The news spread quickly throughout the guild while Zen remained blissfully unaware in his room. He was in high spirits documenting the latest findings from floor nineteen.
Liu Feng returned to his room to hear Zen’s giggling. Curious, the blind man walked over.“What are you doing?” he asked.Surprised that his roommate was back already, Zen grinned. Earlier, he sent the game guide to everyone in the guild. Although only some have seen it, he was already receiving requests for more guides on other floors.“I think my schedule will be fully booked in the future,” he told Liu Feng honestly. “They are requesting detailed game guides on the levels they are stuck at.”Flicking his hair in disdain, Liu Feng searched for his clothes and replied coldly.“Tell them we can send someone to carry them. Don’t waste your time on floors we have already conquered. You should reserve your energy for the event. I hearIronically, Zen was the last to show up at the mushroom maiden’s meadow, even if he was the coordinator.“Sorry, I’m late!”Sasha and Oritha were busy bullying mushrooms nearby, but Akiko and Liu Feng chose to chill in the meadow, enjoying the peaceful music. It was rare to have a peaceful zone dedicated to positive buffs. Although they had no idea why such a place existed, everyone was eager to learn about the secret dungeon only their party could access.“No, you’re five minutes early. We were curious, so we decided to come earlier. He needed a guide,” Akiko explained.That made sense. The girls had already been here before but not his sworn brother. Zen should have thought about it. He forgot to include the location. Thankfully, everything worked out.Zen spent too much time reviewing the dungeon recordings that other parties sent him that he almost missed the appointment. Knowing what to expect on the upper floor
The first boss to appear in the dungeon was on Sasha and Oritha’s side. Unlike them, Akiko took her time strolling over as she was slightly curious about the bosses appearing on their side.Like other boss dungeons, there was a special animation as the boss spawned. Sasha got ready at once, distancing herself from the white smoke that clouded everything.Oritha coughed. She knew this smell even if they did not have it in the academy. It was nostalgic, but not in a good way.The strong tobacco smell engulfed the dungeon, and Sasha donned the mushroom mask. It might not be helpful against the smoke, but it helped her virtual lungs breathe a little easier.In the other tunnel, Akiko paused. Despite her lack of expression, anyone could tell that she was stalling her progress on purpose. Her focus was solely on the new boss, calculating her odds of dealing with it in future dungeon farming sessions.While Oritha and Sasha prepared for battle, Zen narr
“Shit!” Sasha winced, watching Akiko battle the new boss. “She’s worse than the gargoyle.”Beside the sniper, Oritha silently agreed. Although Akiko was swift, the boss could fly and spin at inhuman speed. Both assassins thanked the dungeon RNG that this was not their opponent. Luck must be on their side because it wasn’t their turn to become meat ribbons.The new mushroom boss wore a wide-brimmed purple hat with a gorgeous purple veil covering most of her body. Veiled Violet’s choice of weapon was that razor fabric obscuring her beauty. She was the embodiment of deadly grace that Oritha did not do well with. When faced with the beautiful porcelain doll-like assassin, not even Sasha knew who would draw the first blood. They were both dressed and poised to kill.Akiko learned the hard way when she collided head-on and suffered critical damage. Thankfully, the beautiful assassin boss did not know how to change her trajectory mid
Which genius decided to introduce rat tunnels into mausoleums?Zen wanted to bury himself in the ground when Liu Feng bridal carried him. Even with bad physical abilities, there should be a limit to how useless someone could be.Playing the helpless damsel in distress should be the easiest role. However, Zen flopped around too much, making it difficult for Liu Feng to find his balance while escaping. It was probably a minor annoyance to the powerful long-haired man, but Zen still felt terrible.“I thought you said Mandy’s dungeon will be at the end of the forked paths?” Liu Feng teased when he noticed Zen trying his best to contain the flailing limbs only to get himself into an awkward position on his shoulder.Hiding his face, Zen apologised meekly. His hands left Liu Feng’s waist, much to the blind man’s relief.“I misinterpreted…”Wordlessly, Liu Feng continued to run from the mad zombie wi
