In front of me was standing a metallic humanoid, its eyes were flashing with intense blue light.

Soon after we came back from the hunting grounds I directed the four of us towards the system base.

That is because after this hunt I accumulated enough merit points to upgrade my rank to [commoner].

I wanted to do this upgrade before going to the exchange district, doing so will enable a major authority.

Thus I will have access to more important products to purchase, I will have a discount through the [shop] too. A very small one though.

It has indeed been very quick in my case to get onto the next rank.

Partly it was due to my extremely quick growth in strength, but it wasn't such a great feat either.

Only the weaker ones would consider hard to pass the first rank, more importantly I could form a team now.

Not just in name, but recognised by the [system]. As such I would consequently receive the authorization to accept quests.

[I would like to upgrade my current rank]

I expressed my thoughts through the new mental connection between me and the robot.

[Controlling current MP gained by the user…]

[Detracting the necessary amount…]

[The user has successfully ranked up to commoner, congratulations]

The robotic voice stopped and I felt myself lighter, as such I understood that my personal freedom increased.

Accumulation more authority after each rank increase will even help you in the system's tribunal.

Of course it wasn't like the strongest could do whatever they wanted, but it sure helped since the system values are more directed towards strength.

[System I would like to form a team with the four individuals that are just behind me]

Now was time to compose a team with my servants.

Soon after the robot's eyes flashed with more intensity, at the same time my servants appeared a little startled.

Then they all walked ahead, aligning to my position.

[The targets have accepted, point out the

vice captain of the team.

The team's name must be assigned too.]

As the metallic voice of the robot prompted me, I pondered for a few seconds.

[I will appoint as the vice captain, Vix]

Soon after I indicated towards her figure, clarifying her appearance to the robot.

"Xeno I have a suggestion you could consider for your team's name.

Our society had a particular way to call newly formed groups of warriors.

We called them ' Xez'ets ', it meant something like 'new beginning'. "

Suddenly just before I was about to communicate the team's name, Aiduth contacted me.

Her voice was carrying sadness and nostalgia, maybe she too had formed something like a team in the past.

I personally liked the meaning of the name, since I could refer it to what happened to me too.

Although what attracted me the most was the pronounce and intonation that Aiduth gave to the word.

The word itself seemed to possess a sort of power in itself. As such I didn't hesitate.

[For the team's name I chose: Xez'ets]

Soon after the robot's eyes flashed once again, linking me and my servants to the system.

A few seconds after we started to hurry towards the exchange district.

While doing so I checked for new changes in my ID status.

In fact a new voice has been added, It declared the name of the team, the position I occupied inside of it and the number of its members.

After these three statements there were another two of them, but they were currently blank.

[Team: Xez'ets

Position: Captain

Members: four

Ranking: Null Team points: null]

Of course they were like this, as my team had yet to start its first mission.

Also the ranking it mentioned included within the area of the capital.

You had to widen the range of your influence and raise your team points to a certain level before upgrading your team.

Successfully doing so would upgrade your team to a group, and one that was recognised by the system.

We didn't stay more than thirty minutes inside of the exchange district.

I gained about 400 [coin]s by selling all of the pelts and beast teeth I had stored inside my space. Although I have to say that the black cleaver gave a good part of it.

One could indeed notice that with the speed of the system's robots thirty minutes were a little too much.

As such the culprit was Vix, with her growth she noticed the two protuberances she now had in her upper torso.

She wanted my to buy her a top like armour to cover what she referred as her breasts.

Although Aiuduth told me that Azots clearly aren't a mammal species, I wanted Dock to see the fair treatment that I applied to my servants.

Obviously It wasn't a total waste of coins, since it would increase Vix's combat prowess.

While she was carefully choosing an armour of her liking, I purchased two things I previously wanted to.

I bought [Melanir black sponge] as a track erasing tool.

I have to admit that it had been quite expensive, costing me about 100 coins.

But I think it was well worth it, since it could completely erase our tracks from tier three tracing tools and lower.

