CHAPTER 12: THE PLAYER

"I didn’t hear anything." Nana nodded candidly and went upstairs.

"What about your system world?" Donny asked Roy in a lowered tone.

"N-Nulls— Null. There’s nothing there."

Roy was about to answer correctly, but he couldn’t underestimate Donny’s intelligence. His elder brother could figure out that his world might have a use and may want Roy to test some things out, and at the end, he would most likely figure out that Roy was keeping secrets.

Donny nodded. "Good. From today onward, Roy, whenever you’re asked what your system name is... say GAME.exe. And as for the title, say it’s As The Player, God’s Abyss Is A GAME.exe."

Roy already agreed, but he had to know..."Why?"

Donny sighed and said, "There are a lot of people in high places... who suspect God’s Abyss is an EXE. Your system name, title, and skill just confirmed it."

Roy’s eyes widened. He thought this was a secret he had just figured out, but turns out that to anyone well-versed in the matters of systems and the abyss, the fact stared them like a black sheet of white paper.

"GOD.exe... My system told me that, too," he admitted.

Even this was news to Donny, and it was evident from his intensified expression. He drew in a frigid breath, "So it’s confirmed. Three-character names are dangerous, and a skill like 2x Multiplier is even more dangerous.

"Executioners aren’t all the heroes that they’re portrayed to be by the media. When a stronger Executioner, who does not want someone possibly stronger than them hears of your information, they won’t mind nipping you in the bud! Let’s not even talk about the cold war it would create between guilds.

"All this is not because of your skill, but because your skill is from a three-character name that is theorized to hold boundless potential!"

Roy leaned back slightly in realization. ’So that’s how it is...’

Donny’s logic was simple. If the skill emerged from a four-character name, then its upgrade progression could possibly be: 2x at the start, then 2.5x at E-Class, 3x at D-Class, 3.5x at C-Class, 4x at B-Class, and 4.5x at A-Class.

But with a three-character name, its upgrade progression could be: 2x at the start, 3x at E-Class, 4x at D-Class, 5x at C-Class, 6x at B-Class, and 7x at A-Class.

Roy’s eyebrows twitched. ’What if I told him I could 2x Multiplier was actually my passive skill and I could link to another system and reap double the sign-in rewards by just watching?’

The answer was obvious. Donny’s head was going to explode.

"In addition, the envy other system users will harbor against you for your unique system will reach the level of psychosis. But what I fear the most for you, what I know for sure... is that people might even tell themselves you’re the Host of GOD.exe, that’s why you level up there. All the hatred, all the futures destroyed and lives lost... they finally have someone to blame. You can already imagine what will happen next."

"I understand," Roy simply answered. "So... what’s the next step for now?"

Donny took a deep breath and relaxed his back on the chair.

"Hmm... We’ll need to lease abyss gates and hire a raid party of very skilled individuals who can protect you. So now? We find an investor. And I know just the person..."

With that, Donny and Roy left home—of course, not before informing Nana.

Donny drove as Roy sat in the front passenger’s seat, with the latter suddenly asking, "Where are we going?"

Donald held a grin and voiced, "We’re going to request a meeting with a scary bastard. He’s a major shareholder of Lion Group, owns an international loan bank, and also, quite frankly, a kingpin; but the government doesn’t do anything about it because they need him. They call him Cash God."

Roy was eager to follow Donny, but hearing these things about who they were going to meet made his heart drop to his belly.

"I... Is this safe?" asked Roy with an awkward smile.

Donald scoffed and waved a hand. "Of course, it is. Don’t worry. I met him once when the previous guild I worked for wanted to rent one of Lion Group’s top Executioners. He didn’t agree to the deal—of course—but what struck me about him was how he spoke about money. He’s quite passionate about it. Anywhere cash is, he’s there. He said his calling on this earth was to invest in good deals."

Sometime later, they arrived at a pitch-black, tall, high-rise skyscraper.

Donny came down from the car and put on his sunglasses, whereas Roy simply basked in the grandiosity of the building.

Corporate, suited individuals poured in and out of the structure, but Donny took a step forward and said to Roy, "Let’s go."

Entering, Donny walked up to the large front desk and spoke to one of the ladies after introducing himself about having the investment of a lifetime for Cash God.

"...title it: The First S-Class Executioner," he said to her.

The receptionist only spared him a nonchalant glance and said he should sit and wait, as she had to relay the request to his secretary, who Donny was well aware would surely dismiss the deal as something meaningless.

Donny knew if he added the secret about Roy’s leveling, he would appear in Cash God’s office in the next minute. However, it was their trump card. Using it now was premature, so he took Roy and found somewhere to sit.

"Didn’t you know him personally?" Roy sneered.

"Why are you giving me that look?" Donny sneered back. "And how would you expect me to be casual friends with a billionaire?"

Donny didn’t say it out loud, but Roy could see the sentence: "You really need school," written clearly on the former’s face.

They waited for about thirty minutes before Donny walked up to the receptionist and tried to charm her, but she just dismissively said, "Sir, please wait for the response at your seat; otherwise, I might have to call security."

Donny didn’t say anything and did as he was told—of course, not without raining insults on her in Roy’s ear.

An hour or so in, and a response came in from the secretary’s office, and to their surprise, they were invited up.

The nonchalant receptionist was the one who escorted them, using the general elevator and stopping at the highest floor of the building.

After the giant bodyguard searched Donny and Roy with forceful hands, the secretary finally allowed them in.

A man sat leisurely in a luxury chair with a large backrest, smoking on large cigar. The ambiance of his office was mafia-esque, with the wooden furniture, dimmed lights, and smoke.

Donny stepped forward and confidently, but also humbly began, "Mr. Cross, my name is Donald Mclloyd, I’m here—"

"Get straight to the point," the pinstripe-suited man said, his black hair sleeked backward. So far, he hadn’t even looked Donald or Roy in the face, only noticing them by side glance with his feet on his desk as he smoked away.

Donald gulped and said, "My younger brother, Roy here, only levels up by killing abyss creatures."

Cash God immediately froze upon hearing him. In Roy’s eyes, even the smoke he puffed out froze mid-air.