The next day Karl wakes up early just before sunrise. It is pitch black outside. Karl gets up and goes straight to shower.
Later, he comes and goes to the toilet to do his daily necessities. He comes out butt naked. Then, sits on the ground. He checks the clock.
5:12 am.
'I haven't used mana for an entire day. I should have enough.' Karl tries to perform levitating steps. His leg muscles grow exponentially. But they are very unequal. Karl then slowly tries to push the mana upwards towards his chest area. Karl feels his intestine and gut area burning.
'A little bit more.' Karl pushes more. The mana reaches to his stomach. Karl feels like he is about throw up.
'One more push.' Karl pushes with all his might and the mana reaches his chest. He chokes. All the momentum he created was gone. Karl coughs very loudly, with every cough his chest aches. Karl lays down.
He hesitates but tries to breath in mana and it does not flow past his legs.
'Failed. Huh.'
Karl continues to stay still as he recovers his stamina. 10 minutes later, he gets up and pumps all of his mana into his legs. He grabs a nearby book and throws it towards the other side of the room. Immediately, he uses levitating steps to catch the book before it falls.
"HIYAH."
Karl misses the book by a few centimeters. He continues to does this for few times and he feels the difference between the two legs. Some muscles are not giving enough power as the other's and this is causing an inconsistency.
He is unable to predict how far his foot is going to land. On the 7th attempt his manages to grab the book but the angle was off and it falls. Tired, Karl tries to perform levitating steps but feels extreme pain in his chest. Karl stops and sits down. He is panting very heavily.
After catching his breath, he gets up and walks towards his bed. He sits on his bed and looks at his swollen legs. 'I need to spread mana equal throughout the leg. For now, I am just overloading my leg with mana which seems waste. If only I new how much mana is needed for each leg.'
Karl takes a breath and pumps mana into his left leg only. It hurts at first but he manages to do it. Karl sees his uneven growth of muscles which somehow disgusts him. He lowers the frequency of mana and tries to push mana upward more.
First, his calves grow. Next his thigh starts to solidify and notices the lack of mana and he puts more. 'For better movement these two muscles are enough for now.'
He then performs the same thing on his right leg. First tries to grow the calves completely and then thighs. Karl now stands up and sees his perfectly grown legs. His legs look like a professional cyclist. Then he slowly grabs the same book and throw. Immediately, he launches himself using levitating steps. This time he catches book perfectly.
Karl's footing is now more accurate which makes his response time better. He notices that the room is bright and checks his watch, it's 7:48 am. A foul smell of sweat is coming from Karl.
'Shit.'
He immediately puts on a boxers and runs towards the bathroom upstairs. After a quick shower he comes down and puts on the clothes which he got from the hospital.
It consists a pair of leather shoes, a white shirt made with some durable material and black trouser. 'Did Leonard go hunting in such drip?' Karl questions as he looks himself in the mirror.
He couldn't help but feel that the clothes are bit too short.
9:04 am.
'Okay, I am going to be late.' Karl opens the door in a hurry and runs towards the main gate.
9:29 am.
Karl finally reaches the main gate but he couldn't spot Zena anywhere. 'Is she late too?'
Karl waits near the gate. He checks his watch for any messages but there are none. 'Did something happen to her?'
He hesitates to call her as it is rude for Karl to do so. Suddenly Karl's watch vibrates, he got a message. It's from Zena.
"Hey, look left. On 20." Karl turns slightly and sees a tall female student standing there. She is wearing a rather loose uniform with a short skirt on bottom. Her face is hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and a huge sun hat on top. Long cherry pink hair flows beautifully.
"Yes, that's me. Now go outside I will follow you in a minute." Karl nods and walks outside of the academy.
"Go further away."
Karl continues walking and stops around the corner. Few minutes later, Zena shows up in her disguise.
"We need to be more careful. The federation has started to look for me." She walks ahead of Karl.
"We need a new identity, call me Sona. Do you have an alias or should I give you myself?" Karl thinks for a second as he follows her.
"How about Arc?"
"Sounds good."
"And what do you mean by new identity?"
"We are going to register ourself in a new guild as a mercenary. At first only I was going to get one but we can't afford having you seen with me."
There are very huge skyscrapers almost everywhere. The street is filled with normal cars but skies are filled with futuristic flying cars.
'I am never going get used to this.'
Maybe because it's early morning but there are hardly any people walking around. Zena is walking little ahead of Karl.
'Fuck. I forgot my bag.' Karl facepalms himself.
He checks his back pocket and finds his two cards. 'At least, I got this.'
"Arc! Come here." Zena calls for Karl as she enters a building. Karl runs behind her. They walk in to see various giant LED screens all over the place. There are advertisements on everyone of them. One screen shows a blue suit with the price of 699 orange photons. Other one shows a sword covered in ice for 1100 yellow photons. Confused, Karl decides to ignore it. There is pop music in the background. 'Feels like a mall.' Zena points in a direction. Karl looks in that direction and sees an elevator. They both enters the elevator. Zena clicks on 4th floor.
