Chapter 13 - Adventures

"we're here now. but please don't just start a fight"

standing in front of what Dax thought was a military base, the 3 story building was built out of robust wooden logs and he felt that the building was sturdy enough to survive orbital bombardment.

"i won't. don't look at me like that, what do you think i am?"

"a living incarnation of war and fighting?"

"just because i'm good at killing doesn't mean i enjoy it, i promise i won't start a fight. but i will be sure to finish it, although in a non lethal way"

"you swear?"

"i do."

Alice stared at Dax for a second with a skeptical look before sighing

"okay let's go"

Dax opened the sturdy looking door, inside was a large hall with several reception desks on the opposite side of the hall manned by a single female receptionist, possibly because of the time of day. in one corner was multiple benches were a few hunters, one of them greeted Dax with open hostility.

"what the f.u.c.k is a filthy demon doing here!?"

when one of the hunters saw Dax he quickly drew his sword and started shouting at Dax. the hunter was about a head taller than Alice and wore a dirty leather pants with a slightly dented and durty platemail covering his chest giving Dax the overall impression of a mercenary rather than an adventurer

(ahh.. i knew this would happen)

Alice quickly stepped in between Dax and the hunter

"Will, for once in your f.u.c.k.i.n.g life don't pick a fight, trust me you're not gonna win this one"

"shut your f.u.c.k.i.n.g mouth Alice, i didn't think you would be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g demon sympathiser!"

"Dax is not a demon so back off already"

"how the hell is that not thing not a demon!? are you just retarded or did you go blind like that other ranger bitch!?"

"I WILL F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL YOU!"

Dax had never seen Alice that angry before, even when she thought she was about to die and saw Viktor 'die' in front of her, she didn't anywhere as enraged as she did now. in the slowed down reality that was Dax's world when he focused he could slowly see her clenching her fits so hard that blood folwed form her nails piercing her skin. as ICI warned that Alice was circulating mana and were 'most likely' or just definitely going to kill this Will dude in a brutal case of overkill.

(i should properly stop this.. but then again i kinda want to see this duce be squished like a bug...)

at this point Will had realized that his death was imminent and Dax quite enjoyed watching his futile attempt at getting his sword ready to block Alice's fist

(i wonder if she could shatter it, ICI do you know?)

(UNKNOWN. NO ENOUGH PRIOR DATA)

(oh well, let's stop this before Alice dose something she would regret, but this waste of breathable air is not getting away unharmed. ICI prep psychological warfare, level 1 should be enough)

(PREPARING STRESS PROJEKTION FOR 'WASTE OF BREATHABLE AIR' ANY REQUESTS FOR THEME?)

(just follow my lead)

as the passing of time returned to normal Dax quickly caught Alice's hand, before lifting her by it and turning around, putting himself in between Alice and Will.

"LET ME GO DAX I'LL KILL HIM!"

"yeah i can see that, but calm down for now"

Dax quickly hugged Alice and started patting her head

"w-what are you doing!?"

instantly anger gave way to embarrassment as Dax had just hugged her out of nowhere

"did you calm down now? i guess not, but you're way more adorable like this so it's fine. anyway let me show you something good"

Dax turned around to once again face the 'waste of air' that had fallen over when he had realised his impending demise, before Will could utter a single word Dax grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up to Dax's own eye level

"she's with me"

"HIII d-don't kill me please!"

"oh i won't, i promised Alice i wouldn't fight randomly. so instead i'll leave you with a promise"

"i-i can't breathe"

"you don't need to, just listen to me for a bit. if i ever see your face again i will make you immortal"

"immortal?"

Dax pulled him closer and looked him directly in Will directly in his eyes, while whatever was behind Dax's eyepatch started glowing a ominus red light.

"yeah, you know undying. then i'll stick that sword of yours so far up your ass that you'll be able to taste it, then i will kill anyone you ever cared about, in front of you, while you lie in the dirt, suffering. AND WHEN EVERYONE YOU EVER EVEN CARED ABOUT LIE ROTTING AND FILLED WITH MAGGOTS I WILL USE YOUR UNDYING BODY AS ETERNAL FERTILIZER! understood~?"

[TARGET SUPPRESSED. PHYSICAL RECOVERY: 2 HOURS AND 4 MINUTES, PSYCHOLOGICAL RECOVERY: UNLIKELY]

"thats that done then, come on Alice let's go"

tossing the fianted adventure aside like a ragdoll Dax looked back at Alice with a warm smile

"what the f.u.c.k did you do to him?"

"i just showed him some nice pictures, now come here, your hand is bleeding"

"i can take care of that myself!"

"hello Mr. Dax and welcome to the hunters guild, please refrain from doing anything like that inside the guild hall again, as it stains the floor"

suddenly standing behind Dax was the guild receptionist, she wore a white shirt with a red tie under a black vest with matching black trousers and black shoes. her golden amber hair was set up in a low hair bun with a few streaks of gray hair being the only indication of her age, with her slightly cold golden eyes and her perfect smile gave Dax the impression of a high level corporate business woman.

"ahh so he did piss himself, i'm sorry, more importantly why do you know me, did Russell tell you?

"mister Russell informed me of your possible visit today, preparations have been made for your evaluation please follow me"

"wait, what evaluation?"

