A small murmur ran through the group.
The guard let it pass.
"You can earn the ten points many ways," she went on. "The simplest is to take a low-tier hunting contract at the registry office and bring back the proof of a kill. There are work postings inside, cleaning, hauling, guard runners, kitchen labor. There are arenas, if you are eager and reckless. There are exchanges where information itself has value. Ten F-rank points in twenty-four hours is not a high bar. It is a low bar. It is the city's way of telling you that if you cannot meet it, you will not survive here at all, and you may as well be told now."
She lowered her hand.
"Those who pay their first day's keep within twenty-four hours are full city residents from that moment forward. You will still need to earn soul points every day to live, but the immediate threat of exile is gone. After that, your time here is your own."
