Gene was woken up by the alarm at 5. She was tired and sleepy but dragged herself to the shower. She just wanted to graduate as soon as possible. At least then she wouldn't have to wake up so early every day. Sadly she was still two years away from graduation.

Throughout the rest of the day, Gene was completely focused on the classes. Most of them were political and social education. By noon, it was over and Gene became free. She rushed back to enter the game but again had to wait half an hour as she had yet to complete a few class works. It wasn't much but she was counting a lot on the internals to make sure she passed the year and graduated smoothly.

She finally entered the game as it turned 2 midday. She couldn't stop but let out a whimpering 'yep' as she reentered Chaos Realm.

The time was still ticking and she had a delivery to compete.

There wasn't much to worry about when one was in a town or city. Those places were safe zones. Unless there is a huge invasion or an event, it is impossible to attack another player in the safe zones. Gene paid for the horse and started off to Solone Town. There wasn't any point in further delaying the delivery. She already had everything she needed.

The horse reached Solone Town in fifteen minutes. The commute was easy without any trouble apart from the occasional banditry. The difficulty arose when Gene tried to find Miss Beckett. She was nowhere to be found!

As expected, as soon as she found out she was missing, she received another quest. A chain quest.

'Guess the quest still requires me to fight in the end.' The translucent screen immediately popped up with the new side quest.

Side Quest: HandleBar's Errand (chain)

Find Miss Beckett.

Miss Beckett was last seen walking back to her house from the Solone Grand Pavilion. Talk to the guards to figure out what happened.

Reward: 50 experience, Affinity with Miss Beckett

Failure: Bad reputation at HandleBar, Lower HandleBar quest issue rates.

Looking at the pavilion, Gene knew something was off. The town was a guaranteed safe zone. There wasn't a reason for a player nor an NPC to suddenly go missing in the town. The highest possibility was that this could result in a local event. It became imperative that she proceeded with caution since events could severely affect her quest since they were intertwined.

Gene quickly left looking for the pavilion and found it right next to the town centre. The place was an auction house, one of the traditional kinds that were mostly frequented by the game's nobles. Gene approached the guards who immediately took a liking to her. The outfit she wore was doing wonders for her.

"I'm here looking for Miss Beckett. I heard she was last seen here." Gene tried to sound as authoritative as she could. The two door guards exchanged looks.

"Young Miss, we are merely guarding here. We aren't sure when the lady left the place. It would be better if you asked at the reception." Whispered the older one giving a slight bow. Gene nodded and went inside. As soon as she entered she felt a pinch on her shoulder immediately losing her consciousness.

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"This is too much. Where did this brat come from? Why did you have to knock her out?" As Gene came to be, a sweet voice greeted her. It seemed like the owner wasn't impressed by the guards knocking her out.

"Sorry Miss. We panicked." One of the guys muttered with his head lowered.

The woman suddenly approached Gene and grabbed her by the hair. "Look who decided to join us." A loud slap reverberated in the room as her palm landed on Gene's cheeks. "Stop pretending. I know you are up."

"Mhmm…" Gene slowly opened her eyes, twisting her neck.

[Ambus Green

LVL???]

'Crap! I'm done!' Gene thought as she saw one of the most notorious NPC's Staring at her. Ambus Green didn't have a high level. She was about level 60 which the average player had long surpassed. What made players hate her wasn't how tough she was. It was her sneaky character. One will never be able to find her outside the safe area making it incredibly difficult to retaliate. Although players knew she had a very bad rap, no one knew what her background was. She was one of those characters that the game created to stir things up. To top it off, Ambus is controlled directly by the game's main AI.

"Tell me, girl, why are you looking for Beckett?" Gene knew she was trapped. She couldn't disclose their relationship but from the looks of things, Beckett seemed to have pissed them off.

"I was asked to enquire about her details by a third party," Gene said as politely as she could, suppressing the burning sensation on her cheek.

Quest Complete

Rewards:

400 experience points

Affinity with Beckett: Acquaintance

Side Quest: HandleBar's Errand (chain)

Rescue Miss Beckett.

Miss Beckett was taken by Ambus Green. Figure out a way to save her.

Reward: 100 experience, Affinity with Miss Beckett

Failure: Bad reputation at HandleBar, Lower HandleBar quest issue rates, Miss Beckett's death

'This shit is going from bad to worse.' Before Gene could respond, Ambus hit her again making her cheek feel numb.

"I don't care what party. Now since you are interested in her, I could let her go. But only as long as someone pays up for her." Ambus walked away from the girls to another coin and grabbed her expensive gloves. It seemed like she was about to leave the place.

"Wait, I'll pay," Gene said.

"Do you have the money? My guards already searched you. They said you were broke." Ambus stopped by the door with one foot already out.

"I said I'll pay. Just give me a chance." Gene wasn't sure how but knew there was more to the topic than just the debt. Ambus wouldn't personally appear had it not been the case.

"Fine then." Ambus walked back in. "But know that I will skin you both alive if you default on the payment." Ambus gave the signal to one of her guards to release us. After we got back on our feet she threw the HandleBar's token to Gene. "I know where to find you. Don't try to act smart." She walked away immediately without bothering to wait for a replay.

Quest Complete.

You have temporarily saved Miss Beckett.

800 experience points

Affinity with Beckett: Friend

"Thank you. You are a miracle sent by the gods." Beckett said as soon as we were out of the pavilion. "You shouldn't have tried to shoulder the debt. She runs a protection racket. I didn't expect it to get this bad."

"That's fine. By the way how much debt do you owe?" Gene knew it would be a lot. Considering the way Ambus operated, she would be able to pay off the amount little by little every month.

"It's about 70,000 gold coins. Don't worry about it. I'll pay it off soon. I didn't expect it to get this bad. I was too careless. Sorry I dragged you into this."

While they talked Beckett invited Gene to the office where they concluded their business. She took the completed delivery and received the acknowledgement slip.

She was already figuring out how to make some money as soon as she could. The errand missions were starting to show their ugly side.

Most of the errand missions were designed to take a small chunk of your money away. This was none of the reasons why they were despised in general. They provided a good affinity with important people at the cost of your wallet. Her progress was a little fast and her capital was too little to keep up.

Congratulations to Guild Walking Terror for conquering Dungeon Heaven's Crypt (Hard Mode.) The guild is awarded 200 reputation points and players involved 20,000 gold.

'Why not? I should be able to handle some of the level ten dungeons now.' She had run the numbers the previous day and knew as long as the opponent didn't deal touch damage she should be able to handle the damage with a few regeneration potions.