"a evaluation for joining the hunters guild as a corporate contractor. as a contractor you can make requests to the guild at reduced price and have access to our information network, moreover you are not bound by guild regulations as a normal hunter"

"that seems way too good to be true"

"certainly, contractors can be requested to deliver sensitive goods, train new hunters or take care of 'problematic hunters' for the guild. refusal of any such requests will invalidate contractor status, and hunters must be at least platinum rank to be within selection range"

"so i would gain access to your information network in exchange for becoming an associate member of the guild and having to take out your trash occasionally?"

"i'm glad you understand, and there will only be a single contracted request once every 3 months at the most"

"what do you think about it Alice?"

"I've never heard of a hunter being offered contractor status, let alone someone from outside the guild so they might have something special in mind for You. But the guild's information network can only be compared to that of the central church so think they could help you greatly in finding all sorts of stuff, and they hold a good amount of influence in a lot of country's so I think you should accept"

"if you say so, i accept your offer miss"

"i regret to inform you that it's not just a question about Dax accepting, certain aptitudes have to be meet in combat and mental fields"

"yeah platinum rank right… 'able to kill a low level dagon' huh? that shouldn't be a problem if i can get my hands on some hardware"

"while i personally think that would be entertaining, the guild have prepared a different evaluation, please follow me"

the guild receptionist was apparently happy with Dax's answer and turned around and walked up the up the stairs to the second floor.

"hey Alice have you ever seen that guild receptionist before?"

"no i don't think so, why?"

"it's nothing, let's follow her"

after following the receptionist to a second floor conference room Alice and Dax sat down at a large table with the receptionist on the other side.

"the first part of the evaluation is a interview, miss Alice please step out of the room"

"she can stay, i trust her"

"fair enough, i'll begin then. please state your name first"

"don't you already know that? my name is Dax and i lead the Alpha-4 qiton clan"

the receptionist watched Dax closely with her slightly cold golden eyes while he answered and then swiftly wrote the response down on a piece of paper

"okay then. where are you from?"

"i don't think i ever got your name miss?"

"that is not relevant information, please answer the question"

"i'm not of this world"

"please specify your answer"

"then please tell me your name"

just as Alice was about to get mad at Dax for trying to flirt with the receptionist she noticed that he had adopted the same business like smile and cold eyes as the receptionist, and therefore decided to stay quiet. the silence continued for about a minute, and Alice felt the room's temperature drop about 10 degrees as the receptionist and Dax continued to 'smile' at each other

"okay then, next question. have you ever killed before?"

"yeah"

"can you remember the first time? if so what did you feel at that point?"

"i clearly remember it, some kind of fool had tried to steal from my clan, i got behind him unseen and snapped his neck"

"what did you feel in that moment?"

"the vertebrae in his neck snapping, otherwise nothing of interest"

that comment made Alice shutter, while the receptionist wrote down the awnser without any reaction

"have you received any kind of military training?"

"yes"

"please specify your answer"

"then please tell me your name"

""...""

"okay then, what kind of weapon would you say you're most proficient with?"

"that would be a rifle, second would be a knife or a pistol"

"a rifle is a kind of self reloading crossbow, as Dax explained to me a bit ago, and the pistol is a kind of wand that shoots out small metal nuggets at high speed "

"thanks miss Alice. how old are you Dax?"

"i am 738 years old, that would be around 811 years old on this world as your years are slightly different from the ones you use"

"okay. i will now start asking some mathematical questions please answer as fast as you can"

"will you tell me your name if i get them all correct?"

"what's 42 times 3?"

"126"

"456219 minus 45735?"

"410484"

"45 to the power of 4.5?"

"27507828.750705225371513603326024."

for the first time Dax noticed the receptionists mask crack, as she slightly flinched when he correctly answered the question without any effort

"please tell me your name"

"no."

"then at least where you're from"

"the next part of the evaluation is a physical examination, please strip"

"is the top fine?"

"EEEHH Dax are you okay with this!?"

"yeah why not?"

"just the top is fine, i need to record if you have any tattoos or markings"

quickly removing his top, Dax revealed his upper torso that was completely riddled with scars, the most eye catching one being a huge jarring scar on his chest that made it look like something ripped out his heart. it was also clear that his entire right arm was artificial, as the shoulder link was clearly mechanical, with a strange cybernetic mesh extending out from the shoulder link. on his back was more cybernetic, it looked like the top of his spine had been replaced.

"what are those? scars?"

"yeah. it's qiton culture to leave one's scars visible as a reminder of one's errors. and as you can see my right arm is artificial"

"that doesn't look like a normal prosthetic arm"

"that's because it probably isn't in this world, want to take a look?"

"i need to, excuse me"

"well here it is, ICI disconnect main 4"

[AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.]

"registration 044587356420"

[DISCONNECTING MAIN AUXILIARY LINK]

with a mechanical click Dax's arm unhooked from his shoulder, causing Alice great disturbance

"EEEHHHHHH!"

"Alice calm down"

Dax handed his artificial arm to the guild receptionist that quickly looked it over with a slightly shocked look, before giving it back to Dax that reinserted in his shoulder shoket.

"ahem. now for the final part of the evaluation. please follow me outside"