The Government Calls

Kyle was at home. It had been a few days since he'd registered. He'd gone back yesterday to finish filling out his form, which only had his name, class, skills, and rank on it. He'd also found that he could see his own rank and the bonuses that came with it after he was measured, which was great.

'Ahh, what a nice day of lazing around. Tomorrow I can start looking for an active party, and get some experience in dungeons before joining a guild team-'

Before he could finish that thought, he quickly opened his eyes to the sound of his phone ringing. Putting on a scowl, he wondered who was calling when he picked it up.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello Kyle Smith, this is Sabrina Dobrich. I'm here because we were wondering whether or not you would like to join a government party. We've seen your information, and someone with your abilities and rank would be useful in one of our teams."

"Wow, umm... Could I have some time to think?"

"Of course, just head to your nearest agency and give them your identification if you're interested. Have a good day."

Beep.

After the call, Kyle was slightly conflicted.

'I was planning on going with a guild, but now that i think about it a bit more...'

Due to the nature of guilds, they are filled with people who mainly work for money. As such, they bid on a lot of the gates. However, some of the harder ones or those in areas without very strong guilds are occasionally given to the government and their raid parties. These raid parties don't keep all of the loot like in guild raid parties, but they have a salary that is higher than that of guild raid parties and they have many bonuses that guild parties don't, such as government support and occasionally access to international missions and gates. Also, because the Hunter's Association is part of the government, retired government members can go to that line of work and train new members for a high salary as well as keep all of the bonuses.

However, there was one thing that ultimately made Kyle steel his resolve and go with the government. That was the fact that they saved people. Although guild's were responsible for dungeon breaks when they can't finish the dungeon, if a dungeon break occurs because it wasn't detected, then government parties are sent out. Their priority is not the gate itself but rather the civilians and their protection. Kyle liked this kind of goal more than the guilds and their goals of money and power before the safety of the citizens. As such, Kyle made sure to go to the nearest agency, a branch of the Hunter's Association, the next day.

As he was driving, Kyle thought about his choice one last time. And he continued with it.

'There's no reason to back out now.'

He soon pulled up onto the parking lot of the Hunter's Association agency, ready for what came next. Walking inside, he felt slightly nervous, but once he got inside, that nervousness soon slipped away. It was as if something was calming him down.

'I heard that some of the support type users are able to influence emotions to an extent. Could this be it?'

He walked up to the receptionist. He gave her his User ID and she seemed to have a look of understanding after she looked it up on the computer.

"Alright sir, this way please."

The receptionist led Kyle along a hallway. At the very end was an office.

"This is our manager's office. He'll take it from here."

Kyle walked inside. A man who looked to be in his early 40's or late 30's was sitting at a desk, finishing paperwork.

"Hmm? Oh, you must be that Holy Puppeteer, no?"

He looked up at Kyle and began to speak once more.

"My name is Min Joon. I come from Korea, but that's not important. To begin, you might be wondering why we called you here, and maybe even why you haven't gotten any calls from guilds just yet. Well, if you decide you want to opt out, we'll unlock your information. Then, you can go to any guild you want. But, until you choose, I can't disclose any info. So, what'll it be?"

Before much time could pass, Kyle already answered.

"I will continue with my choice, sir. I'm prepared for anything."

"Alright then. Sign the Mana Pact, and we'll get started. It's the same as what you've seen on the website, if you've seen it at all, with an NDA for what I'm about to tell you."

Kyle grabbed the paper and placed his finger over it. His eyes glowed a yellowish hue, a sign of using mana. As he traced his finger on the paper, his signature was written onto it as if his finger was a pen. Once he finished, the contract disappeared, turning into a stream of blueish particles that went into his left wrist. And on his wrist, a symbol in the form of a chain could be seen. A sign of the Mana Pact working. Kyle then turned back to Min Joon.

"Alright then. Since you've signed, it's about time I told you everything. You see, the reason we've locked your information is because we need more hunters in general, and someone like you with both healing and summoning capabilities would help immensely in what's to come. Mana has been growing in density all over the world. And because of that, we've been focusing a bit more attention onto what exactly it does. We still don't know why the gates appeared or where mana comes from. But we now know one thing. As more mana flows into this world and the density grows higher, dungeon gates will appear faster. Black gates will also become more common, along with red gates, and black gates may even appear at higher ranks. Possibly even S. However, that's not the biggest issue. Once the density of mana reaches a certain point, a second 'Calamity' will occur."

At the mention of the word 'Calamity,' Kyle's eyes went wide open. The calamity was a period of one year, from the first day that dungeons appeared until 365 days had passed, gates appeared extremely frequently. Black and red gates were not uncommon, and dungeon breaks happened frequently, to the point that it seemed humanity would be overrun. It was only thanks to the S-rank users that were discovered, though their potential wasn't known at the time, who had immense strength that could crush most dungeons and dungeon breaks. After that year passed, it was dubbed the 'Calamity' and dungeons came and went at the same pace that they do today. If another calamity were to happen...

"Wait, but don't we have way more A rank and above hunters? And we have the warning, so we should be able to get ready, right? Unless... does the mana density do something to the Calamity?"

"Yes, you're right. The last calamity happened when mana was barely entering the world, and from some of the surviving records it seems like during the Calamity, the mana levels didn't rise. We suspect that the Calamity uses the excess mana as fuel, creating more dungeons with higher danger levels depending on the amount of mana. Since the mana density is at least ten times that of the first Calamity's time, we're expecting it to be at least five times as powerful. And this is an estimate that doesn't take something else into account: whether or not the Calamity was ever at full power. It's possible that the original Calamity was starved of mana, which means that this one could be at full power, even if only for a while. Luckily, it seems that this will use up all the mana, decreasing its density to its lowest point and giving us much more time to survive another Calamity... if we survive this one."

Now, Kyle could see why they needed more hunters in general. And why he was so useful. this was no longer about the monsters - it was about the civilians and hunters. For one, since dungeons will appear much more frequently, it means that civilians will be in a lot of danger, and so will the hunters that protect them. That makes healers very valuable, since aside from potions or very special items, there isn't any other way to heal people during battle. And hospitals will probably be filled up by people who have been hurt by special poisons that require heavy machinery to cure. Meanwhile, summoners can use their summons to look for survivors in areas that have been hit by monsters. For search and rescue operations, they are invaluable, and someone like Kyle who could do both was worth even more.

Thus, Kyle realized his importance in this event. But he was also slightly disheartened. After all, his rank was just a B+. This was a 'Calamity' that was going to be several times stronger than the original, and that meant it would be a battleground mainly for A- ranks and above, the 'Gate Guardians.' But Kyle wouldn't give up hope. He steeled his heart and decided he would do his best to help out. He would never lose hope. Not again. Not ever.