He rested by the campfire for the night.
Today, there was no wind, no sand—only a rare and profound peace in the air.
It was also the first time Felix experienced a full sunrise in the uninhabited zone.
The silent night sky gradually bloomed into shades of orange and pink.
Watching the sun slowly rise from the edge of the earth's horizon, he felt a surge of indescribable emotion.
Perhaps this was the kind of beautiful scenery that travelers long to witness.
Such a moment was rare—hard to find in real life.
After politely declining the dry rations offered by the young men in the camp, Felix packed his things, extinguished the fire, and returned to the pickup truck to start the engine.
The pistols had sold easily.
Though the material cost was just under 10,000 LMD, the selling price was nearly triple that. A solid profit.
His next destination was Siracusa—a place dominated by gangs.
It seemed modeled after the Italian Mafia. The entire city was neatly divided into territories, and most people walking its streets had a family backing them.
Siracusa was a medium-sized nation with twenty-two mobile cities.
Each city was governed by multiple families.
The power structure was intricate, a web of relationships so complex it could make any player dizzy just trying to understand it.
As for Lady Sicily, players had the chance to meet her.
According to the in-game description, she was just an ordinary woman of an unspecified level.
But this "ordinary" woman had once used sheer force to subdue the twelve major families and established the Grey Hall.
She brought guns—and peace—from Laterano.
The background story didn't explain much about the family's strength sixty years ago, nor how Lady Sicily rose to power.
But think about it: a violent, sprawling group that controlled twenty-two mobile cities—
How could she have overcome them and changed Siracusa?
Could the Reunion Movement do that? No.
Could Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals manage it? Also no.
Even the Kazdel Military Committee would likely struggle—otherwise, they would've already carved out their own territory and united the Sarkaz.
That level of military might was virtually unmatched across all of Terra.
Of course, that was just the background lore.
Players only encountered Lady Sicily later in the storyline, so little was known about this period.
Felix himself was also unfamiliar with the full history.
But he hadn't come to Siracusa to reshape its survival model, nor did he intend to get involved in Lady Sicily's plans.
Right now, developing his own strength was far more important.
After more than ten days of travel through the uninhabited zones, he finally spotted a patch of green on the horizon.
He was approaching one of Siracusa's twenty-two mobile cities.
On its outskirts stretched a vibrant, flourishing forest.
To Felix—after so many days of dust and dry air—that greenery was a breath of relief.
It felt like a safe harbor.
But sometimes, green could also conceal a predator.
The settlements hidden deep in the woods made him stay on alert.
The people in the settlements were far more disciplined than the wanderers of the no-man's land.
Wanderers were like hyenas—opportunistic, bullying the weak and fearing the strong depending on the moment.
Settlers, on the other hand, were more like smiling tigers—greeting passing travelers with polite smiles while hiding sharp fangs for would-be invaders.
When doing business with them, you didn't need to worry about being robbed by swindlers.
After all, each settlement had a reputation value set in the system.
Players could view a settlement's reputation through their interface.
High-reputation settlements often attracted players looking for stability or community.
In contrast, tribes with poor reputations were barred from entering mobile cities.
Some might even be captured by the city's guards.
After entering the forest, however, his military pickup truck—worth more than 400,000 LMD—became nearly useless.
There were no roads here, only narrow paths barely wide enough for a single person.
The reason Felix came to Siracusa was simple: the first internal test was about to begin.
Hundreds of thousands of players were expected to come online, and many would choose the Lupo race, whose starting locations were in the small rural villages scattered around Siracusa.
He intended to contact those new players, guide them through the game, and make a little money in the process.
More importantly, though, he knew something critical was hidden somewhere in this forest—
A quest that could change his secondary profession.
One of the auxiliary branches: Mechanic.
In his previous life, only a small number of players wandering the forest had triggered this quest.
Not long after, the NPC who provided the quest and held the mechanic profession would die.
After that, the only known way to unlock the mechanic branch was to go to Rhodes Island and interact with Operator Vermeil.
Only by raising her favorability could players access the mechanic-related quest.
That was the easier path.
