As expected, Zen woke up in the afternoon the next morning. Having spent the whole night reviewing clips and finalising the candidates for the new farming parties, nobody bothered him. The only person who enjoyed Zen’s cooking was Liu Feng, who wasn’t fussy about his food for a change. Zen made him a simple congee with chicken strips, eggs and spring onion garnish. He was missing the fried dough sticks, but they were good enough. Liu Feng enjoyed it with Chinese tea while Zen ate the same thing, nursing his throbbing skull.
“Did you put this list together yourself?” Damian asked. “It’s different from the screened candidates.”While the girls brainstormed how to work a toaster, the boys in Party Godly Food quietly discussed the new plan to disband Party Prayer. Liu Feng didn’t know who assisted Zen with filtering and decision-making. However, it wasn’t a terrible composition. The style was very unlike Zen, and the intentAssembling all the birds of prey in the guild meeting room took more effort than Oritha expected. Apart from Oriole, who had to obey summons unconditionally, the other ladies took a while to convince. Damian sent his feeler robots out. Only three of twenty nano-roaches returned. The cyborg was depressed but couldn’t do anything to retrieve his nano-roaches as he was in the middle of a dungeon session with Zen.“It’s a pleasure to meet everyone! I hope we’ll get along,” smiled a voluptuous gothic beauty with black wavy hair and grey eyes. The only thing on her with colour out of a monochrome scale was her bright red lipstick. At one glance, Oriole hated her already.Rachel “Silver Tongue” Morose was well known in their industry for being a great translator. She was a polyglot who spoke over thirty languages and had many admirers. Her sensual nature and maturity made her appear older than she truly was. Even so, nobody dared to under
Compared to Birds of Prey, Party Oasis was a breeze to handle. Akiko felt it was due to the ranking of the members they were recruiting. Many of them had no useful offensive skills and were generally more amicable. Interestingly, the members recruited for Impenetrable Shield's party were mostly intelligent and educated in medical science.“Heavens! Ryan? Is that you?” a bespectacled Asian named Bai Junze gasped after entering the guild meeting room.Stiffening, Impenetrable Shield shot the lanky martial artist a glare. He kept his real name and identity shrouded in mystery all this time. Unfortunately, he met an acquaintance, and Zen will learn of it now.“Shut your mouth if you don’t want to die,” Ryan snapped for the first time since joining Akiko’s guild. The androgynous male had long hair and a pretty face that would make some girls in Birds of Prey jealous.Laughing good-naturedly, Junze wrapped an arm around the pretty bo
Killian “Match” Von Brandt had a sour look as he arrived at the guild meeting room. The new candidates for his party hadn’t shown up yet, giving him an opportunity to confront the Death Princess.“Why did you choose to disband my party?” he tried to keep his tone in check, but the balling of his fists gave him away.Akiko wasn’t dumb. She noticed it. Oriole must have cried to him when her meeting was finished. It was why she arranged for Birds of Prey to be the first party that morning. Too bad she wasn’t able to get rid of that troublemaker. However, the other ladies in Birds of Prey would keep her in check now that she has renewed her contract. If Oriole renewed her contract, Killian would begrudgingly do the same.“For the greater benefit of the guild,” Akiko levelled him with an empty stare. “Did you think our strategies would always remain the same? You’ll be given two options during the meeting. Y
Exhausted, Akiko checked the time. Negotiating terms with Brunus was more tiring than fighting a hundred gunmen without weapons. With how many conditions Brunus wanted to change in his terms, the Death Princess eventually threw in the towel and contacted Liu Feng for help. Oritha bailed when she saw intellectual reinforcements, not that Akiko blamed her. Thankfully, things smoothed over as soon as Liu Feng showed his face. She had much to learn.“If these ants cause you problems, just crush them. I can’t believe you let them overwhelm you with empty barks,” Liu Feng clicked his tongue.Ashamed, Akiko said nothing. Originally, she wasn’t cut out for leading a guild. Like members of Camper, she was also a soloist. It was her first time working with others for an extended period. Two weeks into the academic life, she was already drowning. Was this the difference between an heir and a tool?When he heard no movement or answer from Akiko, Liu Feng r
After a chaotic breakfast and preparing lunch in advance, Zen met Damian at the entrance of the fifth floor. The cyborg completed all the important side quests and even discovered a few of his own, much to Zen’s amazement.“There’s a sub-class for inventors with Gilda,” he shared his new knowledge with the giddy gamer. “I don’t think there are chefs but the closest is an apothecarist. Nobody else has a secondary job but we can look into it together after the main quest-line.”Agreeing eagerly, Zen compared their notes and wondered how he should assign the new party-filling candidates roles using secondary job options. Before the boys could launch into a technical debate on which secondary class was more important for farming materials, he received a text from Liu Feng claiming he would be late. Oritha was catching up with Coral in the gym and wouldn’t join them. Sasha was the only one in their party available to boost them co
Returning to the third floor, where Zen spent the longest time at Stoneberry Keep, there was a strange nostalgia compared to his adventures on the first floor. This was the stage Zen conquered using wits and gaming loopholes. Every NPC here greeted Zen and hailed him as a hero now that the war with the goblins is over.“Welcome back, hero!” a gantry guard saluted. “Are you here to see the lord?”The goblin maniac? No way. Zen shook his head and returned the greeting, telling the NPC called Daniel to keep up the good work.Making a beeline to the shadiest parts of the small town within the castle wall, Zen spotted the rundown tavern reeked of cigars and beer. Boisterous shouts and laughter resounded from within as Zen stood outside. The side quest pointed him in the right direction, and it didn’t seem like Lorren intended to return to his priestly lifestyle and duties. Praying to the gaming gods, Zen hoped Lorren was sober enough to assist
The surroundings darkened as the game adjusted the dungeon’s special conditions for Zen’s training. Within seconds, he skipped through the night and met Lorren again at the chapel, which was brighter, indicating it was late morning.“Healing arts of the church is similar to magic. However, unlike magic, which uses mana from within a mage that is replenished from mana in the atmosphere, healing arts require faith. The stronger your faith, the more powerful your healing arts. Of course, there are physical limitations to using it. You could easily exhaust yourself mentally as it requires intense focus.”According to the lengthy explanation monologue, Zen learned that healing arts could do almost anything. Of course, within the limitation of logic. Apart from healing illnesses and injuries, more advanced healing arts could reattach limbs that have not rotted and bring the dead back to life within five minutes of their death, provided the brain wasn&rsqu
Learning the basics of healing magic wasn’t difficult. Zen had a good grasp of anatomy from his time as a chef. Although animals and humans were different, the generic concept was similar. Magic was all about imagination, and healing arts was a type of magic that used faith instead of mana. Zen could understand why healing many people would take its toll on the healer. Mental stamina was something that drained faster than physical stamina for those who were unable to focus for an extended period. Thanks to his gamer lifestyle, Zen could hyper-focus and deal with more stress than ordinary people.“It’s similar to a rhythm game,” Zen noted after selecting the order of sparkling words during the chanting mini-game.Apart from memorising patient names, parts of the injury, and injury type, the healer had to react quickly. The healing magic’s success rate relied heavily on the healer’s ability to recall all details and select the correct opti