Unlike the peaceful family politics in Veiled Violet’s dungeon, Zen found himself waddling in Gloomie Shroomie’s dungeon. The theme suited her personality draped in dull colours with everything ruined. Water went everywhere, and nothing was dry.Drip! Drip!Zen’s boots were soaked, but more importantly, the water wouldn’t stop rising. He received an invitation card to Gloomie Shroomie’s Deathday Party, and there was no option to decline. Seeing someone throwing a party for their death was odd, but Zen preferred that to lonely ghosts who haunted others.The only problem he had was with his role at this pity party.[Welcome to Gloomie’s Deathday Party! Help Gloomie enjoy this party to her fullest so her soul may rest in piece(s). Your first task is clean the room!]Looking around, Zen tried locating all fourteen ribbon strips according to the quest requirement. Gathering the tangled and soggy ribbons, Zen observed the
Housekeeping companies charge a lofty fee for their services, and Zen only wished the gold-loving monster would pay them for helping to clean his treasury. Toad S. Tool was incorrigible even in death. Zen did not want to play maid to this gold slave but had little say.As a player, Zen could choose different equipment and methods to sort the items. Real gold was not magnetic, so Zen borrowed the help of a giant electromagnet to differentiate the obvious counterfeits.Zen monitored the progress bar. Sixty percent of the fakes had been eliminated in the first round. It was a good start, but Zen knew it would be tougher as this went on.The next item he used was a metal detector. With it, Zen could identify non-metal products. As it would take a while to complete scanning all the items in the room, Zen peeked at Oritha and Akiko’s screen.“What do you have to do?” Zen asked, curious about Huff N Puff’s mini-game.Oritha looked at the hol
After reading the mini-game rules and message, Zen understood why the girls were struggling. It wasn’t whack-a-mole. It was a simple game of Simon Says.“I think I got it,” Zen smiled and explained Huff N Puff’s mini-game.Throughout his summarised explanation, they looked at him with complete focus. Feeling confident that they understood the rules, Zen asked if they had any questions.A brief pause later, Oritha nodded.“Who’s Simon?”Stunned, Zen’s brain buffered for a long time. He had never considered this before. Wasn’t it common to accept the names of things other people invented?“Uh…” Zen stuttered. “I didn’t invent the game. Simon is probably the person who invented it?”“It was probably named after one of the Godfathers,” Akiko nodded, and Oritha rested the case.Leaving it to their imagination, Zen quickly moved past that subject t
The four lumps of flesh littered the main dungeon, making it a little claustrophobic. Zen wondered why the boss’ bodies did not disappear even after their souls were rested. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed some broken invisible strings.Sasha looked like she had aged three years. Zen felt terrible for taking this long to figure out the mini-game dungeons.“Did you manage to land a hit yet?”The sniper shook her head and pointed at Liu Feng. The blind man was going head-first with the boss, but Mandy’s lute was overpowered. Apart from launching sonic waves, it was a sturdy shield that could not be shattered.Zen looked at the lute in Mandy’s arms and frowned. The zombie musician never moved from her spawn spot. It was strange as all the bosses they had dealt with moved.Unless…With hawk-like eyes, Zen observed his party members fight. Liu Feng, Oritha, and Akiko tried to overpower the boss wit
Collecting the rewards for successfully defeating John’s cousin, the party members of Godly Food jumped into the portal leading to the next floor. Zen knew that the dungeon had different themes on every ten floors. The tenth floor of each themed stage would be different from the other stages in difficulty. It was why the vanguard team struggled with the twentieth floor’s boss. In addition to the stage mechanic’s difference, the final boss was also tougher to deal with. If not for the monstrous capabilities of the combatants, Zen doubted they could breeze through the first ten floors as quickly as they did.Anticipating a village or town vibe similar to the other floors from before, Zen was stunned to find himself in a rocky cave full of darkness. It had ominous vibes, and only Liu Feng moved confidently in the darkness. Everyone else minimised exploring further without a light source.“We’ll log out here,” Akiko informed Damian. “Y
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