"Does the information on the screen match your memory?" the lady asked.
"Yes, it does."
The white-haired lady said, "It will cost you five hundred Earth kredits to register. How do you want to pay?"
"Debit card." Niklas handed the debit card to the lady, and she slotted it in a card port on a green box that measured 3cm on all sides. The green box produced a sound akin to the sound of a cash register a second after the card was slotted in. The white-haired lady returned the card to Niklas.
"Please stare at the screen for three seconds. And please, do not move your head. When you are ready, say 'Go' and do as I said."
Niklas did as instructed. His picture and biometrics were captured by a scanner on the ceiling, and he was registered in the Blue Box Central Hunting Guild's database.
"There are a couple things remaining to do before you leave," the white-haired lady said. "From the database, your current residence is at Kernel Village. So, the guild has to know if you relocated to here or if you will make visits to this minicity."
Niklas frowned, considering an answer. 'I hope I don't get bad treatment because I don't live here."
The lady saw the red-haired man's reaction, and she clarified, saying, "We want to know how possible a hunter's availability is. This is in regards to missions."
Niklas answered, "I will make visits."
The white-haired lady nodded. Niklas noticed the light in her eye change to a deeper colour on its current spectrum. He also noticed the lady entering a trance again, but it was brief. She said,
"Are you going solo or do you want to join a clique? We call this an adventure state. Mind you, the clique you will join is a beginners' clique. You have to prove yourself before you can be given the chance to join better cliques."
"I'm going solo."
"You can always update your adventure state here. That will be all."
Niklas left the office.
Klaxon alarms were set off.
"The minicity is under attack!" An automated machine voice echoed on the floor.
Niklas was worried. 'Under attack? How did the enemies get past the border guards?'
The white-haired lady walked out of the office and headed towards the reception counter. Niklas noticed that the receptionists were nowhere to be seen.
"Dude, what are you still doing here?" Someone who was beside Niklas said to him.
Niklas turned to see who it was. It was one of the aspirant hunters. Niklas noticed that the other aspirants followed the white-haired lady to the wall behind the reception counter. When the lady stood before the wall, it quickly disappeared brick by brick like a futuristic door to reveal a bigger room that was behind it. It was a safe room.
"Don't tell me that you are one of those dumb fucks who don't have good combat sense but yet go on to register as a hunter, are you?" The stranger said to Niklas.
It hit Niklas that he didn't find it weird that the central hunting guild would let anyone come and register without questioning the person's combat capabilities.
'Of course, the guild should have sent out a memo inviting people with good combat capabilities. With the influence of the crown, the information didn't leave the minicity.'
Niklas said, "I'm a good fighter; can't you see my sword?"
He turned a bit to let the stranger see the sword protruding from his backpack.
The stranger said, "Then what are you still doing here? Go and join the mission. Go kill some uncharted beasts. Heck, I would kill to be in your shoes."
"The western ends of the north and south areas are being ravaged! All hunters are needed on the ground!" The automated mechanical voice beamed again.
Niklas mused, 'Shit, this is dangerous. An ignorant, incapable person from another settlement would be walking to their doom if they registered a few seconds ago.'
He finally understood what a mission was—hunters going to fight raiding beasts. He mused, 'So uncharted beasts attack this settlement. But how is this possible? There should be border defence to resist them.'
Niklas said, "I can't choose not to participate in this mission, right?"
"No," the stranger said, stressing the word.
Niklas noticed that people were no longer walking out of the building. People trooped in instead, and they were just regular civilians. Niklas intelligently thought,
'This isn't the only safe house in the minicity.'
The stranger said, 'If you don't participate and the guild council discovers that you didn't, one thousand negative merit points would be given to your profile."
'He must be a resident of this settlement,' Niklas thought about the stranger, and he was right.
"How come you don't know about these things?"
Niklas wanted to answer, but the answer dawned on the stranger.
"You don't live in the city! I'm sorry for being rude to you."
The people moving into the safe room avoided a path on the right wing of the reception floor. Niklas and the stranger didn't fail to notice. At the end of the path was an elevator door, and it stood ajar. There were five people standing in the elevator.
"Oh my goodness, it's them!" The stranger was awed at the sight of the five people in the car.
A number of people were also struggling to contain their awe. The five stepped out of the car, and the double door of the elevator slid to a close behind them. The five—three ladies and two men—advanced towards the exit. Four of them wore expressionless looks, safe for one who was urging people to concentrate and quickly move into the safe room.
"Who are they?" Niklas asked the stranger beside him.
"They are the Knife edge clique," the stranger said excitedly.
Niklas cringed at the stranger's childish excitement that he had to take a good look at him. The stranger was tanned and two inches shorter than the lanky, red-haired man beside him. His hair was black in colour and was styled into a Mohawk. He was dressed in a black sleeveless jacket, blue khaki trousers, and a pair of white sneakers.
"The ripped guy in blue T-shirt and black jeans is called Reverend of the Blade!" The stranger said. The person mentioned was the one who was urging the people to retreat.
"The other man in the black trench coat is called Blue's Tiger," the stranger continued, "or the Tiger of Blue Box Minicity."
The Knife edge clique walked in a flat formation, with the men on the left and the ladies on the right. The lady in the centre of the formation was in a pink, cleavage-showing tank top and deep blue tactical trousers. She was called the Blue reaper. Blue reaper had a chain of bullets strapped over each of her shoulders. A longer than usual silver shotgun hung over her right shoulder, behind her.
The other ladies, Takedown and Knockdown, were sisters—identical twins, to be precise. Takedown had blonde hair, and Knockdown had black hair. Their hairs descended a few centimetres below their shoulders. They wore a black trench coat over a white shirt and black trousers. The twins' attire, coupled with the fact that they didn't seem to be armed, made them look like civil servants.
"Computer!" Blue's tiger said at the top of his voice. "Show me where the closest threats are!"
A large holographic image, a map, appeared before they clique and they had to stop and learn. The map was the map of Blue Box Minicity. A patch of red covered the north-west down to the south-west of the settlement. The image automatically zoomed in on the southwest, revealing that the central guild building was in this part of the city. A dense patch of red was a distance away, farther west from the building. The members of the clique cursed when they saw this.
Blue's Tiger pulled out the belt on his trousers, and it transformed into a two-metre-long Viking sword.
An automated machine voice said, "Blue's Tiger, hunters are being overwhelmed on the southwestern part close to you."
Takedown and Knockdown raced out of the building. From the bike park opposite the guild building, two bikes automatically pulled up to them. They each boarded a bike and zoomed off to the danger area.
"Dude, this is an opportunity. You can follow the Knife edge to the mission." The stranger said to Niklas.
Niklas just nodded. He planned to do so.
Blue's Tiger asked the computer, "Computer, are there regular civilians in the area?"
Niklas cringed. 'Why is the A.I. named computer?'
The automated machine voice replied, "Yes, there are. The hunters on the ground are barely holding the beasts from rampaging through the buildings housing the civilians."
Blue's Tiger dismissed the A.I.
He said to Reverend Blade,
"I want you to make sure that there are no civilians in the unaffected area, starting from here."
Niklas said across the floor, "I'm a hunter. I can help out."
Blue's Tiger had to confirm. "Computer, who is that man?"
The A.I. replied, "He is a recently registered hunter."
Blue's Tiger and gestured at Blue reaper to follow him. They both exited the building and left for the danger zone in a similar fashion to Takedown and Knockdown.