After giving the matter a lot of careful consideration, Alexandre finally made up his mind. He'd buy three of the "Liquid Experience Bottle (Tier 1)" items, which would cost him a total of $30,000. This would allow him to reach Level 4 and hit the third rank out of five for [Steel Bones]. His plan was to max out this skill as soon as possible in order to maximize the time he could fight at full effectiveness in battle.
If only he could afford to buy even more… but Hunter equipment was exorbitantly priced, far more than Alexandre's currently humble means. That would all change in the future, but for now, he had to bide his time.
Alexandre went to the checkout to ask about these items. He was met by a young man in a three-piece suit with a very silky haircut. Alexandre thought that he looked more like a Wall Street trader than a simple shop assistant.
The store associate said, "Welcome to the Terra Corporation Hunter Shop! I'm Owen, at your service!"
Alexandre said, "Er... Hello. I'd like to buy three Tier 1 Liquid Experience Bottles please."
Owen replied enthusiastically, "Oh, excellent choice! Can I also interest you in an experience boosting potion? It will double your experience gains for three hours! We're having a limited time offer and it's currently only $3,500!"
Alexandre shook his head. "Sorry, I'm on a very tight budget."
Owen gave a smooth reply, hardly missing a beat. "Of course, sir, but can I interest you in opening a line of credit with Terra Corp Bank? We have special rates for Hunters such as yourself!"
Alexandre opened his mouth to refuse again, but Owen picked up his pace and said hurriedly, "...Terra Corp Bank asks for no guarantees on loans under a million dollars!"
Alexandre was taken aback. "Wait, what!?"
Owen gave a sigh of relief. He had the customer's attention! "Yes, you heard me right. Hunters can borrow up to one million without providing any bank guarantees! Of course, the bank will take your fingerprints and Hunter data from your Pip-Boy. To be frank, the 2028 bankruptcy law makes it quite easy for us to recover money owed in case of default—and because of that, you can rest assured that there's no underhanded details on our part for such a fantastic deal."
Alexandre was unfamiliar with this law. "Let me think about it for a bit," he said, then walked away and opened his smartphone to look up the law.
He was astonished to find that the bankruptcy law of 2028 was incredibly powerful indeed. In the case of default, not only could a creditor seize the borrower's assets, but they could also press him into forced labor until the debt was paid in full!
Alexandre continued his research and learned more about Hunter debt collection. It seemed that Terra Corp put a lot of pressure on bad payers to join one of their guilds. If you risked no longer being of any use as a payer, they then put you on dangerous or even suicidal missions! Even worse, Terra Corp was reputed to be able to legally seize the organs of those who defaulted on their loans. Even after death, it seemed Terra Corp never forgave a debt.
Alexandre wasn't terribly surprised that such a law existed since the Great Wave. Protections for citizens weren't exactly what they'd once been and megacorporations held all the power.
But practically speaking, Alexandre wondered how Hunters could get themselves in a situation where Terra Corp could actually sue most Hunters for defaulting. After all, you could get a whole new identity in the Underground for just a bit of money, and you could even launder your money into a new digital account if you were willing to pay the huge fees. How exactly was Terra Corp confident that they could prevent Hunters from just changing their identities and never paying?
But then Alexandre's gaze fell on his Pip-Boy and he whispered, "Traitor!"
Of course, no Hunter would ever part with the Pip-Boy that they needed to control their evolution. Owen had mentioned that Hunters needed to give information from their Pip-Boys… that surely meant that Hunters could be tracked by GPS no matter where they were on the planet.
Alexandre felt lucky that his friend Jack, who worked at Terra Corp, had given him such a trump card that he could use against the Terra Corp bank!