'So just sign here, here, and here, right?' Archie asked once more, pointing towards three distinct places atop the five-hundred-page contract.

"Yes," Paleos answered from behind the receptionist desk.

They were thorough, he'd give them that. Almost everything within the contract could be boiled down to a couple of rules:

Do not willingly or knowingly kill another guild member in the presence of any guild property. Do not tamper with any recorded documents or findings. All issued equipment must be repaired and maintained after each quest is completed. Do not reveal secrets or private information to anyone not involved with the guild, shared by any executives. You must also meet the minimum documentation and recording submission requirements for your current tier.

But you can kill a guild member outside of the guild and away from any discovered objects or recorded documentation, Archie noted. As anything you've recorded with the intention of handing over to the guild has already become "guild property" - regardless of whether you've turned it in yet.

Probably some heck of a story behind why that became a rule, Archie thought as he considered the only obligation he was currently bound to - especially since he had no desire to tamper with any recorded documentation.

And if he did end up recording or documenting something he no longer wanted to show, rather than tamper with it, he'd just tell them that the recording device got destroyed by whatever it was that he was recording.

The device given to him had to be either at his level or lower for him to operate it, so destroying it should be easy - especially with his 1699 Strength, the various boosts he could apply to himself, and the Detonation runic script he'd created.

Most of the beginner quests he'd read involved collecting bushels of herbs, killing packs of rabid creatures, or completing other similarly dull tasks. But they were always tagged with a sub-quest: recording and documenting anything out of the ordinary.

If what you found was deemed acceptable by the guild, then you'd receive a bonus reward. If you couldn't find anything interesting or unusual, then you wouldn't get the bonus, but both would still count, however, to the minimum number of documentation and recording submissions you are required to turn in.

Iron Trekkers - his soon-to-be rank - are required to submit at least two sets of documentation every five years. These can be written or recorded reports created by the individual or a collection of items related to the discovery, each from a separate unexplored area outlined in completed quests. Each submission must be accepted by the guild. Once turned in, the Iron Trekker in question will retain their rank.

But if you turn in more than two every five years, you gain guild reputation points, which, in layman's terms, is basically guild membership XP, Archie mused. The more you submit and complete, the more XP you rack up, and once you hit the cap, your guild membership rank goes up. And the higher your rank, the more privileges you unlock.

If you have not submitted the required minimum sets of documentation within the set time limit for your tier, whether recorded, written, or an item of value related to a quest or an unexplored, undocumented find, then you will be demoted. If an Iron Trekker is demoted, their guild membership will be revoked.

His soon-to-be rank, Iron Trekkers - the lowest rank within the guild - came with no privileges beyond being allowed to accept and turn in quests.

And to be fair, they offer quite a bit of money, Archie reasoned as he finished signing the documents and slid the papers toward Paleos. Even the simplest of quests within their level offered thirty Silver Coins, which divided by the three of them would mean ten Silver Coins each, that's a fourth of the cost for a low D-Grade Cybernetic.

"All is here and accounted for," Paleos smiled before raising his raising a face-down palm above the stack of documents and immediately flooding it with an obscene amount of mana and slamming it down atop the documents.

Archie's eyes widened slightly as he sensed the sheer amount of mana Paleos was using - it was more than he had ever been able to detect at once. That's more mana than my own pool… quadrupled and he doesn't even look the slightest bit winded… C-Grades or whatever Grade he is are truly built differently.

"Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on becoming a member of Omniversal Solutions," Paleos smiled, handing Archie his Iron tier membership card, which denoted him as an Iron Trekker.

I'm not even going to ask how 500 pages worth of documents became a card made of iron, nor how the enchantments on it suddenly came to be, Archie thought to himself as he held the card in his hand. 'Thank you.'

"Now, as an Iron Trekker, you are able to accept quests from the guild," Paleos informed him. "As such, on behalf of the guild, I shall offer you two separate quests: the first quest is to provide an item you have found within the Tutorial and how you came to acquire it, while the second quest is the same but for a dungeon you have completed within said Tutorial."

Earlier in their "interview," he had asked what to do with the items he had found during the Group Tutorial but had no use for - hoping to use them to build some rapport with the guild.

However, Paleos suggested he wait until after becoming a guild member so the contributions would count toward the minimum required submissions for an Iron Trekker. Both approaches would help build rapport with the guild, but waiting would also allow him to fulfill the mandatory documentation requirement for the next five years.

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Items made by the System or found in System Events were always hot commodities to the guild, as they are inherently unknown and unique. Even low-level items found within System Events were gladly accepted by the guild as a discovery.

It was an opportunity Archie would gladly take advantage of, considering he still had two more Tutorial Events to complete in the future, which meant he would "suddenly receive a windfall of System-made items and discoveries over a long period of time".

Archie glanced down at his newly made Iron membership card as it glowed a light blue color twice, a sign that two quests had been issued to him. Sending a pulse of mana into the membership card, two quest panels appeared in front of him.

Guild Quest: Discoveries I As an Iron Trekker of Omniversal Solutions, you are now eligible to undertake quests on behalf of the guild. Paleos Verga, the guild representative, offers you the following task: Quest Details: You are tasked with providing an item of interest that you discovered within either the Solo or Group Tutorials. You must also detail the steps and circumstances surrounding how you came to acquire the item. Requirements: Submit an item obtained within the Solo or Group Tutorials, describe the steps and methods through which you acquired the item, and deliver your report to Paleos Verga within five years. Reward: 10 Gold Helix Coins & Completion of a documented discovery added to your record. Do you accept?

