"Uh huh, uh huh... Passed!" The brown-haired examiner at the Border Control office gave Cane the go-ahead so quickly it left him stunned.
"...That's it? How come I passed so quickly??" Cane was bewildered enough to wipe away his negative emotions from earlier.
"Well, you see..." The examiner began with a cough, "Central Cities is massive. Like, huge."
Cane nodded in response.
"But when I say huge, What I really mean is incomprehensibly large." The examiner slowly enunciated every syllable. "For the important parts of the border, we use drones and automated turrets. But not all of the city's border can afford it."
The examiner turned around to display a map of Central Cities. He slowly traced the outline of the border as he spoke. "For the poorer parts, we use humans. Cheaper, less effective - but our only solution. Each of our Border Control offices take care of a 2.5 kilometre stretch."
He then turned around, and with a serious look on his face, continued. "Of course, we want Apprentices and other Awakened to fight at the borders. Unfortunately... we usually have to make do with regular humans. Rarely do people volunteer for border control."
The examiner shook his head. "People regard our job as low-class." His eyes filled with passion. "BUT! Our job! It's the most vital part to keeping the citizens safe!"
He reached forward to grasp Cane's hand, and shook it violently. "It warms my heart to know that we'll have an Apprentice Supporter with us. Because of your status as an Apprentice, you can skip being a regular employee and directly join the main team."
After that emotional speech, even Cane felt something stir within his soul, passion filling his bones. He stood straight and replied, "YES, SIR!", copying the things he'd seen in advertisements and posters.
"Alright, no need to be too formal. Here on the Border, we're all family." The examiner chuckled. He then awkwardly scratched his head. "Uhh, you can call me Chuck. I'm the team's Mechanic."
Mechanic... mechanic? The words echoed in Cane's head as he was stunned into silence.
So, this whole time, the person who he'd been talking to, this guy who he'd thought was some high-ranking official...
He's just an employee like me????
"Haha, we usually take turns being the examiner... Anyways, one day I'm hoping to be good enough to earn The Legendary Mechanic title!" Chuck's voice sent Cane's galloping thoughts to a halt.
"Right, right! Um, do I get any equipment or, I dunno, a place to stay?" Cane's priorities were on shelter - he couldn't very well live back in the apartment after all.
"Ah, yes! Almost forgot. I'll show you to your dorm later, but first..." Chuck turned around and opened a cabinet.
Inside was a green-grey uniform with basic shoulder, chest and leg plating. An earpiece also came with the uniform.
Chuck reached further in to reveal what Cane had been anticipating the most. Weapons.
Chuck first held up a dagger with a two-sided blade, the length of which was almost longer than Cane's forearm.
"This is a dagger that everyone on our team gets." He leaned in to whisper conspiratorially in Cane's ear. "No other Border Control office has these - because I made them myself."
He proudly leaned back to explain. "They have many purposes. First, they're made of highly durable material, strong enough to cut through most monsters. Second, they have a heat mode which lets you control the blade's temperature." He stared at Cane. "Do NOT use this function during battle."
He then flipped the dagger to show the bottom, where a cap was flipped open to reveal a button. "This... this is your last resort. Upon pressing this button, the blade of your dagger will shoot out like a bullet. Keep in mind that it'll be totally useless once you do this."
Cane was thoroughly impressed by the description. He took the dagger from Chuck's hands. Meanwhile, Chuck had brought out another weapon. This time, it was a sabre.
"Same material as the dagger. Hand-and-a-half hilt with a blade length of 1 metre. It can vibrate at high speeds to cut even better - it'll go through basically every monster you can find on the City's underside." Chuck chucked the sabre to Cane, who caught it.
Then, the final weapon was brought out. A pistol.
"It uses energy to form the projectiles, which saves on weight and room for bullets. A total of 100 shots are stored inside each." Chuck pointed his hand to the side, where two buttons were displayed. "The top button is for single shot. The bottom is for full auto."
...
With all the weapons and uniform in hand, Cane was brought to the Main Team's dormitory. Upon entering the main hall, he finally saw his other teammates.
"Everyone, we got a new teammate!" Chuck first introduced Cane to the others. "He's a thief with the Steal skill. Apprentice Supporter rank."
Chuck then began to introduce the others to Cane.
"That's Abel," He said, pointing to a gentle looking blonde. Abel smiled and waved at Cane. "He's our Healer. More specifically, his skill is Potion Creation, which lets him make different potions for our benefit. He's a full-level Supporter."
