Rin hoisted himself up, disengaging his maglock from the power line, his arm wrapped around the rail the maglock dropped and hung from a tether attached to his waist, Kenji's sister. Sister Nine he thought but was unsure there were just too many to remember. She had her back turned to him as she hung out table linens. Her silky black tied into a ponytail that reaches to her waist. She wore jeans with a white T-shirt tucked into them and an apron wrapped around her body held up by a loop of fabric around her neck and tied off around her waist. They were behind the family restaurant in a small section of space that was most likely the backyard to their own home on the upper floors. Rin grunted as he climbed over the railing. The noise seemed to surprise Kenji's sister as she yelped it sounded like a surprised cat, she turned and grabbed a knife from the leather pouch attached to the front of her apron and then she groaned, placing a hand over her chest.

  “ Gods be. What are you doing?” She said,

  “ I promised to meet Kenji here about.” He glanced at the clock in the top right of his vision; it had only taken him thirteen minutes to get here, a new record. “ Thirteen maybe fifteen minutes ago,” he said.

  “ And you couldn't do that by coming through the front door?” She said putting her knife away and holding out a hand for him to shake “ I'm Haruka.”

  “ That is sister number?” Rin said, shaking her hand. With a groan of derision Haruka replied.

  “ Sister one.” she said. The sisters clearly did not like being numbered; it was practical. There were so many of them but Rin supposed it wouldn't be too difficult to actually memorize their names.

  “ Rin Wezts.” Haruka stared at him. Her eyes glanced at his missing arm before returning to his face.

  “ Rin? Cold, stately, a pear tree?” She said her head cocked to the side.

  “ Umm?” Rin said, confused “ I have been working on my emotional intelligence. So I hope I'm not cold.”

  Haruka flustered, her cheeks turning a light shade of red.

  “ Oh no I'm sorry. I'm going to school to become a philologist.” She was waving her hands apologetically. “ Some one who studies ancient languages practically. Before common became practically accepted as the universally agreed language and there were trillions in the universe. My family's heritage comes from a place called earth.”

  “ There's a planet named after one of the elements? The element that is primarily associated with life and growth? Rocks and mountains?.” Rin stared at her his face dead of emotion, Rin gave a faint smile once he realized how unnerving his stare might be.

  “ Well yes but also no. The change from one language to another creates similarities; those similarities can be seen all around. We mostly believe that might be due to the God's influences as across all planets in varying languages, their names boil down to the same meaning. Gaia for instance translates to earth in many of the old languages, she is the goddess closely associated with earth as a foundational element and so it makes sense for the ground we walk on to be named similarly after her.” Haruka seemed to get over her flustered state as she spoke of her chosen interest. Rin followed surprisingly well, a nice bonus from his increased wisdom stat he assumed.

  “ Similar findings have been made with Helios, Lumia, and Ze. Oh dear I'm sorry you were already late to meet my brother and mother will have my head if I don't return to helping soon.” Haruka said.

  “ That's fine really, I've learned that I enjoy learning so this was a welcome stop.” Rin felt that a reassuring smile was appropriate for this situation and so he plastered one on. Haruka nodded thankfully and led Rin inside through the kitchen where Kenji's father and mother were cooking with Yue, another of Kenji's sisters. Haruka’s mother moved to scold her for taking so long but upon seeing Rin she nodded, dipping a large spoon-like strainer into a pot. As the two of them walked through the back of the restaurant Rin changed to more casual clothing his body blurring.

  “ Rin, finally you're here. Why are you with my sister? And why did you come from the back?” Kenji stopped walking once he noticed his sister.

  “ I was getting a brief history lesson from her.”

  “ No real reason.” Both Rin and Haruka spoke at the same time. Kenji considered it for a moment.

  “ She does get pretty talkative when it comes to her studies. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah.”

  The two men walked through the city passing verdant parks, filled with families each enjoying a sunny day. In the time Rin had been on the surface he realized he had never seen a rainy day or even so much as bad weather. They spoke of such things in his classes both at the military academy and at Hunst academy as a condition one might encounter and he had assumed it was something of a natural occurrence, something he never experienced due to growing up in the blocks. Solid concrete above his head his whole life.

  “ Why doesn't it rain here Kenji?” Rin asked looking up at the sky he could see the faint shimmer of the shield over the whole city. Did that have something to do with it? He wondered.