Guild Quest: Discoveries II As an Iron Trekker of Omniversal Solutions, you are now eligible to undertake quests on behalf of the guild. Paleos Verga, the guild representative, offers you the following task: Quest Details: You are tasked with providing an item of interest that you discovered within one of the Group Tutorial Dungeons. You must also detail the steps and circumstances surrounding how you came to acquire the item. Requirements: Submit an item obtained within a Group Tutorial Dungeon you have completed, describe the steps and methods through which you acquired the item, and deliver your report to Paleos Verga within five years. Reward: A Spatial Gem (Uncommon), the size of a human fist, & Completion of a documented discovery added to your record. Do you accept?

His first thought was, That's a lot of money. His second was, One less thing I need to prepare for the teleporter.

'I accept,' Archie signed, causing the card to pulse gold twice, informing him that the quests had been accepted and are currently being tracked.

Accessing his spatial storage, Archie pulled out an E-Grade Upgrade Medallion (Uncommon) and placed it on the desk before sliding it toward Paleos.

'I got this one in my Group Tutorial after killing a pack of Ironhide Crocodylidae and their Alpha. Once I finished collecting their beastcores, speaking of which, do you also want them?' Archie said, before suddenly remembering that he had their cores in his spatial storage.

"Why not? I can add bonus contribution points onto your card as additive proof," Paleos smiled as Archie rolled over an E-Grade Alpha Ironhide Crocodylidae Beastcore and four other E-Grade Ironhide Crocodylidae Beastcores.

He'd been letting them collect dust for far too long and had no need for them up until this point in time. Using them to forge new armor wasn't quite needed, considering his equipment was pretty much up to date, sans his boots.

He really needed to find a Leathersmith of sorts and buy off them leather boots as a base for him to build his new boots out of with reinforced steel and a couple of beast or insectoid cores he'd find along the way…

Yeah, probably shouldn't have given those crocodile cores, Archie sighed… I knew I kept them for a reason… and now I can't take them back without sounding like a jackass. Me and my big mouth.

Nevertheless, they planned on selecting a peak E-Grade culling quest once they finished registering, and so the cores he'd get from them would be far better in terms of level than the ones of the crocodiles.

'Okay, back to how I got the Upgrade Medallion,' Archie continued. 'After making sure that the pond they were in was now vacant, I sank myself into the pond and found a lockbox at the bottom.'

Seeing the slight shift in Paleos' demeanor, Archie decided to explain a bit before continuing. 'A Sealed Lockbox is considered to be the same thing as a Sealed Oak Chest, in a sense where they are created by the system for the Tutorial and contain an item within them.'

'Once I snapped open the lock on the Sealed Lockbox, inside it lay an Upgrade Medallion of Uncommon rarity, the same one on the desk. It upgrades the rarity of an item below Uncommon to Uncommon, but it requires you to be both an E-Grade and a Tutorial Participant in order to use it,' Archie finished. 'That's about it'

"Would you be able to use it?" Paleos asked, much to Archie's confusion.

I literally told you that you must be an E-Grade and a Tutorial Participant in order to use it, which I am…

'Yes, I can use it as I still am an E-Grade and a Tutorial Participant,' Archie repeated calmly. Is he trying to see if I trip up? Or is… Ah, Archie thought before he saw Paleos' point and outline to some sort of recorder attached to his outer robe.

"Well then, that answers all of my questions regarding Guild Quest: Discoveries I. Here is your reward for its completion," Paleos said as he slid a stack of ten Gold Helix Coins across the table toward Archie.

At the same time, Archie's membership card glowed green, signifying the quest in question's completion. Additionally, half of the stars on both sides of the card now glowed yam-orange, indicating that he had fulfilled half of the minimum discovery requirements for his tier.

'Great, now for the second quest,' Archie signed before pulling twenty Golden Doubloons from his spatial storage, along with a Cutlass of Undeath, two Mana-Pistols of Undeath, and five Mana-Long Guns of Undeath. He pushed them across the table toward Paleos. 'These were from the first Sigil Dungeon I completed… also from the Group Tutorial,' he signed, adding the last part in for good measure.

'The Sigil Dungeon in question was called the Cursed Ship Dungeon, its setting was a ship trapped inside a cave that caved in, trapping them inside with every exit closed to them except for a tall cliff many meters above its bowsprit,' Archie signed, proceeding to go into more detail about ship and the various races that inhabited it and what he'd seen within it.

'After killing the Cursed Captain, I just left the dungeon with my rewards and a Sigil of Challenge,' Archie finished, looking over his shoulder to see Aoife had finished her interview and held her membership card up to him, to which he raised a thumbs up in response.

"And these Sigils of Challenges, what were they used for?" Paleos inquired, to which Archie gave him a knowing look.

'It's mainly related to the Group Tutorial and was a reward for completing the Sigil Dungeon,' Archie signed. He stuck to just what needed to be said to fulfill the quest requirements - he had no interest in accidentally revealing anything he might 'miraculously' uncover in the future.

A man's gotta eat.

"Congratulations on completing your second guild quest," Paleos said with a smile, as the items Archie had placed on the table vanished. In their place, a fist-sized violet crystallic gemstone appeared, and his membership card that he'd placed on the table briefly glowed green, signifying the quest's completion.

The stars on both sides of the card now fully glowed yam-orange.

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