The twins exited the meeting room and Brian addressed his brother. "Hey, bro...?"
Damian interrupted him with a smirk. "Ha! What a liar."
"Ah, yeah," Brian scratched his face. "Let's go visit Mom. She must be feeling lonely by now." They walked away with long strides.
Adrian, who was left behind in the room, let out a sigh. "Luckily, only Damian has the Lie Detection Skill but it's convenient that I can use it on multiple people." He massaged his temples, feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what to do.
Adrian pondered to himself as he looked out of the window. "Should I hide it from my brothers or not? They still don't know about it. Should I just come out and say it? No, that's not what I want. They might get too protective and assign guards to watch over me whenever I go through the gates. That would be irritating, and I don't want that." He leaned back in his chair and stared off into space. "I suppose I'll keep it a secret."
Suddenly, a woman's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hide what?"
Adrian quickly turned to the source of the voice. "Ann..."
"What is it that you want to hide?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.
"Uh, it's nothing," Adrian replied, turning away to look at the landscape behind him.
"Come on, tell me. I won't tell anyone," Ann urged him.
Adrian spoke slowly. "I've… finally become a player."
Upon hearing this, Ann's eyes lit up. "Really?! That's great news! Becoming a player is something you have always wanted, right?"
Adrian nodded, "Yes, but I'm not sure whether I should keep it a secret or not. I don't want to be stuck in this situation, but my identity is quite sensitive. If people find out that I, as the son of the president of the association branch and a higher-up of Singapore's Player's Association, am also a player, some might become wary."
Ann let out a sigh. "Politics... So, what are you going to do now?"
Adrian replied, "I'll continue pursuing this, even if it means leaving some things behind."
"Wow, you're really dedicated?" Ann raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, I am." Adrian confirmed with a determined face.
"Alright then, tell me. What's your goal for doing this? How can I help you achieve it?" Ann asked with enthusiasm.
Adrian replied, "Goal? I'm not quite sure yet. All I know is that I want to stand alongside my brothers."
Ann seemed confused, "Aren't you already doing that? You own this business, and you're almost standing beside them if you think about it, you know?"
Adrian shook his head, "That's not what I mean. I want to do it my way. I want to be a legend, I'll start my own legend."
"So, what's the plan then?" Ann asked, curious.
"I'll figure it out. Just take care of everything for me over here." Adrian said with a smile.
"Heh! Got it, I'll take care of everything," Ann replied, gesturing with both her thumbs up.
"Okay then," Adrian said, still smiling.
"Alright, I'll go now. There are many things I need to take care of." Ann said as she left the room, leaving Adrian alone once again.
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Adrian opened his smartwatch and began searching through the Association's database, looking for information on the various Dungeons throughout the world.
He found that the highest dungeon available at the moment was up to level 30, which puts someone in the realm of C-rank. However, not everyone has the privilege of using the dungeons to level up. They will have to level up through Gates containing various monstrosities throughout the universe, as all the Dungeons are handled by the many branches of the Player's Association. It's not easy to ask them about grinding in the Dungeons, but Adrian was lucky to have such authority in the association that he could use one. Otherwise, he would have had to go through a painstakingly long process of evaluation and pay a fee, which is not cheap for an Average Joe.
"Should I register myself now?" Adrian thought to himself. As a higher-up in the association, he knew he could easily register himself as a Player and hide his identity by using a backdoor in the database. He could even create a fake Player license with completely different information. With his authority, he began registering himself and was finished within a few minutes. Finally, he had a forged Player license with fake information about himself.
"I should start leveling up now. I need to reach level 10." he said to himself as he got up and made his way back to the Dungeon facility.
In this country, there were only three dungeons available for players. The one he was currently in allowed him to level up to level 10, and there were two more available—one for leveling up from 10 to 15, and another for leveling up from 15 to 25.
Fortunately, it was lucky for him that there were these three dungeons located in the country. As he arrived at the Dungeon facility, he noticed some people standing outside who were likely beginner players. Since Dungeons are safer, people prefer to grind in them rather than in dangerous Gates until they reach an appropriate level to fight properly.
"Ah, damn it... there are so many people here right now." Even though he used a backdoor entrance, there was only one Dungeon, and people would see him entering it. Being someone whose face was known to many was truly troublesome, especially since it wasn't just players present, but also paparazzi and reporters searching for promising talents.
"What should I do?" He muttered to himself, contemplating his next move. A few seconds later, an idea struck him. "I'm going to have to hide my identity after all."
After verifying his identity through the AI, he entered the facility with his car and drove towards the backdoor entrance that was normally off-limits to people.
Exiting his car, he walked into the building and headed straight to the armory.
"I hope I can find what I'm looking for here." He thought to himself.
As he scanned through the various pieces of equipment, his eyes landed on a mask. "This one will do." He said to himself, satisfied with his find.
[Mask of Concealment] - SPN: +30
Passive Effect(s): The user's identity will not be revealed even with the use of skills (Skill higher than B-rank will bypass this effect.) as long as it is worn.
Active Effect(s): Conceals and erases the user's presence from everyone around them for 30 seconds. (Detections skills higher than B-rank will nullify this effect.) Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Remarks: Are you too shy that you have to use this?
Upon reading the details, he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "What the hell is this remark?" However, he quickly changed his mind after seeing the effects and the bonus attribute.
"Wow, this is actually quite good. I had no idea something like this existed. This is exactly what I need, it's perfect. My minor issue is solved."
He perused through the other items that caught his eye and added them to his inventory. He had decided to expand his inventory to three square meters on his way there so that he could store more equipment. Since the shop still needed two more days to refresh, he had already purchased all the necessary skills and left behind the useless ones. He now had only one task remaining: "Upgrade skill activation slot." Currently, he could only use two skills simultaneously, but buying another skill activation slot would allow him to access more possible skill combinations.
"Let's try something new," he said to himself.
He pulled out a spare smartwatch and transferred funds from his bank account into the device. The cash was now stored locally on the watch, and no longer linked to his account. He then tossed it into the exchange center, his eyes lighting up as he saw that he had gained 700 points. He quickly accepted the exchange and tried another one.
But this time, he threw in a piece of equipment from the armory and was met with a rejection notice.
[Rejected! An item that doesn't belong to you can't be exchanged.]
"Ah, I see. So that's how it works," he muttered to himself. The equipment was returned to his inventory.
"At least the first method works," he thought to himself.
Satisfied with his results, he added more money to the watch and made his purchases. With his new funds, he upgraded his skill activation slot. [Upgrade Complete! Skill Activation Slot!] Although he didn't feel anything during the upgrade, he could see that he now had three skill activation slots available.