Fefe continued walking down the beaten-down road. Even though this area was richer than most places in the city, it still sucked like most places after the Refusal.
The Refusal happened out of nowhere, when a plague spread throughout the world but was contained in a large region known as the Refused. At the same time, many people slowly discovered they were gaining "powers."
Fefe continued with the crowd pushing forward. Trying not to cause trouble.
These powers were very subtle in the first stage, such as slightly slowing time or outputting a small amount of power capable of piercing armor. These subtle changes could awaken in anyone. However, to reach the second stage, one had to be infected and suppress it. No one knew how this was done; it seemed completely random. In the end, only 30% of people can awaken as a correspondent.
As Fefe walked, he saw the "knights." The knights were 2nd-level correspondents. Fefe disliked them since most of them are plain annoying. Since they had very horrible personalities.
'Best to not look at them,' Fefe thought.
These correspondents didn't live a good life because they were used. You must have a sin affinity, which had its downsides depending on the sin; so many correspondents were very strong-willed. To be stronger as a correspondent, you must have a "point of no return" that raises your stage one level. Fefe had only heard about it; in this poor city, many people had only stories about the refusal. That was to be expected since it was over 200 years ago now.
Then, suddenly, a crash woke Fefe and the others in the crowd from a loud boom. Then the system started blasting its warning about the infected having breached the city.