Niklas arrived at the bank. He walked straight to the counter. There, he registered as a new customer and deposited 12,000 EKs into his new bank account. He got a debit card for his account. He finished business with the bank and left.
In Astro, one didn't need to carry identification and validation cards with them. This was because all these were online, making them easily accessible at any time.
Niklas' next stop was Kernel metro station, the village's one and only metro station. It was beneath the central market's ground. The trains that crossed this station were inter-settlement transporters. Niklas' next stop was Blue Box Minicity.
The settlement naming system in Astro Kingdom does not follow conventional ways. A place like Main-City-4, Main-City-3, Main-City-2, and Main-City-1 that were as big as the African continents and had the properties of a state were not called states; instead, they were called cities. Cities were called mini-cities or towns, and towns or villages were called villages.
Niklas was on the western wing of the central market. He went south on that wing and arrived at the tunnel leading to the metro station. He went down the tunnel. Down at the station, he learned that the next train arrived in ten minutes. At the toll gate, he bought a ticket for a ride to and from Blue Box Minicity. After buying the ticket, the bar gate was lifted for him to pass. Niklas proceeded from the toll gate to the common waiting area.
Ten minutes later, Niklas was seated on the train on his way to Blue Box Minicity. The train he was on was a bullet train. According to the driver, the train was expected to arrive at Blue Box Minicity in 25 minutes. The first stop was the Pen metro station in Blue Box Minicity.
The train travelled through a tunnel under the Azu-ndu River, the river between Kernel village and Blue Box minicity. The temperature in the train dropped as it traversed the tunnel. The other passengers felt the cold, but it didn't shake Niklas.
The train stopped, made its first stop, and Niklas alighted from the train. He stopped a young lady orc to ask for directions to a phone shop. She pointed him in the right direction. Niklas thanked her and advanced to visit the shop.
The phone shop was far from the metro station. Niklas soon got up to the normal surface and discovered that he was in the business district. The place was so busy; people walked in all directions, and the car traffic was slow.
'It feels good to be back in a familiar environment,' Niklas mused.
Two years ago, he and his family used to live in an area in Main-city-4.
'I better watch my pockets and my bag.' Niklas' perception kicked in, waiting to alert him to pickpockets or bag snatchers.
Niklas entered the phone shop he was directed to. The sole attendant of the shop approached him and greeted him. He returned the kind gesture.
"Which phone would you like to purchase?" The attendant asked politely.
"I would like to buy a smartphone that has a 25,000mAh battery. It must have a touch panel with high durability and be water-proof." Niklas eyes darted around, looking at various phones in the various show cases.
"We have the phone that matches your desire."
Niklas was shown a 6-inch smartphone that had the features he desired. He liked it, and he paid 1200 EKs for the phone to the cashier at the shop's counter.
He didn't leave the shop immediately after purchasing the phone. The attendant stood by the counter, waiting for the customer to leave. Niklas said,
"Sorry to bother you guys. I'm new to the city, and so, naturally, I have a few questions about the city."
"You are new?" The cashier lady asked with a broad smile.
"Yeah," Niklas nodded.
"Welcome to the Blue Box," the attendant said.
"I heard that the Blue Box government has legalised hunting guilds. Is this true?" Niklas asked.
Hunting guilds specialised in adventuring into deserted lands to discover mysteries hidden within them, mysterious and special items used for making buff objects, and hunting uncharted beasts.
"Yeah," the cashier affirmed. "Where did you hear the news, outside the city?"
Niklas said, "Yeah, I heard it in my—city." He was ashamed to mention that he lived in a village. From his experience, he knew that most city people looked down on villagers.
The cashier and attendant exchanged a surprised look. It made the visitor curious, and he asked,
"Is there anything bad about the news?"
The attendant answered, "It is actually good news. The crown is against hunting guilds and has put pressure on other settlements to abandon the idea of legalising guilds after our city legalised them. They went as far as suppressing the news about the Blue legalising hunting guilds with some popular news agencies hosting shows, calling the news a hoax."
