.
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Irvine quickly finished his breakfast and wash up after making up his plan for the day.
He changed into a tight-fitting short sleeve and light sport jacket before greeting his parents who just woke up and heading out the door.
"Mom, dad, I'm going to the city for a bit. There's breakfast on the table if you guys want one!"
*step* *step* *BLAM*
"That kid... Since when did he start making breakfast for us?" His mom gave a weird look towards the door at the entranceway.
"Well, I'm not complaining."
"Of course you're not. You've never cooked anything a day in your life." She chuckled at his reply.
His father was a manager in a marketing agency while his mother was a full-time housewife, so their house was usually full during the weekend.
.
Irvine went out the door to his house and walked towards the entrance of the neighbourhood, where he took an electric bus to the closest monorail station in the area.
This was the usual route he took whenever he went to school or the city in general.
Today, Irvine was planning to check out the newly opened Orthos Gym from the flyer his sister had given him.
With a complete set of facilities from training equipment to Arena fields and restoration pods, the gym was exactly one that Irvine had been looking for. He just hoped that the membership fee was nothing too out of his price range.
.
.
After boarding the monorail past a couple of stations, Irvine finally reached the commercial area of Eastern Zeta where the Orthos Gym was said to be located on the map.
The public transportation system of every cities in Olympus Space Station was excellent, with properly designed architectures and convenient access locations. Even someone who had never boarded one before could easily learn about their systems on-the-go.
After going down his station, Irvine immediately saw the nostalgic landscape of his bustling childhood city with skyscrapers and buildings neatly separated into different blocks and people going about their day on the street walks.
'Zeta City... It's been quite a long time.'
.
Before long, Irvine finally reached a large four-story building that took up half a city block all on its own.
Just from the size of it, the building could easily be mistaken as a department store if not for the large sign at the top that said 'Orthos Gym'.
'As I thought, the name does look familiar.' He thought to himself,
'...And looks expensive as well. Should I just look for another place?'
However, before Irvine could even make his decision, a person at the front of the gym wearing a uniform and carrying a stack of flyers in her hand suddenly approached him with a friendly smile.
"HI!! Are you looking to join our facility??"
"Um, I'm still just looking around--"
"But why would you!?" The girl acted out a horrified look,
"With our 1-week free trial starting today, and also our 50% 3 months membership discounts, you might as well try even before looking around!!"
'Free trial?'
"Plus! I can see that you are someone who LOVE working out! Don't waste this chance of joining our first-rate Gym membership's family at a steal!" The girl in front of him pressed on enthusiastically without giving him a chance to talk until she finished her piece,
"...Right. May I come in then?"
"OF COURSE! Go on in!" Finally, the girl in uniform made an exaggerated gesture before letting him pass while blocking the road ahead.
'What a character.'
Irvine slowly walked up the entry steps to the building and past the automatic sliding glass door until he finally reached the interior lounge of the Orthos Gym.
Most of the interiors of the building were partitioned with glass panels that showcased the high-end training equipment and facilities of the gym.
At the front center of the lounge stood a long front desk with three to four people manning the station. Irvine directly approached one of the receptionists on the front desk to make his inquiry.
"Excuse me."
"Hello, how may I help?"
"I'm thinking of joining the gym, can you help me out?"
"Of course sir. Would you like a tour of the facility first?" The well-dressed male receptionist asked with a business-like smile.
"That'd be great. Oh, I also heard something about a 1-week free trial?"
"Yes. Since today is our Orthos Gym official grand opening day, we offer a full week of free trial package for limited spots. Since this morning, half of our spots has already been filled."
"I'm not surprised." Irvine sincerely complimented as he looked around, "And what kind of access do free trial members get?"
"The same as normal low-tier members." The receptionist explained,
"You can use the training rooms, the sparring rings, and the Arena fields during their operational hours. But you won't be able to get access to our massage therapy, spa, or our restoration pods unless you upgrade your membership."
'Understandable, restoration pods are a luxury after all...'
The receptionist proceeded to take a mobile device and a set of key cards from the locker behind the reception desk before gesturing for Irvine to follow.
"This way please, Mister..."
"Irvine, Irvine Lang."
"Of course, Mister Lang, please follow me."
.
