Information,” Asher said, trying a new command hoping for something new to happen, the last couple of times he had tried new commands he was rewarded with the embarrassing silence of the system, this time he heard a ding echo through his ears and a new screen appeared before him. Asher was ecstatic that he had finally managed to figure out a new piece of the system but more annoyed at himself that he hadn’t tried this earlier. After taking a second to scream at himself inside his head he turned his attention towards the screen floating in front of him.

[Bear Core: Common Core]

[Effect: +1 Defensive Skill, +5% Beast Modification]

Asher couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment while looking at the screen, he didn’t know if it was the little information or the fact that it took him so long to try looking at the bear core’s information. The core wasn’t horrible, and it did exactly what the director had said, he didn’t know if the information that the system gave him was the same as what the guild had. 

“It gives a five percent beast modification, what does that mean?” Asher said aloud while staring at the screen, he had a few guesses as to what he thought it meant but he was really hoping that he was mistaken. The director looked at him in confusion but quickly recovered. 

“A beast core can give anyone a one to five percent modification, it means it will cause the adventurer to gain up to a five percent body modification,” the director said, quickly covering for Asher. Asher could only nod along; he had expected something of the sort, but he wasn’t expecting for this core to be the worst it could be in the body modification department. He knew before seeing this that he wasn’t likely to keep the core, but this fact sealed the deal. 

Asher glanced his eyes away from the screen causing it to disappear, then after his vision was unimpeded, he placed the core in the center of the wooden chest, letting the receptionist close the lid and slide him some papers. 

“This paperwork just goes over the basic information about what will happen while the core is in the guild’s possession, and how we will be taking a five percent commission from the sale price, you can either have the money given to you in person or have the money deposited in your bank account. I will just need you to select which option in one of the two boxes above the signature marker,” The woman said, pushing the paperwork to him. Asher picked up the two pages fairly confident in his legal skills to know if he was getting screwed or not. 

Asher looked down at the paperwork the moment he had brought it into reading distance, the problem was that he quickly realized he couldn’t read the language. They all spoke the same language, so he hadn’t even considered this possibility, on the paper there was a runic language that was impossibly different from English, without knowing what each symbol meant there was no way for him to be able to read the documents given to him. Asher could only stare at the signature area the receptionist had marked with a red line, and above it was two empty boxes he assumed was the payment option.

With a sigh of defeat, he selected one of the two at random hoping that the bottom one was the bank account deposit, while getting the cash in hand he didn’t want a repeat of what had happened with Greg some people clearly needed money and with the amount that he would publicly receive it would be better if they automatically put it in his account. With another sigh Asher signed the papers in front of him, before this he had always lived by never signing something he didn’t read or understand, but this time he would have to concede.

“Perfect, we will have that money deposited in your account the moment we have it, and the five percent will be deducted automatically, thank you so much for trusting the adventures guild with your business,” the lady said while taking the paperwork from Asher and placing it in what looked like the beginnings of one of the binders that littered the shelves behind her. 

“Thank you so much your help Rebeca, now if you could just give us the list of available cores we will be on our way,” Nick said aloud clearly trying to get things moving along, it made Asher happy that he decided to go with the directors advice, for now he was the only one who knew his situation and was willing to help him in the process of getting his cores.

“Of course, director I will get that list for you immediately,” Rebeca said disappearing behind the desk to gather the requested documents, Asher didn’t know how much information the director had requested but he was starting to worry, if there was too much, he wouldn’t be able to go through all of it even with the director's help.

After a few minutes of Asher and the director standing in awkward silence the Rebeca returned with a stack of papers, the stack wasn’t massive, but it was still enough to make Asher groan in anticipation of having to go through all the options, it reminded him of long nights in the office. 

“Here you go director, if you need anything else don’t hesitate to ask,” Rebeca said smiling, handing the small stack of papers to Nick, he took them and with a nod turned to Asher and motioned for them to go and take a seat in what appeared to be a nearby cafe. The two of them took a seat at one of the empty tables in the cafe and before either of them could begin looking at any of the papers in the stack a young male appeared before them wearing what appeared to be a black apron. 

“Is there anything I can get you to drink before you start your meeting?” The young man asked Asher and Nick, looking at each of them for a second before Nick spoke up, saving Asher from the exchange of glances. 

“Yes, I will have a Gratel and my friend here will have a Naket,” the director said, looking up from the stack of papers he had begun to review before the young man had arrived. Asher wasn’t sure if he had expected this and that's why he had chosen this place or if this was just by chance, it made sense to Asher that if you sat down at a cafe, a waiter or waitress would appear eventually. 

“Perfect, will that Naket be hot or cold?” The young waiter said not bothering to look at Asher for an answer, even though that drink was presumably for him.

“Hot please,” the director said, turning his gaze back to the stack of papers, the young waiter just nodded before leaving the two of them to their stack of papers. As soon as the young waiter was out of earshot Asher turned to the director with a skeptic look.

“What on earth did you just order for me?” Asher asked while the director scanned a few of the pages, placing some in one stack and the rest in another. After taking a few seconds to finish the one he was on and placing it in the appropriate stack he turned to Asher. 

“First off calm your tone, second I got you a drink that resembles what you call coffee, or at least that's what it's been described as to me, and lastly you're not on earth anymore so unless you want to find trouble I recommend you stop using that saying,” the director said with a hushed tone, Asher could only stare back blankly, how did he know what coffee was, how did he know what earth was, who told him, was there someone else from earth here? All these questions are more raced through his mind. 

“I know what you're thinking and no there is no one from your world left here, a long time ago I met a young man who was close to your age now and he had appeared from your world, except when he arrived, he received a lot more notice than you have. I got close to him and learned a lot about your home world … but sadly that same notice he got when he first arrived is what led to his untimely demise,” the director said with a somber tone and hushed voice. Asher’s expression softened as Nick talked, clearly the two of them had been close and this just might have been the director's way of making amends in his mind. But before Asher could say anything the young waiter was back, and he held two white mugs. 

“Here is your Gratel and here is your Naket, if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask,” and with that the young waiter disappeared, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence.