If an Awakened has completed a mission, it means that they will soon return to the Thornspire and want to receive their reward.
In most cases, this was handled by a chief agent, and now Isabel was fulfilling that role. She did this dozens of times a day, but newcomers were always something new that piqued the interest of even an experienced agent like Isabel.
'Melisa mentioned something about a new Awakened,' Isabel thought as she took Garet's emblem and directed it toward the stone slab.
Tap.
As soon as the shield emblem was in the socket, making contact with the seal on the back side, a ray of light burst from the crystal behind the socket.
"What is this?" Garet asked curiously, examining the stone slab. In addition to the socket and crystal, there was a small rectangular plate of blue crystal in front. As soon as the emblem was placed in the socket, the plate glowed.
Isabel picked up a stone handle with a crystal tip:
"This is the Script Register. It's an Artificial Artifact, as you understand, and we use it to control all missions, IDs, emblems, seals, and so on. It's like a single web. Sure, we have copies of all the documents, but working with that much paper isn't very convenient or efficient."
Immediately after that, six digits appeared in the ray; it was Garet's ID—192114.
Unlike his seal, the ID was determined randomly; neither Garet nor Melisa, who registered him in the Thornspire, had any influence on it.
"If you took the mission, Melisa should have already noted it in the register. I'll take a look now..."
Tap.
She touched the crystal plate, and a single mission card appeared under Garet's ID. Other Awakened had dozens or even hundreds of them, but so far, this was all he could boast of.
"Ughum, I see... the Search for Stone Groug, find the Green Flower Bracelet, and this..." Isabel's eyes widened as her voice trembled. "Bronze Tier?!!"
Garet tilted his head in confusion. Isabel's reaction was incomprehensible to him.
"Is something wrong?"
"Of course something's wrong! Why were you even allowed to take a Bronze Tier Mission?"
Garet scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Hmm, Melisa. Is there a problem with that?"
"Yes! You shouldn't have been given such a high Tier, let alone sent on a Bronze Tier Mission! You're lucky you're still alive after all that!"
She was right, but Garet didn't see it as a big problem.
"I mean, aren't Bronze Tier Missions supposed to be difficult? I took one and completed it. I passed the test in front of Melisa and Xir, so if they decided that, then I was ready, and I proved their point to some extent."
Isabel sighed deeply and lowered her head. Now everything was clear to her.
"So Xir was involved in this? How did I not figure it out before?"
She waved her hand.
"Look, Garet, according to the rules, new Awakened can't immediately get a Bronze Tier, let alone something higher."
"But... Xir said that the maximum is an Iron Tier, isn't that right?"
"Pffft!" She snorted. "That's only if you've decided in advance to become an Awakened and have successfully completed a long training course, and then passed the crystal test and the combat test with flying colors! Even then, the Bronze Tier Mission is only given with permission."
Isabel looked at Garet, seeing that he still didn't understand what she was getting at.
"In a nutshell, you did well on the test, but most of your Bronze Tier is just Xir's will. But, since it's come this far, I have no choice but to admit that you've done well."
She took the Green Flower Bracelet in her hands, examining it carefully.
"It will take time for the energy to recover, but the artifact is not damaged. Good job. I'll bring your reward and take care of everything."
Isabel walked over to one of the drawers, ran her fingers over the many cards lying inside, and pulled out the one she needed.
"Your hand," she said coldly, and as soon as Garet did so, she pricked his finger, just as Melisa had done when creating his emblem.
She applied his emblem to his finger, then his emblem to the mission card, on top of the Thornspire seal, leaving a bloody black sun in the corner of the card.
"Don't worry, it's only mandatory the first time. After that, you can use ink if you want. The mission card stays at Thornspire, and here's your reward."
In a way, everything had started for this moment. Garet knew what he would get, but he didn't expect it to be like this:
Tap.
Isabel placed a single square coin in front of him.
Garet was puzzled as he picked up the coin.
He was supposed to get 100!
However, as soon as he saw the two lines running along the edges, he immediately understood.
"I see, this one coin is worth 100 regular ones, right?"
Isabel smirked. "Yeah, two-streaks – 100 coins, one-streak – 10 coins. For your information, there are more valuable coins, but I think it's too early for you to think about that."
Franz patted Garet on the shoulder.
"Good job, boy. 100 coins isn't much, but it's a good start. The most important thing is that you completed your first mission, right?"
Isabel rolled her eyes.
"Yes, reputation is important, and... Franz, what are you doing here?"
"By the way." Garet glanced at them. "Do you know each other?"
Isabel nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. This mustachioed merchant once brought me several dozen artifacts to register an hour before the end of my shift! I told him that if I saw him again, I would tear him to pieces!"
Without further ado, Franz placed the crate right in front of Isabel.
"Sorry, but you'll have to register some artifacts for me. That's my deal with Garet, who is an Awakened of your Thornspire, so I think you understand what that means."
Isabel's lips trembled as her eyes darted from a puzzled Garet to a smirking Franz.
"I don't know about you, Garet." Franz leaned forward. "But I'm in no rush; spending time with such a beautiful woman is a pleasure."
"Argh! This is the last time, Franz!" Isabel grabbed her hair, but went to get the documents and tools. She could grumble a lot at times, but she always did her job.
A few moments later, Franz turned to Garet.
"You know, Garet, maybe our collaboration won't end at 100 coins."
His eyes narrowed.
"I think I have another job offer for you. Apparently, you don't mind taking on dangerous missions — that's what I'm looking for."