The harder one required players to infiltrate Victoria's military factory, meet a high-ranking executive NPC, and outperform them in rank—
Which meant completing a massive series of loyalty quests and grinding reputation within the military organization.
But finding the forest-dwelling NPC in this vast wilderness was proving to be a serious challenge.
For now, the safest option seemed to be entering the mobile city stationed beside the forest.
He could settle there temporarily, and make daily trips into the woods to search.
Driving the pickup truck back onto the main road, Felix finally saw other people again for the first time in ten days.
Transport trucks and private cars began to appear, forming a long queue at the city gates.
The guards at the entrance were Lupo family members dressed in sharp suits and trousers.
Each held a heavy crossbow and wore a don't-mess-with-me expression.
But when they noticed Felix's Sankta race and heard him introduce himself as a messenger, the coldness faded.
Their expressions shifted to visible respect, and they welcomed him into the city.
In an era without communication devices or mobile phones, messengers were the vital link between cities.
Just like in ancient times—where even during wartime, it was an unspoken rule that messengers should not be harmed—
Those who traveled alone across desolate, uninhabited lands had to endure more than solitude.
They faced the very real threat of sudden natural disasters at any moment.
So this profession deserved respect.
"Mr. Messenger, the Saluzzo family welcomes you," said one of the mafia members, handing Felix a coin.
Felix examined it—it bore the family crest. The system confirmed its authenticity:
[Saluzzo Family Token — Grants guest access to the Saluzzo Family estate.]
"If you ever need assistance in the Siracusa region, the Saluzzo family is happy to help the Messenger."
The mafia members were neither arrogant nor servile. Their tone was calm, showing the family's generosity while offering full respect to the messenger before them.
But behind Felix, a young transport driver was clearly dissatisfied.
He rolled down his window and shouted impatiently,
"Hey, what's taking so long? [Colombian swear words] The city's entry process is so slow—I'm starving out here!"
Upon hearing this, the two Saluzzo family members exchanged glances, nodded politely to Felix—who started his engine and drove off—and then silently picked up a baseball bat resting nearby.
The young driver was yanked violently from his seat, then punched and kicked to the ground. He cried out in pain but continued to shout,
"Is there no law in this place? You Colombian swear—"
One of the mafia members grinned and leaned in.
"Is this your first time doing business? In this city—in Siracusa—the Saluzzo family is the law."
Other drivers in the queue laughed and looked on with amusement. Some even lit cigarettes, enjoying the spectacle after enduring the monotony of wilderness travel for days.
After all, who didn't enjoy a bit of drama?
The driver's screams didn't reach Felix's ears.
His military pickup truck, like other out-of-town transport vehicles, stood out in this mobile city filled with Italian charm and flair.
Every street here had family eyes watching. Before Lady Sicily took power, family influence reigned supreme.
Felix was aware of the many eyes on him—but he didn't care.
He drove to a hotel, parked, and carried his bag inside to book a room for five months.
When he handed over a generous handful of LMD, the owner immediately offered three meals a day as part of the deal, to which Felix nodded in agreement.
This would be his temporary base of operations.
The boss arranged a room for him on the top floor, complete with a loft.
Through the window, Felix could take in a view of the entire mobile city.
With everything settled, he geared up with his finest pistol: the Double Eagle Swallow Modified, then stepped out to wander the streets.
It was time for reconnaissance and exploration.
In this game, players were not provided with maps.
Even the places they had visited wouldn't be displayed on any system-generated map.
Only players with the scribe secondary profession could record maps—by hand, on paper.
Still, relying on memory, Felix could identify a few key landmarks.
Somewhere in the darkness, footsteps approached.
At some point, a light drizzle had begun to fall.
Raindrops slipped down his gray hair and landed softly on the surface of his waterproof coat.
The Sankta people cannot wear hats due to their halos.
If they force one on, they experience intense dizziness.
Because of this, Felix has always disliked rainy days and sandstorms.
Five dark figures emerged in the rain.
Their faces were covered, each wearing a black windbreaker—unmarked, revealing no family affiliation.
Villains usually meet their end because they talk too much.
