Chapter 60: [60] Paperwork
"I need your full name, date of birth and citizen identification number."
The woman from earlier dropped a stack of papers the size of Texas in front of Ark.
"Oh..." She tapped a certain point on the paper. "I also need the name you plan on using as your username in Eden, any affiliations you may have, and your favourite food."
Ark gave her a blank stare. "Seriously?"
"Hmmm?" She raised a brow and adjusted, her face as stoic as ever.
"Mary... why do I have to fill in all of this information when the association already has it?"
Ark never understood why these procedures existed in the first place. It was the same thing in universities, why ask my date of birth twenty times when it is in the school records??
The association knew just about everything about him, and even more details that they did not request. But here they were, acting like he was an illegal migrant or something.
The files would just end up getting dumped in a corner at the end of the day, because nobody ever used them.
Mary shrugged. "I’m just doing my job."
Ark glanced at her. The woman was sitting next to him on the sofa, so closely that their arms were touching.
"Does your job also require that you sit so close to m—"
"Of course!" Her eyes sparkled. "I— Uhum, I need to make sure you make no mistakes, or you will have to redo the entire thing."
Ark sighed. "For God sake..." he grabbed the pen with his bony hands and began to scribble down.
Time went by slower than Ark would have wanted, but after thirty arduous minutes, including a few calls to Bronya to confirm some family details, he was finally done.
Mary left with the documents, although she appeared sad that he was through. Did she perhaps hate him or something?
She came back five minutes later with a couple of items.
"This is your player identification badge..."
It was a copper dog tag with his name inscribed on the front in a cursive font. But behind the medallion was blank, as though it was left that way on purpose.
"When you join a guild, your guild symbol will automatically be inscribed there." Mary explained, before handing him another item, an envelope.
Ark’s fiery eyes grew brighter. "Another check? I knew the association was generous, but I didn’t think they would be this generous—"
"It is not a check. These are your logins for the player forum. Please memorize the details so that I can burn it."
"..."
Ark gave her a deadpan stare before snatching it off her hands and reading through it.
The forum was important to players in many ways. Information about available towers and dungeons, guild recruitments, and even sales of weapons and equipment could be found there.
It was basically an entire website designed soely for players. Some players even went as far as streaming their dungeon clears, while others made tutorials for new players.
There was a revenue system in place for these creators, which encouraged them to make more content. But although the pay was not bad, it was nothing compared to what you could earn from clearing highly ranked dungeons and towers.
"I’m done..."
She tossed the paper into the air, her eyes glowed green, and the paper was suddenly consumed by green fire.
"Although you can rest assured that only you can access your forum account, you can change the password at any time you wish."
Ark nodded, he planned to do exactly just that. You could never trust the association... especially with a vice commander like Tristan.
"Thank you for your help, Mary." Ark bowed slightly.
The woman smiled, which was a first for Ark. "Come to me if you ever have business with the association...."
"I will."
"Alright, Player Ark." They both stood up. "Your registration is now complete, safe travels in Eden." She placed her fist on her chest, giving him their nation’s salute and Ark replicated it.
"Thank you."
Ark stepped out of the association only to see that the sun had begun its descent. It was 4 PM, he had practically spent the entire day in the association.
"I need to move fast..." He thought out loud as he turned in the direction of home. Once he got to his house, he told Bronya and Cracker that he would be going into Eden.
Time in Eden and earth flowed differently, and since he was a new player, he needed to grind for as long as he could.
Because they spent so long in the hell level tutorial, other players had already been grinding in Eden for at least three weeks.
If he wanted to catch up, and even surpass them, then he needed to grind even harder. But this meant he was going to spend a long time in Eden, no in and outs.
"Does that mean you will be away for long?" Cracker asked. She was in her bird form, perched on his shoulder.
"For quite a bit, yes."
"How longgg? You have already been gone for seven months! You need to stay with Cracker for longer!"
"Cracker..." Bronya called. She was leaning on his door post, her hands folded across her chest.
"Ark is a player now. Being a player is serious business, do you want him to get left behind?"
"..."
She shook her head slowly.
"Don’t worry about him, Ark will return to us just fine. Isn’t that right?" She glanced at him.
Ark nodded. "Who do you think I am? You know what? I’ll even bring back a souvenir for you this time."
Ark patted Crackers fluffy head. "Really??" Her eyes widened.
"Sure. I’m sure there will be something you will like..."
"Mmn!" She hummed with excitement, waving her wings in the air.
"Alright, come over here." Bronya raised her hand and Cracker rubbed her head against his bony cheek, before flying onto her shoulder.
Ark moved to his bed and laid down on his back.
"Good luck..." Bronya said, a confident smile on her face. "Go kick all their asses!" She raised her first in the air.
"You’ve got it sis!"
To travel in and out of Eden, all a player needed to do was concentrate without interruptions for ten seconds.
Ark laid still, and then a screen appeared before him.
[Player Ark Karras. Do you wish to log into Eden?]
[Yes]
The world around him fizzled into darkness, and then in the blink of an eye, he vanished into nothing.
Back in his small, cramped room, Bronya’s confident expression faded as she stared at the empty bed.
She felt a cold feeling within her chest, and her hand, which was still raised, trembled.
"Hmm? Sis, are you okay?" Cracker cocked her head to the side.
Bronya quickly brought her hand down and tucked it into her pocket. "Of course, now that that trouble maker is gone we have the house to ourselves."
"Do you still have access to his COD account?"
Cracker nodded fiercely. "He changed the password from Bestintheworld, but Cracker cracked it easily!" She said smugly.
Bronya grabbed the phone and began to walk out of the room. "Heh, really?" She grinned. "And what was his password this time?"
"Bestintheworld2!"
"Hahaha, what an idiot."
Bronya held the door and glanced into the room one last time. She could only hope that her little idiot brother would return from Eden in one piece...
And not a repeat of what happened thirteen years ago.