Dishevelled, Zen skidded to a halt outside the kitchen and peered inside. A boy with white hair was already sitting at the counter, but he remained so still that Zen wondered if he was a statue.
“If you’re here already, then let’s not waste any more time and get started.”
Flinching at the entrance, Zen hesitantly made his way over, taking many sneaky glances to get a better look at this mysterious candidate. Damian Gorski had mismatched eyes, and initially, Zen thought it was heterochromia until his yellow eye moved individually and dilated so much that the iris turned completely black, like a camera zooming in on him.
The sudden abnormality made Zen jump and stumble backwards with a squeak. From the time he entered the kitchen until his disgraceful fall, Damian Gorski had not moved from his
The flick from Liu Feng’s finger was starting to bruise badly. Zen winced in pain as his sworn brother rolled a warm hard-boiled egg on the greenish spot.“You deserved it,” Liu Feng scoffed when Zen whined in pain. After eating egg scallion pancakes, he felt more generous but wasn’t ready to forgive his sworn brother for meeting Damian alone. Zen had to learn from his mistakes.The gamer wanted to be angry at how ruthless the blind assassin was. However, he couldn’t possibly stay mad when his sworn brother was showing him tough love. He understood how worried he made the effeminate man by disappearing in the middle of the night to meet Damian. Liu Feng explained that even if murder was forbidden in the academy, that did not stop other candidates from harassing others or disabling them before the next event.“You’re lucky it was only Damian. If you ran into those crazy bastards and died, I can only cut off my hair, renounce my
When Zen finally logged into the dungeon, his eyes bulged at the number of messages from Sasha. Liu Feng was not joking about how they wanted to carry him through the second floor. The Russian sniper complained about gargoyles on floor nineteen and cursed in her mother tongue about the useless grind for better materials in preparation for the boss fight they keep dying to.
Mandy’s Meadow and shrine quickly became the girls’ favourite spot. It was very peaceful, and the extra buff they received from Mandy could be helpful in the fight with the Gargoyle boss. Akiko and Sasha decided not to take more detours and help Zen defeat the Toadstool boss monster before they split off to complete their different quests.“If I recall correctly, we need to head to the forest’s heart to find the boss monster. It looks like a toa
Thirty seconds after they visited the third floor, they returned to the second floor’s entrance. Zen did not want to deal with the goblins yet. However, he realised he could turn in the quest to the shady merchant regardless of the floor he was on. Unwilling to take on the third floor’s main quest, Zen ignored the man and returned to the previous floor with his party members.“Did you also receive the spore spray cans?” he a
Zen woke up feeling as if he had only fallen asleep five minutes ago. He checked the notifications in the holographic screen in front of his eyes to turn the alarm off, but there was no sound to mute.“Wha—?”Still foggy from sleep, Zen almost jumped when Liu Feng played the new notification on text-to-speech on the other side of the bed.[New event: Treasure Hunt. More details will be released in an hour. Stay tuned!]Freaking out at the new event announcement, Zen dragged his tired body out of bed. There was only an hour before Akiko called for a group meeting. He had to prepare breakfast before that.Unlike the jumpy gamer, Liu Feng stretched lazily to the sound of the sink running. Last night, Zen spoke to Damian. It mildly bothered him how his sworn brother went behind his back to seek out someone potentially dangerous alone.In a foul mood, the Seer waited until Zen left to wash up and change into his training outfit. He ha
Eventually, the meeting dispersed. Everyone decided to make the necessary calls and preparation for the event, including Liu Feng, who excused himself to resume training in the dojo. Zen decided he wouldn’t need a map compass for the event because that would eventually become useless. Event merchandise were scams to make students part with their credits. The Godfather must have included some sort of financial trial for the future successor with tempting but usel
There wasn’t a lot to do after preparing lunch. Zen went around to deliver the food he had made and apologised for making everyone uncomfortable with his decision.Needless to say, he received all sorts of reactions. Some tried to pry for more information and demanded a justification, while others refused to listen more until he changed his mind. Then there were the people who only shook their heads in resignation, leaving a terrible aftertaste in Zen’s mind.He knew he wouldn’t receive positive feedback after what he did. However, there was one person in this academy he did not wish to disappoint.Navigating his way around the unfamiliar parts of this academy, Zen eventually located the dojo. Even from outside, he could hear the casual sounds of destruction. The school was probably going to need a new dojo at the rate Liu Feng was pummelling everything into powder.Politely knocking twice out of courtesy, Zen waited. If Liu Feng did not r
“Are you an idiot?”That wasn’t the first thing Zen expected Sasha to say when Oritha delivered lunch on his behalf. Behind her, Akiko gave Zen a silent judging stare, and he blushed to his neck.Eventually, the Amazonian decided to save his shattered pride by offering him her third bento box so they could eat together.“What are you going to do after lunch?” Sasha asked. “I’m thinking of visiting the shooting range.”Oritha shrugged. “Maybe take a shower. I had enough gym. Besides, we still need to find a way to smack that annoying stone fly. I lost count of how many times we died.”Ah, they were talking about the gargoyles on floor nineteen. It was a shame Zen couldn’t join. None of the girls blamed him for lagging behind. Instead, they started gossiping about the monsters they met, which gave Zen a better idea about the dungeon’s structure.“Why didn’t any of you try
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
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