It didn’t matter if it was the Baron or the commander holed up in the tower. Everyone within sight could smell the delicious meat grilling on the open fires. The goblins were as undisciplined as Zen expected them to be. They pelted rocks at the gates until they ran out of rocks. Then, they started camping outside the side gate to see if they could rush into the stronghold for a taste.
The birds worked hard and collected the spoils of war with the cover of night. Zen found the daggers he needed and other items such as arrows, belts, and slingshots. He rewarded the birds for their effort while distributing the roasted pork among the soldiers inside. “What’s the situation at the side gate?” Zen asked the approaching scout.Nervously, the scout reported that the goblins had stopped concealing their presence. The guards were nervous as the number of goblins lurking increased.Nodding, the gamer handed a pork sandwich to the scout and thanThankfully, Zen was a fast learner. No, it wasn’t simply thanks to the reincarnation perk that Celine — God, gifted him. Goblins weren’t the smartest monsters. Everyone knew that across every universe. There were no instances when a goblin was depicted as an intelligent or fearsome final boss. Hence, their language reflected this simplicity.Gobo.That was the basis of all words in the goblin tongue. The gamer could understand why the royal scholars rejected the Baron’s research. Even Oritha would be able to figure this out in a matter of two days. It wasn’t very difficult to understand goblin words.“Gobo, gogo bogo, gobobo bo,” Zen rehearsed in front of the shady merchant, who stared at him incredulously. He knew that it was his job to drop hints for players. Zen was a special player from the moment he set foot in the dungeon. However, he didn’t think the kid would be serious about learning a fictional language f
After parading around the courtyard with his new outfit, Zen and Venedict disappeared to fund Gunter. The hardworking commander was still keeping an eye on the goblins camping outside their side entrance.Once away from prying eyes, Zen humbly asked Venedict for a lift to the top floor. The warrior said nothing. He wasn’t even the slightest disgusted by the filthy appearance Zen had. The strong man lifted Zen over one shoulder and carried him like a sack of potatoes. The blood rushed toward Zen’s head, and his face burst into flames when his arse was held in a very visible position. Somehow, this way of getting carried gave him déjà vu.Gunter didn’t bat an eye when Venedict entered the strategy meeting room with Zen on his shoulder, wearing goblin armour and covered in filth. The commander only asked how the investigation with Stoneberry Keep was progressing. It made Zen feel bad he wasn’t prioritising the special quest, but he had a
If Zen thought the Shady Merchant was creepy when he was happy, he changed his mind after turning in those shields.“It’s a miracle you managed to rob them of their shields! These things are so fragile that it was impossible to collect any without scratches. You’re a rare gem!”Seeing the Shady Merchant grinning from ear to ear, Zen tried not to think about the nerdy Baron’s reaction to the shields. More importantly, he needed to collect the new quest, visit the kitchen and report the goblin numbers to Gunter. The only thing stopping Zen was that lengthy flight of stairs. Thankfully, he caught sight of Venedict and hitched a hike to the top floor.Although Gunter wasn’t grinning from ear to ear, he also had an extreme reaction, in Zen’s opinion. From behind, Venedict swore his commander had never been this shocked in all his time working together. The soldiers had to work hard on the battlefield, but even they couldn’t d
“Quickly! Over here!” the goblin leader hissed when he saw a figure hobbling clumsily, looking lost on the forest trail.Thanks to the alcohol, the humans on gate-watching duty were drunk. However, the goblins knew better than to climb over that and infiltrate with their numbers. They were adept at ambushing with their upper hand in terrain knowledge and stealing resources for the camp. However, a head-on confrontation was an entirely different thing.Zen hobbled over, pretending to look beaten up as he carried the heavy sack with a broken smile, handing it to the impatient goblins.“I managed to get some leftover food from the kitchen!” Zen announced enthusiastically as the goblin leader opened the sack.Instead of delicious meat, they saw a sack of stale bread as hard as rocks. Seeing red, the goblin leader grabbed a loaf and threw it at Zen’s head. The bread hit the helmet with a loud bonk and bounced off. Zen fell backwards and u
