Ascension: Online

Everything went by like normal after that. The furniture that man crashed into were all thrown out, to be replaced later. Soon, it was our turn to meet the receptionist.

"Er… good afternoon," I said awkwardly. It was pretty difficult to engage in a normal conversation after attracting so much attention just now.

"Good afternoon!" the receptionist, not bothered by that one bit, greeted me like any other customer. In fact, she even seemed a little more enthusiastic. "You four are newcomers here, correct?"

We nodded collectively, and she smiled. "In that case, welcome to the Hunter's Guild. First, I'll do a little introduction on who we are and what we do. Then, if you're interested, I can issue guild cards for you all."

"Sounds good," I replied briskly, to which she beamed happily.

"Great! The Hunter's Guild is an organization stationed all across the eight continents of Ascentia, with the exception of Necromopolis and Saharune, since those two places barely have any civilization. It could be said that we're the biggest non-government agency in the entire world, formed by the people, for the people."

"Impressive," Ichigo murmured.

"Now, you might be wondering what exactly we do," the receptionist continued, before pulling out a flyer of some kind and handing it to me. "Here at the Hunter's Guild, we do a variety of things, from killing wild Magic Beasts to capturing wanted criminals. Essentially, whatever there is a request for, the Hunter's Guild does it, as long as it is combat-related."

"Good to know we won't have to clean toilets or anything," Horiya chuckled.

"So, how about it? If you wish, I can provide more detailed information, but I believe this should be enough for you to make a decision."

I turned to the others, who all met my look with a firm nod.

"We're interested. But is there some kind of uh… manual or something?" I asked. "This flyer you gave me is not exactly detailed…"

"Don't worry, after I issue your guild cards, you will naturally receive a guidebook," the receptionist replied, easing my worries. "Now then… you first."

She pointed at me. "What's your name? First and last, please."

"Igarashi Kaze. Kaze is my first name, Igarashi my last."

"Got it. Age?"

Hm… she doesn't ask many questions. Ming Ye had instantly pointed out the fact that my name sounded like something from the Nihon province, but this girl didn't say anything. As expected of a receptionist - no questions, just answer.

"14," I replied truthfully.

The receptionist nodded. "Okay, so you're eligible… gender is… just double-checking - male, I presume?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Lastly, date of birth?"

Now that was a problem. Was the year in here the same as the year outside? I decided to take a gamble.

"January 1st, 2037," I replied. This was my real birthday. Hina-nee's was on the exact same day, just a year earlier - 2036.

The receptionist didn't show any sign of surprise, and I let out a sigh of relief. Seems that the current year in here was indeed the same as the year back on Earth. I had been afraid the Common Era (CE) of this world didn't start at the same time as Earth, so the actual year number was different, but I guess not.

"And… that's all!" the receptionist exclaimed. A device beside her on the desk then began some sort of mechanical process, and after a few seconds, a card was spit out. She took it and handed it to me.

I took a look at it. It was designed in a similar fashion to ID cards back on Earth, except without a picture. Instead, there was some sort of… finger-like shape where the portrait of my face should've been.

"Press your index finger in the space on the left-hand side of the card," the receptionist explained patiently. I complied.

Immediately, the card began glowing for a second, and I felt a slight burn from beneath my index finger, but it wasn't painful. After a few seconds, the process was complete.

"Huh…"

The empty space just now had been replaced with a transparent square of some kind, allowing me to see through it.

"This is to prevent fraud and identity theft," the receptionist explained. "You will be asked to place your index finger on the card every time we ask to verify your identity. If it glows up like it did just now, it would mean you are the real person."

"Ah, I see," I muttered. So the Hunter's Guild of this world used something similar to fingerprint identification from my old world, instead of using pictures. While the technology and science standards of most of Ascentia - excluding the continent of Ciberneta - were behind Earth, this world had magic called 'hidden arts'. This process must've been made possible with such arts.

"Now then, next, the young lady," the receptionist said, beckoning Hina-nee over. I moved out of the way.

The three of them finished up their own respective registration processes without any problems, and the receptionist spoke again.

"Now that you all have your guild cards, also known as Hunter Cards, you will each receive a manual."

