4. The WCA

While the building is certainly eye catching, Cassandra was a person of the twenty second century on earth. What sort of megastructures and other tower designs had she not seen? The only borderline 'surprising' thing here is the lack of any matching architecture being anywhere nearby. In fact, there didn't even seem to be any two properties that looked like they belonged in the same school of architecture in the entire adjacent area. The servant, however, could only feel disappointment seeing her nonchalance. He was expecting at least some reaction to the magnificent building, larger and taller than nearly every structure but the Palace.

'Odd lass. Based on her questions, I was sure she must have been a country bumpkin the Lords took pity on, but it seems she's simply new to this world. How did an outsider, especially one so weak, meet the Lords directly?'

The two reach the entrance to the WCA hub at this point, the servant skillfully keeping a neutral face to not betray his thoughts as he leads Cassandra in. The entry hall is quite large, a hemispherical space about three hundred meters across. The walls all appear to be made of white 'futuristic' looking alloy, identical to the outside of the tower, with lights and what look like circuitry patterns occasionally filling the otherwise unoccupied space. In the center is a structure, like a round pillar, twenty meters across with counters all around its circumference. People are lined up at the various labeled counters to take care of... Whatever it is they need to take care of. Within a moment of entering, though...

"Ah, Old Ming! Welcome! Welcome!" cries out a quite large man, easily round as a sphere, as he bounces his way quickly over to Cassandra and 'Old Ming'. Despite his size, Cassandra has to credit him; he can move much faster than she ever could.

"Manager DuMont, it's always nice to see you, old friend," came the reply from Old Ming with a faint smile.

"Ah, no, no, how can I accept such a title as 'old friend' from one as mighty and high as you, Old Ming?" the Manager, fatty DuMont, replies with a chuckle. Despite his words, it's clear that he's slightly mockingly paying lip service to Old Ming's position as a trusted servant of the Lords. "So, what brings you here? Ah, never mind that for now. Come, Come! Follow me to my office!"

"Will do. Some privacy would be for the best, with the task I've been given." Old Ming nods at DuMont with a smile on his face. DuMont starts leading Old Ming towards the opposite door from the entrance. Walking over there with some light and meaningless small talk, he eventually comes to the door and starts walking through, Old Ming and Cassandra following behind him. As Cassandra nears the doorway, though, DuMont turned around and glares at her. As his gaze lands on her body, Cassandra can suddenly feel a stifling and overpowering pressure pushing down on her, preventing her from moving or speaking. It was barely all she could do to keep standing, as there were faint creaking noises from her joints.

"Brat, do you realize you're entering into a restricted area? For the sake of not making a disturbance, I wasn't going to tell you off for eavesdropping, but know your place and don't break the rules. Otherwise.... Hehe..." DuMont spoke with a vicious smile on his face. The corners of Old Ming's lips start to curl upward, clearly getting exactly what he expected.

"Oh? I must have forgotten to tell you, DuMont. This is the Young Miss that the Lords have told me to help through registration. You wouldn't mind her addition to our discussion, would you?" questions Old Ming, his eyes, reminiscent of a viper's, and smile creating a chilling visage. At his words, though, DuMont's blood completely drains away from his face.

'Y-Young Miss? If Old Ming is calling her Young Miss...'

DuMont may be a gluttonous man with a short temper, but if there's one thing he understands very well, it was hierarchy and how to climb it. While he knew he could speak with some derision about the Lords with Old Ming, that was because Old Ming knew he was simply envious of his position. Ultimately, DuMont was under the WCA, which is under the Lords, so he ranks lower as an indirect subordinate. As such he immediately understood that his actions could already be considered a slap the face of the Lords, which he was in no position to do.

Immediately, he lifts the pressure of his power from Cassandra's body, as he manipulates some skill to emit faint wisps of what look like green smoke. Before Cassandra can even clear her head, the wisps of smoke collide with her, rapidly healing and even slightly strengthening her. He then immediately bows as low as his round frame allows him to.

"Manager DuMont greets the Young Miss!" he said flustered. "This lowly one apologizes for inconveniencing the Young Miss!"

This sudden and unexpected situation left Cassandra's brain to temporarily short circuit, not knowing how to react and instead stiffening back up. After a few awkward seconds of silence while DuMont maintains his unsteady bow, Old Ming suddenly bursts out laughing.

"BWAHAHAHA! Fatty DuMont! You should see yourself now! Flustered over nothing! HAHAHA!" Old Ming's sudden outburst startles both DuMont and Cassandra, as they both look at him with questioning gazes. Old Ming of course knew the temper and behaviors of DuMont, so he allowed DuMont to make a fool of himself to get back for the minor quip before.

"It's true that Young Miss was brought to this world by the Lords, but that was merely a whim to relieve boredom! She's only a commoner, and the Lords like to be seen as fair, so they've decided she's to be treated as a commoner. The reason I'm here is to just skip the lines and have you process her registration directly, as a last gift from the Lords. They don't plan to find her again, so as long as you don't wrong her, treat her as you will. I'm returning to the Palace now. See you next month, Fatty DuMont! Hahaha!" Old Ming continues laughing to himself about the joke he just played on DuMont as Cassandra and DuMont both look at him somewhat at a loss.

"He's... Certainly... Eccentric," Cassandra finally gets out with much difficulty.

