After activating his Stonewall membership, Vicente followed Prisiche through the Registration Center until they reached an area where several self-service machines were set up along a long gray wall.
"Master, the functions of Stonewall members are confidential, so only the member themselves and their artificial intelligence can know the full range of their activities. Your activities will shape what kind of disciple you will be, so only you have access to them." Prisiche motioned for Liam to place his ID on the rectangular machine in front of him, where there was a glowing screen and a place to place his ID.
Intrigued by what lay ahead, he complied with the instructions, eager to uncover the mysteries that awaited him along his new path.
Once he inserted his ID into the machine, the screen instantly changed, displaying a vibrant welcome message followed by a menu.
{Wallet}
{Missions}
{Mandatory Activities}
...
{Status}
{Affiliations}
He scrolled through the screen with his finger, surprised by the abundance of options available for him to explore.
But the five options that stood out to him were the most important, from what Prisiche had told him. But all the options had their advantages for him to observe and understand what they were for.
"Choose {Mandatory Activities} first, Master. That's what you want to know the most right now." She recommended as she pointed in the right direction.
Vicente did as he was told and soon saw a new screen with several text boxes appear for him.
{Forge Center}
{Activity: Develop your forging skills.}
{Goal: Become a 7th stage Blacksmith.}
{Progress: 0%.}
...
{Combat Center}
{Activity: Develop your Warrior skills.}
{Goal: Become a Magus.}
{Progress: 33%.}
...
{Medical Center}
{Activity: Develop your skills as a Doctor.}
{Goal: Become a 6th stage Doctor.}
{Progress: 0%.}
The last of the three mandatory activities lay before Vicente, and he looked at it with a mix of surprise and curiosity. While he had the skills to help treat and heal the injured, he had never studied medicine.
Stonewall didn't seem to see a problem with that, and was interested in developing his latent potential.
Vicente then clicked {Back} and then {Missions} to see what would happen. However, all he got was a message that he still had no missions selected.
"Master, the {Missions} tab only shows the missions you have selected. You need to go to the Missions Wing of the Registration Center where you can add missions to your ID.
I recommend you visit this wing today. Many of the sect's missions are long-term tasks that will take you weeks or months to complete. So it might be interesting to familiarize yourself with them and even choose something.
However, I don't recommend beginning a mission right away. Begin your activities in the three centers listed in your {Mandatory Activities} to get to know your limitations in the Light Cay and the nature of the natives' power." She instructed him, and he couldn't help but agree.
But before he left, Liam continued to explore the options available to him. He clicked on {Affiliations} and once again saw an empty option that he would either have to create a faction/family or join an existing group to develop this option.
From what Prisiche explained about this option, once he had the {Affiliations} tab working, several interesting things would become available to him. For example, when joining a faction/family, members of the same affiliation were obligated to follow the rules behind that group. There was no need to make contracts. All you had to do was add the affiliation to your ID, and you had to follow the rules of that group.
Leaving an affiliation was very difficult, as only the owner of the faction/family had the ability to undo those connections, so it was something delicate that had to be considered very carefully before any decision was made.
There were other advantages, such as tracking the progress of your party members, knowing the health status of your companions, etc. It was a very useful interface for group management.
From what Prisiche said, machines like the one he was using could be purchased, so it was very common for group leaders to use them to manage their teams from their own homes.
This was of great interest to Vicente, as it could make it much easier to set up his mafia family in Anicane.
He didn't want to join just any group. He wanted to form his own faction, so this would help him a lot.
After looking at the {Affiliations}, he looked at the {Status}.
{Vicente Fuller}
{Cultivation: 3-Star Archmage.}
{Origin: Polaris Realm.}
{Magical Forms: Throne of Light and Darkness; Magnetism.}
{Rank: Outer Disciple.}
{Professions: 6th stage Blacksmith.}
He read off his status options, some of which could be tapped, leading to other tabs on this interface, such as {Rank} and {Professions}.
When he clicked on {Rank}, he saw a simple diagram of his possible future positions in the sect, with the rank of Outer Disciple glowing a bright white, while the positions above it were all gray. They went like this: Inner Disciple, Outer Elder, Core Disciple, Inner Elder, Core Elder, and finally, Master.
The order showed the level of power and influence of the sect members, which, as Prisiche added, was not limited by numbers. That is, there could be 'n' magicians with the same rank, including the highest rank, Master.
However, it was so difficult to achieve the requirements to become a Master that, in normal times, there was hardly a single person in the position of a master, and the leadership of the sect was usually done by a group of core elders.
Anyway, moving on, in the {Wallet} tab, Vicente saw his 100,000 stone coins, where he could store not only those coins but also other special rights.
The stone coins were definitely all he needed to continue his life in the sect. When someone completed missions in the sect, they wouldn't receive merit points, but they would receive stone coins. These coins could buy resources, pay for promotion exams, and much more.
Because of this, Vicente quickly understood that the sect didn't limit a member's methods of growth. If you had a good ability to produce and sell resources, you could easily grow without doing many missions.
But in a world where influence and bargaining power could be as important or more important than merit, how could the sect prevent its members from doing their best to grow?
This brought a smile to Vicente's face, because with this, he could grow exponentially even with cultivation restrictions and without having to earn much merit through missions.
But the {Wallet} tab could hold more than just stone coins. You could earn some special rights in the sect, and until you used them, those points would be available in the {Wallet} tab.
...
In another 10 minutes of analyzing the screen in front of him and his options, Vicente would fully understand the system behind it all and more or less understand how he could grow up in Stonewall.
'From what Prisiche said, the rank of a member of the sect greatly influences the type of mission and rights he has. If I want better opportunities and better pay, I'll have to become a high-ranking member. The best way for me to do that is to develop my forging skills, learn medicine, and form my new faction.'
He clenched his fists. Having a clearly defined path ahead of him would help him contain his fear of completing his journey and helping his family. So he took his ID out of the machine and looked at Prisiche.
"Let's go to the Mission Wing. I want to add a few activities to my record before moving on to the Medical Center." He made up his mind how he wanted to start his activities in Stonewall.
Prisiche walked ahead of him and led him to the wing, where he could learn about the missions available to someone of his power and rank within the sect.
For the first time since his arrival in Anicane, Vicente felt a little more relaxed, enjoying having a well-defined "ladder" of growth to begin his ascent.
He wasn't worried about his cultivation speed or the formation of his faction. In the next year, he would have to deal with many areas of this sect and eventually make his contacts. At the same time, his strength would continue to improve without him even trying. All he had to do was concentrate on following the initial routine given to him by the sect, and he would eventually find his own way to his greater goals.
Then, feeling a little more at ease about the future, Vicente entered the Missions Wing of the Registration Center, where he found an enormous hall with over 10,000 activities available!
Stonewall was a large sect with a well-defined hierarchy, but the Registration Center contained activities and services ranging from things for Outer Disciples to activities for even Inner Elders!