"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" A loud, boisterous voice wakes me from my revery. I feel a source of body warmth snuggled against me as I open my eyes and sit up. I look over at my right to see a certain dragonewt holding tightly onto my shoulder. "Oh yeah. I slept here last night." I mumble to myself while stifling a yawn. The weekend had passed uneventfully, so I decided to stay at the Archimedes' penthouse last night.
A plate of bacon and eggs is placed in my lap by Sophia. She then pries Nora off of my arm and carries her to her room. I shift over to eat my breakfast and Sophia comes at sits next to me with a plate of pancakes drizzled with whipped cream and syrup and little squares of butter underneath. A small strawberry is placed on top. It's the picture perfect definition of pancakes.
I dig into my own place with two sunny-side-up eggs cooked to perfection with a little yolk running from the center. The thick slabs of bacon have a excellent ratio of fat to meat. Infinitely better than anything you can grab at the supermarket. We both eat in silence before stacking our plates and returning them to the kitchen. Sophia sits down again after her small trip to the kitchen and begins to speak.
"Today we have business at both the Hero's guild and the Adventurer's guild. We have to redeem your kills at the Adventurer's first then some paperwork at the Hero's. After that I will give you a tour of the Hero's guild and show you what most heroes do daily." She explains our plans for today. "Redeem my kills?" I ask because I don't think I killed anything recently. "Yes. Going into the dungeon is seen as a secondary job because the guild card counts how many monsters you personally killed. My husband actually made the cards integrate with the system kill messages. As Aria told me, you quit your job as an accountant, good for you by the way, and while being a hero pays well, that is only if you are an actually respected hero. In your case, you are a disciple, so you need more income. I, myself, receive a sizable sum from the guild as well, but I do have a job that I can do for enjoyment." She answers me.
After that long conversation we both get dressed in our hero outfits and one short warp later we arrive in the Adventure's guild. Sophia leads me to the elevator, but as we pass I notice this sign.
Registration: 1st & 2nd floors
Redeeming: 2nd floor
Accounting: 3rd & 4th floors
Marketing: 5th floor
Complaints: 6th, 7th, 8th, & 9th floors
Cafeteria: 10th floor
Under construction: 11th - 18th floors
Managerial Office: 19th floor
In the elevator, Sophia pushes the button for the second floor. The elevator music is patchy. As if the speakers haven't been maintained in years. Nevertheless, I can hear faint humming come from Sophia's mask. We awkwardly stand in the middle of this elevator for what seems like forever. Sophia starts looking around until she finds the fire department inspection form. As she reads that I gaze around the dilapidated compartment. The rust on the walls and ground, and the flickering lights really sell the low budget aesthetic.
Finally, the doors open and we can step out from the stifling atmosphere of the elevator. The stanchions that make up the line snake around the entire room splitting at points to go to the employee's desks. However, in contrast to the area the line takes up, the people are nonexistent. The people working at the desks are slumped over their desks in pure boredom. When Sophia and I walk up, a young girl that looks fresh out of school bounces up when she notices us come near.
"H-Hello, welcome to the monster redemption office! We are also known as the exchange office." The young girl stammers as she straightens up her appearance. She slightly combs her hair with her hands before giving us the customer service smile. Unlike other customer service smiles, she hasn't lost the life in her eyes yet. Sophia speaks up saying, "Hello. We need to redeem this one's kills." She points to me as she says 'this ones'. "May I see your guild card please?" I hand over my guild card. The girl then swipes my card a few times into her computer. "Let's see here. For your total kills you receive $125.42. This will automatically be put into your bank account. You are also eligible for a rank up test as you have defeated a monster higher than your level. Would you like to take the test now?" "I think I'll decline. Can I take it another day?" "Of course, the rank up test will still be available for the remaining month." After saying our thanks Sophia leads me to a window and opens it wide. "I'm not taking that elevator again." I all I hear her say before she pushes me out the window.
I'm going to kill her if I live. The wind whistles in my ear before I hit the ground. I land with a thud and a crack. Even if we were on the second floor, falling from any height still hurts. Moving as little as possible I see Sophia effortlessly walking down the side of the building. I manage to spit out, "I…hate…you." "That isn't a nice thing to say. Even if I completely deserve it. I brought a gift for you too." She pulls out a tablet. Similar to the one that gave me Inspect, but instead of a rock shell with orange lines this one was more rose gold with orange lines. She presses it into my hands where it flashes and disappears.
[ Through external sources you have unlocked the skill: Minor Physical Regeneration(Medium, Passive) ]
[ Minor Physical Regeneration - A mid tier regeneration skill that can heal most minor injuries in a matter of minutes and more intermediate ones such as broken bones in a matter of hours. The amount of time varies on skill rank. ]
I feel a soothing aura flow through me similar to the healing magic that Sophia used on me before. This time though where her magic was similar to waves dropped like a stone into a pond, this felt more like jumping into a swimming pool yourself. No ripples, but a lesser yet more direct approach. Regaining the ability to stand with only a minor limp I throw a punch at Sophia's mask. She doesn't even dodge as my fist makes a connection with her. All that's left is a searing pain in my fist though. I promise I will get my revenge for this.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Hmm, you know, that skill stone I just placed into your hand. It cost twelve times your annual salary at your last job." With that last statement, I am left standing in shock. She just gave me something that expensive. A something that most would probably kill for. Something that could launch someone into the middle class. Maybe I'll rethink the revenge idea.
