Chapter 2
That afternoon, in front of a small seemly ordinary house stood Mike and Jess. "Well here goes nothing." Mikes says knocking on the door and being greeted by a large muscular young man towering over the pair.
"Can I help you 2?" His baritone voice asks the pair.
"Yes, we saw the add about working for Exodia in exchange for a helm and we came to sign up." Jess says, getting a grin from the muscular figure.
"I see, follow me to the office and we can sort the paperwork and contract, honestly didn't think the adds would work but I'm glad I was wrong, names A.J by the way." He tells them well walking them through the messy front of the house to a rather neat back office.
"So, which of you want to sign up or is it the both of you?" A.J asks getting some paperwork ready as he sits behind the desk.
"Both of us." Mike says, getting a nod and to lots of forms placed in front of them.
"Fill these out and sign them where stated, its to cover our asses so that if you try to pull a runner with the helm or try something underhanded like lazing around in game or jumping to a new guild right after the end of the contract, but it also covers you so that you don't get screwed in the end either by making sure you will own the helm after your contract period is over and depending on the path you choose there's also a payment in place for your chosen path where if you go over the weekly quota you can earn some money for it, but it wont be easy and the first 3 weeks are mandatory training to learn the job you will be getting." A.J tells them, Jess was all but ready to rush with signing it, but Mike stopped her, adamant that they should read through it first earning a chuckle from A.J and a respectful nod. "Listen to your friend, it's a valuable rule to never sign anything without reading it first." He tells the pair.
It was 10 minutes later when Mike was done going over the contract with a fine-tooth comb, it didn't seem like there were any problems with the contract, but he still had some questions.
"What paths are available? From what I can gather your looking not for actual soldiers or adventures but workers from the option section on the contract." Mike starts getting a nod in return.
"That's correct, in essence you wont be joining the main guild but a sub farm guild for the 3 months of the contract term, you will need to chose a resource gathering class from the list on the contract and you will be contacted in a hour or so and informed where to go once you enter the game, from there a master of the class will teach you and be overseeing everything for the term of the contract." A.J calmly tells them.
"Is there a way to shorten the contract term?" Mike asked as his next question.
"Yes, it is possible but not easy, the quota I mentioned that would need to be filled? Well, if you go over quota, you could exchange the excess for cutting down on the contract time instead of being compensated monetarily for it." He tells them.
"Is there any restriction on what race we can choose?" Jess couldn't help but ask, hoping she wouldn't be forced into choosing something she wouldn't feel comfortable with such as an ork or a orc.
"Nope, you can choose whatever class you want so long as you fill your quota, but I will say choosing something like a imp or succubus to be a farmer will make things difficult so id advice you to be smart with whatever race you choose." He tells her, getting a nod and sigh of relief, that she would still keep her freedom of choice regarding what race to play.
"One final point, just remember the helms are second hand and older models, there's nothing wrong with them but I already had someone come and complain about it, so I'm just giving you forewarning. Afterall, you can't expect the latest system for something like this when some of our own elite members don't even have the latest system." He tells them getting understanding nods as the pair fill in and sign their respective contracts. Giving the now completed contracts a once over ensuring everything was filled out correctly, he opened the drawer to his left giving the pair 2 plain boxes, each containing a helmet for them with a copy of the contract secured on top.
"Welcome to the guild even If it's just one of the small sub guilds, you should get a text later informing you of where to go after the beginner village and I hope you will be on time tonight. Don't worry about the beginner village, some of our own members will be there to help you blitz it. Here's my number, feel free to contact me should you need any help or have any questions." He tells the pair as they reach the door, tucking a card into each of the box's contracts.
"And with that, I bid you 2 Fairwell." He finishes with an overly dramatic bow and closing the door behind the excited pair.
"Yes! First step done! Now we just finish this contract terms and rush to get them done sooner and then make money from the game, move out our families' homes and get our own place and live our lives!" Jess rambled on excitedly getting a chuckle from Mike.
"So, what path did you choose? And any idea what race you want to play as? I mean the number of varied races is one of the big selling points but with what you asked makes me think you already had something in mind." Mike says poking his overly excited friend getting a wide mischievous grin in return.
"It's something I found interesting, there not played much because there super weak and take a lot of time and effort to actually become viable but I fell in love with them the second I read about them, there called a Verdant Spoutwood, it's a treant that's female and looks more like a nymph than a tree creature, I chose to be a farmer and I felt she would be the perfect race for it, I'm absolutely sure I'll be done before the 3 month terms of the contract. What about you? Any idea what you want to play as? And what class did you decide to work as?" She says excitedly as they head to their home, enjoying the walk with Mike and thanking all the gods that she stays next to him making it easier to spy, ehem keep an eye on him.
"No idea on what race yet so I'm going to research it when I get home, but I'm going to be a miner." He said proudly, getting uncontrollable laughing from Jess.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just I can't even imagine you as a miner, I'm sure you can do it though." She says wiping a tear getting a huff form Mike. "I'll show you; I can do it and it will be my path to making my wealth for moving out and everything." He tells her in a huff.