After turning in the slingshots, Zen expected to receive a quest requesting goblin helmets or chain mail. However, the Shady Merchant presented him with the most puzzling request.“Are you sure?” he asked in disbelief. “I’d never seen them carrying staffs.”Honestly, it wasn’t all that surprising. Unlike the other players, Zen had a different method of collecting his war spoils. He only encountered the lower levelled goblins in the forest. Naturally, the sight of a staff was unfathomable to him.“Yes, they do. You can ask your goblin friends about them. Due to the difficulty of the request, we only need 5.”Zen completed the first three missions and received new skills. However, he had questions about the staff.“Won’t it be useless in the hands of a non-magic user?” Zen asked the quest-giving NPC.He understood the appeal for daggers, shields and flimsy slingshots. Those were
Wasn’t there a rule about priests abstaining from worldly sinful pleasures such as sex and alcohol? This priest that the young Baron brought back to his territory resembled a hooligan more than a holy man. Father Clarence would be shocked to see this heathen.“Oi! Are you the lad with impressive medical skills?” the drunken priest greeted and threw another sack of coins on the table, gambling his hand of cards with ladies in his lap.The underaged chef grimaced at how this NPC was sucking tongues with the local barmaid. He didn’t want to think about their complicated sleazy relationship as he wasn’t here to play cupid.“Gunter told me I could find you here. Can you tell me more about your encounter with the goblin shamans?”Sensing that his party for tonight would be cut short, the drunken priest quickly sobered and lost his interest in poker. The barmaid on his lap was rudely shoved aside, and the holy man stood up, towe
Although not much time had passed in reality, Zen spent the next few days in the dungeon hatching his plan by gathering information, pee and poo.“Hello!” Zen greeted as he ‘snuck out’ with a sack of fruit bread he made by borrowing the kitchen. It wasn’t difficult to gather wild berries and some flour to bribe these monsters.Judging from the unusually clean goblins, Zen blinked twice. Were these green monsters usually so hygienic? Then again, his plan must have been working.“Halfling, you have no idea what happened to us. Everyone in the camp, including the shamans and the leader, has been taking baths every day, even if we haven’t taken one in years!”Zen clapped his hands in an enlightened manner, praising their neat and handsome appearance. Almost immediately, a goblin closest to Zen slapped him over the helmet.“Fool! We don’t want to look handsome! We’re goblins, the scary monsters who
Heaving a sigh of relief, Zen thanked his lucky stars. Cursed trees and cursed items were very different. The shamans couldn’t harness the full power of a staff created from a cursed branch without a blood ritual.“I can’t believe you made such a risky plan without knowing the consequences,” Lorren clicked his tongue with annoyance. This was the hero from the prophecy, and he turned out to be a reckless kid. “I don’t know if I should praise your wisdom or marvel at your luck. How did you get this far without knowing anything?”Zen wisely kept his lips sealed. He had a cheat that allowed him to undo most of his mistakes with his death. It was the same cheat that almost killed him, and Liu Feng was right to knock that nonsense out of him in their nightmarish stealth training.From the side, Venedict remained silent. He thought Zen was the least crazy of the three lunatics he knew. However, he was wrong. The runt had to be the mo
From floor five to floor nine, Zen discovered many changing elements in the virtual world. The dungeon mechanics became more complex as they climbed the floors. It was difficult to believe that until floor ten, they were still in the tutorial stages.Damian’s game guide from floor five was very different from Zen’s version. The cyborg logged every single type of equipment and monster as an encyclopaedia page, including replicated screenshot images. He rated them according to their value, usage, frequency of occurrence, something Zen had not considered, and prices. The floor map was also marked to indicate where they could commonly be located, along with an estimated loot drop guide. Compared to Zen’s walkthrough guide, Damian created a very different and detailed directory.Although their styles were very different, Zen teared up with gratefulness for the guide Damian put together. If Zen excelled at game progression strategy, Damian’s information w
