How has wade's preparation for the egg hunt paid off with the completion of the first gate?

Wade preparation for the egg hunt paid him off by offering him a hint about the location of the jade key.

Explanation:

Wade who is the main protagonist in the novel ready player one will train and prepare himself hard and turned into a gunter.

Gunter is nothing but the one who tends to hunt eggs.

Wade used to prepare himself for hunting the eggs without getting caught by his aunt stack. She always used to verbally abuse her nephew along with her boyfriend Rick.

Those preparation finally paid him off when he successfully completes the first gate which further gives him a clue about the location of the jade key.

line a --> main

line b --> young

line c --> atitude

  this riddles' answer is library.

  the "leaves" are a reference to the books' pages that the library contains; the branches are a network of libraries that connect multiple libraries' collections, resources, and items in a system of a common database, integrating them; the branches' organization are a useful management tool for coordinating the multiple collections many libraries have.