Chapter 10: Agonlu Hub

Brrt Brrt.

Brrt Brrt.

Brrt Brrt!

"Shut up, bitch!"

Min, who was sleeping in the ship's common resting area, shot up from his lying position and grabbed the communicator. Upon swiping the screen and seeing the buzzes not stopping, he realized that this wasn't an alarm, but in fact someone blowing up his dms. The contact had the name "Meng Hua", indicating that this was likely a family member.

Before he could properly contemplate the occurrence, a feminine voice harshly shushed him. Meng Min realized that yelling 'shut up, bitch!' in the dead of night might disturb other people and make them angry. Returning a hushed apology, the little elf boy returned to his messages.

'Goodness, this is a lot of messages. It appears that this body was ghosting Meng Hua even before dying. What should my excuse be for not knowing who this person is…'

He set the vibrating communicator on his lap and rubbed his chin in contemplation. Then, the idea came! 

'Amnesia! Wow, I'm so intelligent. If she wants me to give a reason, I'll just say the kidnappers hit me on the head a little too hard.'

Nodding to himself, Min opened the message window on the communicator and read a few of the previous messages before sending a response.

Meng Hua: [...Jia's family also pulled out of the merger. You didn't have to make such a scene when you left her! Now she's holding it against us, and her attitude will affect our company's long-term plans. You are harming your Grandfather's legacy, Min.]

Meng Hua: [We can put that matter behind us if you are willing to cooperate with us again. Your Uncle and I were furious when you disappeared, but as time went on, we became concerned. My worry vanished when I saw you alive and well, even with such a different appearance. I thought that maybe, MAYBE that would mean you changed. However, your lack of initiation makes me doubtful: along with the continued lack of response. Oh, and don't ask about your house and ship. the debt collectors took those long ago after bugging us. Since you were missing, the property could not be defended.] 

Meng Hua: [Hmm, since you want to keep playing this game, I will use the nuclear option. You want to go to Agonlu Hub right? A contact on your transport ship told me about your destination. I'm coming to bring you back to Kaibent, so don't even think about running away. My connections run deeper than you think, boy.]

Meng Min: [Yo, could you maybe not blow up my dms? I'm trying to sleep.]

Meng Hua: [So you finally respond! Not only did you disappear after the fallout with Jia, but I found out from Xuefeng that you got kidnapped! Do you have no shame for keeping your only living family out of your life? Don't you know that we want to help you live well?]

Meng Min: [Er… family? Sorry, Miss Meng, but I have amnesia and only remember stuff from up to seven and a half months ago. You seem to be family given the contents of these messages and your surname, but I don't remember you.]

Meng Hua: [Communicating with you turned out to be as useless as always. When we next meet you're going to tell the truth.]

Meng Hua stopped the texts, giving Min some relief. Some of what he learned broke his heart, though…

This guy had owned a personal spaceship, and his reckless spending made it get seized! Didn't he know how useful that would be in becoming stronger?! If such a thing were possible, Meng Min would 100% slap his previous self. 

But, alas, this rude lady waking him up did bring some benefits. She literally warned him about her impending arrival, giving Min a concrete window for his preparations. If he were to simply open a maps app and calculate the distance between her and his destination, then he could figure out a rough time limit to execute his plan. Of course, there were more complicated aspects to this: like figuring out the auntie's model of spaceship. But…

Wasn't that what social media stalking was for? 

This all hinged on the distance between Kaibent and Agonlu hub not being abysmal. After a quick search, he discovered that the Ravaged Ridge Star System, nestled in the cluster's south, was the capital region of Halmetistan. Meanwhile, True Bend, Min's current location, was situated in the northeast. Sighing in relief, Min thanked the plot armor gods before putting himself and this matter to rest.

…

In one particular bunk of the communal resting area, a blanket rustled. Shallow breaths left the sleeping person's mouth as they clutched the bedsheets tightly. As the sound of stomping boots passed by the room, the sleeping man's eyes shot open. Frantically looking around, he heaved a sigh of relief upon recalling reality.

"Wow, I really hate waking up like this. Now I have to shower if I don't want to be stinky…"

Hopping off the top bunk, Min grabbed a spare set of clothes and headed to the shower area. Today was the day of his arrival at Agonlu Hub. Most of the other Arena survivors had been dropped off at the nearby Halmet colonial planet of Neis Ahmen. It was a place of no particular note that was located in the same star zone as Agonlu Hub. 

