“Alright, how much have you heard?” the blonde woman clamps my mouth shut with her hand.

I take this time to look around the room and notice the rugged-looking man using his body to hide what's on the table. I go to speak, and she removes her hand from my mouth.

“All I know is that you fucked up somehow.”

She looks back at the man, and the man nods at her. She switches our positions, so my back is to the table. She looks me up and down and starts interrogating me.

“What is a kid with a cheap martial arts costume doing so far inside this secured building, you're not wearing a pass, and you brought in some snake with you.

Poor Rob was left outside the room. I can summon him at any time, but that would be a waste of my skill. He can wait.

“You interrupted me when I was introducing myself. My name is Ellis, and I am a recent member scouted specifically by Nelson.”

“Hmmm, are you that kid who somehow survived that death trap of a graveyard?”

“Yes, that was me. I met Nelson shortly after my recovery.”

“I’ll believe you, for now. My name is Cathay, and I am a scout. I used to be on a scouting team, but I was poached by Agent Nelson.”

I look behind me, but she clamps my head with her hands and forces me to look at her before I’m able to.

“Don’t get dragged into the mess we made, and just look this way instead. You got that?”

I nod my head slowly, and she releases my skull.

“Who is the guy over there then?”

“That's Barry. He has a rare class called [Traveller]. He has the power to make life easier. He is also the team’s healer, so it's okay if you get horrifically injured in battle.” she gives me a toothy grin as the man behind me speaks up.

“Don’t say that to the new guy, Cathay. That kind of stuff is why our type of team has a bad reputation.

The door opens behind Cathay as I see Nelson standing there with a bundle of papers. Rob quickly enters the room.

“Fuck, a [Skeleton],” says Cathay, as she pulls a dagger and stabs Rob in the head in one quick and fluid motion.

Rob drops to the ground like a sack of bricks before I can speak up.

“I thought that it was Ellis’ tamed creature.” (Nelson)

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry then.” (Cathay)

“It’ll be fine if you apologize to him.” I pick him off the ground as he reassembles from that attack.

“Sorry little guy, I just really hate undead.”

That wasn’t a good apology. Is Cathay’s hatred for the undead how she managed to ignore Rob's [Cuteness] skill? I decide to turn to Nelson instead and grab the papers from him.

“Ellis, just fill out the paperwork, and you will be officially hired as a Jr. team member.”

I sit down on a nearby couch and start the paperwork. I look up at the table and wonder what happened earlier.

[The man was making a sandwich when that woman was occupying your attention.]

I pet Duchess’ head as thanks. I didn’t even need to ask her, but she already knew I was curious. The paperwork is easy to fill out. I watch as Nelson reaches into the fridge and pulls out a sandwich from inside, and starts to eat it. I hand the papers to him, and he leaves the room.

~

About half an hour had passed before Nelson came back and made us huddle around him.

“Alright, introductions are not necessary. I’m sure you got well acquainted with each other while I filed the final paperwork needed to officialize Ellis into our team.” (Nelson)

“Yup.” (Cathay)

“Mhmm” (Barry)

“Eh.” (Me)

“Good. Right now might be a bit too fast to join a raid since you had no actual training. What level are you right now, Ellis?”

“Level 25.”

“Not bad. We are considered ‘rookies’ compared to the veterans of the FIB. Our overage levels on this team are around 67.”

“I started at level 1 when I was sucked into that fracture you weren’t watching adequately.”

“That’s a pretty impressive level of growth.” (Nelson)

He looks to the other team members and motions for them to talk privately. As they walk away, I wonder If I have to go through another test. I just hope that I can start raiding fractures as soon as possible. To pass the time, I begin a conversation with Duchess.

“What do you think of the three of them?”

[The one you call Nelson and the girl seem incompetent. The man, however, seems quite skilled.]

“How so.”

[Thisss one doesn’t think they will be able to continue to grow in power.]

“Says the level F-rank level 10 snake.”

[...]

“Anyway, what spells have you constructed.” I could always check the system, but asking her allows me to waste more time.

[One is called [Interferance], and another is not finished yet. [Interferance] allows thisss one to use more mana to send conflicting and harmful thoughts to those thisss one deems fitting to take it. [Telepathy] wasn’t good enough for that kind of laborious sending, so thisss one made a much more streamlined process.]

“So you can now mentally DDoS someone now.”

[Thiss one does not know what that is.]

“It’s what you are doing, but people target servers over the internet instead of brains.”

The trio reappears from the other room and approaches me. Nelson speaks up with their verdict.

“Ellis, instead of a lengthy training or an unneeded test, I have decided that we will take you to a fracture. We will go with you and make sure you won’t die.” (Nelson)

“Can you elaborate?” (Me)

“We are going to a fracture that we can comfortably handle that has the ‘hazard’ classification, and we will correct any mistakes you make. We will also see what role you fit best in our team. Since you are a tamer and can bring your team of creatures with you to fracture, I believe that you can fill any role.” (Nelson)

“When are we going?” (Me)

“Right now.” (Nelson)

“Can we go to a fracture with an elevation of over 50,000 feet?” (Me)

“Barry, pack the lightning rods.” (Nelson)

~

Nelson is a cheapskate. When I asked if members get any free gear, he vehemently said no and refused to continue that line of conversation. The fracture we went to has not been explored yet. Nelson wanted that authentic feeling for this trial run, so he picked an actual fracture that a team would go to and clear out.

The scouts couldn’t send drones because of a constant fierce electrical storm, but they managed to scope the immediate surroundings from the fracture entrance. It’s a ginormous mountain range with the highest point they could locate going well above the clouds. They were attacked by various elementals and dealt with them accordingly. The elementals are immune to physical attacks and damage from the same thing their body is made of.

Creating custom-made suits to resist electricity for each raid team member is outside the budget for what the speculative worth of the fracture is. They instead send in the hazard team without protection just in case they don’t make a profit from the fracture. Goddam greedy pigs.

The strategy that other teams came up with to deal with the environmental hazard was for one team member to set up various lightning rods along the path. Lightning strikes aren’t the biggest issue in the fracture. The ambient electricity in the air can cause complications and harm the raiding party. The lightning rods are enchanted to attract all electricity and funnel it down into the ground.

I have a plan that will only work if I abuse my resistance. Duchess has to stay on someone else's shoulders for this to work. She picks Barry and now is using him as a free ride through the fracture.

Instead of using the lightning rod for their intended purpose, I decided to attach the lightning rods to my back and walk around with them as an umbrella. I make Nelson buy some copple wire, and I quickly attach it to the lightning rod and wrap it down my body.

Lightning likes to travel down the path of least resistance. I plan to have the lightning go through the copper wires and ignore my body. The residual electricity will probably still hurt, but I can take it.

I am going through all this extra effort because I don’t want my tamed beasts to be hurt during this raid. Flash Gordon can probably take it, but I still don’t want him to constantly take the brunt of the damage. Rob would probably be fine, but it will be annoying if I have to collect fragmented bones every time he gets struck. Duchess is too physically weak to handle lightning.

The fracture is right before us. I walk in with my tamed beasts in tow.

The inside shows a breathtaking view of an imposing mountain piercing the heavens. The entire fracture is covered with storm clouds that crackle with energy. There is no tall vegitaion . Any tree would be decimated in seconds from incoming lightning. Many rocks litter the whole mountain. Bits and pieces of larger rocks get shattered from lighting, causing stones and gravel to cover the mountainside.

The others appear behind me. It seems that the fracture entrance has not moved. I make a mental note of where the exit is and begin the raid.