"We done with the introductions? Let's go?"

"Yeah! Let's goooooo~"

Given the insane heights of power people can reach and how much of a plump and juicy target Eden Group is, they go through great pains to make it very hard for anyone to have the means to hurt them; the actual physical location of Eden HQ is on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know.

But Eden has multiple lounges for adventurers that can be more easily accessed. The level 0 lounge, open to the public, is in Al De Baran, a city-state that is unaffiliated with the Rune-Midgard Kingdom, the Arunafeltz States, the Schwarzwald Republic, Geffen, Morroc, and pretty much everywhere else; that's also where Kafra Corps is headquartered, for the same neutrality reasons. Eden has employees stationed in all major cities with teleport access to that lounge, making it very simple to get to.

The elf Vallynn saw when first arriving at the Academy is one such employee, and once she's determined that the little group is only newbies she casts the Warp spell that'll take them to Eden.

This is actually the first time he's seen this spell in person. It's... kind of underwhelming. There's a pillar of blueish light over there, a seventy centimeter diameter cylinder, and when the others step into it they flash for half a second then vanish. And stepping into it, himself, is equally underwhelming: there's a flash of light covering his vision, and then he's elsewhere. Nothing very fancy.

The lounge itself is a lot less underwhelming, though.

It's a very large room, with enough space for hundreds of people split into numerous more self-contained spaces with chairs and tables and bookshelves. Despite being just the "level 0" lounge, there are actually very many powerful adventurers there, the kinds that would survive with a few scratches if the entire building fell down on them and who therefore are not at all soft targets. And they are... a very colourful bunch.

Rather literally. They don't dress normal. They don't even pretend they're normal. They wear layers upon layers of enchantments and it is surreal.

There's a person over there covered from head to toe in black metal armour that must be three times their weight with a circular halo of red light above their head; there's a wizard sitting cross-legged in the air, robes swishing in nonexistent wind, three orbs of fire lazily circling around him above his head, having a thoughtful conversation with a woman in oiled leathers sitting atop a blue-and-white wolf bigger than a horse; there is a man wearing long white trousers, no shoes and no shirt, bandages wrapped around his knuckles, built like a house with dozens upon dozens of scars covering his skin, eyes glowing faintly; there's a woman and a man, both green-haired, both with butterfly-like wings attached to their backs, both entirely nude except for body paint and a ton of jewellery (piercings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces, rings), having a very animated argument with a person in a long pink kimono wearing a blindfold with Amatsu ideograms painted onto it, their lower face ashy white and their lips coal black, who seems to be able to talk without moving their mouth; there's a man that is wearing entirely normal trousers and an entirely normal shirt open to his navel with a katana attached to his belt, reading a book, and everyone is giving him a wide berth.

And amongst all of them are the newbies, the young adventurers with no experience, looking by comparison drab and normal and unassuming. Some of them have awestruck looks on their faces, some look like they've been here a while and are getting used to all of this, some look businesslike and unflappable, some look terrified. And some are even chatting to the veterans, undaunted, or perhaps daunted but working past it. Veterans are, after all, a great source of advice, and if they didn't want to be bothered by novices they wouldn't be in this particular lounge.

"Whoooooooooa..." Du turns around to grin at Mark. "This place is so cool!!!! How did we never come here before?? Come on, come on, let's register!!!!" And without waiting for an answer he grabs Mark by the wrist and starts dragging him towards the desk on the other side of the room.

...sure, that might as well happen.

"We did come here to register with Eden, after all," Taharqi says, agreeably, and starts walking towards the desk, too, albeit at a much more relaxed pace than Du's.

The person at the desk had already started talking to Du and Mark but he interrupts himself when he sees the larger group approaching. "Gosh! Many people today. Hello, I'm secretary Lime Evenor, in charge of registration and other clerical duties here at the lounge. Is everyone here to register?"

"Yeah."

"Mmhm."

"We are."

"Excellent! Then let me give you the introductory speech.

"Eden Group was founded sixty-three years ago but a group of intrepid adventurers who saw—"

"Wait, you've already said all that!"

"She said it to us, not to them."

"Aww but I don't want to hear all of it again."

"Then maybe you should've waited for everyone instead of barging ahead on your own. Now shut up and listen."

"—anyway! We were founded sixty-three years ago by a group of intrepid adventurers who saw the rapidly deteriorating state of the world, with ever-more-powerful people and threats causing great instability, chaos, and mayhem, and who decided to push back against it and fight for unity and freedom. They envisioned a society of people free of political or partisan affiliation seeking to provide aid and succor to all who need it in this realm, to coordinate to combat those dangers no individual can hope to face on their own, and to provide a network of support in reaching farther than anyone ever has!

"To achieve this, we provide new adventurers with the resources to start up their own journeys as well-prepared as they can be, and we provide incentives for them to learn more and become more powerful and help more people. As you complete more tasks for us, you will gain ranks which will then give you access to more perks. We have blacksmiths and enchanters signed on with us who provide exclusive services to high-ranking members, and of course we have more and more exclusive lounges for powerful adventurers to meet up and party together and go deal with tougher issues. Higher-ranking adventurers are also barred from completing low-ranking tasks as we want to incentivise proper growth. Of course, if as a low-ranking member you complete a high-rank bounty you will be appropriately rewarded, but we must warn you against that; you are much more likely to die than to succeed. And of course, being a high-ranking member of Eden comes with its privileges outside, too.

"Membership does not come with any particular responsibilities, except that if you are found to be abusing your privileges or openly working against the principles outlined in our mission statement of prosperity and glory we will strip you of your ranks and in extreme cases may send other powerful adventurers to deal with you. Don't worry, though, this definitely won't happen to you by accident, you need to be trying really hard for it to get to that degree of seriousness. You will receive a special badge that will be attuned to your personal spiritual signature and which will track your ranks here, and it has a renewable enchantment that will let you warp back to the level 0 lounge.

"Are there any questions?"

"Yeah!" Du points at the man with the katana. "Who's that guy and why is everyone staying away from him?"

He sighs. "That's Luke Lapez. He's the head of Eden Guard, and one of our highest-ranking members. If you want to find out why everyone is giving him a wide berth I invite you to try getting closer to him than that."

"I'm gonna do that!" Off he goes.

"If that was everything then may I get everyone's names? If you all came from Criatura Academy that is all I'll need, they've already sent us any relevant information about all of you."

"...even before we decided we were going to register at all?"

"The Academy is part of Eden Group," he points out. "We do need to keep track of who's there regardless of whether they decide to join us in the end."

"Fair enough. I'm Pierre Gagneux."