Important people

Holding the phone in his right hand and the black business card in his left, Mark persuaded himself to call the number.

*Bzzn*Bzzn*

"Hello?" a female voice sounded from the phone.

'Did I get the wrong number?' Mark asked himself in panic.

"Ehm, am I calling Mr. Wright?"

"Yes, Mr. Wright on the phone." the voice said with all the confidence in the world.

"..."

"Pfft, I´m joking. Mr. Wright is not available right now. Should I pass him a message?"

"N-no well yeah." Mark blurted out. "I was hoping to talk to him personally, actually."

"Alright, when father dearest comes home I will tell him to call you back. Is that fine?"

"Yes, thank you." Mark said and hung up.

'That was enough stress for today' He thought to himself leaning back into the couch. Mark wiped the sweat off of his hands on the couch and thought. 'I´m never calling anyone so important again.'

[In the Wright household]

"Who were you talking with?" asked Mrs. Wright.

"Dad forgot his phone here, and someone called. So I said that dad will call back." Lucy told her mom.

"Yeah, I´ll tell him when he comes back home. Why did you visit without calling?"

Lucy looked at her seriously and said. "Mom, I want to talk."

"I´m listening." said her mother sitting down next to her, with a glass of water.

"I want to leave college."

"..."

After the moment of silence, her mom said. "You can´t throw something so serious at me like that. You want me to have a heart attack?"

"Sorry I thought you´d appreciate it if I got straight to the point." Lucy said with a nervous smile.

"You kids are really something. First Lucas joins the Zeus guild and now you´re dropping out of college. Why, though? It´s not like you were failing. You passed the first semester without a problem."

"I think it´s just not right for me and I didn´t choose the right major. I´d rather get a job in the guild."

"Well, you´ll have to talk about that with your father. I can´t help you with that."

"Yeah, so I wanted to ask If you´d put in a word for me. To lessen the impact, you know? Cause dad won´t be very happy."

"I can try, but I´m not guaranteeing anything."

"I love you, mom. That´s more than enough." Lucy said while hugging her mother.

"You sly fox." her mother added with a smile.

"Hehe, I won´t bother you anymore. Don´t forget to tell dad about the call and also you know what." said Lucy heading out of the house.

"You two will really drive me crazy one day."

[Mark´s apartment]

"Alright, let´s get to this."

[Attacking algorithm prototype 7]

The golem was already assembled standing in the living room. It was covered in shining silver-blue armor.

'Page 14, Automaton, aggression: me'

It quickly moved towards Mark and started barraging the barrier with punches.

'Still pretty dumb, but the punches are much more human and powerful. However, it needs to know more than to just punch. With this sheer strength, it should already be able to defeat a D-rank in 1v1, although it´s still clumsy enough to get outsmarted by something like a goblin.'

'Page 14, Automaton, deactivate.'

With its support disappearing the golem fell apart.

'It can walk, see and punch. I need to make it overcome difficult terrain and listen to detailed commands. Also, it has to know how to move during attacks not just stand in place. Another thing is different attacking methods, like grabbing and tool use. Fuck why did I even start this project? I´m not qualified for this shit.'

While he was thinking through his past decisions his phone on the table started ringing.

*Bzzn*Bzzn*

Mark grabbed the phone and read the caller´s name.

[Alexander Wright]

'Jesus Christ not today'

"Yes?" said Mark as he took the call.

"Alexander Wright on the phone. I´ve missed a call from this number a few hours prior. What was the reason for the call?"

"My name is Mark Williams. If you remember you gave me your business card about two months ago."

"Ah yes, I remember. You are the one with the excellent barrier skill."

"You can say that."

"Did you change your mind about joining the guild?"

"No, that´s not the reason I was calling. I wanted to ask if it is possible to act as a reserve for the guild."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In case a hunter is unable to attend a raid I could take his role in the team."

"I understand what you´re saying, but acting as a reserve won´t bring you much anyway. Our hunters don´t get injured that often. You´d receive a call maybe once or twice a month."

"There is no problem with that. I only want a share of resources from such raids, I don´t even need the money."

Alexander laughed on the other side and said. ¨I won´t refuse charity. How about you go to the HQ and we write this down. Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

"I´ll be free all day tomorrow."

"Right, so around 3 PM?"

"Yes, that will be ideal."

"Great, see you tomorrow then." said Alexander ending the call.

Mark´s heart was pumping with adrenaline.

'I need to get comfortable with speaking to strangers or I´m gonna die from a heart attack real quick.'

He moved to his computer and started working on the automaton once again.

'Tool use, let´s get to it.'