"The Hartagertle City... What a mouthful." Yoruichi muttered to herself as she stood in front of a skyscraper where she could register as a Mercenary. But before she entered she looked around her once again and couldn't help but be in awe. Flying vehicles that zoom over her head nonstop and without clashing despite looking very disorderly around intersections. Almost endless and towering skyscrapers were all around but were far from each other enough that it felt wide and not suffocating. On the ground were the numerous streams of people with incredibly differing appearances walking on park-like roads, enjoying a very clean air that's impossible to have on Earth unless you're in some mountainous area where people don't live.
Hartagertle is named after the planet itself because it's the only city that exists on this place as it takes up more than a third of the surface area of the world despite it being a bit larger than Earth. Before she landed, she saw the city covered with a glass-like structure and from the information she received from her bangle, it served as the final line of defense against outside attacks.
Aside from that, it also serves as climate control for the whole city. As a policy, four seasons still exist within the city, however, there were no severe weathers that would put anyone in danger. As the planet revolved around its parent star three times longer, these seasons were also three times longer so it was important to make each and every change pleasant.
As for the Hartagertle's rotation, it rotated a bit faster than Earth so there were only 21 Earth hours per day. Though thanks to their technology, a sleep aid could help reduce anyone's sleep time down to an hour.
'Those Teleportation Hubs are really convenient.' Yoruichi thought to herself while looking back. While there were autonomous flying cars, they were meant for short-distance travel. If one wants to travel to another part of the city, there are strategically positioned Teleportation Hubs free for everyone's use.
Yoruichi was done with her check and she made sure that she looks like a country-bumpkin for all the eyes that are watching her from the shadows, 'There was no ill-intent and most of them are just curious. Probably because of how rare a Pamatypa is or if it's just part of their security protocol.'
Yoruichi reached the automatic glass door and as soon as she stepped inside, numerous eyes landed on her and the same diverse intentions. But before she could react to them, A tall man with purple skin and a single horn on his head wearing a light and sleek metallic armor that covered almost all of his body, greeted her with a strict expression, "Is this your first time here?"
Yoruichi nodded without saying anything.
"Do you want to register?"
"And a thorough explanation of how things work around here."
The strict man nodded, "Understood. Please present your identification."
Yoruichi raised her right arm where her bangle is.
The man took out what looked like a smartphone and placed it over her bangle before reading her information, "Yoru, is it? To the left is a reception area. To your right is the waiting area. Please proceed to the right and wait for your name to be called on your terminal along with which counter you should go. It should only take a few minutes."
Yoruichi didn't say anything else and walked to her right.
The man didn't take offense to her actions and in fact, was already expecting it. He had been acting as a doorman for the Hartagertle Mercenary Union and had already met several Pamatypa of which their dismissive behavior he's already familiar with.
Yoruichi's ragged appearance stood out among the properly armored and armed people inside the building but no one actually approached her to tell her off. Even though almost all of them hadn't met a Pamatypa in their entire life, their vicious nature was a widespread rumor and nobody wanted any trouble right now.
As the doorman had said, Yoruichi only waited for a few minutes before a notification on her terminal appeared, asking her to come to counter #9.
And when she reached the designated counter, she met eyes with a relatively short woman that looked like a Human except for her slightly pointy ears, "...A Pamatypa?"
The pretty woman had dark red hair with matching red eyes. And although her attire looked a bit strange for Yoruichi, it exudes the needed aura of formality. Despite that, she looked too lethargic while doing her job as if she doesn't care at all. When Yoruichi approached and saw that she was Pamatypa, she immediately leaned forward to check the details on her screen that she glossed over because she was too lazy to read.
"Registration... and thorough explanation of the Hartagertle Mercenary Union? Seriously?" She looked up at Yoruichi and when she saw that she didn't have any particular reaction, her head turned to the doorman and glared at him. Nevertheless, the doorman ignored her and continued doing his job.
"Why send a first-timer to me!?" The woman grumbled under her breath before sighing loudly, "Before you register, I'll send over a manual. Read it while I explain a few things. If you want to work here, the least you can do is do that at the same time."
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.
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In summary, a Mercenary has these rating points across three large categories namely, [Combat], [Diplomacy], and [Exploration]. There are other subcategories but they are for more specific ratings.
One can only become a Mercenary when they've proven themselves to be of a certain proficiency in these categories. And to ascertain these proficiencies, an exam is needed for [Diplomacy], and [Exploration] while a live combat test is needed for [Combat] for obvious reasons.
This is done so that their clients can effectively sort out people if they are looking for someone with specific skill sets or other Mercenaries looking for a party to supplement what they were lacking.
As these ratings go up, so too does the price for that Mercenary's work. And for these ratings to rise, the Mercenary has to take on missions that are rated a bit higher compared to their own ratings. Of course, the amount of work they could choose from also depended on their proficiency, such as escort missions requiring a certain rating for both [Combat] and [Diplomacy] or retrieval of a certain item or material from a dangerous area requires both [Combat] and [Exploration]. And this is why those who are lacking in one category tend to find others to team up with and bring their ratings up to take on a mission they couldn't do alone.
"Registration costs 1,000 Spirit Credits. And since you don't have any records from any other Unions, you don't have any ratings. [Combat], [Diplomacy], and [Exploration] exams are a thousand each, bringing you to a grand total of 4,000 Spirit Credits. You can't register as long as you don't have ratings for all of them and that's enough for you to live on this planet comfortably for a year or two of Hartagertle's time. Think about it carefully."
"I'll take the exams. Prepare it as soon as possible." Without any hesitation, Yoruichi transferred 4,000 Spirit Credits which is only a tiny fraction of the allowance she received from Seraselbes, 'Hurray for being rich~!'