Chapter 6: Player Association

Looking at this grand building in front of him, this was the first time Edward felt a little bit nervous. Neither of the other times had he been this close, more importantly, he never had once had the intention to enter it.

As Edward entered the Player Association's branch, he started observing it from the inside. Surprisingly, nobody stopped him from just brazenly entering the Player Association and there were few people inside to begin with.

In front of him, there was a reception and some sofas for people to wait. Since there wasn't really anyone else headed towards the reception, Edward made haste and walked up to the receptionist.

"Good morning, sir. Are you perhaps here for a Player License registration?" the woman at the reception seemed to know what Edward had come for and got straight to the point.

"Yes, that's why I'm here," Edward replied simply.

"Please follow me, sir."

As Edward followed the woman, he noticed that this place lacked the usual security features such as guards and cameras. Normally, people would expect a really high level of security in a Player Association branch but that was definitely not the case. Edward's face had a slightly concerned expression, which the receptionist took notice of.

"Are you perhaps curious about the security, more so the lack of security here, sir?" she seemed to know what Edward was thinking and the smile on her face showed that she had had this question pop up quite a bit before him as well.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't trust the security of the widely renowned Player Association. I'm just surprised how there aren't any guards or cameras here." Edward tried to express his concerns while still remaining polite.

"Well, you see, there really isn't much need for that kind of stuff here. If anyone tries to barge in the Players who work at the Association will be able to take care of it way better than any guards.

In fact, the possibility of anyone intruding or causing ruckus here is already marginally low. Normal civilians wouldn't try to mess with Players in the first place. Even if they launch a full scale attack with multiple people armed with guns or other weapons, the Branch Manager will be easily able to deal with it, he's pretty strong, you know."

Edward was satisfied by the answer. The might of the Players itself was enough to scare most people off and if anyone did attack, they wouldn't stand a chance anyways. Edward smiled to himself, speculating how long it would take him to be at such a level of strength.

After the receptionist explained herself, she eventually came to a stop, "Here is the evaluation room, sir. Please head inside."

Edward walked through the door the receptionist held open and walked into a room with a desk and a rather young man wearing a suit sitting on the other side of it.

He noticed Edward immediately and greeted him warmly, "Good morning, I am the Player Registration Test's examiner: Brad. Please, have a seat."

"Good morning, Brad." Edward said as he walked closer to him. As he sat in the seat in front of him and looked at Brad, he could feel a sort of pressure exuding from him. Somehow, he knew that this man in front of him was also a Player.

"I'm Edward Locke, 20 years old and I'm here to get my Player License." Edward introduced himself cautiously, showing both politeness and firmness in his statement.

"The test will be very simple and won't take much time." Brad responded without wasting any time.

"The reason why we hold this test is to have proof if the applier is actually a Player or not. Now, I will place an object in front of you. When you see this object, a window will appear in front of you. Read what the text on the window says and if your answer matches with mine, you will be given you Player License. Simple enough, right?"

Brad pulled out a sword seemingly from thin air and put it on the table. Edward knew that it was stored in Brad's inventory as he himself was quite surprised when he tried putting in and taking out the Enhanced Dagger from his inventory. He remembered the wonderful feeling of being able to make items appear and store them out of thin air with just a thought.

As Edward looked at the sword in front of him, in an instant, his player interface created a window for the item in front of him.

['Sword of the Undead Slayer'

Stats

Grade: 'Uncommon' Artifact

Attack Damage: 40 (80 for undead type enemies)

Attack Speed: 6

Description

A strong sword which deals double damage to undead type enemies.

Special Abilities

None

Requirements: 25 Strength]

Edward was surprised at first seeing an Uncommon Artifact in front of him, but soon realized that the Player Association could easily afford such stuff and an Artifact of the 'Uncommon' grade wasn't really a big deal for them or any other experienced players.

That, however, did not decrease its worth in Edward's eyes; for a beginner like him, an Uncommon Artifact was pretty much a treasure.

"This is an Uncommon Artifact called the "Sword of the Undead" which does double damage to undead type enemies," Edward read from the window that appeared in front of him.

Brad smiled and greeted Edward joyously.

"Welcome to the Player Association, fellow Player!" Brad grinned, "You have passed this formality of a test and will now receive your Player License."

It seemed like Brad's entire personality changed right after Edward had proved he was a Player. The previously stoic and formal man was now smiling and way more casual.

"Now that the formal validation test has finished, let's get to actually making the license. Come, follow me, Edward." Brad walked into the back section of the room they were in which had a photographer, printer and such other basic necessities and people required to make any sort of identification.

After about roughly 5 minutes, Edward got his Player License. It was a card the size of a regular drivers' license or credit card and had his name, age, face and the date of registration on it along with the logo of the Player Association.

"Once again, congratulations on officially becoming a Player. Your life will change drastically from now on and it is up to you to decide whether it would be for the better or the worse.

By the way, here's my business card. You can contact me if you have any problems or inquiries regarding Players and the sort." Brad told Edward as he handed him a business card and walked away.

Now that he had his Player License, Edward was ready to enter the Labyrinth. It was about noon and Edward had decided to head to the Labyrinth at around 2:00 PM after freshening up at home a bit and changing into clothes more comfortable for combat.

***

Edward had now changed into a tracksuit and sports shoes and had called a cab to drop him off to the Labyrinth. He was ready to have a real fight with the monsters in the depths of the Labyrinth for the first time in his life.

He wasn't really nervous and instead was tingling with excitement. Even though he wasn't some combat obsessed freak, compared to his job before this, being a Player and killing monsters was nothing short of heaven for him.

He still had his weapon and Player License in his inventory and didn't really consider taking anything else. Since the Player Association operated the Labyrinth gate and the area around it, most of the normal stuff such as food and water would be provided there.

The different Labyrinth gates which had appeared all around the world were all managed by the Player Association or other organizations such as guilds in this manner. They had an area around the Labyrinths bigger than a normal branch of the Association where they would offer various services to Players.

Edward was ready and left for the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth was a bit further from his house than the Player Association branch, but it was still not that far. This didn't matter much anyways, as he would buy a better house soon enough after he started raking in the profits from the Labyrinth and portals. Other than that, it was also in the opposite direction from the Association, making both of those areas rather far from his house.

As Edward started coming closer to the location of the Labyrinth, he noticed that the amount of houses and other buildings along with the traffic on the road had started to dwindle down significantly. After a certain point, all he could see was an empty road with nothing on either side as well.

After a couple minutes of this barren scenery, suddenly there was a whole new group of buildings and people in the area. This was the area that the Association had occupied around the Labyrinth. The people here were either Players themselves, or people associated with them. This area was what the people called the Player District in every city or region where a Labyrinth existed.

Edward, who was too focused on the grandeur of the Player District of his city, that he barely noticed the gate like barrier on the road in front of him.

"Sir, I think you should talk to these people," the cab driver said as he pulled to a stop in front of the gate and the guards at the entrance.