Richter was a short man, around 5’ 5” with short black hair, almost like a military haircut. He had brown eyes and was wearing some sort of white suit. He walked in the middle of the room and was followed by some beefy dudes, presumably bodyguards. “Welcome to your new home,” he said, “This world is called Eden, and as the head of the IFA, I have been tasked to get you up to speed and with the norms of our society.”
Richter snapped his fingers and a door opened on the left side of the room. “This door leads to the library of the building. Ther you can read books on our culture and the wonders of magic.”
He snapped his fingers again only this time, a black orb appeared in front of him. “This orb is used to give you an identification card. This card shows your rank according to the IFA and your basic information.”
A middle aged man across the room raised his hand, “What basic information does the card show?”
“Great question,” Richter said, “The card shows your date of arrival, your name, and your age. These are used to keep people from doing the wrong things like children drinking alcohol. Now please file up to receive your card.”
Dean got up and followed Rei and the group to the orb. He waited for his turn, and it eventually came. He walked to the orb and put his hands on it. The orb glowed a bright yellow and spit out a card. Dean grabbed it and looked at it. The card had all the info that Richter had mentioned only, his rank was an E. For some reason, Dean was disappointed.
After everyone had gotten their ID, Richter spoke again, “Now that everyone has their card, I will begin to explain your situation. Your and the many few that have passed the trial of God. You have been chosen to take a role in this world called Eden. Your past no longer matters, only your future and what you do with it. You are currently in the ‘Neutral Zone’. This place is in the center of the world, surrounded by the four great continents There are three choices you have at the moment. Choice one, you can register yourself at the IFA and become a Fixer. A Fixer is someone who fixes problems, be it fixing a fence, or exterminating monsters.” The crowd began to murmur at the mention of monsters. “Do not worry, there are no monsters in the vicinity. As for the second option, you can join the military and fight in wars for one of the many great nations. The final option is to settle down and live with a nice family.” Richter snapped his fingers, and three doors appeared, “After you do your research, you are free to choose any of these choices.” Richter turned around and left as soon as he arrived.
Dean got up from his chair and started towards the library. “Where are you going?” Rei asked.
“I’m going to the library for information.” Dean walked towards the door and opened it. He was welcomed to bright lights and rows of books. The first thing Dean went to was the history section. He skimmed through the books and found nothing but wars and conflicts. He went to more of the section and found books on this world’s level of technology. The main weapons of this world were swords and bows. It was mostly because magic was a powerful weapon when combined with them. Dean also noticed that not everyone could have magic, only 20% of the population could use magic. This led to the invention of artificial mana circuits.
Dean didn’t know what mana circuits were until he read this. Mana circuits were veins inside of a person’s body where mana flowed. Artificial Mana Circuits, or AMC for short, where handcrafted versions of Organic Mana Circuits(OMC), essentially replacing electricity. Of course, electricity was still used but it was very uncommon. AMC led to the invention of Magically Infused Items or Weaponry(MIIW), they were also called enchanted items. This led to the creation of Mana Rifles and items that used magic, for example, dimensional rings and amulets that buffed the wearer. Mana Rifles were like laser guns, they shot a beam of mana out of themselves. This was invented for the common man to at least have a fighting chance against mages. They were also used in war for the common soldiers. After the invention of Mana Rifles came planes and bombs; any weapon you can think of. Dean put the book back and enjoyed what he had just learned.
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Dean then went to research the IFA. He found that the IFA was the main resource of the Neutral Zone. The IFA instated fixers as a person-for-hire. Dean also read that groups of fixers, that banded together, were called Offices. After that was a list of fixer offices. Dean put the books away and went to the section that intrigued him the most, the monster section.
In the monster section were archives of the different types of monsters that live in this world ranging from rabbits that shot icicles to dragons that have lived for millions of years. Most of the monsters weren’t that, they were just creatures that had access to magic. Dean read up on what material you could gain from them. Most of the materials were used in making MIIWs or furniture. The materials that were gathered were stronger than titanium. Dean made a weapon with his gloves and looked at what material was used for the creation. He analyzed the metal and looked it up in the books. It was something called Manaium; It was mana that had been condensed so much that it would usually break and can only be naturally formed. Dean didn’t know who the creator was, but what he made didn’t make any sense. Dean put that books back on the shelf and walked back to the group.
-----
As soon as Dean arrived back at the table, he heard a beeping coming from his ID. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that a blue dot was showing. He touched it and a screen appeared in front of him, displaying an image of Rei.
“What the hell is this?” Dean asked.
“The IDs have a communication mechanism in them,” Rei explained.
“And how did you get yours to connect to mine?”
“It’s quite simple actually, our IDs were already connected for some reason.”
“It seems like they record who comes with who,” Dean thought out loud.
“Yeah, the tech here is off the charts.”
“So, why did you call me?” Dean asked.
“Oh yeah, we got our room numbers.”
“Room numbers?”
“This place is like a hotel for people before they make one of the three choices.”
“I’m assuming they gave all of us the same room number.”
“Exactly, it’s supposed to be a 5 bedroom, 3 bath hotel room.”
“Sounds very fancy, what’s the room number?”
“It’s 621, there was an elevator by where we were sitting.”
“Dean looked around and spotted the elevator, “Alright, I'll see you when I get there.” Dean pressed the end call button and walked towards the elevator.
-----
Dean found room number 621 and knocked on the door. Stella answered the door and was wearing some type of robe.
“Took you long enough,” she said as she crossed her arms. Dean pushed out of the way and walked into the room. He saw a chair in what looked like the living room and took a seat. After a couple of minutes, the group came out of their rooms and sat in the living room. They were all wearing robes.
“So tell us what you found,” Rei said.
Dean leaned forward in his chair and told them what he found.