I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for the wait. Life stuff happened; Mom had to get surgery and we didn't have great insurance so I had to get another full-time job in addition to my other full-time job while going to school. So, for the past few months, I've been working sixteen hours a day on average with another four hours of classes on top of that. Writing just had to be put on hold.

I should be able to update more regularly now, though. Got promoted at my first full-time job, so I'm making enough money that I could go part-time with my second job, which opened a lot more time for me to write.

With my excuses out of the way, onto the chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Allen got up at an unholy hour. After everything, after a multimillion lien drug deal, after a- no, after multiple car chases- after being shot at, then actually being shot, after falling over a hundred feet...after all of it, he still got up at eight o'clock.

Sure, he felt perfectly refreshed. All of his injuries were healed, his health bar was full, his mind was clear of exhaustion. He was perfectly fine.

It was just the principle of it! After the craziest, wildest night of your life, you're entitled to a sleep in. Even if it's just for an hour. You got to sleep in. It was one of the unspoken laws of the universes. All of them.

But his stupid ability was forcing him to break that law. He couldn't get more than six hours of sleep because that was all his body technically needed.

Which was dumb. Sleeping was one of his favorite things to do, and on lazy days, it was the only thing he did if he had any say in it.

Allen grunted as he went to turn on his side but stopped when he felt his face stick to the fabric of the couch. A pang of panic entered his chest, confused why, but he quickly figured it out. He peeled his face off the couch and grimaced when he saw the large bloodstain where his head had been. Tentatively he prodded his head, searching for the wounds but all he felt was crusty hair and skin.

Suddenly feeling incredibly gross, Allen forced himself up, making the conscious decision to break the sacred law, in favor of finding a shower and hosing himself down.

The only problem was, the only shower that he knew of was the one in Juniors office.

A problem that could be easily solved by asking Junior to use it.

With his mind made up, he began walking across the empty dance floor to Juniors office. It was then that he noticed how empty The Club was. Even at it's slowest, there was always someone on the floor either dancing or simply walking across it. Now, however, it was completely deserted. Even the ever constant music was off so his footsteps echoed throughout the building.

It was creeping him out. Where was everyone?

Nevertheless, Allen arrived at Junior's office a few moments later. Neither Melanie or Miltiades was standing at the door, so odds were Junior wasn't in his office. Allen pursed his lips and reached into his pocket before he cursed silently to himself as he pulled out the shattered remnants of his scroll. He had put in his pocket out of habit instead of his inventory.

Allen let out a sigh as he placed the shattered scroll into his inventory much too late. It was just so much like a phone that he did it without thinking. He really needed to break those habits.

He knocked at the door and after a few seconds of silence, Allen knew that Junior wasn't in. So that left him with a bit of a delima; he could try to find Junior while looking like a train wreck, or he could just take a shower now and let him know later.

'Better to ask for forgiveness than permission,' Allen mused to himself before he opened the door with the key hidden behind a lamp. The room was empty like he thought, and Allen didn't waste any time getting to the shower. Now that he was so close, he was becoming more and more aware of the filth that covered him. He was unbuttoning his shirt and kicking off his shoes-er, shoe, trying and failing to not being grossed out by how they stuck to him as he entered the shower and turned the water to scalding hot.

Allen let out a groan of relief as the water washed over him. The dirt, sweat, and grease was coming off him easily enough, turning the water at his feet a disgusting murky black color, but the dried blood was sticking to him like glue. He had to scratch at it to get it off.

After was seemed like the longest, yet shortest, cleaning session of his life, Allen topped it all of by grabbing a fruity smelling shampoo and body wash and cleaned himself again. After washing it all off, Allen propped himself against the wall beneath the faucet and just let the water run over him. It was an old habit that his dad gave him plenty of grief over, but Allen always did it when he had a lot on his mind.

His mind began to wander, reflecting over all that happened last night. To his surprise, he recalled most of it easily enough. Allen figured it would have been just a mess of blurs and noise, but no, he recalled just about everything that happened last night.

However, the one thing he didn't recall was seeing a quest completed screen. Did it time out or something?

"Status window," Allen said with a frown. If he completed the quest then-

Allen's jaw dropped when the screen popped into existence in front of him. He blinked, then again, then again and another time just to be sure. When what he saw didn't change, he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands because it clearly had to be a trick from water getting in them.

No matter what he did, the screen didn't change.

Allen Walker

Title: The Gamer

Health: 703. Mana: 645

Level: 13 Exp: 33%

Strength 10

Vitality 15

Dexterity 10

Intelligence 19

Wisdom 11

Luck 10

Points to spend: 36

"Uhhh...," Allen gaped at his new level, feeling stunned, but when he thought about it for a long moment, he realized that it made some sense. Last night had been a wild ride and he leveled up a few times just before he completed the quest.

Quickly moving past the initial shock, Allen stared down at the points he had to spend. He got four for each level, which seemed like a pathetic amount but he did only have six stats so he guessed it was a balancing thing. Which was lame.

Pushing his hair back out of his face, he thought about where he should put the points. Intelligence was what saved his bacon last night. If he hadn't thought of how to get off the bridge he would have died. If he hadn't used it to memorize his mini-map, then Azure would have killed him or he would have crashed when looking at it.

But there was also Vitality, the other stat that saved him. If he hadn't leveled up twice before he was shot just before the car chase began, then he would be dead. No ifs or buts. A single gunshot wound to the leg would have killed him instantly.

It was almost funny in a way. Allen thought himself as indirectly invincible thanks to his ability to heal theoretically anything, but at level 1 he had been more fragile than a normal human.

What about the other stats, though? Without a doubt, he saw that they were useful. Strength went without saying but Wisdom had its own appeal. Intelligence gave him more options and allowed him to understand those options. Wisdom let him know which of those options was the best one.