  “ huh?” Kenji said he was clearly lost in thought.

  “ Rain, why haven't I seen any since coming up to the surface.” Rin said again.

  “ Oh that's easy, the shield creates an environment bubble locking the city in a sort of stasis. There are multiple weather control towers that control the temperature and conditions of the inside. I supposedly could make it rain if they wanted to and in fact during the winter they often cover the city in snow. They control each section of the city pretty ingenious if you ask me.” Kenji said, his head turning towards Rin.

  “ So when it's hot during the day and cold at night?” He asked his questions unfinished, mostly used as a prompt to keep him talking.

  “ That's them two. They use solar power to charge large crystals so during the day it allows them to keep the temperature relatively the same. However, at night they allow the temperature to drop and even reabsorb some of the heat they had released during the day recharging the crystals. It's fairly simple. It's like a large version of the heating and air conditioning units inside each room.” Kenji said

  “ Huh okay.” Rin said

  “ Why do you ask?”

  “ Well I saw snow for the first time last month and seeing this nice day just reminded me and then my thoughts wandered.” The two men walked across the bridge into the administration zone. It was a section of nine city scape buildings. The center building was in an octagonal shape with one bridge coming out of each side connecting to a square building. Rin had visited this place a few times once with Valder and another with Sophia. He never got the opportunity to actually look at the surroundings. The center hexagonal building was a large park with a fountain in the center. A footpath circled around it connecting to each individual footpath that led to the other buildings. In between each section of footpath was a triangle of grass and trees aside from two which were made of flagstone, a small marshalling area for those of the adventurers administration. Each administration building was surrounded by luscious green gardens and parking lots. At the back, in the center they each held a skyscraper The adventures administration was again. The only one different. Its city scape building was topped with flagstone with a utilitarian look to it. There were multiple groups of adventurers milling about.

  “ What are they waiting for?” Rin asked Kenji looked at the group then back to Rin.

  “ I'm not sure they could be waiting for a transport vehicle despite the flight restrictions. The adventurers administration has special privilege to bring in buses to ferry adventurers to the outskirts of the city. The buses park here and here and once they arrive everyone moves across the bridge.” Kenji pointed to the two triangles of flagstone on this building. Upon closer inspection Rin could see painted lines and red cross hatching. A part of Rin's mind sparked and he felt a sudden danger he glanced around quickly with a steady gaze. Two groups of adventurers had gotten into an argument; their voices were hard to hear from this distance and without warning a bolt of lightning shot out across the campus, missing one of the arguing adventurers and crossing the chasm. It was going to hit one of us. Rin thought. The bolt was fast and and already a few feet from them, it was going to hit Kenji who was still talking as he seemed oblivious to the fact that the lightning bolt was even there. Rin reacted by urging his body to push Kenji out of the way. Rin's hand passed right through Kenji as the realization hit. Kenji was on his left and he tried pushing him with his left hand. The bolt struck and sparks of energy showered Rin a bright light obscuring his vision.

  “ Kenji!” Rin yelled as his vision returned he saw Red, Kenji's familiar, he was foot in front of him. Wings spread out blue bolts of electricity sparked from one scale to another. Kenji recoiled and shouted.

  “ Red don't.” His words died in his mouth as the small dragon fired back lightning shooting from its chest as the sparks died. A second bolt was now flying across the campus again; this one was larger and most likely more deadly. The dragon who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere dropped to the ground with a plunk hitting the flagstone before scurrying up Kenji's leg beneath his shirt bulging it out before slowly disappearing. The bolt of lightning sent out by red hit something as a shower of rocks rained down.

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  “ You okay Kenji?” Rin asked if he knew he should feel concerned so he acted concerned. He glanced at the group's on the other building and they were all moving towards the bridge. “ I think today just got a little more complicated.”

  Kenji nodded

  “ I'm good I need to gain better control of Red.” Kenji said.

  “ Where did he go?” Rin asked as he watched the two groups walk towards them.

  “ He can suffuse himself into my body. He appears as a tattoo. Mrs.William Travis' mother suggested I keep him hidden.”A good idea all things considered.

