Max examined his new Challenger ID card and his new driver’s license. Both had the picture the Agency had taken about fifteen minutes ago.

  “Are you sure you won’t consider it?” asked Joseph Grint, the last Agency manager to take a stab at recruiting him.

  “No thanks. I have some things to do.”

  “Well, alright.” The older, mustachioed man bowed his head, defeated. “I’m sure you’ll see the flyers in the main waiting area if you haven’t already, but there is a guild recruiting event hosted here in four more days.”

  Max was shocked–he hadn’t seen any such thing–but he kept it off of his face. “Thank you.”

  The other man just nodded and walked away without looking back. Max took the obvious dismissal in stride and left the individual waiting room where he’d been enduring scouting attempts for the last half hour.

  The Agency must be hurting for Challengers, said Lavinia in his mind.

  Max responded, Well, even without much to compare to I could tell they had shitty contracts. Not only do they pay like shit, it sounds like if you work for the Agency, you don’t actually raid portals or kill monsters very often. It’s mostly security or law enforcement. The only people taking their offer must be cowards.

  Maybe. Lavinia’s reply was neutral.

  There was a long, obvious hallway back to the main waiting area. Max walked slowly, mentally organizing everything he’d learned.

  The most surprising fact–at first–had been why most Challengers tested lower than their potential while getting a Challenger ID. If Max had spent more time thinking about it, he liked to believe he would have figured it out himself.

  But deep down, honestly compelled him to admit he might not have. That was the root of why he’d been so confused at first.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Most Challengers in the Quartets avoided danger–they didn’t court it like Max. The average Returner from the Quartets, even if they graduated, only went to a Quartet dungeon a few times, max. And most of them went with a large group for safety.

  So the average Returner had years to build their power in the Quartet, but had very little actual experience fighting or using their abilities. As a result, many Returners, maybe most, grew in ability over the first year or two they were back to Earth.

  Max was shaking his head when he got to the waiting area. He walked across the large room and sure enough, there were flyers and pamphlets for the upcoming Challenger guild fair. Sure enough, it was scheduled four days from now. He was only mildly curious about it until he read the names of the participating guilds and saw, “Trifecta.”

  His eyebrows practically climbed into his hairline. Now this, he decided, is interesting.

  Then he started reading the signs around him, looking for directions to the monster parts processing area of the Agency. It was not really surprising that all the turn ins happened in an annex building.

  Max hurried out the door. He had some golem parts to sell. Now that he had his Challenger ID card, doing so wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

  ***

  Max found Dan right where the man had been waiting. He hadn’t moved. When he saw Max approaching, he got a complicated expression that seemed equal parts greed, worry, sadness, and excitement.

  It was kind of funny to Max that the wiley fence he’d dealt with the day before at the pawn shop had really rode the line of taking advantage and actually screwing him. He’d gotten roughly two average mortgage payments for the core he’d sold at the pawn shop. From the Agency, he’d gotten about 50% more.

  Now that he’d sold the last three cores that he’d recovered, he had a decent amount of money.

  Without dragging out the moment, he gave Dan a bag full of money, worth about what two cores had brought in. It was close to half of what a new car cost before the monsters attacked Earth. Max had no idea what things were worth anymore, though.

  Dan looked inside as a big, goofy smile bloomed on his face. When he glanced up, his eyes were still haunted, betraying an aura of grief and trauma from what had happened to him. But now there was a glint of optimism. “Thank you,” he said.

  “Just fulfilling my end of the bargain.” Max shrugged. “Anyway, good job answering my questions.”

  Dan nodded jerkily and turned before walking away. Max didn’t know where he was going, but hoped for his sake he’d stay out of trouble. Next time, he probably wouldn’t have anyone to save him.

  Once his temporary helper was gone, Max left the building with one of the guild faire flyers. He found a nearby restaurant to relax in and mull over his next steps. Going to the faire was probably not a bad idea, so he decided to hang around town and do exactly that. This gave him a couple days to work with.

  In that time he hoped to build his mana body a bit more–something he hadn’t had much time to do since he’d been back to earth. He also needed to get a phone.

  But most importantly, he needed some privacy and quiet to have a serious chat with his talking dagger. He definitely hadn’t forgotten about it, not least of which because it’d continued pulsing within his dimensional storage space.

  After he ate, Max went directly to the nearest wireless store he could find. Having a phone again was going to feel nice.