Dexterity went hand in hand with Strength. If-when Allen got into another fight, being able to get out of the way of a hit sounded infinitely more appealing than tanking it. With a high Strength stat, then the damage he would do would skyrocket.

Then there was Luck...hmmm...maybe he should make good on his promise and invest everything in Luck because he clearly needed it.

'What would I do if I was playing a game?' He asked himself but frowned when he came to the answer. He didn't have a lot of money growing up, so he, or rather his dad, couldn't afford a game system. The games that he did play were over at his friend's house he never managed to get too far into an RPG because very few of them were multiplayer and watching someone play wasn't much fun.

In fact, most of Allen's knowledge about video games was from watching lets plays. He couldn't afford the game himself, so he just watched someone who could play it. And Allen was one of those arseholes in the comments pointing out that the player missed some loot or something.

Meaning, that Allen had very little experience actually making characters and the characters that he did make rarely left newb territory.

'That's a problem,' Allen realized. This wasn't just some game character that he could remake or redistribute his stats. This was him. This was Allen Walker. He was deciding what he would be, choosing how he would grow in ways no other had done before.

It was a very empowering experience but Allen was terrified he was going to screw himself over.

'Should I just put one in each stat?' He wondered to himself, thinking it couldn't be too bad being well rounded. That was the goal in life right? Be a little good at everything?

However, Allen decided against it. Stat points were too few and they were only going to get harder to get as time passed.

'Okay. Do I want to be a rogue, warrior or...a mage? Can I learn magic?!' Allen asked himself, feeling excited at the prospect. If he had Mp, then that meant magic right? Like fireballs and raising the dead? That sounded awesome! He would have to invest into his Intelligence and Wisdom stats to give him more Mp and quicker replenishment rate.

His fantasy of felling armies with grand feats of magic was cut short when he realized that he didn't know if magic was real. While there was certainly the possibility that he could use it, it became an issue of how he would learn it. Buy fantasy books and try to recreate the spells? Start throwing wads of paper while screaming 'Firebolt?'

Allen would keep the lane open, but until he had something more concrete, he would put his points into something that he knew would help him immediately.

"I'm a criminal," Allen said aloud. A statement. A fact.

So, shouldn't he invest his stats into something that would help him with that? A Rouge build? High dexterity, Intelligence, and Luck?

But what if he decided to go legit? Like a doctor or something? What if he found himself in a situation where Dexterity wasn't worth anything and he needed to dish out damage?

Allen let out a groan. This was just so frustrating!

Then Allen recalled what Wisdom did. Biting his lip, Allen's finger hovered over the plus sign for a moment before he took a breath to steady himself. Then he pressed it four times in rapid succession.

And nothing happened.

Allen waited, staring at the stat screen like he would suddenly have the answer.

He didn't and it was infuriating.

Allen was about to look for some kind of reset button, determined to get his points back, but he paused. How exactly would he know he was wiser? It wasn't like intelligence or any other physical stat that he could feel. Wisdom was more mental than anything. Did he feel more mature? A quick internal reflection told him that, no, he was not more mature. As a matter of fact, he was rather immature.

Pursing his lips, he ran over his options again. He examined each one, weighted the pros and the cons, considered each stat and their merits. Allen thought for minutes, long enough that his body began to prune up underneath the water that was slowly beginning to run out of hot water.

Then, he made a decision. He tapped plus signs rapidly, deciding his build for the 'game' he was in.

Allen Walker

Title: The Gamer

Health: 717. Mana: 745

Level: 13 Exp: 33%

Strength 15

Vitality 15

Dexterity 25

Intelligence 20

Wisdom 15

Luck 10

Points to spend: 15

Allen nearly fell to his knees from the sudden assault of pain. His head throbbed while his body contracted painfully; muscles expanding while his joints stretched. The pain lasted for a long moment as his body adjusted to their new limits but slowly it faded and Allen opened his eyes and tried to spot the differences.

There wasn't much, but a quick look at his bicep and he saw that it was more defined than it had been before, maybe a little bigger. Allen looked down at his abs and saw it was much the same, more definition over increased size. Allen stretched, his joints popping again and tried to test his new dexterity a little. He couldn't do much due to lack of room, but he saw that he could finally touch his toes without bending his knees! With ease too. A vast improvement from before.

Allen decided to prioritize Dexterity along with Intelligence. Strength would lag behind, but he would keep it up to dish out extra damage when he needed to. Luck was left alone for now because he wasn't sure how exactly that stat worked.

Would he just start finding money on the ground left and right? Games of chance would swing his way? That was the traditional way that Allen viewed luck.

However, in a game, it meant something very different. Rare drops being the chief among them but on the other side of the coin, it was dangerous. Encounters with rare monsters and quests. While it sounded appealing in its own way, the events of last night were fresh in Allen's mind. Quests were good, but rare quests were infamous for their complexity and difficulty. Once he had a few more levels under his belt, Allen would turn his attention back to Luck.

Satisfied with his choices, Allen decided to keep the other fourteen points for emergencies. There was still a whole lot about the 'Game' he was playing so it couldn't hurt to be careful.

With that done, Allen tapped on his skills, just to see if any of them had leveled up and he had been too preoccupied with dealing with people shooting at him to notice.

Gamer Body (passive)- Ability to allow the user to live in reality as if it were a game.

Gamer Mind (passive)- Allows the user to calmly and logically to think things through. Immunity to all physiological effects.

Physical Endurance (passive) Lvl 4 Exp: 75% -The durability of your body goes up and you take less damage. 8% less damage taken.