We take the subway since apparently warping is a bad idea when someone is injured. Something about the bone fragments being hard to account for and might end up in my skin. Somehow, nobody notices us as two costumes heroes sit in public transportation during the busiest part of the day for some reason. I might ask Thomas if this is some kind of spell Friday.
Arriving at the gilded halls of the Hero's guild, instead of heading to a back hallway, we go into the central corridor. This hallway is somehow even more decorated with awards and plaques covering the walls. Newspaper clips and interviews are being played and set. This entire hallway is a monument to the actions the heroes take. At the back of the hall is two curved set of stairs with a obtrusive water fountain in-between them. We walk up the stairs to the second floor. This area is still covered in memories, but this is more subdued. It shows the origins of the Hero's guild and the first adventurers that became heroes. After the villains terrorized the capital, people considered vigilantes came together and formed this guild. The story is still popular to this day, known by many, even to ignorant people like myself. The first guild-master, The General, died protecting the guild. Today, corruption fills the air as more and more heroes lose sight of the guild's purpose.
Navigating through the many endless and twisting halls we find a conference room. "Just so you know, what we did at the Institute broke many, many rules. We kind of have to state our case. Let me do the talking, I've been through several of these already. Afterwards I'll give you that tour I promised. Okay?" I nod my head in affirmation and we head inside.
The room looks very plain compared to the rest of the building. It looks like a storage room they just cleaned out and shoved a table and some chairs into. They probably didn't want these events to be made public for some reason. The table was shaped like a crescent moon with five people on the outside. Sophia and I both take a seat on the inside of the moon.
"Space Weaver, we have gathered here today in light of your recent…adventure." The person in the center seat said with a booming voice that made the room shake. "You disregarded your patrol area in favor of the whims of an insignificant citizen. You disregarded your duty to protect this land and its people with the destruction of Faulken's Institute. At this action, an employee was killed in an explosion of radioactive proportions. You have however discovered a plot to disarm and destroy the powers that protect to common people. We have also noticed that you have finally taken it upon yourself to acquire a partner. Though inexperienced we trust that you both work well together. In light of these recent events how do you plead?" He finished with a deafening silence falling over the room. "Not guilty." Sophia casually stated while stretching. A minute passes in the strained mood, Sophia staring into the man's eyes while she stares back.
'You there. What is your name?' I hear the same voice that was shaking the room not too long ago resounding in my head. Looking at the man in the middle I see a smirk on his face. 'Seeing as how you reacted I can assume that you are not used to Telepathy. Yours is so much clearer than the average person though. Intriguing. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. What are your thoughts of Space Weaver's character?'
What do I think about Sophia? Well, she saw something in me to make me a hero. I still don't know what though. She took me in as a disciple which I believe is a coveted position. She told me several of her secrets even if I'm sure she has more, but she helped me anyway in my endeavor. Even if she had nothing to do with it. I use my telepathy on him, 'I would trust her with my life.' That action elicits some reaction though I don't know if it's from what I said or if it's the fact that I can use Telepathy. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "The hero known as Space Weaver is found to be not guilty. Dismissed." As soon as he said that all of the people around the table immediately melted into the shadows. Like they literally melted like some hot butter.
Sophia grabs me by the shoulder and drags me out of the room. "Alright, tour time." We go to the main entrance. "Alright this is the grand entrance. To the left is what is known as the Beginner's Track. It's where most startups go to have their first jobs and missions. It also contains a minor gym and training course. If you remember Reginald's office is tucked away down there." At the mention of the dragon's office I realize that I know two dragon type species. That is definitely something to brag about.
"The right hallway is called the Hall of Memories. As you can see the entire building is covered in events where heroes defeated their adversary. However, the Hall of Memories is dedicated to the great heroes who are no longer with us. The forward hall leads to the second floor where most administration and utility offices are. The cafeteria is located up there, not that many heroes use it. I actually have my own office up there too if you want to see it?" I nod my head. Walking through the maze-like structure of the hallways we eventually find a ordinary looking door. "Try and open it." She shivers in excitement. Pushing on the door with all my weight nothing happens. Even using Rock Hand, I get no change. Giving up with slumped shoulders Sophia easily pushes the door open.
She comes back out holding a small stone. "I need you to shove some of your mana into this rock. It'll key you into the security system so that you can actually get in here." I do as she says and force mana into the pebble. After that I was able to push the door open.
The inside is different from what I expected. If I had to describe it in one word it would be 'plush'. There were cushions everywhere and bean-bags lined the room. Small lanterns illuminated the room held from spider silk and gave a soft comforting light in the room. Shoved in the corner is a desk. A desk that seems normal but if you look closely you can notice that there is a blanket surrounding the edge and a space heater that runs underneath. An obvious fire hazard. The walls have some newspaper clips of her battles, but, unlike the rest of the building, some losses are included as well. These clips though aren't what took up most of the wall. What did take up space was hundreds of photos of Sophia and her family. There was a photo of a toddler Nora with her face smudged with birthday cake. A photo of Sophia and Thomas in some sort of cave area. There was even a photo of the four in the oval office.
Sophia sits down at her table as she visibly collapses. Her slumped form giving way to the efforts of gravity. She then starts softly snoring. I think I'll let her sleep for a bit.