  Two men stepped forward, each must be the respective leader of their party. Wait no one was a female elf her hair was so blond that the short almost buzz cut like hair made her appear bald in the sunlight,a large scare starting from below her right eye and moving up ending somewhere Rin could not see left a bald spot where hair refused to grow. She was tall like all elfs where just as or maybe even a slight bit taller then Rin. She wore a full plate mail that was masterfully crafted so no joint was left unprotected. It was painted blue and looked fresh a contrast to her own scars. She wore a blade at her hip. The man next to her was a Rare race one Rin had only seen online and in videos. The Shad was a large race of fish men said to be blessed by the goddess of water, they had not evolved past the news for gills and so he wore a rebreather filled with bubbling water. It wrapped around his neck like a pair of large head phones. Each shad took after a specific kind of aquatic lifeform much like how beast-kin where much like there mammal counter parts. The shad spoke his voice gurgled the water in his rebreather as he did. He had a hissing voice.

  “ Which of you cast that reflect magic that bounced Leothells spell back at us?” He kept his words clips. “ Am I to assume it is you?” The shad looked to Rin his eyes lingering for a moment before making it to his face.

  “ No.” Rin said coldly he had his interface open ready to pull malice out in case things got violent.

  “ It was me.” Kenji said nervously, adjusting his glasses. “ More specifically my familiar.” The shad seemed surprised but he schooled his expression. Grabbing a short goblin in deep red robes and a hat that was wider than he was tall. He held a staff with an earth crystal placed at the top.

  “ Go on Leothell.”

  “ I humbly apologize.” His voice was nasally similar to how other goblins spoke but his voice was deeper. “ Our argument became heated and I let off a spell without thinking of the consequences and am fortunate that high level adventurers such as yourselves were the only victims.” Leothell bowed his hats brin touching the ground.

  Ah that explained it. Rin thought. releasing the tension from his body.

  “ No one was hurt so it's not a big deal. However I feel I should correct a misunderstanding before it becomes a big deal.” Kenji said. “ We are not adventurers yet we both have our provisional license and attend one of the academies.”

  “ Ohh.” Leothell said looking up he had a sparkle in his eyes.” What academy? I'm a graduate of Vindell academy myself.”

  “Hunst Academy.” Kenji said

  “ A fine academy. I do hope you accept my apologies as well” The Female elf said. She stepped forward, her hand proffered out. “ My name is Lefya. Behind me are Tag, Bron, and Hilary.” Kenji took her hand and shook it.

  “ If it's not rude of me to ask what are the two of you doing here today?” Lefya said her voice was soft like a light breeze.

  “ Rin and I.” Kenji said, motioning to Rin. “ Are here to sign on as a regular adventurer certain circumstances have pushed.

  “He is, not me, I'm going to get my city rank license soon.” Rin said. The shad smiled

  “Ahh coming up on your year huh? I remember my final exam like it was yesterday.” The shad said. A man in white robes and a vestment made of fiery red with silver threats embossing the symbol of Helios elbowed the shad. “Right I nearly forgot to introduce myself, my name is shutomokala but that's a mouth full so everyone just calls me seaweed or weed for short.It's a little bit racist but.” Weed shrugged.

  Rin held his hand out letting Weed take it in a strong handshake.

  “Rin Wezts, iv only been enrolled at Hunst academy for around half a year” Rin said

  “So I take it you're competing then?” Weed said

  “Yes.” Rin said with determination

  “Well we don't wanna hold you up. Thank you for the apologies. It means a great deal.” Kenji said, trying to extract himself from the conversation.

  “Good luck.” Weed said along with a chorus of agreements from the rest of his team. Lefya stopped Rin as Kenji started to walk away.She had a serious look to her as she spoke in a whisper.

  “Something feels off about you. Like a dead spot in the magic.” Rin didn't respond, only watching her. “ You should head over to church square and have someone from the church of life check you for any sort of curse.” Lefya said

  “I’ll be fine but thank you for the concern.”

  Rin walked into the adventure's administration building. The front lobby was a gathering spot for adventures of all kinds just to the right was a large projection with the list of all available quests where one could simply scan the QR code to get the quest details. They were neatly separated into rank with the majority of guests sitting in the town to city rank range, with village rank close behind. Megalopolis rank had possibly ten to fifteen with Ecumenopolis rank having nothing. There were men and women of all races standing around the quest board. There was a large half circle desk in the back with multiple receptionists standing behind it. Lines coming from each, behind them was a wall that split the room allowing people to head further in towards the elevators and up to the apartments and shopping centers.

