He was done with dinner and ready to get to work.

He looked at a card and dialed a number.

The card contained Maria’s number. The one that he received from Maria when he pretended to be Shu Maxwell to complete a mission.

“Hello? Who’s this?” Maria picked up the phone and asked.

” Oh, hey. It’s Ryder… Ryder Maxwell? We met a few days ago?” Ryder said.

” Oh, Mr. Maxwell? Wow… I was waiting for your call. I was starting to regret not taking your number last time.” Maria replied to him.

” Oh? Sorry. I was busy with the company stuff. Anyways, I want to meet you. Can we meet today?” Ryder told her.

” Ahem… Of Course. How about… oh right… I’m staying in a hotel. How about you come here?” She said with a smile.

” Sure. That works. Give me the address.” Ryder asked.

” I’m in the Hotel Hilton. We can meet at 2 pm. I’ll message you the room number when you get here.” She said.

” Sure. I’ll be there in the afternoon. I’ll call you when I’m there.” He said.

” Sure. Sounds good. ” She replied

The call was disconnected.

As the call was disconnected, Maria hurriedly brought out her phone and booked an Uber.

What she didn’t tell Ryder was that she wasn’t in the hotel. She was in her home, but since her husband was at home, she couldn’t let Ryder come here.

She hurriedly walked to her room and started getting dressed. She wore quite ordinary clothes and put on make-up.

She also put some of her clothes in a carry bag. The clothes she couldn’t leave her home in.

“Where are you going?”As she left her room and walked towards the door, A voice came.

“Oh, Hubby. I’m going outside to go shopping. I’ll be back soon.” She replied with an innocent look on her face.

” Alright.” The man replied.

Maria left her house and stood outside her house. The car was soon there. She entered and told the driver to take her to the Hotel Hilton.

It took them around 30 minutes to get there.

Hotel Hilton was a hotel that was good and not too expensive. The hotel had 3 floors only.

Maria entered the hotel and booked a room for a day. She paid at the counter and got the keys.

_________________________

Back at home, Ryder spent his free time as he made a game plan. He wrote down every significant event he knew about the game in a paper and tried to come up with a plan he could achieve the most success.

Since he didn’t have a class, he wanted to do the other things well and not be left behind. He wanted to keep the lead he had.

Amidst the planning, he got a call.

Ryder looked at the number and saw that It was Shu’s.

He picked up the phone.

“Boss!!! I’m so bored. I can’t even log in. Anyways, Did you know that two people had already passed the novice village? You mentioned that your game name was Hades, didn’t you? Are you the first person to pass the novice village?” Shu started speaking as soon as Ryder picked up the phone.

” Wait a minute? Two people? Who’s the second?” He was stunned as he asked.

“Some guy named Lucifer,” Shu replied.

“It was someone called Lucifer. He’s the guy that passed the Novice Village. I think it happened just about 10 minutes ago. He’s trending more than you right now. ” Shu said.

” Why more than me? Why? ” Ryder asked with a confused look on his face.

“Because he somehow has more fame points than you right now. He must’ve done something really big.” Shu replied.

” What the fuck? What did he do? ” Ryder let out with shock.

” How would I know? I think he’s the only one who knows what he did. ” Shu replied with a wry smile on his face.

” Whatever. I’ll see it later. For now, I need to do something important. I’ll talk to you later.” Ryder said.

” B-bu…” 

Ryder disconnected the call.

‘Something’s really strange here. In my last timeline, Lucifer had the Moon Scythe, but he most probably didn’t have the Quest of Salem since he was able to get a mage class after coming out of the Novice Village.

“What’s even more strange is that I took the Moon Scythe and changed everything, but he’s still just as fast. In fact, he’s even faster than he was last time.” He muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

‘ I’ll check it later. For now, it’s more important to save my house and complete the quest. I’ll also be able to update the system if I complete it in 3 days. Maybe the updated system will be nicer.’ He thought as he stood up and got ready to leave.

He wore his casual clothes since he didn’t have anything expensive he could wear. Also, he wanted to look like a man who didn’t care about money and luxury that much.

Ryder called for an Uber and left.

It took him some time, but he did reach the Hilton Hotel.

He paid for the Uber and entered the hotel.

He called Maria.

“Hey Maria, I’m inside the hotel.” He informed her.

“Oh, Awesome. I’m in room 302. You can come up.” She said as she disconnected the call.

Ryder walked up to the third floor of the hotel and knocked on room 302.

“I’m here!” He called out.

The door opened, and Ryder saw Maria. He was stunned to see what she was wearing.

She only had a white towel wrapped around her body that barely covered her thighs. Her hair was still wet.

“Come on inside.” She said in a seductive tone.

Ryder was stunned, but he quickly recovered as he closed the door behind him.

“Why are you in a towel?” He asked.