Hearing the sound of melodic ringing, Claire got up from the comfortable couch and made her way towards the door. "Coming!" She called out.

When she reached the door, she searched for how to open the door. It only took a second to notice a display next to the door, which had a video of Hannah standing in the hallway. Beneath the video was a green blinking word, "Open," which likely indicated it as the method to open the door and let Hannah inside.

Tapping on the word, the door smoothly slid open to reveal her friend.

"Took you long enough," Hannah teased.

Waving Hannah inside, Claire rolled her eyes. "It was the first time I had to open up that door. Took me a second."

Entering and having the door slide shut behind her, Hannah began to remove her shoes. She remarked, "I notice that your place is identical to mine."

"It makes sense. These rooms aren't designed to be lived in permanently. Star and Moon likely just designed them to be pretty basic, especially considering our current tier." Claire commented as she walked back towards the living area.

Reaching the sofa, Claire once again felt the comfortable embrace of the cushions. A part of her felt like she could get a little bit of sleep before her family and Hannah's arrived.

Closing her eyes, she felt the sofa shake as Hannah fell back into it next to her.

Hannah lay against Claire, "How long until our families get here?"

Leaning her head against Hannah's, Claire said, "Please contact help."

"What?" Hannah asked her friend, confused by Claire's words.

Before Claire was able to explain, a familiar robot's voice said, "Hello, Hannah. I see that you were able to arrive in Claire's room."

Turning her head slightly, Claire saw Darlina on the screen. "How much time?"

"They just arrived in the Guild. Since they're not adventurers or have the special privileges that the two of you had, they are going through the orientation process and learning about what the Guild has to offer." Darlina giggled, "Claire, your father is a very passionate man. He spent a decent amount of time arguing with me about having to become an adventurer."

Sighing at the image of her father yelling at Darlina made her sigh in frustration. "He tends to get stubborn. It's probably due to him usually being the one to give out orders and interacting with people with powerful backings."

Darlina nodded, "I looked up information about your parents, and they have an impressive list of accomplishments. Understandably, your father doesn't take 'no' well." Its eyes looked at Hannah, "Your father also has a similar disposition."

"Dad can be a bit much, though it's likely why our families get along so well. Our parents are pretty similar, ignoring the fact that they work in the same environment." Hannah rested her chin on Claire's shoulder as she looked at the screen.

"Considering both of your families would be considered successful by societal standpoints, it's not uncommon for them to typically have roles where they are leaders instead of followers," Darlina said. "I'm curious how they'll contribute to our Guild, like how you, Claire, thought about creating equipment for the adventurers instead of relying on jobs inside of the simulation."

With Darlina having brought up the topic of them making equipment instead of just hunting monsters, Claire tilted her head to tap it against Hannah's. "Did you think about it?"

Taking in a deep breath and letting the air out, Hannah said, "Honestly, after taking some time to think about it, I think it'd be a good idea. We can't just do what everyone else is doing. If we were to do that, then it's possible that we'd just end up like everyone else."

Claire nodded, "Agreed. I feel like it's just like the old world where we need to push ahead as far as possible. Just like how the old world had various classes based on your family's earnings, lower, middle, and upper class, this new world is just the same. If I had a choice, I want to be far ahead of everyone else. Not only will the skills we develop help us in getting stronger, but give us a better chance to locate Han and Alex."

-----------------

End of Part 1

-----------------

"What is it?" Claire groggily asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"It looks like you were able to get some sleep," Darlina's voice was heard through the fog of having been waken up.

Claire could feel Hannah moving on her shoulder, indicating that her friend was beginning to wake from the noise. Turning her head to look at the robot, she yawned, "I don't know if you could call it sleep." Blinking a few times to rid herself of the feeling of exhaustion, she asked, "I'm guessing they finished?"

Darlina nodded at Claire's guess. "Hannah's brother, Bill, just finished the training simulation. I'm assuming from his background, it was the reason why it took him the longest to finish."

"It's not surprising considering he's an accountant," Hannah joined in on the conversation, still sounding like she was in the process of waking up. "Who were the ones that finished first?" Her voice sounded curious.

On the screen, the image of Darlina moved to the side as two people were displayed. "The people to finish the simulation were Abby, Claire's oldest sister, and Tommy, Hannah's oldest brother. Their military background helped greatly in their ability to quickly adapt to the simulation."

Thinking of her oldest sister breezing through the simulation wasn't surprising. Though she was in the medical field of the military, Abby had taken part in combat training to be able to take care of wounded soldiers in the field. As a former combat medic, she'd have needed to be required to handle stressful environments. Now that she was an officer, she mainly worked within the nation's borders.

"Out of curiosity, what weapon did Abby select?" Claire asked the robot.

The image of Abby and Tommy were removed, and Darlina's face returned to take up the entire screen. "Just like the two of you, they selected a pistol and rifle. Abby choosing the rifle while Tommy selected the pistol. The others selected various cold weapons."

Claire nodded, feeling as though the choice made by both Abby and Tommy made sense. Unlike her and Hannah, Adventurers were only given a single weapon for free. Thinking of how they had two weapons each, Claire was unsure how to explain such a benefit.

Looking at her room, Claire thought about how it would be filled with her and Hannah's family. Though a part of her wanted to move their discussion to a larger area, she preferred that they had the talk in an area that would be private. She was sure that everyone had their own opinions about Claire and Hannah deciding to become adventurers.

As Claire was busy thinking about what they'd be talking about, Darlina said, "They should be pressing the doorbell soon."

Blinking, she pulled herself out of her thought. Turning towards Hannah, she asked, "You ready?"

Hannah shrugged at Claire's question, "Do we have much of a choice?"

Chuckling at Hannah's words, Claire answered, "Not really."

As if in response to their words, there was a chime going off to indicate that there were people at the door.

Looking to Darlina, Claire asked, "I'm guessing that's them?"

"Would you like me to let them in?" Darlina suggested.

"Yeah," Claire got up to greet her and Hannah's family.

Near the front of the room, Claire could hear the door slide open and the sounds of voices.

"I'm telling you that you should've chosen the rifle like I did." Abby's voice could be heard.

Answering the lecturing tone belonging to Abby, Tommy was heard saying, "Maybe for situations where distance is important, but most of those monsters we had to fight against were close range. What are you going to do when they come close enough where the rifle loses its effectiveness?"

Reaching the hallway, Claire could see everyone making their way into her small room. "Make sure to take your shoes off," Claire reminded them, not enjoying the idea of the clean floor being dirtied by the outdoor shoes worn by everyone.

As her father was taking off his shoes and placing them together near the side of the square entrance area, he looked up and saw her. In his eyes were the clear message of, "We'll be having a talk, and I hope you're ready."

Seeing her father's stern look made Claire swallow nervously.