  “ This place is different from what I remember when Valder brought me here.” Rin said as the two men stepped into line.

  “ Did he bring you here or to a different branch?” Kenji asked. “ There are a few spread out around the city to help prevent too many people in one place.”

  “ Maybe. It feels so long ago that I hardly remember.”

  Both men stepped forward as the line moved up and as they got closer and closer Kenji began to exude un nervousness that Rin easily picked up on. He supposed that was understandable even if he didn't completely understand it. Should he feel nervous as well? What was there to be nervous about? As Rin pondered the line moved up and Kenji stepped up.

  “ What can I do to be of service today?” The receptionist asked. She was a busty woman with brown hair done into a braid that looped around her neck and back over her shoulder. She wore a blue vest with a deep cut v neck that seemed to accentuate her bust. She had a white long sleeve shirt that was buttoned up to her neck underneath and a simple black laced bowtie covering the color. Kenji blushed shyly and averted his gaze before stammering.

  “ I…I've come to register as an adventurer. And will be updating my file to show that I have dropped out of Hunst Academy to take an apprenticeship under a Magic administration scientist.”

  “ That's easily done. I'd assume you brought your provisional adventures license.” The woman's voice was sweet, almost intoxicatingly so. Kenji nodded, fishing for his identchip and handing it over.

  “ And name of the scientist you will be apprenticing under.”

  “ Alverez, it's a mononym so no surname.”

  The receptionist nodded and typed away at her keyboard, placing Kenji's identchip into a terminal that was wired into something under the desk.

  “ All done you will have to go to the magic administration and finish your paperwork there but everything is done on this side. I recommend using the restroom before heading over as their process will take a while.” She said, giving Kenji a curt bow. He smiled nervously and turned to walk away.

  “ I'll catch up with you so don't wait on me.” Rin said giving Kenji a thumbs up “

  “ Alright.”

  Rin stepped up

  “ What can I do to be of service today?“ the woman asked with a smile on her face.

  “ I was told I needed to come here and register my name for the tournament.” Rin said he looked for a name tag but couldn't find one.

  “ Of course. I will need your provisional license and identity chip along with the letter of recommendation from your school.”

  Rin complied, grabbing everything from his inventory. The items materialize out of thin air. The receptionists seemed stunned for a moment before quickly regaining her composure. Plugging Rin's Ident chip into the terminal she read over the letter of recommendation and began typing away as she spoke as she worked.“ Registration only started today and you're the first one to come in person. Typically we get house servants coming to register for their masters.”

  “ I don't have any.” Rin said

  “ I see, well.” She removed his identchip and handed it back to him. “ I'm all done. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “ Yes actually, I noticed you aren't wearing a name tag. You wouldn't mind telling me your name would you, I'd like to say thank you to the right person.”

  The receptionist startled blushing for a moment before regaining her composure.

  “ Sorry, yes people don't typically ask our names. Claire you won't get a last name today that requires some kind of meal.” Claire said teasingly with a smile that caused chest to tighten up. Flashbacks of Liliandra played in his mind. He smiled back.

  “ Thank you Claire.”

  Sophia watched from another line as Rin seemed to be flirting with the receptionist. She had come to register for the tournament as well but hadn't expected to see Rin let alone see him smiling at another woman. But no that wasn't how she should think even if just the simple act of watching him smile like that hurt her chest. They weren't a thing, they were only teammates. This feeling she has now for him and for Douge what had her therapist said. That they are most likely not her true feelings and a coping mechanism to help deal with the trauma. Trauma bonding they had called it or was it a trauma connection, through their shared hardships each of them has developed a dependence on one another the simple act of being near the other would help calm their nerves and anxiety. And Sophia felt that. When Douge or Rin was around she could feel outwardly confident; it felt like she didn't need to pretend to be confident like she used to. But when she was alone she felt her need to curl up and hide returned. The line moved forward and she stepped up watching as Rin walked away not noticing her as he walked by the person behind her poked her shoulder trying to get her to move up the line she stepped up to the desk to find a small lizard with a long mouth and thing body it has green skin and looked soft to the touch.

  “What can I help you with today?” A voice said coming from the lizard as it opened its mouth. “ I apologize for the inconvenience of my familiar I am home sick and projecting my consciousness to it.” The lizard said.

  “ No it just took me aback for a moment. I need to register for the tournament please.” She said handing over all her paperwork.