Abnormal Resistance (passive) Lvl 4 Exp: 6%- 4% Resistance to toxins, poisons, and drugs

Dish-washing (passive) Lvl 86 Exp: 0%- Proficiency in washing dishes

Pistols (passive) Lvl 19 Exp: 45%- Proficiency in use of all hand-held guns of any caliber

Driving (passive) Lvl 44 Exp: 76%- Ability to drive class C vehicles

Intimidate (passive) Lvl 1 Exp: 0%- 'Convincing' others to do your bidding with a well-placed glare

'My Physical Endurance went up a few levels,' he noted, thinking that a bullet to the leg would do that. Now that he saw how useful of a skill this really was, he was going to have to grind it. Which meant hurting himself.

Lovely.

'Intimidation,' Allen read, smirking at the summary of the skill. When had he picked up this? Last night? Briefly thinking about it, he figured it would have to be when the deal nearly fell through but he didn't remember getting a pop up telling him that the skill had been created. But what other time could it have been?

'Wait a minute,' Allen thought to himself, pressing the Quests tab. Currently, he had no active quests but after scrolling down a very long list of dishwashing quests, he hit the bottom.

It was then that his legs nearly gave out from underneath him when he read his quest rewards. Not believing it, he pressed on his inventory and was thoroughly disheartened to see that his money counter was just hovering above zero. He also didn't see any suit icons in the storage screen. But when he pressed the Gamer title, he saw that he had a new one to choose.

'I have the skill and the title Driver,' Allen thought to himself, wiping water out of his eyes. So the rewards were real on that front but those were directly a part of his ability. Suits, money and a weapon were all tangible things. They existed outside of his ability.

'So, I have to wait,' Allen figured. If he was going to get his other rewards, then they wouldn't just pop into existence. Which he had no complaints about because at least then he would know it wasn't fake money or cheap suits. However, until he had them in his hands, Allen wasn't going to expect much. Just to be sure.

With a sigh, he closed his status window, thinking that he saw all that he needed to see, and turned off the shower head. Comparing to how he felt when he stepped in, Allen felt like a new man when he stepped out of the shower.

Making sure not to get water everywhere, he walked to the mirror and wiped away the steam that gathered on it to check his work. He didn't see any more dried blood and he noticed that his nose, which he knew he broke, was perfectly straight again.

Allen noticed something else, though.

He leaned in closer to his reflection, confused by what he was seeing before he slowly reached up and grabbed some hair from his bangs. His hair wasn't long enough for him to pull it down to see, so he pulled it away so he could better examine it in the mirror.

Yep. No matter how he looked at it, that was a patch of gray hair.

While that was weird enough, he was only sixteen after all, but he could accept that he sprouted a few gray hairs after last night. He even expected it. However, it was how the hairs were.

Almost none of them were gray at the root. Most of them started half way down, or almost at the root. The even weirder thing was that most of the hairs didn't even stay gray until the end. In fact, most of them stopped before coloring back to black. Some even faded back to gray. To top it all of, Allen was sure he was seeing some white in the mix.

"What the..." Allen muttered before he turned his head slightly and noticed a similar patch of gray/white/black hair just above his ear. Both of them were no bigger than an inch long and half that wide but...it was just so odd. He wasn't a hair expert like his sister, who seemed to own every hair care product that has ever existed, but he was certain that hair wasn't supposed to do that.

That wasn't to say he didn't like them. He did. They made him look more distinctive and cool. He just thought it was weird.

He looked at his reflection for a long moment, soaking in his appearance and the memories of last night flashing before his eyes.

Allen let out a sigh, "my life's so weird." He said to himself before he turned away and reached into his inventory and grabbed some spare clothes.

He was in the middle of putting on his pants when the door was kicked in.

Allen received a second shower, except this one was of splinters. He couldn't even bring himself to react, it was so unexpected. He was frozen, one leg in his pants and the other getting ready. He looked over with wide eyes and saw it was Melanie.

She stared at him with flat eyes and an expressionless mask. A tense silence blossomed between them before Allen broke it some seconds later.

"I don't mind dying. Just let me put pants on first." A bold face lie and an odd last wish.

She stared at him for a moment longer before letting out a long-suffering sigh. Without a word, she turned on her heel and walked away from him.

Allen waited a moment, trying to figure out if he really was about to die before he shrugged mentally and continued putting his pants on.

Then, when he was at his most valuable, he was attacked.

"Allllleeeennnn!" He heard his assaulter scream before he tackled him. Allen lets out 'oomph' before his back cracked a couple dozen times from the sheer pressure that he was being squeezed by.

'This...this is how I'm going to die again...?' Allen thought to himself, overcome with a sense of annoyance. He lived through all of that insanity, only to be mauled to death by a wild bear?

Really, his luck was just the worst. Was it too late to put points into it?

Then the bear took a step back and Allen saw that it wasn't a bear, but Junior. So, he wasn't being mauled. Just sexually harassed.

That was made abundantly clear when Junior suddenly leaned in and kissed him. Full on the mouth. It lasted an uncomfortably long time; Junior doing that weird humming thing and Allen trying to scream in confusion or terror, but all came out was a high pitched squeak that didn't make it past his throat.

When Junior did pull back, a smile was consuming his face. "Allen you wonderful bastard! I knew recruiting you was the best idea I've ever had!" He yelled, sounding so excited as he held Allen by the shoulders, still off the ground. Seriously, how strong was Junior?

Allen looked so confused for a moment, a thousand questions on his mind, before a look of acceptance emerged

Really, this was not how he pictured his morning going. Nor his reaction to using his shower.

Speaking of which...

"You know Junior, most people flatter before they have me with my pants off." He commented on a dry tone. Not that any had taken his pants off, though not for a lack of trying on his part. Luckily Junior hadn't stolen his first kiss. So there was a silver lining.

Junior barked a laugh before he dropped Allen, "fair enough. But you, you have no idea what you've done for me, for us!" He said looking crazed. The image was enhanced by Juniors bloodshot eyes and the bags under them. Unlike him, Junior didn't look like he got any sleep at all.

