After waiting on the line for a few minutes, he finally reached the desk and smiled at Nila who was showing a professional smile as usual looking at him and asked "Welcome Gideon, how can I help you today?"
"I would like to take on the Task#13856 to hunt the Steel Coated Mantises in the wild." Gideon said with the same smile and excitement on his face handing over the approval letter he got from his foster parents earlier to her which she collected and went through within a minute.
"I am sorry Gideon, but you can't take this task." Nila said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Looking at his confused face, she said "You will need a team of at least 3 to take this task, so you need 2 more adventurers." Which made him even more sad as he doesn't know anyone who he can ask to team up for this task.
"You don't have to worry kid, there are already 2 kids there waiting for a 3rd person to team up." She said and gestured towards a boy with a broad sword strapped to his waist and a girl with a bow and arrows strapped to her back and a Steel Claw Hen standing at one of the corners of the floor.
They were of the same age as him, but he had never seen them before. They might have come from the nearby villages and came here for a change of location to improve their independence by not relying on their parents or so-called relatives.
The boy had a slightly muscular physique with light brown skin. His height was moderate and had curling hair.
The girl was a little shorter than average girls of age 15, slightly chubby with light brown skin and had straight hair that reached till her shoulders.
"Hello kids. This is Gideon who is willing to take the Steel Coated Mantis hunting mission. You 3 can team up together to take on the mission." Nila said once they came near the reception desk to which they both agreed without thinking. They have been waiting for a week to go on this mission, but no one agreed to go with them.
Nila turned towards Gideon and asked "Are you willing to go with them?"
Gideon hesitated for a second, but agreed after seeing how close those 2 kids were to each other. They may be siblings, best friends or in a relationship which he didn't mind as long as they help in completing the task without causing any trouble.
Nila took all their Adventures badges and marked it in a digital scroll under the task ID and gave it back to them with a subtle smile towards Gideon which others failed to notice, but Gideon did. Looks like she is showing a little favouritism towards him which confused him.
He is a nobody, a foster child of a farming family. Why should she show favouritism towards him when there is nothing she would get back for it?
After getting their badges back, all 3 left the Adventures Association immediately as they have a long way to go with less time. They would have to be back inside the village defence wall before night falls or many monsters that roam in the wild at night would be hard for them to handle which would be more than dangerous for Tier-1, level-1 kids.
They have to walk all the way to the area where the Steel Coated Mantises hunt the travellers which will take them almost 4 hours to reach.
On their way towards the defence wall, they introduced themselves to each other with Gideon starting first telling his Tier and level and that he knows the basics with swords and introducing Jaice to them as his monster partner.
"I am Manav, Tier-1, level-1. Soul integrated with this Metal Horn Bison and I am good with swords too. I was home tutored till now, so I didn't have to go to school to meet other kids like you." The boy said with a proud smile on his face while telling about his monster partner that was walking behind him closely and being home tutored.
Home tutored means he is from a wealthy family who could hire a private teacher to teach him everything. That is also why he had got the Metal Horn Bison as his monster partner which is very costly, at least 5,000 dallans.
"This is Meera, my girlfriend, Tier-1, level-1. Soul integrated with Steel Claw Hen. She didn't study as she is from a poor family, but is good at archery." The boy said with a smile while looking at her which made her blush and turn her face away.
Gideon nodded in understanding and realized that while the boy is friendly and good in social interactions, the girl is shy and quiet, maybe an introvert like him, but he didn't dwell much on it as they have a task to complete.
After reaching the defence wall, they all entered the changing rooms that were built near it as people are not allowed to wear their armors and display their weapons inside the defence wall unless it is large for them to hide and must have a 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) from the Adventures Association to care them in the open.
This is one of the reasons he chose a short sword as he can hide in with his large backpack when it is strapped on his back and only the handle will be displayed to the public which is acceptable.
Meera went into the women's changing room while Gideon and Manav went into the men's changing room to change into their armors.
The changing rooms were large enough to allow nearly 50 people at once with wooden walls separating everyone to keep their privacy and also had a roof to floor full size mirror for them to check if their armor is worn properly.
Gideon was the 1st to come out of the changing room as he just had to wear his brown cloth armor which is easy to wear, just like wearing casual dress.
After a minute, Meera also came out of the changing room wearing cloth armor like Gideon, but in green color. Her bow and arrows also looked basic which he believed was the privilege that she got from the Adventures Association and was proved when Manav said she was from a poor family.
They waited for almost 10 minutes for Manav who finally came out wearing a shining metal armor that looked heavy, but he was able to walk casually as he might have trained with it for sometime to get used to its weight and to fight wearing it.
After he came out, they spoke for a few minutes and moved out of the village defence wall without the adults to protect them for the first time in their life which made Gideon excited while he could see a little anxiety on Meera's face while Manav was just smiling, showing he was also excited on this.
They walked at a steady speed on the dirt road that led the way out of Kamisk while looking around at many buses and cars that were going speedily from and to the village.
Manav wanted to bring a new bike which he had for this task, but since it is not legal to use it before turning 18 or reaching Tier-2, he was forced to leave it at home and walk to the place where the Steel Coated Mantises were last seen.
They could have brought a few adults with them or hired a taxi or used a public transport to reach the target zone, but Manav and Gideon wanted to experience the wild alone with their own age group without being interrupted by the adults, which Meera had to reluctantly agreed because of Manav's pestering.
Bringing the adults will be trouble for them as they will not allow them to wander around as they like and try to keep them at a safe distance and might also not allow them to fight the Steel Coated Mantises which have power sharp forelimbs that could slice a careless adult into two.
This made him realize that Manav is an adamant kid who would do anything to complete or get what he wanted, no matter what happened. He wanted to stay away from him as there is a possibility he might turn against him, if the time was not good.
Gideon kept quiet and observed the surroundings and occasionally glanced at Manav and Meera while keeping his mind focused on being vigilant.
The Metal Horn Bison was still walking closely behind Manav while the Steel Claw Hen was sitting on its horn, which made the bison focus on it with anger in its eyes. But it can't do anything about it as Manav wants it to take care of the hen who is currently relaxing on its strong and powerful horn that could tear a 20 mm steel plate like a paper.
Jaice was sitting close on Gideon's left shoulder as usual and was peeking around. Just like him as it is the first time for her to come out of the village defence wall as it was hatched and grown in the monster breeding center inside Kamisk.