A wooden sword.
Zen scrutinised the new blade Ben gave him. It felt like an ordinary wooden sword. This couldn’t be, right? Surely, there must be something special about it.
“Inspect!”
===
Item: Wooden Training Sword
Description: An ordinary wooden training sword good for beginners to practice with.
Effect: Attack +1
Durability: 100/120
===
With unshed tears in his eyes, Zen trudged back to the designated wood chopping area. The durability was slightly higher than those dull daggers. However, this was made from wood. How ridicu
As it turned out, Zen did not spend too long chopping five hundred pieces of firewood. In fact, he found a rhythmic system to place fire logs and chop them. An interesting discovery while practising his swings was the use of combo points.His Bladeless skill only guaranteed a critical chance, but the combo affected Zen’s total damage caused over time. The more he succeeded in the combo, the greater the sense of concentration. Time could slow even if his physical speed increased. Zen saw more than he could understand, and the experience felt like an out-of-body illusion when he understood where and how to chop the firewood logs to make them crack into halves. It was so quick, but Zen felt a strong tug at the back of his mind, guiding his hand to where the weak points were.Sometimes the feeling eluded him, but when it happened, Zen was becoming better at s
Helping Ben to create the weapons the shady merchant needed was a lot simpler than he thought. Initially, Zen was prepared to hammer his hands off, trying to work with metal bars. However, he soon discovered that this part of the quest was more of a reflex game with an added difficulty of strength control.Basically, it was a rhythm game where Zen needed to wait for the moving meter to enter a strike zone to hammer the heated metal. It would automatically change into a different shape one step closer to the ideal end product if he succeeded. If he failed, the metal would cool a little and remain unchanged.Zen also learned that not all his hits had to be hard. It was actually better to watch the colour of the metal to decide if a hard hit or a soft heat was required. If he was working with a metal that was bright red, he should hit it softly. Hammering it too h
Not many knew about Zen Taro’s contribution as a gaming legend before he was sent to this death pit of a high school. Gaming wasn’t something most people could afford anyway unless they were wealthy civilians with successful businesses supported by the governing mafia family in their district. It was mostly done as a form of entertainment where gamers shared their perspective of the gameplay with others over a stream channel.Zen Taro was one of the only gamers who did not reveal his face and rarely recorded his gaming sessions. He only streamed whenever he was attempting a new world record. It didn’t take long for the name ZT to become very well-known in the community. To date, many of his accomplishments remained unbested, and nobody came close to his godly skills.More importantly, ZT raised the standards of gaming guides that soon became indispensable to the community. Not all gamers were as experienced and attuned to gaming mechanics as ZT was. Then again, they did not have all t
Zen made dinner, and the smell attracted its first customers before even he was finished.“Oh, sorry about this afternoon. I got too carried away with wrapping up the quests on the first floor and missed the time. Can you taste check for me?”Sasha’s sullen expression lit up at once, but Oritha kept her distance. They were completely decimated by the dungeon boss at stage nineteen and had to resort to farming for boss drops for the rest of the guild that afternoon. It was annoying how difficult farming boss drops were. If it weren’t for the reviving penalty fees, they would have continued to push on with the new floor boss raids.“It’s great!” Sasha commented. “Is this meat sauce?”Zen nodded and poured the thickened
Oritha released Zen, who collapsed bonelessly into Liu Feng’s waiting arms.At some point during the tickle torture, Zen could only receive what he was given against his will. What could he say? Liu Feng was far too skilful with his hands for any resistance. The Seer sees it all. There was nothing he could hide about his body from the expert.
