"Melissa, run!"
A middle aged woman shouts to a feeble teenage girl wearing rags. The girl, Melissa, cries out as the front door is knocked down by some big looking thugs. Melissa looks back at her parents struggling one last time before climbing out the window. She starts running as fast as her body will allow her, tears streaming down her face as the screams of her parents fade away.
Not thinking, she just runs through the dark, rundown alleys of the slums. After running for a while, she turns into a backstreet partially brightened by the light of the bustling night market. Exhausted, she collapses against the wall, her outstretched arm desperately trying to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
"What's this? A pretty little girl, all alone in the backstreets." 3 large orcs appear behind her. Surrounding her, they start saying disgusting things which the girl doesn't hear due to her exhausted and frightened state. One of the orcs reaches his hand at the girl, who tries to back into the wall. Closing her eyes and turning her head away, She prepares for the inevitable…
A minute passes before she reopens her eyes, only to see the three orcs knocked out on the floor and a hatted man standing over them. The girl is surprised for a second before her exhaustion hits and she falls to the ground. The man swiftly catches her and the last thing she sees is his worried face before she finally passes out.
*******
Ark disembarks from the train and enters a bustling night market, alive with the sounds of marketers advertising their wares and shoppers haggling. The market is arranged in a wide street with stalls arranged alongside shops of a large variety. The hundreds of people are made up of a diverse range of humans and demi-humans from beastmen therianthropes to fish faced aqualoids and scaled lizardmen.
While walking down the crowded street, he just happened to catch a glimpse of a scuffle in a side alley. Curious, he moves closer and sees 3 big orcs, fat demi-humans with pig-like snouts and tusks sticking up from their mouths, harassing a small teenage girl with disheveled blonde hair and round dog ears partially hidden by her hair and the rags covering her. Although it isn't entirely clear, this girl appears to be a beastman.
Ark, ever the altruist, approaches them. Noticing the man, the orcs step away from the girl and turn to him. "Whatcha want, buddy, can't you see we're about to enjoy a delicious meal." the centre orc says as he licks his lips. Ark grimaces and the orcs start laughing and snorting.
"Disgusting…" Ark sighs before adjusting his body. As he tenses his legs, mana flows down and his legs suddenly get bigger due to body enhancing magic.
Body enhancement magic isn't a difficult technique to learn but it is one of the hardest to actually use effectively. This is because it only lasts a few seconds and has to be activated very quickly and with precise control otherwise it will be practically useless.
He then swiftly launches forward. Aiming for the main orc, he enhances his right arm and grabs its face with his hand and brings down the fat body onto its back, smashing the orc's head into the hard concrete pavement in an instant.
The other orcs stand surprised for a second before the one on the left gathers his bearings and lunges his right fist towards Ark in a punch. Ark notices this and reacts reflexively with a left kick that hits the orc's arm away before following through with an enhanced right hook to the face. Before the orc can react, he kicks its shin with his right leg, knocking it down so he can pull its head down before kneeing it in the face.
The third orc tries to wrap his arms around the distracted Ark to immobilise him but he is too slow for Ark who ducks out of the way before grabbing its arm and judo throwing it onto the body of the second orc. He then stomps on its face, knocking it out.
Ark catches his breath for a moment. The beastman girl opens her eyes and looks at him for a few seconds before collapsing. Fortunately Ark manages to catch her before she passes out.
******
Captain Tholl and Elsa are riding the subway train to the adventurer's guild when they are unknowingly approached by an imposing giant with a bald head and a scary, scarred face. The scary giant stops and stares at them until Tholl turns his head and notices him.
"Jeremy?" Tholl asks the giant.
"Tholl! It is you!" The giant named Jeremy exclaims excitedly as his scary expression quickly changes to a cheerful and welcoming grin, the two giants then join hands and chest bump. "It's been a while! I think the last I saw you was the…"
"The fish factory outbreak!" They said in unison before bursting out laughing.
"I couldn't eat fish for a month after that!" Tholl followed up, now also wearing a cheerful face, "I hear Orichalcam Foods still hasn't recovered."
"Well of course not, that really exposed the reality of their weird fake food production."
The two laugh for a minute before calming down.
"Anyway… I didn't know you were in the Almargg system. Last I heard you were some noble's retainer in the Luxian sector? That not work out?" Tholl asks.
"You know us adventurers. Can't be tied down too long." Jeremy replies with a slight chuckle, "How's the Chimera and your party? Elsa, still as cold as ever." Jeremy gestures to Elsa who is leaning on the wall next to Tholl. Hearing this, Elsa sneers at Jeremy, who returns a nice smile, before looking away again.
"Still got that super rookie? What's his name, Arch?"
