Oh, wait. Zen saw the sign he missed earlier and finally understood why he strayed from the main and obvious path. The sign wasn’t on a post. It was hanging from a tree. If he recalled accurately, he crawled on the ground and tried to avoid the poison mist earlier. That would explain how he missed such an obvious thing.
A blush of humiliation scattered across his virtual cheeks when the Godfather sent him a new tip.
[The Godfather thinks you need to use blindness cure eyedrops in your inventory if you missed such an obvious sign. You have been awarded 100 credits.]
Ok! That was his fault, but must the Godfather use tipping to communicate with him specifically? It wasn’t important advice or helpful comments. Zen had a feeling the Godfather paid special attention to him for an entirely different reason tha
Ping!Instead of the usual blue notification window notification he saw, Zen blinked in surprise at the purple notification screen.[You are about to unlock a unique quest. By proceeding with this quest, you abide by the rules of Omerta with Godfather Estrada and will not divulge details of the quest to any candidates in Godfather High. Do you wish to proceed?]Zen froze. Omerta with the Godfather?He wanted to decline at once, but there was no such option. Tearfully, he could only accept it and pray that his party members would ask him no questions. It was just a stupid detour from the main path. Why was he involved with another omerta? It was too unfair how he couldn’t even decline the unique quest!Those watching Zen
Zen found himself back at the Mushroom Maiden Shrine, and the viewers on his broadcast channel stared at the chestnut-haired teen. Nobody knew what happened when the channel was censored, but Zen’s confusion made them suspect he failed the Godfather’s Trial.While the world was swimming in speculation, Zen looked at his newly acquired secret skill that would not appear in his character profile card when shared with others, similar to his hidden titles.“Inspect.”===Unique Skill: Mandy’s Morse Code (Passive)Effects: Will give the user three taps on the left shoulder if someone is lying. Constantly activated during events, in dungeons and on school grounds.
In no time, Zen sought out all the mushroom monster variants in the forest. They could be found far from the main path and usually travelled alone. He realised that caps were not the only things these zombie puffballs could spawn with. Two rarer variant forms wore sunglasses and wigs. The wig-wearing mushroom variant dropped hair weaves, and the sunglasses-wearing variant dropped shade fragments.Zen had no idea what they did, but he kept them. Although he wasn’t a hoarder by nature, throwing them away would be a waste, especially when Zen had infinite game inventory to abuse. Who knew if these were crafting ingredients for Hernie’s requests in her chain quest? She was an accessory crafting NPC as well as a potion shop NPC. It was usually rare to find an NPC with two specialisations, but this dungeon made little sense so far. There was no way Hernie would not have a chain quest.
Circling the mountain, Zen found several smaller cave entrances that could be easily missed. In fact, not all those cave entrances led to the same Veiled Vampire Lady colony. These smaller caves were not as deep, and Zen easily found the variant purple mushroom monsters.He had no idea how these variant monsters were the same type of purple mushroom. Even if they had veiled wings, these mushrooms weren’t the ferocious kinds who would bite Zen. It reminded him about mosquitos. Female mosquitoes would suck blood but not the males. Similarly, these shyer variants of Veiled Mushrooms did not attack Zen. They tried to flee when Zen invaded their territory.Shing!The dagger sailed through the darkness and ripped through the silky veil, making the samurai hat variant mushroom fall onto the ground. Without their frag
“Welcome back,” Father Clarence greeted. “There are a lot of dangers lurking in the wilderness. Please be more careful during your adventure. If you require healing items or assistance, visit me at the chapel. May the goddess bless you.”Ah, one of the questions Zen was curious about was answered. Although the death wasn’t intentional, he was glad it happened.The Shady Merchant was just up ahead, but Father Clarence went the opposite direction. Zen watched him disappear through the stage entrance portal and blinked. Was that how he could travel freely between unlocked floors in the dungeon?Curious but unwilling to test the theory yet, Zen silently thanked the healer NPC and sighed. Now that he was back at the stage entrance, perhaps he could follow the main route that everyone else to
“You’re finally back,” the Shady Merchant sniffled and sneezed. “What took you so long?”Zen deadpanned at the NPC’s speech. Was this a default dialogue or one that was customised for him? His guild members were definitely faster. Did they receive the same speech?Wordlessly, Zen turned in the mushroom spores and received five low-grade antidotes in his inventory. They did not help to recover any health but could dispel any low-grade negative effects or minor curses.“I didn’t know curses were a thing,” Zen mused as he inspected the antidotes. This was something he wanted to learn how to create. Maybe Gilda would know a thing or two as it was similar to a potion.The Shady Merchant clicked his tongue and shook his hea
According to Hernie’s map, the closest variant was the forest bully. Zen was looking for a Hip Samurai Vampire Mushroom monster, also known as the sunglasses-wearing purple mushroom variant.“It can be found in the forest bullying weak puffball zombie mushrooms practising its fang and wing attacks. The Hip Samurai Vampire variant often does this for entertainment and eats the spores of defeated puffballs.”Reading Hernie’s research notes proved to be both helpful and disturbing. Zen knew how scientists worked. They recorded detailed observations that can be helpful in deductions and hypotheses. However, he had no desire to learn about the sadistic tendencies of different monsters. It was interesting, but Zen could feel his dinner disagreeing with him after reading Hernie’s notes about how these forest bullies tore up their pr
Zen took a long detour to the Mushroom Maiden’s Shrine and eventually completed both Hernie and the Shady Merchant’s requirements for purple and white mushroom items. If anything, the greedy gamer collected more than the required ingredients because he wanted to test something out with the caps later.“Finally here,” he told Lime, who yawned. Taking pity on his pet, who worked hard, Zen unsummoned it and entered the private mushroom meadow sanctuary.Almost immediately, he could feel the blessings of Mandy’s Melody. The heaviness of the poison fog and fatigue was washed away. This time, Zen paid closer attention to the ambient sound effects in the game. According to Hernie’s notes, there was one blue mushroom variant she knew existed underneath the lake, but they were shyer than the evasive Pixie Paradox Parasol.