When we finally reached our goal, we stood in front of a far too ordinary high-rise-building in the middle of the city. Nothing but the name on the nameplate could tell you what this place actually was.

"This is...", I don't know what to say.

"A lot less impressive than you thought? I know that feeling. But this is just the office in the end. We want to go through the basement."

"This building has a secret basement?"

"Nope, something much cooler."

We enter through the front door, ending up in a lobby with several reception desks. Confidently, Victoria walks to a row of small gates that separate it from the elevators.

She pulls out a plastic card and puts it over a card reader, stepping through the gate as soon as the light turned green. Leaving the card behind for me to use.

"Is this okay? Letting me in without notifying anyone or something?", I ask a bit insecure. The security looked a bit too good to let just about anyone in.

"Don't worry. It's mostly meant to keep out those that really have nothing lost in here. As long as you don't jump over the gates, everything's fine.", Victoria explains as she leads me to the emergency stairwell.

Two floors down, we enter a long corridor and Victoria leads me to a room that's probably the Janitors storage.

"Stand inside the closet. It's the entrance to the secret base.", she explains, pointing at a small closet in the back of the room.

I have lifted my foot already into the air, ready for the first step, before I stop. Slowly, I turn my head towards Victoria, giving her my best 'are you f*cking serious?' look.

"Please, ladies first."

"Tsk.", she clicks her tongue: "Almost."

She leaves the room again, me following behind. This time, she leads me to a small side corridor without anything in it. The kind that's only there because nothing else is there.

She walks to the end, and takes out her card again, holding it somewhere against the right wall.

After a few moments, the wall at the end of the corridor starts to distort into a swirl, slowly turning blue. After a few seconds of furious spinning, the wall turns into a wavy, blueish transparent film, separating the corridor from the room beyond.

"Okay, that is a lot cooler than the closet."

"I know, right?", she said as she stepped through.

I quickly follow behind her, entering another small lobby. I look behind me, just in time to see the portal closing, disappearing like a bursting bubble.

Looking around the room, I noticed that the one we used wasn't the only one. There were a total of five pairs of black pylons with inwards pointing spikes on them, the left-most being the one we had come from.

At that moment, a young man sitting at the reception spoke up: "Hey Vix. Why are you here again? And who's that?"

"Hey, Fred. He is an old friend who became a recruit. He has his last fight today so I plan on helping him a bit."

"You do know that we aren't allowed to do that? For fairness and all that crap? I will have to report this to the higher-ups.", the man, Fred, answered.

"Yeah, I know. And please do so. Also, tell them that he might be the solution to the big mission. That's why I'm doing this in the first place."

"You mean the Desert temple one? Is his Overskill Summon Food, or what?"

"There is a Summon Food Skill?", I can't help but ask.

"I don't think so?", Victoria answers.

"There is a Summon Teddybear Skill. Why shouldn't there be a Summon Food Skill?"

"These Teddybears are gigantic monster-hunting monstrosities. Also, everything of the summoning type can be dispelled and made to disappear. How would you like it if the food in your stomach suddenly disappears?"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you have to take full responsibility for bringing him here, okay? I don't want to get in trouble for this."

"Sure, that's what I was planning from the getgo.

Oh Right, Al, you have to be careful while you're here. One thing that makes this place special is that there are absolutely no restrictions here, despite normal people being able to enter as well. So be careful not to break any door handles or hands."

"Eh... Okay? I will be careful?"

"No, I'm serious. It happens all the time with recruits with high strength Stats. Right, what is your Stat distribution like? No exact numbers, just a rough estimate is fine."

Honestly, I could imagine it after what happened with that speed guy, especially if you didn't realize that your strength suddenly surpassed human capabilities by far. Only now that she said it, did I notice that my Stats weren't restricted anymore.

"My Stats are pretty evenly distributed, though with a tendency towards the mental ones. Considering my Overskill, I was going for adaptability."

"That was definitely the right decision. Your win ratio is actually surprising with a utility Overskill and two duds."

"Duds? Are defensive Skills that bad?"

Sure, I never tested the heat resistance, but that was because of the risk of injury, so I didn't realize that.

"No, not per se. But they are bad during recruitment. Even with heat resistance, a person with a lighter and a can of hairspray can still burn you. Defensive Skills, at least the passive ones, only show their true potential once you have a certain amount of base Stats and Skill level.

Well, some actually see them as duds even then, since they tend to be pretty specific. Even if you can endure a lightning strike, if your enemy doesn't use electricity, the Skill is useless, and there are other ways to defend against that kinda stuff.

But don't worry. Your Heat resistance should come in handy."

"Against environments, you mean, right? Like a hot desert?"

"Exactly. Heat, cold, and poison are the most common environmental hazards you will face. So it's gonna be useful for the mission as well."

"Right, now that we are on Skills, how can I get new ones? In my Status it says two of five, so I should be able to get three more, right?"

"Well, you can't while you're still a recruit. You sometimes get offers during or after missions, where you can choose one out of several Skills. But when it happens and what you can choose from, is something that's up to the gods. Quite literally."