"Urgh..." John groaned in pain. He was sprawled in the cold, gray platform of the Ancient Gateway, but he was already at the other side.

"Connor..." Lenny weakly called for John. He tried to get up, but he was too dizzy to do so.

"I'm here..." John replied.

"d.a.m.n... I always hated teleports..." Lenny muttered while helping John stand up. When looked at John's face he saw that John was staring straight ahead, his eyes, wide open. Lenny looked as well and gasped in shock.

"What... Is... That?"

In front of them was an extremely giant metal building. It glowed with a darkish blue light. The entire building was covered with neon signs of various shops and advertis.e.m.e.nts for numerous products.

From the Gateway, John and Lenny were able to see that in the crowd of people entering and exiting the building there were people from all races.

But what made them state in shock was the fact that the building was built using Durasteel.

This metal can only be found in planets of Tier 4 and 5. These planets are extremely dangerous and the process to extract the ore and make it an ingot is extremely expensive to do it large quant.i.ty. The only ones who could do something like this would be...

"Letheia Corporation..." John saw the logo of the Corporation on top of the building.

John and Lenny started walking toward the building.

"Welcome..." The moment they approached the building they were greeted by a female Hylotl wearing the usual red Letheia Corporation's uniform, that was standing by the entrance of the building.

The Hylotl are a semi-aquatic race with trinocular vision, highly-adaptable genetics and a relatively short lifespan, which over the generations has led them from being a strictly land-based species to one that can live comfortably in aquatic environments, though they still lack the ability to breathe underwater. They have a long and rich history of art, science, and philosophy, with reverence for tradition and meditation. Their culture style very much resembles the j.a.panese from the Old Earth Era, the era whereas the planet Earth was divided by multiples nations that were constantly in conflict.

"Can I have a look at your identification card." The female Hylotl politely asked with a friendly smile on her face.

"Identification cards?" John asked.

"Oh?" The female exclaimed in surprise.

"It's our first time here, we know nothing," John explained. Lenny on the side merely nodded and kept looking around.

"It's rare for us to have new visitors." The female Hylotl gave a slight bow toward them, "If you sir fallow me, I will bring you to the administration office to have your identification cards made." She signaled to two guards that were by the entrance and they began following the female Hylotl, John, and Lenny.

John curiously glanced at the security members. They were using full armors with the helmet so John wasn't able to see how they looked, but what caught his eyes were the armors.

The armors were made of Durasteel and then painted in red, armors Tier 4. The a.s.sault Rifle in their hands were also made of Durasteel and thus they were of Tier 4 as well.

The Letheia Corporation sure was big and powerful, the building, the armors and the weapons of their securities were all made with Durasteel.

"So... What's up with this place?" Lenny couldn't hold anymore and asked the female Hylotl.

"This building was built by the Letheia Corporation a few dozens of years ago." She started to slowly explain, "This Dimension is detached from our Universe. The only way to enter here is by what we call Ancient Gateways. We don't know the origin of this Gates or the origin of this place, but there is a person that might know. The researcher that lives in the Ark Ruins just past the Outpost. Well... Anyway, this place became a hub for Explorers, Mercenaries and businessman since you can easily reach here from any Ancient Gateway in the Universe. Here you can find all types of services and products from any place across the Universe." She stopped and pointed toward a few shops, "Look at those, Terramart, 2-Stop Teleshop, Infinity Express, Frogg Furnishing, etc. Various shops belonging to various people from all the races. Those are just the shops that have the license to sell their product here. At the back and under this complex you can find more and strange products from unlicensed shops, but they aren't as reliable as the ones you find in this complex."

John looked around amazed by the sight. Neon signs and huge holographic screens playing advertis.e.m.e.nts everywhere. Crowds of people walking by and curiously staring at John and Lenny from time to time. There were more than 4 hundred people inside the Shopping Complex. It was a rare sight to see Florans and Hylotl friendly talking to each other despite their b.l.o.o.d.y past. There were even a few Novakids walking by.

"The Shopping Complex has 4 floors whereas only the 3 first ones are only for shops," She said, "The fourth one is where the administration office is located, that's our destination."

They got into the elevator and went to the fourth floor.

"h.e.l.lo, Itsuki" When they entered at the administration office the middle-aged Hylotl at the reception greeted the female Hylotl.

"h.e.l.lo, Tepei" Itsuki greeted back.

"What we got here? Troublemakers?" The middle-aged man, Tepei, glanced at John and Lenny.

"No sir, they are newcomers." Itsuki calmly explained.

"Oh? That's quite rare." Tepei was also surprised to see newcomers, he stood up and welcomed them, "Welcome to Ark Outpost, gentlemen." Then he continued and introduced himself, "I'm the Administrator of this Outpost, you can call me Tepei."

"Nice to meet you, Administrator Tepei, I'm John Connor." John politely introduced himself.

"I'm Lenny. Just Lenny" Lenny followed John and casually introduced himself.

John facepalmed, [We meeting a Hylotl, they are an extremely polite and tradition based race. To act this rude in front of them, you are making yourself look stupid.]

"Hm?" John looked at Itsuki and Tepei. They didn't react as he expected.

"Surprised?" Tepei saw the confusion in John's face and chuckled, "He he he... We usually have some Novakids coming and going from time to time, we are already used to their peculiar... Behavior."

"Oh..." John nodded in understanding.

Tepei made a few hand signals and then Itsuki and the guards retreated from the building, "Good, now that we had a small talk let's get back to business." Tepei sat up and turned on his computer, "You are here because you need an identification card, right?"

"Yes," John nodded.

"Alright let's get it done then." Tepei tapped at his touchscreen keyboard, "I'm going to make some simple questions and then you answer, are you okay with that?"

Both John and Lenny nodded in agreement.

"What is your full name?" Tepei started asking.

"John Connor" John answered.

"Lenny" Lenny answered as he lazily sat on the reception's sofa. He realized that John and Tepei were looking at him, "What? It really is Lenny, just Lenny, okay?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm 18 years old"

"I'm 43 years old" Lenny answered.

"What is your occupation?"

"I'm a... Protector" John hesitated for a moment but still answered.

"Oh? Tepei took his eyes off the screen and glanced at John, his eyes gleamed with a mysterious light, "That's why I thought I had seen this uniform before."

John was still wearing his blue Protector uniform so it was easy to identify him as a Protector.

"I'm a Bounty Hunter" Lenny answered.

...

After a few more questions they finally ended the process.

"Okay, now these are your identification cards." Tepei gave to John and Lenny a red card.

The card had a photo and some information about both of them.

"We welcome our two new visitors." Tepei gave a slight bow toward them.

"Thanks" John returned the bow.

Lenny was lazily seating on the sofa dozing off.

John kicked Lenny's feet, waking him up, "We will be taking our leave then."

John left the building with the complaining Lenny.

Tepei stood by the door staring at the two for a moment before he went back to the office.