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Irvine walked together with the receptionist as the latter showed him the Orthos Gym facilities one after another through the mall-sized building.
"--And past the weight training room, we have our pièce de résistance."
After passing several different glass panels and rooms, the receptionist stopped and leaned in front of a hallway railing on the ground floor. The railings surrounded and enclosed a huge rectangular shaped hole on the ground.
"The Arena field." His tone carried a hint of pride and amazement while saying that.
In front of Irvine was a wide field built on the basement floor one level below. It had its roof shared together with the first floor's roof, giving the field a taller height cap overall.
The field below them was elaborately decorated with various trees, shrubberies, and artificial lightings located in specific spots with different elevations, simulating a real forest-like environment within the 150 x 80 m enclosed space.
"This is..." Irvine mumbled.
"The exact replica of this season's Battle Arena landscape. Our Orthos Gym have the necessary license to provide changes to our field according to the current active season's design. Oh, do you watch Arena?"
"Of course." He nodded.
"Thought you might look the part!" The receptionist smiled, "Just the Pro League or do you watch College Arena too?"
"Both, actually. But this place is truly amazing..." Irvine checked the detail of the landscape from above, and even he who had been a pro player couldn't find the difference in quality between here and a pro team's training fields.
"Right? By the way, since you watch even the College Arena scene, you should know that we have a future star here!"
The receptionist turned more friendly and less formal ever since he'd found out Irvine was someone who loved the same sport he did.
Compared to the mainstream fans of Battle Arena, not many people also watch the college scenes even though Irvine thought they could be just as exciting in a different way.
"Oh, a star?"
"A future Starseed player! Let's see, she should be around here at this time--"
Before the receptionist even had the time to look, the door to the Arena field in the basement level opened automatically.
From within, several people wearing tight-fitting professional standard exosuits walked out carrying multiple towers with their helmets off.
"There they are~" The receptionist waved to some of the players on the field who had seen him from below,
"On the weekend, around this time before noon, some of the inner gym staffs and members who played Arena usually do a full game to close their morning workout session."
"See those, even our gym's arena equipment are up to official match's standard. Now, look at that girl over there--"
He was just about to point out the person he was talking about to Irvine when he noticed that the guy was already looking right at her.
"That's--"
"Medea Dormer...?" He mumbled.
"Oh, you know her?? She's very strong right!"
'Orthos Gym... Of course! So that's why it sounds familiar, it's her gym!' Irvine finally put together the gym's name with a certain player's face.
.
Irvine remembered clearly the player in front of him. Mostly because she was one of the most famous players from his generation.
Medea Dormer.
She was already a Starseed player when she entered college. She left a very memorable mark in the college Arena scene on her student days with her precise and on-point control of the field as a Ranger.
Right after graduation, she got drafted directly in the first round picks by the Delta Royale and continued to play with great statistics, becoming the team's starting Ranger by 223 UD, a mere one year after joining.
They even made a titled Arena trading card for her during her future career with the Royale: 'Apollo's Daughter', Ace Ranger Medea Dormer.
Orthos Gym, which was known to be her long-time contracted backer at the time, obviously enjoyed the popularity by being her first sponsor even during her college days.
'So this is where it all began...'
The young figure of a red-haired warrior carrying a more-than-modern composite bow and two bags of quivers filled with arrows stood tall down on the gym's Arena field.
Just the sight of her already gave Irvine a certain sense of both pressure and admiration.
'A future all-star Ranger...'
.
.
"Sir, are you alright?" The receptionist interrupted his thought.
"Hm? Ah, yes. Quite well, thank you." Irvine nodded.
"You've been silent for a while, and you looked like you knew her?"
"Just her reputation. I don't know her personally."
"Oh, a fan! Man, she's really going places, having a fan even during her high school years even before getting her license."
"Wait, she hasn't gotten her license yet?" The receptionist words piqued his interest.
"Yes, the owner said it's because she just turned 18 this february, but I heard she's going to take the end-of-April one. After that, our gym's gonna have a Starseed player as our spokesperson!"
'!'
'End-of-April... Interesting.'
"I'm sure you will." Irvine nodded in agreement, 'She's even more than just a Starseed player!'
.
"Scott! Hey, Scott!"
