"You must have a few questions." Dan walked beside Izzy.
The two had managed to find their way to a large lake, with a quaint walkway circling its entire circumference. The sun beamed off the surface, reflecting the beautiful fantasy countryside like a mirror.
"Back there, people were talking to each other... Why aren't they fighting?" Izzy looked puzzled.
Dan let out an amused breath, "what? Because they should be getting each other's contracts?"
"Well... Yeah..."
"It's not that simple." He took a sip of his drink. "First off, going after someone's contract is risky. You could very easily lose, and if you do, you might lose your job. Each contract you've collected up until that point decreases your chances of losing, but again it's not guaranteed."
"Right..."
"So you only really want to challenge someone if you know you can win." He looked out onto the water. "Which means many choose to work together to increase their odds of survival."
"Can multiple people take part in a contract battle?"
"Not officially, but nothing stopping you from affecting it by ganging up on the other guy or supporting your friends."
Izzy nodded his head.
"Another thing to consider is the department's head: Grand General Screen."
Izzy flinched, "the guy from the email!"
"Yep, that's him. He's not a fan of the contract stealing mechanic within Mt. Victory, so he often holds department events to get faux contracts."
"Faux contracts?"
Dan held his hand out, above which a blank piece of faintly glimmering paper materialized. "Like a contract you'd receive from fighting someone, but blank since it doesn't belong to anyone. Ups your power by a flat amount but is unlikely to make your job role change."
Izzy tilted his head, clearly still lost by the explanation.
"Each contract you receive has a chance to give you a promotion, where your job role changes slightly. Granting you access to new powers, gimmicks, or just straight-up making you more powerful. For example, I started as a Junior Content Creator Manager. And after I took a few contracts, I got to where I am now: Content Creator Manager."
"Right, I think I get it... All sounds very gamified," Izzy squinted.
"That's how the business likes it for now. They love the structure it gives to promotions, as well as the excitement it brings to everyday progression. There's no denying the system produces humans with willpower rivalling gods, but it comes at the cost of many, many broken dreams... As well as lives."
"You can die here?"
Dan didn't reply for a moment, "not unheard of. And even if the Mountain doesn't claim your life, imagine this. You lose a job at Mt. Victory, you go back to the real world, back to a mediocre lifestyle. No spectacle, no excitement, the distinct lack of the status quo that people develop here. I don't know of many who can bear living knowing they will never taste that again." He smiled, "we're all addicted to it. No hiding it."
They both allowed each other to digest the information dump.
"So are you taking part in the event coming up?" Izzy pipped up.
"Everyone is. I'd highly doubt anyone isn't in fact. I'd highly suggest strategising and figuring out a way to avoid the big players, especially Anthleer."
"Feel like I've seen his name before... Maybe on that email's recipient list?" Izzy put his hand to his chin in thought.
"He's the man closest to the top. Fights between him and the Grand General aren't rare. He's yet to challenge him for his contract, but the two often clash for other reasons." Dan looked directly into Izzy's eyes. "Do not engage him. He's much beyond anyone in this department. When you see his wings, you'll know why."
Dan's description wasn't particularly horrifying, nor did Izzy get a very threatening image of Anthleer in his head. Yet the slight falter in Dan's voice, coupled with the look in his eyes, sent a faint but ominous shiver down Izzy's spine. "Okay, I'll steer clear of him."
Dan came to a stop; they'd done a full lap of the lake. "Sorry, probably a lot to think about."
"Yeah, that's definitely a lot to think about!" Izzy freshened up his demeanour with a chuckle.
"I assume that brooding boy is on your team for the event, but you got a third lined up as well?" Dan breathed in the pristine evening air.
"We need a third person?"
"Oh yeah for sure, you don't want the department assigning someone random to you."
"Oh god, yeah. Okay, let me note that down." Izzy rifled through his pockets for his phone.
"You don't have much time, so I'd highly suggest dedicating tomorrow to it."
"Uh-huh." Izzy set a reminder on his phone. "Oh, one last thing! It looks like the marketing department is very fantasy and mythical-themed, but why does Nat's stuff look sea and metal contraption based. The two kind of clash in terms of theme."
"Yeah, good catch. The marketing department has a fantasy style since that's how the adverts are styled. Which means all of its employees have powers that reflect mythical backgrounds or origins. But Nat doesn't work here. She's from 'Talent'."
Izzy raised his brow.
"She's an internal head hunter, a mixture of making sure people have good progression paths in front of them, as well as gauging if she can steal people for other departments. Her entire job boils down to creating the strongest teams of people possible. Although I think her formal title is 'Talent Manager'. A weirdly high-up profession in Mt. Victory. I think their central theme is dragons I believe? Although the dragons themselves have themes, i.e. the underwater theme Nat has going."
"So Nat's a dragon?!" Izzy's eyes widened.
"Probably not yet, maybe close. She has to deal with newcomers like you, so I can't imagine her being high on the talent management ladder. Probably has some sort of half-dragon form she can take?" Dan looked up, clearly unsure of Nat's position himself.
"Trying to imagine Nat with a tail now, and it's not a pretty sight." Izzy giggled.
The two walked back to the canteen, filling the time with jokey small talk, and went on their separate paths. Jax was waiting where they'd entered the canteen from.
"Where have you been?" Jax was still agitated from the looks of it.
Izzy ignored him completely, "I got a job for us to do tomorrow!"