"What are we doing here?" Karl asks.
"We are here to register as mercenaries?" Zena says in a questioning tone.
"In a mall?"
"Just see."
The elevator opens revealing old tarven style bar. People are laughing, eating and dancing like there is no tomorrow. Karl glances around and sees three buffed up man dancing on the table with swords inside their throats. Zena turns to corner and walks up to a bar. The bartender is man in his early twenties. He is wearing a ragged apron on a crusty red shirt.
"Open the door to the nábor ground." The bartende notices Zena is wearing a school uniform.
"That be 30 orange photons." He says it in a british accent.
"I am not a rookie kid; we both know that it is 2 orange photons."
Karl sees few men glaring in Zena's direction.
The bartender leans on the table and grins. Zena keeps a confident face. Karl senses the tension between them.
Few seconds passes.
"Fine, it is 2 orange photons." Zena gives him her card and he taps it on his own card. Zena looks back at Karl. Karl walks up to Zena. The bartender removes his apron "Come here."
They follow him to another corner just near the elevator. The bartender taps the wall 3 times in a rhythm, just then his watch rings.
"Ground floor." The bartender says as he returns to his job. Both Zena and Karl go into the elevator again. Karl wants to ask a few questions but he restrains himself. The elevator stops at the ground floor and the door opens.
There are no LED screens or sound of pop music. Karl only sees a flat area with stalls everywhere. Zena goes forward. Karl sees few people handing out papers to anyone who passes by. Karl sprints towards Zena and matches her pace.
"Welcome to nábor ground, the mercenary dream. Here, we can take any guild's request anonymously."
"What are these stalls for?"
"They represent different guilds. Everyone wants to join only the top guilds. Plus, all the top guilds are on the red border fighting for survival. Because of this all the regional quests which come from time to time are piled up due to lack of adventures. Therefore, the small and medium sized guilds from U block started nábor ground. Here, they post such quests and allows anyone to take the quest as long as it is completed."
"So, if they are only completing quests then why is place so hidden?"
"Because the majority of the people who takes such quests belong to a guild and according to federation law you cannot take any quests other than your own guild's quests."
Karl nods in understanding.
"Come, we are going to register in that one." Zena points at stall which has a sign on the roof. It reads [Crusaders guild]
'Cool name.'
On the counter there is an old man in a silver chest plate sitting on a chair. Behind him there is a board which has a emblem of two spears crossing each other in a red background. Zena turns her watch's screen towards that emblem and something pops up in her watch.
Seeing that Karl does the same. A forum appears which consists a list of quests. Such as herb gathering, escorting a van, monster subjugation and guarding a certain area for a specific period of time.
Curious, Karl clicks on the guarding quest. The time period is for 56 months. 'That's almost 5 years.'
He closes the quest and searches for something which can be done in a week or so. "Hey, look at no.4525" Zena suggests.
Karl scrolls and spots it.
'Monster subjugation?' he clicks on it. It is quest to eliminate 12 white manned desert wolfs. The reward is 7000 red photons.
"Sure, I don't mind."
Zena walks towards the man and says "I need to create a party. With me and him." She points and Karl. He takes a small book out from his pocket.
"Name?"
"Sona and Arc"
"Any previous rank?"
"None."
He looks up at Zena. "Quest?"
"Yes."
"Quest number?"
"4525."
"That will be 400 orange photons." This time Zena gives her card without much hassle. He goes inside the tent and comes back with a piece of paper. He hands the paper to Zena. Zena reads it and comes back to Karl. They go back towards the elevator.
"We have to pay just to accept a quest?" Karl asks as they wait for the elevator.
"No, this is just the deposit if we failed the quest or never come back. If we complete quest and come back those photons will be handed back to us."
Karl takes a mental note. Zena sighs and continues "Things weren't always so serious. The war at the red border is getting brutal every day. Vampyres are trying to sneak in more frequently which is putting everyone on an edge. So, the federation's agents are checking every possible gathering for them. You saw that bartender looking at me?"
"Yes." Karl answers as they both get in the elevator.
"He just had a suspicion that I was one of those." The elevator door opens and Karl walks towards the exit. Zena grabs his shoulder.
"What?"
"You need a disguise too." Zena looks at the advertisement which displaying black hoodie with a mask. Karl sighs.
15 minutes later. Karl exits the building wearing a plain black hoodie with black tight jeans and white sport shoes which makes Karl a little uncomfortable but he doesn't complain.
"You look cuter in oversized clothes." Zena says with a smile. She is wearing a warrior cuirass on top of leather chest armour. As for the bottom she has leather pants with metal boots. She is still wearing the wig and the sunglasses.
"You didn't have to buy these for me. After all, I am the one who is in debt."
"Don't worry and I will add this to the debt."
Karl glances at her clothing. 'I guess video game logic doesn't work here.' Karl walks closer to Zena and tries to reach her face. Zena startles but doesn't move.
Karl slowly takes her sunglasses off.
"You look prettier without these." Zena's face turns red.
"Now, let's get out of here."
"Hmm." Zena nods in cute way. Her face all red.