While Baluk was in the fourth star zone, due to the configuration of the cluster, the ninth star zone was adjacent to the fourth. Not every Star Zone had a hub, not even in a wealthy Star Field like the Ancient Star Desert.

Finishing his shower, Min put on the normal clothes provided by the military. They were rather plain clothes that he suspected were too worn for regular recruits to wear. Being the discount mongrel he was, the state of the clothing didn't affect him too greatly. 

After gathering his things, Min stood by one of the spaceship's windows. It would probably be another half hour before they arrived at the hub, but the view of space was still special to him. Back on Earth, many pictures of space he had seen were either heavenly structures or a black void with a few dots. Min understood why they were like that, but seeing the real thing made those images feel fake. 

As the ship pushed through space, a magnificent, moon-sized space station slowly grew among the sea of stars. Its rectangular design was impaled with many medium-length protrusions. Meng Min was too far away to see any spaceships moving in and out of the station.

When the ship entered the hub's docks, a light rumble shook the space station as it adjusted to the new pressure. Such a thing was quite normal to everyone else, but to Min, who had never even been on an airplane, it felt a little exciting. 

Knowing that the rumble was the signal to prepare to disembark, Min made sure everything was in order. Stolen sword? Check. Stolen armor? Check. Stolen gun? Check. Why the soldiers let him keep all the stuff he nabbed was a mystery. Did they just not care? Did they not notice? Whatever the case was, if it didn't hurt him, it didn't matter to him.

Slinging the duffle bag containing everything he owned over a shoulder, Meng Min stepped out of the waiting room, leaving the few others behind. After giving thanks to the soldiers, he stepped off the ship.

The vast interior of the hub flooded into Min's eyes. He stared at the distant ceiling in awe, like a child lost in wonderland. This kind of building had no comparison back on Earth. It was a completely new experience for him.

While Min processed the grandness of the hub, he returned his gaze to a normal height. The diversity of the aliens present was not as awe-inspiring as the architecture, but it was still outside of Min's norm.

He approached a building's wall and leaned against it, taking out his communicator to access the maps app. After calculating his impending auntie's likely path, he concluded that he could stay here for maybe 15 days give or take. It wasn't a long time, but such a restriction should be enough to accomplish most of his goals.

Using the map function on the communicator, Min calculated a route to the nearest Mercenary League office. Unlike the Shattered Star Ring, the Ancient Star Desert's mercenaries had already formed a league.

After much consideration, Min had decided that becoming a mercenary outweighed the cons. Firstly, this was something he could always quit if it did not fit his plans. Second, it would grant him opportunities now that would be difficult to obtain without it. Finally, if he did choose to go down the path of a mercenary in the future, he would have at least some foundation. The low-risk nature of the jobs he'd be taking on allowed him to make this choice.

The only real con of becoming a mercenary was that it could effectively lock him into a combative career. However, since the players required stimulation to be entertained and there was no way he'd grow quickly without combat, this wasn't too bad.

After a brisk ten-minute walk, Min arrived at the Mercenary League's building. Like most buildings on Agonlu Hub, it was massive. A large number of people, all of many different species, roamed the building and did their business. There was a large seating area where armored people held conversations. 

The path in front was lined with some stalls, each holding a few of the League's employees. Min joined the closest stall's queue and surveyed the area, seeing both robots and people running around and doing work. 

'Mechanized labor would be a lot more efficient for these kinds of service jobs, yet there are still a sizeable amount of organics working here. Robots should not be expensive to produce, so why would they still have organics working here? I do have some theories, but this isn't too important a matter.'

As Min finished his thought, he was next in the queue. A beautiful Galaxy Human woman stared up at him with a customer service smile.

"Hello, sir! How can we help you today? Do you want to register with the Mercenary League?"

"Yes, miss. I was also hoping to use one of your energy rank readers if that is okay. I want to register as a Super in Halmetistan for the basic knowledge reward, and I need my energy rank read for that." 

The woman's customer service smile intensified as she spoke with an apologetic tone. "Only citizens of Halmetistan can be entered into their registry. If you are a citizen, please show your citizenship card. If you cannot, however, we will be unable to help you."

Min understood her meaning. Many were tempted by the basic knowledge reward, so some would try to fake their way in. This was probably the response she was trained to give. However, Min was an authentic citizen, so he had no issue here.

