First Mission (1)
For lunch, Xander headed to the downtown restaurants where mercenaries tended to go and eat when they returned from the field.
Although it wasn't as high end as the restaurant he had his breakfast in, it was still good enough since it was spacious and there was live music performance. He immediately sat down by a table he was ushered to by one of the waitstaff, and ordered their specialty dishes for entree, main course, and dessert.
Of course, as he was waiting, it seemed like he was just enjoying the view of the table towards the live music performance happening on the stage close to him. The lady in red dress was singing a classic song by Evelyn Bates, Coming Closer to You.
Oh smile, beautiful you
Let your worries fade away
Come, join me in the room
Let's sing, let's dance, be happy with you
So smile, lady Fortune, she's coming closer to you
Closer to your hearts
Closer to your minds
Washing everything of its stains
Making sure of the sunny days ahead
Oh great beauty, let your smile fill our hearts
Wash the pain within, clean the mire we are in
Let us be reborn, from the hearts we've torn
Make us be able to smile once more
....
The lady's voice was quite angelic, hitting the right notes while managing to create her own rendition twist at the end of the song. As she finished the song, a lot of the members of the crowd clapped, some whistling at the lady. A few began to scan the code near the singer's stage, giving her tips for her performance. Xander, seeing this, also tipped, as he felt the music was quite soothing. He decided for the anonymous tip and gave out 10,000 Etas.
The latter smiled and bowed to them, before beginning another catchy tune, Simple Dreams. By the end of the song, the appetizers were served to Xander's table, in which he began to taste and slowly dine to while drinking the house special draft beer. Similarly, other people on their respective tables were eating and talking to each other as well, loud and sometimes with infective laughter.
The lady in a red dress, as well as the pianist, immediately switched their songs to a somewhat low-key and background type, creating a festive atmosphere. Xander, just finishing his appetizers, felt his watch vibrate. He opened it up, and saw the notification from the MCGD Corporation, officially making him a mercenary. What was surprising was that the rank mentioned in the message sent was that he was delegated to C+-class, skipping 7 ranks at once.
Xander pondered for a bit, and realized: Ah, the research paper. These people sure work fast, Xander mumbled and began eating the main course that was just delivered to his table.
_________________________________________
Around the world, the scientific and magic research community was in an uproar once again. They were just reeling with the paper recently released by the mysterious Gold D. Roger concerning the confirmation of elemental hierarchy, and another revolutionary paper pops out!
Proving the theory of elemental conversion into physical matter!
Proving the idea of immaterial elements being converted into material elements!
Two theses at once, shaking the perspective of magicians, scientists, and researchers.
The first thesis focused on providing multiple factors of why the theory is actually a law of the ordered system: Elemental propagation, the existence of magic beasts and sprites, as well as multi-dimensionality of elements! Heavens, the idea of multi-dimensionality of elements was posited centuries ago, but was never clearly proved... until this paper!
The paper actually gave concrete results and details on the multi-dimensionality of elements! Not only that, but the paper also indirectly proved one of the conjectures concerning elemental propagation: Why is the whole universe not choking on elemental particles? That's because they follow the law of attraction, condensing in the area where they are abundant, causing these particles to manifest into physical phenomena!
This gave rise to a lot of implications; one of which is the creation of planets, of life in general in the universe! Nebulas in the starry skies, are they amalgam of elements, slowly condensing to form a planet?
Has Eteria formed the same way? It was a consensus before that planets were formed through material and gravitational attraction, forming a core. The increase in size slowly compresses the core to the point that they transform physical states, and with a high temperature, this produces the atmosphere that the planet can utilize to prosper biological life.
But is this universal, or were their planet simply a type of planet formation? Given that elements also aggregate and propagate, was the formation of their planet simply in a one-dimension formation?
Then how about an human baby?
Is sperm and an egg really just that? Was there a significant increase in elemental concentration in the womb of the mother? What happens then to the body of the mother, does their elemental particles travel to where the sperm and egg fused at?
How about the natural minerals produced in the ground, are the type of metal produced totally random, or should there be a specific ratio of elements alongside the metal/earth element? Can one synthetically produce metals? Can rare materials be created this way? How about stronger alloys?
Heavens, the first paper done by this Homer Simpson... it was the combination of 3 theses in one! The second one was quite impactive as well but in the field of magic artifact and weapon creation, as well as health care.
It also proved the previous paper by Gold D. Roger and Therault concerning elemental suppression and supplementation, and gave a new perspective on elemental representations, and how it can bring legendary magicians and above to new heights.
Think about it: If you could convert life and death elements, elements considered to be immaterial, into physical objects, and fashion them as sort of a health drink, or even medical pills? A drink that can slowly revitalize your organs, a pill that can heal cancer and another that can heal diseases, a pill that can allow your body to clot quickly and produce the necessary blood, a drink that can heal internal injuries... and it's not just limited to pills! Think of topical creams, of body lotions or even moisturizers! The pharmaceutical benefits it would bring!
