Nathan and the man stared at each other, the man smiling—and Nathan responding with a faint smile. The man's hand was still on Nathan's shoulder, patting it gently.
"Long time no see, Nathan. You still remember me, right?" said the man as he fixed his hair.
"S-sorry, who are you?" Nathan replied with a faint smile.
"W-what?! You really don't remember me?! Did you lose your memory since we graduated?!" the man said in shock.
"Hahaha, I'm just kidding... Of course I still remember you, old friend." Nathan said with a playful laugh.
"Damn you, we've been friends for so long." the man said with a relieved sigh.
Nathan only chuckled softly at his friend's reaction. The man's name was Cyrus Basilica—he had been Nathan's friend back when they were in the same academy. Cyrus himself possessed the Prophet class, inheriting his power from his father, who was a priest.
"By the way, how have you been, buddy? Even though we both work for the Superals, we rarely meet, huh." Cyrus asked as he walked around with Nathan.
"Well... yeah, something like that. It's not too bad. I'm just living an ordinary life, besides, I'll soon become a Type-2 Superal." Nathan replied while rubbing his own head.
"What? You're still Type-1? We graduated and became Superals at the same time, you know. I'm already a Type-3 Superal," Cyrus said with a small smile.
"Woah... that's impressive. I didn't expect you to grow that fast," Nathan said with a faint smile. He knew he couldn't compete with Cyrus.
----
The two of them continued strolling around the city until it was almost late at night—Cyrus remembered what he had said earlier about their Types. He feared he might have offended Nathan, and he also knew that Nathan had been working hard. Then, he began thinking about something and tried to discuss it with Nathan.
"Nathan… How about… the two of us form a Companion?" asked Cyrus with a serious gaze.
"Eh? Why so sudden? It's a good idea, but I'm not on your level, and I'd probably just end up being a burden, hehe." Nathan replied with a small laugh.
"I'm serious, Nathan… It doesn't matter whether you'll be a burden to me or not. The fact is, humans can grow, and the both of us can grow even faster if we form a Companion." Cyrus replied.
"W-well, but…" Nathan's words stopped when he saw Cyrus's genuinely serious expression
"Alright… maybe we can try." Nathan said with a soft sigh.
"Yeah! Don't worry, Nathan… I'm sure the two of us will be able to finish missions together easily… relax, I'll keep helping you." said Cyrus with a bright smile and cheerful laugh.
"Yeah… Thank you, Cyrus." Nathan replied, laughing as well.
----
They continued strolling around, visiting various places and reminiscing about their memories back in college. The night had grown very late, leaving only a little bit of time for the two of them to talk a bit more.
"By the way, how's Ray doing now…? Do you meet him often?" Nathan asked curiously.
"To be honest, ever since the three of us went our separate ways after graduation, I haven't seen him at all. And I met you first, Nathan." Cyrus replied with a gentle sigh.
"I see… I hope he's doing well. He also signed up to become a Superal like the two of us, right?" Nathan said with a flat expression, looking a bit sleepy.
"Yeah, I hope so too… Anyway, it's already late. I think I'm going to head home. What about you?" Cyrus said while glancing at his watch
"Yeah… I'm going to head home too." Nathan replied with a yawn.
"We'll form our Companion tomorrow morning at the Heroes Company. Meet me at the second reception desk at 7:30, okay?" Cyrus said while extending his fist.
"Yeah, yeah…" Nathan replied, and he bumped fists with Cyrus.
The two of them then turned away and walked to their respective homes. Nathan felt that today had been a pleasant day, he no longer felt lonely—and he was very excited for tomorrow with Cyrus.
Cyrus also hadn't expected to meet his old friend again after so long. He—too, couldn't wait to begin working with Nathan and start taking on missions together.
----
A short while later, Nathan arrived at his apartment. He washed his face and brushed his teeth. Nathan also tidied up a few rooms in the apartment before going to lie down on his bed.
