021

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Now, he didn't have to worry about the penalties from the quest. As he was about to look at the rest of the system notifications, the AI Thea started talking.

"Please log out in the next 10 minutes, as the game is undergoing an update. The updater will take 24 hours. I repeat, please log out in the next 10 minutes, as the game is undergoing an update. The update will take 24 hours."

Alex stood motionless inside the room. He remained there for a solid 5 minutes, contemplating the same question over and over again, with the same thought repeating inside his head.

"Why? I should still have around 2 more days."

Eventually, Sabrana couldn't help but ask, "Is something wrong, Lucifer?" Alex then shook his head and responded with, "No, everything is fine. I was just lost in thought." Sabrana nodded and started to walk out of the room. Alex then focused on the rewards he had gotten from the quest.

[Rewards are as follows:

1,000 Gold Coins.

5,000 Reputation with the Church of Light.

Title: Friend of the Saint.

Title: Strong Mind.

Title: Speaker of the Truth.

Title: Destroyer of the Violet Royals.

World Renown +1.

Grimoire of Light.

Blessing of the God of Light.

Title: God's Mercenary.

Stone of Patience.

A favor from everyone trapped. You must find out their names and appearances yourself.]

While Alex looked at the rewards in a daze, Sabrana had returned to the room, holding a box. The box was pure white and decorated with inscriptions of gold, giving off a holy presence and demanding respect. Sabrana opened the box and said, "Here is the reward for helping free me and others, while also bringing their dark plans to light. Inside, you will find the Grimoire of Light, given only to respected members of the church, 1,000 gold coins, and a personal gift from our god. The Stone of Patience—she said that you deserve this stone more than any other mortal. This stone is a great artifact even by our Gods' standards and shall be bound to your soul to ensure it doesn't get stolen. This stone is desired by many, mortals, deities, and devils alike."

Inside the box was a light blue pouch filled to the brim with golden coins, a pure white book decorated with gold markings and symbols, and a stone of pure white with a strange golden marking on it. The stone seemed to envelop everything around it and suppress any aura or presence. Sabrana also handed him his storage ring that was taken and smiled apologetically.

"I would have given it to you earlier, but the guards wanted to search it first. Don't worry; I was there the whole time and made sure they didn't take anything."

"Thanks, Sabrana. I might leave the city for a while and wanted to know where I could find you."

"Well, I'll be leaving for the church's main headquarters inside the Holy Empire. I'm needed there, as their only Saint in 1000 years was missing for 10 years. If you are ever in the Holy Empire, make sure to visit me, okay?"

"Alright, I'll make sure to visit you when I go to the Holy Empire."

Alex still had a few minutes before the servers shut down and wanted to check out the titles he received.

[Friend of the Saint

Rank: Silver

Effect: Enjoy the treatment of a High Priest inside the Church of Light and a 10% discount inside the Church of Light shop.]

[Strong Mind

Rank: Gold

Effect: Mental Fatigue drops 50% slower, and immune to all attacks on the mind. Hypnosis, mind control, mind reading, etc.]

[Speaker of the Truth

Rank: Silver

Effects: The words you speak have a slight chance to be taken as the truth if the person is weaker than you.]

[Destroyer of Violet Royals

Rank: Silver

Effects: The Nobles inside the Violet Kingdom will have a lower chance of provoking you.]

[Mercenary of the Gods

Rank: Gold

Effects: You've helped two gods with their troubles. Deities have a higher chance of issuing a task, Deities have a higher chance of making contact, and you gain 50% more from a task issued by a deity.]

Alex also wanted to look at the items; however, he was out of time and forcibly logged out. Alex woke up inside the VR pod, feeling extremely numb and stiff. He was extremely hungry and thirsty, as he didn't even log out after the dungeon raid. He had been inside the pod for around 3 days; he really would have died if he stayed locked up any longer. He first needed something to eat and some water. Alex had 24 hours to complete the preliminary actions for his guild's establishment. He needed to find 4 people to join his guild to even be established, and he had the perfect people in mind. He would also be able to get some money from the game after the update, as it included multiple things, including the currency exchange system. He also just got a large amount of gold coins, so he had some leeway.

Alex ate a hefty meal and drank 3 bottles of water. His physical body was alright now that he had something to eat and drink, but he knew his mental condition wasn't. He felt that he should get counseling; however, he decided against it. He didn't have the money nor the time for counseling. He also needed to find the 4 members he wanted for his guild. He already had them in mind. A master thief and assassin, Dark. A prodigy in guild management and multitasking, Ambella. A mindless brute skilled in combat, Chad. A healer who walked solo, yet was as dangerous as anyone else, Snow. Alex also wanted to get a skilled blacksmith he knew of, but he could wait a little. He needed to lay the foundation first, and the most important person would be Ambella. So she was his first target—Ambella was her in-game name. She would later be known as the true management inside the World Guild True Kings. Her real name was Claire Loth. She lived in the city he currently was in, but she would be hard to find. She had told interviewers in the past timeline that she lived in this city, but never gave more details. Alex would need to search for her while also getting in touch with the other people. Of course, the sooner he could find her and get her to agree to join the guild, the easier the following steps would be.

Alex left his room wearing a long-sleeve black shirt with a turtleneck, black pants, and black shoes. He had a few places he wanted to check first. In an interview, she had said a few things. She had mentioned that she used to work in an ice cream shop and used to go to the park on her break. Alex had already looked at the city's map and found that the city had 5 parks. Only 2 of them had an ice cream shop nearby, but only one of them was close enough to the shop to be visited on a break, assuming the break was an hour long. Alex went to that ice cream shop, Ferlway Ice Cream. He hoped she would be working today because if she wasn't, then he would have to find her address.

Alex walked into the ice cream shop and noticed that it was popular. He also noticed Claire waiting on tables, even though it was an ice cream shop. The place was crowded with around 30 people inside, not including staff. Alex needed to create a situation to start a conversation with Claire. He still had around 3,000 credits left, and the easiest way to initiate a conversation was to spend money. So Alex waited to be seated by someone and hoped luck was on his side. It seemed Lady Luck was smiling at him as Claire became his waitress. Claire was beautiful, with silky black hair and mesmerizing eyes. Every time Alex saw her eyes, he would freeze for a few seconds and smile. The same reaction happened this time, and it was no different. Claire's eyes were beautiful, with different colors adding to their charm. Her right eye was a beautiful sky blue, while her left eye was a bright emerald green. Alex simply smiled and placed his order: a simple vanilla ice cream cone.

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A/N

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the chapter. While I'm not sure how my upload schedule will be because if school starting soon. From balancing school, work, and the two novels I'm uploading would be hard however I'll try my best. Anyways that's all the news from me. Have a good rest of your day or night.

If you like this book so far you should check out my other work, A Last Wish!