Saying this, she handed out four handbooks, and we each took one. The cover read 'Hunter's Manual: A Guide to Becoming a Legend'.

"You can find all of the information you need about the guild within these books. I could also explain them to you right here, but…"

The receptionist looked over our shoulders at the next customer waiting in line, who was slowly getting impatient.

Hina-nee laughed awkwardly. "Ahaha, yeah, sorry about that. We'll read these in our own time."

The receptionist made a praying gesture to us and laughed together. "Thank you! I will say this though, as one last piece of advice - you can just skim through the first section for now, then try and take on a quest suitable for your level from the bulletin board all the way to the left. There's also one to the right. Once you complete the quest, you'll have officially become a Hunter!"

"I see. Thank you for the help," I replied politely.

"No problem! Good luck!"

With that, the four of us left, finding a vacant table and sitting down. I flipped open the manual and began reading the first section - Introduction - just like I had been told.

After about fifteen minutes of reading, I had gotten the basic gist of this organization and its system. I put down the book and turned to the others, who still seemed to be having trouble.

"Uh… if you guys aren't done yet, that's fine. I'll just explain, it's easier," I proposed.

"Ugh, yeah, please do, Igarashi," Ichigo complained. "How the hell did you manage to read in this loud environment? Everyone's so damn noisy, and people pass by here every twenty seconds to say hi to you after what happened earlier with that bastard."

"Just ignore them like I did…" I sighed.

"You say that like it's easy," Horiya rolled his eyes. "Not everyone can do what you can, ok?"

"Well, it's fine. Kaze-kun, go on, explain. I don't really care about the system all that much, I just want to get out and do some training!"

I nodded. "Alright. To begin, I'll briefly explain how the Hunter's Guild's rank system."

"Rank system?"

"Yes. The four of us are currently all just Recruits, the lowest level. After Recruits comes Hunter, then Trapper, then Stalker, Venator, and finally, Predator," I explained. "To rank up, we have to complete quests."

"So… I'm guessing we can only do quests based on our current rank?" Ichigo inferred.

"Precisely," I replied. "Because we are currently only Recruits, we can only take the lowest level of quests. To start a quest, all we had to do was take off one of the notes pinned on the bulletin boards and bring it to a receptionist. There, once approved, we could set out. After that, once we returned, we would have to show a receptionist proof that we did indeed complete the quest, and then we could receive our reward. Pretty simple, right?"

The three of them all nodded.

"In that case… what do you say we try and tackle a quest right now?" I suggested. "That's what the receptionist from earlier recommended."

"Sure, I'm down," Ichigo and Horiya both agreed.

"Definitely," Hina-nee added. "Oh, I haven't fought in so long! My muscles need a work-out…!"

"Didn't you fight with that man earlier…?" I questioned in confusion.

"Oh, him? Too weak! That didn't count."

I sighed and shook my head. "Hina-nee… your standards are high, even when it comes to your opponents."

"Of course! Only by fighting those of equivalent strength or higher than me will I get stronger," Hina-nee replied with a wink.

"Let's go then," I said, standing up and heading for the bulletin board. The rest of them followed as we pushed through the crowd.

"What do you all think?" I asked, browsing the various quests up for grabs.

"Hm… how about this one?" Hina-nee suggested, pointing at one for us to see.

The note read:

'Snowolf Hunt'

'Hunt down the emerging snowolf pack in the Lydia Forest north of Qilian City.'

'Minimum Rank: Recruit'

'Rewards: 500 Gold'

"Sure," I said. "This looks like a good one to start off on."

"No complaints here," Ichigo and Horiya both said, raising their hands in the air in surrender.

Having reached a consensus, I took off the note from the bulletin board and went to find an open receptionist. Fortunately, there was one with no one lined up in front of her. The process was quick - she approved our quest after we showed her all of our guild cards.

The moment she did, however, we all had a hologram appear in front of us. It read:

[New Side Quest]

[Snowolf Hunt]

[Exterminate the snowolf pack in the Lidya Forest north of Qilian City.]

The four of us exchanged glances and communicated wordlessly, confirming to one another not to say a single world about this here, since the receptionist didn't know what 'holograms' were.

Dismissing the pop-ups, we quickly exited the building.