《NPC into Player: Let's Wreck This Game》 Eternal Game Mechanics and Preparations - Read for more deep detailed info of the game Eternal Game Mechanics and Preparations - Read for more deep detailed info of the game Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying the novel. Before I even started writing this novel, I worked on building a whole game system for it. I read a lot of approaches on how to make a real game toe up with this game. Here is the total guild that I have made so far, and it''s dedicated for those of you who are interested in knowing more details about the game, and the novel. I hope you like it. Eternal Game game mechanics and preparations: This guide will contain the following: 1. Game over view 2. Monsters 3. yers- Factions- sses Talents Skills. 4. Game Land and game scenario 1. Game over view: The game is a Virtual Reality Massive Multi yer Role ying Online Game. the game is yed by capsules, and yers can stay in game for long duration using internal feeding fluids. The game is based entirely on choices, as yers can do anything, make any choice they want, but each choice will have its own consequences, and they will affect the yer, the yer''s surroundings, or even the entire game! The time of the game is elongated to double the time of real life, with the ability to elevate yer''s mind and make it gain knowledge and skills to the real life, provided his physique can support it. The game starts by a selection of gender, age, name, faction, ss, and the ce where yer wants to start at. yers then will be moved into a huge festival inside the capital city of the kingdom or the empire he or she selected. yers will stay there for small time before gaining tickets to go to one of the two general pathways of the game; wilderness terrain or the army the battle field. yers selected to go to wilderness, or terrain will be transported into open wilderness, where they will face variety of monsters, dungeons and many yers there. the first map of the wilderness is from level zero to level ten, and when yers reach level ten they will gain a ticket to the vige. yers going to the army the battle field will select one of the two pathways; general route, or the lords route. yers selecting general route will start as mere soldiers, five menmander, ten menmander, fifty menmander, one hundred menmander, five hundred menmander, a battalion one thousand menmander, small army five thousand menmander,rge army ten thousand menmander, and finally general with general ranks of white, green, blue, silver, gold, red, and finally ck generals. yers selecting the lords route will start as an area leader assistant, area leader, vige mayor with three vige ranks; small, medium,rge viges, town mayor with three town ranks; small, medium,rge towns, city governor with three city ranks; small, medium,rge cities, and finally kingdom ruler king and empire ruler emperor. All yers start differently, but they can reach viges and above game checkpoints ording to their levels, and each route has its own quests and missions inside each checkpoint. Vige is designated as any usual vige in any game, with a wall surrounding many buildings, mayor for the vige, some NPCs guiding yers ording to their sses, and a vige map and a wilderness map to select between to level up there. Once yers level up to level thirty, they can gain ess to towns, level sixty to cities, and level ny ess to the capital. Each ten levels there is a huge milestone for yers to achieve, arranged as follows: Level zero: yer starts the game, with either terrain or army route. Level ten: yer gains ess to the viges. Level twenty: yer can raise his ss mastery, upgrade a rank for army route yers. Level thirty: yer can acquire guild establishing stones, army checkpoint establishing stone, area ownership stone, and gains ess to towns. Level forty: yer can gain ground mounts and pets. Level fifty: yer can raise his ss mastery, upgrade a rank for army route yers. Level sixty: yer gains ess to cities. Level seventy: yer can acquire vige establishing stones for yers and lords, and army ry point establishing stones for generals. Level eighty: yer can raise his ss mastery, upgrade a rank for army route yers. Level ny: yer gains ess to capital. Level one hundred: yer can gain flying mounts and pets. Level one hundred and ten: yer gains ess to shrine wars grounds. Level one hundred and twenty: yer can raise his ss mastery, upgrade a rank for army route yers. Level one hundred and thirty: yer gains ess to flying continents. Level one hundred and forty: yer can rage guild wars to annex towns and cities, lord yers can establish kingdoms and empires, and general yers can attack kingdoms and empires, winning wars to control them. Level one hundred and fifty: yer can raise his ss mastery, upgrade a rank for army route yers. 2. Monsters The game contains a huge variety of monsters, distributed as normal monsters grinding monsters, dungeon monsters, open world boss monsters, and special monsters; like the evolved mutated monster that appeared in thest evolved dungeon. Normal grinding monsters can be found in packs throughout the wilderness. Grinding monsters has simple rules in fighting them, as each monster when its Hp decreases below fifty percent, it starts to run, trying to escape away from the yer, and yer has to put his point in his mind while killing them, so he would intercept their retreat route, or else the escaped monster will regain its lost Hp rapidly, rendering yer efforts futile. Dungeons in the game are really diverse, starting with white, green, blue, silver, gold, red, and ck grades. Each dungeon had the same rules, as the white dungeon will have seven monsters roaming outside its entrance, then ten halls, each containing ten monsters, before finally ending in single boss monster. Green and blue graded dungeons will have ten monsters roaming outside, with fifteen monsters in each hall. Silver and gold dungeons will have fifteen monsters roaming outside, with twenty monsters in each hall, with the halls reaching twenty halls and one boss monster in them. Red grade dungeon will have twenty monsters roaming outside, twenty in each hall, with number of halls increased to reach twenty, and two boss monsters, or one special boss monster. ck grade dungeon will have thirty monsters roaming outside, twenty in each hall, with number of halls increased to thirty, and three bosses, or one special boss. Rules of engagement in each dungeon monster are the same, as normal dungeon hall monsters following the Hpw. When their Hp decreases below fifty percent they will all attack together, moving towards the most distant yer in the team, disregarding aggro role. Rules of engagement for dungeon boss monsters follow the timew. After the first five minutes, the boss monster would use a mute skill that would render yers'' skills useless. All skills would enter, forcibly, cooldown period, and those in front of the monster would take the full toll of the monster attack. The next skill to be activated at the ten minutes mark would be an AOE damage skill, with special ability to it. knock down, stun, control, name it and it might happen. the choice of skills would differ from one monster to another, but they would be all follow the same rules. At the fifteen minutes juncture, the boss monster would use an AOE skill that would deplete any special form of energy the yer was using. Atp, Mp, Stm, Cp, Gp, Wp, or Def, any of them would be mercilessly diminished by half their initial value. Then the twenty minute juncture would have the most devastating AOE attack ever, Hp forcibly diminishing by half! Any yer with fifty percent of less of his Hp at this point would be instantly killed. The only good news here that after each skill was used, there would be a thirty seconds forcibly weakening period to the boss monster, so yers would aim towards this slight window, hoping to kill the monster before thest stage was reached. Monster drop followed the same rules, as monsters always drop one of these material list: Monster skin monster ws monster tail monster bones monster horns monster teeth monster fur monster crystals monster power shards monster energy shards monster heart fluid ''for Hp regenration'' monster muscle essence ''for stamina regenration'' monster fin monster central bone monster nds monster fangs monster thorns monster spikes. Monster material grading system: White green blue silver gold red ck S SS SSS SSSS SSSS V M. Monster collecting materials rule: Level one to five: unlimited time to gather materials. Level five to ten: two minutes and the corpse will disappear. Leven ten and above: one minute and corpse will disappear. Monster dropping rules: Material drop rules: Level one to ten: drops five materials. Level ten to twenty: drops ten materials. Level twenty to thirty: drops fifteen materials. Level thirty to forty: drops twenty materials. Level forty to fifty: drops twenty five materials. Level fifty to sixty: drops thirty materials. Level sixty to seventy: drops thirty five materials. Level seventy to eighty: drops forty materials. Level eighty to ny: drops forty five materials. Level ny to one hundred: drops fifty materials. Monster money drop rules: Level one to ten: no drop. Level ten to thirty: copper drop = level *10 Level thirty to sixty: silver drop = level *5 Level sixty to ny: gold drop = level *3 Level ny and above: gold drop = level*5 Monster gear drop rules: Level one to twenty: no drop. Level twenty to fifty: 10% drop rate. Level fifty to seventy five: 25% drop rate. Level seventy five to above: 50% drop rate. Rules of monster stats: Hp= base Hp * level^1.4 Xp= base Xp * level^1.2 Atk= base Atk * level^1.8 Def= base Def * level^2 Note: these are rules for normal monsters, as for dungeon, open field boss, and special monsters, these rules might change ordingly. 3. yers- Factions- sses Talents Skills yers start the game by the process mentioned in point one. yers has different stats, which would be useful for each ss. General yer stats are as follows in the start of the game: Vitality (Vit): 1 determines Hp Strength (Str): 1 determines Atp for Intelligence (Int): 1 determines Mp for Resilience (Res): 1 determines Stm and Sp for Physique (Phs): 1 determines Def for Charisma (Chr): 1 determines Cp for Wisdom (Wis): 1 determines Gp for Luck (Lu): 1 determines Wp for Health Points (HP): 10 Attack points (Atp): 5 Magic Points (Mp): 5 Stamina (Stm):10 Speed (Sp): 5 Defense (Def): 5 Control power (Cp): 5 Gaia power (Gp): 5 Will power (Wp): 5 Each level, yer will get five attribute points, two forcibly allocated by the system ording to the yer faction, one for Vit and one for the main stat of the faction, like weapon wielder faction will allocate one point to Vit and one to Str, while staff holder will allocate one to Vit and one to Intelligence, and so on. yer can select their factions and sses from the start of the game, but the skill tree isn''t limited to one faction or ss, any yer can unlock any skill he wants, but he has to increase that skill main stats if he wants to use them properly. yers from level zero to ten are considered under protection period, as killing will only make him lose one level only. yers from level ten and above will lose fixed ratio of their inventory with each kill as follows: Level ten to thirty: loses 10% of yer''s inventory. Level thirty to fifty: loses 20% of yer''s inventory. Level fifty to seventy five: loses 30% of yer''s inventory. Level seventy five and above: loses 40% of yer''s inventory. Rule of Xp needed for each level = base Xp* level^2.5 Each ten levels there is a juncture in the game for Xp needed for leveling up, plus monster''s stats as well at these levels. Each level up, yer will be washed and his stats will be refilled to top. Each level up, yer will gain five attribute points, one Sp ''skill point'', and one Tp ''talent point.'' Factions: There are seven main factions in the game, which are as follows: 1. Weapon wielders faction. 2. Staff holders faction. 3. Shield bearers faction. 4. Shade sons faction. 5. Light daughters faction. 6. Animal controllers faction. 7. Martial artists faction. Each faction has its own sses, and its own main stat and thus the rules of forced allocation of free points will be applied to this main stat. The main stats of the seven main factions are as follows: 1. Weapon wielders faction Str. affecting Atp. 2. Staff holders faction Int. affecting Mp. 3. Shield bearers faction Phs. affecting Def. 4. Shade sons faction Lu. affecting Wp. 5. Light daughters faction Wis. affecting Gp. 6. Animal controllers faction Chr. affecting Cp. 7. Martial artists faction Res. affecting Stm. Main sses for each faction: 1. Weapon wielders faction: 1. Sword wielders swordsmen. 2. Knife wielders 3. Mace wielders 4. Hammer wielders 5. Spear wielders 6. Archers. 2. Staff holders faction: 1. Mages. 2. Wizards. 3. Druids. 4. Enchanters. 5. Necromancers. 6. Dark magicians. 7. Demon mages. 8. Staff healers. 3. Shade sons faction: 1. Thieves. 2. Assassins. 3. dark magicians. 4. Demon mages 5. Smugglers. 6. Bandits. 7. Necromancers. 8. Dark pdin. 9. Dark summoner. 4. Light daughters faction: 1. Light pdin. 2. Light healer. 3. Light bearer. 4. Carder. 5. Runer. 6. Priest. 7. Light summoner. 5. Shield bearers: 1. Shield pdin 2. Tanker. 3. Shielder. 4. Enchanter. 6. Animal controllers faction: 1. Summoner 2. Demonic summoner 3. Binder. 4. Contracter. 5. Dark summoner. 6. Light summoner. 7. Martial artists faction: 1. Monk. 2. Brawler. 3. Fighter. 4. Bandit. Note: some factions might contain shared sses with others, as these sses will have some of their skills locked up for certain factions for the unavability of the main stats required for them. so, they are the same sses but with different sets of skills and talents. Skill tree: Skill tree is opened to all sses in the game, with the only limitations will be the needed Sp ''Skill points'' needed to unlock them, and the main stats needed to make the skills effective. Any skill will have these main types: 1. ss skills: needs minimal amount of Sp to be unlocked. 2. Faction skills: skills of the same faction, but mainly for other sses. Needed moderate amount of Sp to be unlocked. 3. Non faction skills: skills that lies outside the yer''s faction. Neededrge amount of Sp to be unlocked. Types of the skills: Any skill will lie under these main types: 1. Base skill: skills used from stance of no motion. 2. Movable skill: skills used to force yers into moving in certain trajectory, partially controlled by yers. 3. Chain skills: skills can be used amidst the usage of basic or other chain skills. can''t be used from the start of any fight. 4. Merge skill: skills formed by merging two or more skills together, to gain new skill, with much better effects, and slightly different details. Merged skills don''t delete the skills used for merging, but they will require higher amount of Sp to be done. Skills can be leveled up either by using Sp points to raise their levels, from level zero to infinite, by merging together with one or more skills, forming brand new skill, or by using some crystals called Power crystals. Sp can be acquired from leveling up, or gathering power shards from monsters and treasure chests, to form power crystals, used instead of Sp. Talent tree: yer will have talents ording to his ss. talents can be unlocked using Tp, talent points, which can be acquired from leveling up, or gathering energy shards from monsters and treasure chests, forming energy crystals, used instead of Tp. Each talent will add more effects to the stats of yer, and yer can have more than one talent. Talents can be leveled up using Tp, and some crystals called energy crystals. 4. Game Land and game scenario. Game is divided into mainnd, sealednds, and flying continents. The mainnd consists of fiverge continents, with one central and four surrounding continents, connected together through straits and conjuncture points. The sealednds are fournds, which are monsternd, godnd, hellnd, and deadnds. Mainnd contains shrines, that ys major role in keeping these sealednds hidden and sealed, or trying to break them free and bring them to the world of the game. These shrines are distributed all over the five continents, with their elders trying to give quests to yers, in attempt to make yers join their shrines and help them in their cause. For example, the death shrine and life shrine are mortal enemies, with life shrine is responsible for sealing the deadnds, while the death shrine is trying to break this seal, and set the dead loose. Both elders issued a quest to Mc, and he has to choose which shrine he will join, or he won''t select any. The game is based on choices, so any choice made will have its consequences, affecting the course of the whole game, and huge number of yers and NPCs as will be narrated in the first two volumes of the novel. Chapter 1: From NPC into A Player, A Sudden Twist of Fate! Chapter 1: From NPC into A yer, A Sudden Twist of Fate! Amidst a great stretch for ruins, that made of broken buildings of one was an exceedingly flourishing city A single man remained there with his back solid, despite his will bent, and his dreams shattered. The blows of winds came to arouse a small cloud of dust and rubble, moving quick, it grew in size, like an ice ball, only gettingrger along the side street, hitting everything on its way, gathering more debris on its course. "Not again," that man muttered, as he turned his back to this little dusty storm, grabbed the fragile edge of his cloak, and throwing it farther on his back, forming a doubleyered protection against this dust and rubble storm, of his tattered and already disintegrating cloak. "When will this end?" he sighed, while feeling the hard rubble hitting his back, one after another, like needles sent to torture his once suffering soul. "Sigh, when will this end?" He muttered again, as he took a deep, long breath, expressing the significant years of the humiliation he had lived through. He, who once was a mighty and well respected NPC, a sacred swordsman who NPCs and yers would seek his advice and directions, had been in such a miserable state. It didn''t take five more minutes, until this frequent dust storm passed him, went straight towards another street, and vanished inside it. He raised up his head, looking to the grayish sky full of dark clouds that never rained. "When will you decide to end this?" he sighed, directing his words to no one but them, those who caused this drastic and tragic shift in his life. The developers of this game -the Titanic Revolut game -were the ones behind all this. His once sessful and glorious life transformed with no prior notice. When the developers felt how bad their game was scoring in their human life, they took a decision and made a twist that might attract new yers'' attention. He, Bloom, was a very popr character in the game, with his top rank, and his coded lovable character, who used to help any yer or NPC seeking his guidance, was so loved by yers. The developers decided in cold blood to sacrifice him, throwing him off his throne, destroying his entire life; ruining all his strength, wealth, career, and ended up with his city. It was now living as a ruined tombstone, witnessing the demise of such a great man. Even this kamikaze move didn''t yield the desired results. In fact, it did the opposite. This act upset many famous yers, driving them out of the game for good. this decision, instead of attracting more yer, created a migratory move towards the other more sessful game, the Eternal Glory game. Just remembering the name of this game made his heart shudder. His body trembled from deep hatred and anger. If not for this game, his life would continue flourishing, and even his current suffering wouldn''t be this damned long journey of humiliation. A distant shadow appeared from far, attracting his attention. He nced, with little interest, to theing yer, as he guessed what that payer needed; the legendary quest of his revenge, he issued that. After making him lose everything in a silly, unbelievable plot, they made his own brother in arms, his closest friend, to betray im, annexing everything he once had his power, his title, and even a city that rivaled his own. He was left here, amidst