Arc of the Souls Chapter 1: Arc 1, Chapter 1 - Hostile Contracts

Read chapter 1 of Arc of the Souls by Noyr on NovelPedia.

2195 Envia Dome. This spherical, habitable dome that acted as the ozone layer for the human population to live inside was ironclad evidence that humanity evolved greatly in the same 200 years. A technological marvel that set apart all the things that they’ve done on Earth for thousands of years, but it wasn’t just Mars was terraformed and now inhabited by humans. In fact, almost every planet scientist thought to be habitable in the next 100 years were, you said it, also inhabited by humans. Another fact that humanity evolved throughout the years. With that being said, almost every planet in the solar system was habitable, in fact, planets outside of the solar system has been conquered by humans. You could say that Humanity now was a Type II civilization. - The Ubashi Plaza, the front face of the Envia Dome. Most people interpret it as a touristic place for it resembling the square of the once crowded and bloated Akihabara in Tokyo, Japan. It was even crowded on off-days, with people going on shopping sprees specifically on Thursday, the day of Purchase Evening. Ubashi Plaza can be a hub for shopping and souvenir-collecting as most of the stores located there are selling stuff for vehemently cheap prices. But it’s also notoriously known for small pick-pocket crimes and territorial gang bangers lurking around in the darkened nights. And apparently, it’s also a place to arrest or kill runners. In the already crowded docking station of the Envia Dome, which was supported by a smaller spherical dome attached to the upper part, approached a lone yet pristine looking ship to one of the docking bays that were spread across the Docking Dome. The only ways people can access the main docking station, or as local people call it, Central Ship Station - it is either by taking a 200-meter staircase, hoverbikes or elevators. Most people would think that this ship, which had now docked and contacted the ground, was a normal carrier ship. But this ship had a large White Eye logo on its wings. A faction. What was its purpose coming here? “Ugh... Damn you, Strad. Leaving this stupid mission up to me alone. This will be the last mission I do without you.” A person with black hair and baggy white coat climbed out of his personal fighter ship, which as the ship that recently docked. The hatch-door was fully opened and as he climbed out, it automatically closed, leaving no chance for any robbers or bandits to loot the ship. Looking back at the hatch that just closed, he pulled his right sleeve up – pressing a small button on his watch. The watch instantly reacted to his touch and activated as a radar to trace a target he was looking for. His steps down the staircase grew gradually louder as he pondered on the fact that this... target he was tasked to take down, was no easy task. The radar traced all the way to the Ubashi Plaza, and then stopped tracing any further. This could only mean one thing. The target was not moving and stood in one place. The White Eye person smirked faintly as he noticed that he creeped in closer and closer to the target’s location. Meanwhile, the target walked around Ubashi Plaza, having recently completed a contract. He used his downtime to wind down before he was to continue with his next contract. His hands were tightly in the pockets of his jacket – one holding his wallet and the other the keys to his ship. The White Eye person going down the staircase hastily made his way down. A few seconds later, he touched the ground. Knowing he had no time to lose, he immediately used his I.D. to trick a transporting bot into giving him a free ride to the Ubashi Plaza. The transporter bots acted like taxi’s and always remained at one place, in the Docking Dome. They were particularly used for quick travel. With nothing to do, the target mostly just wandered in circles – looking at the wide array of stores and paths to go down. Most of the path’s lead to more of the smaller and run-down stores, while some rarer paths lead to the outs