Liu Feng was not pleased to learn that Zen was already considering inviting another troublesome person into his circle after sparring with Akiko. Yet, he could not say he was surprised. In the brief weeks of meeting Zen, he had seen enough to know it would not be the last time either. From the get-go, even Liu Feng had been drawn to the young cook because of this attitude. It was both the young man’s charm and weakness.While the blind teen had enough respect for Chatura, a famous strategist, he hated dealing with snake-like personalities. They already had several ticking time bombs in the Godly Food Party, and the Lau Triad’s influence could only shield Zen from so much harm. Damian Gorski had provoked half the Round Table, and Zen had rejected everyone there. An omerta might be sacred, but it was not always upheld by both parties. There were many ways to cancel an omerta, usually involving the death of one party, and Liu Feng did not wish to crush his younger swor
After finishing his dinner, Zen sipped on the weird concoction called tea from a heavy stainless steel tool holder sterilised in isopropyl alcohol. The cyborg offered to distil and mix some of his alcohol supply into the tea for a ‘better flavour,’ and Zen smartly declined. He did not have a mechanical gut that could be replaced easily. It was best to stick to conventional instant tea in unconventional cups, even if Damian stuck two very different flavours of instant tea in one cup.Although Damian had overheard the conversation in the kitchen, Zen still told him what he knew from Bolt and asked if Damian had a way to verify the information. Due to the many rumours floating around Chatura, it was difficult to know the kind of person she was. It was obvious who spread those rumours.Within thirty minutes, Damian uncovered a lot more than Zen thought was possible. Then again, he should probably not be surprised that the Gorski had such an extensive information ne
Sneaking dinner back to the room, Zen thanked Bolt and Yelena for updating him about the new faction. Although neither invigilator liked the strategist, Chatura was a very powerful person whom Zen found intriguing.Unfortunately, Liu Feng and Akiko were out. They said they would be sparring in the training ground and were not back yet. Sasha and Oritha were still in the gym, making Damian Zen’s only option to discuss this new situation with them.Deciding to take a quick shower, Zen sent Damian a text and asked if he could come over to discuss something confidential in thirty minutes with his dinner. The cyborg took a while to reply, but Zen smiled when he received an affirmation in the middle of his shower.Thirty minutes later, Zen knocked on Damian’s door, freshly showered and with a packed dinner in his other hand. There was nobody in the corridor, so Zen relaxed.Damian opened the door within seconds and welcomed Zen in.“Pardon the me
When Bolt returned with the first aid kit, he was largely relieved to see how Yelena was taking care of Zen. Taking over, he checked on the burn injury that had greatly reduced thanks to the ice cream tub, although the same could not be said of the melting liquid inside.“That might have to go back into the freezer for now,” he gently told Yelena, who agreed.Now that the actual adult was back, Yelena threw the explanation to Bolt. She hated the woman Chatura. There was no way she wanted to explain all the complicated history to Zen when she could barely speak English. Besides, between the two of them, Bolt was supposed to be the smarter one.“Oh, Chatura. Yes… it’s a complicated story,” Bolt frowned. “There are so many rumours and versions about what happened to her before she had been turned into an invigilator here. I’ve never personally met her or talked to her in my time here. However, I don’t think we have a
After spending most of the day in the virtual world, the rest of Party Godly Food excused themselves to hit the gym and stretch their muscles. Damian returned to finish compiling the game guide while Zen worked on preparing dinner. Yelena and Bolt were present, so there was no need for anyone else to keep him company. Not to mention, the kitchen hands were very helpful. Most of the ingredients Zen needed were already prepared. The dirty dishes from the last meal were washed meticulously and left to dry on the counter.“Did you find anything new in the dive this time?” Bolt asked while Zen mixed his seasoning.Zen wanted to make something simple for dinner as they had a heavy tea. Fried rice and some soup will do. There was more than enough for everyone later.“There were new things,” Zen admitted, reluctant to reveal too much information about the new features and unique split-path quests he and Damian had discovered. “However
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