Silent voice was an incredibly strong Assassin, by the age of 31 she managed to become a core combatened for an apex power, even before that she reached the beyond Domain Realm and the 3rd Realm in the realms of truth by the age of 30, without any external help at that, even in the greater gods Domain some people considered her the biggest geniuses they had seen in decades.
And now he, James, had the chance to recruit her, he was so excited while walking to the school that he didn't notice he almost passed it.
James went straight to the receptionist's desk at the front of the school, and in all his excitement he didn't even let the receptionist speak before talking.
"Hello there, I am James, the CEO of the multi-million credit company 'one gaming', I want to talk to the principal about a specific student."
The receptionist didn't seem to care all that much, she just phoned the principal to ask if he was free, James found this quite weird, but this wasn't a fancy high school or anything, so he guessed she probably didn't get enough pay to care.
"You can go, his office is the second door on the left."
While walking into the office James could already see the principal, sitting full with anticipation behind his desk, he looked intrigued but also a little scared.
"Hello there Mr. ….?"
"Mr. Matthews, James Matthews"
"Okay then, Mr. Matthews, what student do you want to have a word about, and what trouble did they cause you."
James just chuckled lightly at the question.
"Olivia Smith is the girl we're talking about, and she didn't get in any trouble, but I would like to speak to her for a moment, would you mind calling her over."
The principal, clearly relieved, complied with James's request without even thinking about it twice and announced it on the intercom. Only a few minutes later.
Knock-knock
"you can come in Olivia"
A young girl flung the door open, she had medium long straight black hair, and her eyes were almost as dark, her stature seem to be quite little, standing at around 5'6" if she put in some time to groom herself a little, she could be beautiful, but she didn't seem like the girl to do that. She went straight to the chair next to James without saying anything to him or the principal.
"So, what did I do this time mister principal."
Olivia said in a rather annoyed tone.
"No no Olivia, on the contrary, this man is the CEO of the company 'one gaming' and he would like to have a word with you."
Olivia was about to speak when James interrupted her, and she shut up immediately, of course she did, she was an avid VR gamer after all, and even though she didn't know what this was about, getting in the good books with someone like him really could help her.
"Before I start doing my whole spiel, miss Olivia, are you aware of the realms of Refinement?"
Olivia was quite surprised by what the man said, nobody ever called her miss, and definitely not someone like James.
"Yes of course I have, they are legendary, I knew a girl who managed to reach the 1st Realm and she was totally amazing, and ….."
In all her excitement Olivia just kept going, but before she could go any further James stopped her, she looked quite embarrassed.
"It's good that you know about it miss Olivia, that will make this a lot easier, to make a long story short, we of the 'one gaming' company have scouted you and think you have a lot of talent, we offer you a contract to become one of our team of 20 elite internal members for the upcoming game, Gods Domain. You will be getting a salary of 1 million credits a year and access to a certain supply of S-grade Nutrient fluids depending on your performance, for the next 2 years you will be training full-time in the realms of Refinement to prepare for God's Domains launch. How does that sound."
Olivia was in a daze, everything that James just said was totally out of her league, the money, and especially the S-grade Nutrient fluids and training methods for the realms of Refinement, before she even realized it she stuttered something.
"Is….is that real, and do I…I have to leave school?"
"It is real I can assure you, and yes, it is a full-time position, so you will have to drop out. I'll give you some time to think about it, here is my number and the location of our office building, but I think even the principal here thinks this is a great opportunity."
He was kind of surprised after being addressed so suddenly, he was after all still in a daze from the offer just made to Olivia, but he had to agree, this was a great opportunity, for her and the school, after all, having successful students made a school more famous.
"Yes, of course, this is a ones in a lifetime opportunity."
The principal blurted out quickly.
"All right then, miss Olivia, I must be going, just talk about it with your parents and call me if you made a decision."
"Okay, thank you in advance."
Before he could even give a reply, James left, he had a lot of places to be, after all, 19 others were waiting for their offer. The first 3 of them being the strongest along with Silent voice, they would all lead a team of 4.
The 3 other team leaders would be, Breezing rain, a female mage who would become the first of our universe to not only join an apex power, but also become one of its core members, Fire step, a female Swordsman, who was so talented that she managed to become a Saint, someone who had a complete understanding of a certain element of mana, a task seen as almost impossible, and brown bear, a tank who at his peak could hold his own against projections of ancient gods.
James was a little worried about recruiting them all, but after his conversation with Olivia his worries subsided, they were even more into gaming than her if he could believe the rumors, so convincing them won't be a problem, the only one that could give him a little trouble was, Fire step, she came from a rather wealthy background, so the money will not affect her.
Deep in thought, James had already stepped out of the cab he had taken to his next destination, a convenience store 2 towns over, where at this exact moment, a young orphan boy named Rick, better known as Brown bear, was working.
James walked into the convenience store full of anticipation, and there he was, a young man, 17 years old, who was extremely big for his age, he had short brown hair and blue eyes, that was one of the reasons they started calling him brown bear.
"Can I help you with something sir?"
Rick said a little confused at the stranger staring at him.
"Yes, you can actually, you are an avid gamer right, mister Rick"
Rick felt a little uncomfortable by this random man knowing his name, but he had to stay friendly if he wanted to keep his job, so he replied.
"Yes, that's right, why?"
"Well, I am the CEO of a new multi-million credit gaming organization, 'one gaming' and we have scouted you to be a member of our elite internal team for the upcoming game, Gods Domain, you will be receiving 1 million credits a year as salary, and access to S-grade Nutrient fluids based on your performance, for the next 2 years you will be trained in the realms of Refinement in preparation for the launch of gods Domain, now how does that sound."
