-RECRUITMENT-

[Unknown location]

"Ma'am we received a report from a D-Rank that recently joined us that I think you should look at."

The woman raised her hand from a sleeping position on the sofa, not bothering to turn towards the man that barged into her office.

"This better be important. I told you not to bother me when I'm sleeping."

Slowly pulling herself up into a sleeping position, she reads the report. Her eyes are groggy, half closed. As they scan the page from left to right they open wider and wider.

"Is this real? Someone with the class as me? Contact the boss and let them know I'm heading out on important business so don't try to contact me for a few days."

"You know the boss won't like that…"

"Stop being such a wimp. Get my ride ready, we have a new member joining us soon."

******

2 Days later and I'm still waiting for them to contact me again. The 2 S-Ranks said they would reach out to me in a few days to confirm some more things about my ability. After summoning the snake in Rolands office he warned me not to try to summon anything when someone could see me. If I was truly summoning a random beast then I could summon a dragon or some other large creature that would damage the office.

I haven't summoned anything since then as I have yet to be somewhere I think is safe. They warned me that someone from Cataclysm might try to reach out to me and they probably have someone following me even when I go into gates so I haven't been able to go hunting.

After showing my parents the amount of credits in my account, we celebrated by going to a nice restaurant. Carter gave me his regards back when we left Rolands office but I haven't spoken to him since. He said he needed to talk about some things with his master and that he would contact me later.

The days passed one after the other until a week had passed without anything happening. I didn't think I would be itching to get back into the gate but I think I'm really excited about ranking up and once I've gotten a taste of the money I can get, I want even more!

My phone rang beside my bed, waking me up. Without bothering to check who was calling me, I answered.

"Hey Miles, it's me Roland. I've sorted out a place to test out your summoning ability as well as a few other things I want to give you when you arrive. I will send you the address so be there in an hour."

Roland hung up the call and a moment later I received a text with an address. That's only about a 20 minute walk so I guess I will take my time getting ready.

Locking the door to my house makes me excited. I should be able to properly test my abilities and I'm really curious about what Roland said he would give me.

"Boy, wait there."

A deep female voice calls to me from behind. Upon turning I make eye contact with a dark green haired woman who stands about 10 meters away. She's roughly 6"4 and could easily be some kind of super model.

"Do you want to come with me? I have an offer for you that you won't be able to refuse."

She gives a flirtatious wink and presses her large chest together.

"Sorry but I've got somewhere to be."

I turn and keep walking to my destination. As beautiful as that girl was, there's no way I would give up the chance to train with an S-Rank. Also now that I think about it, why would some random model want to talk to me? She must be trying to sell me something but I won't let her scam me!

A few more steps down the road and a hand grabbed my shoulder.

"I wasn't asking kid, come with m-"

I shrug her hand off my shoulder and look towards her, then cut her off.

"I dont want whatever shit you're selling. I'm in a hurry and I don't want to be late so leave me alone."

To say she looked shocked was an understatement. Looking back over my shoulder as I turned the corner ahead I could see she was still stunned, her jaw was hanging open and I could see her eye twitching but I gave it no mind and carried on walking.

Some people are just too pushy…

*****

*Knock knock knock*

A few moments pass and the door opens and I'm ushered in by a woman in a tight fitting suit. I offer her a kind greeting and get a very simple, robotic response before I'm told to follow her.

This house is something else. It's gotta be one of the biggest houses I've ever been in. The corridors seem to go on forever with dark wooden planks beneath my feet. After walking down an endless hallway for a minute we arrived at a thin sliding door. The woman slides it to the right and steps aside to make way for me.

Beyond the door is an open courtyard as well as a few people. In the center of the courtyard is a gate too. A gate? I never knew there was a gate here…

Roland spotted me in the corner of his eye and made his way over to say. Then he introduces me to the 2 others standing beside the gate.

"You've already met Mera. And this fine lady is Hanako, she owns this house and this gate."

"I don't know what these 2 see in an E-Rank brat like you but they insisted that it's important for you to test your abilities in the gate."

"Thank you very much ma'am. You have a lovely home by the way."

This got a wry smile out of the old woman. She looked to be in her seventies and she was leant on a cane but she exuded a powerful aura.

"Let's go inside kid, we can talk about everything else once we are inside."

Roland bows deeply to the elderly woman and pushes me into the gate before he and Mera step in behind me.

Bright lights instantly assault my vision upon entering the gate. A wave of heat rushes over my body and my eyes adjust to see an endless expanse of yellow sand as far as the eye can see. Clearly I have overdressed for this gate. I have a jacket over my shirt that I quickly take off before I melt into a puddle under the sun.

Mera's thin choice in clothing seems to make a lot more sense now. When I walked into the courtyard before I noticed she was sporting some short shorts and a white shirt that was far too revealing. If the surprise of the gate in the middle of the yard wasn't there to distract me then I would have had trouble keeping my eyes off of her. Despite how messy her hair is and how she clearly doesn't care for her appearance, she is still extremely attractive. If she took the time to clean up her appearance then she could easily be a model, even more attractive than the green haired woman from earlier.

Mera must have noticed me staring at her as the next moment she snatched my jacket from my hands and threw it through the gate we had just entered.

"Come onMiles. It was a pain to try to rent this gate from Lady Hanako so let's make the most of our time."

"Who is Lady Hanako? And how does she have her own gate? I thought the System Association had the rights over every gate."

"Okay let me explain, back when the gates first appeared over 40 years ago, the world was thrown into chaos. People were scared and didn't know what was happening. It took a few years for the System Association to fully form with the support from the United Nations. Before that happened though some richer folks attempted to set up their own 'Guilds' so they could monopolize the gates and their rewards. They would hire hunters with shady contracts and force them to risk their lives in gates all for a profit. There were a few people with utility classes that came with the skill to determine another person's strength and put it into a number. That's how we got the world's first ranking system. Lady Hanako was one of the first ever S-Ranks. When the System Association was formed and guilds were outlawed, Lady Hanako was given the title of S-Rank once again and after being a hunter for another 8 or 9 years she retired. Over time others overtook her and her rank dropped to A. As thanks for her service as an S-Rank hunter she was allowed to manage this gate that opened in the city. It's a B-Rank static gate, the highest ranked static gate in the world. There's only 2 other B-Ranked static gates in the world and this one has been kept secret at the request of Lady Hanako. She only allows those she trusts into the gate so consider yourself lucky. This was difficult to make happen but I promise it will be worth it. Now show me your status screen and dont disable it. I want to watch your mana and see how you level up."

I guess it's time to see what I can really do.

******

[Unknown Location] 

"That pathetic brat embarrassed me. I don't care what class he is, I swear I will kill him!"

"You should calm down ma'am I don't recommend killing the boy, you might risk exposing your identity."

Her neck snapped at what looked like a painful angle to look at her secretary. Her eyes were bloodshot and bulging out of the sockets. Without another word, cracks formed in the floor below the man and small bugs began crawling out. The man stepped back but it was too late, his feet were already covered. They crawled up his legs quickly and he screamed in pain as his flesh was ripped from the bone until none remained.

END OF CHAPTER 12