The doors closed behind Nathan.
The first thing he noticed was the noise.
Voices overlapping in low tones. The tap of shoes against the marble floor. The distant sound of machines running somewhere deeper inside the building.
The Hunter Association office was bigger on the inside than it looked from outside.
Wide open space with a high ceiling and bright lighting that didn't cast shadows. Everything was laid out with intention, built for efficiency.
'Damn, bureaucracy really has it's way of doing things.' Nathan thought to himself.
He stood just past the entrance and took it all in.
There were a lot of people.
Most of them were young.
Some stood in loose clusters, talking quietly. Others sat along the walls, scrolling through their phones or staring ahead with tense expressions. A few parents lingered near the edges of the room, pretending they weren't hovering.
Nathan shifted his weight slightly.
He spotted a few people in suits moving through the crowd with practiced ease. They didn't look like hunters. No visible weapons. No armor. Just clean lines, sharp posture, and an air of authority.
'Does Ethan look like that at work?' Nathan wondered.
The thought felt strange.
He'd always known Ethan worked in a guild office, but seeing people like this made it more real. More official.
Nathan looked away and scanned the room again.
Large signs hung from the ceiling, each pointing in a different direction.
MERCHANTRY
That one caught his attention first. Beneath it, a wide hallway led deeper into the building. Nathan could see counters and glass partitions from where he stood. People were exchanging items, paperwork, and small cases.
Another sign pointed left.
GENERAL QUERIES COUNTER
A short line had already formed there. People asking questions. Getting directions. Complaining about something Nathan couldn't hear.
Next to it,
REGISTRATION OFFICE
Exactly what he was searching.
Further down, another sign.
RIFT OPERATION & MANAGEMENT OFFICE
Beneath it, smaller text explained permissions, access rights, and rift usage scheduling. The line there was shorter, but the people standing in it looked older and more serious.
And finally,
ITEM COLLECTION OFFICE
Free weapon licensing. Purchases. Exchanges.
Nathan swallowed. 'I have to go there right after getting my license.'
'One step at a time.' He thought to himself.
He turned toward the registration office and began walking.
The closer he got, the more obvious the line became.
It was long.
And full of teenagers.
Nathan slowed his pace without realizing it.
Most of them looked around sixteen. Some younger. A few were clearly early awakeners.
Their expressions ranged from excitement to fear to forced indifference.
Nathan felt something tighten in his chest.
'It's not like I'm the only late awakener,' he told himself.
'There's no need to be embarrassed.'
The thought helped. A little.
Near the front of the line, a man in a dark suit moved back and forth with measured steps.
Correcting someone's position in line with a brief gesture. Answering questions without stopping. Directing people to the right counter before they even finished speaking.
Nathan watched him for a moment.
The man's eyes moved constantly, scanning the room in quick, efficient passes.
Nathan stepped forward.
He didn't get far.
"You," the man said.
Nathan froze.
The man hadn't been looking directly at him. Not that Nathan had noticed.
"Yes?" Nathan said, reflexively.
"New registration," the man continued, already pointing. "Second queue. Over there."
Before Nathan could say anything else, the man turned and walked away, already addressing someone on the other side of the office.
Nathan stood there for half a second, then exhaled.
"…Okay," he muttered.
He followed the direction indicated and took his place in the second line.
'Maybe he has high Awareness,' Nathan thought.
'He figured that out without even looking at me.'
The thought lingered.
He shuffled forward as the line moved, inch by inch.
The wait wasn't silent.
People whispered. Some joked nervously. Others stared straight ahead, hands clenched.
Nathan kept his gaze neutral.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
Finally, he reached the front.
The reception desk was simple. Reinforced glass partition. A small opening at the bottom. A terminal screen on the clerk's side.
The woman behind the desk wore a formal suit, her hair tied back neatly. She looked tired, but focused.
"Identity card," she said.
Nathan slid it through the opening.
She took it, scanned it, and began typing.
Her fingers moved fast.
"Please pull up your status window," she said without looking up.
Nathan focused.
The system responded immediately.
The translucent window appeared.
"Once you do that, place your hand on the disk," she said.
She slid a device forward.
It was a flat iron disk, dark and smooth, embedded into the counter. Nathan blinked.
It looked exactly like one of those lie detector toys he'd seen in NewTube videos.
He placed his hand on it.
"You will see a popup on your system," the woman said. "Please accept."
