Even though it was a bit hard at first, sleep soon came to Ty. When he awoke in the morning, he found an outfit in front of the door inside of his cell. Picking it up, he found it to be a business casual outfit- complete with a collared shirt, grey trousers, and synthetic leather shoes. The pants had no pockets (presumably to prevent him from stealing, not that it would stop him). Lastly, a sleek pair of black gloves laid in the center of the pile of clothing. After getting dressed, he found Jarrod and Kelly outside his door with cuffs ready to be put on him.
"Good morning, corporate slave. The government has sent an envoy, and they are ready to meet you. I hope you know to be respectful to the man in there. Don't take anything- unless he asks you to. Speaking of, Jarrod here would like his pen back."
"Yes yes I know, but what pen could you mean? I haven't se-"
At that moment, the pen he had hooked on the waistband of his pants and hidden by tucking it under his shirt flew out through the collar of his shirt and right into the hands of Apprentice, Kelly. Wide eyed, Ty stared in disbelief at the woman. He had never seen magic in action before, let alone something as cool as that.
"In preparation for you coming to the station, we had the stations Enchanters add a few runes to Jar's pen to make it interact with my profession skills and return to me. Wouldn't want the stealer to take it and hide it out of nowhere, now would we? Although, he didn't see when it was taken, so props to you, I guess."
Red faced, Ty looked down, ashamed not for taking the pen, but that he had been read so thoroughly.
"Just… take me to the government guy."
Kelly led him through twisting hallways while Jarrod followed behind him, presumably to keep him from running away. Not that he wanted to- this offer was too good not to take up. Going back to the life he was living before really wasn't an option right now, and free access to the fields, or at least his first Adoubement was something he desperately needed. Soon enough, while he was lost in his thoughts, they reached a certain door. Not that it looked any different from the other countless doors in the hall. Kelly stopped to open it with her keys, and after she did so, Ty looked in.
Inside, a sharp man in a light blue suit sat in a chair. He had on a light blue suit, and oddly circular glasses. He would have looked extremely terrifying, if not for the long flowing surfer hair and the goofy smile on his face as he stared at him.
"I finally get to meet the one and only Tyson Wilson. C'mere, shake my hand! We have so much to discuss and so little time. How do you do your stealing? Even the professional robbers we caught in our ranks are nowhere near your level."
Apparently, he was a man of many words. Not the first impression he thought he was going to get from the Government, that's for sure.
"Oh! Where are my manners, you can call me Offshore. You should know why I'm here, or at least the basics of it. Sit down so we can have a proper talk why don't ya."
Still shocked from the… enthusiasm of the government official, Offshore as he was called, he sat down, Kelly and Jarrod flanking him on both sides to ensure he didn't try anything.
"Now, let's get down to business. The world government is creating an elite team of people who have the potential to become Nobles if their profession lines up with their talents. The reason why we do this is because professions are largely based off the talents you have before you awaken them, although there are some cases where that doesn't happen due to latent, untapped talent in something else. This task force would be used to raise our standing to that of a great clan, or maybe even higher. We have amassed a force of around eighty people and adding you in would be perfect for us. If you were to obtain a rouge-like profession, you would surely excel considering your already existing skillset as an Undubbed. Since you have already signed the papers, there isn't much else to tell you. This is mostly a meeting to see your skills in action, and for you to ask any questions you may have."
Ty thought it was interesting that they were trying so hard to recruit promising members. Was it really that important to them to be equal to a great clan? Did they really have so many Noble rank powerhouses? Speaking of which, he had the potential to reach that same rank as those battlefield sovereigns? The people themselves were extremely important and treated with the upmost respect, second to only Kings and Emperors. They were people who had passed through seven whole trials to get where they are, a tremendous feat on its own. And this man was saying he had the potential to reach that?
"With all due respect Offshore, I don't think I have anywhere near the potential to reach a Noble rank Adoubement. I am interested in this group, however. I will probably keep the hardest but most useful points about my swiping to myself, but otherwise I'm willing to teach the others. That is, if you want. I personally hate teaching others my tricks, but if the contract tells me I must, then so be it."
"Well, if you're willing to honor the contract then there's no reason to hesitate. Although first, I do want to see your skills in person. I have a few items all over me in various pockets and hidden compartments in my outfit. Show me how many you can take within a single pass. You'll be in the team regardless of performance, but the better you do, the more resources we'll give to you."
This was his chance! He had been without much for so long that he had to steal to feel spoiled. But it would soon be on someone else's expense that he would be living the high life. All he had to do was steal a few items from this chump, and he would be comfortable for the foreseeable future!
Instead of answering Ty simply got up from his seat and walked over to him- slowly. As he made his way around, he planned his route through Offshore's many pockets, while also searching him. Once he got to the man, he first took everything from the man's pockets, which was easy. His hands moved like ghosts, twitching in subtle ways enough to pull the items out of the man's pocket and into his sleeve with relative ease. He then found quite a few secret pouches concealed by Velcro made to look like the bottom of a pocket. This posed a bigger problem; due to the sound it produced. However, he had mastered the technique of opening Velcro in a quiet war long ago. He angled the part he wanted to pull away at a very sharp angle, and quickly but discreetly peeled it, successfully opening it without sound. This netted him another five items along with the eight he got from the pockets.
However, there was a new and much more difficult challenge. The man had somehow managed to fit a fingerprint reader into his pants pocket, making it virtually impossible to open without a fingerprint. This required a bit of acting. As he walked behind the man, he tripped and fell, scraping off a small bit of his wooden chair as he fell, long enough to be a toothpick but skinny enough to be a needle. He got up and dusted himself off, or at least pretended to, as he picked the electronic lock. He pried up the fingerprint plate and used the wood the slightly burn the internals. This was due to how skinny and long the piece of wood was, making it char easily even with the slightest bit of heat. This caused it to malfunction, unlocking noiselessly, allowing him to grab his hopefully final item.
Ty finally went back to his seat and sat down, satisfied that nobody called him out on anything he took. After a beat, he took out the items from his sleeves. The first eight items that he had collected seemed to be simple cards with silhouettes of monsters on them. The next five had the unshaded images of items on them, with the cards themselves being made from a metal alloy of sorts, although unlike that of the one lining the enforcer base. Finally, the last card he collected had the clearest image yet, it being a beautiful picture of twin daggers, the daggers themselves having a long, curved, matte black blades, with the handle being a huge contrast of a milky white, or possibly some type of ivory.
"Well done, Tyson. That was truly impressive. Although if I hadn't reigned in my knight senses, it would have been a very different story. But with them out of the picture, I truly didn't sense a thing. Who would have thought you would get the weapon as well? How did you even get in there in the first place?"
"That's a secret, but the fall had something to do with it."
"Interesting, very interesting. Well with that out of the way, we can leave. I'll explain what the cards mean on the way, probably. Thank you for holding this one Kelly, you're a real angel. You two Jar."
Kelly, exasperated, responded, "It was nothing, but it wasn't for you. We owe you guys so it's the least we could do."