Niklas raised his eyebrows, aghast.
"Is that a sword in your backpack?" The cashier noticed the protrusion behind the customer.
Niklas nodded with a smile.
The cashier asked, "Are you here to register under the Blue Box central hunting guild?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, great. Now we have more people that can help defend us from uncharted beasts straying into the city."
Niklas gapped his mouth in surprise. He hadn't heard of this.
"Well, now you know," the attendant replied after understanding Niklas' reaction.
The cashier found a small note book and scribbled some words on a page. She tore the page off and extended her arm to Niklas, offering him the paper. Niklas collected and read it. He lifted his head after reading the page and thanked the cashier. She wrote the directions and the location of the mini city's hunting guild on the paper.
Niklas left the shop. He walked to a bus stand. He boarded a taxi and headed to Blue Box Minicity's central hunting guild.
The taxi arrived in front of a black skyscraper that had golden highlights. There was a big sign a couple metres above the entrance: Blue Box Central Hunting Guild.
Niklas alighted, paid the fare, and the taxi drove away. People walked in and out of the building. Niklas observed these people briefly and concluded they were hunters. Every one of them was commonly dressed in tactical shirts and trousers and carried their sophisticated hunting equipment, the most common being a rifle that had the shooting power of an anti-tank gun.
A red rifle caught that was as long as a Bazooka caught Niklas' awe. He thought,
'It looks uncomfortable, but I will like to have one like that.'
The reception floor had a registration office to the left for people wishing to join Blue Box Minicity's hunting guild. Straight ahead was the reception counter, which had four ladies manning it as receptionists. The ladies held pretty smiles as they intercalated with people who were leaving or lodging in.
Niklas smartly deduced, 'This place is also a hotel. Justifies why there is a skyscraper for a guild centre.'
The reception floor was wide, and there were two long couches placed in the centre of the floor. Each couch had two opposite sitting surfaces. Want to be Hunters occupied the sitting surface that was opposite the registration office, waiting for their turns to arrive to go and register. Niklas instinctively went to the couch. He politely bothered the closest person, an average forty-year-old with a receding hairline. He asked the stranger,
"Hey, are you waiting to be registered?"
The stranger remained expressionless and replied with a nod. The stranger gestured for Niklas to have a seat.
"How do I know when it gets to my turn?" Niklas asked the stranger.
The stranger said, "It's moving linearly from the right to the left. You are the last person. So, you are after me."
"Thanks. Is the process fast?"
An automated voice echoed on the floor: "Next!"
The stranger replied, "It's quite fast, and you get to be part of a mission as soon as possible. Missions don't discriminate whether you are going solo or you are part of a clique."
Niklas nodded his head in appreciation, expressionless, in regards to the information about missions. He had no idea what a mission was, and he wouldn't dare ask in order not to risk revealing that he was just visiting Blue Box Mini City. Visitors had a high probability of being extorted and harassed by strangers living in the city if they hinted that they were visitors. He had trusted a couple of people before, and it was because they didn't appear dangerous. Unlike in here, where everyone had a flair for danger.
Nine minutes later, Niklas' turn to register arrived. He got up and walked into the registration office. In the office, there was a chubby, dark-skinned lady with snow white hair sitting behind a closed desk, which hid her legs. She wore a light yellow blouse and skirt that complemented the natural colour of the hair on her head, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
"Please place any palm of your choice on the surface of the scanner," the lady instructed Niklas, gesturing to the black-screen scanner on the surface of her desk close to him.
Niklas did as instructed, placing his right palm The device scanned the DNA particles on the surface of his palm. A 40-inch screen appeared above the head of the lady on the wall behind her, but she seemed not aware of its presence. The screen displayed basic information about Niklas: his age, his name, his parents' names, his country of allegiance and origin, his national identity number, and his birthplace.
Niklas read the information on the screen. He switched his attention to the lady, who seemed to be in a trance. In the lady's left eye, there was a mixture of light reflection off her eyes, as if a television were reflecting pictures on the eye. She had an eye device that showed her what was on the screen behind her.