Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-7

[New User's Gift Bag: Opened. You received: Forged Inheritance Badge, Cultivation Manual, Magic For Beginners (Book), 10,000 Federation Dollars, 1000 Mana Crystals and a Random System Skill Stub.]

[All items were automatically placed in your Inventory. Check Inventory for more details about the items.]

'Okay, wow! How generous. Uh...Open Inventory? Ooh! It works!'

It's really hard to divide his attention. He has to make sure that he doesn't look suspicious as he explored his System so he had to control his facial reactions but at the same time, he's excited to know everything he needs to know about it.

As he did his best to multi-task, Ashton looked at his Inventory and inspected the items placed in there. He focused at the first item he saw and its description showed itself to him.

[Forged Inheritance Badge]

: Show this Badge to Agent Theta and say that this is something that was left to your person when your parents left you at the orphanage. This badge will give you handsome rewards.

'Eh?' Ashton was confused. This was a weird item. It was cryptic which made him doubtful but at the same time, he wants to try it.

'I'll inspect the other items first.'

[Cultivation Manual - <Treasure Glazed Nine-Refinements Sutra>]

: A Consumable. Use this item to instantly learn about the cultivation technique.

: Warning! Use of this item might trigger a mild to moderate headache, please be careful when consuming it.

'Oh, thankfully there's a warning there otherwise I would've recklessly consumed this thing. I'll do it when I'm at my new home I guess.'

[Book: Magic For Beginners]

: A beginner's book for learning the basics of Magic. A consumable item.

: Warning! Consuming this item might trigger a mild to moderate headache, please be careful when consuming it.

'That's great, that should get me started at least. A cultivation technique plus this? Should be enough to educate myself into an alright level I guess.'

As for the currencies, they're left at the bottom part of the Inventory window. They are numeral statistics of them listed in there.

'So, System. Can you teach me how to take out an item from my Inventory?'

[Host just needs to think about the item he wants to take out appearing in his hands, the System will do the rest.]

'Sounds easy enough. Let's try it.'

Ashton was literally about to take out the Forged Inheritance Badge out from his Inventory when all of a sudden, a ding shook him out of his stupor.

They arrived at the 5th floor already.

Ashton then had to fight the urge to act but then he had an idea. He removed his backpack and opened it while walking beside Agent Theta.

He then shoved his hand inside, pretending that he's searching for something inside but in truth he was taking something out of his Inventory.

And just like the System advised, he just imagined the badge appearing on his hand and not even a second later, he was already holding it.

"E-excuse me, Agent Theta." He called out meekly.

"What is it?" The man replied without pausing his movements.

"Does this have any value?"

That's when the Agent looked at him and the badge he was holding. The agent stopped in his tracks and looked at him as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"The Nuns at the Orphanage I was in told me that I had this in my crib when I was left at their doors. It's the only memento I have but it seems useless. Do know if it's valuable? If it is, can I sell it? It would be nice to have more money to use."

"..." Agent Theta was speechless. He took the badge from the kid's hand and inspected it a bit. After finding that nothing wrong about it. He sighed and said: "This thing can't be sold. But it does have a lot of value. Come, follow me. We're nearly there."

'Yeah! It worked! Holy shit I'm such a great actor!' Ashton sighed in relief.

Honestly, he was really nervous about this. The system gave him the general ides of what he can say as an excuse to use this item but the execution was something he to figure out for himself.

Thankfully, the Agent seems to have been convinced about his story.

'I wonder what the badge is for though? It says inheritance but that could mean anything in this world.'

"We're here." The Agent stopped in his tracks.

The two of them are currently in front of an office. The agent pushed the door open and entered with Ashton following him from behind. Once they're inside, they were met with another office lady in front of a desk with a bunch of clipboards stacked on top of it.

"Agent Theta, Good Morning. You too, child. Good Morning as well." The lady greeted.

"Good Morning, Ms. Jones." The agent greeted back while Ashton just bowed to the lady.

"Come here, child. Sit down on that chair." She urged, she then asked: "How can I help you both?"

"We're here to have him registered." The agent replied on behalf of Ashton. "Here's his profile. Also, this."

Agent Theta handed the clipboard he took from the doctors as well as the badge that Ashton gave to him.

"Oh my, how rare." Ms. Jones gasped upon seeing the badge. She then looked at Ashton briefly before smiling. "Sure, I can help you with that. Give me just a moment here."

Then, Ms. Jones waved her hand and suddenly a hologram appeared in front of her.

Ashton saw her hands blur as letters begin appearing on the hologram. He was of course shocked, this lady's hand is moving so damn fast that it's leaving afterimages! How is this possible?

Then he remember what world he's in and all of sudden, he thinks that this makes sense. But it doesn't mean he'll get used to this right away.

"...okay, the Profile is more or less done at this point. Just a few details left and we're good to go." Ms. Jones then looked at Ashton as asked him: "Ashton right? Do you know what this badge is?"

"Um...a badge?" Ashton scratched his head.

He could've sworn that Agent Theta's lips were twitching. On the other hand, Ms. Jones laughed merrily and said:

"Indeed! You're right. Of course it's a badge, what was I thinking?" She laughed again. "My bad, I guess I shouldn't beat around the bush huh?"

"Ashton, this badge is what you call an Inheritance Badge. In some ways, it's a memento but more importantly, it is a proof of your identity. Just to be sure, can you tell me where did you get this from?"

"The Nuns told me that they found it with me in the crib. They gave it to me when I was old enough to think, they said it's something that my parents left for me and that it might have some value. Is it really precious?" He asked innocently.

"The badge itself isn't." Ms. Jones shook her head with a smile, "But what it represents, certainly is. But before we proceed, we need to test is this is truly yours. Put your hand here please."

Ms. Jones gestured to a device on her desk. It's some sort of mousepad, pitch black in color. Ashton did what he was asked and the moment his palms touched it, the mousepad lit up in some circuitry way. Ms. Jones then placed the badge on the mousepad as well and then a green light flashed.

"Alright! It's confirmed, this is indeed yours. You may take your hand away." Ms. Jones stated. Ashton removed his hand and then she began explaining:

"Ashton, this badge is a proof. It lets you inherit the things that your parents left for you before they disappeared."

"Your parents left you a total of 500,000 Federation Dollars and 100,000 Mana Crystals. Not only that, there are also some important books and letters contained inside which I highly suggest you read."

"Additionally, your Inheritance makes you a 3-Star Citizen of City M which grants you a total of 25,000 Federation Dollars and 1000 Mana Crystal for your monthly allowance which will last for two years."

"Two years!?"

"Yes. You must've heard that the monthly allowance for orphans only last for a year but since your parents made you a 3-star Citizen, it's extended. And it doesn't end there."

"There's more?"

Ms. Jones giggled and nodded her head: "Yes. There's more. You will also own a house provided by the Federation. There are a few available for you to choose from. Here's the list and the locations of the said houses along with what they look like. Take your time to choose."

Ms. Jones then showed a list of houses to Ashton which he inspected a bit absent-mindedly.

Now he understands why Agent Theta looked at him that way earlier. He must've thought that Ashton had some dogsh*t luck to have something like this. And Ashton couldn't really blame him for that.

'My god. This is what the System means by 'handsome rewards'? Dayum! I'm loaded!!'