Vain smiled and sat down where Pops pointed out. "It's good to see you too and yes I got my ID pretty fast."
"You call that only pretty fast? I know that only a couple of people are ever lucky enough to get their ID within a day and that was pure luck! You are lucky as well, but at least that means you have decent skill!"
A man at the side yelled loudly, "And if you get complimented by Pops you will do great things!"
Vain was confused, "What do you mean?"
Just as the man was about to explain when Pops explained to him, "He's an idiot that believes that I always meet people who do great things."
"Well, it's true!"
"Yeah because people like him always ignore the people that have died..."
"Yeah like Sam who was treated as the greatest hero to ever exist in the entire Backrooms."
"Ignore him. He doesn't know of the people who I've known to die nameless, and people like him believe that if it hasn't happened to one person, they just haven't reached it yet."
Vain realized that he should end this conversation soon since even Pops wasn't talking to the point of yelling like he usually does, instead he is talking like a normal person. "Hey Pops let's not think about it for now, so how about we go on a trip through the beginner level as a small celebration."
As the pair started to get along, Vain found out that the reason Pops is able to drink so freely is that he helped the owner of the restaurant not only when he first arrived, but also helped Tom create the diner. Apparently, the reason it is called a diner is all because Pops got to decide the name and he thought it should sound homely like the food.
The pair quickly ended their meeting since Vain didn't want all this drinking to affect Athena's understanding of the world. Pops and Vain decided that they would meet at the door leading out to level 1 in 10 hours which is the time Pops considered to be the morning.
This time Vain firstly left to get a credit card which was surprisingly simple and when Vain asked about it, they just said that they simplified it a little and every transfer should have some basic understanding about a credit card either way so it shouldn't matter.
The pair then headed to a hotel that both of them hadn't experienced before. Vain also realized how expensive the Hub area is, the one room and one bed cost 30B a night, using up almost everything he had earned before leaving him with only 10B left on his card and 2 physical bottles.
Nothing eventful happened throughout the night, so in the morning Vain went to the water stand and traded his last physical bottles for water.
Waiting for Pops the pair talked in a corner where no one was around, "Hey Athena? When that man and Pops were talking about Pops' gift to find people who will do special things, who was telling the truth?"
Athena thought for a moment tilting her head cutely, "They both told the truth. So the man truly believes that Pops has that gift and Pops knows that it isn't true since he has heard about those who died without a word."
"The world is truly unfair."
The pair didn't talk about the death of people they didn't know for long and instead Vain asked Athena if anything new appeared on level 1 through her phone. Now that he is an official Wanderer he has access to the official M.E.G. database for level 1.
"I found that there are exits to other levels, and the reason that the Hub is called the Hub is that there are exits to other levels, just not all. The large organizations have control over such places charging 10B per entry if you aren't a part of their organization.
Also, I found that they forgot to tell you that if you are able to live for a month on level 1 without dying, you can then get your permissions upgraded to access the next 6 levels, but apparently, they give you information about the next 7 levels to make people understand that it is just hell 6 and beyond."
"Oh? Then what is the point of moving past the first few levels?"
"I'm not sure. I think that there is better stuff the further down you go? I need to do more research to know for sure."
While the two kept talking about different things she wasn't very sure about and which things they should ask Pops about. After about half an hour Pops arrived at the exit to level 1. "Hey, you ready? I hope so!"
Pops' loud voice attracted people's attention, but the group just ignored them, "I'm more ready than you are."
"HAHA! Good! Good! Then let's get a move on!"
The small group of three went on their way passing through the door to level 1 to go on a celebration journey for Vain getting his Wanderers ID. This time Vain remembered to make sure to grab the puke bin that the guard had near him as soon as possible. Athena on the other hand fell to her knees almost immediately after passing through the door.
Pops on the other hand was laughing his head off, "I remember seeing so many people fall to their knees throwing everything that they had for lunch! HAHA! Oh- and Vain you are used to it soo soon? I thought you would still be on your knees like the girl!"
Vain also laughed a little, "Yeah I got lucky and never ended up on my knees when I passed the door."
Pops' face turned into a frown, but his words were still joyful as ever. "You are definitely going to be another statistic to the special people I've met! I hope you at least make me proud!"
Pops' joyful attitude was really contagious that Vain started to speak loudly, "I need to make sure to inflate your reputation! HAHA!"
Athena who had just finished getting everything out of her system looked depressed, "You two are laughing like everything couldn't be better, but here I am suffering."
The men just ended up laughing even louder, "Girl you need to lighten up a bit! You get used to it pretty quick!"
Vain simply smiled and spoke to Pops ignoring the suffering of Athena for once, "She is mature enough to get used to this place, but she is still small cut her some slack!"
Athena looked at Vain with a blaming face, "Look you used to be so nice, but as soon as you met him you don't even coax me to feel better!"
Vain realized he was too harsh since she was still a child that needed enough attention, "Athena I'm sorry. I'll make sure to give you the most love you feel in all your life." Vain bent down and hugged Athena while rubbing her back.
Pops on the other hand nodded and spoke in a slightly less loud voice, "Vain you might actually be good at this parenting thing! Let us see if she is truly as mature as you have claimed so many times she is!"
"I know you will be impressed!" Both Vain and Athena nodded at the same time as if agreeing with one another.
With that their little adventure started on level 1.
*Backpack supplies*
-4 bottles worth of non-tradable water
-8 packs of dried space food
-3 packs of jerky
-1 pack of dried beans
-1 pack of dried eggs (Military eggs)
-Cloth and tape wallet - credit card
-apple
-Painkiller
-Bandages
*Outside backpack*
-hatchet
-Composite bow
-quiver - 7 arrows