Chapter Seventy-Five - Squad E2 I got to work, somehow. Carving two spells overnight was a bad idea. Maybe if they were both cantrips I could handle it, or if I had cleared half a dozen more E and D ranked portals I’d have the mana to spare, but as it was, the carving had pushed my magical energy into the negatives, and I was feeling it in the morning. I woke up, only to see both carvings subtly warped out of shape overnight, and then had to spend whatever magic I’d gained while sleeping correcting them. It was like smushing wet clay around. I had to Reload. I was determined to have both spells with me today, since I’d have a good training opportunity, so I recarved them, then went to bed early, only this time I drank one of those expensive magic juice-boxes before bed, and I set my alarm to go off every hour. By the time morning came around, I’d gotten way less sleep than usual, and what sleep I did get was ass. Sure, I’d probably gotten eight hours, but it was broken up way too much. At least both Restore Stamina and Exhaust Senses were stable and looked good. I didn’t have the energy to cast them just like that to test, but I was pretty sure they’d work. I showered, dressed, then headed out to work. Today was going to be pretty chill. I got an email while on the bus saying that I was to report to one Sergeant Guy of Squad E2 at 0930, which left me enough time to get to the Luna Corp HQ and run up to grab my gear. Since I didn’t want to appear too sloppy, I got dressed in the standard Luna Corp fatigues (which were admittedly kind of nice looking, in a deep blue colour with the company logo sewn onto the shoulders) and got my plate carrier, greaves and braces on, as well as knee and elbow guards. The fully armoured uniform always looked a bit goofy to me. I think that someone like Jane would complain at length about it, but it kept what needed to be safe covered. I grabbed some ammo for my handgun and tucked my helmet under my arm before heading out. Eldur had come in and given me a patch for my plate carrier with my name on it as well as a small Squad B logo so at least people would be able to ID me at a glance. I hadn’t been with Squad E2 in my time at Luna Corp, but I did know some of the people in it. Truth be told, I... didn’t have very many friends in my time in Fortress ENE, and the only people I had occasionally hung out with were squadmates. I was a little worried about meeting some of them again, not that I ever became too close to any of them. The best I had were a few drinks after work and shared complaints about higher ups. Sergeant Guy of Squad E2 was often featured in those. He was the kind of incompetent micro-managing nit-picker who would get someone killed one day. I had a small hit of nostalgia as the elevator doors opened into the lower floors where the E-rankers had their space. It wasn’t bad, mind. Luna Corp wasn’t one of those big, fancy companies, but it had the budget to make sure that the space for E-rankers was decent. It was just a bit crowded. I think the E-rankers were supposed to have two floors for the number of squads, but ended up with just the one somehow, so the locker rooms and such ended up squished together a little. That was fine, only I’d just come down from a floor where I had a large office to myself that was currently empty. The switch was a little jarring. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I walked across the floor, moving by a few employees until I made it to Squad E2’s section of the floor. The majority of them were coming in, dressed in civvies, though a few were changed already and were congregating in a more open space. Walking over to the sergeant’s door, I knocked twice, even though it was opened and I could see him within. “A minute,” he said without looking up from his work. He glanced up a few moments later, then his brows rose. “Oh. Hello, you’re...” “From Squad B,” I said. “You’re Sergeant Guy, sir?” “That’s me,” he said as he stood. “Pleasure to meet you. I was just reviewing the email. You’re the only member of the squad with us this morning?” “Yes sir,” I said. “The rest are off on bodyguarding duty. I’m what they can spare.” I knew I didn’t need to ‘yessir’ him so much. He was a normal-ass employee, and despite the guns and uniforms, this wasn’t the army, but a bit of respect and some light ass-kissing could go a long way. Besides, I wanted to know how two idiots died and if I could avoid that, then I’d have a nice, cushy job parking my ass in an E-ranked portal and sucking up ambient magical energy all day. Might be worth a point or so by the end. “I’d have wished for more,” Guy said. “But I’ll take what I can get. You’re a proper D-ranker, yes?” “Sure am,” I said. “I’ll be riding with your squad over?” “Working with us, yes,” he agreed. “We’re doing extraction work today. It’s a small, E-ranked undead portal. We’re pulling out the monster bodies, and metals, furniture... basically anything that isn’t nailed down is being extracted.” “Cool,” I said. I’d done that kind of work a few times. It was lame, but it paid the bills, I supposed. The site would have a dozen or so normal folk working around it, and the dozen members of Squad E2 within the portal to grab the resources within. “Just to be clear, I’m on guard duty for this one, correct?” “Well, you can always help us,” he said with a smile. I shook my head. “No. My orders are to keep your team secured during the material extraction. Not to act as muscle.” Guy’s lips pinched, but he nodded all the same. “Of course. You can wait for us at the van, if you wish. We’ll be leaving soon enough.” Soon enough, as it turned out, meant an hour later. A boring hour I spent in the back of a van, sitting with my arms crossed, waiting... and listening. Guy had the balls to talk mad shit when I wasn’t standing right next to him. I overheard him speaking to his second about how they had a D-ranker babysitter who’d probably just stand around and take up space. I kinda understood him. I’d been a little annoyed at some D-rankers before as well. There was a level of... elitism that could come with the rank. A lot of responsibility, but also a lot of rewards. It got to some people’s heads. And unlike other kinds of elitism, ranker elitism was... kind of right? It wasn’t deserved, but like... rankers were more fit, prettier, and could use magic. They were, we were humanity’s first line against portals and breaches. Obviously, all that meant was that normal people felt shat on by E-rankers, who were annoyed by D-rankers, who were looked down on by C-rankers and... yeah, it kept going that way until the top of the pyramid. Not like I’d ever seen an A-ranker with my own two eyes before, they were guarded like national treasures. I was stewing in that kind of thought when Squad E2 loaded up in the van. It was almost more of a bus, really, but no one wanted to call it that. The squad had a dozen members, which made the fit a bit tight, especially with all the gear they brought in. It was still more comfortable than the bus the normal folk were riding in, so I didn’t complain, just kept my arms crossed and my eyes down, not drawing attention to myself even as I felt eyes on me. We took off, and it was a solid forty minutes of ENE traffic before we made it to the portal site. As a repeating portal, the area where it tended to appear had been paved and set up to make it easier to work with. The overnight guards were happy to see their replacements arrive, at least. Sergeant Guy got out, and started barking orders that his team probably didn’t need. He very pointedly ignored me, which was fine. I made a beeline for the portal and hopped in, then inspected it. I had vague memories of this one. Some sort of large graveyard with crypts and hedges, with a few garden sections. There were these large, stone plant pots that were a pain in the ass to move out, but they sold for like, three hundred a pop, so the corp grabbed them every time. Now... if I was a bored employee looking for a way to die in here, where would I do it?