Aio looked at his watch as he placed the new chip inside. Whenever a hunter completed a mission, data from the mission automatically updated into a local chip. Aio had inserted the chip earlier into one of the stations in Magrest which housed an active hunter board. The system documented the updates related to recent Fringe hunts, and Auditors review the details of the hunt on their end. After the mission details have been screened and assessed, the hunter boards update the chips with the proper rewards and details. Although the Magrest gate guards visually confirmed Aio and Nyx’s kill earlier, and likely would have notified the Auditors by now, most hunters still follow this formalized process as added verification of their hunt, on the off chance that the Auditors failed to become notified.

Currently, Aio rocked in his seat as the Sky-Train he was riding in pivoted towards the district border. This bulky military vehicle was mainly used for the deployment of troops en masse during large scale assaults in the Fringe, but Magrest has provided a few like the one he was riding in as a convenient way for civilians to travel between districts. These modified versions have been stripped bare of all weaponry and operate against established Johrei-powered rail lines, requiring constant maintenance around the clock from groups of specialized engineers stationed at each respective district.

Aio felt a bit queasy. He had never been good about riding passenger in one of these things. Next to him, Abe, Nyx, and Cyr were talking amongst themselves about casual hunter matters, such as weaponry and the like. He looked at the other passengers, some of which were sleeping and some who were looking through daily news projected by their watch onto a floating holo-screen. Aio didn’t understand why he was the only one to feel this queasy.

A beeping sound in Aio’s watch indicated that the updates have been processed, and a 20 [3].00 popped up in shimmering holographic text above his watch. Twenty-thousand Mon. Aio had never gotten so much money at once before. Even when he was helping at the orphanage back in the day, it would’ve taken him more half year to get this much in payment.

Abe smirked at his side, “Well, looks like you got your first big payout. And an Elite to boot. Throw in half of that, and you’ll be able to cover the equipment costs that Nyx had to spot for you.” Aio looked at Abe and quickly swung to Nyx with a pleading look in his eyes.

Nyx chimed in, leaning back on her seat, face sleepily looking at the ground, “Abe, don’t tease the kid. Those upgrades were on me. Let him spend his earnings the way he wants.” Aio thought she looked contemplative about something, and maybe a little bit annoyed, but then again, she often looked annoyed at one thing or another.

“Never pined you for the charitable type, sister,” Cyr said beside her, giving her a light fist bump to her shoulder. She didn’t look up.

“Never pined you for the ‘don’t know when to shut the fuck up type’,” Nyx commented, still not looking up from the ground. Ok, she was angry about something, but then sighed. “Sorry, brother. You didn’t deserve that.” However, Cyr just laughed it off like it wasn’t anything unusual to him. A good-hearted guy, he was.

“I don’t know how you’re so patient with me”, Nyx said, smirking to herself as well.

Aio looked incredulously at the pair. Abe called out to him, “So Aio, you’ve looked over the mission briefing right?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I did”, Aio said.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Apparently, the personal request sent to Caz from this person named Alyx entailed the bounty for the head of a Division Shogun named Cadmi Trepidor. A lot of details had been omitted from the hunter board report for anonymity reasons, but currently the team was on its way to see Caz and the client in person at Necronova. Not much else was disclosed.

“I saw the report. Forgive me for bringing this up, but…I feel like I’m a bit out of my element here” Aio said. It was true. Aio had come from basic training with Calli and Abe, reading up on hunter manuals and history books gathered from training centers held in other districts. And when he finally began his first expedition mission with the team, he gets thrust into a fight with an Elite Enthipid, a superior species of Enthipid which can take down multitudes of militiamen from the Lost Clans and Magrest soldiers on its own, to getting sent on a quest to take down not only a Division hunter, but a Shogun leader at that. Between the monster and a Shogun, Aio didn’t know which one was worse.

“I just,” Aio started, “I just don’t think I’ve had enough training to be out there with you guys. I almost died last time and I don’t want to be the one to drag you guys down.”

Abe reassured Aio, “Hunting missions have been a little more active as of late, but even an Elite or hunting a Division leader isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. Got to start somewhere. I mean, Caz had to fight in the war that saw the end of the only Supreme-grade Enthipid ever to break through our city when he was about your age.”

“He did?” Aio said incredulously.

“Yeah. That’s how he was moved up to Daimyo before. So Aio, things like this are always going to be tough, but it gets easier. With mentors like us, trust me kid – you’re going to get far.” He gave him a thumbs up. Although Aio had heard this type of spiel before, there was something different about it when it came from Abe. His optimisim was infectious.

“Plus, it’s not like we’re sending you to the front lines” Cyr mentioned. “Me and Nyx here will be handling most of that with Caz. Abe’s backing us up in the mid-range. You’re mostly here to watch and keep recon. And you’ve got a good position to start. You’ll be our first ever sniper Aio.”

“But all I have is a bow”, Aio said.

“A bow, Nyx added, that’s powered by Johrei. Trust me, your scope is good enough and so long as the Johrei charge in those arrows maintain, those arrows will travel for as long as they need to before they hit a target. Plus, the the weapon and ammo are linked. Just like Calli’s glide-rifle, you can guide the trajectory or vary the speed of the arrow, as long as the Johrei charge maintains. I’m sure you’ve felt it, even if you didn’t realize it yet.”

Aio did feel something unusual happen in his last training session with Cyriak. It felt like one of those arrows should’ve missed but instead inched ever so slightly to the right when Cyriak moved to dodge. He swore he had misaimed at first. Now things made more sense.

“Using both would cause it to travel smaller distances and you would lose control over the arrow’s trajectory. I recommend you train more later to find a good balance of speed and direction. It’s what we all have to go through whenever we upgrade our gear.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could do all that. I thought it was just the core’s effect in the arrow that really made a difference.” Aio remarked.

Abe turned his head toward Nyx, “Never pegged you for a weapon’s fanatic.”

Color bloomed on Nyx’s face in embarrassment and irritation. “Is everyone here just to piss me off today?” She snarled, teeth bared. Everyone got a good laugh and even she fell into it eventually.

Everybody had a good time before the Sky-Train finally announced the stop at Necronova’s main station. The team stood and began to walk out the sliding doorway.

“C’mon, rookie,” Nyx said. Her faced creased as she struggled to say her next words. “Destination’s a few blocks from here.” There was that annoyed facial expression again.

“Where is it?” Aio asked curiously. “And are you okay?”

Cyr scratched the back of his head, chiming in, “Nyx’s got a bit of history with the place we’re heading to. We’re rendezvousing with the boss at the Valkarie base. He’s there with Mimi Rainsong as we speak, waiting for us.”

Aio was stunned for a moment, and his words didn’t reach his lips as he tried to process the words that were just uttered. This wasn’t in the briefing. His mouth hung open.

“What?”