rubbles, ruins, and dust to issue a revenge quest to any yer who sought him. Even yers decided his own revenge, not his two hands, or by his sharp, legendary sword left to rust inside its scabbard. The day yers would fulfill his quest, would be the day of his death, as his coding would stop working, and he would die forever. "Even death I can''t have, isn''t there any mercy in heavens?" he muttered with a much depressed tone, arching his already broken back from defeat, as he watched that yering to be near him. It was impossible for the current yers to fulfil this quest, and with the migration wave caused by the stupidity of the developers, the hope for his death date, his freedom date, was postponed forever. As he lost in his thoughts, the yer arrived at him, as he said in greeting: "Esteemed sacred swordsman Bloom, I have fulfilled the quest you gave me. Here is the head of the traitor, Ricard, have a look at it. Feast your eyes and quench your thirst for revenge." The words of the yer, the unexpected words, jolted Bloom awake as his body trembled. His dying eyes looked with a revived light of hope towards the yer, as he asked, in shaky tone: "Have you killed him? Have you really finished the quest?" "Yes, esteemed sacred swordsman, here, check this head out." The yer just tossed a head out of his inventory. Bloom recognized the agonizing face of his dear and long friend. He knew Ricard had nothing to do with the treason he had; the developers and that stupid, silly game of Eternal Glory did. He didn''t feel his tears flowing over his face, welling up from his already reddened eyes. It was such a dream, a final closure to all this suffering, all this pain, to this nightmare. He ambled to touch the head, with his tears flowing over it, cleansing the coagted red blood and dirt from his best friend''s face. ''Sorry my friend, if it was up to me, we would stay living like kings in our great ruined city,'' he muttered, paying his respect in silent words to his oldest and closest friend. "System prompt: yer Terry the bold has finished the legendary quest: Revenge of the fallen sacred swordsman. Yo shoul gi h th aw" The voice of the game in his mind stuttered, and with no notice the entire world in front of him darkened, like a nightfall curtain descending like night seeping on his world. He finally closed this chapters of long misery. It was happening, as if all the lights in this world were stolen away along with his life. ''Is this what death feels like?'' he muttered, as he sumbed to his fate, not knowing his fate had already changed. At the moment he touched the head of his lost friend, and like the mercy of heaven had somepassion for him, a glitch urred at the game, at the system, at the entire world. The next moment he opened his eyes, seeing an unfamiliar scene in front of him. "What just ha" He stopped in his own words, as his voice had changed drastically, to be the sound of a teenager, not exceeding sixteen years in age. He jolted awake, standing on the wooden floor, next to a small bed, inside this vast room, where everything rted to the world of games. Posters of many games, the Titan Revolut was one of them, hung on the well organized small pieces of wood and rocks on the wall, met his wandering gaze. Two game capsules were present in this room, with many flyers filling the ground, unorganized, like someone threw them like that on purpose. "What happened to me? Where am I?" Bloom muttered, with his strange voice and tone, while he inspected his own, different from usual, body. Instead of the muscr body he always had, he now had a slim body that felt weak, as if he was now living inside a body he didn''t own. As strange as it might seem, that was what just happened to him. "Who is this Terry?!" In the next moment, he had his mind full of memories that didn''t belong to him. He even had a sudden throbbing headache pain that forced him to sit on the edge of his bed, trying to endure that massive pain. Things of events and knowledge he never had before upied his mind. This didn''tst for five minutes, during which he had to close his eyes, trying to meditate and pray that this pain would end. When everything calmed down, he had some understanding of the ce he was at, and the body his soul was in. "This isn''t me, this is the body and the life of the yer who just finished my quest," he paused, as if he realized how crazy this was, "How can I be in this human''s body? How can I have all his memories?" He didn''t know the answer at once, but from the fresh memories in his mind, he knew the true identity of this youngster. Arge group of specialists ruled over everything such a spoiled brat of a very wealthy family had. He had no parents, no siblings, living the life of kings, as he didn''t reach the legal age yet. Trying to sort things out, the first thing he did was to go to thatptop, opened it, entered the password he recalled from Terry''s memories, and his eyes popped out the moment he logged in! Seeing the date at the remote edge of the lower bar of the screen that weed him rang many rm bells in his mind. "N-N-No way T-T-That''s im-im-impossible!" He stuttered when he read the date, as this was literally seven years before the moment of finishing his quest. It was a memorable date in his mind, as in this night his game -Titans Revolut -and the rival game -Eternal Glory -wereunched at the same time. The two games were birthed shoulder to shoulder from the same point at the starting line, despite ending in two different fates. "Is this even real?" He couldn''t believe himself until he entered the web, looked for the formal page of his game, to find the counter of the release timer showing there were still a few hours until the start of the game. He took a deep, chilly breath to control his ragged emotions and explosive thoughts. His long desired second chance hade. The believable twist in fate that would grant him a second beginning had finally arrived, in the most unexpected way ever. "Thank you, thank you," he muttered, with great gratitude, to no one but the entity that gave him this precious chance. His tears flew down his cheeks without knowing that, and when he did, he wiped them out in a hurry before ruminating on his current situation. "Should I enter my game then?" he muttered, as he looked towards the two capsules lying on the floor, waiting for him to use them. One was the capsule of his game, with the simple logo of the game on its front. As for the other one, it was for the rival game, the one which ruined his game, and doomed his past life. He clenched his fists so tight that he even heard a popping sound and felt some pain. "No," he firmly shook his head, "fate didn''t grant me this chance to do nothing regarding what would happen to my game," he added, as he loosened his fist grip, his attention returned to theptop, and started searching for another site. The name of the Eternal Glory game appeared in front of his face. During the long, lonely, dark, and gloomy days of his past miserable years, he had nothing to do but to watch the developers chat inside the game. They always talked about two things only, the Eternal Glory game''stest developments, andmenting like losers in their bad luck. He knew this had nothing to do with luck; the developers of his game made a grave mistake,unching the game earlier than nned, for fear of the Eternal Glory game dominating the game world. A poor developed game with many mistakes and glitches would be a doomed game, especially when facing a constantparison with such a giant and well-executed game. He checked the website of the Eternal Glory game. He knew there were only two hours remaining for the official release. The door was opened for yers to enter the weing festival. So he signed up using Terry''s name, before confirming his registration in the game, and then he changed the name of the character to be his urate name Bloom. He walked in slow steps towards the game capsule of the Eternal Glory game, with the logo engraved in elegant fashion on the outer surface of the whole capsule, in the middle of arge, lifelike, exciting picture of a heated war scene inside the game. "Even the outer capsule design showed the great difference between the two," he muttered, with no feeling or impression at all, before he touched the outer interface of the capsule by his thumb, to open and find a luxuriousforting game red interior waiting for him. He didn''t dy as he lied down, pushed the closure button of the game capsule, before he watched it closing on his face. "Let''s go inside and wreck this game," he muttered, with a firm resolve as he decided the future n of his. Fate had given him a second chance, not to live his lifefortably, but to stand up and change everything. Even if his game wasn''t on par with this masterpiece, things shouldn''t be that bad for his beloved game, for his home. He took on his shoulders the mission to enter the Eternal Glory game, and be the glitch no one had ever expected, ruining and wrecking havoc of anything that might help that game stand out, to be exceptional. "Let''s see how this game would look like after I finish with it," he murmured, while the sh, bright light obliterated his eyes, and his consciousness seeped slowly and smoothly inside the game. Chapter 2: Starting The Eternal Glory Game, and Getting A Quest! Chapter 2: Starting The Eternal Glory Game, and Getting A Quest! The moment he opened his eyes, he found himself standing amidst a sea of yers. He was now in a ghost state, able to see others but others couldn''t see him, the ethereal world it was called. Just as his awareness became solid, a soft sound appeared in his mind: "Wee yer to Eternal Glory game. Now you have to determine two things before starting the game, one is your ss, second is your ce of start. Do you need any illustrations regarding both things?" He perfectly knew everything rted to sses in this game, and he had to admit, the system of this game was really a notch higher than the Titans Revolut game. In the Eternal Glory game, yers can choose among seven factions to y, weapon wielder, shield bearer, staff holder, shade sons, light daughters, controllers, and finally martial artists. Each faction had other sses to sprout under, like the weapon wielder had the swordsman ss, and the staff holder had the wizard ss. choosing a faction determined the distribution of the attribute points gained with each level. Each level gave, normally, five attribute points, two were forcibly allocated by the system ording to the faction yer belonged to, and three were free for the yer''s own choices. This game was all about choices, what to do and the consequences of your choicester on. it was a very detailed game, well thought of, not like his previous game. He knew which faction and ss he would start with. As for the starting point, he already chose it the moment he decided to wreck this game. There were five big continents in this game, with one continent so special than others. From the long years of knowledge about this game, he knew the maind continent was the centre of everything, nearly all the major events and main storylines of the game had to start or pass over this ce. Inside this continent, there was only onerge empire, and eight smaller kingdoms. The maind continent was positioned at the centre of the game, with straights connecting it with other continents scattered all around it. "I choose to start as a weapon wielder faction, choosing the swordsman ss, at the maind continent, inside the Ondary Empirends," he said, stating his own reply to the game. He thought of being an assassin, to be able to do what he pleased in the game, but he refrained from this. He didn''t know anything about assassins, and being one wouldn''t be an advantage but a hindrance. So he chose what he already excelled at. "Good choices, you will be transported there now. you have one hour and fifty minutes before the start of the game. I wish all the luck to you." The voice disappeared, and the whole world around him changed, shifting to another ce, and his ghost mode vanished, as he was now inside the game. The first thing he did was to check his own gear. The game gave yers standard gears for beginners, and this gear had no real value, as all yers would ditch them and gain another gearter on. The gear inside the game was a problem, a very known problem, as monsters nearly didn''t drop them, and their prices at the market were way off the roof. No ordinary yer could afford buying thetest gear matching his new level, but there was another way around leveling up the gear itself. That made this beginner set he had worthless, as he couldn''t upgrade them. The game had a fixed rule, giving each yer a chance to collect gears from monsters when yers reached level three, and this chance was the only free given chance ever. "So, I only have a sword that gives only one strength point, a thin armor that gives one defense point, and a rusted helmet that gives only one vitality point," he muttered after checking the three gears he already had. The next thing he did was to open his character profile, checking the scarce info there, which was mainly rted to his stats. "Disy character profile," he said, as the game used the verbalmands, in the early stages of course. A thin, semi-transparent screen, invisible to others, visible only to him, appeared on his side of vision. The way it was ced there didn''t affect his overall view of the world, which made himmend on this smart choice. "Character profile: yer name: Bloom yer faction: Weapon wielder yer ss: Swordsman yer level: 0 yer XP: 0 300 yer Inventory: Empty. yer Wealth: 100 copper coins. yer stats: Vitality (Vit): 1 Strength (Str): 1 Intelligence (Int): 1 Resilience (Res): 1 Physique (Phs): 1 Charisma (Chr): 1 Wisdom (Wis): 1 Luck (Lu): 1 Health Points (HP): 10 Attack points (Atp): 5 Magic Points (Mp): 5 Stamina (Stm):10 Speed (Sp): 5 Defense (Def): 5 Control power (Cp): 5 Gaia power (Gp): 5 Will power (Wp): 5 Beginner''s gift: Free Attribute points (Faps): 10 Do you want to start allocating the Faps now?" Bloom examined the short list in front of him in silence. The Eternal Glory game was renowned for its detailed system, as each faction already had its own form of energy to use. Weapon wielders used the Atp, shield bearers had Def, staff holders had Mp, Controllers had Cp, light daughters had Gp, shade sons had Wp, and finally martial artists had Stm. Each form of energy had its own main stat that was derived from, like Atp came from Str. So, raising the main stat would reflect upon the energy stat, which yers would use in their skills and fights. Bloom didn''t think twice, as he muttered: "I agree." "System alert: per yer''s faction, the system will allocate three points to the Vit, and two points to Str. The other five points are left for the yer to decide." He read the words written on the screen, and heard the soft voice of the game in his ears. He wasn''t surprised by this message, as these two stats were the main stats of his faction. "I choose to allocate two points to Vit, and three points to Str." "System alert: points have been allocated." He checked his profile again, and after that initial boost to every yer, he had his HP value skyrocketed to sixty points, as his Atp had welled up to thirty points. This was enough in his initial phase. After finishing this, he closed the screen by waving his hand over it to close, before looking around him, examining the famous festival of this game. Any virtual reality game up till now let the yers start at a ce known as the beginner''s vige, except for this one. yers start directly at a festival, inside the heart of the capital city, thergest city, of their empire or kingdom selected. Then from there, yers could buy a ticket, a teleportation ticket to either wilderness or battlefield. Each had a different path than the other, where wilderness would be filled up with monsters, and many dungeons to conquer, while battlefields will have armies of the empires and kingdoms fighting each other. One path led to the adventure route, while the other led to the generals and lords route, making this game really appealing to a grand sector of gamers and normal yers. Bloom knew more than that, as for instance the ce yers would choose to go wouldn''t have any means to buy potions or scrolls. This would make the first ten levels of the game quite challenging. He also knew the first five levels were widely known as the honeymoon levels, as the XP needed to raise them were small, inparison with the XP needed for higher levels. Also monsters up to level five would have low amounts of Hp, in regard to higher level monsters. Bloom was walking amongst the wide, clean, and luxuriously paved with marble streets while checking the scenes around him. Everything here was considered as a perfect celebrating day, however he wasn''t walking to enjoy sightseeing, he was looking for someone. This game was all about options; if yers chose to wander around, enjoying their time, they would miss some opportunities here. this wasn''t the weing party as many mistook, it was the only ce provided by the game to novice yers to restock their empty inventory with anything useful. All what yers needed to do was to search harder, and look with care and interest for these opportunities, the wandering NPCs. Bloom looked around himself, with his experienced eyes, to detect those NPCs. From their nickname, they would wander the festival, dressing like yers and trying to act like them, but for him it wasn''t that hard to detect the first one after walking for ten minutes. This NPC wasn''t marked by any special color mark above his head like usual virtual games, so it wasn''t that easy to spot him at all. Bloom had noticed another thing, the walking pattern, as yers tend to walk carefree, without a certain pattern or order in the walk. On the contrary, NPCs had a fixed pattern. So, amidst this chaos, where yers kept leaping andughing, enjoying their time, the NPC, he just spotted, was walking calmly, with stable steps, with fixed gaps between the steps. Bloom hurried to run and walk beside him, as he started to say: "Oh, didn''t know you sir will be walking with us here today." "Are you speaking with me?" the NPC asked, trying to act as a fool. "Yes, I mean you, sir NPC. Tell me, why are you wandering among us today? Do you need anything? Do you want any help?" This was the way to trigger this quest, asking this NPC about his needs. ording to what Bloom knew, this quest was missed from yers for months, until one time a new yer came and stumbled upon one NPC, and then he told the whole world about it. This caused quite a sensational reaction worldwide, as older yersmented their luck in not finding about this quest early on. "Oh, yes, yes, I''m looking for some help, please," the NPC replied, and at this moment a system notification popped in front of Bloom''s eyes. "System alert: Wandering NPC, Reaman, is asking you for help. Do you want to ept this quest?" "Sure, tell me more about it," Bloom replied, and at the same time he received another notification about epting the quest. "My apprentice went on a mission and he didn''te back. He told me before leaving to take care of his eight years child, and she asked for a stuffed bear doll as a festival present. Can you get me this stuffed doll?" Once this NPC, named Reaman, narrated the story, Bloom received more detailed info regarding the quest. "Helping Wandering NPC Reaman Quest: Grade: Weing festival quest. Task: Find a stuffed bear doll and bring it to NPC Reaman. Time limit: until you leave this festival. Reward: Five weing Hp potions." Bloom smiled in triumph, as he had sessfully triggered the quest. There was no XP bonus from such quests, but they would give to yers the precious supporting potions for nearly no money. "I will go and bring you the stuffed bear doll at once," Bloom instantly replied, as he went to another street where he recalled seeing many bears there. Once he reached the street, he found a stall selling these bears. He started observing the dolls. There were a lot of stuffed bear dolls here, with different shapes, sizes and colors. Bloom picked the lowest one in size, as he asked: "What is the price of this doll?" The NPC standing on this stall