"Yeah, Ark, he's still a bit thick but his skills are top notch. The Chimera's been further disfigured, but ever reliable. And, uh… Oh that's right, we found a new kid, a mechanical master but always so timid. Don't worry though, I'll straighten him out like always!"
"Ha ha ha! Of course, Instructor Tholl!"
"So how's… What was it? Oh yeah, Clarissa! How's Clarissa?"
"Oh my beautiful Clarissa!" Jeremy pauses, his happy expression slowly changing to sadness, "Actually, she's in the shop getting some serious maintenance. Encountered some pirates in the system and they severely roughed up my baby…"
"Damn man, that's unlucky."
"But, fear not! She has not been rendered useless!" Jeremy exclaims while fist bumping the air.
Tholl chuckles as the train arrives in the station. Elsa quickly grabs his arm and pulls him away. Tholl, noticing this, says his farewells to Jeremy and they exit the train.
******
Captain Tholl and Elsa walk up a wide staircase full of all sorts of people walking up and down. They emerge from the top into a massive, somewhat crowded and elegant city square that is overshadowed by a magnificent, mausoleum-like, building with tall columns in the central entrance opposite the stairs. The building's beautiful white exterior is lit up by spotlights and the ambient light from the surrounding city, complemented by the starry night sky above. Behind it is the tall 'Guild' building that reaches towards said night sky.
To the sides of the city square are other buildings that extend round from the main building. Opposite to the main building is an open area to the sides of the subway with a great view of the lit up cityscape and contrasting darkness outside the thick exterior walls.
The pair walk through the square, passing a decorative water fountain in the centre, and through the columned entrance of the Adventurer's Guild. Contrary to the prestigious aesthetic, the building is full of rough and rowdy warriors, equipped with all sorts of swords, spears, axes and rifles. The broad and tall entrance hall has three massive screens attached high up on the back wall just above a physical 3D 'Adventurer's Guild' sign. On the middle screen is a leaderboard ranking the top adventuring parties in the whole galaxy, it occasionally changes to a different leaderboard ranking the top local parties for the first half of the galactic year.
On the right screen, it shows the intergalactic date which is the 12th of November in the year 1046, that is how long it has been since the defeat of the Demon Lord which marked the beginning of the era of prosperity. Below the date, are 2 digital clocks, the local time and universal time.
There are 2 ways of tracking time: local time, which is the track of the daylight cycle of the planet you are currently on, and universal time, which follows the daylight cycle of a specific place on the Origin planet, Earth. Most people exclusively use the universal time, because local time is always changing constantly with everyone always on the move.
On the left most screen, it shows a slideshow of the highest difficulty A & S Rank quests with their huge bounties shown alongside a, usually terrifying, monster.
Lined up along the walls and placed in a pattern around the room are touchscreen kiosks where adventurers are lining up to use. On the far left wall, adventures are crowding around a large screen with many quests shown. Scattered orderly around the room are benches and tables where adventurers are waiting, hanging out or even forming parties.
Elsa starts loitering in the waiting area while Tholl goes to line up in a queue to a desk labelled 'Completions'. In front of him in the line is a confident man in dark blue armour, gelled back red hair that spikes behind his head and a cyber spear attached to his back, leaning against the front desk.
"Get this right," the man starts speaking, "There was this troll, right, huge sucker, and I got him, right, with my spear, right." he says proudly.
"Wow, sir, I am contractually obligated to tell you that is impressive." the woman at the front desk says with a lifeless face and a monotonous voice.
"Ha ha" he chuckles confidently, not paying attention to the woman's attitude as he combs his hair with his hand, "I know right!" He pauses for a second before continuing, "So… Can I get your number?"
The woman sighs and stares blankly at him. The man's face becomes down trodden and he slowly walks away, a faint "Right…" can be heard from him. Tholl pats the guy on the back enthusiastically and moves up to the desk.
"Guild card and, if necessary, item for delivery." the receptionist says in the same tone.
Tholl pulls out a light green card with a big B, signifying his rank, his name 'Tholl Mingand' and his party name 'Chimera' and other details like his species and age. After this, he then pulls out the storage box and with a thud, he places it on the desk. "An escaped giant terraboar, exterminated with corpse in good condition," he explains.
The receptionist scans the card and box before typing on a computer below the desk.
"Quest complete, points have been added to your party, and your credits will be transferred to the designated accounts within 24 hours."
"Cool." Tholl takes back the card before walking away.
As he approaches Elsa, she has an annoyed look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asks, worriedly.
"Ark has taken in another stray." she says, sighing and showing her phone to Tholl who puts his hand on his forehead while chuckling quietly.