"No...no, I don't," Allen said sounding a bit wary. He didn't think Junior was going to do anything to him but Allen was learning to be cautious.

"You've given me all of Vale!" Junior exclaimed, confusing Allen. He remembered giving Junior a lot of money and drugs. Not a country. Before he could ask, Junior grabbed him by the shoulder and began pulling him out of the bathroom, Allen managed to hitch his pants up as he walked but he was left shirtless.

The trip was only a couple of steps, the destination was in front of a Tv that Junior moved into his office. Without another word, he grabbed the remote from Miltiades and turned it on.

"-Police Commissioner James Gordon stated that the sting operation was a resounding success. Well, over four hundred arrests were made last night and many more are expected in the following days as evidence is compiled. From our reporters, we've learned that the police baited the criminals and lead them to Arc bridge where they were successfully arrested and are currently awaiting-"

Junior flicked it off before he turned to Allen, "bah! Government censorship." He spat before carelessly throwing the remote over his shoulder. Allen understood what he meant completely; he couldn't claim to know just how big of an event last night was, but the news weren't letting some details out. There was no way that the bridge wasn't a bloodbath yet the news made no mention of casualties on either side. Only the successful arrest of most of the criminal underworld by some plan that didn't exist until a couple of hours ago.

"The only thing she got right was most of the gangs in Vale are either dead or in the slammer," Junior said and Allen couldn't even bring himself to be surprised. With how many cars there were on both sides, you could say everyone in Vale was on that bridge and Allen could believe it.

"That," Junior continued, "and the fact that this was planned." He said, getting Allen's undivided attention.

He knew it! There was no way that his luck was just that bad! Who was it? Who was the bastard that nearly got him killed dozens of times? Why was Junior looking at him like that? Why was he smiling?

Without any warning, Junior slapped him on the shoulder. Hard. Hard enough that he lost five points of health.

"I'm not much of a planner," Junior admitted easily. "I'm not that bright, so I usually let Roman do the planning. I just supply support and information...but, but I can recognize a good plan when I see one." Junior said, thoroughly confusing Allen before it suddenly clicked.

'Ohhhh nooo...,' Allen thought to himself as Junior grabbed him by the shoulders, already knowing what the larger man was going to say.

"How did you do it?" Junior asked, making Allen's stomach sink. Yep, Juniors habit of deciding a story had kicked in. He noticed it after a few days of being a dishwasher, whenever one of his guys would muck up a job, Junior already decided how and why before they even opened their mouths. Then nothing could convince him otherwise.

Allen wasn't sure if Junior couldn't be convinced when it came to not doing the thing that he thought he had done right, but why would Allen not take credit for something good?

He didn't even need those points in intelligence to understand that there was going to be a power vacuum. All those people that made up the criminal underworld were either dead or behind bars. Those that weren't were going scramble to grab as much territory as they could, but they simply didn't have the manpower. Not like Junior did.

So, Junior was in the perfect position to snatch up territory, had enough guys to overpower anyone that tries to resist and, failing that, he knew all the little secrets of the underworld.

Junior was being served an empire on a silver platter...and he thought that it was Allen that prepared and served it for him.

Why on Remnant would he want him to think differently?

"Well, Amaranth made off with both the drugs and money. Azure was unhappy about that, threatened to kill me a couple of times, so I started chasing." Allen began from the beginning, buying himself time to think of a good lie. He had half a dozen off the top of his head, but he needed something to support it but couldn't be questioned for verification.

An image of a shattered scroll popped in his head and Allen suppressed a wicked grin.

"I was worried about the police, so I figured I needed something to keep them busy. The scroll you gave me had a bunch of numbers on it and-" he couldn't drive and talk on a scroll at the same time- "I gave it to Azure and told him to start calling." He continued as he felt the urge to curse. He really just put his future in the hands of that arsehole.

Junior nodded, thinking that made sense. The scroll that he had given Allen was one of the untraceable ones he had laying around. There was a very real possibility that the one he gave him was a little more important than he thought. Also, that matched up with the story that the other bodyguard gave. He hadn't heard much since he was leaning out of a window, but he confirmed that Azure had a scroll in his hand and was shouting at it.

"Where's the scroll?" Miltiades cut in, not making and effort in the slightest to hide that she didn't believe Allen.

Making a split second decision, Allen reached into his pocket as he silently activated his inventory. His hand disappeared into it, but to them, it simply looked like he was digging through his pocket.

He knew that they already knew about his ability, but he was trying to push that conversation off for a little while longer. At least until he finished telling one, potentially, life-changing lie.

He pulled the shattered scroll put his pocket and held it up for all to see.

"It was one of the few casualties on our side," Allen said with a grin. The scroll and his suit. And shoes. Wherever the other one went.

Both Miltiades and Melanie scrunched up their noses in doubt as they rolled their eyes. "How every convenient for you," Miltiades said in a bored tone.

That cast a shadow of doubt over his story, so Allen responded accordingly.

"Oh, ye of little faith! If you don't believe me, then ask Azure." Allen said, doubling down on his lie. He knew from experience that if he sounded confident enough, then they wouldn't waste time by checking his bluff.

"Azure is dead," Miltiades said, verbally slapping the cocky grin on Allen's lips away.

That was...how? He got the experience points. He leveled up. He didn't fail the quest, sooo...how exactly did-

"Azure was," Junior paused for a moment, searching for a word. "Unhappy that he wasn't getting the focus or the money. So," Junior made a dragging motion across his throat, make the message loud and clear.

Ohh...that was...that was his fault, wasn't it? He gave the drugs and money to Junior and now...

He...he couldn't think about that right now.

"What about the tracker, though," Junior asked, breaking Allen away from his darkening thoughts.

