After watching Beryl take the glaring Jimmy away, Alexia turned around and took a look over the potions on the table. Using her Examine skill, she found most of the potions were of poor quality, barely able to heal five HP per bottle.  

Yet this amount would be astounding for the average person.  It might keep them alive for another day to see a Healer. The blue Mana potions were slightly better, able to replenish about ten MP per bottle. 

Alexia placed them into her inventory, then took a look at the remaining two bottles.  Unable to identify them with her skill, she examined them closely. One was a horrid green color, and seemed to be bubbling within. Assuming it was some kind of acid, she stored it and took a look at the other. The other was a murky brown liquid that was so thick it was more like a syrup. Unable to even guess what it was, she stored it as well.

Hopefully she would be able to identify them when her Examination skill got better. Checking through the rest of Jimmy's things under the counter, she didn't see anything else of worth.  Heading back down the alley and took another look around. At the storm drain she looked to her left and noticed something carved into the wall nearby.

Going to it, she realized the marking looked similar to the token she had found on the dead man. Pulling it out she compared the two and decided they matched. Taking a closer look at the mark she realized that it seemed to move, as Alexia stared a word began to form in her head.  Quickly she pulled out of it before she could see it. Fearfully she realized she had brought her face right on the mark. 

A little disturbed, Alexia checked the rest of the alley only to conclude it looked a little too clean for a back alley. Even if this was a more upscale area, she expected to see some trash lying about. Someone had recently cleaned this place. 

None of the buildings had windows overlooking it, and the building that had a door in the alleyway seemed to be an abandoned building. Not seeing any more clues, Alexia left the alley and made her way towards the slum.

Alexia wanted to square her mother's debt with Malv, so he didn't come around the next day and harass her mother. So she decided to make her way into the slums and towards Malv's hangout. She had only been here once, when she had to help her mother drag John back home after a night of drinking. Even during the day the area seemed dark and she could feel hostile stares on her.

The bar had a simple sign of a beer glass being poured over a women's tits. Pushing open the red front door open, she was greeted by the sight of a topless woman carrying drinks to a table of men. 

There was a stage with a woman dancing halfheartedly nude.  A few men tossed a couple coins to the feet of the dancer. The smell of smoke and stale beer assaulted her nose as she walked to the bar. Passing by a patron getting a lap dance, she found reached the counter. The bartender was looking bored when Alexia spoke to him.

He was a fat man cleaning a glass with a foul looking rag when Alexia spoke to him. "I'm looking for Malv." He took a look over her and gave a grin showing off his missing teeth, and pointed to the stairs nearby. "Thanks" she said, and headed to the stairs she could feel the bartenders beady eyes on her ass.

As she passed a table of drunks, all of a sudden Alexia felt her suit squeeze warning her of danger. Quickly she activated Flameshield and turned. A drunk man fell out of his chair, and was staring at her looking dumbfounded. Seeing it was just a perverted drunk, she said "Don't touch me" and turned and made her way up the stairs.

Up the stairs, she saw the second floor was separated into nooks, in the far back she saw Malv sitting. Passing the nooks, she could hear several patrons of the bar engaging in sex behind the curtains.

As Alexia approached Malvs table, she saw that in front of that nook where two thug looking bodyguards. As Alexia was walking towards Malv, he noticed her, and smiled that grin that made her want to puke. The bodyguard's stopped her, when Malv said "Let her through, got some business to discuss, don't we girl?"

Stepping aside the bodyguards let her into the nook. Malv patted the seat next to him, but Alexia took the one across from him. His eyes flashed a cold look, but it was soon covered by that sick grin again. "So did you come to discuss how you will handle the payment?" Malv said while his eyes focused onto her breast. “Cause you seem to be a little overdressed.”

As Alexia prepared to answer, A waitress came and placed a fresh mug of beer in front of Malv. "Thanks babe." Malv said to the waitress and she nodded and turned to leave when Malv caught her hand. "I still need a bit of service," Malv said and pointed at his crotch. The waitress looked a bit shocked, but grinned and said "Of course" She crawled under the table and Alexia could her the ruffling of clothes and Malv let out a groan.

Disgusted from watching the ugly fuck get a blowjob in front of her, Alexia pulled out the bag of ten gold coin's and said "Here is what John owed you." Pushing the bag over to Malv who caught it. He took a look through the bag and nodded.

Malv put aside the bag and took a big gulp of the beer in front of him, and exclaimed "Best beer in the city, you should try some. I'd send the waitress, but she's got her hands full and mouth as well." He laughed at his joke.  

He leaned back and pulled out a piece of paper.  “Here you go, the original contract.” Malv passed it over to Alexia and looked at her "Surprised you came up with the gold so fast. I was imagining all sorts of things you and I could've done to help repay John's debt."

"Well his debt is paid off, and he has nothing to do with me or my mother again. Don't come to us if John comes around and borrows more from you." Alexia said frowning.

