With the goblin lord leading the march and a magician giving the remaining goblins cover from the cannons, there was little the humans could do apart from waiting for his arrival. For them to force him to make a move personally, this batch of humans was commendable. After observing the flow of the battle for this long, the goblin lord concluded that there were no magicians among the humans. Everything was done using human inventions and tricks. Whoever the general was, he was outstanding. If he surrendered, the goblin lord might accept him into his camp as an adviser.
“Stop the cannons,” Zen frowned after the blasts made no difference to the battlefield.By now, the goblin lord was already halfway up the slope. It wasn’t a particularly steep climb, but the ascent was still considerable. Zen sat on the platform, and slowly, the goblin lord’s height increased as he came towards higher grounds. That monster was huge! He had to be at least five meters tHow was that weak?! Sure, there was nothing human-like about those abilities. Zen was a walking bag of tricks, but there should still be a limit to bluffing. Those abilities were cheating, even if his muscles didn’t support them. That pet slime removed the magician’s ability to cast any spells, and anyone would never survive a stab to the unprotected throat.Cruel. That kid was too cruel, and even Ugi shuddered at the lack of emotions when Zen activated his killing move.Rolling to the ground, the last goblin magician fell. Nobody in the goblin army dared to breathe or move a muscle. It was difficult to believe their eyes. The squirt could never be the weakest warrior! Although their magician was terrible at running and carrying catapults, he was still a respectable goblin who could dodge a regular stab. Zen’s pet slime was a foul move! Their lord would never accept such an outcome!“Now!” Zen yelled while everyone else was frozen i
After plenty of sleep, Zen woke up feeling hungry again. His party members were already awake, and Zen received a flurry of messages from the famished folks. Rushing to get washed and heading to the kitchen, Zen decided to check the new message sent by the Godfather. Apparently, they had yet to claim their rewards from the treasure hunt event.“Good morning!” Zen greeted hurriedly as he arrived at the kitchen. Everyone, including Damian, was already gathered. Zen also spied two familiar invigilators and greeted them before getting on with breakfast orders, starting with Liu Feng’s.Once everyone was nursing a beverage, Zen worked his magic in the kitchen. In just ten minutes, every available pot and wok were bubbling away. The heat from the stoves carried delicious scents to envelope the entire kitchen, tempting those who passed by. However, with Guild Survivor members lurking outside and acting as security, nobody else dared trespass. In just two weeks o
After confirming to be moved, the old Party Godly Food was transferred to a different dungeon in the virtual world. Unlike other reward instances, Zen did not meet the old granny at the bar. The reward dungeon was closer to a mythical historical museum instead.“Welcome to the special reward dungeon,” a robotic voice announced. “In return for giving up foolish freedom, you have chosen more power to forge the treacherous path of your own making.”Revealing an array of species with genetic traits that the winners of the treasure hunt could assume in the dungeon, the system administrator explained that the reward would give the winners of the previous event a special dungeon-limited buff that can be applied for all floors, including special and boss dungeons.“Think of it as a permanent mutation. However, choose wisely. There is a price to pay for great power. Once you have confirmed your purchase, you may not change your decision, and
"Do you remember what monsters were on floor 4?” Zen asked Sasha.Shaking her head, the Draconian sniper turned to ask if anyone else in their party remembered. Unsurprisingly, nobody did. After all, they were powerful assassins. Why would they remember details about their enemies, especially those who were weak?Ring!Looking at the call notification, Zen realised that Damian was trying to connect to them. Quickly, they accepted and joined his group call.“Ahem! Can you hear me now? I sent the pedometer program to you in the mailbox. It required a little tweaking to send a program over because I doubt the academy thought there would be a programmer attending. Please let me know if you have trouble installing the software.”One by one, Damian guided everyone step by step in downloading and installing his customised software. According to the cyborg, the system administrator kept blocking his access for unauthorised codes detected in the emb
The location that Liu Feng, Oritha and Zen arrived at turned out to be a dud. Akiko and Sasha were still confirming the hideout’s location so Zen took the opportunity to harvest a new variety of herbs from the forest area. In that time, Damian idly looked through all his new player settings after accepting the party invitation.“Did any of you turn on inventory and skill sharing as well?” he asked.???“What’s that?” Zen asked, realising that Damian had been unmuted for a while now.Sending Zen a screenshot of what he was looking at, Damian explained how he found them under advanced party settings. Zen blinked. When did the system administrator add this feature? It wasn’t there previously!“When did you find this?” Zen asked urgently, checking is personal settings. True enough, it was there too.Shrugging, Damian explained how it had always been there. However, Zen swore he did not see it previously.
Ping!On the way back, Zen received a notification from the game. Oritha received one at the same moment, and they exchanged questioning looks.“Oh? It appears as if I can claim the smokescreen grenades too,” Damian announced through the group call. “I can also see the new main quest. That’s very convenient!”Jaw falling open, Zen quickly checked his notification. Sure enough, the updated party quest-sharing system marked the chain quest as completed for everyone in Godly Food. They claimed the rewards happily and stared at the new quest requirement that Liu Feng accepted on everyone’s behalf.===Quest: Shady Business Part 2Objective: Infiltrate the Kobold’s Mine and obtain a map layout for the Shady MerchantQuest item: Self-updating magical mapReward: 5 flash grenades===Whatever purpose the Shady Merchant had in mind for recruiting them for his scouting mission, Zen didn’t
Thanks to the stealth training Zen received from Liu Feng before the Treasure Hunt event, he was barely able to avoid detection by Karina. Sasha had no issues either, and the archer elf admitted defeat. These weren’t rookie adventurers. They had some skills.“I don’t know how useful this skill is, but please take it. You’ve passed the first trial.”Ping!===17. Shadow StepsEffects: When activated, helps player avoid getting detected for 30 seconds while moving.===Checking the new skill, Zen rejoiced. Unlike Sasha, who was a natural at activating stealth, he struggled to maintain his cool in stealth mode. Moving while remaining stealthy was something he never learned. The new skill would definitely come in handy.“Sweet! How do I use the skill?” Sasha asked.Zen could understand her enthusiasm. Gaining new skills in a game was always exciting for gamers. This had to be Sasha’s first activ
Chuckling to himself, Liu Feng refused to comment on the two children’s excitement about the new skills. For professionals like Akiko and himself, dismantling a trap or two was basic. They didn’t have to worry about carefully removing parts without triggering the detection mechanism. With enough brute force and finesse, physical traps like the ones the Kobolds made using primitive resources could be destroyed five times quicker than a scout could disarm it.“That’s nice,” he congratulated Zen over the group voice call when the gamer and sniper informed everyone they successfully cleared the third training in a single try with Damian’s live coaching. “You can dismantle basic traps now with basic accessory crafting and armour crafting skills. Two Shots might have to finish the other side quests to use that skill if she’s interested. However, there’s no need to assist us. Oritha should be turning in the next quest soon. The Dea
From floor five to floor nine, Zen discovered many changing elements in the virtual world. The dungeon mechanics became more complex as they climbed the floors. It was difficult to believe that until floor ten, they were still in the tutorial stages.Damian’s game guide from floor five was very different from Zen’s version. The cyborg logged every single type of equipment and monster as an encyclopaedia page, including replicated screenshot images. He rated them according to their value, usage, frequency of occurrence, something Zen had not considered, and prices. The floor map was also marked to indicate where they could commonly be located, along with an estimated loot drop guide. Compared to Zen’s walkthrough guide, Damian created a very different and detailed directory.Although their styles were very different, Zen teared up with gratefulness for the guide Damian put together. If Zen excelled at game progression strategy, Damian’s information w
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