But these ones weren't interested in theatrics.
They approached silently, wielding knives and baseball bats.
"Pay up and walk away."
It was back—that familiar feeling of being extorted.
When operating in the Siracusa region, gangs often extorted players under the pretense of collecting "protection money."
In such cases, players would often group together to resist.
Ironically, some of those same players would soon be seen within those very extortion groups—victims turned perpetrators.
This was the allure of MMORPGs:
A world where human desire is magnified, unleashed in full within an alien landscape.
Sword Art Online had 10,000 players, and even in its death-game scenario, many turned orange or red.
And Ark, a game that launched with ten million players—how many do you think went rogue?
No one has dared to count.
Golden eyes locked onto the enemies.
All of them—Level 20.
He slightly raised the hem of his coat, revealing the two pistols holstered at his waist.
Half a year into Ark, he was finally having a nostalgic encounter.
He couldn't help but think of the old man who had once dominated the leaderboards.
Two attackers charged forward with daggers in hand.
Felix took a step back.
In an instant, the system registered his movement.
Leveraging his Technician subclass, he drew the Double Eagle and opened fire.
Several bullets tore into one of the assailants, riddling his body with holes.
The man let out a pained scream and dropped to his knees.
[You have killed a mafia member. Gained 200 EXP.]
Only the dim glow of streetlamps cut through the rain.
The remaining attackers didn't so much as flinch.
They charged ahead in silence, ignoring their fallen companion.
A crossbow bolt sliced through the air beside Felix.
He ducked, then stepped in and shoved both guns into an enemy's chest.
Several quick shots rang out—another body collapsed.
[You have killed a mafia member. Gained 200 EXP.]
A dagger slashed through the rain, grazing Felix's side.
His HP dropped by 50.
With full pain simulation active, the sensation was piercing.
He dropped the empty Double Eagle and rolled across the slippery ground.
When he rose again, two fresh Double Eagles were already in hand.
Three enemies remained.
The most dangerous one was the sniper at the rear, loosing arrows from a light crossbow.
For Felix, who wore only cloth armor, a single hit would cost him more than 100 HP.
Two more guards came from either side, iron rods cutting through the rain.
At this critical moment, the Technician's trait—[Gun Fighting]—was finally unlocked in combat.
Felix immediately used the experience he had just earned to level it up to Lv.2.
His previously stiff movements became fluid.
Now, he could clearly see the trajectory of the swinging iron rods.
Two crisp gunshots rang out.
Experience points were gained.
In the rain, his golden eyes shone with a terrifying intensity.
The final attacker witnessed the scene.
He dropped his crossbow, pulled a bolt from his quiver, and aimed it at his own throat.
Just then, a harsh voice shattered the desolate silence:
"Is this a place where filthy rats like you can come and go as you please?"
The man in black, who was about to take his own life, was sent crashing into a wall—
as if struck by a truck.
A group emerged at the entrance of the alley, each clad in black suits with the Saluzzo family crest displayed proudly on their chests.
"Bastards… You Siracusa scum—!"
The once-silent man in black now gnashed his teeth in hatred.
Before he could finish speaking, two mafia members yanked him up like a sack of dead meat.
The leader sneered.
"Well, at least he can still talk. Take him back—let's see how long that lasts."
Two members dragged the man in black away.
The team leader pinched the bridge of his nose, then bowed deeply to Felix, who was now calmly picking up his twin pistols.
"I offer my sincerest apologies that the Messenger was attacked by unknown individuals within this city.
We understand this leaves a terrible impression of our home.
As the Saluzzo family, we bear full responsibility."
"Mr. Messenger, the Saluzzo family wishes to offer proper compensation for this unacceptable incident."
His tone was humble, his bow sincere.
Not even in his wildest dreams would he dare to offend a Messenger of Laterano.
No city could afford to be blacklisted by the Messengers' network.
"The Saluzzo family invites you to the mansion to discuss appropriate compensation in detail.
If I may ask—when would it be convenient for you?"
"…Now."
Felix holstered his weapons and slowly stepped forward.
His golden eyes were as calm as still water.
"I'm free now."