Apartment

"Huh?"

Vince looked around, he's once again standing in the middle of the white room. 'Is the test over?'

The test was very weird for Vince as everything felt oddly realistic. That's why he was in awe thinking of how amazing the one who made this room.

Just as he was wondering what he was suppose to do, Jen's voice resounded in the room.

[The test ended. Please leave the Illusion Room.]

"Oh."

He walked to the metallic door and opened it. He saw Jen smiling at him when he entered the evaluation room.

"Congratulations. Here's your player's license."

"Oh, thank you very much."

He politely took the license and read the contents of it with anticipation.

Name: Vince Stade

Age: 21

Class: Healer

Guild: --

Lvl. 1 (Common)

Skill:

-Healing (A)

: 07

Vince tilted his head at the last thing he read.

"Um, Ms. Jen, what's the number 07 for?" he asked with a curious voice.

"It's for determining a player's rank. We call it Hero points. Since the points will increase depending on how much work you do."

"What, really?" he never heard something like that.

"Yep. It's not that well-known. You could say that it's a 'player's thing'. Hahaha," she softly chuckled.

"I see," Vince nodded his head with an amazed expression in his face. 'So that's what is it. I didn't know there was such a thing.'

"Also, if you wanted to read the rules and regulations, just insert this to your phone or electronics. You will be able to find the player's website. Your questions will be answered there."

"I understand. I'll definitely read it!"

Jen laughed at his enthusiasm.

"And also, we will send the money to your bank account so please be sure to check it later."

'The money!' "Yes, I'll definitely do that."

Jen smiled and opened her mouth. There's nothing to do here anymore.

"Then, shall we go down? I'll guide you to the first floor."

"Ah, yes!"

"Here are your stuffs, sir."

He took the bag out of her hand and wore it. He doesn't want to put it in his inventory since it's just a bag and nothing important.

"Let's go now."

"Yes!"

-

After parting ways with Jen and leaving the association's building. He went to a nearby flower shop and bought three bouquet of flowers. Two bouquet of white roses and one bouquet of dark red carnations.

He rode a taxi and went to the cemetery. After paying the driver, he walked inside with calm steps and only stopped to certain tombs.

Vona Stade

Aug. 06, 2955 - Feb. 17, 2996

Elias Stade

Jan. 28, 2957 - Sept. 09, 2993

Those are the words written on the tombs that were right beside each other. And these people are Vince's parents.

He put down the bouquet on their tombs and sat near the two tombs.

He cleaned it before lighting up the candles he bought.

Vince stared at the tombs for a few seconds before speaking.

"I awakened. And I'm going to work as a player now. After earning some money that will let the three of us have a nice life... I'll quit immediately. You don't want me to work such dangerous jobs right?" he had a small smile on his lips.

Tears started sliding down his cheeks as he remembered how much he miss his parents. He'd always visit here whenever he felt like giving up.

Vince's parents didn't die by the hands of a monster. His father died from a disease while his mother died from overwork. This is the reason why Vince will always leave his sunday vacant from work despite their urgent need of money.

He didn't want to leave this world early and made his siblings suffer. That will be unacceptable for him.

"Mom, dad. I'm going to work really hard. Please lend me some strength," he bit his lips before muttering, "I love you... I hope you're doing well."

He left after saying those words, wiping his tears. He have another tomb to visit.

Far away from his parents, he put the bouquet of carnations in a clean tomb. It also has fresh carnation flowers to it as if ssomeone just visited. He light a candle and put Samael's favorite cake that he bought earlier. It was inside his bag.

"How are you, Samael?"

Today is Samael's death anniversary, his past lover.

"I brought your favorite flower. Do you like it?"

This time, he didn't cry. He can't.

"I awakened as a priest but I registered as a healer. My God gave me weird skills but I'm still happy about it."

[The God of Death is frowning at your statement.]

Vince panicked when he saw it. "I'm sorry! It was a joke! Just a joke!"

[The God of Death said it's okay.]

"Huuu..." he heaved a relieved sigh.

"A-anyway..." he awkwardly continued talking. He didn't know that the God of Death will be watching him.

'Does gods talk with their priest this frequent? I thought they just do it whenever they have something for the priest to do or is impressed.'

"I miss you so much. Do you miss me too? You must have a nice life there in heaven."

Vince wanted to talk more but now that he knows that his God is watching, he'll just stop here.

"Someday, maybe I'll meet you there. I love you..."

Vince left after that. There are a lot of things he needed to do. Today is sunday so his siblings are also home.

So Vince wanted to find a new apartment immediately. He checked how much money he have earlier and he almost fainted.

2, 000, 590 dollars

He couldn't believe it. He had never held that much money, and never saw so many digits.