Zen was eating his dinner when the reply from his party members came. He changed into the new clothes Liu Feng prepared for him and had to fold the sleeves a little. The blind assassin told Zen to eat while he went to resolve some matters but refused to divulge details about his errand.Zen didn’t really mind. He was surprisingly exhausted after the tickle torture session and needed some alone time to plan his itinerary. There was a lot to prepare before he started his journey on the second dungeon floor. According to Sasha, who was the first to reply, the second floor was a fungi forest of doom.Specifically, there were mushroom monsters on the second dungeon floor equipped with the most annoying abilities.“So the mushrooms can explode into a puff of spores that will give the player negative effects?&r
Before making dungeon preparations, Zen scrolled through the general contact list and found Damian Gorski. He had a third of the academy’s students on his friend’s list, but Damian Gorski wasn’t one of them. Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to find what he needed. Yet, the only problem bugging Zen was initiating contact.Liu Feng told him what Sasha had learned about Damian Gorski. The Russian sniper did not sound too happy about getting a door slammed in her face. The Cyborg never left his room apart from receiving deliveries from the invigilators that his family sent. He was often busy working on new inventions at the academy and frequently contacting them. Anyone could tell that Damian did not care about preparing for the events or clearing the dungeons. He was an oddball, but Zen could understand why.He hated to sound too pushy and r
After a while, Zen wondered if there was a better way to go around. Crawling looked ridiculous and was starting to exhaust him, even if this was virtual reality. Thankfully, the VR headset did not register his new fractured ribs as an injury, so he could continue crawling without repercussions.“Would wrapping a bandage over my face help?” Zen wondered.He looked ridiculous, crawling through the fog. If he wrapped a bandage around his face, it wouldn’t damage his rock bottom reputation. Zen tried not to think about the tinkle during the tickle session. If he did, he would probably die of mortification. The most important thing was to survive and be the person who gets that last laugh.Thankful for his basic crafting skills, Zen fashioned a poorly made [Cloth Mask] using the bandages. The item
After entering the boss dungeon den, Zen shivered. It wasn’t similar to a wolf’s den. If anything, it appeared closer to an actual dungeon, as if someone had deliberately attempted to imprison the boss here. The stale smell of dogs and many broken chains of different sizes on the ground spoke volumes about John’s cousin.Unlike the short werewolf, who remained in his werewolf form constantly, the boss was a monster who could transform. Depending on the moon cycle, it could be a violent and bloodthirsty monster or a broken man who lived in constant fear and misery of his curse.“He changes according to the moon cycle once the rampage begins,” Akiko explained. “I took a while to figure out how to kill him, even on the first run. He’s immune to damage on a blood moon. We need to finish it as soon as possible.”With a full party participating in a boss battle, Zen had faith they could conclude it before even the blood moon p
Finally approaching the final boss’s cave, Zen wondered if the storyline would change because they had let Han murder John brutally. His body had been hacked into pieces and scattered around the rotting forest. The maggots would get to it soon and reduce it to bones. Yet, the cruel butchering session remained fresh in Zen’s mind.Everyone in the party knew that feeling all too well. Having lived in the underworld, they sympathised with Zen, who had lived like a civilian his whole life. Although not everyone participated directly in the act of murder, they knew what it meant to take a life. Even Damian had seen it happen. He knew how to interrogate for information and was quite adept at the craft when required.“Don’t think too much about it,” Liu Feng was the first to break the silence. “He wasn’t even real. This is a game designed by the Godfather to find the next successor. It’s just another test.”Even if it wer
Even after many years of not being on talking terms with the rest of the family, Hans fitted right in when delving blows at the cowardly werewolf. Mai ripped out chunks of flesh with her teeth, snarling at it the whole time while Laura expertly force-fed the werewolf with different herbs with particularly nasty effects.Even with regeneration abilities, John could not recover from herbs that tasted nasty, gave him muscle cramps or made him itch all over. Laura truly knew how to make someone suffer, and Zen watched with morbid fascination at their different uses. Her apothecary skills were no less effective than those of Herbologist Hernie.“Can you heal him again?” Damian asked. “Han needs another round. Mai roughed him up a little too good.”With a priest in the party who did not worship any known religion, the torture session became smoother and more effective. No apology from John would appease the family’s anger. Although Zen did not
