our Great Cold Empire. The people of the Lighthouse Country stole the technology from us. They're truly despicable!" - A comment from someone claiming to be from a certain empire.

"Yes, yes, it's all yours, all yours. We used to turn a blind eye when you stole cultural heritage from a certain major Eastern country for World Heritage status. Now you're so shameless you're even going so far as to steal from the entire universe. Have you no shame?" - This is a comment from a righteous netizen.

"Ah, yes! They love stealing our culture. Our Elephant Country is the true world power! If this thieving nation is willing to offer their girl group as an apology, we're willing to forgive them." - A self-righteous comment from a netizen from the Elephant Country.

"Alright, alright. Third Brother, you're everywhere! Don't you even know if the 'certain Eastern power' they're talking about is you? Stop using vulgar language all the time! And this thread is getting more and more off-topic! I think this video is just a publicity stunt for some movie! These days, nobody watches a movie without some hype before it's released!" - This is a comment from a certain Eastern power.

"The netizens from China are right, it's very likely a publicity stunt. Look, the author hasn't said a word for over a day. I wonder what big move they're planning!" - Comment from a fanboy from a major Eastern country.

In short, such comments were incredibly witty, but the video's content was distorted and failed to attract attention. In the following week, similar videos appeared online in various countries. However, the official channels suppressed the buzz; these kinds of things are best kept out of the public eye and don't require special handling.

However, countries were on high alert because their leaders knew the videos were genuine. They initially believed it was an extraterrestrial visit to Earth, and several powerful nations even captured one or two live individuals and transported them back for research.

As time passed, they realized that these creatures were not aliens, but rather alien beastmen who had crossed over through a spatial rift—or at least, they called themselves beastmen! This was troublesome, because both aliens and these self-proclaimed beastmen were difficult to deal with.

Initially, because the spatial rifts were small and appeared randomly, only a few orcs appeared on Earth, which was quickly suppressed by the armies of various countries. However, as time went on, the spatial rifts grew larger, and the number of orcs that appeared increased accordingly.

The truth could no longer be concealed. After all, individual cases could be controlled, but a massive number of cases were impossible to handle. As a result, more and more videos appeared online, and as the rumors spread increasingly outrageously, world leaders had no choice but to reveal the truth to the public.

China did this best; they were the first to make it public. They also released a large number of videos, including footage of armed forces clashing with orcs.

In the videos, the orcs initially chased and killed humans with weapons. Some police officers fired handguns at them, and although holes appeared in their armor, the damage was minimal. It was only after a soldier threw a powerful grenade that one of the orcs was finally killed.

The video then shows an increasing number and variety of orcs. The initial orcs were relatively easy to deal with, but later ones even included mages. These mages hid behind other orcs, casting spells from a distance. These spells included both single-target and group spells, and their content was incredibly diverse, including common spells like fireballs and ground spikes.

Some attacks were simply invisible; all that could be seen was the orc mage chanting his incantation, after which the human warriors attacked their own comrades like madmen. As the battle lines expanded and the battlefield became increasingly unpredictable, the active-duty forces gradually became insufficient, and large numbers of retired veterans were recalled to the army.

Our protagonist, Lynn, was one of them. After graduating from university, he felt he had wasted his four years there and needed to gain some experience, so he resolutely enlisted in the army. The school even held a farewell party for him and several other comrades.

Soon, because he was a college graduate and had an education, he was assigned to the high-tech Rocket Force. After two years of training, he also overcame his laziness. In the end, although the unit leaders persuaded him to stay, he left the army and returned home for the sake of his parents, Lynn.

Then, during the third draft of veterans, Lynn was conspicuously on the list, even though he had been discharged for ten years. His continued presence on the list speaks volumes about the ferocity of the war. They've already drafted veterans in their thirties; what will happen to the civilian population after they've wiped out the enemy?

Just as Lynn was squatting in the fortifications lost in thought, a piercing alarm sounded!