Malv nodded, and said "Fine, John has nothing to do with you anymore. Now unless you want to get down and teach this poor cocksucking whore how to please a man, Fuck offf." He moved his hand down and Alexia heard gagging as Malv forced the girl to move faster.

Having no desire to stick around and see what face Malv made when he came, Alexia got up and left. Alexia was open minded about sex, but Malv straight up disgusted her. She made her way down and out of the bar not wanting to stop and look at anything. 

Opening the bar door and stepping out, she took in a deep breath. She had come very close to shoving a flameshot down that assholes throat. Looking at the sky, she could tell it was getting close to nightfall. A window popped up to inform her of a new quest.

Alexia took one look at the window before closing it and heading towards the area where Stolen Hearts was located.

Jack shared a general dislike of Malv with Alexia, and taking a look at what Malv was planning, he found he did not like what he saw. He sent a quest to Alexia to deal with this filth once and for all. However it was Malvs noble friends actions that started to concern him. Much of what they were doing was hidden in shadows from him, and Jack's power simply wasn't enough to shed light.

By focusing on Alexia, Jack was glad he was able to lesson the storm from Telvin’s rage as he battled through the cave. While he could still feel the rage and see the horrific fights taking place, he was able to successfully filter most of it out. He was a little concerned about Telvin's mentality though and the situation with Mianda was yet under another shadow he could not make out. So he sent two quests to Telvin in hopes that would help keep him from walking blindly into further danger..

While Jack was considering what to do next, he heard a thump behind him. Surprised he turned around and saw a young looking boy who had apparently fallen on his face start to pick himself up. He was wearing a blindfold, and a set of robes that looked a size too big for him. Jack could also tell this was a god, a major one at that.

The boy after picking himself up noticed Jack. "Hi" The boy said and continued "My name is Armin, what is your name?" Jack watched as the boy nearly trip again on the robes as he approached.

"My name is Jack, Armin can I ask how you got here?" Jack gestured to the White expanse that was his home at the moment.

Armin said excitedly "I was on the way to my sisters party, it's the biggest party of year, when I got lost. I tend to do that you know. Not sure why, I even follow the directions my sister gave me." Armin said pulling out a large scroll and handing it to Jack.

Taking the scroll, Jack discovered it listed every step Armin was to take from his home to his sisters. "Did you follow the directions?" Jack asked looking at Armin and handing the paper back to him.

Armin scratched his head and said "Most of them. I just saw a good shortcut though! and then I got lost, and then I tripped and fell right here. Where is here anyway? Are you a god? You don't feel like a god, you feel odd.  I’ve never seen that kind of power before."

Jack said "This is my home, no I am not a God, I am a system. Do you need help getting back?"

Armin said "Oh you are a system. What is a system? Oh can you help me find my way to my sister? I hope I'm not late, she will be angry at me if I am late because I got lost again."

Jack said "I'll send you an invite to become a user. It will give you a map that you can use to help find your way to your sister." Jack sent out an invite to Armin. Armin looked surprised when the screen popped up in his face. 

"Wow this looks cool!" Armin joined and Jack felt an immense flow of power flow through him when Armin accepted the contract Jack sent..

Armin said "Oh that tickles a bit. Is this the map you mentioned? I'm closer than I thought I was, I have to go now bye Jack Thank you for your help, you're a good person”. With that Armin took off running nearly tripping and popped out of Jack's room. Two screens popped up as Armin left.

Contracting with a Divinity granted him a massive boost in power and recharged what he had spent. Taking stock of what he needed to do he decided he needed to do for his users and himself. 

First for potential users he had to add more classes, as the four felt too limited at the moment. Second he needed to grant more features to the current users. Finally he should upgrade their options as well. By making them more powerful he himself became stronger and thus able to further help his Users.

Opening his options he took a look over the Classes that were currently available for him to get. As Jack now had access to a Divinity, it would be wise for him to pick up a few classes that dealt with gods. Settling on two, he purchased them.

A strange class caught his eye, and he had to take a look over the world just to make sure it would be something that could even be used. Seeing several beings being able to use it, he purchased it as it was really interesting. Finally he purchased the last class for a being that he was going to invite next that had caught his eye.

Moving on to improvements he could make for the current users. Realizing the users had an extensive history before becoming users, he looked at a way to include their past as a strength into the system.

Finding a background option, he activated it. Now all users would have a background that would provide them some benefits, though some might be more detrimental. Another section called feats caught his eye. Similar to skills, however feats could not be upgraded, and most were of a passive nature. Activating them took a lot of power to accomplish leaving Jack a bit disoriented when it finished.

Opening up the Menu, he took a look at the options available and took a look at two. As he was getting more users, they may want to start to work together. As such enabling the Party option would be a good idea. 

Looking it over, it could be used by a user to include non-user in the party as well. While non-users would not gain experience, they did gain some benefits. This might be a good way to advertise the benefits of becoming a user to his system. To go along with the party System he activated the messaging function as well.

Finishing up the changes, he sent out a notification among his current users to let them know about the changes. Then he wrote a message to the being that had caught his eye earlier. He hoped she would be interested in his offer.