looked with no interest while replying: "One is worth ten copper coins." Bloom knew this doll would never fetch this price at all, but he knew too this was the game setting. No matter what quest yers would gain, they had to pay ten copper coins each time to fulfill it. Regarding each yer having one hundred copper coins in their possession, the maximum number of weing guests a single yer can have would be ten. "I will take it, here is the money," Bloom said, before opening the character interface, choose the one hundred coins and select ten to be sent to this NPC, who just epted them without saying a word. Bloom hurriedly returned to Reamen, who was still walking with his typical pace, not far away from the ce Bloom left him at. "Here I got the doll, what do you think about it?" Bloom hurried to give him the bear doll once he reached him. Reamen observed the doll with happy face, as he said: "Thanks, thanks a lot, you are really helpful. Here, take this to express my gratitude." Once Reamen said this, a system notification rang in Bloom''s ears, informing him about the end of the quest. "System alert: yer haspleted the Helping Wandering NPC Reaman Quest. Grade: Weing festival quest. Task: Find a stuffed bear doll and bring it to NPC Reaman. Evaluation: Gold evaluation Reward: Five weing Hp potions, plus a gratitude gift of another five Hp potions." ''Wow, I got ten potions in one go. I didn''t know finishing the quest so rapid would grant me extra rewards," Bloom muttered to himself, with a wide grin over his face. "Do you want any more help?" he asked Reamen again, who shook his head, disappointing Bloom. Bloom knew this was a game setting, so he didn''t waste any more time, starting to look again for another wandering NPC to help. Chapter 3: Entering The Wilderness Chapter 3: Entering The Wilderness He didn''t search for long this time, as after five minutes he found his next target. He was an axeman, with a big axe hung on his back. His appearance wasn''t matching with the current yers'' gears, and so Bloom headed straight to him, and said: "May I ask if you are looking for anything? Any help?" The NPC looked at him for a moment in a loss, before he smiled warmly while saying: "Sure, I have this master who wants to make a big celebration at his mansion. He asked me to buy a special firework from the festival, but I can''t find anything yet, can you help me?" Once he heard these words, a system notification rang in his ears, followed by the deration of the quest. "Helping Wandering NPC Doff Quest: Grade: Weing festival quest. Task: Find a good firework and bring it to NPC Doff. Time limit: until you leave this festival. Reward: ording to the quality of the firework." Bloom looked in surprise at this quest, as it didn''t have a fixed reward. That meant if he could have a worthless reward or a very precious one. This quest seemed tricky, but from his past experience in games, he knew such quests often gave a very good reward, one that could change the future of any yer. "Sure, wait a minute here and I wille back," he replied with great enthusiasm. He then went into a branched street, and started looking for fireworks. Finding such a thing here wasn''t that hard, but his mind was busy thinking about something else. He now had ny copper coins, and it seemed this quest could absorb them all. He just gathered ten Hp potions, which could only carry him for a couple of levels. In return, the reward of this quest would be great, more than enough to carry him along the first ten levels, or even more. "It''s the damn game style of hard choices and their consequences," he shook his head while muttering to himself, "let''s be realistic, I will spend fifty copper coins only and keep the rest for other quests," he decided, as he went to the nearest stall selling fireworks. He didn''t forget that finishing the quest in a rapid time had given him extra evaluation and more rewards. "How much is this firework?" he asked the NPC standing in the stall. "It cost thirty copper coins," the NPC said. "And this one?" Bloom asked, pointing to another, bigger firework. "It''s forty five copper coins," the NPC replied. "I want one with fifty copper coins, do you have any?" Bloom finally asked about the firework he needed. "This one, it''s called the dragon firework, and it''s considered one of the good fireworks here," the NPC said, alerting Bloom to a point he totally forgot. "Do you have any special firework?" he asked, as the quest was about getting a special firework. He knew if he got anything else, he would still be rewarded, but he wouldn''t be qualified to win the big prizes. "Yes, I have plenty of them. The cheapest starts from sixty copper coins," the NPC replied. "Oh, I want one," Bloom said, as he received the long and thick firework, with the head of a dragon opening its mouth wide. He paid the NPC then went back to find Doff, who remained standing in his ce. "Here, this firework is for you. What do you think of it?" Bloom gave the firework to Doff, whose eyes shone once he saw it. "Wow, that''s really a nice one. I''m sure my master will be pleased by this, thanks a lot for your help, and thanks again for picking this good firework," Doff said in a sincere happy tone. "System alert: yer haspleted the "Helping Wandering NPC Doff Quest: Grade: Weing festival quest. Task: Find a good firework and bring it to NPC Doff. Evaluation: Orange evaluation Reward: Three skill points and one talent point." "System alert: yer had opened the skill tree." "System alert: yer had opened the talent tree." Bloom sucked in a cold air once he heard the rewards he gained. "It''s a quest worthy of each copper I paid," he muttered in satisfaction, while opening his character profile again and confirming the presence of his rewards inside. "It''s a shame it''s not a ck evaluation, it seemed I needed to spend all my money to get it," he shook his head, not feeling as much regret. The evaluation and grading system in this game depended on colors, as white is the lowest, ck is the highest, and he once heard a rumor about a purple evaluation, but he didn''t know if it was true or not. He then tried to open the skill tree and the talent tree, but he got the same message from the game: "System alert: yer doesn''t have ess to the skill tree here." "System alert: yer doesn''t have ess to the talent tree here." "Sigh, this game takes the security of this ce so seriously," Bloom muttered in regret, as he wanted to rapidly allocate the acquired SP and TP points and open the corresponding skills and talents. Bloom then went ahead looking for more NPCs, and he rapidly found three others, each one gave him ten potions as a reward, two gave Hp potions, and thest one gave him a Stm potions. At the end of this quest hunt journey, his inventory had thirty Hp potion bottles, and ten Stm potion bottles. If he had to choose between the two, then he would go for Stm potions, as one of the challenging things in this game was Stamina. After he finished, he checked the clock and found the time hade for him to move into the game. Just as he went through the main street, he heard a system notification ranging in his ears: "System alert: the doors of the game are now officially opened. Go and get your ticket to the game, and start venturing on your glorious journey." The game was so generous to tell the yers about its beginning. He moved towards the nearest stall that gave a free ticket away from here, a teleportation scroll to the ce yers would select to go. "Good day sir, do you want to have your own ticket?" the NPC standing in front of the stall asked with a warm smile. "Sure, I want a ticket to wilderness," Bloom replied at once. "Here you go sir, I wish you the glory will be with your side," the NPC said, repeating the famous words of wishing good luck in the game, which would turn in theter years to be a slogan even in human life. "Sigh, the care of the details here is really superb, even to the tiniest part like the good luck phrases," Bloommented the good work of this game developers, in contrast to what his previous game developers did. Though he felt the great difference between the two, this wasn''t enough to make him change his mind. He had already a n in mind, to level up and grow stronger than anyone here, and go targeting the first mainline quest in the game, to mess up with it, and make it fail. If the mainline quests failed, and the initial game n deviated from the settled course, the developers would find themselves forced to interfere, unbncing the great masterpiece they created. Doing so would doom the game, like what the developers did to his previous one. He received the scroll from the NPC, and thanked him, before opening the scroll and looking at it. It was written in anguage he didn''t know, but he didn''t need to understand it. once he opened the scroll, a system notification appeared in front of him: "Do you want to use the ticket and go to the wilderness?" "Yes," he muttered. The reply came at once, by the start of burning the scroll. Fireflies like sparks of light came forth when the scroll disintegrated, forming a light ball around him, taking him away. He knew he couldn''t move, as if he did the effect of the scroll will be negated. Any teleportation scrolls in the game would need from three seconds to five seconds time to be activated, and that limited a lot of its usage amidst any fight. As the light around him faded, he found himself standing in front of a stretch ofnd, extending to the horizon without end. The time was daylight, with the sun in the middle of the sky. He knew he had already reached the wilderness, but before he could take a single step, a system notification appeared: "System alert: yer has reached the wilderness. Main task: reach level ten so you can have your ticket to the nearest vige." "System alert: yer has gained one skill point( Sp) and one talent point( Tp). yer can now open the corresponding skill tree and talent tree and activate the skills and talents he wants." ''Finally," Bloom muttered to himself, as he hurriedly opened the two trees, ready to use the points he already had. Chapter 4: Opening Skill and Talent Trees Chapter 4: Opening Skill and Talent Trees The skills and talents trees presented themselves in front of him, as he looked at both, recalling the info he knew about both of them. Unlike any other VR game, this Eternal Glory game followed other unique rules of skills and talents. Each ss had a certain set of talents, which helped the yer a lot in fighting using his main weapon. For a swordsman, there were talents like Sword mastery, single handed sword talent, double handed sword talent, flying swords talent, and shadow sword talent. Each talent required certain talent points to be unlocked, and a certain amount of Tp to be upgraded to higher levels. Each increase in talent level will reflect upon the yer''s final strength. As for skills, there were no such restrictions over any ss on using any skill of another ss, but there were manyplicated rules regting this. The simplest of them was rted to the number of Sp needed to learn each skill. As he was a swordsman, and being at the beginner stage of the game, he was granted one Sp and one Tp. As he managed to gain three more Sp and one more Tp, his choices now were drastically different from any other yer in his ss. Bloom opened the two trees and started contemting about them. The first thing he focused upon was the talent tree. He had only two Tp now, and so his options here were limited in these three options: "Single handed sword talent: increases Str by ten percent. Requires one Tp to be activated." "Sword mastery talent: increases Str by twenty percent. Requires one Tp to be activated." "Double handed sword talent: enables the yer to carry two swords at the same time. it increases Str by twenty five percent. Requires two Tp to be activated." For him, the most powerful was the double handed sword talent, but he didn''t have two swords now. He knew he would gain one sword at level three, but even if he had it, he wouldn''t be able to fully utilize the talent advantage. "It''s worth going for, as having one sword is much slower than two swords, plus my DPS will be diminished a lot," he muttered, solving this dilemma. "I choose to learn the double handed sword talent." "Double handed sword talent is activated. yer has the right to acquire another sword now." The system gave him a surprise, as another sword appeared inside his inventory. The talent was always activated, like a passive skill being running all over the time, so he just had to take out the sword, to find its scabbard hanging on the side of his belt. Two swords were now in his hand, and by this he had consumed all his Tp. When he rapidly checked the talent tree before waving his hand to close it, he was surprised to see the values of the Tp needed to unlock each talent got increased by three folds now. Each talent of the two who needed one Tp now needed three Tp. Other talents needed even more. It was an endless pit, but he had to ept the game rules. "At least I got something good this time," he muttered as he waved the two swords at once, feeling the fluent moves in them. "Time to select skills," he muttered, as he now had all the skill tree of his ss freely exposed to him. He knew this opportunity would only be present each twenty levels. If he wanted to learn a skillter on, he needed either to wait to reach level twenty, which was impractical, or be lucky enough and gain skill tokens from treasure boxes. The skills avable to him were numerous, but he knew having more skills at the beginning was a good start, better than having one supreme skill that would go on cooldown after each use. So, after scanning the list, he had chosen three skills to satisfy his needs. "Stab skill: hit the target with one hundred and fifty percent Atp. Cooldown: one second. It needs one Sp to be learnt." "Slice skill: Chain skill. it hits the target horizontally while the yer moves from side to side. It causes two hundred percent Atp. Cooldown: three seconds. It needs one Sp to be learnt." "Ground breaker skill: Chain skill. it allows the sword to be moved to the back, defending any iing strike, or attacking any enemy, then the yer will turn to face the enemy. It causes two hundred percent Atp, and parry with two hundred percent Def. Cooldown: three seconds. It needs two Sp to be learnt." Learning these skills consumed all the Sp he had, but he was satisfied with the result. Stab skill was a must to have skill, the base skill for any swordsman in any fight. As for slice and ground breaker skill, both were chain skills, which meant he could link them while using any other skill, without waiting for the skill to end. That would allow him great flexibility in any fight, especially when both were considered movable skills, allowing him to change his position while attacking. The ground breaker skill was worth every Sp he paid for. It was an offensive skill and also a defensive one, allowing him to be always secured from any backstabbers, without the need to waste time changing his body posture first. Having this skill, alongside his double sword talent was a blessing. He could attack using one sword, link another attack with the other, or even defend with his sword. Now he was ready, so he waved his hand to close the interface, as he was now well prepared to go on monster hunt. Reaching this step made him so excited, as this game, despite hating it to the bones, was very unique in the monsters they had. Unlike any other VR games, monsters here were avable for any yer in many ways. There were wilderness monsters, where yers could kill to level up, dungeon monsters, where yers could clear the dungeon and imed good rewards, and even boss monsters. All were avable to him without any restraints, but he knew dungeon and boss monsters were now harder for him to kill. So, he went straight, seeking for free monsters to kill. Just as he moved a couple hundreds of meters to the front, the stamina value started to show some fluctuations. "Damn, this stamina limitation is really a pain," heined, cursing the developers of the game inwardly, as this was one of the worst things about this game. Here, yers couldn''t venture forever in any map, couldn''t fight to their heart content with monsters, as the stamina liter would be emptied, and then the yer would be in fatigue state, making him unable to fight or even move properly. This feature wasn''t known beforehand, and that made many yers lose their lives in vain for the first fights here. As he knew that, he decreased his marching speed, to be like walking in a park. When he did that, that stamina meter showed stability, and started to rise up again. He sighed, his stamina wasn''t that much after all. "I need to put some points there," he muttered, as this would enable him tost longer in fights. In a few minutes, he managed to find his first group of monsters. There were three types of monsters actually, horned tigers, double headed bulls, and two tailed snakes. Monsters here had such unique rules, as all the monsters had levels from level one to level ten, and so yers had a very wide range of monsters to select from. He didn''t have yet an investigation skill, so he had to improvise these monster data, based on his past knowledge about them. "The bull is known for its great offense plus moderate defense, that tiger is known for its moderate offense, and thick defense. That snake is a pain, as its mobility is very high, and it can use poisons too," he muttered, while standing on the side, watching the three groups of monsters standing calmly there. Monsters at this early stage of the game were considered to be docile, as they wouldn''t attack the yer unless he started to fight them. Although it was an advantage in early stages, the other feature of the monsters was really a huge headache, even for him. "If the monster lost more than half of its Hp, it would try to escape, running away from this area, making the fight change to a chase fight!" This was really a headache, so fighting alone wasn''t rmended, especially when yers didn''t have any stun or trap skills yet. However Bloom decided to give it a try, as he wasn''t just a newbie, he was a great swordsman with rich experience as a swordsman. "Let''s aim for these tigers first," he muttered, choosing the distant group of tigers to attack. Tigers would run fast, but they couldn''t pause great threat to his defenses, not like the bull for example. As for dealing with snakes, this was out of question, as he couldn''t overrun their high speed, and that would make any fight end without any gains for him. Chapter 5: Killing The First Player in The Game Chapter 5: Killing The First yer in The Game As he decided, he moved towards the tiger group, where there were over a hundred tigers standing there, doing nothing at all but walking slowly, amidst each other. He stood on the area outside their territory, and watched them until he found a tiger was going in a direction away from the group. "It''s you then," he muttered, heading straight towards that tiger, to attack it from the rear. "Stab." The first skill he used was the basic skill of his, as his right hand sword moved to hit the back leg of the tiger. That sword prated the thick skin of the tiger, causing it to roar in pain, while a white number floated above its head. "30" That was the loss of the monster Hp, which revealed the Hp bar of that monster for brief moments. "Hmm, so it''s around one hundred Hp points for level one monsters," Bloom muttered as he followed the first sword with another strike. "Stab!" "30" Another big number appeared above the monster head. The monster was about to turn to face Bloom, but it paused, intending to change its course, and run away. This wasn''t missed from the keen eyes of Bloom, who used the one skill he was saving to this moment. "Slice." "Slice." This time he used one skill twice in a row, moving, faster than the tiger''s speed, to stand in front of the tiger, as his two swords were cutting the thick skin of that monster. "40" "40" It was over, as the monster roared, before it fell on the ground, with some blood soaking the green grass. "System alert: yer has killed monster level one, and gained ten Xp." The