When he woke up, it took him a moment to remember where he was. The problem was solved after he ran mana through his body, instantly waking him up again. Even so, he stayed in bed for a few minutes, just staring at the ceiling, mentally parsing everything he'd been through in a relatively short amount of time.

  Even though he'd stayed busy when he'd been in the Quartet, there had been a sort of…stability. More importantly, he'd had a decent home base of sorts. It was strange for him to think of his dorm like that now, but it really had been a nice place to call his own, even though he'd been there for less than a year. It hadn’t been real, though. The entire experience was transitional by design–he just ended up leaving quicker than most. And it hadn’t exactly been peaceful, either. He’d definitely made quite a few enemies as well.

  Some were sure to come for him on earth, given enough time. He knew there was very little chance they’d just leave him be.

  Without quite understanding where exactly he was going with his thoughts or feelings and not finding any real closure, he got up to get ready for the day.

  The night before, he had bought himself a little travel pouch of toiletries, and he put them to good use again before stowing it in his backpack. He thought it was funny that his backpack now was like the kind of bag a homeless person would keep all their worldly possessions in. Then he actually laughed out loud when he realized he really was a homeless person, and the backpack really did have all of his worldly possessions in it.

  Well, minus his dimensional storage.

  He briefly thought about putting the backpack and its contents in his bone gate but decided against it. It was helpful to have certain things easily available. And he didn't want to reveal to the world that he had anything like the storage, yet. There were all sorts of people that would be interested in that. Maybe after he deemed he was strong enough, he'd stop caring. But until other Challengers could still be dangerous to him, including in great numbers, overplaying his hand would be dumb.

  The memories of Ancilla he’d relived in dreams were still vivid.

  He left his hotel and walked to the door of the room that Dan was staying in. On his second knock, the man opened the door, obviously ready to go.

  "How far away is the testing facility?" Max asked.

  "Probably about an hour's walk. Good thing we're up early ‘cause I wanna get paid.” He gave Max a nervous smile. "Nothing personal, you know. I just, it hasn't been a good couple of days for me."

  "Well, that's probably putting it mildly," said Max.

  "Yeah.” The word carried volumes.

  The two of them set off, leaving the hotel behind before most businesses were even open. Nobody paid either of them any mind at first as they walked through the city. This area was drastically different from the abandoned, condemned city that Max had been biking around the day before. His current surroundings didn't have exactly the same energy that he remembered from before the monsters attacking, but he'd changed as well.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  In some ways he’d regressed a bit to who he’d been as Chasa de Milo, but he’d also grown in some ways. He definitely felt wiser now.

  When he'd first set out for the day, he had assumed that he and Dan would be all but invisible to other people. But as they walked and he witnessed a few people cross to the other side of the road to avoid passing them on the sidewalk, he grinned ruefully to himself. The strangers likely thought he looked dangerous or stinky, he didn't know which. Either way, he vowed to get a wardrobe change as soon as he could. Nobody was going to take him seriously wearing the clothing he currently had on, at least unless he was famous, and he wasn't ready for that yet.

  Max was a realist. He understood that if he was going to be a high-profile member of the guild he started, much less the guild leader, or if he was able to right any wrongs that had caused the Trifecta Guild to fall where it was today, his actions were going to make waves. He accepted this. But the only thing worse than being famous was being poor and famous.

  Before making any moves, he needed money

  When he saw the Agency building, Max realized that it used to be a convention center. Now, there were obvious signs everywhere for its new purpose. The parking lot outside had quite a few cars, even at this early hour, and Max hoped that there wouldn't be too long of a wait for anything he needed to do.

  As he walked in the front of the building with Dan, they definitely received a few looks for their shabby clothing, but nothing past a pointed look. Max wondered about the kind of clientele or visitors the place would get, for people that looked like him and Dan to not elicit more than a curious glance from security.

  Security itself seemed pretty tight. There were a number of people in suits and formal clothing walking around with an earpiece. None of them seemed to be carrying guns, concealed or otherwise. It was easy to logically conclude that all of them were Challengers. A few in particular gave Max the feeling that they would be tough customers–he could sense it. How in the world the Agency was able to employ so many Challengers as guards, Max had no idea, but he wanted to find out later. Even minor curiosities like this could sometimes turn up very interesting information, especially while walking into a situation blind like he was now.

  The last hour had provided some fruitful question and answer sessions with Dan, but it was still good that the two were probably about to part ways. There was a limit to how much more information Max thought he'd probably get from the other man.

  In the the front of the building through the entryway, there was an office of sorts labeled

  “Information.” There were also other nearby signs with information and directions written in block letters. Other signs hung at regular intervals with large, easy-to-understand arrows pointing in different directions. It looks similar to the directions and arrows found at any public airport, but scaled smaller.

  Max walked up to the help counter, and a man with a name tag that said “Lewis” gave him a pleasant, professional, empty smile. "How can I help you today, sir?"

  "I would like to sell some monster parts. Can I do that here?" Max reached inside and retrieved one of the pieces of ore that he'd gotten after killing the golems.

  Lewis smiled again and pointed to a clipboard to one side. "You sure can. All you need to do is fill out the information and give me your Challenger ID card for my records."

  "I don't have a Challenger ID card yet."

  "You don't?" The man raised his eyebrows. "But you’ve killed monsters? Are you by chance a Returner?"

  "That's right," said Max.

  "Oh, well, if that's the case, then you need to get assessed and receive an identification card. Do you know where to go to do that?"

  Max nodded and pointed behind him. "I saw the signs. So you guys won't let anybody sell monster stuff unless we have an identification card, huh?"

  "I'm afraid not. There are plenty of reasons for that, as you can probably guess. One of the biggest is it prevents theft of monster parts since, although they are not technically controlled, having records of when and when they are sold provides information for any detectives looking into stolen property."

  "I understand," said Max. He nodded and left.

  Dan was leaning against the back wall by one of the trash cans. As Max approached, he said, "I heard. I guess I have a little bit longer of a wait, huh?"

  "That's right," Max nodded. "If you run away now, I'm not going to chase you. Just being honest. But yeah, if you want to get paid, hang around."

  "Got it," the man sighed. He turned to head for one of the benches where a few other people were sitting, probably waiting on someone themselves.

  Max tapped him on the shoulder and handed him some money. "It's going to be a while, so why don't you go get some food or whatever? I mean, a deal's a deal, but I feel bad if you're out here waiting, and this way I can take the time I need without feeling guilty about it."

  Dan nodded mutely, took the money, and headed for one of the gift shops. Max watched him go, wondering if he was doing the right thing by helping. He eventually shrugged before following the signs to the testing location.