Above the tier three, the cost of such tools would be no less than a few thousand coins. As such I don't regret my purchase one bit.

The tool in itself was pretty simple, it was a little black sponge of oval shape.

Once you gave nano-energy to it, the sponge would start to contract and absorb on itself all the traces you left behind.

From your smell to any kind of chemical trace you may have left.

Still it's range wasn't incredibly wide and it needed time to recharge after every use.

I had also bought the top armour I needed .

In my previous fights I felt that my vitals had to be more protected.

But I didn't want to spend too many coins, In fact I intended to rent an apartment for my team in the middle district of the capital.

As such I bought a simple top made of enhanced Pristine for about fifty coins.

Regarding the helmet, I decided not to acquire one.

The options presented by the system were able only to cover my forehead and not the rest of my elongated head.

Consequentially I had only two other opportunities.

Order one made specially for from a nano-forger or wait for the system to find an ancient relic of my race.

I doubt any sane Azot would participate in wars without a sort of protection for their vitals.

Anyway after Vix chose a leather red top that cost me more than eighty coins, we started to head towards the middle district.

On the way Dock informed me more in detail about his task.

I bet he was crying on the inside, cursing his greed.

Every so often he gave Vix fearful look, hiding behind Zaha since she had a more relaxed and gentle demeanour.

He told me about uncle apparent worries.

But I personally don't trust the old celidre to this point.

I had clearly been abandoned by him, it is true that it has been imposed by the system to ostracise me from his faction.

But it didn't negate him to help me even a bit after our separation.

He didn't worry about me that much. At least now I know that I placed something like a tracking device on my body.

Although the motive behind it is still unclear, did he really spend a tool to monitor my well being?

It doesn't matter now, until proof that he tried to directly hurt me I won't put him as one of my targets.

For now I have other plans, firstly I'll take on a few quests with the team to ensure our financial stability.

Then I'll make contact with a few rats, they are in a similar situations as the owner of the brothel I encountered before.

The rats indeed have some compatibility with nano-energy, but they still chose to work in the slums.

You could refer them as informations brokers.

Once gathered enough intelligence I'll pay a visit to Mr. Smuggler.

For now his will be my course of action, obviously I didn't forget about Dock's laboratory.

He will transfer all the things needed for his work on our new apartment and the laboratory will become our little hideout.

The middle district was highly different compared to the inner part of the city.

The roads were of a dark grey colour, they call it asphalt.

There are often a lot of vehicles travelling over such streets, this machines have four black wheels and are a lot slower than the shuttle or the tram.

Although they are indeed powered in the same was as these two, their nano-cube is incomparably smaller.

At least that is what I understood from Dock's mumblings.

After more than an hour of walk between the tall buildings of the district, I was getting tired of the monotonous scenery.

To my displeasure, my size was a little higher than the maximum heigh the normal taxis could permit.

As such, other than heading by foot to the development company we could get on a taxi extra large.

These vehicles were more than five metres tall, to accommodate the strangest species that could end up inside the district.

The problem was that it costed a lot, since creatures that high were usually successful hunters too.

Consequentially they tried to leech on the rich as much as they could.

Anyway we now arrived, attending us there was a small blond haired celidre female.

She dressed a plain white suit, it wasn't dirty but I could still sense its overuse.

Once she arrived she was a little startled from our appearance, but soon regained her confidence.

Alien species like us were indeed rare, but not impossible to encounter.

"How can I help you, dear costumers?"

She gave us a vigorous salute, but my senses permitted me to go behind this mask of hers.

I felt the contractions of her muscles, how hard she compressed them to hold on her fake smile.

She indeed was working in a business and had to appear friendly to her customers, but I sensed something else, disgust.

It was very feeble and almost unnoticeable, but still present.

As such I briefly held a telepathic conversation with Vix, I informed her not only about this, but about our budget and my idea of apartment too.

I will let her do the conversations of the case, anyway the final word will be mine.