"Hah...." Sighs DuMont, returning from his bow. "He sure is. He's been like that for as long as I've known him. He's my friend and normally the relationship is amicable, but sometimes he just gets a wild hair and sets me up like this... What did I ever do deserve things like that? Still, a friend's a friend."

"Oh. I see," Cassandra says, not knowing what to really say. After a few moments of muttering, DuMont finally comes back to his senses.

"Right! Right! You're here for a registration. Follow me to my office," DuMont says, leading Cassandra into the hallway. Walking for a decent portion of time, probably enough to get to the opposite side of the building, they come to a set of large, golden doors. Pushing his way in, DuMont holds the admittedly quite heavy doors open for Cassandra, before moving over to his chair. Perhaps chair might not be the best word for it, as it more closely resembles a loveseat, but Cassandra decided not to focus on this point. Sitting in a chair opposite to DuMont, Cassandra waits for DuMont to speak.

DuMont, however, just starts typing away. For nearly five minutes, there was nothing but silence interrupted by the sounds of key presses, before finally DuMont finished the preliminary work and spoke up.

"Okay, so, registration involves a photograph of your most common form, if you have multiple forms, harvesting a drop of blood, and choosing a faction affiliation," He looks at Cassandra. "Judging from the look you're giving me, you don't know about the factions?"

Cassandra nods.

"Very well. You have several choices of Faction. The Lords' faction is generally considered the 'unaffiliated faction'. They don't engage in politics, beyond the most core level peacekeeping. There's almost no restrictions or requirements on faction members. But the Lords don't see it as losing face to have their faction members die, so long as direct subordinates to the Lords are not harmed, so there's no extra protection from the Lords beyond the law for joining the faction."

"Next, you have our Waifu Collection Agency. Our faction is the de facto ruler on all subjects that the Lords choose not to control. Our people have our protection, so long as they follow the laws and rules. However, all faction members are expected to contribute to WCA operations through some method. The most common is to become a collections agent. This is generally also the most desirable job we offer, as it gives you the chance to 'cultivate', which is to say, a method to become stronger than your mortal limits, eventually ascending to godhood if you live that long."

"After that is the Peacekeeper faction. They're technically subordinate to the Lords' faction, but their only purpose is to enforce the laws decided by the de facto ruling faction. That means that they enforce the laws WCA enacts. However, they are still a distinct faction that we do not control, and they enforce the law in the manner of their choosing. Something about avoiding corruption by keeping the law makers bound by the law. Anyways, if you join them, you'll be responsible for enforcing laws. Boring, in most people's opinions."

"Finally, there are the Myriad Factions. This is the cover all term for factions which don't own land and aren't subordinated to the Lords' faction. These factions exist for any number of purposes; commerce, production, trades, magic cultivation, physical cultivation, and psionic cultivation tend to cover most kinds of factions. Most registrants compare them to companies, guilds, corporations, or sects depending on their worlds' culture."

"Now, of these choices, which would you like? Keep in mind most factions have a one year probation. Either side can terminate the relationship for any reason without penalty. After a year, the penalties to leave the faction depends on the faction. WCA penalty to leave after a year is fairly lax; we simply keep a business ledger on you. You simply must pay back 100% of the value of all resources invested in you. This does NOT include your monthly salary, but does include all cash bonuses and all freely provided services, training, and objects."

"Ah, well..." Cassandra starts, her facing suddenly beginning to blush. "I'm... I'm kind of into the idea of... Of capturing... Waifus..." With each word, her voice shrinks more and more. She then chuckles at herself lightly, thinking about the fact that being nude just an hour ago wasn't embarrassing, but talking about picking up girls somehow is.

"Ah, so joining our WCA then!" DuMont declares proudly, pretending to not notice any embarrassment from Cassandra. After all, it's hardly the first time a new comer has been embarrassed about admitting they actually wanted to work for the WCA. "You know, most are a bit more coy about it, a bit more indirect. That's why I make sure to mention the chance to cultivate, so you can use that excuse. But not you! Haha! Straight to the point works with me, though. I'm not wrong, am I?"

"N-no... I... I do... love the idea of it..." she says, looking down at her feet while her face feels like it's steaming.

"So it's settled, then! You'll become one of our collections agent. Now, keep in mind, while your soul is bound to this space and you'll always return here after **** to have your body recreated, any world you die in is permanently off limits to you, along with any multiverse variants that include your actions in their history. Why this is is knowledge way above my capability to understand, but the simple fact is it's literally impossible. So if you want to return to a particular world, make sure your soul doesn't use this world's resurrection system to return here. That said, your soul can still easily get damaged in medium and high order worlds, so you should pick safe worlds to start off with and gain your first bit of power, before tackling the more dangerous ones."

A number of procedures were then quickly run through. The holo-terminal on the desk took Cassandra's picture, while DuMont used some type of magic to draw a drop of blood harmlessly from Cassandra's body, before inputting it into the holo-terminal. With all the necessary identifying information collected, identity dual tokens finally take form; a tiny one that painlessly fuses itself to the forehead of Cassandra's skull, and a spiritual one that attaches itself to the core of Cassandra's soul. Ultimately it's a dual authentication system to ensure that the bodies of WCA agents aren't stolen by each other or outsiders. It also serves one extra purpose; it could shield all memories of the WCA and the pseudo-space it occupies from all peoples within a universe. If one couldn't use their own power to escape into the multiverse, then one would never be able to find the origin of the agent.

Cassandra was handed by DuMont off to a reception to finish the last parts of the process: selecting gear and a destination.