However, Allen didn't miss a beat,

"The distraction worked a little too well. Every cop and gang member in Vale was on the streets, making it so chaotic that it was slowing me down dealing with it all. Azure placed a tracker on the lien and I saw that Amaranth was heading for the bridge. It was a perfect ambush spot-" in hindsight "-so I sent out the GPS. That plan worked out a little too well also because the next thing I know I see a wall of police-" Allen said, wondering who really sent out the GPS as he lied through his teeth.

It was an issue he was going to deal with later, but it was an issue.

"You didn't see that coming?" Melanie asked, cutting him off. Like her sister, she was trying to poke holes in his story, but it lacked the same ire that they held for him before. It was like they were just trying to give him a hard time, like they always did, instead of trying to catch him with his pants-his metaphorical pants down.

"No. I wanted to cause a confrontation to thin the herd, but I didn't plan on being in the center of it. I didn't think that Azure would send out a message to the police because when I got on the bridge I was looking at a wall of them. The herd was behind me, so I needed to get off the bridge and the only way was down." Allen finished explaining and watched as Junior nodded his head slowly like he knew it all along. The Malachite sisters, on the other hand, glared at him.

Which was nothing new, but they stopped trying to poke holes in his story.

Allen did feel a bit bad for lying. Junior did a lot for him, but it wasn't like he was screwing him over or anything. The opportunity was there; Allen was just editing his role in it a bit.

He was always a good liar. He never really understood why; maybe it was growing up with an older sister that went through her rebellious phase a little early, so he learned what not to do to avoid getting caught.

It was the little things really. Simple stuff like making sure to look them in the eyes. Sounding confident. To not touch your face or do anything with you hands. Make the lie believable by adding a few details to help build the lie. Nothing big, nothing that you couldn't remember on the fly but a little detail goes a long way.

One of the best ways to lie was to include an embarrassing detail. After all, no one liked being embarrassed so why would they tell you that unless it was the truth?

The best ways to get through a lie, even when they're calling you out on it, was to double down. Most of the time they wouldn't call your bluff or they would back off. Why would you insist that it was the truth unless it was the truth?

Sure, it made things that much worse if they insisted and were proven right but that was neither here nor there.

However, the best lies were ones that were just the truth told in a misleading manner.

Allen wasn't perfect at it. His dad could attest to that, but he did manage to get away with it most of the time. And that was back when he didn't have Gamer Mind keeping him calm and helping him shove those pangs of guilt under cold rationalization.

Allen was moving up the ladder at an incredible pace. He was already a few notches above the average goon simply because Junior saw his talent for the business. However, with the opportunity that he laid at Junior's feet, Allen would shoot right to the top.

Sure, he was shooting up because of a little white lie. Sure, he might find himself in even more dangerous situations. Sure, this could bite him in the arse at a later date.

Regardless, Allen was doing it. With one quest he was stronger than most people. With his stat points he had a great deal more control over his growth, so he had that advantage as well. He could develop skills that would help him along.

The pros simply outweighed the cons

"Either way, it was a good plan and I can think of worse things than a plan going a little too well." Junior barked a laugh and smacked Allen on the shoulder again. Seriously, what was up with Junior's strength? Another five points down the drain...

Regardless, the flash of pain helped him hide the grin. Junior bought it. Hook, line and sinker.

Allen gave him a lopsided grin, "though, from where I was sitting, it seemed like the plan went horribly, horribly wrong.

"I bet. What was it you said? 'It's my final meal?'" Junior quoted and Allen saw that he was trying to steer the conversation to his ability to pull things from thin air. It was a little more subtle than Allen had been expecting; if it were him, he'd be a little more direct and significantly more confused.

Not that Allen was complaining. It gave him time to think of some plausible explanation because there was absolutely no way in hell Allen was going to tell Junior the truth about him being the Gamer. He wasn't an idiot, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Junior might not be the brightest bulb, but he had an eye for potential. Allen was a testament to that. It was impossible that he wouldn't see all the possibilities with his ability. With the right training, with the right skills, with enough time...Allen could become a force of nature.

And there was simply no way that Junior would just stand by and watch, twiddle his thumbs as Allen grew stronger and stronger. He would do one of two things; the most likely would be to help him. Train him, give him access to potential skills to learn and all the hardware he could ever desire.

However, there would be a catch.

Allen couldn't know how Junior would do it, but Junior would sink his claws into him. Possibly through manipulation or blackmail or something. The end result would be the same regardless. Allen would become his attack dog and, with his potential and power, Allen was willing to bet his leash would be a short one.

The second possibility was much more simple; Junior would just kill him.

If Junior thought that the rewards didn't outweigh the risks...Junior was willing to kill. Allen hadn't known for certain, he thought that Junior held some aversion to taking a life but that was quickly disproven with Azure. He was killed for being a pain in the arse. Allen would be killed because he was a threat.

So, he was going to have to edit the extent of his potential. And...Allen thought he knew just how to do it.

"Yeah, but in my defense, I thought it was. Never been so terrified in my entire life," Allen admitted easily enough with a shrug. At least that much was the truth...and anyone who said that they wouldn't be scared was either an idiot or a liar.

"Either way, it's brilliant! Bloody brilliant!" Junior said, adopting Allen's favorite curse. "I'm already making moves to knock over the remaining pins and securing my territory, but I need you out there Allen. Go get dressed, I'll show you your reward for a job well done but then it's back to the grind." Junior commanded, slapping Allen on the shoulder again.

'Gah! It's always the same spot too,' Allen thought to himself, absentmindedly rubbing his hand over his shoulder, mourning the loss of five more health points and the bruise that was sure to form. However, he realized something odd. Something very odd.

Junior hadn't asked about his ability.

Allen sent the taller man an odd look, confused by the lack of curiosity. Junior knew just about everything and if he didn't then he knew a guy that did. How could he not be curious about his ability to pull things out of thin air? That just didn't make any sense; it wasn't in line with Junior's character at all.