Right on cue, a red window appeared.
[Would you like to respond?]
[Yes / No]
'Will this broadcast my entire status window?'
Nathan hesitated for a few second.
Looking at this the lady replied, "It just confirms the existence of the system."
Understanding what she means, Nathan makes up his mind.
"Yes."
The window vanished.
The disk beneath his hand warmed slightly, then cooled.
The woman's fingers resumed typing.
After a few seconds, she nodded.
"Please take a seat," she said. "Your registration card will be printed shortly. Approximately ten minutes."
Nathan withdrew his hand.
"Okay," he said.
He stepped away from the counter and found an empty seat along the wall.
Nathan sat back in the chair and let his shoulders drop.
The seat wasn't particularly comfortable. But again, It was designed for waiting.
He adjusted his posture anyway and folded his hands.
Across from him, mounted high on the wall, a large screen flickered softly. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now that he was still, it was impossible to ignore.
A news channel played silently for a moment, subtitles running along the bottom. Then the volume increased slightly as the segment shifted.
The anchor's face filled the screen.
"—today, the DarkBloom Guild has successfully cleared the Grade Two rift known as Medusa's Enclave."
Nathan's eyes lifted.
The footage changed to aerial shots of a secured rift zone. Armed personnel. Medical teams. Guild banners flapping in the wind.
"This marks the third confirmed clear of the infamous rift," the anchor continued. "Experts are calling it a major step forward in stabilizing the surrounding region."
Nathan leaned back a little more, eyes fixed on the screen.
Grade Two.
That was far beyond anything he would touch for a long time. Entire teams of experienced hunters. Months of preparation. Losses that didn't always make the news.
He'd heard of Medusa's Enclave before.
Dense terrain. High casualty rate. Monsters with abilities that go beyond imagination.
The footage shifted again, briefly showing silhouettes of hunters walking out of the rift zone, exhausted but upright.
"Now that we're done with today's major update," the anchor said, voice smoothing out, "we'll be right back after this short commercial break."
The screen faded.
Nathan's attention wavered.
He glanced down the line of chairs. A boy sitting two seats away, staring at the floor. Another girl nearby tapped her foot repeatedly, nerves written all over her face.
Nathan looked back at the screen just as it brightened again.
Music played.
A sleek white capsule rotated slowly against a dark background.
VIRTUAL CAPSULE — EXPERIENCE WITHOUT LIMITS
Nathan straightened.
"Oh," he murmured.
The ad shifted into motion.
A young man stepped into the capsule, the surface sliding shut seamlessly around him.
The scene changed.
Now he was standing in a vast arena, surrounded by towering structures and cheering crowds. His movements were sharp. Powerful. He leapt impossibly high, landed without strain, and charged forward into combat.
Text appeared across the screen.
FULL SYSTEM INTEGRATION
REAL STATS. REAL SKILLS. ZERO RISK.
Nathan watched without blinking.
After the rifts had appeared and the world had finally stabilized, humanity had faced a different problem.
Power.
Suddenly, there were millions of people stronger than they had ever been before. Faster, tougher and harder to control.
And most of them weren't hunters.
They were civilians with no outlet.
At first, crime had exploded.
Street fights turned deadly. Property damage skyrocketed. People tested their new strength in the worst possible ways.
Governments had responded with stricter enforcement.
It hadn't been enough.
The Virtual Capsule had been the real turning point.
The ad showed different scenes now.
Two fighters clashing in a simulated cityscape, impacts shaking the ground. Another group battling monsters in a fantasy environment. A tournament bracket flashing briefly across the screen.
All of it looked real.
Because, in a way, it was.
The system allowed full integration. Real stats. Real exertion. Real experience.
Just without the consequences.
People could fight. Compete. Push themselves to their limits.
Crime rates had dropped sharply after widespread capsule adoption.
Nathan remembered reading about it.
Violence didn't disappear—but it was redirected.
The ad slowed.
The capsule opened. The man inside stepped out, smiling ear to ear.
Then the price appeared.
$4,999 (LIMITED 50% DISCOUNT)
Nathan winced.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "That's the problem."
Five thousand dollars.
Even at half off, it was unreachable.
For now.
The ad ended, the screen fading back into generic programming.
Nathan leaned back again, letting out a slow breath.
Just as his thoughts ended, he heard a call.
"Mr. Nathan Hale, please proceed to counter number two."
-