Sylvester's

Nico took deep and heavy breaths as he hid inside an abandoned building, his body dropping to the ground a few seconds after. He had been spotted, but Lindsey and Laura didn't follow behind him. Or maybe, they were just waiting for him to reveal himself.

'I'm not safe here... I need to get back to the adventurer's guild and rent the room for the night before I can gather my thoughts.'

He opened his map and discovered that he wasn't too far from another adventurer's guild. So, he decided to make his way there. After speaking to the receptionist, who was just as friendly, but not nearly as charming as Melissa, Nico paid for his room and immediately went there.

He sat on his bed and opened his system screen, scrolling through the holographic sections until he found a search bar.

"That guy called him 'Genesis,'" Nico said as he typed the name down.

{ Profile Locked }

Nico rubbed his chin and began contemplating. 'Goddess Nyx said that 7 players were able to kill Ares and one of those girls mentioned how this Genesis was one of the 7 that did. But, why would a player that could kill a god go around selling drugs and running prostitution rings?'

Then, a piece of reality dawned on Nico. The whole reason why Melissa said that Lindsey and Laura were her superiors was because she worked for their boss, and they were just higher than her because of her job.

Melissa was a product from a brothel run by Genesis.

Nico sighed. "I can't be fixated on a girl I don't even know. It's none of my business what she does... But..."

He shook his head and cleared his mind, focusing on the more important things he learnt from observing Lindsey and Laura. Apparently, players didn't need to kill each other in order to increase their value, they just needed to win a fight.

If that was the case, Nico would be able to increase his value as well. But, going around and starting random fights didn't seem like a good idea in his opinion.

"... This Genesis guy and Zyke are both crime bosses, atleast from what I've gathered. I don't mean to play vigilante, but I think taking down small criminals should help me get my value up. Plus, my stats will increase, and I'll be able to gain more information on Genesis. Like, how he killed Ares and how I can get to heaven."

"It's a bit of a long shot, but I'm certain I can pull it off," he added with a smirk. "For now though, I'm flat broke, so I guess it wouldn't kill to go monster hunting. Although, I'd prefer a mission that won't take 7 days to complete."

***

{ Player: V-777 (Vortex_7)

LVL: 3

Race: Night Phoenix

HP: 400/400

STR: 270/270

DEX: 240/240

CHA: 70/70

LUK: 7/7

Mana: 430/430

Value: #1600

Aestrol Coins: æ8,200.00

Weapons: Steel Blade (D-rank); Voided Xiphos (Unknown Rank)

Items: Packaged Food (9); Healing Potion (5)

Abilities: Dancing Fire (D-rank) }

After a few days of nothing but monster hunting, Nico looked at his status screen and nodded at the improvements. Slowly but surely, he was becoming better and better. He had done so well that he ended up reaching level 3. Soon enough, he wouldn't have to worry about battling D-rank monsters.

But now, it was time to get closer to the truth about the 7 lords that killed Ares. Who were they? What are their abilities? How did they succeed? In order to kill the 12 gods of Olympus, Nico had to uncover the secrets of the world, by all means necessary.

And so, he began scouting through some parts of Red Town, particularly where he spawned, since that was where crime mostly flourished. Not too long after scouting from the rooftops, a gang of four began following a young woman down an alleyway.

From the look of her clothes, and the fact that she didn't have AutoSiphers on, she seemed like an NPC. But, the emotion on her face, fear, was very much palpable, proving that NPCs were just as human as players.

Nico followed suit and carefully watched as the men closed in on the young woman. She quickly turned and looked at their lustful eyes, each of the men looking at her through a predator's gaze.

"Me first!" one of them exclaimed as he charged in for the woman, grabbed her arms and forced her onto the ground. Then, he stripped off her top, revealing her bra and D-cup breasts, and smiled grimly. "Don't worry...! It'll be over soon!"

Whizzing through the air and onto the ground, Nico jumped off the 4 storey rooftop and plunged his foot straight into the man's neck, breaking it and forcing him to roll to the side, his body lying unconscious.

{ +1 Value has been added!

Aestrol Coins: æ8,700.00 }

'Damnit, I didn't think that would kill him... His HP must be as terrible as mine...'

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" one of the men exclaimed as he pulled out a baton.

"Tell me, what do you know about Genesis?"

"Die!"