Suddenly, one of the players below called out to their side of the first floor railings, specifically towards the receptionist's direction.
"Are you on your break? Play with us for a bit, we're lacking a player here!" A bulky middle-aged trainer called out to him with impatience.
A standard full match for Battle Arena was a 3 towers game with 7 players on each side. The players consisted of 3 Guards for each of the tower, a maximum of 1 Ranger (optional), and a free combination of Fielders and Solvers with the minimum of 1 for each position.
Depending on if the team utilized a Ranger or not, it could go from the standard 1 Ranger 2 Fielders and 1 Solver, to the absurd 1 Fielder 3 Solvers formation. Only Guards have a fixed number of players in a match.
Looking at the number of people on the field below, it was true that there were only 13 players in full armours standing around.
They were indeed lacking a player.
"Isn't that the normal composition for you guys? Miss Dormer's team with 6 players and the rest with 7?" Scott the receptionist grinned, indirectly mocking the rest of the players.
"Shut up and come down or I'll beat you up!! It's bad enough for my pride that I have to fight a team with 1 less player everyday." The bulky trainer's face became red with anger after hearing the comment.
'What's even more depressing is that our win-lose count is always pretty much tied with them!' He screamed in his mind, not wanting to admit it out loud,
*hmph*
'I'll feel better if we play a 7v7 even if we end up losing.'
"Haha!" Scott could only laugh lightly at the ever-changing expression of his colleague,
"But I really can't. I'm not on a break right now, I'm taking this customer here on a tour." He pointed at Irvine.
"Damn... Can't be helped then." The middle-aged trainer harrumphed.
The players were just about to continue their preparation with Scott also about to leave when Irvine unexpectedly raised his hand with anticipation.
"Ah. How about I play?" He blurted out rather excitedly.
"Hm? You?" Scott turned around with a slightly surprised look on his face.
"Ooh!" The cranky trainer also exclaimed in happiness at the development.
"Yeah, I'll just apply for the 1-week free trial right now."
"Hmm, but the 1-week free trial has some conditions attached to it though... Like minimum attendance, follow-up membership after, 2 weeks subscription minimum--" Scott tried to explain the requirement to Irvine.
"I see, and how much is the 2 weeks subscription?"
"Our weekly membership rate is 65 credits per week."
'So that totaled to 130 credits for 2 weeks and over 250 for monthly subscription... It's actually not bad.'
The price range was well in the higher end for sure, but Irvine thought that it's not a bad offer considering other high-end gyms with that kind of prices were usually far worse than Orthos.
'Maybe it's because they just opened.' Irvine hypothesized a little before answering,
"I'll take the 1-week free trial + 2 weeks membership for now then!" He nodded decisively.
Even with the price, it's like a buy 2 get 1 deal for Irvine, which he felt was a very generous price overall.
And the main point is, by going here for the next 2 weeks until the license exam, he'd get to play with 'The Medea Dormer' everyday!
A high level player brings high level play. And that's exactly what Irvine needed to optimize his skills and techniques with his current physique.
.
Scott the receptionist on the other hand was thinking an entirely different thing.
'Wow, a person really joined because of her. Backing Medea seems to yield an even better result than I thought...'
"So, um, what's the procedure for signing a membership here?" Irvine asked politely.
"Oh, right! Why not follow me to the front desk first--"
"NOO, hey Scott! He already said he's in, just let him play with us first!" The bulky middle-aged trainer had been listening very closely to the conversation ever since Irvine said he wanted to fill-in.
"But it's the procedure..." Scott felt speechless.
"Don't be a party-pooper, hey, the dude over there! You want to play first right?" The trainer turned to Irvine for support.
*nod*
Irvine had no intention to refuse. He's also excited to experience closely an all-star player in the making!
"See! Give us a break will ya, it's an hour game max~" The guy pleaded jokingly.
"..."
*sigh*
"I won't be responsible for this... Let's go mister, I'll lead you to the changing room." Scott scratched the back of his head, giving up at the stubbornness of his colleague.
"Thanks for the trouble!" Irvine showed his appreciation as he followed behind the receptionist.
"Just don't run out on me after the match alright."
"Haha, of course not. Just consider me a new member at least for the next three weeks."