"Welcome to Nexus, sir."
Martin shook his head, taking in the unusual scene in front of him.
From the luxurious room built underground, to the holographic screens that shouldn't have existed yet on Earth, everything seemed to be out of this world.
"Now I'm convinced you're not inviting me to a shady cult. This is a super elite cult…"
Stephen just smiled as he led Martin to the receptionist desk, one different from the one in the lobby of the hotel.
On their way, Stephen seemed to have made a lot of friends in his year of becoming a member, as almost every single person there greeted him.
"I didn't know you were such a social butterfly. Aren't you too shy to even talk to the beautiful intern back then?"
Stephen could only rub the back of his head and smile.
"Well, this is a very small community, almost everyone knows each other around here.
And that's a different thing, sir. I'm still quite afraid to talk to beautiful girls, but I can at least say hello and ask what's up now."
"Then what? Froze up and did nothing other than compliment the beautiful ceiling lights?"
Stephen stared at Martin, but finding no words could come up to rebuke him, Stephen just quickened his steps to the receptionist desk.
"Good afternoon, I want to register a new member."
Stephen then gave his membership card to the receptionist, who wore the medieval clothing, and he scanned Stephen's card once more.
"Sir Stephen, Silver rank. Your identity is confirmed." The receptionist smiled as he returned Stephen's card.
"Using your only invite privilege as soon as you reach silver rank. The new member you've invited must be important to you, sir."
"You're correct, John. He's my respected mentor and a good friend. You guys will also find him very credible. I bet he could reach the same level as I am with only half the amount of time."
The receptionist then turned his head towards Martin, also giving him such a professional smile that gave Martin the creeps.
'I can never be as good as these service workers. How can they smile at someone as if they were their long-lost relatives when meeting people for the first time?'
But Martin was still a professional corporate slave. He gave his best corporate smile, returning the receptionist's seemingly genuine smile.
"I assume you are the one who wants to register as a new member, sir…"
"Martin. Yes, I want to register as a new member."
The receptionist then pulled out a crystal ball, one that looked similar to the device that the guard and adventurer's guild receptionist used.
"Please put your hand on top of this crystal ball, it will show your status to prove you have played the game."
When Martin put his hand on the crystal ball, he felt something stirred inside of him, but as if something was lacking, the feeling died down a moment later.
Remembering how it went so far when Martin placed his hand and touched something with a spell circuit, Martin raised his eyebrows.
'Is it my magic IDE skill trying to analyze the magical tool…?'
But Martin didn't hear the usual notification voice telling him it had analyzed a magical tool, so Martin shook his head, thinking it was only his imagination.
A small holographic screen popped out of the crystal ball, revealing Martin's status screen.
============Status ================
Name: Martinus
Race: Human
Age: 31
Title:-
Job: -
Level: 0
Job History: -
Attributes:
Vitality: 1,1
Mana: 10,000
Strength: 2
Agility: 1,3
Endurance: 0,7
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 7
Passive Skills:
+Silver Tongue Lvl. 1
+Dagger Mastery Lvl. 2
+Shooting Lvl. 1
Active Skills:
+Wind Step Lvl. 1
Unique Skills:
+Elderly Resilience
============================
It was currently visible to Martin and everyone else around him, so Stephen couldn't help but take a look.
"You're still level 0, sir? What have you been doing? Did you not kill any monsters yet?"
"It seems Sir Martin had gone to the adventurer's school right away. He had the basic skills that one would get if they went to the adventurer's school." The receptionist chimed in when he scanned Martin's status.
"Properly preparing yourself before going into danger, huh? As I've expected from a manager of a large corporation…" Stephen mumbled as he took notice of the dagger mastery and shooting skill Martin had.
"But, sir. You don't need to worry so much, the unique skills the gods gave us when we first logged in should help us fight any low-level monster…"
Stephen's voice trailed off as his eyes fell upon the unique skill that Martin had.
The receptionist also had a huge question mark over his head when he saw the unique skill that Martin had.
"Elderly Resilience? I don't think you're old enough to get this unique skill, sir. Only real elders, those who had a hard time walking without their walking cane, usually have this skill.
And it's not an offensive skill, it's just a skill that helped elders to not die easily, such as from slipping on the bathroom floor."
Stephen's mouth opened wide, and lightbulbs appeared in his eyes.
With a low voice, Stephen whispered to the receptionist, "The god he met when he first logged in is Loko…"
As if understanding what had happened, John stared at Martin for a while before nodding his head.
"I'm very sorry, sir. The will of the gods is outside of our control. I'm just very happy you still decided to continue playing the game despite receiving such a unique skill."
While the two people were sympathizing with Martin's unfortunate condition, the man himself was still glued to his displayed status screen.
He looked over twice, even four to five times, but he still didn't find it.
He had used the skill a couple of times, and it worked just fine, so he was sure that the skill wasn't just his imagination.
'Where is my Magic IDE unique skill…?'
Mistaking his confused look for sadness, the receptionist hurriedly finished the process for the registration process and pulled back the crystal ball.
When it's separated from Martin, the status window also disappears, finally getting Martin out of his confusion.
"Here you go, sir Martin. You are now officially a bronze member of Nexus. The basic member benefits of each tier can be found on the card if you give it a little bit of mana.
Just to highlight a few ones you have right now, you can convert the game currency by going to any church inside the game and telling them you want to convert some money.
The converted coins will be transferred to the account that you can also access by using the ATM with your member card.
You will also receive a monthly stipend for being a member, which would become higher the higher your membership level is.
If you increase your rank, then you can also invite other people to play the game, getting insurance both here and in Nostravia, and even using a special gaming pod that lets you play in a time dilation.
If you didn't have any activity inside the game for 6 weeks, then we will stop the stipend, but your membership is still valid.
I hope you enjoy the game."
With the registration process complete, Stephen then led Martin outside the secret underground lobby and back to the hotel's main lobby, where he returned the room key to the receptionist.
"That's it? They don't need my address, social security number, or even my driver's license for identity?" Martin asked Stephen, who had bought yet another snack from a street vendor.
"Yup. They recorded our mana signature, it's something like a fingerprint. But it still works even if you've lost all of your fingers.
And why would they need your address? You are the one who needed them. You will come to them yourself."
The two then chatted more as they walked back to where they had parked their car.
"So, you want to meet up in the game? I will carry you and make sure you can carry me back with your unparalleled corporate slave skills. Where are you currently in the game?"
Martin could only smile wryly. "I actually didn't know. I will ask around later and see whether we're close to each other or not. Where are you inside the game?"
"I'm in the capital city of the kingdom, Valoria. It's quite a famous one, you should be able to find out if you ask people there easily."
"Sure, I'll message you later when I find out."
The two then went back to their own cars as they headed home.
Even after registering as a member, Martin still couldn't figure out what these people were trying to do with him and the players.
Even with the mindset "If a product is free, then you are the product." Martin still couldn't figure out what the organization wanted.
'I guess I just need to enjoy the benefits for now while still being cautious enough that I don't unknowingly sell my soul to the devil or anything.
And my other unique skill… The Magic IDE… Why did it disappear? Did it really disappear, or did it just not show up on that crystal ball?'
Martin now had questions he needed answers to, and the only way to find the answers was to continue playing the game.
'If the Magic IDE skill was hidden, who hid it? And why…?'