"So you, my dear cadet will participate in the Hunt and make sure to dominate the ga enough to get us an invite" Elizabeth said bringing the drink to her smirking lips.
"Why though?" Reid asked "why can't you just do it yourself since you're a lot stronger than him".
"Because you're strong but not overwhelmingly so" She finished the drink and put the glass back " fighting there would be overkill".
"I see" Reid nodded.
"And besides, it's too much work" she completed.
'so to sum it up, you're just lazy' Reid's eyebrow twitched but he didn't say anything else.
"Alright, let's sign you up for the next one" she said and they started walking to a certain booth "this one's about to end".
The booth was manned by a burly man with a shaved head and a no-nonsense deanor.
A holo-screen hovered beside him, displaying nas and rankings of participants, with flashing updates indicating winners and eliminations.
Elizabeth leaned casually against the counter.
"We're here to sign up," she said in a casual tone.
The man raised an eyebrow, giving her and Reid a once-over.
"For the Hunt?" he asked gruffly.
"Exactly. My friend here," she motioned to Reid, "is eager to show what he's made of."
Reid frowned. "I didn't exactly say—"
"Wonderful," Elizabeth cut him off, giving him a quick pat on the back before turning her attention back to the man. "When's the next round?"
The man tapped a few buttons on his console. "Next Hunt begins in thirty minutes. Last call for entries is in ten. Entry fee's 500 credits," he said, his tone making it clear this wasn't negotiable.
Elizabeth smirked and handed over a card. "Covering it, of course."
The man swiped the card and handed her a small token with a number etched on it. "He's in. Token 47. You'll need this to access the prep area."
As they walked away, Reid could hear the crowd erupting into cheers as the current match concluded. Elizabeth led him toward a corridor marked "Participants Only."
"You've got about twenty minutes to prepare," she said, glancing at him.
"Get your ga face on. And rember..." She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Dominate the ga and get us that attention."
"Sure" Reid said with a confident grin.
"Okay then see ya later" she said "make sure you win because I'm going all in on you".
"You bet?" Reid asked, genuinely surprised "I thought you were already rich enough".
"Does it matter?" She replied with a question.
Reid thought about it for a few seconds before saying "I guess it doesn't".
Elizabeth left and he used his token to to unlock the prep area and enter.
Inside, there were already other participants. So were huddled in groups while others sat quietly alone.
The room was silent for a mont as the others focused on the new cor before they went back to what they were doing.
Reid looked around before moving to an empty space and sat down, ignoring everyone else.
He closed his eyes, ntally preparing himself when suddenly a "Psst" sounded next to him, interrupting his ntal preparation.
He looked to his left and spotted a dark-skinned boy who appeared no older than 16. The boy was waving enthusiastically, clearly trying to get Reid's attention.
"Hi! I'm Dean," the boy introduced himself with a wide grin. "You're new here, right? First Hunt?"
Reid raised an eyebrow, caught slightly off guard by the boy's friendliness.
"Yeah... sothing like that," he replied cautiously.
"I see, then do you know anything about the Hunt?" Dean asked, his friendly tone still persisting.
"I know that it's a hunting ga" Reid answered.
"That's the gist of it, but there's a lot more to it," Dean replied, leaning in with a grin "but the Hunt is much more than a ga. You'll be pitted against actual primals and sotis other participants".
"Other participants?" Reid asked, catching his stress on 'participants'.
"The goal of the hunt is to gather the most cores" Dean said "but there wasn't a rule that states that you have to kill the primals yourself to get one".
"So so will just let the others hunt the primals and they'll reap the benefits by attacking them and stealing their hard earned cores".
"Isn't that cheating?" Reid asked.
"It's frowned upon but you won't be disqualified for doing it" Dean answered.
"And you're telling this because?" Reid finally asked. In this day and age, nothing was for free so he expected this information to co with a price.
"Well you see, I'm more of a strategist and more of a fighter so I need soone who'll handle the fighting while I focus on the planning" he replied.
"Then why did you decide to choose out of everyone here?"
There were people who, by appearance alone, seed much more powerful than Reid so it was quiet baffling that Dean chose him.
"Well you see, my gut tells you're my safest bet here and it has never been wrong before" Dean proudly answered and outstretched his hand "so what do you say? Let's team up?".
"Isn't the whole point of the ga to have one winner?" Reid asked.
"Yes but no one said you can't team up with soone else" he answered.
Reid thought about it for a while. He could go solo, but having soone who was knowledgeable about the ga had its rits, especially since he was new to the whole thing.
"Fine," he said finally, "but I get to call the shots during the Hunt."
"I'm cool with that." Dean replied.
Reid eyes took a dangerous glint. "And if you try anything funny—"
"Relax, man," Dean interrupted with a laugh. "Trust , I play clean."
"I hope you do" Reid replied and took his outstretched hand.
As if on cue, soone spoke from the speakers in the room as soon as Reid shook Dean's hand.
"All participants, please make your way to the pit" The person announced "the Hunt is about to start"...
_____
We're finally going premium with the next Chapter! To all the readers who've accompanied on this journey but may stop here, due to not having coins to unlock my Chapters, thank you for your support and for coming this far—it truly ans the world to .
For those continuing with , get ready—because Reid's adventure is only just beginning!
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