Rick was flabbergasted but quickly pulled himself together, he knew all too well from experience that if things seemed too good to be true, they probably were, but before he could get a word in James spoke again.
"I will leave this contract and my contact info here with you, take all your time to discuss this with your legal guardian."
James turned around to leave but Rick put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"That won't be necessary, if you have the time right now, I will read it and sign it right away if I agree with the conditions, getting my legal guardian's signature won't be a problem either, the orphanage doesn't give a shit, but I have one more condition, I want a living space near or in the office."
Rick knew he had to grab this chance, if he let this man leave maybe he would reconsider.
"no problem, I have some time, and about the living arrangements, that won't be a problem either, the building is rather empty at the moment so a lot of rooms are available."
Rick was trying hard not to show how happy he was, he immediately dove into the contract and started reading.
About 30 minutes later Rick closed the pack of papers and extended his hand toward James with a thick grin on his face.
"The contract seems wonderful; I look forward to working with you James"
"likewise"
James said while shaking Rick's hand firmly.
And just like Rick said, when he and James went over to the orphanage to get the signature from his legal guardian, they signed it without even asking what it was about. While the 2 of them were in a cab on their way to the office, James got a sudden phone call.
"Hello, your speaking with James, CEO of 'one gaming'"
"hallo James, it's Olivia, I talked it over with my parents and they want to read the contract we are heading to the office now, see you there in 15 minutes."
James was quite surprised, he knew she would be even more excited when the situation had settled in, but being so excited that she hung up on him?
"Who was that?"
Rick asked, wondering who would hang up on someone like James.
"Your new teammate I hope, she will be arriving at the office around 5 minutes after us so you will be meeting her soon."
"can't wait"
Rick said, with a rather complicated look on his face.
And just like clockwork, after waiting 5 minutes in the lobby James and Rick saw 2 people walking through the sliding door, Olivia and her mom.
Olivia went straight to James and shook his hand again.
"Good to see that you are so excited Olivia, this is Rick, hopefully, your future teammate."
James then turned to the woman standing next to Olivia, she had a rather skeptical look on her face.
"Nice to meet you, mam, how about we all move to a conference room so you can read over the contract."
"That sounds good."
James proceeded to set up a room for Rick and sent him to unpack his stuff.
Olivia's mom spent around 1-hour reading and discussing the contract with her daughter, she was more cautious than Rick.
"I think this contract seems wonderful Mr. Matthews, but I am a little concerned about the sustainability of the profession pro gamer."
"I can understand your worries, but believe me when I tell you that this game is going to be integrated into society in a couple of years, only then will you realize how laughable that question is, but if you want some evidence, all counties have already signed an agreement to legalize currency exchange in this new game, to put it bluntly, the gold in-game is as much of a real currency as dollars or credits."
The worried mother let out a small sigh after hearing that.
"That didn't put all my worries away, but I think I am all right with signing this contract, thank you for being so kind to my daughter."
"No worries, and as you have probably read, she is obligated to live in the building from Monday to Friday, when will she be able to move in."
She had a little hesitation on her face, she knew what was best for her daughter, but she didn't want to let her go, before she could even answer Olivia chimed in.
"I can move in tonight, I want to start my training as soon as possible."
Her mother got a little less restless after seeing her daughter so excited.
"That's great, Rick happened to have just moved in, I was going to give him his training plan after our meeting, I'll give you and him the plan and explanation together. Meet me at the front desk in 2 hours."
James re-laid the same message to Rick and went to the god's Domain association to exchange 50.000 points for some more S-grade Nutrient fluids, 250 bottles to be specific.
2 hours later he was standing in the lobby with Rick when Olivia came waltzing in.
"Hello, I'm Olivia nice to meet ya, hope we can have a lot of fun together."
Olivia said while frantically shaking Rick's hand up and down.
"Rick, and I'm not here to have fun, but to work."
Rick said while trying to hide his big smile.
James couldn't help but laugh at Rick's reaction, the big brown bear happy to meet his new teammate.
"Okay, now that you 2 are acquainted, I will be telling you how your training will proceed.
James then proceeded to give them both a packet of papers.
"This is your workout schedule, you guys will be spending 2 hours a day doing the exercise lined up in there, there is a gym at the second level with all the equipment you need, but this isn't the most important part of your routine, you will constantly be practicing the movement routine that is mentioned in the bundle, this will help you in the realms of Refinement, when you manage to do them all in under 1 minute, you will have entered the Realm of Refinement and we will be proceeding to the next phase of your training."
After saying that James saw his 2 new teammates marvel at the packets of paper like they were the holy Bible, how could they not, only 1% of experts ever manages to get into the Refinement Realm, the only places who have training methods for that kind of stuff are super guild, and they sure as hell wouldn't let people like them participate.
"Follow me, I will be showing you the movement routine, o yea before I forget, I had the office staff fill a fridge in each of your rooms with 100 bottles of S-grade Nutrient fluids, use it only when you feel physically and mentally drained, I don't shit those out so don't waste them, but don't be afraid to use them too, sometimes if you are on the verge of a big breakthrough, you can consume up to 5 in a row without the exhaustion going away."
At that moment, Rick and Olivia looked pointed their holy Bible look at James and looked at him like he was Jesus, James quickened his pace to the gym.
After arriving James took his time doing the exercises, he did them in about 10 minutes so his 2 students could observe them well.
"that was it, when you can do those in under a minute or you hit a roadblock, just let me know."
James went on his way to work on his physical fitness and mental power for a while before heading towards the airport to catch an overnight flight to county A, where the last 2 commanders of his team resigned.