Beth Vance was done with the Level 0 tasks, easily completing it without any notable difficulty and received a few startup rewards.
The rewards were not massive but if one considered that she did practically nothing to get them, then it could be deemed to be worthwhile since they may come in handy sooner or later.
Now, Beth was in Nexus as a female elven ice mage called Nyx and her journey was about to begin.
Ding!
[The Gates of Nexus have opened up to you]
She was delighted with the message that her Axon brought up.
Just after the prompt appeared, a vertical rift appeared in the vast space of nature that was the form of the Anteroom that she met.
Initially starting as a single straight line that ran down to the ground from the sky, the rift began to widen, creating more space inside it as well as distorting the structure of the Anteroom.
Inside the blackened rift, Beth could see a dot of light that was slowly expanding and reaching towards her as if it was trying to escape.
The dot of light got closer and closer and grew larger and larger, and when it reached the mouth of the rift in space, it exploded into branches of blinding light.
The explosion of light overwhelmed the space within the Anteroom and briefly stole away Beth's vision.
Instinctively, she quickly put her hands over her eyes to block off the rays of light until the surrounding felt less bright.
After a while, she shook her head and blinked a few times, trying to clear her blurred vision.
"What is this light?"
Ding!
[Welcome Nyx]
A voice called out to her from within the rift as though it wanted her to enter the unknown path.
"Axon, what is this?"
She called onto her Axon for aid and understanding while rubbing her eyes.
—––
GATES OF NEXUS:
[The Gates of Nexus are formless pathways/portals that serve as the main doorways into the world of Nexus. The Gates of Nexus can only be accessed after clearing the [Anteroom] tasks]
—––
"So that's one of the Gates of Nexus. Wasn't what I was expecting."
[To proceed into the world of Nexus, you must proceed through the Gates of Nexus]
"I know that. It's not like you guys made it optional to proceed or not, pfft."
Beth sighed, adjusted her attire and walked into the colossal portal that had opened up to her.
She continued to walk until she disappeared into the light, only then did the gates close and the rift disappear, returning the Anteroom to its original appearance before the distortion happened.
—––
Meanwhile, back on Earth.
Lucia impatiently tapped her fingers on her table and her feet on the floor while frequently glancing at her watch.
Her impatience had not gone unnoticed as a young man walked up to her and placed his hand on the chair opposite her.
Lucia's eyes glanced at the stranger's hand and her gaze travelled from there until it reached his face.
He was a fine young man and if Lucia was to guess his age, she would place him in the mid thirties group.
He was tall, slender and handsome and what peaked his appearance in Lucia's mind was the glasses he wore along with his corporate attire.
Lucia loved it when men dressed to impress, and what better way to do it than with shirts and ties.
However, the moment right now was not about her wild, deep and unexplored fantasies.
"Do you mind?" the young man asked for the third time.
Lucia was gazing at him shamelessly and blinked a few times before realising that he asked her a question already.
"Sure. I do," she blurted out.
She immediately covered her mouth and turned her face away as she turned red. That was not what she wanted to say but her shameless crush on fine men had gotten the best of her.
She turned back and quickly corrected herself.
"No. I mean you can sit. I don't mind."
The man giggled. "Well, thank you."
The young man pulled the chair back, sat down and leaned back on it.
"I was beginning to think you wanted to walk me out."
"Why would I do that?" Lucia asked as she reached for her plastic cup of coffee.
She sipped the orange juice from her cup with a straw and moved her eyes around to everywhere else except the man's face.
She could not look him in the eyes… not those damned brown eyes of his.