He became more determined to find a new apartment that was much larger than they're currently livimg in or buy a new house if possible.

But he knew that to buy some proper gear, he needed money. He also need money to join a guild.

While Player's Association manage players. There are guilds who took care of other things. There are four types of player's guilds; Adventure, Production, Mercenary and Merchant.

Adventure Guild manages dungeons and monsters. Players who would join this guild would received a lot of benefits. They would received weapons and gears base from their performance and skills. Although, 20% of what they earn will be collected by the guild.

Mercenary Guild accept different types of missions. Be it about clearing dungeons, making potions, or killing people. The player will pay 5% of their rewards from the mission to the guild. It was less than the adventure guild but it's much riskier since a player should take care of himself.

Production Guild, just like its name suggested, they made potions, elixirs, weapon and any type of items.

Vince don't have any production skills so he can't join there.

Lastly, Merchant Guild. Any type of money related transactions were manage by them.

Vince also don't want to join there since he wouldn't level up and get stronger in that guild.

After thinking about it, he decided to join the Mercenary Guild. Since his priority was to earn money as fast as he can. Also, if he join the adventure guild, his class and skills might get revealed because he heard that they have someone who can see other player's status window.

Mercenary guild is the safest and what suit him the most base on his circumstances and goal.

When he arrived at home, he immediately walked inside their apartment.

"Elaine, Von. Hurry up and take a shower. I need you two to help me find a new apartment."

His siblings stared at him in dazed. They couldn't process what he juat said.

"A new apartment? Do we even have money for that? And even if we have, shouldn't we just rent a bigger one here?" Elaine asked with a frown.

"No. The apartment here has poor condition and it's closed to the slums. We need to find a nice one," he respond.

HHe packed their clothes and put it into a duffel bag.

"What really?! Yay!" Von excitedly jumped around.

Vince just shook his head at his brother's excitement. He was pretty excited as well. It's been a while since he had lived to a nice apartment. When their parents died, they need to find a smaller and cheaper one since they don't have money for it.

However, the only one they could find that Vince will be able to afford is this apartment. Its was close to slums and there are cracks to the walls. It smells horrible and is very far away from his sibling's school.

"Then I'll shower really quick!" Von quickly run to the bathroom after hugging Vince for a moment, with a change of clothes.

Vince turned his head to his sister who was looking at him with suspicious eyes.

"Take a shower after Von, okay?" he remind her but Elaine didn't even budge. She just kept squinting her eyes to him.

This made Vince laughed.

"Did you sell your orga--"

"I awakened," he decided to reveal it now.

"...huh?" Elaine tilted her head with a confused expression on her face.

"Did you just say awakened, brother? I think I heard it wrong."

"No you didn't. I awakened. I'm a player now," Elaine's face were blank before her eyes began to widen.

"Brother awakened?! Like for real?! Are you serious? Oh my god!" she jumped around excitedly. She looked exactly like Von.

After a few seconds, she came to me with a tense expressions on her face.

"W-wait, what's your class, brother?" she gulped and waited for me to answer. She looked like her life depended of it making me burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha! Why do you look like that? Puhahahaha!"

Elaine's face distorted heavily. "Brother! I'm serious here!"

"Right, right. Ahahahaha!"

Von who just finished showering look confused.

"What's happening? What is it? I want to know."

Vince turned to his cute brother and tell him the news.

"Brother awakened. I'm a player now."

"Oh! Really? Wow! That's so cool! I wanted to be one as well. How do I do it?"

"Ahaha, it's something that occurs naturally, Von. But maybe, in the future you will."

"Really? Then I'll work hard!"

"Yes, yes," he looked at the sulking Elaine. He's hesitant to answer her question, "Take a shower quickly. You stink."

"Excuse me, I don't!" she angrily marched to the bathroom.

He shook his head at Elaine's actions. She's still a child after all. However, she didn't immediately go but instead stared at him.

"So what is it, brother?" she asked, full of anticipation.

Vince chuckled, "I'm a priest."

He decided to give in.

-

The three of them left the apartment. Vince put their bags and things inside his inventory and rode a taxi.

The city they live in is called Halan City. It's very small compred to the large cities here in the Joven country.

The Outer Layer were made of two countries; Joven and Yula. While the Inner Layer have four countries, Kio, Venore, Creta and Forgon.

"We're here," the driver announced.

Vince paid the driver before getting out of the car with his siblings.

The place around here is where Elaine and Von's school is— Tora, Halan.

Elaine searched for an apartment they can rent online while they're inside the taxi. She seemed more excited than usual.

'We have a lot of places to go.'

"Shall we start?"

-