Junior, misreading the look, gave Allen a sly grin, "sorry, but I need all hands on deck. I need you out there making sure my boys don't muck this up." He explained, thinking that Allen was upset that he wasn't getting a day off.

Ah...teenagers and their lack of work ethic. Somethings never change.

Junior went to give Allen an apologetic pat on the shoulder, making Allen brace himself for impact, but he stopped suddenly. His eyes were focused on something that shouldn't be there.

There was a giant, bright red handprint on Allen's shoulder.

Slowly, Junior grabbed Allen by the bicep, confusing the teen greatly, as slowly turned him around. It was then he saw something that shocked him to his core.

On Allen's back was a giant smiling face. Two stab wounds above the smile, one for each lung, and eight more that started just below the ribs until they met in the middle of Allen's spine. The stab wounds were thin, razor thin, but with a glance, Junior could tell that whatever stabbed him had cut through Allen's spine and ribs because the scars were clean.

"What the fuck..." Junior slipped out and Allen gave him a curious look over his shoulder. To his surprise, Junior's face looked pale while Miltiades and her sister looked taken back.

Allen frowned, not understanding what the fuss was about, tried to get a look at his back. He craned his neck to get a peek at what Junior saw but he couldn't. All he saw was the back side of his red shoulder and a little bit of his side.

"Whats wrong?" He asked, sounding a little nervous. Was there something on his back? Did he not clean himself good enough? If that was the case, then it wasn't his fault! How could he wash his own back to perfection?

"How did your aura manage to heal this? This is..." Junior asked, trailing off as he realized he just didn't have the words. These wounds would have killed anyone else and even if they did survive then they would be crippled. He sent a glance at the Malachite sister, hoping that they would have some kind of explanation. However, they looked just as lost as he did.

"My what?" Allen asked, now looking just as lost as they did. His...aura? Like some mystical soul crap? What in the heck did his 'aura' have to do with what was on his back? Healing? Healing what-

'Oh,' Allen realized. His back...where he was stabbed to death...yeah, that was a bit of an oversight on his part. With Gamer Body, he just figured the wounds had vanished instead of healed. Based on their reactions, Allen was willing to go out on a limb and say he was wrong.

"Your aura, you dunce. That thing that heals you and protects you from damage? The representation of your soul" Miltiades said dryly, looking very unimpressed by his lack of knowledge.

Ummm...what?

Representation of his soul? What? She...what? His what? That...

'She's talking like it's common knowledge,' Allen realized. He was supposed to know what it was and it's abilities. That meant that it wasn't some mystical nonsense. That meant that his 'aura' was a..tangible thing with known properties, that its existence was verified and tested.

Which made absolutely no sense at all.

"Yeahhh...I'm not even going to try to pull off that I know what that is. What do you mean it's the representation of my soul?" Allen asked, finally turning around and breaking Junior's stupor. Before he knew just enough to be able to roll with it. This went so far above his head it was on cloud nine.

"Before that," Junior cut Melanie off before she could answer, or make fun of Allen. "You don't have it unlocked," Junior stated and Allen just gave him an utterly baffled look.

Unlocked? Had he to unlock his soul? By what? Going on some journey to find himself? Smoking the magical herb? What was going on here? Junior sees his stab wounds and starts asking if he 'unlocked his soul?' What made sense about any of that?

"No?" Allen ventured, feeling self-conscious. Was he supposed to have it unlocked?

"You...then how did you heal so quickly? Dew gave you a look over when you were sleeping and he said you already healed everything and I thought it was your semblance with that stunt you pulled with the drugs and money! What was that?" Junior demanded, looking annoyed that he had been wrong. Allen gave him a cautious look, idly realizing that was why Junior hadn't asked. He decided a reason and figured he didn't need to.

Allen paused for a long moment, considering his options before he let out a soft sigh. "Okay. This is going to be a lot easier if I just start from the beginning," he said, sounding resigned. Junior seemed to calm down at that and the sisters openly looked at him curiously. Slowly, Junior nodded before he sat down, gesturing for the sisters to do the same.

"Alright. Take it from the top," Junior commanded, pinning his bloodshot eyes on him.

Allen ran a hand through his damp hair and let out another sigh. This was not how he pictured his morning going. In hindsight, he realized he should have just rolled with the 'aura' excuse and looked up what it was later. But how was he supposed to know that having his aura unlocked was supposed to give him some kind of super power called a semblance?!

"So...umm, well," Allen began ineloquently, really trying to find a way to soften the landing of the bomb he was about to drop. "You know when you thought my execution didn't take?" Junior suddenly looked very weary while Miltiades and Melanie gave him such dry stares that it wasn't even funny.

"Well, it sorta did. For, like five minutes! Ten tops!" He added and Junior rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired.

"Oh, it's going to be one of those days, huh," he figured to himself. Today started off great; his coffee was perfect, his breakfast was delicious and he was unwrapping the gift of an empire that Allen dropped into his lap.

Miltiades looked at him with stunned disbelief. A reaction that was mirrored by her sister Melanie. They shared a long look, communicating in a way that only twins could.

With that sentence, Allen just became a lot more interesting.

Allen gave his boss a lopsided grin, agreeing with the man whole heartily. "I died. They killed me in some alleyway on my way home; I'm not sure why. I didn't do anything worth being killed over," Allen said, frowning. That would be one of the mysteries that he doubted that he would ever solve.

Junior nodded slowly, accepting the answer. With the new information, Junior figured he had been killed by a rival gang. That would explain the smiling stab wounds.

"But...I came back," he said hesitantly. "I just...woke up. No one was near me and they dumped my body here, so I had a little panic attack and an existential crisis. That's when I came here; I figured I could use a couple of drinks to help me deal with...my death." Allen said and felt a chill run down his spine.

