Andrew blinks for a second when he sees that his surroundings are different from what he knows. The last thing he remembers is falling into his bed after a hard day of work and preparing for another hard day of work because his manager is a bitch.
"Andrew Hiles."
He turns around and sees a man sitting next to him. However, what caught his attention was the fact that man is not human. He can see a pair of massive horns coming out of his forehead, and there is a floating ball of energy in between the horns.
"Take a seat. We need to discuss something."
Andrew looks at him for a second before shrugging and sitting on the newly conjured chair.
"So… Am I dead? Is it from overwork? Also, are you going to take me to hell?"
"You are not dead. You are overworked, but not enough to kill you. No. I am its ruler, not the one carrying the soul to hell."
"Ruler of Hell?"
The man ignored my question and took five papers from the drawer.
"Do you notice anything familiar from these papers?"
He took one of the papers and read it. Andrew blinks for a second and says.
"Waifu Catalog? It is one of my builds. Wait. Are you from that company?"
"Bingo. However, before you say something, I need to tell you something. The company is not like the many stories you once read. At least no longer like that."
"What do you mean? You guys are a company that stretches across the Multiverse, right?"
"We are no longer that kind of company. Let me tell you the recent history."
The man snaps his finger, and the world around them changes. The all-white room changes into an endless space. Andrew can see the stars and even the galaxy in the distance. However, what catches his attention is the massive hologram in front of him.
"Once we were the biggest company in the Multiverse. We have trillions of agents across the multiverse, and our customers are endless. Sadly, because of some stupid fucks, there is a civil war."
He watches as the hologram plays something. It is a war so big that it involves many universes and destroys a lot of them in war. It is a fight that he never thought existed. He watches people fight in the dark and cold space as if they are fighting on the ground.
Some of them even throw moons and planets at each other.
Andrew even sees the man in front of him release a sickly, dark-red flame that burns anything it touches while defending against a beam of light that destroys a good chunk of the planet. However, the fighters in space are not the only fighters.
On the surface of the planet, people are fighting against each other with everything they have. They use magic, physical strength, and technology. In his mind, this kind of war only happened in the Warhammer 40k world.
Tanks ride through the land, shaking the ground. Robots march as one, alongside the tanks. Airplanes cover the sky, darken the ground with their presence.
"We destroyed 1,727 universes in that war. A lot of souls were lost in that war, and it awakened the Creator."
"The creator? You mean God?"
"They are Gods, but with all the capitals. They are the creator of the Multiverse. They usually give us freedom to do whatever we want as long as we do not do anything too excessive."
"But you guys do."
"Yes. The end result? Not good. The company now needs to work from the ground up, and the creator gives a decree to make sure we do business cleanly."
The man leaned forward and continued.
"The previous company was all about profit. Well, we are still all about profit. However, there is a big difference. We won't fuck you up. Previously, a manager could withhold an agent's points to 'motivate' them. They are also able to give the agents lower-quality goods to reap profits from the agents."
"That is bad… business model."
He shrugs and says.
"But what can you do? All of them are thinking of profit. We have laws and rules they need to follow, but there are loopholes they can use to gain profit from the agents. The end result… Agents revolt, and the one leading them is older agents who attain power on a universal level. Those agents work behind our backs and gather countless agents. They empower those agents and gather a power base to destroy the company."
Andrew looks at him for a second before saying.
"By the sound of it, I should not join your company."
"Wait a second. Like I said earlier, we have changed. Now? The law and rules cannot be broken. There is no loophole for the Creator to enforce it with their essence. It is now the intent behind the law instead of what is written. There will be no more technical rules and such. As long as you follow the law, you are good. If you break that law, the consequence is horrific, even to someone like me. I lost seven Lord of Hell who think they can use the generic wording. Fae Race lose all of their Greater Fae and 97% of their kind before they decide to rip apart their nature as Fae and obey the law fully."
The man looks him right in the eyes and says.
"Anyway, you don't need to worry. There will be no contract that is hidden behind invisible ink, a magical rune, or double paper. In fact, let me show you the contract if you're willing to join our company."
The man snaps his finger and lets Andrew read the contract. The contract is simple. It tells him not to cause wanton destruction unless the company creates an explicit mission that the creator agrees to cause that destruction. While not required to stop gathering points, an agent needs to gather at least 50 points for the first 5 years as an agent. To retire, an agent needs to gather at least 175 points through capturing, missions, and official side-jobs. Lastly, when retired, an agent cannot get points from capturing and official side-jobs and can only get points through missions.