system announced his killing to the monster, which had a strange infinity sign above its body. Bloom just sighed when he looked at this sign. "I don''t have any collecting skill to gather these materials, tsk." Monsters in the game would die and leave their bodies for the yers to collect materials from. Normally, any yer can collect materials or gather herbs on his own, but this would consume much time, and in the process many materials would be lost. There was a rule in the game, any killed monster''s body would have a limit to its existence. As this was the early stage of the game, the bodies of killed monsters would pile up forever until yers came and salvaged materials from them. Materials were one of the hard currencies in the game, as it was used in many diverse ways, all were essential and considered life and money saving. Despite knowing that, Bloom knew it would be easier if he upgraded to level one, gained the one Sp point he would collect each level, and then learnt a collecting skill. He had ten XP points. To reach level one, he had to have three hundred XP, which meant he needed to kill twenty nine more monsters. "One down, twenty nine to go," he muttered as he moved his eyes to look at another tiger, before running to attack it. It went all fine, until the twentieth monster, where yers started to swarm the ce. the appearance of yers came in waves a while ago, but they didn''t disturb him, and he didn''t disturb them. All went well until one loser guy decided to interrupt his rhythm, at the moment when he was about tond a killing blow to the monster. "Stay away!" Bloom roared, as he felt the yer running towards his back, intending to bypass him and kill the monster. The yer was also a swordsman, but Bloom didn''t care about that. As the yer neared him, bloom finally used hisst skill, which he reserved for emergencies. "Ground breaker." His left hand sword moved on its own, at unparalleled speed, to suddenly appear on the back of Bloom, meeting the other sword of that yer. "ng!" "0" "-55" A clear sound appeared, as the two swords met, while Bloom had a big zero above his head, while that yer had minus fifty fife on the top of his, in bright red color. That wasn''t the end of it, as Bloom''s body moved, on its own, to turn backward, facing that yer whose eyes were wide open from the strong loss he just suffered. "Bye bye, slice." The sword in his hand linked to the move, and moved to cut that yer''s body, while Bloom kept moving, turning around the yer''s body, which had a big minus fifty five over his head again, before mming on the ground, so heavily that it even caused a thud sound. He died, just like that, with only two strikes, one seemed pretty impossible to all the yers who were watching here. Bloom didn''t care about them, as he looked towards his monster, to find no trace of it. "That stupid bas****" he cursed as he lost the monster, eventually. "System alert: you killed another yer. Your fame decreased by one point. You can''t enter the system viges, towns, cities, and capitals before washing your negative fame. Kill more monsters to do it, and stop killing other yers." Bloom just ignored thest remark afterughing shortly at it. he wasn''t here to y, he was here to make chaos. He checked his stamina, to find he lost half of his own during the two fights which he just had in a row. "Tsk, it''s a regret that yers can''t drop anything before level ten," heined, as killing others wouldn''t give him any benefit for now. He decided to take a break, go to look for another area to level up. He still needed to kill ten monsters, and after that he would level up. Just as he moved away from here, many yers started to gossip, talking about what just happened here. He noticed their whispers until he moved far enough to hear nothing, but he didn''t care about their opinions or ims about him. He just wanted to level up in peace, reach level ten, go to town, and then start looking for some problems to cause. Just as he went ahead, he found himself passing through ces full of yers leveling up. He noticed many idents like the one that just happened to him. He kept moving forward, until there were no more yers here anymore. "What a nuisance!" he shook his head, as he was d he, finally, got rid of these yers. He was now nearby a group of tigers, which he moved towards withplete ease. Just as he reached them, he selected one tiger randomly, as he now was very experienced in dealing with them, before pointing his sword towards it and murmured: "Stab." His sword moved, prated the monster thick skin, causing it to roar, but at this moment, the number that floated up from the monster made Bloom feel stupid. "Zero!" Chapter 6: Fighting A Higher Leveled Monster By Accident Chapter 6: Fighting A Higher Leveled Monster By ident It was an impossible number, but he didn''t have the time to think, as the monster moved its front w, in a strange fast speed, to appear suddenly in front of his face. "Dam it! Slice!" He used his chain skill, linking his attack with the current, not yet to end, skill. his other sword moved, to cut the skin of the monster, while his body started, forcibly, to move away from that deadly looking strike. "5" It was just a mediocre number appearing above the monster''s head, however it came with the appearance of the Hp bar of the monster, which seemed much thicker than usual. "What luck! I chose a much higher level monster than me! I''m doomed! I need to retreat now!" He just thought about retreating, when the tiger seemed to read his intentions, jumped on the only way to the outside, obstructing his way to the open wilderness. "Curse you! You want me to run into your friends, attack me, and make my skills alert them and surround me! forget it, if I have to die then at least I must fight back!" His eyes shone with determination, as he decided to give this fight his all. The first thing he cared about, the most important thing now, was his stamina. Its value was full ten points at the start of the fight, and now it was nine and half, approximately. "That means I don''t have much time to deal with you, d I have my own stamina potions." He wasn''t that worried, as he had stamina potions inside his inventory. He knew he wouldn''t only need it, but also the Hp potions as well. His skill was in the middle of execution, when he pointed his other sword and muttered: "Ground breaker!" His sword then linked with the slice skill, moving in the same direction, adding more speed to his, while a small five appeared on top of that monster. As his movement increased, his stamina consumption plummeted, but he didn''t care. just as the slice skill ended, he pointed his sword towards the body he was moving around and muttered: "Stab!" His sword pierced the skin of the monster, forcing it to roar, and a big twenty damage appeared on top of its head. "Great, it was a critical hit," he yelled in happiness, before repeatedly using the stab skill. The next time wasn''t as lucky as thest one, as each strike only added ten damage to the monster. He knew this damage was caused by his increasing moving speed, which pressed hard on his stamina, but it added more momentum to his swords. "Slice!" Once the cooldown finished, he used the skill, to add more to his speed. "25" It was a normal hit, augmented by his motion. He just prayed for it to be critical, but it didn''t. Once his other chain skill finished, he used stab repeatedly, and kept doing this cycle, with the monster trapped inside an imaginary circle he was drawing, with no ability to touch him at all. Until his stamina ran out. It didn''t happen suddenly, as he always kept his gaze on the stamina meter. Once it hit the bottom, he felt his body was about to lose power, so he unsheathed the two swords, hurriedly, took out one Stm potion, and gulped it on one breath. "Stm potion: low grade stamina regeneration potion. It adds five points of stamina at once, and regenerates one stamina point each second for the next five seconds. Can''t be used while other stm potion is active." The moment he gulped its content, five stamina was added to his stamina meter at once. he just let the bottle down, and grabbed the handles of his two swords, as he murmured: "Ground breaker!" It was a moment of life and death for him. doing all that took two seconds time, which enabled the monster to direct a deadly w to him. He calcted it, and tuned his body to receive the strike on his back. Once he took out one sword, and even before he could hold it tightly straight, he used the only defensive skill he had. His sword moved like lightning, appearing behind his back, to meet the w of that monster. two numbers appeared one after another, one red and one white. "15" "-50" Barely, he just barely escaped the ws of death. If not for his parry with his sword, adding more to his useless defense, he was sure he would be dead right now. Before wasting anytime, he sheathed the two swords again, taking advantage of the skill he just used, took out one Hp potion, and gulped it in no time, before unsheathing his two sword, and muttering: "Slice!" His body moved, while the potion took effect. He received thirty points at once, and his Hp would regenerate by ten points each second for five seconds. He was safe, for now, and that monster half life point was drawing near. "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Ground breaker!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Slice!" He kept using his three skills, repeatedly, taking advantage of the stamina regeneration effect of his potion. In the next minute, his stamina was about to be depleted again, but the Hp of that monster had already fallen below the midpoint of it. "Now run for your life so I can run for mine!" Bloom shouted, with much frustration and deep tension, when that monster lost more than half of its Hp. Just as he waited, nothing happened, and at this moment, a rare info jumped into his mind. "Damn! It''s a higher monster than me by three levels then, so it won''t run. Curse that stupid dignityw or something!" He cursed out loud and inwardly the game developers for creating such a useless silly dumpw. All monsters would follow the rule of run and escape, except if the level of the monster was above that of the yer with more than three levels. In this case, such as what Bloom was experiencing right now, the monster wouldn''t escape, based on the dignityw, and would continue the fight until one of them died. Bloom gritted his teeth. He kept his hands from pushing himself far this time, depending on the fact this monster would run away soon. But now everything changed, so he sheathed his swords, gulped on stm regeneration potion, and then used his defensive skill, blocking the iing monster''s w. "40" "-50" Two huge numbers appeared this time, one caused by his critical attack on the monster, and the other caused by the monster''s w, after being relieved by his parry defense. He didn''t hold back, as he used another Hp potion, before starting a race against time, against this monster, to continuously attack it, wanting it dead! "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Ground breaker!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Slice!" Another maddened spree of attacks came, interrupted only by the use of Stm potions and Hp potions repeatedly, until the monster Hp finally hit the bottom. This wasn''t just a simple fight, it was a suicidal mission. Any single mishap and he would end up being dead, not standing panting right now like he was feeling, extremely exhausted and alive. "System alert: yer has killed monster level five, and gained one hundred and fifty Xp." "System alert: yer has leveled up." "System alert: yer has gained five Fps, one Sp, and one Tp." Chapter 7: Fighting A Group of Level Two Monsters Chapter 7: Fighting A Group of Level Two Monsters Just as the two notifications fell on him out of nowhere, he felt a green, very refreshing light, wrapping around him. He had been leveled up, and all his injuries, exhaustion, loss of Hp and Stm were cleansed clean now. Each level gained would have the same marvelous effects on the yer. Bloom heard many stories about yers being on verge of death, and then they leveled up to be saved. Now as his Hp and Stm were fully restored, he didn''t stand in his ce for even a second. He moved fast, getting out of sight of these monsters, enough risking his life so far, that was what he felt inside him. He was lucky once, but not that lucky though. Out of his inventory stock of potions, he consumed five Stm potions and six Hp potions in this fight alone. He sighed, helplessly, as if it was up to him, he wouldn''t attack this level five monster. Now he had one Sp point, which was enough to unlock one skill, and one Tp that could be used to raise up his current talent to the next level, or store it for unlocking next talents. He thought about it, choices, that was what this game was based upon. He had to choose between unlocking the collecting skill, which he would get very useful materials from right now, or unlock the investigation skill, to save his as* from fighting another deadly monster like the one he just fought. "Investigation skill is a life saving skill, I will choose it and leave the collecting skill for the next level then," he muttered to himself, deciding his future path. "I choose to unlock the investigation skill," he said to the game system, which replied at once: "System alert: investigation skill is unlocked." "Investigation skill: active skill. lifestyle skill. used to investigate the basic info regarding anything. Cooldown: one second." It was a useful skill, which he hurriedly used on level five monsters up ahead. "Tiger monster: level five monster." He didn''t even have the Hp data of the monster, which was due to the low level of his skill. If he needed to learn more, he would need to upgrade the skill, but he didn''t need to do it now. He was satisfied by just knowing the level of the monster for now. As for the one Tp, he decided to keep it. although one handed sword talent wasn''t useful for him now, he was considering other useful talents, one talent in particr, which would have created a big difference in thest fight. "Fast draw talent: allows the yer to unsheathe the sword as part of the attack. Increases Str by twenty five percent. It requires four Tp points to be learnt." If he stored the Tp from now on, he would be able to learn this life saving talent in level four. After settling this matter, he then thought about the Fps he got from leveling up. ording to his faction, two points were already distributed, one to Str, and the other went to Vit. Now he had three points to consider. "I would put two in Resilience, so I would gain twenty points Stm, and Speed will be boosted as well," he muttered, as he distributed the two points as he decided. Stm was a hard currency for his current low level, a stat that was pretty annoying to him right now. As for thest point, he added it to Str, so he gained two more points in it, raising his Atp by ten points. By finishing all that, he was ready to fight monsters again. This time, he left those level five tigers behind, and went up ahead where he saw small mammoths with some horns over their heads, and a strange shaped tail that was like the tail of a snake. He immediately used his investigation skill on one of them, and the result was quite satisfying. "Mammoth monster: Level two monster." It was quite a satisfying monster to him. He first observed the attitude of these monsters, having big bodies and long agile tails made them lean towards pure strength with their bodies as their main weapons. He instantly pictured them using these horns to attack him, and that tail would cause quite a disturbance for him. If his calctions were right, then these monster Hp would be no more than one hundred and fifty points. Considering his new Atp, and putting the level reduction problem in the equation, his attacks would range between thirty five and fifty points of damage. That was enough to kill one monster in less than five attacks, which was quite enough for him to kill the monster without having any damage. It was safe. "Let''s kill some mammoths," he muttered, encouraging himself as he went up ahead to the monsters. There were around ten monsters in this area, forming one small group, but he didn''t consider this when he unsheathed his two swords, and attacked one monster at the rear. "Stab." "Stab." "60" "40" It was pretty close to his expectations, and by these two attacks, the monster Hp fell by a big chunk in the Hp meter that showed above itsrge head. "Nice," he cheered up himself, as he followed his attack with another stab. Just as his sword was about tond on the monster, he felt some winding from the side, so he hurriedly used the other sword with the skill: "Ground breaker." "-10" "50" He managed to stop the tail from causing much damage to him, but to his surprise, it wasn''t the tail of the monster he was attacking, but it belonged to another monster, dering its join to the fight. "What the!! These are herd monsters!!" He eximed out in surprise, before his other sword stabbed the monster, causing a critical hit. "100" This was enough for the monster to fall, losing its life, and a system prompt came telling him about killing the monster. "System alert: yer has killed level two monster. yer has gained thirty Xp." As he was now level one, fighting level two was considered a skip level kill for him, making him gain double Xp. He didn''t have time to cheer on this, as the other nine monsters showed signs of attacking as well. He had already engaged in a fight with one monster, and as he had used his movable skill, he let his body move with the sword, turning to face that monster, deciding not to retreat. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Ground breaker." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Ground breaker." He had already created his own tempo, using stab skill as his base attack skill, his ground breaker to wee an attack from the rear, shifting positions to face that new monster, and slice skill to escape any surrounding from the monsters. "50" "40" "40" "100" "80" "40" "50" "100" "80" "80" Chapter 8: Gaining Another Level, Reaching Level Two Chapter 8: Gaining Another Level, Reaching Level Two He noticed that the more he was immersed in using his skills repeatedly, the more critical damage he would gain. After doing this round, killing four more monsters, he had emptied half of his Stm meter, leaving him more rxed in dealing with the remaining five monsters. The five monsters were moving chaotically, all around the ce, trying to hit him with horns in their heads, while their tails acted like whips, attacking him out of nowhere. Amidst the previous round, he had suffered some attacks, losing half of his Hp. It wasn''t that serious, but he decided to act safely. So , he used slice skill, moved in an oblique course, sheathing his two swords, and emptying one Hp potion in one gulp. His Hp regained its full state at once, while he unsheathed his sword, and continued his second round of attacks. "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Ground breaker." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Ground breaker." "Stab." Monsters started to fall one by one under the barrage of his two swords. He was now fighting to his heart''s content, with his Stm meter was now lower than ten percent, and with it thest monster fell on the ground. Just as he was panting, a green sh of light descended upon him, making him level up again, followed by two system notifications. He hurriedly opened the list of notifications, finding nine simr ones, and thest two that came with his leveling up. "System alert: yer has killed level two monster. yer has gained thirty Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level two monster. yer has gained thirty Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level two monster. yer has gained thirty Xp." . . . "System alert: yer has killed level two monster. yer has gained thirty Xp." "System alert: yer has leveled up." "System alert: yer has gained five Fps, one Sp, and one Tp." Ten monsters, each gave him thirty Xp, making him gain three hundred Xp, added to the fifty he already had, he was enough to rise to the next level. "Wow, never imagined I would reach level two this fast," he cheered up while checking the Xp needed for the next level, to find it being doubled. He needed seven hundred Xp for the next level. "Sigh, I think I won''t be this lucky ever again." He shook his head, knowing the Xp would continue to soar from here on. killing a group or two of monsters wouldn''t be enough to raise him one level, as he would need to kill at least thirty monsters, higher than his level with one level at least. "Let''s think about it another time, now I choose to unlock the gathering skill," he said, as he decided to open this main skill, and start gathering materials from these monsters. "System alert: Collecting skill is now unlocked." "Collecting skill: Active skill. Lifestyle skill. allows the yer to collect materials from monsters equal, lower, or three levels higher than him. for higher leveled monsters, please upgrade the skill. Cooldown: ten seconds." "Nice," he cheered, as he had this essential skill. He then distributed his points, one to Resilience as well, making his Stm meter reach forty points, and the other two went to his Strn, making it reach fifty five points. "Next time I would upgrade my Vit and Str together," he muttered, as he closed his character page, before looking down towards the bodies of these monsters, with that infinity mark floating over them. "Let''s have some materials." He then went ahead, and started using his collecting skill one time after another. "Collecting skill." "System alert: you have collected level one monster tail." "Collecting skill." "System alert: you have collected level one monster fur." "Collecting skill." "System alert: you have collected level one monster horn." "Collecting skill." "System alert: you have collected level one monster hooves." "Collecting skill." "System alert: you have collected level one monster teeth." "Collecting skill." "System alert: there is nothing else to collect from this monster. the monster''s body will vanish in one minute." A system prompt came telling him he couldn''t take any more materials from this dead mammoth. Each monster had a fixed number of materials based on his level. All materials taken from normal monsters like these ones would be ssified by the system ording to their levels. He didn''t wait and went to the next monster, and started collecting the five materials of it. When he finished, he had ten materials each of the five main materials he collected from this monster. He thought about going to that tiger, but he just dismissed the idea. He didn''t want to face these tigers now, so he decided to wait until he reached level four, unlocked his desired talent, then go back and teach these tigers a lesson. He was now ready to move to the next spot. He didn''t need to run for much time, as after two minutes'' distance of walking from the mammoths, he found apes, hard to deal with monsters. "Investigation skill," he muttered. "Ape monster: level four monster." He knew he could take level four monsters if he wanted, but dealing with an agile based monster wasn''t the perfect choice for him. He decided to skip them, and headed towards another monster group. They were a bunch of crocodile-like monsters, with eight thick and long legs, and a huge agile tail that ended with a forked end. "Investigation skill." "Crocodile monster: level three monster." It was good for him, as he didn''t want to aim higher than one level difference, and he definitely didn''t want to fight a monster at his level or lower. He checked his Stm meter again, making sure it was fully restored now after running these minutes, then he walked in, heading towards one rear monster. Chapter 9: Meeting Gored Team Chapter 9: Meeting Gored Team The moment he started killing those twenty crocodiles, he was deeply immersed in the game, so he didn''t notice he was being watched. Twenty crocodiles, level three each, gave him forty Xp each. He wasn''t that lucky this time, as five monsters managed to slip away from him the moment their Hp declined below fifty percent. So, he got only six hundred Xp, slightly less than he wanted to level up. Just as he was about to collect the materials from them, he noticed a few shadows moving in the distance,ing straight at him. "Are they yers?" he muttered, as he felt surprised to find yers at this ce beside him. He waited for a few seconds until they reached him, a team made of nine yers, seemed ready to try out a dungeon. "Hello my friend, great job here, are you at level three?" the yer, who was carrying two shields in hand asked, as he seemed to be the leader of this group. Bloom wasn''t weing their intrusion on his ce, and so he started collecting level three materials from the bodies of these monsters, while saying: "No, but I will soon reach there." He didn''t notice the looks over the yers faces, as his gathering speed to materials was more efficient and took shorter duration then what they used to have. "That''s great, we all have reached level two as well, and we want to raise the stakes and head directly towards a dungeon," that shield bearer yer said, while inviting him, indirectly to join the team. Bloom wasn''t that weing to y with others, but he also wanted to test the dungeons, to see if he could clear them alone or not. Dungeons were a great way to level up, and by the looks of things, this team had already tried the dungeon and failed. "Is there a dungeon nearby?" he asked, while he left a monster body, and headed for another. Each monster granted him five different materials of level three materials, which he all stored in his inventory, waiting for the time he would go to the vige and use them. "Dungeon?" one of the yers said, in a tone that didn''t like Bloom, "there are endless dungeons here," he added, pointing his hand all over the ce. The shield bearer nced at the yer, shortly, before he replied: "There is one dungeon nearby, level three dungeon, a ce we can handle ourselves well in, wanna join us?" Bloom liked the way this shield bearer handled things, and he wanted to try these dungeons out, so he said, while busying himself with the monsters: "Sure, let me finish here and we can all move out." "Nice," the shield bearer said, "I will send you an invitation now," he added. As Bloom was busy gathering the materials, a system prompt came in. "System alert: yer Gored the leg had invited you to join his team, do you ept?" ''Why is this name sounds quite familiar?'' That was the first thing Bloom had in mind when he heard that name. He didn''t think much about it, as he epted the add. "System alert: you are now part of Gored the leg team." He continued to gather materials, which took a few minutes to finish. He noticed the weird looks from the others towards him, but he said nothing. After he finished, he started to observe the team. From the first nce, this team wasn''t hastily made, and the factions there were carefully selected. There were one from each faction, and two from weapon wielder and shield bearer factions. With his presence, there would be three swordsmen in the team, which made this ss the most popr one here. "Good, are you ready to go?" the team leader, Gored, said while patting on Bloom''s shoulder. Bloom shrugged his shoulders, in a natural way, as he didn''t like this intimate behavior, while saying: "Sure, let''s go." Gored just smiled and went up ahead while the assassin in the group led the way. As Bloom didn''t have anything to do, he opened the list of the team members, and started reading their names and sses. Just as he was reading, his eyes fell on a certain name, someone who made him feel electrified when he read it. ''No wonder the name of this team seemed familiar!'' This team wasn''t known yet, but years toe it would be widely recognized as one of the strongest independent teams in the whole game. This wasn''t a fluke, but it was due to the presence of one yer, the legendary carder! Of course she was now ying in a healer ss, a normal light daughter faction ss that many had chosen, but Bloom knew in theter days, she would fulfill the requirements for the secret ss, and became the legendary carder. She was a dreadful character that no one would even want to cross path with, much darker than even the darkest liches and necromancers. He didn''t know why she ended up being like that, as the female yer he was seeing right now wasn''t the bad or dark at all. There was one more thing he cared about regarding this group. It would growrger in the future, but it was rumored that in the early days, a certain yer joined them, the yer who would trigger the first mainline quest of the whole game. The quest to save the shrine! Chapter 10: Finding The First Target to Wreck Chapter 10: Finding The First Target to Wreck He knew this quest would trigger a series of long chained quests to save and protect many shrines all over the game, creating a sensational sense of belonging, as each shrine saved would grant the yers in its area certain, permanent buffs. That was one of the famous things that drew more yers to the game. Bloom now knew what he should do, as if the rumors were true, then this team path and that yer path would briefly intercept each other before reaching level ten. The moment he would find this yer, would be the day he wouldn''t stop until he zeroed him out. "Tell me, where are you from?" another swordsman came to him and asked. Bloom knew this was just a beginning to ask him about another thing, his collecting skill. "I''m from here, we are all from here," he joked, trying to evade answering the question. "Oh, sure," the swordsman was startled with this weird reply, "so, I was wondering about how you collect all these materials from monsters in no time at all!" The question of this swordsman, who was slim, shorter than Bloom, and went by the name Edra, attracted everyone''s attention. It wasn''t a secret that they all were astonished at the way he gathered materials. They always collected materials, but it took longer time, and many materials would end up being lost. But he, in front of them, never had one single damaged material, which seemed rted to a skill or a talent. They tried to look for it, but they couldn''t find any data on the forums. "It''s a skill called collecting skill, a branched skill from the lifestyle faction," he simply replied, nicely and helpful he hoped, so he could be with them until he met his target. "Oh, is there a lifestyle faction? I searched for lifestyle sses, but never found anything!" Peri, the future carder jumped in the talk, asking with passion about this matter. It seemed strange to Bloom, as the girl in front of him, this sixteen years old, blond hair, golden green eyes, slim body, fair porcin skin, wasn''t that hard to deal with. In fact, he would put her in an easy to get category. "There isn''t a lifestyle ss here," Bloom simply replied, and his confidence seemed to give them an impression that he knew info more than them. "Is it true? I read about how to craft weapons and make potions in the promo," the assassin of the team, called Brendy, said, while he was going upfront, leading them towards the dungeon. "Yes, you can forge weapons, make potions, and other lifestyle stuff, but you need to have talents, not sses," Bloom replied, shrugging his shoulders, "I dunno why, but to have a lifestyle ss you need to have the talent of it, then equip yourself with skills needed for it," he added, trying to act as the source of invaluable information. And he was truly that one to them. "Brother Bloom seems to know a lot about the game," Gored pumped in, as he added, "Are you a beta yer? I know a beta yer as well, and he looks exactly like you." The eyes of Bloom shone brightly, as he knew that key yer was rumored to be a beta tester of the game. "Aha, it''s a secret of mine, can''t tell, sorry, can''t tell," he waved his hands in an innocence, like he couldn''t really tell them anything. "Tsk, didn''t I say they two are alike?" Gored said, with some annoyance on his face, speaking to the rest of his team, as they all nodded their heads in agreement. "The two looks exactly the same," Peri said, "but I like this one better than that arrogant one!" Her remark made Bloom have some spections about the rtionship between the two. It seemed that the yer wasn''t weed here at all, and thus he soon left the team after briefly joining it. "I heard he is looking to make his own team, spreading the word here and there," Gored said, as he shook his head, "that punk, if he only was someway modest, I would have dly epted him," he, regretfully added. "But he wanted all of us to work under him, calling him boss," Brendy smirked from the forefront, making everyoneugh. "Is he strong?" Bloom asked, trying not to be suspicious when asking about that yer. "Him? He is a skilled swordsman, I think he is as skilled as you," Gored said, as he watched Bloom fighting the monsters from before, "but he is really arrogant, very arrogant, not like you at all," Gored added. Bloom didn''t get anything new, but the good impression he left in them was a good start. He wanted to ask to be with them for the dungeon hunt, but he refrained from doing this now, it was so soon to ask for this. "The dungeon is up ahead," Brendy suddenly said, breaking the little chat among the team. As the dungeon came in sight, Bloom found a small cave entrance appearing like it was enforced to be here. the color, the materials it was made of weren''t matching the terrain around it. That was a sample of the normal dungeons spread all over the game. dungeons here weren''t that hard to find, or finish, as long as you select a suitable dungeon to hit. This dungeon was level three dungeon, and that was known easily by Bloom when he investigated the monsters roaming around the cave entrance. "Zondily: level three dungeon monster." Chapter 11: Debate Regarding How to Do A Dungeon Run Chapter 11: Debate Regarding How to Do A Dungeon Run There was no other info rted to it, but it was enough to tell the level of the dungeon. "Have you tried it before?" Bloom asked, as they didn''t know about the collecting skill, so they wouldn''t be able to find the investigation skill. the only way to know the level of the monsters then would be through fighting, and killing one of them. "We killed a bunch of these creepies," Brendy said, "they aren''t that hard to kill, but they are quite aggressive, not like the other normal monsters here," he added. ''Sure they are aggressive,'' Bloom muttered to himself, as the dungeon monsters were known to be actively seeking any intruders. Comparing the normal monsters in the leveling maps would be likeparing a cat with a tiger. "You should be careful then, dealing with them would be quite challenging," Gored said, speaking to everyone around him, not only Bloom. From the look of things, they seemed to lose badly to those zondilies, or might even be wiped out! Being killed inside a dungeon would only make the yer lose twenty percent of his current level Xp. So it wasn''t that easy to lose a level here, not like dying on the hands of a yer. "Now I will assign roles, I will move to the front with the two shield bearers, while weapon wielders will follow us behind. Once we stabilize the aggro, other factions can join in." Gored said the basic, and well known strategy for the VR games, however Bloom knew this tactic was doomed to fail. Unwillingly, he decided to give them another info, rted to a secret of the game, as this was also rted to his own safety and progress. "Can I edit that?" he opened up, asking for permission first, so not to be branded as being rude or arrogant like the other beta. "Do you have another way to y?" Brendy asked with his sarcastic nature. "Sure, this way will make you all be killed," Bloom stepped in, "dungeon monsters here don''t follow the old same rules of all games from before," he added, while pointing to the monsters roaming in front of the dungeon, "Since when there are monsters getting out of dungeon, acting like they were protecting it?" he said, trying to add some sense into his ims. He knew if anyone asked for a proof, then the only thing he would use would be being beta. This might solve his problems for now, butter on they would discover his lie, and this might bacsh at him. "And you know this, because you are beta, right?" Peri asked, as she was looking in an emotionless way towards him, making him puzzled, was she pleased or irritated by his words? "I really can''t say," he shook his head, replying honestly to her words, "but I can assure you this, going in to face these monsters like this is a suicide." Gored decided to hear more from him, as he said, putting an end to his own team''s interrogation: "What is the best approach in your opinion then?" Others nces, weirdly, at him, while Bloom said: "These monsters don''t follow the simple old rules of Aggro. They wouldn''t stick their Aggro to anyone, but to their Hp meter. Every twenty percent Hp loss, they would move randomly, hitting one yer without any rules. It might be the main DPS, or one of the healers, it doesn''t matter. That sudden attack would be enough to kill our staff holder and light daughter factions among us first, rendering us helpless against them," he looked towards the rest of them before adding, st time you fought them, and the first to fall were the staff holder and light daughters, right?" They nced at each other, while saying nothing. Bloom knew this wouldn''t be enough to convince them, and he didn''t want to waste any more time without leveling up, so he said at once: "I''m sorry, but if we don''t change the tactic, I would have to leave and level up alone." His words showed to them he really believed in what he said. "What if you were proven to be wrong?" Brendy asked. "We will die, and that wouldn''t be surprising as we have to be ready to die more than once if we are going to make dungeon runs, right?" Bloom said. "Then let''s try the old method," Brendy said. "You did once and you died once," Bloom said, "why don''t try the new method then?" he added. "Enough both of you," Gored stepped in, again, as he knew how sharp Brendy''s tongue could be, "we will try Bloom''s method once," he added, while gesturing at Bloom to continue exining his method, while silently ncing at Brendy to silence him. "To counter this, we have to distribute ourselves in one of these formations," he said as he picked up his sword and started drawing on the grass, "either we form a circle made of shield bearers, shade sons and weapon holders, and inside would be other factions, or we attack freely, but there must be at least one shield bearer and one weapon holder behind to defend against any sudden attack." If it was up to him, he would go for the second way, as it would be more active than the first, but this would require many conditions, and truly he doubted this team would have these conditions fulfilled. "I think the second approach is the best, but it will put a great toll over the two yers waiting behind," Gored said, as he started to consider Bloom''s words, which seemed not just meaningless words. "I can support the rear," one of the shield bearers, a shield pdin ss, said. "No, this task would require much agility, good reflexes, and thick blood," Gored, to Bloom''s amazement, had already deciphered some of the conditions needed for the second tactic, "I''m the only one here who can do it," he added, volunteering himself to do the job. "What about our weapon wielder?" Brendy said, as he looked at Bloom with smirking eyes. "Fine," Bloom shrugged his shoulders, "I will be your swordsman," he added. "Sure?" Gored asked with doubt, as he asked for him to join the team, and he was now helping them adjusting their strategy, so he wasn''t in any kind of debt towards them to take on such a heavy task. For Bloom, he knew all that, but he found this would be a great opportunity to make his rtions with yers here tighter. Plus, in the dungeon, all yers would receive an equal share of Xp, as long as it wasn''t a ranked dungeon. So, fighting in the front, or staying in the back, all would gain the same result at the end. "Yes, let''s get started, the dungeon run would take two to three hours at least," Bloom said, as if he had already run the dungeon a couple of times