I open my eyes to the chirping of birds. My body feels really light. I try to stretch my back a bit and confirm that all the pain is gone. I lift up the blanket which is covering me for a bit and peek inside.

There lies a girl with nothing but her underwear on. A toned body, brown smooth skin, big yet firm breasts, generous hips, sexy curves, waist long black hair. But even with all these features, she doesn’t seem like an untouchable breathtaking beauty. She is more like your next door girl.

I pull Sena close to me and feel her warmth. I like her as a woman, I mean who wouldn’t. But not to the point to claim her as my woman. I wonder what I am to her. Does she like me? Does she feel some kind of obligation for saving her? (Shudder) I hope she does not see me as a free dick. But enough of this depressing thinking. For now I should give her a medical checkup. Yeah a totally, honest to god medical checkup, not me wanting to grope her.

I extend my left hand and grab her butt.

“Mm”

Grope.

“Mmmm”

I trace my right hand along her curve towards her breast and lightly squeeze her breast.

“Ahn”

Lightly pinch her nipple.

“Rooooy, it’s still morning.”

[Hyah.]

Sena has extended her own hand and grabbed onto my son.

“Ehehehe. It’s payback. Nnnn…”

Sena puckered up her lips, as if wanting me to kiss her. I gladly obliged.

[Morning Sena.]

“Good morning Roy.”

“Mooorning sis. Mooorning Roy”

Looks like Jin woke up.

[Morning.]

“Good morning Jin.”

[Jin, could you do me a favor and wake Mike up?]

“Sure. Heeey Mike (drowsily)…. Ooooi (Shaking him)…. Wake uuuuup”

~ Don’t wannnnnna. ~

“Ooooi… Wake u… NYA! (He put his face between her breasts)”

~ (Sound of peaceful breathing) ~

“(Fully awake) Hey! Don’t go to sleep again. Wake up….. ”

~ I will wake up if you give me a kiss. ~

“Don’t talk with your face between my breasts! It tickles! And why do I have to give you a kiss!?”

~ Then I won’t wake up. ~

“Uuuuuuh (With tears in eyes), fine but just a light kiss, oka… Nnnnnnnnnnn… Puah… Hey! Who gave you permission to put your tongue in?”

I continue to watch their silly yet heartwarming performance for a while. It’s a weird feeling. I am so far from home. I am pretty sure mom, dad, chief and Neha, all are trying to find out what happened to us. But I am not feeling the anxiety I should feel. Maybe I should be grateful that I am calm instead of being anxious. Being anxious won’t get me anywhere.

[Hey Sena, what do we do about breakfast?]

“Well I can fix us a simple breakfast, if you want me to.”

[You can cook? (Startled)]

“Not really. But I can serve us up some toasted bread, jam and boiled egg.”

[Then please do. Today we are visiting job center.]

“Give me 10 minutes.”

[Make two of the serving large.]

“Give me 15 minutes.”

[Pffft.]

“What? Did I say something stupid?”

[No no, not at all. You just sounded like someone I knew.]

‘She sounded just like Jude.’

Sena and Jin took their leave after the breakfast. After about an hour, me and Mike found the job center. We check our gears to see if we have missed anything, then go in.

The inside of the job center is like a restaurant. Lots of tables and chairs are laid out. Many people are eating and waiters are taking orders. On the opposite end of the entrance, there is a desk. A desk plate is placed which reads ‘Reception’.

We walk straight to the desk. A few people look at us but most are uninterested in us. I look at all the people present and try to ascertain our position. Lot of people are wearing armor. Some are carrying sniper rifles, most are carrying assault rifles, but what catches my eye is that some are carrying only pistols.

‘There are many kinds of people here. Thank god we aren’t the odd one out.’

A woman is sitting behind the desk and typing away in the computer placed on the desk. She looks roughly our age. With long black hair tied up into a ponytail, formal black skirt, white top, black heels, she is exuding an aura of a professional.

‘Must be the receptionist.’

[Excuse me?]

“(With a fake smile) yes how may I help you?”

[We are here for some jobs.]

“(Points to a board, still fake smile) job board is there.”

[We are not registered yet.]

“Oh. Then please fill out these forms. And registration fee is 5 gold.”

We fill out the forms and hand them over to the receptionist along with 5 gold. She skimmed through the forms for a bit then took out two odd looking things.

“Please put both of your hands here (points to a hand-rest on one of the things) and your eyes here (Points to a glass portion of another thing).”

~ What are these? ~

“(Astonished) you don’t know?”

~ (Shaking head) no. ~

“This is a fingerprint and DNA scanner (Points to the one with hand-rest). That one is a retina scanner (Points to the other with glass).”

~ I see. Thanks. ~

“You’re welcome. Now if you please.”

We finish the registration process fairly fast. Now we have two cards with our photos on it. There’s a small QR code beside our photos.

[Thanks. I guess now we are eligible for taking jobs?]

“Yes.”

[One last thing. We don’t know how to take jobs. If you would be so kind.]

“(Fake smile again) of course. That’s why I am here for. Instead of telling how to use it, let me show you firsthand. I hope you are fine with it?”

‘That fake smile is starting to get on my nerves.’

~ How could we ever say no to such a beauty? ~

“(With a hint of irritation on her face) I strongly suggest you save your flattery for your girlfriend.”

