Chapter 5 - Deciding

Zenith, looking at the rankings, repeated in his head. "From A to F: Null Point A, Void Fang B, Crimson Tide C, Empty Sea D, High Storm E, White Wolf F." Zenith read a point of interest that noted the ranking systems were agreed upon by all factions, mainly because they represented the very first Relic sites and their contents and danger level.

Looking at the market section again, Zenith was quite impressed with the setup. The three great factions, despite some soft disputes here and there, were definitely united in exploration and expansion in their respective regions rather than wasting effort against each other. "Guess there is more than enough for everyone," he guessed. After all, there was too much of the universe to explore.

The markets seemed separated by Faction, while people who sell quality goods can eventually be upgraded so their goods, from relics to materials and such, can be purchased by anyone from any faction. As one would expect, this also applied to buyers as well; after one purchased and spent enough credits, they would be allowed to buy from any faction.

"What a useful thing. Wow, an Artificial Intelligence recovered from a relic that handles all of the markets." Zenith read that safety of buyer and seller was priority one; after all, if anyone could be robbed or threatened, then what would be the point of a fair market?

Depending on the goods and how much one spent, they could hire a service from the market that could traverse 1000 light years in a single day or so. "Wormhole?" Zenith remembered that his travel as a young child consisted of wormholes to quickly reach their destination.

Looking at the marketplace, Zenith could see the list of items and goods. Everything had to be verified carefully, and the Marketplace AI didn't favor any faction. It seemed that its relationship with the three factions was a form of agreement. In fact, it seemed to even hire personnel to enact some bounty hunting against pirates and people who dared try to take advantage of the market.

Zenith went back to the list of Relic hunter organizations. He looked at organizations with surprise. "A lot of the top ones have people who've unlocked resonance abilities? Wow, they seem famous too." Zenith could see internal rankings of relic hunter organizations, though there was no real reward for the highest rank other than being able to draw in more applicants and better talent, meaning more power to explore more relics.

Zenith was torn between going solo or joining a relic hunter organization. On one hand, he didn't need to share the profits and only had to pay a minor, more reasonable sales tax to the global market, but he would have to purchase his own gear and worry about finer details. Zenith believed he was decent at bookkeeping work and management, but he wasn't experienced when it came to this level of nitty-gritty.

On the other hand, if Zenith joined an organization, he would be looked after as a member, not needing to worry about all those details. His gear would be provided, and he could worry less. But this meant the tax he had to pay was mind-blowing; it also meant that he would have to take assigned missions from the organization if they asked him to. "Well, comparing the two, it's a no-brainer. Having a thigh to hug is better than being a lone boat." 

Zenith looked at the list of organizations. They were sorted by alphabetical order, and even then, they were listed by the highest-ever relic site they had discovered and completely explored without intervention by any third party. This confirmed to Zenith that relic hunting wasn't simply finding a site and scavenging and selling goods; the organizations even cleared them.

Though there were obvious reasons, clearing a safe site meant more goods available to freely take before you sold it off to the highest bidder. There seemed to only be 2 organizations listed as B+ rank, a qualification that was somewhat above B rank. It was due to working together and with third parties to clear a handful of the discovered A relic sites. Zenith knew these relic sites of A rank didn't grow on trees, neither did B ranked ones. This was the accumulation of many hundreds if not thousands of years of hard work on the organizations' part and effort. Every time such sites were discovered, it would set off a frenzy in and outside the federation to a degree.

Sometimes the federation would even seek assistance from the Eltanian's and Retoran's. After all, the loss of any individual with a resonance ability was a heavy price. Every faction may have tens of billions of citizens, but resonance ability users were not seen so easily despite the amount, not to mention the in-between that could happen to users growing up and accidents.

Zenith knew that the issue of safety was taken seriously. In the history of the federation, there had been three A rank organizations, each had some ability users as strong as a relic syndicate leader, yet one had its main force wiped out completely in a Relic Site, forcing the federation to send the military, relic syndicate, and other top Relic organizations to forcefully pacify the relic site.

The second organization disbanded after their leader retired, with 2 of its highest members in fact joining the relic syndicate to become leaders there. While the third organization had its main force vanish completely, possibly during an investigation of a relic site, and then it was abandoned by its members that remained, its rank dropping more and more until it stagnated at F rank.

"Disloyal," Zenith couldn't help but mumble. After the members had been fostered by the organization, they abandoned it all within a few days, not even caring about attachments they made. Though thinking more carefully, could Zenith blame them? No, because life was cruel.

"Allspace Society." Zenith couldn't help but look at the information on it. It didn't seem to be doing well; it was currently managed by the descendant of the leader of the Allspace Society that vanished along with the main force nearly a thousand years ago. "3 current members... 1 being the head, the other 2 being descendants... Huh? Do the two have resonance abilities?"

Zenith was stunned as to why it would have a second member with a resonance ability. The descendant made sense as it was a family thing, though Zenith couldn't find much information on the two. Privacy was a big deal unless one had special access or the information was made public. All he could see was their abilities were named Perpetual Hoarder for the male, and Music Box for the female, both resonance abilities deemed currently useless with no useful qualities.

"I mean, it's a safe bet, right and I can gain experience? I still can't believe an A rank organization has fallen so far." Zenith's curiosity had gotten the best of him; he wanted to suss out the situation. He hesitated for a moment before sending an application. It seemed the base of operations for the Allspace relic hunters had moved several times with no fixed location.

In a system not too far from Zenith's own, a space freighter spanning 50 meters was currently docked. Outside it, one could see an old lady hunched over with a female beside her, their backs turned to the vessel as the old lady seemed to be speaking with a dock staff member.

Inside the freighter, a young man in a unique styled outfit, was messing around in a bored manner. He wore a unique white leather button up top with dark leather pants and boots, wearing a cape that was torn at the ends. He seemed bored as he tried to find a way to pass time with a wide grin on his face, balancing a pencil on his nose as he leaned back on a rolling chair, clearly not caring for safety. Though suddenly, he heard a beep and gasped before falling backwards on the chair. The youth with a simple hairstyle, though his hair tone seemed to be blonde with shades of blue at some parts, clearly not a matching tone.

After getting up and rubbing his back, the youth looked at a device installed on the table. He then saw a notification "Application received." His grin turned wider, his blue eyes focusing before he got excited.

"I'm telling you, this is a rip-off. Yesterday, you only charged 700 credits for the docking fee, now it's 750?" The voice of the old lady complained, raising her walking stick and threatening the staff worker who was a manager, giving a nervous glance at the old lady.

The girl beside her, wearing a well-kept dress, forced a bitter smile as she heard the old lady interact with the man. She no doubt looked attractive, a sort of gentle charm, having two long twin tails. A gentle creamy blonde hair color like the young man yet missing the streaks of a second color, seemingly all natural.

"Grandma! Grandma!! Guess what, guess what!!" the young man rushed out from the freighter, rushing over to the three gathered. They looked over at the excited young man as he rushed over to them but tripped and rolled a few times before landing in front of his grandma. He weakly smiled up at her, despite the bumps and bruises.

His grandma, the old lady, looked at him with irritation. "Out with it before I whack you with my cane!" The young man then excitedly got up and spoke. "We got an application!"