before and was quite familiar with it. "Let''s start," Gored just shook his head, as he ordered the team to start moving. Chapter 12: The First Win Against Dungeon Monsters Chapter 12: The First Win Against Dungeon Monsters The team started to move based on Bloom''s arrangements, as the shield bearer, the martial artist, and the weapon wielders moved in the front, while Gored and he stayed behind protecting everyone. Brendy just vanished in thin air, using stealth from the beginning. Bloom knew he would go and attack the front, so he didn''t mind him though. Who he watched well was the carder, as he wanted to establish a strong rtion with her. She wasn''t ying any major role regarding the flow of the game, so she wasn''t tagged as his enemy, not yet. Just as the front yers got inside the aggro of the nearest monster, it sniffed their scent, turned to look at them, and roared. The roar was like a calling, as other monsters drove in, trying to attack the four yers up ahead. "You should use a skill," Gored said to the wizard ss yer in the team. "No, wait until they try to attack here," Bloom advised, as he knew staff holder skills usually needed longer time to be used again. "Wait or go?" the wizard asked, as he moved his eyes between the two in front of him. "Wait," Gored decided to follow Bloom''s advice to the letter. He didn''t know why, but words that came out from Bloom carried a strange weight to them, like he was speaking out ofplete knowledge. The four yers up ahead were doing fine, dealing with the seven monstersing at them. Brendy showed up from time to time, hitting a monster with his two des, creating critical damage, which seemed absurd, even to Bloom. This assassin was blessed by great luck it seemed. It seemed strange that his name wasn''t well known throughout the game before, as usually assassins like him usually had such fame and sess all over the game. Just as a minute passed, and one monster''s Hp declines to less than half. It just roared, in a strange tone that the first one, and after that, it moved forward, ignoring the yers attacking it, followed by other monsters, to go directly towards the wizard, who didn''t use a single skill yet. "Use your skills now," Bloom blurted out, as he moved to intercept them, "stop their advance, we must halt them here," he added, directing his words to Gored, who just followed his suit, moving with two shields in hands to wee the iing monsters. The monsters'' speed was high, so they reached their ce in no time at all, while the distant yers tried to inflict more damage to them, but they couldn''t keep up with this sudden burst of momentum these monsters had. So, it was now up to the two of them, Bloom and Gored, to stop them, or their wizard would be done for. Dying in a dungeon needed the whole team to either finish it or to be wiped out, so the killed yers would revive again. there was another case, but Bloom doubted that a yer here, at this early stage of the game, would obtain such a rare skill, the reviving skill. The moment Bloom reached the monsters, he started his own barrage of attacks. "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "40" "80" "100" Strangely he had two crits of his three attacks, which made him kind of speechless. It seemed the luck that the assassin obtained had affected him as well. The moment he used slice, he didn''t use it to proceed forward, but he used it to flip backward, to return to the starting point, where he was now standing between the wizard and those monsters. "Block them now," Bloom yelled at Gored, who just stopped two of the monsters in their tracks, and was now going to stop another two. The two he stopped were just next to Bloom, plus the monster he was attacking, so he linked the attacks, using his two swords to hit the two monsters, each at a time. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "40" "80" "80" "80" Three crits out of four, that was simply insane! He didn''t have time to think, as one monster escaped their defenses. Gored was blocking the path of another two, which made only two monsters free, one at the rear, where the front yers were about to kill it, and one at the wizard ce, ready to attack the wizard. "Not under my watch Ground breaker!" At this critical moment, Bloom used his defensive skill, for his sword to move backward, magically intercepting the attack of the monster, perfectly putting itself between the monster''s w and the neck of the wizard. "-20" "100" "Retreat you fool," Bloom blurted out, as he let the skill carry him to face that monster, where he linked the attack with two more attacks. "Stab." "Slice." "80" "100" Both were crits, and as the stab took thest Hp of the monster, the slice was directed to the next monster, where Bloom let the skill move his body, to the back, to stand, again, between the two monsters and the wizard. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "40" "40" "80" "80" Two swords, each dealt two skills, with two crits among them, were enough to make all the monsters fall to the ground, motionless, with their Hp hit the rock bottom. This all happened in mere seconds, but to those who were watching, Bloom seemed to have a miraculous ability to migrate himself, from a ce to another, like he was everywhere, blocking and attacking. All were panting, out of anxiety and stress they just felt. Bloom was no exception, as he realized how hard and taxing it was to clear a dungeon. "Wow, you have a really nice skill set here," Peri said, while catching her breaths. She said what others were thinking of, even Brendy who was always getting on Bloom''s nerves felt the same way, despite not admitting it. "It''s just luck, plus I had help from Brendy''s supreme luck," he said as he turned to look at him, "your luck is really a blessing. Most of my attacks were crits!" Chapter 13: Facing The Second dungeon Monsters Wave Chapter 13: Facing The Second dungeon Monsters'' Wave Brendy looked in a strange way to him, like he was getting someone''s else credit. "What are you talking about?" he just said after a few moments of feeling awkward. "I don''t have such high luck values at all," he added. "Oh, I think it''s me then," Peri suddenly said, while looking somehow embarrassed. "my luck value was high from the start, I didn''t even need to level it up," she smiled, with a faint redness over her lively cheeks. Bloom put this remark in his mind, and silentlymended on her great luck. If he could, he wanted her to be with him all the time, as this luck would bless him and make everything go smoother than ever. "Isn''t luck a stat we all have?" Gored asked in doubt. "It''s," Bloom replied, while he went ahead to collect materials from these monsters, "but there is another luck state, hidden and not unlocked until certain requirements are met. This state would affect, greatly, our performances, like how our skills turned out to have all these crits," he added, while beginning collecting materials. "Hey, we need to agree on how to distribute materials first," Brendy pumped in, trying to stop Bloom, who kept dissecting the monster''s body, collecting the material from it, while saying: "I think it''s fair to distribute materials evenly." "That won''t work," Brendy argued again, "the number of materials we get isn''t e" he stopped in his own words when he watched Bloom take out one material after another, intake and without a scratch. He suddenly remembered the skill Bloom had, and that made the look over his face very funny to others. "Go ahead brother Bloom, I agree on what you just suggested," Gored said, killing off any debate before it surfaced, "and thanks for the help you gave to us regarding the monsters," he sincerely thanked him, as without his warning, things would get out of their control. "It''s nothing," Bloom shrugged his shoulders, as he finished collecting the five materials from one monster, then headed to another. Seven monsters, each gave five materials, so each yer would gain three materials at least. As for the remaining five, Gored offered them to Bloom, who didn''t refuse the gift. "Why isn''t there a system alert about killing these monsters?" one of the swordsmen asked, as he checked the notifications more than once, and he didn''t see anything rted to these monsters. "We need to end the dungeon, either bypleting it or after we get wiped out, then the system will calcte the number of fallen monsters'' XP, and distributes the Xp equally to all of us," Bloom said, like he was stating a simple known fact. "You know a lot of things, damn those betas," Brendy just murmured, in a tone enough to be heard by all, however Bloompletely ignored him, as he pointed one of his two swords to the cave entrance, while asking: "Shall we enter?" "Let''s go," Gored said, ordering everyone, as he was the leader of this team, will we face the same type of attack inside?" he asked, as once they entered the cave, they were shocked to see the dimly lit nature of it. Bloom wasn''t surprised, though, as all dungeons were known to be dimly lit, a nightmare to yers if they were facing assassin based monsters. It was a game setting to let all dungeons below level ten void of this annoying , notorious ss. "Let''s stop here, and try to adjust to the dim light here," Bloom said, advising them to stop and get themselves adapted first. "Is the dungeon all this dim?" Peri asked, with some worry over her face. "Don''t worry, in time we will get used to this," Bloom reassured here, "plus we already have an ace in our team," he then looked towards Brendy, as this was the time this yer would shine. "What about me?" Brendy asked, with more annoyance over his face from the all knowing superior tone he alone felt from Bloom, who exined: "This dungeon''s main difficulty is in detecting monsters before they attack us. If we were attacked first, we will need some time to adjust our position, and that would give the monsters a chance to make our formation more unstable. Your role is to go ahead, detect these monsters'' ces first, and inform us all in the chat about their location." Brendy didn''t like the idea, though it seemed logical to him. before he could refuse, Gored interfered and said: "Good n, go now and scout the way ahead." Brendy looked unsatisfied with this task, however he went up ahead, nheless. Bloom just watched him, as he inwardly sighed. If this assassin''s personality was less toxic, he might have given him good counters which would make him grow faster. However, as he was so mean, he deserved to learn the lessons, bitterly, on himself, and he was worth the opportunities he would miss. As Brendy moved and blended with the grayish atmosphere here, everyone started to take their designated positions as well. They followed the old arrangement from before, but Bloom moved a couple of steps to the front, to be able to have more flexible and timely reactions. ''Ten monsters are spread in a V shaped formation, one hundred meters from your location. Wide area, so be aware of that,'' in less than a minute, Brendy sent in the team chat, stating what he found. Bloom had to admit, this was a good assassin, wasted by his own twisted personality. "Let''s go, maintain formation," Gored said, as everyone stepped to the front, while Bloom said: "When we reach there, let the DPS move inside, and let the two of us stop at the opening, holding the ce." Gored understood his meaning, as this would be an easy ce to defend, a hard ce for monsters to bypass them. He nodded, and said nothing in return, as he decided to take every wording out of Bloom in serious consideration. It took them one minute to find themselves exiting the long tunnel into a wide hall. It was all covered with rocks, with some dampness in the ce. in the middle of the hall, there were ten monsters, like Brendy described, taking the V shape formation. There were two monsters at the front, ready to pump at any yering near them. ''Brendy, how long is the cooldown of your stealth skill once you cancel it?'' Bloom suddenly asked in team chat. ''The mighty Bloom doesn''t know a thing, god bless me!'' Brendy bellowed, sarcasticallymenting on Bloom''s question. ''Just answer him,'' Gored interfered, starting to feel quite annoyed as well from this assassin hard to deal with behavior. ''One second, but the duration will be decreased by half,'' he said, unwillingly, as he couldn''t treat Gored like he was dealing with Bloom. ''Good,'' Bloom said, ''I want you to show yourself just at the rear of them, and then disappear,'' he said in the chat, ''as for DPS, maintain positions until the monsters disturb their formation. As for the Wizard, use your skills only once, then stop using them.'' The instructions he said were very detailed, as he tried to use the monsters'' formation against themselves, which was a very nice strategy. Everyonemended this in their minds, but said nothing, while Brendy was much more annoyed by this. ''What if I got hit? My Hp can''tst long under their attacks, and once I get hit, I can''t trigger my stealth again except after three seconds.'' Bloom didn''t like that bber nonsense. He could reply in many ways, but he decided to show his magnanimity here. ''Catch this,'' Bloom sent in the team chat, as everyone looked in curiosity, in a mere reaction to Bloom and Brendy, like they would exchange the item in the open like this. Chapter 14: Deep Conflict with The Hideous Assassin Chapter 14: Deep Conflict with The Hideous Assassin ''H-H-How did you get this?!'' Brendy after moments of silence, out of shock, stuttered while asking. ''Just make sure to use it in a desperate situation,'' Bloom just replied. ''What is it?'' Peri asked, followed by questions of everyone, while Gored remained silent, waiting for Brendy''s reply, which came swiftly after. He shared a picture of a potion, and its details, with a bright name of it shining in front of everyone''s eyes. ''Hp potion: it restored thirty Hp points directly, plus ten Hp points per second for the next five seconds. Can''t be used when other Hp potions are in effect.'' Everyone sucked a cold breath of air at once, while they all nced, in doubt and shock, towards the one who pulled this big hand. ''Let''s not waste anymore time,'' Bloom said in the team chat. Everyone, without prior agreement, just nodded. Now they weren''t just looking towards him as they were looking at a lucky kid, but to some real expert. It wasmon knowledge that the first ten levels didn''t have any way to obtain potions from, and now Bloom just sends to Brendy one bottle simply like this. Bloom''s target was met, and now he waited for Brendy to move. Brendy was feeling more inferior to him every passing moment, and now he couldn''t even think how he could reply to this move. It was simply a KO! Brendy unwillingly moved, revealing himself in the rear of the monster formation. Though his hand was tied and was forcibly following Bloom''s instructions, he selected a perfect spot to appear at, just slightly to the left, making a line with the direction of the tunnel. Once he appeared, the monsters sensed his presence, as they all roared, all at once. the next moment they turned, disrupted their positions, and tried to attack him. At the next moment he vanished, like he wasn''t even there. as monsters stopped, didn''t have the chance to rearrange themselves, the main DPS moved to the front, attracting their attention. The formation, which was very offensive, was now broken, and this lifted great burden off the team''s shoulders. ''Nice move,'' Bloom muttered to himself,mending the perfect spot Brendy selected, making him feel more regret that talent was wasted on such a personality. The fight went as everyone experienced before. The moment one monster lost half of its Hp, it roared, sprinting, this time heading straight for Peri. Bloom didn''t have any recollection of the choice of these dungeon monsters for the rear sses, but it seemed this was quite a pattern now. He was standing at the opening of the tunnel, while Gored was just behind him. "Take care of here," Bloom muttered, as he started his own attack, moving outside the opening that could only amodate four yers side by side, or two monster maximum. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "40" "80" "80" "50" Two crits out of four hits, Bloom started to get used to this. He knew this wasn''t a healthy thing, as after all this wasn''t rted to him, but to her. He shed with monsters a couple of meters away from the entrance, and as two of them headed to the entrance, he used thest skill to adjust his direction, standing between the monsters and the tunnel''s opening. The wizard''s skills started to fall at this moment, selecting the crowd of monsters he was facing, making them suffer big damage ranging between one hundred and one hundred and fifty. ''Nice, at least you have a brain,'' Bloom thought to himself, satisfied with the right decision that wizard made. At this moment, he used his strongest skill. "Ground breaker." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "-20" "100" "80" "40" "80" "50" "80" Again, four crits out of six hits, while he turned his body, putting his back to the monsters, directing the attacks to the two monsters held by Gored. Things were under hisplete control, as he directed the three stabs first to the two monsters, before he used the slice, to change his direction, to stand in front of the monsters, side by side with Gored. Now the crowd of monstersing here were separated by the two monsters kept in check by him and Gored. Their Hp was about to hit the bottom, so he refrained from using his stab skill for two seconds, before joining the fight again, after retreating a couple of steps to secure himself. "Stab." "Slice." "40" "100" The two skills were enough to kill the two monsters, and he used slice to move himself to stand behind the fallen monsters, putting his back to the iing monsters. "Ground breaker." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." This time he moved, to put himself in the middle of these angry mobs. The moment he used the ground breaker, he turned his body to face the monsters, receiving a couple of his on the way, making him lose forty points. "+10" "+10" "+10" He wasn''t fighting alone after all, as Peri had used a healing skill to make him regain thirty Hp points in less than three seconds. He was busy now, dancing amidst the crowd of the mobs, which were now cornered between the unbreachable Gored with the two shields in hand, and the DPS team hitting the monster from behind. And, of course, Bloom''s main annoying attacks amidst their ranks. It didn''t take long for them to fall, which made everyone feel some aplishment. This was a stressful fight, but they realized how different it was fromst time. This time they did better, held their own, and were far organized. At least they didn''t panic, likest time, when monsters all abandoned them and ran towards their rear yers. Bloom had lost a lot of Stm, but he didn''t stop to rest, as he started to gather materials. This time, he decided to keep all the materials inside his inventory, after agreeing with everyone, and redistribute all the materials at the end of the dungeon. They all rested, to regenerate their lost Stm, while watching in envy and disturbed emotions, ranging between affection to pure hatred, Bloom while working in extracting the materials. "Here," Brendy said, as he, in a careless move, threw the Hp potion, like it was nothing, towards Bloom, who just nced at it, before he simply grabbed the potion. This was a risky move from Brendy, and Bloom was tempted to let it fall and get smashed, so he would get an excuse to teach this bastard a lesson, however he refrained from doing it. He didn''t want to stir trouble here, not yet. As he returned to work on the materials, he noticed the others were speaking, in a hush hush tone, with Brendy. He didn''t need to hear them to understand what they were doing, ming him, and they might have also reprimanded him, heavily, for his own sake. ''It seems I didn''t need to lose one bottle after all,'' he muttered, as he continued, inplete silence, collecting materials. This silent side debate didn''tst for long, but from the angry faces of everyone, Bloom knew that they couldn''t convince Brendy with his wrong deeds. For him, he didn''t care about that assassin, despite being a professional one, but his personality doomed him, to be destined to never rise. "Let''s go," Gored said, the moment Bloom finished gathering the materials. Per his order, Brendy moved into the shadows, disappearing there. Chapter 15: Killing Brendy... The Second Kill! Chapter 15: Killing Brendy... The Second Kill! The hall they were at ended up by another tunnel. The whole dungeon was divided into halls linked together by a tunnel. They fought for another ten halls, killing ten monsters each time, making them have one a hundred monsters killed in mere hours. The leveling speed of this dungeon would be unparalleled, as Bloom expected to get one more level at the very least. The final hall was much wider than all they fought in before, and there was one monster waiting for them there. The boss of this dungeon! Throughout the journey, Brendy kept pressing over Bloom''s nerves, that Bloom swore to kill him once they got out of here. He didn''t like to kill yers not rted to the main quests of the game, but this assassin had gone so far with him. It wasn''t only Bloom who was pissed off at Brendy, but literally everyone else. Brendy was like a nightmare, an old hagining and a little girl whining all the time. all his mean words were targeted at Bloom, which aroused everyone''s hatred towards him. Bloom didn''t know that, but the whole team agreed to kick Brendy out of the group, and warmly weed Bloom, whose instructions and strange and outstanding fighting ability made them able to reach this far. Gored was sure, no other team would be able to handle such a dungeon in this stage. The dungeon was really hard, and its rules were really impossible to adapt with. If not for the impressively timely appearances of Bloom one time after another, his right on the spot instructions given to them, modifying their formation and fighting style, they would have been wiped out a long time ago. Bloom eyed the boss monster for over five minutes without saying a word. In his mind, many battle techniques were being judged, based on his own experience and memories, to select the most suitable approach to kill this boss monster. Boss monsters in the game all follow the same merciless rule, the time rule. Monsters didn''t follow the usual Hp loss principle of all boss monsters in any given game, or even the usual monsters here in this game. Boss monsters here follow a certain set of rules that made fighting them really a tasking job. Each five minutes, each boss monster would use a certain AOE skill of his, which couldn''t be evaded or defended against no matter what! After the first five minutes, the boss monster would use a strange mute skill that would render their skills useless. All skills would enter, forcible, cooldown period, and those in front of the monster would take the full toll of this skill. The next skill to be activated at the ten minutes mark would be an AOE damage skill, with special ability to it. knock down, stun, control, name it and it might happen. The choice of skills would differ from one monster to another, but they would all follow the same rules. At the fifteen minutes juncture, the boss monster would use an AOE skill that would deplete any special form of energy the yer was using. Atp, Mp, Stm, Cp, Gp, Wp, or Def, any of them would be mercilessly diminished by half their initial value. Then boss monsters would vary, if they were dungeon bosses, like this werewolf like boss in front of him, then the twenty minute juncture would have the most devastating AOE attack ever, Hp forcibly diminishing by half! Any yer with fifty percent or less of his Hp at this point would be instantly killed. The only good news here is that after each skill was used, there would be a thirty seconds forcibly weakening period to the monster, so yers would aim towards this slight window, hoping to kill the monster before thest stage was reached. Bloom knew, with the current levels of the yers, and theck of any healing potions or skills for all yers, any team that would attempt to fight any boss monster would be wiped out. That created a strange phenomenon, as yers would all reach thest boss, clearing the whole dungeon, then to be wiped out without exception. This continued to happen until reaching level ten, where yers would finally be able to go to their designated viges, buy Hp potions, and then be able topletely clear the dungeons. Bloom also knew, despite this nearly impossible game setting, the dungeons were a hot topic from day one in the game. The reason was for the massive XP gained from clearing all these monsters, which overshadowed the XP lost from dying once in the dungeon. "What''s wrong genius? Your brain malfunctioned here? or your dirty cheats won''t work here?" Suddenly, amidst his immersion in his own thoughts, this distasteful voice came to disrupt his own thinking. "Enough or I swear you will regret it!" Bloom finally couldn''t take it, as he was so close to arrange a n to deal with this boss before they all reached the deadly twenty minutes'' mark. "Oh, you ca" Brendy, who was standing five meters away from Bloom, couldn''t finish his mean words, as Bloom darted from his ce, unsheathing his two swords, and immediately stabbed him in the heart and head. "Stab." "Stab." "75" "150" Two strikes, one crits,pletely depleted Brendy''s, weak to start with, Hp. One strike of those was enough to send him to the cemetery, outside the cave of this dungeon, however Bloom made sure that the bastard wouldn''t survive due to any kind of skill. "Y-Y-You!!!" he stuttered before falling down, turning into a dead cold body, slowly fading away. He didn''t drop anything, as yers were protected during the first ten levels from losing any stuff from their inventory, and even if not, Bloom was sure that mean bastard had nothing valuable in his inventory. "Sorry, he really got on my nerves, and crossed his line many times already," Bloom said these fake apologizing words, as he needed to not arouse the hatred of this team, not after all the hard work he put into gaining their friendship. "Don''t apologize my dear friend, he really was a pain in the as*. In fact, we intended to expel him from the team once and for all after we leave here, and dly invite you to be with us," Gored finally expressed his own thoughts, showing his support to Bloom, who appreciate this gesture from him and the others. "You seemed quite disturbed some time ago, is there anything wrong with this monster?" Peri finally asked, trying to change the topic. Chapter 16: Fighting The Dungeons Boss Monster - Part 1 Chapter 16: Fighting The Dungeon''s Boss Monster - Part 1 Bloom looked at her, she was really a stunning looking person. He was sure she must be a celebrity in real life. "This monster isn''t that easy to deal with," he started narrating every single detail about that monster, and the nature of boss monsters in the game. the more he spoke, the more afraid they became. He knew they would react like that, so he didn''t want to share everything from the start, not until he had some grasp of a tactic to deal with that monster. "Wow, it seems those who designed the game really loved their boss monsters!" Peri remarked, jokingly, trying to reduce the tension in the atmosphere, "I''m sure our Bloom will have a magical solution to deal with it, right?" she added, as she was putting all her hopes on him. She wasn''t alone, as everyone else nces at him, with enough expectations. He didn''t lie to them, as he confessed: "I was this close to grasp a strategy, but that damned assassin interrupted me." "Take your time then, we aren''t in a hurry," Peri said, as no one else spoke after her. There was a tacit agreement between them without saying a word, let Peri handle Bloom, and Bloom enjoyed this unspoken rule so much. He then started to think again, squeezing his mind, trying to sort out things. After ten minutes, he had already grasped some way to deal with that monster. "Listen up," he said, as everyone got around him, like he was their boss, not Gored, "the key to defeat this thing lies in two simple approaches, either we kill it before the twenty minutes skill, or we have to withhold until that skill ended, and it entered into a permanent weakness," he said the simple basis of the two known strategies to deal with this kind of monsters. "I doubt we can cause enough damage to it, just look at that huge shield in its hand! I bet it had some boosting to his defenses, weakening our damage," Peri said, expressing what others were thinking of. "I know that," Bloom shook his head in regret, "our DPS isn''t enough to even wear it to the twenty percent Hp mark. This monster has very thick blood, I bet its Hp is over a thousand," he said, while many eximed in shock, "so, the only solution we have is to endure, andst longer than it." "But, this is impossible! I can''t heal all of you at the same time!" Peri said, expressing her own doubts. "I know," he said, as he took out eight Hp potions from his inventory, "so we are going to use this," he added, while others'' eyes shone brightly from surprise, pleasant surprise indeed. "Do you have all these in your possession?!!" Gored couldn''t control himself as he asked with disbelief. "I only have a small amount, but this situation is unique," he added, before looking to everyone as he said, stressing over his words, "the reward for the first yers clearing a dungeon in the entire game is enormous! Regardless of the monstrous amount of Xp given to each yer, each yer would have a set of ten Hp potions at least. When timees, you have to just pay me back," he said, showing them he wasn''t giving them these potions for free. "Is this real?" Peri asked, showing her concerns to him. He knew even if this wasn''t the case, they wouldn''t refuse to use these potions to clear the dungeon, however he was bluffing. The rewards for the first ten dungeon clearances in the entire game was really unique. He needed these rewards, just like anyone here. He hesitated in using the potions before, as he already had limited amounts of them. However, when he recalled the rewards for the first dungeon clearances, he made up his mind and decided to give it a try! The reward itself would make him jump two levels at least. Coupled with the Xp of other monsters here at the dungeon, he might as well jump three levels, reaching level five, or even more. "Take these, and don''t use them unless I give you the signal," he stressed again on this, "as for the general strategy, just fight as your usual selves, and try not to get killed before the twenty minutes, or else you will lose your rewards," he added, putting this spicy reward temptation to lure them to give it all their best. They all took the potions, with stern serious faces, as if they were going to do something big in their lives. Bloom then didn''t stand at the back as usual, as this monster didn''t follow the same Hp principle of other monsters. As they all considered him their godleader, they didn''t move into the monster''s domain before him. Bloom unsheathed his two swords, hoping the rewardsing from clearing this dungeon to include a better sword set for him, then he stepped into that monster''s domain. The moment his feet entered the domain of the monster, it roared. The monster was five meters tall, not that big, but it had bulging muscles, making it look like a square from far. He held a huge, heavy looking shield, and a long bronzed spear in hand. Bloom was sure that a single hit from this monster and at least half of his Hp would be gone. so, the secret way to deal with this boss was not to get hit by it, or at least not to get hit twice in a row. The monster didn''t wait, as it darted, like a cannon missile, towards Bloom, who weed it with a basic skill, followed by a movable, chain skill, managing to hardly evade its deadly spear. "Stab." "Slice." "10" "20" Chapter 17: Fighting The Dungeons Boss Monster - Part 2 Chapter 17: Fighting The Dungeon''s Boss Monster - Part 2 Two small, so embarrassing, damages appeared above that monster''s head. The shock wave of its charge alone was enough to make Bloom feel the pressure already, but the game setting was invincible, so he continued his move, while his other sword started his barrage of attacks. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "10" "20" "10" Just as the monster was about to turn to face him, Bloom linked his attacks with his chain skill. "Slice." "40" His second slice was done by his free sword, as the other one was pulled away from the monster''s thick skin. Bloom''s body followed the course of the skill, circling around the monster, while keeping the free sword stabbing its body. Like this, he had established the fighting style against this monster, cornering him in an inescapable position. The monster couldn''t break free from this barrage of his attacks, as he always linked one slice by another, so basically he was moved and controlled by thews of the game. At the same time, other yers started to hit the monster, with much smaller damages that made Bloom''s look like a giant to them! "5" "2" "8" "5" "4" "7" "11" "3" The highest of them didn''t exceed fifteen, which seemed like pity values,pared with this monster''s thick blood. The fight continued, and the monster got tired from chasing Bloom, without being able to hit him, or even block one of his brilliantly controlled attacks. So, it ignored him, and started to focus on everyone else. "Peri, ready to heal me!" The moment the monster was about to hit another swordsman with its spear, Bloom adjusted his body, and stood between the yer and the monster. He never let the monster''s movement skip his attention, so when the monster decided to ignore him, he decided to force himself upon him! "Ground breaker." Bloom''s back was directed to the monster, and when he used his skill, the sword moved in a sh to sh with the tip of the spear, making it deviate from its original course, to hit the ground heavily, stuck into it. "-60" "40" "+10" "+10" "+10" It all happened at a mere second, but the skillful timing of Peri''s usage of her healing skills made Bloom''s Hp fluctuate from the high top, to the low bottom, then finally rise to stabilize above half of his Hp. "+5" "+5" "+5" "+5" "+5" Peri didn''t stop at using her first skill, as she added another, weaker but longer, skill, pushing Bloom''s Hp up to be in a secure range. "Hurry and attack it, before it pulls the spear." Bloom shouted at everyone, as the monster was now weaponless for a few precious seconds. Bloom darted at the monster, using his barrage of skills, taking out one hundred and fifty Hp, before the monster picked up his weapon, raising it to the ceiling, while roaring, violently, out loud. "Retreat, stay away from the boss! All shield bearers follow the monster and defend against its attacks!" Bloom shouted, in a hurry, warning everyone, to retreat. The first five minutes just passed, and they couldn''t take twenty percent of that monster''s Hp yet, and now the monster was going to use its first AOE skill. At once, a storm suddenly raged the whole hall, centered around the spear, radiating everywhere, prating anything, shield, armor, or even weapons. Nothing could protect them against this merciless skill. Once Bloom got him, he hurriedly opened his character profile, examined his three skills to find them in forced cooldown. Just one second and he could use his stab, three seconds to use a slice and ground breaker. As for others, he was sure they wouldn''t adapt to the situation perfectly as him. Three seconds, all he needed was three seconds! He ordered everyone to retreat, but he stayed close to the boss, intending to show this werewolf what fighting a sword saint like him would feel like! The first second passed as the monster ended its skill, lowered its spear, and eyed everyone in a smirking look, like a predator eyeing its poor prey. The next second it moved at a great speed, targeting the only yer here that greatly annoyed him, Bloom. As everyone realized what Bloom was doing, they also noticed something strange, he had sheathed all his weapons, standing defenseless, weing the iing spear, like he was ready to be killed. "Bloom! Run!" Peri shouted, with strange bitterness in her heart, as she tried to use her skills, but she couldn''t. her eyes were already reddened, watching the spear plunging into the body of Bloom, knocking it away towards the nearby rocky wall, mming it hard before falling on the ground, rolling for a couple of meters before ceasing to move. "What have you done?!!" Peri couldn''t control her emotions, as she knew Bloom sacrificed himself for saving them. just as she was about to even cry, a number, green number, rose above his head. "+30" "+5" "+5" He was alive! She even screamed out of joy, without knowing what exactly happened. "I didn''t know you like me this much already," Bloom said, with a smile over his face, as he stood straight, unsheathing his two swords from their scabbards, while ncing at the monster with no fear at all. Bloom wasn''t suicidal, as he decided to take the first hit, wasting these precious seconds, letting his main skills, and everyone''s else skills, to reactivate. To do so, he simply used an Hp potion, which he couldn''t use with weapons in hand, so he sheathed them, took a bottle out, and gulped it at the moment his body was sent flying. The damage he took was massive, seventy points, nearly emptying all his Hp, but after he took the potion, this loss seemed meaningless, especially when his two main skills were ready to be used. "Let''s get round two started, shall we?!" he sneered, as the monster saw him standing, with no damage at all, feeling so much irritated that his pitiful prey wasn''t dead yet, so it roared. Chapter 18: Fighting The Dungeons Boss Monster - Part 3 Chapter 18: Fighting The Dungeon''s Boss Monster - Part 3 Bloom knew the monster didn''t have long before it entered its weak state. Generally it would take ten seconds for the boss monster to be weakened, and this weakening wouldst for thirty more seconds. Before the monster could attack him again, Bloom ran towards him, using his own set of skills again, started with stab, then slice, then the whole process of entrapping the monster restarted again. This time, just after using slice skill for three times only, the monster entered a weak state. The damage it received escted by fifty percent, making Bloom able to cost it three hundred points of damage in thirty seconds! ''We can do it,'' he muttered to himself, as after this thirty seconds alone, the monster''s Hp had decreased slightly less than its half. He thought it would be futile to try and kill it during the first twenty minutes, but six minutes just passed and that monster had lost sixty percent of its Hp already. That didn''t give only Bloom some hope, it gave everyone else as well. Hope made them more daring, giving them more motivation and strength to attack the monster, which made the monster lose more than fifteen percent in the next four minutes. The reason for this slow performance was what that cunning monster did! as it lost all hope in dealing with Bloom, it started chasing the other yers. After two minutes of fighting other yers, it started to focus on the rear, targeting Peri and the wizard next to her, as they both were the least defensive ones here. That put Bloom under much stress, as he had to use one more Hp potion, while repeatedly using his ground breaker skill to defend Peri and that wizard. "Get ready, the ten minute point ising," he suddenly shouted at them, as he didn''t know what AOE skill that monster would use. He had a bad feeling regarding this, as dealing with this monster proved to be easier than what he expected so far. Just as he retreated to the back, trying to stand beside Peri, that monster raised its spear high in the sky, as a second shocking wave erupted, hitting everyone standing here. "Damn, it''s a stun skill!" Gored loudly cursed the moment he got hit by the skill. Bloom also realized it, as this was the worst skill ever for them, especially in this current situation. The monster was now far from him, so near to the two shield bearers, one martial artist, and two swordsmen of the team. Bloom hurriedly opened his