Now that he said the words aloud, now that he was telling the story it just seemed so...real. Not that it wasn't before, but now...the fact that he died, that he had been murdered, really sunk in. A weight settled on his shoulders...no, the weight was already there. He just became aware of it.

Allen swallowed thickly, clearing his mind of the thoughts, before continuing. "After I cleared my debt with you, I realized that I couldn't go home. It just wasn't an option anymore," he said and that much was the truth. Everything so far was the truth and maybe that was why it hurt to say.

He couldn't go home. Even if he could, even if a some portal opened up before him back to his old life he...

Allen wouldn't go through it. He couldn't. He..he wasn't the same anymore.

Last night, he had killed people. He realized it when he was in the shower, thinking about the events that lead him there. He was a killer now, at least two to his name. After all, in video games, you don't get experience for wounding an enemy. You don't level up by almost defeating them.

Allen had killed them. The first had been when he was firing blindly as he ran to the car. That one...that one had been an accident. He was just shooting back, he hadn't really thought he'd hit anyone...

But, the second time? When he pulled an 180 and fired into the windshield of the guys behind him?

That one was on purpose...that one was a murder.

The real kicker was, what really hurt the most, what would ground his feet and what stopped him from considering going home was one simple truth. One fact.

Allen...would do it all again.

He felt bad that they were dead. He felt sad that he killed them. He regretted the situation that they all had been placed in.

However...however, he would do it again. Allen would kill them again simply because he was alive because he did. Killing them gave him the experience points necessary to level up. It was those stat points that saved his life that night.

Allen was alive because they were dead.

"But what about your sem-abilities," Melanie questioned, breaking Allen out of his darkening thoughts. Allen looked at her and realized that she looked...concerned...? Had his expression reflected what was going on his head?

A quick glance at Junior and Miltiades told him yes.

"Right. I didn't know about them for a while," Allen said, lying for the first time. "I felt fine, I didn't really feel any different from before I was murdered." He continued, speaking the truth. "But, slowly, I noticed some...odd things. Like when I was drinking, I couldn't get drunk. Or when I cut my finger on a knife when I was washing dishes, the cut healed in seconds. Then, a week ago, I put my wallet in pocket but when I sat down I didn't feel it. When I checked, it was gone but when I reached into my back pocket, it was there." Allen explained, only the last part being the lie. Not even that, the only thing that wasn't the truth was that it had been his phone.

Junior leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his beard, thinking about what he heard. "It sounds a lot like aura," he said, comparing it to Allen's abilities. The accelerated healing and the increase tolerance to alcohol were side effects of aura. The pocket dimension could still be his semblance, but...

If it was aura, then his slaps to the back shouldn't have done anything to him. Especially not when he was expecting it. If it was aura, then it should have absorbed the damage.

Suddenly, Miltiades stood up, surprising everyone in the room. With two quick strides, she cupped Allen's cheeks as looked at him intently.

'Is she-?!' Allen began to think, his hopes soaring but were quickly dashed when she applied pressure to his cheeks, making his lips pucker like a fish. She looked at him with cruel amusement before she schooled her expression.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." She chanted and Allen was stunned to see a red glow envelop her for a moment. It felt warm, his face was caressed by a gentle warmth and Allen relaxed at the touch. It was like waking up on a cold winter morning wrapped in your blanket and remembering that you don't have to get up for another couple of hours.

Then he felt something. Like a tug in his gut or a gentle nudge to his...soul? His limbs filled with strength and a sense of power filled him for a moment.

Then the moment passed and Miltiades recoiled away from him like he had burned her.

"Ummm," he started, unsure how to react as Miltiades took a step back. Allen realized that there wasn't anything he could say to here. Not when she looked at him with conf...no...no, that was fear. He never expected to see that expression on her face and he most certainly never expected to be the cause of it.

She was afraid of him.

"Miltiades?" Junior asked, rising from his chair, sending Allen a look, who could only shrug helplessly in response. Melanie shot out of her chair and grabbed her sister by the wrist, concern clear on her face.

"What did he do?" She hissed, sending Allen a look and he was taken back by it. He physically took a step back, like the look had shoved him.

He knew the Malachite sisters didn't like him at all...but Melanie looked ready to kill him.

"He didn't do anything," Miltiades said before Melanie could act on her murderous intent. "It's his soul, it," she paused, searching for a way to describe it. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, something that she thought was impossible. No, not even impossible, she hadn't ever considered such a thing ever happening.

"Its fake," she said, her brow furrowing in thought. Miltiades didn't know how else to explain it. Allen's soul wasn't real, it wasn't the genuine article. It was like a pair of good knock off shoes; it looked the same and she would never have known if she hadn't reached out and touched it. Only then did she realized that it was fake.

"Ummm," Allen started again, looking genuinely concerned. He had a fake soul? How...how did that even happen?!

'When I died,' Allen figured, thinking that was the only time when his...soul...could have left him. Which meant that the Gamer abilities were a part of his artificial soul. Maybe the source.

Allen let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had no idea what to make of that. Apparently when he died, he left a piece of himself back home or in that whiteness. A hopefully unimportant piece. To make up for it, he gained his powers. Which lead him to the massive question of how he gained his new fake soul; after all, who or what could make a soul?

That was a very short list and Allen knew he wasn't going to get the chance to ask them that question. At least not until he died again.

"Well, this has been enlightening, but if it's all the same to you, I'm just going to pretend the last ten minuted never happened," Allen said with a sense of acceptance. He didn't know the specifics of what happened to him in that whiteness, or even what it meant for him. However, he knew that standing here and racking his brain over it wasn't going to give him the answers he was looking for. Might as well move on.

