The USA-HA

-Two Years Post Saturation Completion CONT.-

Now, I know what you are thinking, "Taylor, why bother saying luck was involved if all these fantastical creatures appeared in the Instances?" Well, they don't, or at least not frequently. 

The Spawn Rates and types of monsters that appear in an Instance, along with the population of said monsters, are entirely random, or to put it in gaming terms, the Monster Spawns are complete RNG. 

There have been times when I've been dropped into a horde of starving, crazed, 4-foot-tall weasels, and times when I've spent hours searching the dungeon-like dimension only to find a single…tiny frog.

Mind you, said frog spat acid at me, was lightning fast, and was abnormally shaped, with seven eyes and six legs, and only gave me 5% XP, but still, after spending 10 High-Alpha coins, you would expect to get at least a fraction of the money back but NOPE!

Sure, my family had good days, where we would net a couple of hundred Low-Alpha coins, but overall, the return on investment, called Instance Tokens, was a losing battle that saw us hemorrhaging funds at a quick pace. 

Eventually, when we were so low on money that it was becoming difficult even to scrounge up a single Basic High-Alpha Token, we collectively decided, against my better judgment and much to my dismay, to join the USA-HA.  

Before ever stepping foot in the Atlanta Heroes Association branch, I knew it was going to be a disaster for me. 

Unlike Brenden, who had a Zeta Potential Grade Talent, Emilia with her Delta Potential Grade, and even my Father with his Gamma Potential Grade Talent *a weaker version of Brenden's called Advance-Physical Prowess,* I was by far the lowest in the Talent department.  

As such, I knew the second we registered, I would be looked down on; meanwhile, the others would be heralded as future Pro-Rankers, especially Brenden. 

Less than 2 hours after arriving at the Atlanta HA Branch, my fears were proven right. Even though I was accepted as a hero recruit and was a Level 5 Alpha Ranker, my Talent was viewed as a blemish, and thus, I was looked at with disdain and suffered unending disrespect. 

In contrast, the rest of my family was elevated in status; a few written tests later, all four of us were enrolled in the training courses necessary to obtain a hero license.

If it weren't for the bi-weekly paycheck of Alpha Coins, I wouldn't have even considered joining the USA-HA since I was very clear about how I would be treated, yet it was different for Brenden.

I knew with his law enforcement background, along with his Talent potential grade, it would be a breeze for Brenden to rise in the ranks; hell, worse yet, two months later, when we finished our bulls*** training and received our Hero License, there were even hundreds of guilds sending him offers to join. 

Oh…, I guess I forgot to mention those; yeah, the USA-HA had guilds amounting to nothing more than a structured group of individuals who wanted to make a name for themselves. 

For the most part, they all had a central meeting location and did missions or other tasks passed down by the USA-HA. There was even a classification using stars that indicated how reliable or powerful a guild was, ranging from 1 to 10 stars.  

Regardless, Brenden was pretty quick on negotiations and, by sacrificing some of his promised resources, got a spot for the whole family in a 7-star Guild named Vesaragon. 

While against joining the USA-HA, I was VERY against joining a guild, and I knew damn well what kind of red flags were going up the day he signed that contract. 

If I had learned anything from novels, anime, and webcomics, this was never going to end well for someone with a low Talent Potential such as myself. Little did I know how right I was and how my troubles were only beginning.

-Three Years Post Saturation Completion.-

Year three post-APSC, *Alpha Particle Saturation Completion*, my life had devolved into a never-ending hell. Joining that god-forsaken guild was the biggest mistake of my life. 

My existence was downgraded to nothing more than a slave, and it was a struggle even to get the necessary funds together to continue progressing. 

My worst fears were manifested one after another; meanwhile, Brenden, Emilia, and even my Father were none the wiser. As stupid as it may seem, I hid everything from them and put on a mask of happiness for them every day.

The only thing keeping me alive was the fact that all four of us had moved into a big house together, and Brenden provided food. 

Frequently, he would sense something was wrong, as my façade would crack, but he would inevitably chalk it up to workload stress because I was practically never home except to sleep and eat. 

While the three of them were excelling, I had become utterly inert in my leveling, something that constantly nagged at my mental health. 

Now, you may be wondering how this was possible, and to explain that, I have to inform you of a specific date… February 22nd, 2032.

This was a day that changed everything, not just for me, but it kickstarted a cog in the wheel of fate that would eventually spell disaster for my entire family.

Due to the constant pressure brought on by the media and general public, The United States Heroes Association, in coordination with the other large governing bodies of the world, put out a statement pertaining to the Beta Rank.

I won't bore you with the political or lawyer speak, so here's the cliff-notes version. 

No one could get past the Rank of Beta, and it was viewed as the current, emphasis on the CURRENT peak of power. Although it was possible to still gain XP after reaching Beta Rank, due to the lack of a Beta Rank Shop in Arkadia, along with the absence of any instance  higher than High-Alpha, it became extremely difficult to continue leveling.

That's not to say it was impossible, only that there was a MASSIVE drop in XP gain after the Rank-up.