Detachment

You pick up Goyang and cradle him. "So when will our official squad placement happen then?"

"Either you make your own by taking the forms and submitting them, or you can submit an application to the squad you want to be in. Some of the squad leaders there are doing their best recruiting new members to their team and you can check them at floor B1 quest center to see their recruitment," says the leader of the Moose Squad.

'I see, so it works like a guild's party but more organized.'

So it's not fully authoritarian, the personnel will need to make choices to recruit the right member for the right job and also their composition. While this enhances the free will and teamwork of the members, the higher up needs to make each squad like another detachment where they can still interfere with their personnel. This makes you wonder if attachment exists for that particular reason.

You take out your KCC to begin the transaction, Woez's terminal scans your card until a beeping lights three times in green, you put your KCC at your terminal's card holder and sees your account balance having 1,003.5 KC.

You ramble, "I already told you to pay 500 KC instead."

Woez puts a smile. "We can just sell those body parts again, besides, look at your surroundings. The buyers are waiting in anticipation for our resources, some operators from other squads are also preparing their wallets." She then offers you the Dark Crystals.

"Goyang, take it." You move goyang near the Woez's hands as he gently tries to pick up both of the crystals with his mouth, after two tries, he manages to carry the two precious objects with his horrifyingly cute teeth.

And so you begin to choose which part of the beast you want to take.

Lues hovers near to you who approaches the mountain pile of scraps. "Ideally, you want to take the bones and the armor, we can create another artifact with that. Want me to sort it out for you?"

"Sure, just leave the sun marble to them."

At first, her grin dissipates for a second. You can sense her consciousness is connected with the Lueling. After the Lueling reports the printed schematic of the sun marble, her nasty grin recovers. Just with that, each of the carefully picked scraps are sent into the pocket space in an instant, you're still wondering how high Lues' brain processing is, does she even have a brain?

Knowing that the sun marble can fully recreate the beast from the neuron cells to the smallest details, does the memory carry over or every time it regenerates, it becomes a new individual? Does that work with Lues' shape shifting? Is it even possible to detach consciousness strings from the physical vessel? A Tekhanure exists with that concept, so what makes a living being, living?

Your mind immediately shifts into dark crystals on Goyang's mouth. Curious, you wonder if you can change his shape into something else other than a cube.

There have been many third party buyers flocking to both of you and Woez but you refuse to sell any of them as you abide the Moose squad a temporary farewell. It's better to leave the dark crystals with Lues so you make Goyang hand over the crystals to her.

While in your pet's mouth, the crystal isn't lazing around as it has already been fully appraised by your virus vessels. Just like the elemental essence, the crystal contains a natural energy but with something vast within. At first, you think that it has some kind of energy within but at the last minute of your dual consciousness processing.

It has something to do with 'space'.

Heading to B1 quest center together with Lues, both of you stick out like sore thumbs with the extra-menacing accessories.

The hub center for any squad to take a mission, despite it being called a 'quest center' and not a 'mission center'. There are numerous lounges and white-uniformed personnel scattered about, numerous sections and numerous holographic boards where operators in need of work check the available mission or request a submission to fill up the said missions. But those aren't the thing you're looking for, as you're on your way to one of the five 'squad management' receptionists.

Standing before you, separated only by her post is a young and slender black haired figure with green minus and plus occupying on each of her eyes. The hanging ID card displays her codename, Sahkoinen. Although she looks human the most, you know that she clearly isn't. "This is the squad management, how can I help you?"

At first you glance back to Lues in the hope of her taking over the task of talking with the receptionist, but it seems like she doesn't even know what you're trying to do or even what she wants to do. After an awkward pause, you steel yourself to talk with the cute operator in front of you. "I want a brief information of what the squad is and how they operate."

"The squad system operates in achievement credits where each singular branch of the squad will gain 'valiant points' that can be converted later into a service depending on their achievement. There is a separate ranking for a squad in which the higher they are, the more they will be requested for high-end missions and wondrous awards."

'So competition is a must to gain better prestige and services.'

After taking a breath, you ask, "May I know if I can offer a 'detachment' to a squad I'm considering?"

Detachment, a team that is separate from a larger battalion for a specific function or a permanent squad smaller than the main force. The term is often used to refer to a group of people assigned to a different base from the parent team, but in this case, it's more of you saying that you want to make a squad that works under a parent squad.

A green sparks travels from both of her eyes, still maintaining her professional smile, she replies, "Of course you can, although it might be detrimental to you if you're new, Miss Long Leggy. Because whatever achievement you accomplish, the main squad of your branch will get the same achievement as you. Looking at your potential, I suggest you both make a standalone squad instead. But before running into assumptions, may I know which squad you want to attach to?"

"The Moose Squad."

"I see, I'll tell the higher ups about this matter. No need for filling any forms, It will take one day to be processed, so both of you can try to take a duo mission or with the other as temporary members." Sahkoinen's smile widens even more. "We're also not in the shortage of personnel so both of you can be at ease before any further calling, a courtesy from senior Seizequill."

'Uwa, even the squad management looks after us.'