"You...! No, you aren't even curious? You have a fake soul! Why aren't you freaking out about this?!" Miltiades demanded, sounding thoroughly annoyed. "Don't you understand what this means? Everything has a soul! Grimm are the only things that don't and now you...!" she trailed off, sounding frustrated with his lack of a reaction. Idly, he noted that in the past few minutes he's seen more emotion on her face than the past few weeks. Honestly, he was starting to think that staring disdainfully were their default expressions.

There was that word again. Grimm. Allen made the mental note to look up what that was later because it seemed like it was one of those things he should know.

Hiding a grin, Allen shrugged, "what can I do about it? I don't even know where I would begin looking for my real soul, or even how to start the search. I seem fine with the one that I have and I haven't noticed anything weird-" Allen paused, "too weird with it. I don't feel any different and I'm not waking up in the middle of the night with the need to speak to the devil. I'm fine," He continued with a shrug. He meant it too. Sure, he was worried about the implications and there was the whole 'afterlife' thing to consider, but what could he do? Nothing was the answer.

Melanie and Miltiades looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and annoyance, both of which Allen was far more use to seeing.

Suddenly, Junior threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, man, when I thought you were an interesting guy, I had no clue what I was getting myself into." He said aloud, sending Allen a grin, which he returned. "We can't do anything about it now. I'll send out some lines and I'll see if I can get a bite, but I doubt anything will come up. You're right, it's best to just move on." He said and Allen nodded in agreement.

Miltiades and Melanie looked like they wanted to strangle them both before they sighed at the same time. "Whatever," they said in unison, turning their noses at them with practiced ease. However, Allen got the feeling that the subject was far from closed with them. Miltiades was hiding it well, but she still seemed unnerved by what happened and Melanie hadn't let go of her hand.

Allen could barely believe it. It had worked! They believed him! Haha! Things were really looking up for Allen Walker!

Title Gained: The Lying Liar

Decreased hesitation to lie. Increased ability to incorporate facts into a lie.

Allen stared at the box, the edge of his enthusiasm taken off. He read it again, thinking that the description was vague. Normally, a title granted some kind of percentage buff that could be stacked but he was noticing that his skill lacked that. Pistols didn't grant any kind of bonus like increased damage or reload time.

Perhaps his Gamer ability, or his fake soul, whatever, could only influence reality so much? If that was the case then how did it know about the secret objectives? Did it just calculate all the possible outcomes and pick which were most likely? So, were the quests based solely on the information that he had?

Really, he was starting to wonder if the ability was worth the headaches it gave him

"Now we got all of that weird confusing crap out of the way," Junior began with a clap of his hands. And just like that, Allen knew why Junior was so willing to let the matter drop. He hadn't understood any of it.

"On to the good stuff," he continued with a wide grin. Without another word, Junior left the room and was followed by Miltiades and Melanie, along with Allen after a moment's hesitation before he recalled what Junior said before they got into Allens weirdness.

Giddy as a school girl, Allen followed them onto the dance floor and into the basement after putting on a shirt from his inventory. While it was Allens first time in here, he knew the room acted as a neutral meeting ground for gangs. Even before all of the competition had been taken out, Junior still ran the largest gang in Vale. However, unlike now, Junior hadn't pressed his advantage like others would.

He had been content with his position as number one. Enough so that he took to hiring out his boys to other gangs for additional profit; though, for enough money, he would hire out guys to your rival gang as well. He knew all the major players already and he wasn't actively gunning for anyone; so, The Club was the place that every gangster and kingpin went to settle disputes.

They entered the room and Allens eyes snapped to the items resting on the long table. A black lien and fourteen suit covers.

Allen was practically vibrating with excitement, which earned an honest laugh from Junior. He knew that Miltiades and Melanie would make fun of him later but he couldn't help it! If that was what he thought it was then Allen was about to overdose on excitement.

"As expected, once you get a taste for the high life, you can't go back to wearing those rags," Junior said with a shake of his head, gesturing to Allens current attire. Old jogging pants that saw their best days years ago with someone else and a baggy t-shirt with a logo for a band no one had ever heard of.

"But," he continued grabbing the card off the table and waving it before Allens face like it was a treat for a dog. "Is a third of what was on the card Azure had. Three point three million lien!" Junior said dramatically before holding it out to Allen. It could never be said that Junior didn't reward good work.

Allen couldn't help himself. Gamer mind be damned, he was just handed three million lien! He let out a high pitched squeak and bounced on the spot. He couldn't have cared less about the Malachite sisters laughing at him or Junior just shaking his head in amusement. Hell, he didn't even care that they caught it on the camera in the corner of the room, which he would no doubt be blackmailed with at a future date.

As far as Allen was concerned, three million lien was the most beautiful string of words ever created in the English language.

Just like that his financial problems were solved! Just like that, he became filthy stinkin rich!

"Calm down a bit," Junior said and Allen struggled to obey. He clenched the black card in his hand like it was his life line. With this little piece of plastic, his days of not having money were over. Heck, if he wanted to, he could retire and live the rest of his life in comfort! He was a freakin millionaire!

He wouldn't though. Greed was his sin.

"You did great work out there Allen and these are rewards for a job well done," he said, gesturing to the rack of suits and the fortune in Allens hands. "But there's a lot of work left to do. The remaining players are snatching up ground as we speak. I need you out there overseeing my boys and knocking down the remaining kingpins," he said before he gave Allen a smile full of teeth.

"You in?"

Quest Chain unlocked: Rome wasn't built in a day.

Objective: secure complete control over Vale's underworld.

Rewards: Every king needs a right hand. Greatly increased influence. Money (amount determined based off percentage off total revenue of 'trades.') Max trust with Junior. Vast increase trust with Miltiades and Melanie Malachite.

Failure: Death, incarceration, maimement.

Refusals: Vast decrease trust with Junior. Vast decreased trust with Miltiades and Melanie Malachite. Removal from 'The Gang.' Removal of previous quest rewards.

"Do you really need to ask?"