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.
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