Easy.
Zen never thought there would be an easy enemy in this dungeon until he met the yellow slimes. Ignoring how poisonous they were, the yellow slimes were small enough to fit on Zen’s palm, and they only found out about the slimes when Remi accidentally squished on bouncing in their path under his foot.
They might be poisonous, but they were by far the cutest monsters Zen saw in the dungeon. There was supremacy in size, and the trio took their anger out on the yellow slimes, stomping and smashing with a large stick while taking care not to come into contact.
They had no idea how deadly these little yellow slimes were until some yellow slime goo accidentally splattered on Charlie when Remi got a little too enthusiastic.
Nothing happened initially, and the boys la
Zen looked at his newly accepted quest from the shady merchant and sighed. It wasn’t going to be easy.===Main Quest: Slime Hunter 4Objective:- 0/120 orange slimes killed- 0/60 orange slime skinReward: Beginner Armour===Remi and Charlie eyed the reward. Armour! That was going to be their first in-game item, and they hoped it would be useful. Zen looked at the reward and had different thoughts. Could armour and weapons be upgraded in this game? He saw an armoury and a blacksmith in the starter town. The NPCs offered side quests, and Zen wondered what the trigger was to get the b
Lying in the field free from orange slimes, Zen looked up to the sky as clouds drifted by lazily. His virtual game was making him work out more than he ever did in both his lives. The young chef wondered what would happen if he told Remi and Charlie that he lost count and they were closer to having three hundred orange slime skins now.“Are we finally done?” Charlie wheezed.The chase was hell for the trio, who took turns resting on the tree. Zen checked the time. They spent way less time hunting orange slimes than killing green slimes. However, this was three times more tiring.Zen learned that critical hit was a thing, and depending on the level of focus, he could kill orange slimes in one hit. However, if done wrongly, the force will backfire, and he would get injured when the concentration slip
After handing in ten quality orange slime skin to Paul, Zen waited for the next part of what would be a chain quest from the question mark over his head.The armourer examined Zen’s items and beamed brightly. This young hero had talent!===Quest: Heart of a Crafter Part 1 (Completed)Requirements: NAObjective: Hunt Orange Armoured Slimes10/10 Orange Slime SkinReward: 25% Friendship Bonus with Paul===As his friendship level with the armour became better, Paul started to treat Zen more casually and asked if he could trouble the lad to
After a quick heist at the apothecary, Zen silently apologised to a glitchy Gilda before he took to the roads. Before he headed to the forest to collect flax, he should quickly clear the second part of Martha’s long quest. Maybe after getting those eyes and sneaking them into her coffee, Zen could unlock some mysterious chain quest with the apothecarist.The green slimes were lazing along the road, and Zen unsheathed his short sword. This time, he was alone, and after learning how to kill slimes in one swing, Zen targeted the smallest group of slimes. He should be able to take on four slimes, right?Bending down to pick up a pebble, Zen readied the sword in his other. He would try to fight them without retreating to the safety zone in a hit and run technique. Fighting them was like a prelude to fighting big pink. There might not be places to run and hide
Four times, Zen entered and exited Gilda’s apothecary with different strategies. He even returned to Martha to ask what happened between Gilda and her son. The old woman only claimed that Gilda was a ditzy girl and nobody in their village could understand her.On a good day, Gilda made little sense. In one of her giddy moods, she would constantly babble about the things she created, learned, or failed. Coffee was Gilda’s coping mechanism, and alcohol was everyone else’s coping mechanism when talking to her.Sure, the apothecarist was a very smart lady. However, there wasn’t a single young man in the village who thought of her as a promising marriage candidate.“Could you imagine her as anybody’s wife with her strange workshop? I don’t think she could even feed a baby normall
Happy to spread the joy of potion crafting to someone else, Gilda started going into details, ushering Zen to her back room, where the magic happened.Zen found himself taking comfort in this potion brewery for someone familiar with the chaotic scene in a kitchen. It was somewhat similar to cooking in some ways, so when Gilda taught him about ingredient preparation, Zen did it faster than her.Thrilled that Zen was so talented with his hands, Gilda moved on to the proper equipment required for brewing potions.“There are a few steps in creating any kind of potion. The first was extracting the potion base by boiling ingredients into mush over low fire for a few hours. The ingredients will be strained and removed from the potion base and treated with customised ingredients for different potion effects.”
Exhausted, Zen sprawled out on the yard as Paul chuckled. He managed to work on his client’s orders while Zen prepared all the slime skins diligently without a break. The youth carried a fresh basin of water after each batch of skin. Every piece of hardened skin separated from the dried slime skin was washed and checked thoroughly that nothing remained stuck on it.His earnest attitude touched Paul, who decided to reward him with homemade lemonade.Zen accepted the lemonade gratefully and wondered what the last quest was.===Quest: Heart of a Crafter Part 3Requirements: NAObjective: Help Paul Make Beginner Armour10/10 P
[Liu Feng “Seer” sends a party message. “Do you need me there?”]Zen smiled and replied to his party that he wanted to try clearing the first floor’s boss alone. After all, he didn’t need to clear it only once. Zen did not want them to know he intended to kill the pink slime ten times by himself.===Beginner Cure Potion Recipe:0/1 Pink Boss Slime Hair4/2 Dewy Grass===Zen already collected the dewy grass that was required for the beginner cure potion. He had no idea how useful it was for dungeons but seeing how he would kill big pink ten times, it would not hurt to make spares.
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
As soon as Zen and Liu Feng departed, the remaining assassins pulled themselves together and got to work. Oritha opted to remain in the same room as the sleeping mother and daughter. However, Akiko went outside to share the information she learned last night about the stalker while patrolling the perimeter.“More brown hair?” Damian asked. “I could examine the cuticle to determine its genetic composition.”Handing the tuft of brown fur or hair over, Akiko also told Sasha the stalker’s route. Liu Feng only sensed the area where the unknown man was hiding last night. His lack of vision made him miss out on the obvious tracks. The stalker was not an expert. It must be how Han knew the foot size of Gabrielle’s secret admirer.Showing Sasha the tracks she found in the night, the Death Princess explained her hypothesis. The night hounds and wolves did not approach the house due to an invisible barrier.“It was as if they were t