“We’re back,” Sasha called out, returning with everyone else who had met up on the fifth floor after their material hunt. “What happened?”
Zen looked like a dried sardine from behind the blacksmith’s counter. They were gone for a while, but it should not be long enough for Zen to be this worn out. What did he do?Funnily enough, the grumpy blacksmith whistled merrily as he stacked crates at the corner of the shop.“Don’t worry about him,” Ben chuckled. “He’s a spring chicken, so he’ll bounce back in no time. More importantly, do you have all the materials?”Apart from the demon lord’s horns, Ben received everything else. There was no reason to delay work, so he made Zen get to work immediately. He wasn’t paid for overtime.“Hey! Start working the bellows again if you want to learn how to repair your friend’s weapons!”Jolting back to life, Zen jumZen fired a message to his party members as soon as Sasha’s gun and Liu Feng’s gloves were ready. They seemed fairly busy, and he was curious about what they were doing.When they appeared at the starter town’s stage entrance to collect their items and restock on supplies, Zen could only wonder what kind of monster they were fighting.“We’re back,” Sasha laughed crazily. The peaceful music playing in the background was like heaven to her ears compared to the intense heat on the twentieth floor that reminded her of hell.“How’s the progress?” Zen asked while handing over the newly forged weapons. Under Ben’s instructions, his efforts paid off. These were the first partially player-crafted weapons in the dungeon, but Zen looked forward to making more in the future without his teacher screaming his ears off.Sasha inspected her new double-barrel sniper rifle and became instantly enamoured with it. Eagerly,
Plink!Ben’s jaw fell when Zen’s friends dropped the demon lord’s left and right horns on his shop counter. Zen left for a break not too long ago. How did this happen? Wasn’t it too fast? These adventurers weren’t even properly equipped!“You really did it!” Ben blinked in disbelief as they piled lamia scales and fairy wings beside the demon lord’s horns. Apart from Zen, none of the adventurers looked like they had just defeated a demon lord. If anything, they looked strangely refreshed compared to Zen, who was gaunt.“What are you waiting for?” the blacksmith regained his wits and snapped at his apprentice. “Start the bellows!”Activating his work mode, Zen carried the materials to the workshop and shovelled coal for the third time since the start of his dungeon dive. Or was it the fourth?In a few short hours, they had done so many new things that it was almost impossible for Zen to ke
Despite everyone’s lack of excitement for clearing the twentieth floor, Zen took it upon himself to create something special as a celebration. He cooked dinner as usual and prepared desserts his party members would enjoy.“I see you’re at it again,” Bolt chuckled. It was his turn to be on kitchen duty, and Zen cooked the invigilator a beef lasagne with extra cheese.“The guild is making great progress,” Zen smiled. He felt more relaxed with an invigilator he knew on duty. “Yelena stopped by earlier. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”The afro man sighed. “We’re busy preparing for the new event. Are you really going to free Gorski?”Zen pursed his lips. This again? Yelena talked with him earlier about it. However, the two invigilators had the right to worry. One of them had even pledged his life to Zen. If Zen betrayed his promise and used the freedom card on himself, Bolt would probably hav
Zen was tipsy. It was a miracle how he stumbled back to the room and logged into the game. Thankfully, alcohol did not carry over to virtual reality. Besides, his role was the easiest. All he had to do was solve riddles and sit tight for the rest of the round. His crafting queue remained busy, and Sasha was the most desperate raid member. She desperately needed the gold ammo and called dibs on Toad S. Tool every round.Everyone else took this opportunity to test their new weapon combos. The Steel Silk armour made everyone speedier. There were good and bad effects of additional speed. The more skilful assassins took to it like fish in water, while the less agile assassins resembled clumsy cats.“Dammit!” Sasha complained as they got onto the lift. “I keep sliding too far with the additional speed!”Oritha grunted. Her attempts at using the boomerang did not go too well either. It kept getting stuck in the walls. Narrow spaces were not great for
“What is the most important skill a hunter must know to be successful?”Zen blinked. Yelena and Bolt responded to his message so quickly that he had no time to prepare anything.The two invigilators set a timing so rushed that Zen could only slap some sandwiches together and cling-wrap them for his party members before hopping into the virtual world. His physical stomach must be growling in protest now, but Zen was more worried about the pop quiz the Russian ECHO member had for him.Thinking hard, Zen wondered if they had the same idea as him. The treasure hunt was a massacre fair for Felix and Johan. Zen might not be their direct target, but he wanted to avoid them at all costs. Not to mention, Liu Feng promised to guard Damian for him. Everyone would be busy during the event, so he had to learn to care for himself.“Stealth?” he asked.Surprised that Zen got it correct on his first attempt, Yelena blinked and gaped until Bolt cleare
Zen wasn’t a duck. Correction, he wasn’t just a duck. Yelena had never seen a bigger idiot in her life, mostly because stupid people were dead. It was difficult to believe Zen was the same genius who survived the entrance ceremony without combat skills.When she told him not to show his back, the idiot walked along walls crawling sideways like a crab. Then, she shot him and scolded him for that. The young chef evolved from criticism and took things literally, jumping from spot to spot to make it difficult for her to shoot him. That was a terrible decision because it wore his stamina out. Even if Yelena missed a few shots, she eventually nailed him in the nuts. That was a terrible experience.What the heck was wrong with this kid’s brain?Staring at Zen in the game lobby, Bolt and Yelena studied their problematic student. Even the informant had no idea how to deal with Zen. Their most promising Godfather candidate was full of impressive ideas that wer
Tired but happy, Zen was finally allowed to leave the paint gun arena and prepare lunch. Bolt and Yelena wanted to hold a face-to-face debrief, so the young chef logged out to meet them in the kitchen.When he arrived at the kitchen, the invigilators weren’t the only ones waiting for him.“Lunch requests?” Zen asked, tying his apron before hungry assassins surrounded him.“Wanton noodles.”“Steak!”“Waffles and fried chicken!”“Double cheeseburger and nuggets.”“Saba fish, miso soup and rice.”“Beef stroganoff!”Flooded with lunch requests, Zen busied away while his party members and invigilators watched him. Thanks to their impressive aura, nobody else dared to enter the kitchen.Exchanging information about the event with Zen’s party members, Bolt also shared with them about the special stealth training.“Huh? You mean h
Liu Feng’s training game of choice? Prop Hunt.It was vastly different from paint gun fights but ten times scarier. The rules of this game were simple. Zen had to hide in plain sight or camouflaged as an item in the hiding grounds. After a minute, Liu Feng would seek for him, and he had five tries to get it right.Also, in the virtual world, Liu Feng was a murderer. Prop hunt was a horror game that allowed players to be the monster seeker who killed shape-shifting humans to win the game. Humans were naturally disadvantaged. Hence, they played in a team of four against a seeker.Zen’s team members were created by artificial intelligence and were not very good at their jobs. To avoid getting captured by Liu Feng, hiders had to fix machines to distract Liu Feng or run for their lives. However, they kept getting caught from their ruckus not even five minutes into the game. Zen was always the last one left.Unable to fix any machines because the blind man
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