Lee Seng and the group sat in a large room, specifically made for observing monster drops. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander returned with a couple people who would identify the Cerberus and see if it was usable. Lee Seng pulled the Cerberus out of Void Storage and set the stoned thing on the ground. It was somehow perfectly intact, angry that Humans and two Fox Spirits had gotten the best of it.
The door swung open, Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander chatting with the monster staff when they suddenly grew quiet.
"Holy…" Staff member 1 covered their mouth. The three staff members, Mr. Anderson, and Ms. Olliander stood in astonishment of the life-sized Cerberus.
"It… stoned itself." Staff member 2 spoke up. They walked over and looked around. They pointed at the opening in his belly. "It must've spewed lava from this wound point and they must've encased it in water to stone it. This is the best Cerberus I've seen kept together. Usually it melts itself, so we can't harvest anything."
"This might actually get some good drops." Staff member 3 agreed. The monster drop staff members looked over at Lee Seng and the others. "You guys did this?" The group nodded. "Wow. I-I mean…" Staff member 3 looked at Ms. Olliander and Mr. Anderson. "If that isn't some skill, I-I don't know what it is."
"It certainly is beautiful. I know people who would pay a pretty penny for that thing." Ms. Olliander motioned.
"If we can correctly harvest this, I'm thinking they'll make way more than the premium price, sir." Staff member 1 told Mr. Anderson.
"How much approximately are you thinking from looking at this?" Mr. Anderson asked. The three staff members looked at it, slowly rotating it a couple of times before conjuring a number.
"Anywhere from half a million creds to a couple million creds, easily at base price." Staff member 2 answered.
"And the premium you decided to give them would make that 1.5 times the base price." Staff member 3 added.
"If you're looking to add them, the added bonus for bringing something like this would make it well over a million creds just starting out." Staff member 1 added onto that.
'A million creds?!?' The group telepathically spoke in unison.
"Holy shit." Ritsuka whispered. Mr. Anderson smiled, nodding.
"We'll leave you to it then." Mr. Anderson nodded. The staff members got to work, pulling out tools from their belts and talking about how 'in piece' the Cerberus was. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander sat across from Team Zephyr. Mr. Anderson pushed his thumb onto his seat and waited a couple seconds.
In a blink of an eye, the large room separated into two. A holographic screen appeared in front of each seat. It was blank information sheets with Farago Guild's logo plastered at the top of each page.
"The monster drop staff members are excited about the Cerberus you brought in today." Ms. Olliander said. "Cerberus parts goes for a hefty price. If everything is indeed intact and in working condition, we'll pay accordingly. I'd like to apologize, once again, for the way security treated you all. It is suspicious a traveler brought a chest like that into Farago Guild and asked for one of Farago Guild's executives and a S-ranker on top of it all."
"You all look like you have experience. We'd really appreciate curating relationships with adventurers with experience. You probably already heard about the high infestation of high ranking monsters, right?" Mr. Anderson asked. Team Zephyr nodded their heads. "There's been monster raids almost every night. Most of our forces are working the night, fighting for New Angeles. You are all travelers, so I assume you've seen an influx of monsters on the way here?"
"Ah…" Manny spoke up. He rubbed his head and looked at the others before looking back at Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander. "I'd say we were lucky with Jeff and Oliver's powers."
"Flew right over most of it." Keng added. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander raised an eyebrow.
"You would've gotten the attention of tons of monster then, no?" Ms. Olliander asked. "Are you two wind-users?"
"It's… a bit more complicated than that…" Lee Seng scratched his cheek. "We can alter space and mass around us and manipulate it in a direction." The two seniors nodded their heads.
"Well, consider yourselves lucky, then." Mr. Anderson chuckled. "At least you didn't get to see the worst parts of it before showing up here."
"We've talked to the recruitment team and told them we'd handle your recruitment papers. You'll just need to fill out your information there. After everything is filled, it'll be sent to recruitment and they'll send someone for you. All of our information is on a cloud-based system, so yours will be added into the database and put on a bracelet. You'll need to wear it as it acts as your identification in and out of the city." Ms. Olliander explained.
"The soldiers outside told us we would need to get digital IDs for our actual IDs. Would this count as that?" Olivia asked.
"You would still need to get an actual ID for those. The Guild's IDs help you get in and out quicker. You don't need to be checked with these bracelets on." Ms. Olliander lifted her right hand up and showed her bracelet. ?
The group filled out their information and hit send. A knock at the wall pulled Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander's attention. Lee Seng turned and watched as the wall fell, showing a dirtied staff member. They jogged over to Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander and whispered.
"This is going to take a couple days. We need to use the tools in the lab." Staff member 1 whispered. "We got in contact with one of the leads and they're asking for the Executive of the department to look at it."
"Alright, thank you." Ms. Olliander nodded. The staff member nodded and walked out of the room. Ms. Olliander looked at Mr. Anderson and whispered, "What should we do in the meantime?" Mr. Anderson thought for a moment and then leaned forward.
"It looks like the harvest will take some time. In the mean time, we can go to recruitment for the rest of your stuff. Is there any questions you have for us?" Mr. Anderson asked the group.
"We were kinda hopin' to get that money, so we could stay somewhere a bit comfortable." Manny scratched his head.
"Farago Guild can cover that for now. I would suggest our dorms, but since you are a team, we technically can't do that." Mr. Anderson stood up. "Recruitment can deal with that. Ms. Olliander and I will take you down there, but we have to leave."
"Ah, yes." Ms. Olliander stood up. "I almost forgot about that."
"A-alright." Manny slowly stood up. The group followed the seniors down to the first floor, opposite side of the security desk. A few budding adventurers were waiting as they noticed Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander with the group.
"It's them." Budding adventurer 1 whispered.
"Who's that group?" Budding adventurer 2 asked, pointing at the group.
"Dunno. They're with those two, though. It must mean something, right?"
"Mr. Anderson, what can I do for you?" A staff member asked. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Olliander stepped to the side and motioned at the group.
"Angie and I have an appointment elsewhere. This group is registering together. We've already had them sign up. They're the ones with the stone Cerberus. Could you see to it that they get a place in New Angeles together until they get their creds?" Mr. Anderson asked.
"Sure thing, sir." The staff member nodded. "I'll take it from here."
"Thanks, dear." Mr. Anderson turned to the group. "Angie and I have to leave. Miss Gloria will take it from here. Hope to see you guys soon."
"Thank you, sir." Manny waved. The group turned to look at Gloria, who was rounding the corner and opening the side door.
"Come on in. Let's get the rest of your recruitment done and we'll figure out a temporary housing situation, hm?" Gloria smiled.
A couple hours went by and the group found themselves sitting in a van, moving through the city. Lee Seng twisted the black bracelet with Farago's 'FG' on it.
"Man, check that cred amount, though!" Manny pushed into Lee Seng's back. He wrapped his arm around him, showing the check book. They had just left the bank after heavily bullshitting their way into getting a bank account for each of them. Zephyr's sign-on bonus was half a million creds. They ranked at a B+ Team ranking with Lee Seng at an A+ individual rating with Keng and Ritsuka behind him. "What're we gonna do with all this money?"
"Save it." Lee Seng pushed Manny back into his seat. Lee Seng turned to look at him. "We're gonna need it for the deposit and the month advance pay."
"He is right." Ritsuka agreed.
"Plus, we need food." Olivia added.
"We're almost to the apartment, Team Zephyr." The driver looked at the rearview mirror.
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