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
Although nobody spelt it out explicitly, Zen could tell that they did not like the idea of adding someone else into the party. He wasn’t sure if it was because they did not like Damian or if they just did not want anyone else joining them.Regardless, the young cook was determined to persuade them. If Oritha could switch sides, talking to Damian and getting him to lend them his abilities would be possible too. After all, he had a less disagreeable personality to work with.The Cyborg was a mysterious person, and even after asking Faceless to stalk him, Zen had yet to receive any useful information about him. Apart from how the Cyborg hardly eats and spends most of his time locked in his room, Faceless did not get any useful information.“Why him?” Sasha asked, clearly distressed.
After that announcement, things became somewhat awkward between the members of Godly Food Party. The girls excused themselves to return to the room while Liu Feng remained incredibly silent.Zen did not know what the Seer was thinking. However, he thought that the assassin needed some time to himself after Zen’s announcement.“Do you have any lunch requests? I think I’ll take some time to cook before I dive until dinner.”Liu Feng thought about it but did not reply for a long time. Zen had no idea if he should stay or leave when there was no response. However, he decided that if the blind assassin did not make any indications, he should still stay until he had a clear sign. Omertas were scary, and the last thing Zen wanted was to have a falling out with someone he thought would be protecting
Meeting in the VR game was very different from seeing each other in person. Many of the newly joined guild members who were diving for the first time did not know how to use the various commands. Most of them only excelled at smacking objects and breaking them. Some of the chattier and brash guild members found themselves becoming disliked by the NPCs.Akiko deadpanned. Her expressionless features were dull as she watched the group of over thirty people act like immature civilian school children. These were the people she had in the army to create the miracle they needed? No matter how capable Remi and Charlie were, it would be a lot of work organising these youths who had no chemistry with each other or any idea about teamwork.“Listen up,” Akiko barked. She wasn’t used to raising her voice but surprisingly, it did not hurt her throat in the
For Sasha, who was stuck on the fifth floor for the longest time, she did not dwell on Zen’s proposal for too long. If she proved that Oritha was more than enough for them in this party, they need not invite Gorski into their group.Oritha was all in agreement and logged into the game for the first time voluntarily. She had no idea what to make of the various tabs, but Sasha was a very patient teacher, pointing to her what she should tap on to start.It did not take long for Oritha to muscle through the first stage. She did not collect the quests from the NPCs before she started smashing slimes with Sasha, letting her know what parts were required. They had no clue how many parts they needed, so Oritha decided that fifty was a good number to start with.By the end of that hour, they were already hurtling to th
It took longer than he liked to admit. After learning the hard way of getting sliced in the face by the weakest gladiator opponent, Zen learned that the way of the sword was not an easy one.His weak arms couldn’t handle the pure brute force of the enemy that came at him even if he had the reflex to block it. The poor gamer body was not built to tank direct attacks. For that, he would need a body like the Amazonian.Ultimately, the dagger was still Zen’s best choice of weapon. He tested that dagger on the training dummy in Claymore. While it wasn’t the most ideal weapon in the gladiator ring, Zen was able to make use of his running skills to parry and reposition to sneak behind his enemy’s defences for an open stab.That process of learning took Zen three hours, even with his ability to learn