"That's Noelle." He pointed to a fierce-looking woman with an eyepatch. "She's our leader and main damage-dealer, Apprentice Warrior rank."
"Don't be fooled by her eyepatch." He said with a chuckle, "It's see-through on her eye's side. She just uses it to look scarier so the lower-ranked teams will obey her."
Noelle walked up to Cane and firmly shook his hand. "You have my gratitude for joining in Border Control. Not many people your age would do such a thing."
"And I'm Krouse!" The last member took initiative to introduce himself. "I'm, uhh... the team's Distractor, I guess? It's hard to explain! But you'll find out once we head off to battle." Krouse shook his head violently. "Anyway! I'm an Apprentice Combatant!"
Apprentice Combatant??? Cane looked at Krouse's... short stature. He looks younger than me...
If Cane didn't look down but straight ahead, he'd probably only see a bouncing head of blue hair.
He's just like those kids back ho- Cane's thoughts were interrupted as he recalled that memory. The kids home were dead. Gone. Bled so dry that even the ceilings reeked of it.
The other team members watched Cane's face grow pale suddenly, and Noelle was sure she'd seen a hint of red within the depths of his pupils.
Just as Noelle was about to tell Cane to rest in his dorm, an alarm rang.
"DAMN it all!" Noelle materialised a huge sword, rushed out of the dorm and called to the rest of the team. "It's a level 3 alarm! Beware of Rank 3 monsters!"
The team, including Cane, quickly followed.
Monsters had different ranks, each according to Awakened ranks.
Rank 1 monsters were as strong as Supporter rank Awakened, Rank 2 monsters were as strong as Combatant rank Awakened, and so on.
Rank 3 monsters would be as powerful as Noelle. Cane gulped subconsciously, before realising that he hadn't put on any of the equipment yet.
All he held in his hand was the dagger, the rest discarded when he'd ran outside with the rest of the team.
Damn... Whatever, I can still work with this.
Noelle reached the border and jumped off the boundary with a leap, landing on a flying Lizard-Bird and driving her sword deep into its head.
She leaped off to land on another one and repeat the process.
Meanwhile, Chuck set up a turret station, letting it target the flying Lizard-Birds automatically. Abel stood beside him behind the cover, brewing a set of potions.
Seeing his teammates prepare, Cane psyched himself up as well. He'd never been in a battle before, but Cane hoped he could learn as he went. Or else he'd die.
The lower teams gathered as well, providing cover fire with gunpowder pistols and rifles. Under the heavy barrages, many Lizard-Birds fell. But some still got through.
Upon landing on the ground, the feathers of the Lizard-Bird morphed into scales, instantly rendering it immune to the bullets. As it lunged toward the lower teams, who were made up of regular people, Cane rushed forward.
Steal!
Cane used Steal to clone the dagger in his hands. Nothing in the skill description had ever said he couldn't "steal" from himself, after all. If he didn't swap or dissipate it, the Steal ability basically let him double anything he held in his hands.
First day on the job, huh.
Cane's Clone dagger plunged into the Lizard-Bird which had turned into a full Lizard. He then pressed the button on the underside, causing the blade to shoot in even deeper. But it wasn't enough to kill.
"RROARR!!" The huge Lizard roared in pain, determined to catch the pesky human who'd hurt it.
Quickly rushing back, he dissipated his clone knife before activating Steal again. Pointing his new Clone dagger at the thrashing Lizard, he shot the blade at it again - creating yet another hole in its body - before dissipating the clone once more.
Am I cheating? Somehow, I don't think this is how Steal is supposed to be used. Cane couldn't help but laugh in his mind as he repeated the process over and over again. Soon, despite his bad aim, he got a lucky hit and pierced the Lizard's skull.
"Growl..." A noise came from behind Cane's back.
What? Cane had let his guard down, and as he spun around, Cane realised that he'd been surrounded by three more Lizards. Just as they seemed to be on the verge of attacking, they turned their heads simultaneously.
"Attraction!"
Krouse lured the three Lizards towards himself. Taking the chance, Cane attacked the Lizards from behind. Despite the commotion behind them, they paid it no attention, letting Cane stab them in their skulls.
The fight was still far from over, though. There were still Lizard-Birds in the air, and Lizards on the ground. Cane took a moment to catch his breath, before preparing to head back into battle.
First day on the job.