Mike went silent. The receptionist gasped and realized what she just said. After all, Mike didn’t say anything offending and as a receptionist, she isn’t supposed to rudely talk to a customer. She hurriedly tried to cover up her slip of tongue.

“I-I am sorry. I didn’t….”

However, Mike cut her off in mid-sentence.

~ You’re right. (Bowing) I am sorry if I offended you. ~

“(Bowing) no I am sorry too. (Sweating profoundly) I didn’t mean to say it like that. Please don’t take it personally. It’s just that… I am a bit stressed right now.”

~ (Smiling) don’t sweat it. No offence taken. ~

“Uh…. Thank you? You’re welcome? Sorry, I am not sure what to say in this situation.”

~ How about you drop your fake smile and talk normally with us? ~

“(Fidgeting) you sure it’s fine?”

~ Quite sure. Also, how about we forget this blunder ever happened and do it over? ~

“Please do.”

~ Then once again, (clearing his throat) how could we ever say no to such a beauty? ~

“(Giggling with a faint hint of blush on cheeks) Thank you for your compliment.”

~ (Smiling from ear to ear) that’s more like it. (Extending his hand) I am Michael Smith. Nice to meet you. ~

[(Extending my hand) Kaushik Roy.]

“My name is Megan Reed. (Shaking Mike’s hand) it’s a pleasure. (Shaking my hand) Nice to meet you (I nod in response). Now if you don’t mind, can I show you how to use the job board?”

~ [Sure.] ~

All three of us moved in front of the job board. It’s a large rectangular board with lots of slots.

“(Dipping the card in one of the slots) you dip the card like this in any one of the slots. (A holographic screen popped up) and this screen will open. You can choose categories from here (pointing to a list), also you can search using keywords from here (pointing to a textbox). Result searches will be displayed here (pointing to a big job list).”

[So far so good.]

“Every job has a time limit associated with them. After accepting a job, if you don't complete it within the time limit, your claim on the job will be revoked.”

[Oookaaay.]

“You can see your current job description from your ID card. Tap on the QR code of your ID card twice.”

I do as instructed. A small screen pops up on the card which reads ‘no active jobs’.

“What do you see?”

[It says no active jobs. Jobs??? Wait, does this mean I can take more than one job at a time?]

“Sure you can. As long as you manage to finish it within the timeline.”

[I have a question.]

“Yes?”

[Let's say I have a job with 1 day time limit. But the job location is 1 day far from here. In that case, my claim will be revoked even if I finish the job right? The time limit will always expire before I can come back.]

Megan looked at me while smiling softly. I must say, she looks better without her fake smile.

[Did I ask something stupid?]

“Not at all. You actually asked a very valid question. Although the scenario you described is never likely to happen, I get your point. It's nice to see not all men have muscles for brains.”

[Uhhh… Thanks?]

“You're welcome. Before I answer your question, select a job from the board.”

[Sure.]

I skim through the job list and select a meat gathering job for a restaurant. It has 24 hour time limit and 21 gold reward.

“Good. Now look at the job description from your card.”

I open the job list from my ID card. Sure enough, there is an entry named ‘Gather fresh meat for royal restaurant’.

“Click on the job.”

I do as instructed. The job description page opens. To my surprise, there is a finish button.

[Please don't tell me I can click this button and your servers will be remotely notified that I finished my job?]

“Yes.”

~ That is seriously cool. ~

“Hold your horses. By clicking the finish button, you just get a time extension. If you don't make it back within that time, your claim will still be revoked.”

~ How much extra time? ~

“Half the allocated time limit.”

~ So if I click the finish button now, I will have 36 hour time limit? ~

“Yes (smiling from ear to ear).”

~ I take back my words. This isn’t cool, this is seriously badass. ~

Mike looks like a child who just found a new toy to play with. Both Megan and I smile warily. Mike went to the board and chose another meat gathering job. Then he did something unexpected.

~ How about we meet up for lunch sometimes? ~

“(Smiling while blushing ever so faintly) sure. I would love to.”

Bidding each other goodbye, we left the job center. Now to the jobs. As per our job description, I have to collect 30 kilos of bear meat and mike has to collect 30 kilos of wolf meat. But before we go to hunt, we still needed one thing.

A gun.

So we searched around for a gun shop and to our delight, one was very close to job center. I bought a pistol and Mike bought an assault rifle. Then we enter the forest for hunt.

After a measly 5 hours, we have achieved our goal. It wasn't that hard. We spread the blood from our first hunt in an area and waited for the prey to come. Then repeat the process in different area.

We brought back the meat to the respective restaurant. Restaurant owner took my card and pressed his thumb onto the QR code. After I got my card back I checked the job description and I see a green tick mark beside the job. I got 21 gold coins as reward. Our first job in this world is a success.

Me and Mike decided to do another job after lunch. We sorted out a job which required us to capture a pyro kinetic. As we already encountered a pyro kinetic, we happily took this job.

As per the job description, the pyro kinetic is holed up in a cave somewhere in the forest north of the hub. The job description is pretty simple but it makes me suspicious.

~ Something isn’t right. ~

[Mmhmmm. It’s been posted over 1 month ago. They even know which direction to go, where to search, who to search, but the job is not finished.]

~ Well, no use thinking over useless things. I say let’s go and see things with our own eyes. ~

[I agree.]