After listening to the story about John, Laura’s expression hardened. “That son of a bitch!” she spat. “How dare he prey on my granddaughter! Where is he now?!” Slightly terrified by the murderous aura, Zen reported that Sasha and Damian had the werewolf at Gabrielle’s hut. Mai had been ripping him a new one each time he regenerated. The girls had been doing a great job of making him miserable. Han was already there. “I can’t believe I’m last at the party. That wolf deserves to die. Even death is too cheap a price to pay after what he did to my husband and son.” For once, Zen agreed. Even if John was merely a character in the game, he deserved death. The fact that the game administrators did not grant John invulnerable stats meant that it was possible to kill the cousin of the floor boss. While waiting for Laura to pack her ‘tools’ and herbal surprises, Zen approached Liu Feng and thanked him for accompanying them. In real time, it was already past regular l
Studying advanced herbalism from Laura took more time than Zen expected. Thankfully, the game had a way of providing cheats for him. Instead of cramming all the knowledge into his head that would give him a splitting migraine, it provided a useful guidebook that would prompt him on what a particular herb does upon location and what combinations he could use it for with other known herbs. The problem was, to truly master this skill, he had to pass the final test. Laura’s pop quiz only had ten questions. However, there was a timer. While Zen could attempt it infinitely, there were thousands of herb combinations to remember. Not having any formal education in either of his past lives, the young chef faltered. “You may use anything in this cottage as a reference for your test,” Laura smirked. “All the best. I hope you won’t disappoint me.” Stressing over the best method to find what he needed, Zen tested a few things. Firstly, when Laura said that the new skill would inst
While the other party members gathered the family members for a reunion, Zen and Liu Feng finally found Laura’s cottage after taking a wrong turn. Funnily enough, it was the Seer who pointed out how they had been going in a circle before Zen realised he had misinterpreted the map. Knocking on the cottage door, Zen waited with his sworn brother. From inside, he could hear someone coughing badly. “Who is it?” the cranky old lady hacked as she cracked open the door. Instead of seeing her sloppy son or nosy granddaughter, Laura saw a cute priest and a handsome, long-haired warrior. The new adventurers surprised her. Were they lost in the forest? “What do you want?” she asked briefly before launching into a new coughing fit. It was a particularly nasty cold that had persisted for a week now without any signs of recovery. Despite all the herbal medicine she made, Laura did not see any signs of improvement. Perhaps she was getting on in age. Smiling, Zen show
It was a shame Zen was not with them. Sasha would have gone for a few more rounds, using the cowardly werewolf as a punching bag after Zen healed him. The more they dug information out from the pervert, the worse Sasha’s temper was. Damian did not stop her. The draconian needed somewhere to vent her anger, and it was best for it not to come his way. In truth, the cyborg felt a little sorry for Gabrielle, even if she were just a fictional character created for this virtual dungeon game. The cowardly cousin of the floor boss was no different from lowly thugs borrowing the influence of their powerful relatives to cause mayhem. Whimpering in fear and pain with his tail tucked in between his legs, the werewolf defect who could not transform into a human no matter the moon cycle kept a close eye on Sasha. Under the watch of the merciless draconian female, there was nowhere for him to run. He told them what they wanted to know and was alive for now. Given how tightly they w
Using hand gestures, Sasha signalled the countdown and Damian prepared his stunning spells silently. They only had one chance to catch the secret admirer off guard. Whatever he was doing was disgusting enough. Han wasn’t lying about the obsession. The stalker werewolf was plucking flower petals and chanting Gabrielle’s name to see if she would love him back. Each time the flower petals ended on a no, he would crush the flower, stomp on it and pick a new one, confessing his disturbing love to her before plucking off the petals of a new flower.“Oh, Gabrielle! What sweet rosy cheeks you have, all the better for me to bite into them when they are ripe! They were pink when you were a babe. They were red when you had a fever. I wonder if they’d bleed if I bit them… would you cry in pain and fear? It makes me so excited to think about it! Just wait a little more, my angel. You’d soon be an adult, and we could finally be together!”Disgu
As soon as Zen and Liu Feng departed, the remaining assassins pulled themselves together and got to work. Oritha opted to remain in the same room as the sleeping mother and daughter. However, Akiko went outside to share the information she learned last night about the stalker while patrolling the perimeter.“More brown hair?” Damian asked. “I could examine the cuticle to determine its genetic composition.”Handing the tuft of brown fur or hair over, Akiko also told Sasha the stalker’s route. Liu Feng only sensed the area where the unknown man was hiding last night. His lack of vision made him miss out on the obvious tracks. The stalker was not an expert. It must be how Han knew the foot size of Gabrielle’s secret admirer.Showing Sasha the tracks she found in the night, the Death Princess explained her hypothesis. The night hounds and wolves did not approach the house due to an invisible barrier.“It was as if they were t