In exchange for all that, the company will give him a perk that makes the Intensity stay at Tier 10, making the capture points at their highest price. The second one is that the company is willing to give him all the positive perks.
"That is rather straightforward and tame."
"Complicated contracts create confused agents and something that people can exploit. We do that because we don't want an agent to exploit the contract through loopholes. However, with the Creator having their hand in our operation, we can use a simpler contract."
"Right. What about the bonus? That is rather generous."
"Of course. Like I said earlier, we are starting anew. In fact, we are so new that you are among the first thousand potential agents."
"Really? Why me? I don't think I am anything special."
"Luck, and your build. We have a ritual that lets us randomly select names for ourselves and screen through all the builds. We notice you have a good starting build for us. Cheap but potentially rise to the top with good enough effort."
"Which one? I make a lot of it."
"Suikoden. That place is not high in the danger rank and has enough capture targets for you to take, and we have a few missions if you want to take them."
"Ah, gocha. Do I use my build?"
"No. Here is the thing. We are willing to let you have all those perks in the intensity, but because it is now an intensity of ten, the starting points are 30."
"That is… not much."
"Yes. That is why we are talking now. I shall give you a warning. This will not be a safe job. However, we will pay you ten thousand USD in all currencies from across the Multiverse. Not only that, if you manage to capture enough targets and gather points, we guarantee that you will be someone who can be considered a God. Thirty points are not much, but it is enough for you to take an Origin and even a couple of perks. I shall let you look through a copy of the catalog for your planning."
With a snap of his hand, the man summons a hologram for Andrew to look at and read.
Andrew nods his head and reads through the catalog. It does not take long before he is done with his build. When he is done, the man takes a look at it and says.
"Arc from Final Fantasy 3 for you to possess, huh? You know what? If you sign the contract and become an agent, I will give you a bonus."
"What do you mean?"
"Arc is a Warrior of Light from that universe, and his main power is to switch 'jobs' that let him become a Master of All. I will let you do that."
"Wait. I can't do that if I choose this build? That is the main reason why I chose that."
"If we send you to the Final Fantasy world, you can. Sadly, you are not. However, that is a good thing, you know?"
"How?"
"Well, you don't need to worry about the penalty each time you switch jobs. Each time you switch jobs, you will be given a penalty to your 'stats, ' which will make you weaker, except for the main stat of your job."
"Black Mage is INT, and Warrior is STR."
"That's right. However, I can modify this template so you can switch jobs without the penalty, but there is a downside."
"What is it?"
"Cooldown. You can only change jobs once a week, and you cannot change jobs while in battle. Well, there is another thing. Your growth depends on your job. Warrior? You grow physically stronger. White Mage? Your magic will grow stronger, and that includes your mana capacity."
"What about spells? Will I get the spells after reaching a certain power?"
"Yes. Just like in the game, the stronger you are, the more spells are unlocked for you. However, you will not know about it. You do not have a GAMER template that lets you monitor your progress like in the game."
"Right. That is good to know. How about when I change jobs? Will I still retain the spells?"
"Yes. However, there is a downside if you use a physical-type job like a monk or a warrior. Your mana regeneration will be cut by at least 80%."
"That is more than enough."
The man nods his head and says.
"Perfect! So! Will you join us? I, Satanas, Leader of Class-A of the company, officially invite you to join our company."
A second later, a scroll appears in front of Andrew, and it has the same writing as the previous one. Andrew read the contract one more time, making sure the wording stayed the same, and picked the quill. He signs his name on the scroll, and Satanas snaps his finger.
"Here is the official catalog for you. You can use the previous one or change it if you want to use a different build."
Andrew looks at the build and decides not to change his current build. The reason? It is well balanced. It is not the most powerful, but it is powerful and will let him survive the Suikoden World.
When he is done, Satanas looks at him and says,
"Welcome to our company, Agent A-0009 or Agent Andrew. Let's make profits and return the company to its previous glory."
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For you guys who don't know, I took a loan to pay for all the funeral expenses, and I need to pay quite a bit for the first installment. I don't have enough money to pay for rent, the electric bill, and food, alongside that monthly payment. I need your help to pay for the first few payments so I have enough savings to pay the rest without risking my family and me going starving or not paying rent.
For anyone who wants to help me, you can go to my Ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/fangrove
Or if you want to read more of my work, you can visit my P@treon at: [email protected]/fangrove