Eversince the bus had made its way into the ASA compound, the young Necromancer couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling bugging him. Deep in thought, the young man was determined to find out just what was the cause of his uneasiness.
Absent-mindedly, Peter had stepped out of the bus following everyone else. Lining up with the other men, the Necromancer still had his mind fixated on that uneasy feeling, and the next instant, he felt a stinging pain run across his left cheek, accompanied by a heavy force nearly pushing him to the ground, leaving him barely stumbling to regain his balance.
Peter had failed to hear his name being called by the ASA worker, and if the red hand mark across his cheek was anything to go by, he just got assaulted by the ASA worker.
Peter didn't know how to react. He was well aware of the fact that the AFA was an organization under the direct control of the government, making it a corporation few people would dare to offend.
'Shit! This guy's strike really stings! I need to get out of this situation! Fast!' sprinting back up to his feet, Peter's first instinct was to beg the worker for forgiveness, however, realizing he didn't intend to injure the contestant any longer, Peter decided to refrain himself from offering any apologies.
[Quest Received]
[...]
'What the fuck?!'
Gritting his teeth, the young ASA worker looked to have lost his patience. With his eyes flared wide in rage, and the sound of his breaths audible enough to be heard by everyone present, there was a scarcity of people willing to go against him within the crowd.
Towering over the contestant whom he had slapped, the man cleared his throat before addressing the young man. It seemed like this was an act of intimidation on this part, but Peter wasn't buying it, standing straight and firm, his feet placed flat against the floor.
"The name's Chris Sen, and I believe your act of insubordination will not repeat itself in the future, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
Although Peter hated being told what to do, he wasn't stupid enough to offend an AFA worker. For now, he wished to focus solely on his goal for being here, giving little to no thought to the people who wished to anger him during his stay here.
Giving out a condescending smile, the worker nodded his head in approval as his gaze shifted, now looking upon the faces of everyone present. Adjusting his composure, he went on to address the crowd, explaining to them it was an honor of the ASA to have them and what not. Eventually, he made it to the juicy stuff: the contest rules.
"Now, I shall go on to explain the rules of the Annual Scouting tournament. There are a total of merely three rules the tournament observes.
"One, no use of external objects or substances are allowed, meaning, no use of weapons, or any form of poison. If you are found breaking this rule, you will be eliminated on the spot.
"Two, you are not, under any circumstance, allowed to kill an opponent. Disobedience to tis rule will leave the rule breaker disqualified, and the AFA shall hand them over to the police to face further punishment.
"Lastly, no form of teamwork will be tolerated. Although the AFA is all about teamwork and so on, this tournament is a battle royale, meaning cooperation between fighters is strictly forbidden. Failure to obey this rule is punishable by a life-long, irreversible band from the ASA.
"Now that we have all of that out of the way, let me lead you to the guest house where you all would be staying. Forgive the complications, but due to the late start of the contestant scouting, we have been forced to start the contest the next day, as it wouldn't be good for your health to start exchanging punches after just going through a day-long journey to get here.'
Everyone was pleased to hear this, for more reasons than one, of course. Since they would be spending the rest of the day within the AFA, it would only mean two things: luxury food, and living spaces fit for royalty.
Following the AFA worker closely behind, the crowd had quickly forgotten the shock they had just received and they began to imagine the lavish lifestyle they would be living, even though it would just be for eighteen hours.
The crowd had made it to a fairly-large building located at one corner of the compound. From a frontal view, the building was painted white, having over twenty windows, and a large lily insignia at the centre. The crowd let out ear-deafening screams at the realization this would be their stay, a few closed their ears, while others were indifferent to the temporary noise disturbance.
Peter could only stare blankly at the lavish building as the group began to rush at it, leading their ASA escort to grab one of them, twisting the latter's arm as the middle-aged looking man let out a pained scream, drawing the attention of the crowd back towards him.
"Now, you all shouldn't act like swine rushing to have first dibs at processed roughage." He said with a refreshing smile, pushing the middle-aged man to the floor. When he screamed in pain again, the AFA worker raised his foot, his look turning menacing as the old man sealed his mouth shut, understanding the signal. "You should conduct yourselves just as you did earlier, now!"
Obeying his instruction, the group broke into two lines again, abd standing in front, their escort commended them on their co-operation, and with a satisfied smile, he walked towards the main entrance of the house, placing his right palm against a scanning device, it flashed a green light, and released a beeping sound.
The next instant, the doors slid open, and a seemingly endless hall could be seen. At some point, one could see the hall breaking out into other passageways, but still, one couldn't see the end of the first and major hallway.
Stepping in, the AFA worker led the two groups inside, explaining the history behind the portraits hung on the walls as they passed by them. The paintings were images of the past leaders of the AFA. After a while of walking, the group had made a left-turn, arriving at another hallway, at which the AFA worker came to a stop, abd turned to communicate with the crowd for another time.
"You all will be spending the rest of the day and night in this room in groups of three, since you all are a total of sixty people, and there are twenty rooms in this hallway. Now, I will leave you all to decide amongst yourselves who will stay in which room. Once you all are done deciding, let me know, and you will pass through a scan that would identify you as a member of a particular room."
And with that, the crowd went straight to work. Breaking off from their lines, the people began to converse with themselves, at times yelling as they desired to stay with certain people, and not others. Some chose not to take part in the higgling and haggling, as they knew the only downside to staying here was ending up having an asshole for a roommate, and besides, from their physical appeal, it was a given they wouldn't have much influence in the matters being discussed, anyway.
'This whole thing is really pissing me off! But still, I just have to insure it all… for over a day… for mother's sake,' Peter tried to reason with himself why he should bear with the subpar treatment he was giving. Although he was already used to such unfair treatment, as well, he had grown accustomed to a far harsher environment. Still, Peter felt like, in this care, he was seriously being scammed.
While in the middle of his thoughts, a voice had called out to him. Recognizing the voice, the Necromancer cursed internally as he felt a soft hand tap him from behind. Turning around, he could see the same woman who had offered him a seat behind her.
"Um, hello. Remember me? I offered you a seat next to me."
"Yeah, I do."
"Yeah… anyways, are you interested in us perhaps being roommates?"
"..."
"Oh, it's not like that. I just… don't really fit in here, and I was hoping I could bunk beds with you," she replied, noticing the latter's hesitance.
Although Peter didn't like the idea of sharing a room with a woman, that wasn't the main reason he was silent. On a closer inspection, Peter found the woman standing in front of him to be quite familiar, and after racking his brain, the Necromancer remembered who she was, however, his memory seemed to be glitching, as her name would faze in and out of his recollection.
"Kelly Manchester?"
"In the flesh."
Peter was quite surprised to find her here, as she was the same childhood friend named Kelly he hadn't encountered in years. But, seeing her here, and now, of all times, he wished to find out what she had been up to all this time.