Chereads / System- Out Of Bounds / Chapter 4 - Keycards & Factions

Chapter 4 - Keycards & Factions

After the delicious meal, we left to buy some basic necessities.

Though I learned something beforehand, that was the method of paying. As Erina insisted that she would be paying for this meal as it was her treat. So I don't argue much because I don't want to embarrass myself.

Of course, it was all because I do not know how to pay.

I'm new and I'm sure people would understand of it. But still, it's rather embarrassing as many people would be looking at me trying to figure it out.

It seems like things just work out like scanning a credit card, but of course, it was using the given keycard.

The one who will be paying for stuff would put their keycard above the seller's keycard. It's automatic and it was easy for me to understand how it works actually.

Yet when Erina was paying for it, I noticed that the restaurant owner's keycard was a bit different from the one that Erina and I owned. I did ask the question regarding it after we left the restaurant.

Which then Erina explain to me, then it was because he's a shop owner.

She told me that the keycard that we are having is a blue color one, it was to store our money or so they called it credits here. It was also a way of checking our stats and our identity.

But there's a different keycard as well. There's red, black, green and gold. And each of them represents something in their respective groups. All because there's a faction actually in this city, well not really faction but something you would say grouping.

The one that I see the restaurant owner have was a green color.

A green keycard means that they are registered as a merchant, meaning that they are allowed to sell something, and most of them own a shop or a small stall. Someone that wanted to sell something must acquire the green keycard by joining the merchant faction.

I did ask why bother to have another keycard for a merchant… and I was given an answer of course. Because it provides a different function from the blue keycard.

As the green keycard was to enable the shop owner to input the price of items that they would be selling. To make it easier for the payment process, people could just swipe things up. Consumers wouldn't need to worry about a ridiculous amount of price as well.

Because the Merchant Faction was able to oversee all of the items that had been listed and the merchant was charging an appropriate amount for things that isn't worth much. They would be contacted by the Merchant Faction to fix the issue.

And of course, a key to access the shop or a stall, meaning that other people couldn't be breaking in or using other people's stalls.

Of course, I was curious about others as well after Erina mention the other color keycards and the faction that exists in the city. Which prolonged the explanation session and Erina doesn't seem to mind at all.

It was still a long way to reach the general supplies store… So she was happy to tell me all about it.

***

The first I learned was about factions. As I already knew, the merchant faction.

There are three left… The most prominent one was the Adventurer Faction. As the name tells, it was for the adventurer and it was the most generic one of course. So I could see why it was the most prominent one. As such they were given red keycards.

The toughest faction to get into, the one that Mia was in was the Administrative Faction. The one that handles the affairs of the city and sets up rules. They act as justice in the city and establish rules. Though that was the job of the high-ranking officer.

The low-ranking officer would just be like a guard that patrols around the city, trying to keep the city safe and make sure the people here abide by the rules. Which make them the holder of the golden keycards.

With all of the factions being stated, I have been thinking what is the last faction? I thought it would be the Magical Faction but I was in complete shock when Erina told me about it.

"Eh!! A Builder Faction!?" I said that in shock as I didn't think that a builder could become a faction.

Erina look so confused as to why I am being so surprised, she let out a sigh and say, "It is an important faction as they are the ones who make the city how it was right now."

She then told me that it's the faction with the least member in it, not because the test is hard to join. But because it's required the skill 'Build', and most people don't have it. And she also said that the one that created all of this possible, the hero that lead the people here to survive their deletion.

Belong to the Builder faction…

It was an amazement for me upon hearing that, because I really thought that the one that lead the people here would belong to the Administrative Faction. To think he was on the Builder faction.

"I see, I could understand why it's important and also why no one is able to join the Builder faction," I said to Erina as it's pretty obvious.

The 'Build' skill, it's not a rare skill at all as it could be obtained easily. But many players don't take it as it doesn't help in combat at all. So most players would just ignore that skill and take the skill that could benefit them.

Plus if players are required to be able to make something, they rather choose the 'Crafting' skill.

While in-game, the 'Build' skill itself is basically useless if someone chooses that skill. The reason would be obvious as they already maxed out other skills. So with the leftover point that the player has, surely they would just invest in something else to make their character achieve total completion in all skill departments.

Making me realize that the hero, is a powerful character and it would make sense why people would follow him. As he's the strongest there is…

With a smile, Erina said… "And did you know, it was the only faction that have one member… you probably guess who that only member is already."

"Yeah, I mean it would be that hero right?" I said.

Erina nodded as she replied... "That's correct."

"So like no one ever tried to join the builder faction? I mean the fame of the hero would surely bring a lot of people in right?" I ask that question because it's weird that no one wouldn't try to join knowing that the famous hero was there.

Erina shook her head and answered my questions. She smiled while saying, "Well, it is true that everyone knows of his existence and strength. But most of them are just not that interested in that. Not to mention, that they don't have 'Build' Skill. That is the requirement needed to join the Builder Faction. Of course, that includes me too," Erina added as she pointed at herself.

I understand the part about tough requirements but why wouldn't people be interested in the hero? Like it's the hero who makes all of this possible? Why aren't they interested in him?

"If I may ask, why not people interested in the hero?" I asked Erina back.

"Hmmm..." Erina pondered before answering me, "Most likely because the hero itself isn't that strong. The only power he has is to build the thing, we still call him a hero regardless as he's the one that unites the people. The one who actually did the battle against the monster was his comrade, which belong to the Administrative Faction. If anything, I'm more surprised that you're even interested in him," Erina said with a chuckle.

Why should I care about the hero though? He's just a guy who saved us from extinction and made all of this possible. Without him this wouldn't be possible, all of us going to be deleted.

But regardless, I somewhat understand why no one was that interested in the hero.

"So the hero comrade is more famous than the hero then?" I said.

Erina nodded and explained further, "Yes. That's why most people are inspired to join the Administrative Faction and if they failed, they would be joining the Adventurer Faction. So they would be able to achieve glory..."

Well, I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing, at least they are aiming for something good here.

But talking about all of this somewhat makes me curious about the hero's comrade, as people are interested in them that much. For sure they are really strong.

I wanted to ask Erina more about it but-

"Hey! We finally arrived a the store." Erina grabbed my hand and said, "Let's take a look inside!"