."You heard the man!" Mia cut in. "If they think you're soft, you're done for." She turned to the receptionist and added, "Also, wow, you really don't care about the rules."
"Kid, you know there's no point probing into his past. He's got a ship and no bounty. Sounds fine to me," the receptionist replied.
Von jumped in with a question. "Oh, hey. Ships aren't cheap, right? A guy can't just wake up and decide, 'Yeah, I'm gonna be a mercenary!' and get the job that day. So how do you guys make sure you have employees?"
Von had done some research himself. He knew that a ship with useful gear would cost at least 600,000 Vetra. Converted to Japanese currency, that was 60,000,000 yen. That had to be a pretty significant chunk of change.
"A lot of 'em are retired soldiers looking for a new life," the receptionist explained. "They're paid well, and they get the job done. A lot of people turn to mercenary work for a fresh start. Some rich people just do it for thrills."
"Are there any educational facilities for mercs?" Von asked.
"Yeah, but none in this star system," the receptionist replied.
"I'm sensing some high barriers to entry."
"Yeah, well, it's a big galaxy. There's plenty of demand out there." Von pondered whether the barriers to entry were so high that enrollment stayed low, making it not worthwhile to build many facilities, or if there simply wasn't enough work to justify it.
He decided to leave the topic there.
"Registration's done," the receptionist said. "Next up is your test."
"I'm getting tested?" Von asked.
"Yeah, buddy. We can't know what jobs to give you if we don't know how strong you are," the receptionist said.
"That sounds fair, I guess. How does it work?" Von asked.
"We've got training simulators. You do it in there."
"Okay."
The receptionist called to someone in the back of the office before guiding Von and Mia to a different room. Wait, why was Mia joining in on this? She smirked when she noticed Von looking.
"I believe I have the right to see how strong our little newbie is," Mia said.
"Do you?" Von retorted. To be fair, she was the reason he registered at the guild so smoothly. He supposed he owed it to her to let her see his skills. It could also be a good chance to show off to a five-year veteran. Someone with that kind of experience would be a good barometer of how he'd stack up in the wider universe.
"Here," the receptionist said as they entered the simulation room. The room was larger than Von expected, containing several enclosures, each the size of a small truck and housing a simulator. It looked like they had pulled cockpits out of ships and installed them here.
"Pick the one most like your own cockpit and strap in," the receptionist instructed.
"Awesome," Von replied. Cockpits differed greatly in design based on the ship's manufacturer, including their control schemes. Fortunately, this was all part of Astria Online, so Von was familiar with the process. "This looks good," he said, selecting a high-end military simulator.
"Oh ho, the high-end military one. I'll get her set right up for you," the receptionist said, sounding impressed by Von's choice. He left to start up the machine that operated the simulators. Mia disappeared at some point, likely to watch from a distance.
"All right, we're gonna begin this evaluation," the receptionist announced.
"Understood. What's the ship body data for this test?" Von asked.
"You've got it with you. You should be able to use it just like it's your own ship... Hey, whoa, what the hell?" the receptionist exclaimed.
"What's up?" Von asked, confused.
"I mean, this ship's data is... Can you use this, dude?"
"As long as it's Warhawk's data, yes," Von replied. Was something wrong? In Astria Online, Warhawk was among the stronger ships, but he didn't know how it measured up in this universe.
"Ah, fine," the receptionist said. "The test is meant to measure your skill using your own ship, anyway. It's a simple test: just get rid of all the hostile ships. All ships except yours are hostile. There won't be many at first, but they'll attack in waves. Over time, they'll get stronger and more plentiful."
"Understood," Von said.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road. Start up your ship."
The cockpit went dark, dimming to minimal lighting. So they were going to follow him from the pre-startup phase, huh? Von started up the main generator and immediately raised its output to battle mode. Outer space spread before him as the simulator began in earnest. It was crazy how realistic it looked.
The cockpit's artificial intelligence announced, "Unknown warships have appeared. Their weapons are online."
Von activated his weapons in turn and deftly rotated his ship toward the enemy. Then he slammed on the accelerator. The g-force immediately shoved him back into his seat.
"Whoa! It even replicates g-forces when you accelerate," Von thought.
What kind of crazy tech were they using for this? If this universe was the same as Astria Online, then artificial gravity generators should exist. It had to be something like that.
An enemy ship sluggishly turned to face Von's vessel, and he maneuvered to take a bite out of their flank. Four weapon arms emerged from the Warhawk. Von squeezed the trigger, and four beams of light flashed, piercing the enemy's hull. The ship exploded an instant later.
"Wow, they're weak," Von remarked. The slow, plodding enemy ship looked like a transport vessel, based on its large cargo size. Was that really the best they had? More enemy ships appeared, but none of the weak, slow, frail crafts stood any chance against him. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
When would he get to show off his real skills?
"Heh. The newbie evaluation program ain't nothin' to you, huh?" the receptionist said, sounding impressed.
"My ship's just way better than theirs," Von replied.
"Yeah, also true. Anyway, let's start a new program."
"Understood."
They moved on to the next evaluation. It was a little better than the first, but the enemy still lumbered at him—slow and weak, barely better than the pirates he had taken down four days ago.
"They're so weak that it's hardly satisfying to blow them up," Von said, growing disappointed.
"Buddy... that's the veteran training program."
"Ha ha ha! That's a funny joke. Got anything harder?"
"Yeah, sure... but I doubt you can handle this," the receptionist said, raising the stakes with a sly smile.
Suddenly, ten space pirate ships appeared, bristling with real weapons. Their firepower was enough to take this a bit serious.
"Show me what you're got," the receptionist challenged.
Von, eyes narrowing as he stared at his enemies, smirked. "Finally... some worthy opponents. This is going to be fun."