The interested parties, rich families, governments, and scientists, however, noticed a glaring name on the paper: Co-author, Xander Cloverfield.
Xander Cloverfield again! Four years ago, he was listed as a co-author by Ryan Therault, crediting most of the complicated aspects of the paper to him; according to the investigation done, this kid was just 3 years old at that time!
Now, four years later, he co-authors two papers that have a significant impact on both economic, scientific, and political fields!
For the past half a day, these people have been attempting to locate the contact number Xander had, wishing to form a relationship with him, or even entice him to join their respective groups and countries.
Even both Xander's parents attempted to contact their son; after all, the sudden bomb drop was too surprising and too impactive! However, only a prerecorded voice message could be heard from the other side.
"If this is mom and dad, I'm busy in my lab, will talk to you next week. If it's urgent, send a message to one of the guards."
"If this is the Eta government or some government of another country wanting to collaborate or invite me for my expertise, please contact my parents if you are the former, and contact the Eta government if you are the latter. Once you have discussed rental remuneration to my government, you can discuss my professional fee with me."
"If this is some group of rich people, or ancient families with lots of influence, or maybe some random group that is trying their luck, whether you want to befriend me, curse me, kill me, or strike a deal with me, please follow me on my social account in SeeMe. Send me a DM and go straight to the point."
"If this is some magic artifact maker, scientist, or magic researcher attempting to contact me because you have questions, please follow me on my social account in SeeMe. For urgent inquiries, contact my parents, since they said I shouldn't talk to strangers older than me alone because they might kidnap me and sell my organs."
Upon hearing the pre-recordings, both couldn't help but cry silently before smiling wryly. Their son is truly a handful. They had no choice but contact their respective families to control the situation. Immediately, news about Xander's involvement in the papers was at its minimum within some of the major countries of Eteria.
_____________________________________
In an unknown area, Eteria?
A man was reading the papers written by Xander, sitting comfortably by his chair looking out into the crashing waves on the seaside.
The man, after finishing the papers, drank his coffee and grinned, before laughing out loud.
"Homer Simpson, huh? It seems someone really did transmigrate beside me! I wonder what this person wished from God... It would be great if I could steal it, hehe, HAHAHA!" His laugher echoed in the whole villa before silence descended again.
The man, regaining his calm, called for his attendant.
"Jarvis, immediately investigate the identity of this Homer Simpson; leave no stone unturned! Also, place Xander Cloverfield under Level 2 priority. Although the Cloverfields' influence on the planet as well as their hidden power cannot be underestimated, this person seemed to be mentioned in papers that cause a commotion. However, do the monitoring of this person secretly."
"Yes, milord."
"Hmm...wait."
"Yes, milord?"
"Change the priority level of Xander Cloverfield to Level 1. At the same time, assign someone from the Immortal group to monitor and investigate him discreetly, and leave no trace. At the same time, if possible, set up a meeting between him and me while I am still here."
"Yes, milord. Your will shall be done." The attendant immediately left, vanishing from the villa.
The man sat down and tapped on the oak table in front of him, before muttering,
"If it is what I think it is, this fellow transmigrator of mine would be a difficult opponent."
"Oh well, we shall see then."
_____________________________________
Of course, Xander's family's protectiveness couldn't be matched by that Homer Simpson's.
Immediately, after signing Homer Simpson as part of the contractors of MCGD corporation, the company immediately publicized a post welcoming Homer Simpson as a member of their company. Upon further scrutiny, other people and companies realized that he was only working as a free contractor, smirking at the low attempt done by MCGD.
Even the documents that Xander submitted an hour ago was quickly leaked, detailing how he just signed up as a mercenary.
A lot of mercenaries were magicians and they were tech geeks too. They began searching for Homer Simpson in the F-class mercenary list. After a few minutes of searching, they couldn't find him. A lot of mercenaries were initially confused before realizing a possibility: Could he be directly admitted to the mercenary with a higher rank?
Immediately, they began scouring the lists. F+, E, E+, D, D+, C, C+... bam! they found his name on the very last entry for C+ mercenaries: Homer Simpson. Upon clicking, mercenaries were able to view the recorded information available. As a rule, only mercenaries with a rank higher than the target mercenary can view their information. There were several B rank and above mercenaries in the restaurant Xander was currently in
Age:26
Sex: Male
Sexual orientation: Both male and female
Height: 2.2 meters
Color: Light brown
Number: 093-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXX
Specialty: Magic Artifact crafting, Magic researcher, Historical Analysis
Cultivation: Unknown
Known abilities: Undisclosed
Power level: Undisclosed
...
The list continued on, which was quite weird when Xander submitted it. Why did they need so much private information? So they could suggest the best type of missions for me to take? Or for his future employers? Why did they need my sexual orientation, Xander wondered.