"I'll pull up my citizenship card, then. Just give me a moment…"

He went to the personal information area on his communicator and brought up the citizenship card. The woman read it and authenticated it with a hint of surprise. When she looked back at him, her gaze held more respect.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding, sir. I will retrieve the reader."

While the woman retrieved a metal ball from under the desk, Min waved his hands dismissively. "Don't worry, it happens. We basically look the same as every other elf."

Some people held a strong pride for their nation, which was something typically born from said nation's culture. This wasn't anything bad per se- Min felt similarly about his home country. It was just… since Min had not been raised in the Galaxy's culture, he was effectively a foreigner masquerading as a native here.

This made him feel a little lonely.

The metal orb activated and floated off the woman's hand. Min placed his hand on the probe and closed his eyes. As a Grade F, he could not properly inject his energy into the probe. So, according to some instructions he had found online, he activated his Esper ability and circulated energy near the hand which was extended.

The probe made a ding sound when it received the information. A small screen on the probe showed the results- Grade F+. The secretary looked at the result with a bit of curiosity.

"You are not technically a Super, but the probe could still read your energy. Do you have an energy-related Esper ability?"

Min nodded while taking out his communicator. "So, do I copy the information and make my own request to enter the registry or do you guys do that for me?"

"We can send your results to those who handle the registry, but it will take time for them to authenticate the information. You should receive confirmation tomorrow morning in your mail app. May I handle your communicator to input the required information?"

"Sure!"

Min handed her the communicator before she went into the back. Min mentally rubbed his hands together with excitement. 

'If my application is accepted, I should be able to finish my Class Advancement and become a proper Super. This will be the first step toward ascension… it's going to be hard sleeping tonight.'

The woman entered his information and submitted the request. Afterward, she assisted Meng Min in registering as a Mercenary before sending him on his way. Min, however, still had more bureaucratic business today. During his online searches, he had found that there was in fact a way to legally go to Planet Brighton! 

All he had to do was send in a request outlining his reasoning and agree to follow the conduct guidelines. To summarize the long list of rules, Min could not wreak havoc on the planet; give the natives technology from a Galactic civilization; inform the natives of Galactic citizens; and he could not use his status as a Galactic citizen to influence those who are aware of the Galaxy. Of course, that last rule was something he would definitely break if he found the chance to do so discreetly.

When Min found a bus to the Hub Center, he decided to multi-task and find an apartment and/or living space for rent. The cheapest and highest-rated one was about 5 Enas a month. This room sported a beautiful no-window design with a spacious 225-square-foot1 floor plan. If one could not detect the sarcasm in the previous sentence, this room was quite small, but that was to be expected at the price point.

On the bright side, a bed was provided. Min did not plan on staying for too long, so all he needed was a private space and someplace to sleep. He went to begin the transaction, and near the end, his bank account information was automatically inputted. Underneath his account information was his balance.

This was a good quality-of-life feature that the budget-minded would appreciate. The cool 1k Enas in his bank indicated that the balance was barren before the generous Hal Taifeng introduced some liquidity to it.

'Blud really went into debt for hookers and blow…'

Min held back his tears while confirming the transaction. Our boy really loved efficient allocation and collection of resources. In fact, back on Earth, he had nearly 2,000 USD saved up for the future… not that it mattered now. Maybe that money could help his Gramps buy a new air conditioner for the Dojo!

Soon, the bus arrived at the Hub Center. In addition to submitting his request for going to Brighton, he would also pick up some odd jobs here. Every dollar- ahem, Ena earned would count. Even though the EXP reward was paultry, it would help his practically exhausted reserves.

When the transport arrived at the Hub Center, Min stepped off and clutched his duffle bag's strap. Being a suburban American who lived in the heart of the country, the most public transport he had used was a school bus. This transport wasn't too crowded and was nothing to write home about.

The Hub Center was nearly the size of a small town, which was huge even for this station. Following the directions on his communicator, Min navigated to a normal-looking building and entered. Upon reaching the counter, he put his forearms on it and leaned toward the secretary.

"Yo, yo, yo, you got any spare work, fella?"

The startled and speechless secretary stared at Min with his thousand-windowed eyes before picking up a few papers. The noises created by the bug's clattering mouth were converted into a voice generated by the translator around his neck.

"These are the available jobs."

As Min looked over the papers, he received potential missions. Daily missions like these typically entailed cleaning or maintenance, so the rewards weren't high with the cash reward peaking at 60 Enas. However, this was the only way to earn money at the moment since anything offstation wouldn't be viable.