He closed his eyes, and for a moment he thought about how he had to grow stronger alongside Cyrus. Nathan felt relieved that he was no longer alone after so long—he fell asleep with peaceful and happy thoughts that night.
----
The next morning, Nathan woke up still feeling tired. But he quickly got out of bed, rubbed his eyes, and cleaned up his bedroom. He then took a shower and put on his white cloak before leaving the apartment, remembering Cyrus's invitation to work together.
Nathan walked to the Heroes Company on foot as usual, but this time earlier and with a bit more excitement. He even stopped by to buy bread like he always did—and even his usual bread seller seemed confused as to why Nathan looked brighter today.
A short while later, Nathan finally arrived at the Heroes Company's second reception area. It turned out he was too early, arriving before the agreed time, so he simply sat on one of the benches nearby, tapping his foot lightly against the floor as he waited for Cyrus to arrive.
After nearly twenty minutes of waiting, Nathan finally heard a familiar voice calling out to him—Cyrus was approaching and apologizing for making Nathan wait.
Nathan didn't mind at all and simply gave a small smile. They chatted while sitting there—Nathan brought up the topic of what kind of Companion they would form. A Companion was a party made up of several Superals who combined their powers to complete missions or to become Exostars.
"First, we need to register our names using this list I brought. I asked the receptionist for it earlier." Cyrus said as he wrote both of their names on the list.
Name: Arcelius Nathan
Class: Summoner
Tier: Type-1
Name: Cyrus Basilica
Class: Prophet
Tier: Type-3
----
The two of them then headed to the receptionist's desk, bringing the list they had prepared and formally requesting to create a Companion. The receptionist had them sign various terms and conditions, and also perform a re-evaluation to ensure they were serious about forming a Companion.
After waiting for a while, agreeing to the terms and conditions, and completing the re-evaluation, the two of them were finally officially registered as a single Companion. They were now able to undertake missions together—and their Companion was classified as Type-2, since their power distribution was evenly shared between the two of them.
The two of them then headed to the Quest Room to see what missions they could take. Nathan soon spotted a quest that looked quite interesting, with a fairly large reward.
"Hey… how about we take this quest?" Nathan said, pointing to one of the missions.
"Huh? Hey, Nathan… that quest says it's only for knight and ranger classes. Besides, we wouldn't be able to complete it anyway—we're both support class." Cyrus responded with a quiet sigh.
"Yeah… you're right. I didn't really pay attention, the reward just looked really tempting… hehe." Nathan said while gently rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, I know you really need a higher income, but we also have to look for quests we can actually handle." Cyrus replied as he continued scanning for a quest suitable for both of them.
----
They both continued looking for a suitable quest. Nathan felt that his name tag seemed to have been left behind at the receptionist area earlier.
"Sorry, Cyrus… It seems like I left my nametag at the reception desk, I'll be right back." Nathan said as he ran toward the reception area.
Nathan arrived at the reception area—and sure enough, his nametag was there after he asked the receptionist about it. Feeling relieved, he headed back toward the Quest Room.
While walking, he accidentally noticed several reporters and people gathering. From a distance, Nathan saw a woman with golden hair, crystal-blue eyes, a turquoise tattoo on her chest, and dressed in white—the woman was using protective magic around her to keep the crowd at a distance.
----
Nathan didn't pay much attention to it. He soon arrived at the Quest Room and saw Cyrus holding a sheet of paper. Curiously, he walked closer.
"Nathan, I found a good quest… How about we take it on right away today?" Cyrus said excitedly, showing the sheet of paper to Nathan.
Nathan looked at the quest for a while, his eyes widening slightly, and nodded in agreement—feeling that this quest was truly suitable.
"Yeah, this quest is really great… The reward is also huge." Nathan said, his expression showing full agreement.
"Alright then, let's just go ahead and start it." Cyrus replied, immediately accepted the quest.
[ Quest Accepted... ]
Quest: Killed MK-11 Cyborg, Protect The Core
Status: Not Completed
Reward: 1000 Cashpoint, Ring Of Enchance, Small Core
...