Suddenly, all the men charged in for Nico, who pulled out his Steel Blade and parried their attacks from the dull side, returning the attack with his elbow and knee kicks. Once all the men were down, he grabbed one of them by their necks and slammed them onto the wall.

{ +3 Value has been added! }

"I'm not a fan of killing, but I'm pretty sure no one would miss any of you scumbags," Nico said coldly, placing the tip of his blade onto the man's neck, drawing some blood.

"Wait wait wait! Don't! I don't wanna die!"

"Nah, you're worthless dung if you can't tell me what I wanna hear," Nico continued as he dug his blade a little deeper, causing the man to panic and tear up.

"I'll tell you what I know...!" he said in a strained voice. "Just let me live...!"

Nico glanced at the 2 lying on the ground. "And those fools?"

"You can have 'em!"

Nico rolled his eyes and released the man, making him fall to his knees, wheeze and cough. Then, he dug his foot close to the man's face, almost hitting him, and balanced himself onto the wall.

"Start talking."

"... I don't know anything about Genesis. If you want information, go to Sylvester's."

"Sylvester's?"

"A bar in downtown Red. I heard that's the only place that Genesis protects, even though it's out of his jurisdiction. They sell good booze, and it's forbidden to fight there. Anyone who starts a fight gets killed. No questions asked."

Nico looked back at the woman, who was still lying on the ground, petrified. He turned back to the man and smacked him, making him fall unconscious.

"You're safe now. Get outta here," he instructed the woman, who nodded and ran away as fast as she could. 'Knowing how this town operates, she'll probably get harrassed, even after I saved her here...'

Nico stretched and walked out of the alleyway, preparing himself to go to Sylvester's. He opened his map and checked for the bar. After locating it, he began trekking towards it, making sure to beat up any easy scumbags on his way there.

Not too long after, Nico found Sylvester's. The bar was what you'd expect from an apocalyptic wasteland, or what was left of it anyways; it had a purple lit sign with its name, and grey tinted windows.

Graffiti with Greek symbols was plastered on the walls and despite the surroundings, it seemed pretty decent. Nico took a deep breath and pushed open the door, entering the bar. When he got inside, he noticed the chandelier lights on the ceiling, the leather seats and calm atmosphere of the bar.

He picked up hints of bourbon and cigarettes, noticing the ashtrays on each table. He walked straight to the bar and sat on the stool, looking at the price range of each drink floating above every bottle on the shelves.

"Hey there. You a new player?" the bartender asked with a soft smile on his face, his eyes closed and his silver hair shining beneath the gentle light of the chandelier.

"Yeah. The name's Vortex. But, I mostly go by Nico."

"Nice to meet you, Nico. Welcome to Sylvester's. What can I get you?"

"Got a beer?"

The bartender rolled his eyes and grabbed a cold one, sliding it towards Nico. "Considering that this is a boring drink and you're an uncultured swine, I'll let you have it for free. Be sure to buy something more interesting next time."

Nico smirked and downed the drink. "This is a nice place, albeit in a bad part of town."

"You're not the first to say that. But, it's better in here than it is out there. You are a new player, right?"

"Yep. And, about this being better than what's outside, it's true. Because this place is protected by Genesis, I bet your customers rest easy," Nico replied before taking a sip from his beer, making the bartender smile, his tension barely masked.

"You're a new player, but you're already aware of Genesis?"

"Yeah. Afterall, my goal is to kill the gods of Olympus and return home. I heard Genesis is one of the 7 players that killed Ares, so I'd like to have a word with him. But, a player like him is hard to get in contact with."

"No kidding," the bartender said as he cleaned a glass. "... You said you want to get back home? You know that's impossible, right?"

Nico smirked. "Is that what Genesis told you, Sylvester?"

The bartender smirked back, realising that he never told Nico his name.

"I'm fully convinced that a god killer would atleast have known that there's a way out. I mean, why would you go as far as killing gods if there wasn't? There's a way out of here, and Genesis knows it."

"... You seem like a pretty decent guy, so I'll warn you right now. Big G is not to be taken lightly. You've probably already started snooping around, but you should stop. If you don't, you won't live to spit your BS again," Sylvester cautioned.

Nico smiled and nodded. "Thanks for the lookout. And, for the beer."

He then stood up and threw his beer bottle in the bin, walking out of Sylvester's bar. Sylvester watched him wearily, his black eyes peeking through the small slits in his eyes.

'So, we've got another problem...' he said to himself, his resolve steeled with preventing Nico from snooping any further.