Zen made many batches of Rainbow Eggs. He gave two to Oritha and two to Sasha, who would deliver them to the two other party members. Akiko was busy stalling the basilisk, but she had terrible news to share. Tracer was now petrified, and while he was still ‘alive’ in the guild, the teen was now a rock. Just a little smash, and he would die.
Zen became more frantic as Akiko reported a mission failure to keep the basilisk busy. While the plan to weaken the basilisk worked, Johan enraged the basilisk into madness and was now dying slowly somewhere after the basilisk’s powerful headbutt. Nobody cared about him, but without that nuisance to keep the basilisk busy, the boss monster changed its target.
“It’s my fault,” Akiko reported the party chat. “Tracer saved me, but he’s under a petrification curse now. We’re retreating, but the basilisk is badly hurt now.”
Zen listened to the Death Princess and reassured
After turning in a huge batch of eggs, Zen sighed. These red eggs won’t amount to many points, but they were definitely heavy. Zen walked back when he heard the oven’s timer go off and was opening it to retrieve the new batch of Basilisk eggs when something crashed through the window from the cafeteria.Zen froze in fear when he heard the screech. The boss monster that everyone else was chasing was in the same building, and Zen panicked. He wasn’t trained in combat. How would he tame this basilisk?There was no time to think. For Zen, every second he wasted hiding in this kitchen was a second that he was endangering these egg supplies. He had to get the bird out of here.With a burst of bravery, Zen armed himself with the hot eggs and spied on the monster from the serving window connecting to the cafeteria. The dumb monster boss did not seem to notice him yet, so Zen called out to it.“Over here! I have your children!”
By the end of the event, Johan and Felix remained the only members remaining in what used to be Guild Carnage. All their members were dead, and their strongest weapon defected to the other candidate’s party.Nobody dared to approach the basic gym as Johan continuously took his frustration out on the punching machine. Beside him, Felix looked very serene, even if the aura surrounding him was dark. It was a joke how the dead last from the opening ceremony was now ranked first. Guild Survivors recruited almost thirty percent of the remaining survivors. Apart from Party Undead, who were wiped out by Party Freedom, who was promoted as the captains of Guild Survivors, the other four who died were simply unlucky.Johan wasn’t mad that their guild and party disbanded. He was madder at how he couldn’t kill a single person with his own hands. That fight with the Seer was the only fulfilling thing he gained from this useless event.“Be thankfu
Zen came to a very familiar bar and did not know if he should be thankful or sad that he had eight fewer drinks to buy.“Hey, kiddo! You’re back. How did it go? I heard that you were quite the star, among other things.”Vera, the barkeeper, was still as short as ever. Zen forced a smile and nodded. Maybe this was why people drank. The act of pouring their worries down with a cup and forgetting about reality for a moment was the same as how the original third young master indulged in virtual games. Only, it was now drinking in a virtual world.“I’m back for the game clip highlights for the event,” Zen told her.Vera chuckled. “Ninety-two shots now. You might not have that bad of a hangover tomorrow. Are you sure you want to down all of them in one go? There has been no announcement for the next event yet. You don’t have to hurry.”Zen shook his head. This was precisely why he was here tonight, ri
After a night of drinking, Zen came to terms with certain things. However, he could not make these decisions alone. Too many have died, and while he knew these teens were not against murder, he was not expecting Party Freedom to completely annihilate Party Undead.He had to let his party members know. After all, two of the guild’s highest-ranked people were there.“Did you not get any sleep?” Liu Feng asked as Zen clutched his throbbing head.“I did,” Zen replied with a scratchy voice. “However, the memories crammed into me didn’t give me any peace.While the Seer was still here, Zen took the opportunity to ask about his fight with Johan.“Ah, you saw that in the clip too? It was probably the most interesting thing that happened during the entire event. There were simply too many errands to run, and if Amazonian did not tell Death Princess where those rats were hiding, I might not have found them.&rdq
As Zen rolled the food trolley with Bolt and Yelena in tow. He thought about the few ways he could react to seeing everyone in the guild again. The first was to pretend that everything was alright and go back to that more playful atmosphere to lighten the serious mood. There was nothing wrong with lingering in the celebratory mood after their victory against Guild Carnage. However, his reaction that morning when Liu Feng woke him up was a little too strange for the Seer to overlook it. The best option was to remain silent and not attract too much attention to himself. It usually worked while he was still working as a chef when he was a civilian. On good days, his boss would completely forget him and Zen remembered how he would share the stolen meat with Celine on days like that. It was a good solution if the situation allowed him to play a background character. Unfortunately, Zen had no idea his party members would allow him to remain a background character.
When Zen returned, Charlie and Remi were already gone. Sasha looked at all the extra food with confusion. Why did they leave so quickly? Then again, the atmosphere in the room was a lot more relaxed now that they were gone. Perhaps the upper echelon of the guild resolved it while they were gone?“Here, your macaroni soup, although I don’t know if it is to your taste.”The steaming bowl of chicken soup macaroni with shredded chicken and simple vegetables was placed on the small side table near Liu Feng. Zen did not forget the chopsticks and soup spoon that he grabbed from the room he shared with the blind teen.Just from the smell alone, Liu Feng knew that it would be good, although he did not know if he would be able to maintain his usual composure after eating it.
The invigilators took their leave after helping to clean up. Zen heaved a sigh of relief now that the two troublemakers weren’t in the same space. He hated to play mediator for a commando and a muscle woman.Now that the party was together again, Zen took a good look at them. The ninety-two shots he drank gave him more insight into the kind of people they were. Zen should not be very shocked at some of their brutality. However, there were some things he felt the need to let them know.“I saw the game clip highlights,” Zen cut to the chase. “Some of them weren’t very pretty. I hope you’d bear with me as I recall everything from the notes I made after watching them. It’s quite a long list, and most of them are observations on my end with personal opinions. To Kanzaki-san and big brother Wind, I hope you won’t make r
Despite the curiosity eating at everyone’s insides, Zen ignored the bomb he just dropped and continued with his agenda.“Firstly, I would like to highlight the true potential of Remi’s abilities.”Nobody complained about Zen’s debrief session. As the only person in the guild who watched all ninety-two game highlight clips, nobody questioned his event analysis.“He did suggest the method of luring those flight white eggs,” Sasha attested. “I’m more impressed by how quickly their plans adapted to the new person. I wasn’t that prepared when my shots missed.”At that, Zen smiled. “You should have more faith in your marksmanship. The two shots hit their target, but the target was made tougher than bullets
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
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