There were still a few hours until midnight. Zen wasted no time and hastened his speed. He had to turn in both quests and write a rap before it. If things went his way, he should have Lil’ Mushade’s shades before he logged out to meet with Damian Gorski.
“It scares me a little when things progress this smoothly,” Zen admitted.
Whenever things were looking good for him, Zen found himself in the deepest shithole right after rejoicing. As a civilian, he experienced this too many times in his career. Whenever someone took notice of his new recipe, it would be stolen the next day by someone else with more powerful backing. All Zen could do was back down and watch bitterly as they enjoyed the success that should have been his. If he fought back, he would die. If he did not resist, he would be bullied. There was simply no way out.
Not many assassins were religious. There was a reason for that. After all, why pray to a God who will turn you away at heaven’s gates? There was only one place for assassins in the afterlife, and nobody wanted to sell their soul to the devil prematurely. Humans were foolish, but not that foolish.Zen found another altar fairly quickly, and with each restored altar, the labyrinth started to change. Now, there was more than dreary cracked stone. There were moss and cobwebs. He could not wait to see what would change after all five altars available on this floor were restored.“This key works!” Charlie hooted with joy over the alliance chat. “What if it works for the rest of the labyrinth?”Zen raised his brow. Would the developers allow such a feature? It felt too overpowered.“You can try,” Zen replied, not wanting to sound like a wet blanket. It was difficult for these assassins to be interested in anything more than kill
As skeletons did not drop loot, the only way to gain anything from this floor was to find loot chests or fight variant monsters like the Skeleton Knight. The loot Charlie found from their first loot chest was devastatingly ordinary. If Zen wanted holy water, he would make it himself.“It’s not entirely bad,” Charlie defended himself. “Think about the parties without a cleric!”Zen deadpanned. “I can create an entire well worth of holy water higher grade than that,” he explained. “Even if that loot was the deity’s grace, the only thing that I will accept is their goodwill. Have you seen how easily we have been defeating these regular skeletons? Basil doesn’t even have to cast Petrification. Benjamin and Jessica have been crushing skulls and spines the whole time.”It was true. Charlie had no chance to use any of the items he had. The holy water loot that should work to weaken undead mobs was not needed h
While waiting for Party Freedom to log in, Zen spent time chatting with his party members in the vanguard. Oritha and Sasha had gotten impatient and decided to go rogue.“I don’t think that technique is wrong,” Liu Feng commented. “If we kill and destroy enough, we could accidentally kill the boss monster and clear this stage.”Law of the jungle… Zen wondered if there was something else they were missing.“If that does not work, would you revisit the twentieth floor again?” Zen asked. “I feel like a huge hint would be in it. When we were clearing the tenth floor, we stumbled into a side quest that came with a very useful item.”After listening to Zen’s summary, Akiko agreed to split from the group to seek the unknown clue Zen was referring to. Although she had no idea what to look for, her unique bloodline ability allowed her to fly and pass through solid structures to enter hidden rooms. It was a
From weapon to combat basics, Liu Feng and Akiko pounded them into Zen’s brain for the whole afternoon. The team bonding activity Zen craved was more torturous than he thought. Why couldn’t they be more like Party Freedom? Although not physically demanding because he was still a patient, Akiko’s demonstration and mock combat were still mentally stressful because her killing intent, even in training, was real.“Good work,” Liu Feng commended after three whole hours.Zen had no idea if that was directed to him or Akiko. Unlike the two monsters, the poor chef could no longer feel his arms. Thankfully, dinner had already been prepared.“That’s a wrap,” Liu Feng concluded and Akiko quietly commended Zen’s effort to keep up, echoing what Liu Feng said earlier before excusing herself to shower.Among the three of them, Zen was the sweatiest and needed the shower the most. However, he was so tired that he could
Sniffle.Liu Feng frowned at the unexpected sound coming from his right. It was unlikely for Chatura to suddenly catch a cold. However, the sniffling became worse, and his confusion increased.Alarmed by the stream of unending tears, Zen quickly reached for the box of tissues. He added more chopped chilli to the seasoning because Chatura was a native Indian. Was she not accustomed to the native spice tolerance?“I’m sorry!” he quickly apologised, offering tissues. “I added a few more chopped chillies because I thought that was how you’d like it. Would you like a milkshake to help with the spice?”The crying worsened, and none of the assassins knew what to do. Just how many chillies did Zen add to that butter chicken sandwich?Declining the tissue box, Chatura put the sandwich down and wiped her tears with her saree.“It’s been a while since I’d eaten something this spicy,” she sniffled. “
Zen, as Chatura gathered from other students, was as they described. He was like a lamb surrounded by wolves. She knew how Zen recruited the Gorski heir. The cyborg had eyes almost everywhere, and Chatura prepared a double when she knew how the cyborg would do his background checks on her.Yet, after much contemplation, Chatura decided to reveal herself. Zen was a difficult person to get to. Yet, the most difficult task was understanding the gamer’s game plan. On the surface, Zen appeared to be an optimistic fool with no grand plan except to fawn and survive. Many people claimed he was adopted by those in power who merely wanted to keep him like a cute pet. She could see that. However, their internal dynamic was a little more complex. It was unclear who the true master was, given the way the rest of the people interacted with Zen.As lunch hours approached, Party Freedom’s main members showed up. Charlie had casually struck up a conversation with the new invigi