The Ghost Shepherd

Joining a Team (part 3)

There were six teams recruiting at the bar and after careful observation, there was one that seemed to be operating on a smaller scale than the other five. The people that stopped by the table stayed to chat for a while and got to know each other a little bit better.

The other groups were ragtag teams that were put together for the task and although it had a few leaders, there were no guarantees that the people going were able to work together and there was a higher chance of something similar to what he saw in the memory happening.

The person recruiting on the small group was an Ortonian and the fact that his core had swallowed that young spirit still weighed on Sly’s mind. He had been impressed by the courage and disposition he saw in the memory which really correlated with the information about the race.

"Hello, are you guys recruiting hunters"

The girl from the Ortonian race looked at Sly like he was an i***t. It was obvious that they were recruiting and the blindfold that made him look handicap was not helping him.

"We are recruiting EXCEPTIONAL hunters. There are three spots but we are not looking for just anybody... we need commitment, if you want to join us, you'll have to sign a contract that you will go hunting once a week"

"How are the spoils distribute?" asked Sly

"Equal shares for the small fry and if we manage to kill a 3 star or higher, there will be a rotation for them. When it is your turn to get it, you will get it no questions asked from either side. I don't want to hear that 'the previous one got a 5 star and why am I only getting a 3 star one'. If you are interested, give me your name and ID, number of Argonians killed and E.F.S weapon, we will contact you once we make a decision"

"Sly Masters, ID Number: 3965742, I have killed 2 Argonians; a one Star and a 3 Star, Weapon: Scythe. There is a carrier that is coming with me but has not arrived yet"

"Thanks, we will let you know if you made the cut for a trial run. My name is Anku and the Team is called Overpowered”

Sly stood up and started to leave the table when Anku’s recruiting partner that had not spoken the whole time asked, “Are you blind?”

“No, just sensitive to light”

"What race are you?"

"Human … can't you tell?"

“nope"

Sigh...

There were no other questions about how he killed the Argonians or about why they should let him join.

Sly didn't mind it at all, he thought that the distribution of the spoils was fair and the aura around the two members was blue and didn't have any resentment. They seem honest and when compared to the aura from the cryomancer that was dyed black, it was the difference between heaven and hell.

The two people sitting at the table gave him a nice feeling and he thought that there was meaning in the extra information his eyesight gave him.

"What do you think" said Anku

"At the very least he didn't lie"

" You think he really killed a three star for his government quota?"

"My sixth sense says, 'yes' "

"He didn't complain about the distribution so that is a yes from me as well but why is he looking for a group if he has a carrier?"

Shrug…

Sly's reason for trying out for the team was in order to cover his basis. It was checks and balances, the members of the team would help him keep tabs on Steelforged while at the same time Steelforge would help him observe the moves of the team until they were acquainted with each other. He didn't want to get blindsided, like the old proverb said, hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Two days passed by in a flash and the Overpowered invitation to a trial period came via email with the time and place of their first meet and greet. The only thing left to do was to wait for Steelforge to show herself at the information desk like they previously agreed.

The curiosity was killing him, he had looked at all the databases he had access to and there was no information available about anybody with that code name and even the ID was inaccessible. He was hanging around the information desk when a guy came flying in and fell backwards onto the floor before losing consciousness, a loud voice came through the door calling the attention of every single person inside the first floor.

"Where are you at Sly! I am ready to make some money! Come say hi to your new partner"

A 9 ft tall woman with short arms and legs compared to her torso walked in carrying a huge blacksmith hammer yelling and laughing like she owned the place.

She was a dwarf carrier and had a second profession material engineer. She was in charge of producing the hardware of many protective equipment that required the use of rare metals such as varanium.

The reason she was a carrier was to explore zones, collect ores for her products while getting paid for putting corpses in her space folder that had been upgraded five times.

Her base of operations was in another planet but she had been part of the same organization as Blackie for 20 years and she knew the amazing ability of the goblins to smell profit, so if the money grabbing creature said ‘you are welcome’ it meant, ready those empty packets cause you will thank me for sure.

Sly looked up at the dwarf looking for him and swallowed hard. He thought he wasn't equipped to handle such a woman but he still made his way towards the entrance to say hello.

“Steel Forge?” said Sly scratching his head, “It is good to finally meet you”

Sly’s hand came out for a customary handshake but it was held by massive mitts that grab then interlocked them and quickly moved in for a shoulder bump in one swift motion that knocked Sly off his feet and almost dislocated his shoulder but it was a cool handshake.

“Not too bad, I see why the gob likes you… Sooo… when are we heading out to get some coins? I could use some ore, I am still a Steelforge, need to move up in the ranks”

“I got a meeting with the team in a couple of hours, so let’s go to the bar and relax. By the way, why do you say you are still a Steel Forge”

“A hunter and a gentleman… winning points... maybe I’ll let you play with my goods tonight. About the Steelforged title, people of my race use it to distinguish the level of skill of its members. Steel forged is the lowest, followed by Mithril forged, then Thorium forged and then Varanium forged. I got a long way to go but don’t sweat it my space folder is the biggest...if you know what I mean...HaHa”

Sly just smiled and didn’t know how to react but the saddest part was that he would soon find out that the worst thing for his wallet was to invite a dwarf to a bar. They were bottomless pits and were pretty much addicts, many said that it was the reason why they had to go out and collect the materials themselves because all the spare change was to buy fermentable crops for their alcohol.

“Two Barrels of Liquid Fire”

The Waitress gave the brightest smile and said, “Is 300 E.C a barrel, would that be ok?”

The ladies turned to the man on the table and waited for his replied, “Sure, but only 2”

“You bastard!! that was supposed to be our Nanotron money and you are giving it to that w***e” Screamed K.C

Sly ignored the voice in his head and continued to get some information out of the dwarf that presented a blue aura with slight tints of darkness.

“How do you know Blackie”

“He is the Executive Officer of the recruitment branch of our organization. Most important of all, Why are you complaining about two barrels of Alcohol. Didn’t he give you a signing bonus?”

“He just helped me sell some Dracos and I only got a couple of thousands for them so those two are the ONLY ONES I can Afford”

“Don’t sweat it... with me here we will be rolling in dough in no time. You tag them and I’ll bag them, simple. So where is this team of yours”

Sly looked around the room and was able to spot the quiet guy that was with Anku at the time of his interview but everytime he wanted to make eye contact, the other would just look away. Steelforged looked in the same direction and said, “ the skinny guy with the glasses?”

“Yeah, that one” Sly tried to wave but he still got ignored.

PSHHH

“What the f**k Sly!!, I ain’t a Babysitter”

"I don't follow"

"He is a novice hunter, a child that has not seen the cruelty of the Argonians. He is still a virgin.. I can smell it from here"

"I am virgin too, wtf"

"I can help you with that tonight but I like to be on top... Anyways I was talking about the ability to hunt, he probably got his quota in a group. We can't make a profit if we have to bring them along"

"Let's give them a shot, it will be safer to travel with them, there have been a lot of head hunters recently"

Snort… " I would like to see who wants to mess up with Eternal Darkness"

"Who?"

"Nevermind that, I'll give them one chance but we need to kill 50 Argonians on our first trip or we are dropping them".

"I signed a contract".

"It doesn't matter, we will pay the fee to break it".

Hmm.