“What do you think about this one?” Eris asked for my insight on choosing an event match-up for herself. Her height placed her barely below eye level with the screen. I almost offered to find her a stool to stand on or if she wanted me to give her a lift, then figured my suggestion would be immediately dismissed as a joke.
An A-ranked event was selected with the info page displaying all of the details neatly spread out on the kiosk. The picture of a grotesque four-legged insect creature with two scythe-like arms was shown. The closest thing I could relate it to was a praying mantis that went through several cycles of evolution to enhance its ability to kill larger prey.
The bladed arms were sharp enough to cut through solid steel and would be trouble for her shields. I wanted to know her reason for choosing such an obvious and terrible match-up. So long as nothing was able to penetrate her shields then she could kill off any opponent from a safe distance.
“Isn’t it going to be a little difficult?” I paused in thought. “What if you get torn to shreds and regenerate in front of the audience?” I wasn’t sure if it was a good move to accelerate the reforcers visit to tomorrow.
“I’m aiming to get stronger with the side goal of getting you extra points.” I don't know if she was purposely avoiding my question about risk but she relayed her next thought to me.
“I get that you are trying to push your limits, but it needs to be within moderation.” I was trying my best, to not take that as a personal attack against my reasons for choosing my particular events.
“This is the one, fighting it unarmed and by myself will raise it to an S+ rank, granting one million points.” She swiped left through more of the photos on screen and came to her own conclusion. They depicted scenes of severed limbs from multiple parties attempting to kill the bug monster, only to fail horribly.
“Okay, if that’s what you want.” I didn’t understand why she even asked for my insight if she was going to end up ignoring it anyway. I wondered if she only wanted support rather than logical analysis.
We made our way back to the counter to see someone else being helped by our previous receptionist. There was an open counter nearby with another receptionist on standby.
“Hi, there... We found a couple of events to sign up for, that woman over there helped with our questions.” I pointed at the other female receptionist to show that we were still new to things.
The introductions went pretty smooth and there was a whole process before she even asked to hear which events we were interested in. A ton of papers and formalities to handle to ensure the person participating understands the risks involved. The woman didn’t seem to mind me being fourteen years old after handing her my falsified identification card.
I guess it made sense if anyone was able to be down in the undercity at my age then there must be circumstances to the reason for it. I hoped the identification held up down here compared to the military's reaction it had for me.
Eris and I finished signing the last waiver and could finally move on to securing the event listings we had in mind. I told Eris to go ahead first since she only had one event to sign up for unlike my two with multiple handicap questions that needed to be addressed.
The name of the insect creature Eris wanted to go up against was called an Archie. A bug species that is known for its frightening swarm-like warfare. The saying was if you saw one out on the field, then it was too late to run away from the hundreds that were about to appear.
“This might be a bit too tough for her to handle, are you sure about this Sir?” Eris was my slave on paper and that was how others saw our relationship, so for the receptionist to seek my approval may have been the only proper thing to do. Eris paid no attention to the act and waited patiently to carry on with the listing.
“Yes, there's no need to verify with me.” It looked like that sped things up and her asking was a mere formality.
“Very well, and your conditions?” The woman inquired.
“I will fight it by myself, unarmed and only using my magic.” Eris got straight to the point.
“Uh, that would raise the base difficulty for this particular event to an S+ equivalent payout. You will receive a million points upon successful completion.” The receptionist couldn’t help glancing at me as if unsure she heard Eris correctly.
“Yup, that’s what we were told by the other receptionist.” I chimed in since she kept taking glances at me.
“Sir, an S+ ranked event regardless if it is escalated up from an A-rank through handicaps is a big deal. This will be held in the main venue with seats filling out instantly.” The woman showed her growing enthusiasm with the prospects of contracting a big event.
“Wait, how long will it take until Eris can fight in the event?” I had a bad feeling about the way she was making it sound all grandiose.
“Three days…, no it can be ready by tomorrow.” She was reading my facial expressions and figured out that the delayed match was something I wasn’t too interested in.
“However, in the meantime, we will grant you VIP services and accommodate your stay here in the finest housing we can offer.” Her mood turned very upbeat ever since she realized we were going to sign-up for a high-ranking event.
“I guess there's nothing we can do to speed that up.” I said that aloud for myself as my expectations of wanting to fight on the same day were crushed.
All of the finalizations were underway and we gave her a moment to enter everything into the system on her side of the counter. “Your match will be tomorrow at 8PM. Personnel of ours will be assigned to assist you throughout your stay with us.” She picked up a device on her desk and placed it to her ear. “Please wait a moment while I contact someone to meet us here.” It wasn’t a ring or as advanced as my watch that Mia provided me, but seemed to do the same thing and reach those you needed to get a hold of.
“Miss, there are still events I want to sign up for...” There was no way she thought Eris was the only one signing up for an event after having both of us fill out all of those forms. The look of confusion on her face said otherwise though. Did she think I was solely taking advantage of my slave and using her to acquire points for me?
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