character profile, swept the interface with his eyes, and in less than a moment he knew how long this stun wouldst. ''Whole f*cking five seconds! That was unbelievable!'' Bloom inwardly cursed for the bad luck. As he realized this, others were now facing a terrible fate under the spear of that monster, which just gave Bloom a regretful nce, as he was away from him, before using its spear to hit the bodies of the yers around him, using his shield to hit them hard, sending them flying away to hit the distant wall. Gored was lucky, as he was sent to the wall with another swordsman, however the other two and the martial artist weren''t that lucky, as they got themselves pierced by the spear couple of times, emptying their Hp, making their bodies hit the ground, dying this close from killing this monster. That was really regretful, but Bloom knew at any dungeon, at any war, losses were inevitable. The death of the three consumed the five seconds, finally releasing everyone from the stun effect. Just as everyone was freed, all of them screamed towards that monster, angrily jumping at it, attacking with all their might. "Hurry and heal the two at front," Bloom held Peri''s hand, for the first time, with an excuse to make her stop. His unexpected touch made her body electrified, stunning her for a second, stopping her from moving, without nning, out of rage, towards that monster. "Just heal them," he repeated himself, as he darted towards the front, "and try to keep yourself safe," he added. This skill wasn''t just a stunning skill, but it had some sort of aggro attraction impeded deep in it. it was such a sinister skill, as if he wasn''t near Peri, she would have been gone to her demise by now. As for the wizard and the summoner, they both were running without any mind at all, but Bloom was hot on their tale. The monster was waiting for them, as it waited patiently, taking all the hits from Gored and the other swordsman, doing nothing, until the wizard and the summoner neared it. It then jumped over, crossing the remaining distance between it and the two, as it pointed its spear towards them. At the same moment, Bloom also mimicked it, jumped crossing the distance, while turning mid-air,nding with his back to the monster, just slightly on par with the other two. "Ground breaker!" he shouted, from the depth of his lung, as his sword moved in a sh, ending up shing, again with that monster''s spear, deviating its course, making itnd, for the second time, into the ground, unable to be lifted easily. "Go back!" Bloom didn''t hit the monster, instead, as he was rotating to face it, he used a simple, yet strange move, a backward kick, hitting both the wizard and the summoner, knocking them back, releasing them from the effect of the skill. "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Slice." "Slice." Bloom had also rage inside him, but he could control it to some degree, unlike the others inexperienced yers. He vented all his rage over the monster, using a barrage of his skill over it, emptying in these thirty seconds over three hundred and fifty points of its Hp. The monster suddenly lost slightly over ten percent of its Hp from Bloom alone in these mere thirty seconds! Again! Others had taken slightly over five percent from its Hp as well during the same period. If not for that huge shield, that was used to defend and also to knock back Gored and that swordsman from time to time, they might have been able to make it lose more Hp! However, after the weakening period ended, there were less than ten percent remaining of the monster Hp, and at this point Bloom knew he would be able to kill this dreadful monster before reaching the third skill! "All on me, let''s kill it!" Bloom suddenly shouted at everyone, igniting their fighting spirit even more, while he acted as the main distracting yer to that monster, the main tank, and the main DPS as well! At this stage, he didn''t want to y safe, so he changed his tactics, using his skills to inflict more damage. The ground breaker skill had to y a major role here, as for his Hp lost in each exchange, he would get instantly healed, at an impressive timing, from Peri. As he expected, in less than three minutes, with the berserker barrage of attacks he and everyone else were doing, the monster finally roared itsst breath, falling heavily on the ground, dying atst, after it took with him the lives of three of their teammates. But that didn''t prevent them from raising their weapons, staffs, and even shields to roar with their loudest voice: "We did it!" "We are the winners!" And Bloom stood on one side, observing this pure and sincere moment of celebration, marveling at the beauty of the human life; of being a yer. Chapter 19: Meeting The First Goal to Wreck Face to Face... Meeting Derick Chapter 19: Meeting The First Goal to Wreck Face to Face... Meeting Derick They kept cheering in extreme happiness until a row of system notifications pushed them all to silence. Bloom hurriedly paid attention to these alerts, as he wanted to know what cool rewards he would get, as part of the first team clearing a dungeon in the entire game! "System alert: Gored team has cleared dungeon level three sessfully. The time taken to clear the dungeon didn''t exceed the lower limits of the dungeon." "System alert: Gored team has cleared the first dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Killing one hundred and seven level three monsters granted the yer two thousands and five hundred XP. Killing the boss monster granted the yer five hundred XP." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Being the first to clear a dungeon in the game, and being the highest DPS yer, the second in defense yer among the team, you have these following rewards: -Additional five hundred XP. -Fifty Hp potions. -Twenty Stm potions. -One level five sword, and one level three sword, both are silver grade weapons. -Fifty gold coins." Bloom checked the long list of rewards, feeling so much excited and impressed by this. He knew there would be potions and gears, but he never expected the rewards to be distributed ording to contribution. Being the first in the DPS rank wasn''t a surprise, but being the second in defense ranking was indeed a surprise. It was all due to his defensive skill, ground breaker, which he used mainly to save others, and it seemed he actually overdid it. The amount of XP gained here was massive, as he gained three thousands and five hundred XP. Before he could guess how many levels he had risen, the system was a step faster than him as he received the leveling up notifications. "System alert: yer has risen." "System alert: yer has risen." "System alert: yer has risen." Three levels at once shot. He waited for the fourth notification toe, but he didn''t get any, so he opened his character page, and what he saw there gave him a scare! "yer XP: 116916500" Sixteen thousand XP! He was shocked when he saw the number, but rapidly he understood what was going on. The game had the XP needed for leveling being reduced at the first five levels, something yers used to call a honeymoon period. From level six, everything changed. The amount needed to level up was really enormous! The only, and fast way to do it was through entering dungeons, and clearing them. "Sigh," he helplessly sighed, as he knew he had a long road ahead of him until he got to level ten. "Wow, I got money, I got potions!" Suddenly the wizard screamed out loud, and after that everyone else said what they got. "I got Mp potions, Hp potions, and ten gold coins," Peri suddenly came over and told him about her rewards. "Me too," he simply replied, without giving any details about it. Before anyone could say anything more, a sudden pushing force emerged, sweeping them all. Bloom just patted his forehead, as he totally forgot that the dungeon would copse in one minute after finishing it. he just missed getting materials from this boss! The push force startled everyone, however before they knew it, they were not standing outside the dungeon, where the cave entry to it copsed, and any trace of it vanished, like it didn''t ever exist. Bloom was stillmenting his bad luck, and his own carelessness, but he was surprised to notice some yers standing nearby, looking directly at them, and he felt some ill auraing from them. They weren''t here for good. "It seems you have gotten quite a deal here." Just as he turned to look at them, this familiar, quite irritating voice sounded. It was Brendy, and it seemed he was here with his friends. "What are you doing here?" Bloom blurted out, coldly ncing at him and the other yers standing there. there were three other yers, all swordsmen like him. "You sneaky bastard! You backstabbed me!" Brendy exploded in his face, once Bloom''s finished his words. "Really?" Bloom smirked, while taking a few steps towards him, "What if I did that? Did youe here to be killed again? Do you want me to zero you out? And who are they? Your babysitters?" Bloom didn''t need to coat his words with him anymore, as he had already achieved his goal, and the Gored team was now considered in his pocket. "Brother Bloom, please be careful, this is the beta yer we were talking about from before," Gored hurriedly called to Bloom, as he didn''t want him to be in trouble. However, what he didn''t know was that, at this moment, the eyes of Bloom shone so brightly, as he looked towards that fat sheep. "Yes, yes, coward away in fear now, as Derick is here to kill you!" Brendy thought Bloom would be frightened from Derick. What he didn''t know, though, that Bloom wasn''t any bit frightened from him. In fact, the heart beats of Bloom were beating faster than usual, out of his excitement. In front of him, stood the yer who would set the first stone of the game in motion. That was his target, his first wrecking mission, and instead of going out and looking for him, he came out to him, simply like that. At this moment, Bloom felt the urge to give Brendy a hug, before he would kill him. "So you are beta too?" Derick, who was standing in the middle, took a couple of steps forward, as he took out one big sword from his scabbard, holding it perfectly with one hand. Chapter 20: Killing Derick First time Chapter 20: Killing Derick First time ''So, he puts a lot of points into Str, quite reasonable,'' Bloom thought to himself, ''and he is level three at least,'' he added, noticing the sword which didn''t belong to the standard swords in the game. "I don''t remember seeing you ying beta," Derick added, before waving his sword in the air, like warming himself up, "you are an imposter, and right now I will show everyone the real jerk you are," he added, with a calm smile on his face. "Oh, the mighty Derick is here after epting the legendary quest," Bloom said, trying to test him out, seeing if he had that quest yet or not. Plus he was wasting time, as he just opened his character profile, and added the points gained from leveling up to his stats. The face of Derick changed once he heard Bloom''s words. he tried to change the subject as he pointed with his sword to him while sneering: "Did you level up inside? Good, add the points before I kill you." "Oh, so you aren''t afraid to die twice in a row before leveling up and lose that quest then! I admire your courage, really great man," Bloom didn''t let him escape from his previous question, stressing over him, and making him nervous. Bloom''s words made the face of Derick really unsightly, as he asked with nervous tone: "How do you know all that?" "Because I''m beta, and you aren''t," Bloom had already finished allocating his points, half to Str and half to Vit. He heard many rumors from before about him and his mighty sword, which he got early on from the quest. That sword had an innate boost to the strength stat, making him nearly boss monster of his own. So, Bloom needed to secure himself. He might get some hits here and there. his blood must be thick enough to sustain the damage, or else he might really die of two strikes of this monster. "Damn you!" Derick cursed out loud with clear anger, "you are more arrogant than what Brendy described you for. I will make sure to put an end to your arrogance here and now!" Derick started to move towards him, but Bloom didn''t move, as he wasn''t finished yet. He hurriedly opened the long desired talent, the one he kept storing Tp points till now. "Fast draw talent: allows the yer to unsheathe the sword as part of the attack. Increases Str by twenty five percent. It requires four Tp points to be learnt." The talent was learnt just when Derick was a few meters only away. He wanted to swap his two useless swords with swords he just gained from the dungeon, but if he did that, he would risk getting hit by that giant sword, which would be a grave mistake. His Vit has risen to fourteen points, making his Hp reached one hundred and forty points, but he didn''t want to risk here, especially when he didn''t know what the opponents skills were. Just as he was about to get hit, Bloom jumped to the side, evading the strike. Derick seemed to be aware of this, as he changed the trajectory route of his sword, to keep following Bloom, attacking his back. "Dragon Descent strike." "Ground breaker." The two used their skills from the start, as Bloom''s sword moved like a sh from his sheath, to appear behind his back, meeting Derick''s sword. "-50" "95" Two numbers appeared above the two, as Bloom had lost fifty points at once, while Derick lost ny five. Just as Bloom was turning to face him, a strange force seeped into his body, making him unable to move. "Hahaha, idiot, do you think I came here unprepared? I have asked Brendy about all of your traits. I know you well, and it''s understatement to say I''m your nemesis. Now die! Stab!" Bloom was stunned, which made his body unable to move. That was a side effect of the skill Derick used, but just as the sword of Derick was heading to stab Bloom, thetter moved, at thest second, using his only way to live. "Slice skill." The other sword was drawn like lightning from its sheath, to move towards Derick''s body, cutting it obliquely, before grabbing Blooms body, forcing it to move away from the tip of Derick''s sword, just a hair breadth away from getting stabbed by this giant sword. "95" The number appeared above Derick''s head was enough to make the rest of his Hp depleted. Bloom just finished his skill move, and stood watching the stupefied Derick, who just turned into a dead body, as he sneered. "Did you mistakenly think I leveled up once and reached your level? I leveled up thrice. Sorry, you don''te prepared enough. see you soon." Bloom watched the body of Derick fall on the ground, with a shocking look over his face. He didn''t wait here, as he started to move, while saying: "Stay here, I will be back soon." Just as he said these words, the other three, led by Brendy, woke up from their shock, but not soon enough. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." Bloom just walked amongst them, releasing two sword stabs into each of them. six figures rose up from their heads, emptying up all their Hp, and making their bodies fall on the ground motionless, cold dead. Bloom didn''t even nce at them, as he kept moving, then running towards the starting point of everyone. Any death, as long as it didn''t happen inside a dungeon, would make the yer revive at the starting point, back from where everyone started. Bloom just found his prize, and he would be damned if he let that idiot escape from the reach of his sword. The more he moved near the starting point, the more yers he met. At a point, the yer seemed to be like an ocean wave,ing from one direction, the direction he was going, heading everywhere. This seemed to be problematic, as many yers were now either entering the game for the first time, or they were just being revived here. The sheer number of them made it quite difficult to spot that idiot, but he didn''t stop his advance, even he took out one Stm potion midway, replenishing his about to deplete Stm. In less than five minutes he had reached the starting point, to find it as he expected, chaotic as hell. He stood there, motionless, watching the great stream of yers moving around him, with no clue how to find that bastard. The thought of that yer slipping from his hands greatly irritated him. Derick needed just to be killed once, one more time, and that great quest of his would be stripped off him. By doing so, Bloom would have really taken his first step towards wrecking this game. being this close from achieving that, and losing that rare opportunity was driving him crazy. Should he go berserk and kill all these yers? that would be insane, as he wouldn''t be able to kill even a drop of this ocean. Chapter 21: Killing Derick Second Time... The First Wrecking Goal Achieved Chapter 21: Killing Derick Second Time... The First Wrecking Goal Achieved Helplessly he kept moving, searching for Derick, while his mind tried to recall any info that might help him here. that quest was rted to saving a certain shrine artifact, whose many thought wrongly it was Derick''s sword. Later on Derick exined everything, and the entire gamers''munity learnt about what his quest was about. It was about helping an NPC to pass through this starting point, heading towards the next vige, then Derick would secure him until going to the town, where that man would announce the sess of the quest. It was simply a leveling up quest, with no mercy towards losing levels for the owner. So, Derick was granted that great sword, to aid him in this quest, helping him kill all the yers and monsters he might face. ''So, he would go to meet that NPC. I had instigated his fear by what I said, and when he would resurrect again, he would go directly towards that NPC, to take shelter in him,'' Bloom thought, while stopping in his tracks. If he recalled it right, the ce where Derick and that NPC should meet wasn''t far from here. It was opposite to the ce of their dungeon. That exined why Derick came to the dungeon so fast, after Brendy got killed. He was, initially, heading to that ce. Bloom squeezed his mind, trying to determine two things. First, the ce of that meeting, and secondly the amount of Stm that jerk would have. Derick had distributed most of his points into Str, and the most logical thinking was to distribute the rest to Vit. If so, then Derick didn''t have a lot of Stm, only ten points of Stm, which was enough to take him one quarter of the way, before getting tired. And so, Bloom decided his new course, heading with the flock of yers, heading towards a certain direction. If he recalled it right, there was a great mountain in the shape of the sign of that NPC''s shrine, a red skeleton. He knew such a thing wouldn''t be that hard to spot, and putting the direction Derick and the others were standing at, he started to run, heading towards there. His Stm was depleted halfway though, and he used another potion to replenish it. he knew this quest of his had cost him two Stm potions so far, but if he got his results, he would be greatly satisfied. Finding Derick amidst all these yers would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, so Bloom decided to cut it short, head straight to that mountain, and ambush him there. Just after he used his second potion, he spotted some far red spot from his current location. "Bingo." He evilly smirked, while galloping the path towards that direction. Midway, he started to identify its shape, it was arge mountain, with a rounded thing on its top. Bloom knew it was a skull, a huge, some kind of monster''s skull. He wasn''t that interested in checking that skull, as his target was to destroy theing hero of that shrine. Up till Bloom died inside his game, no one really knew what was the goal of this quest. Derick shared everything, away from the aim of the quest, which he simply summed it up as being a great factor in the advancement of the game. He finally reached the mountain, finding the ce deserted from anyone. He didn''t know if that NPC was already here or not, but that wasn''t important, as what he cared about was killing Derick. And so, he started to recon the ce, looking for a suitable ce to hide and ambush. He didn''t look for long, as the ce was already filled with huge rocks, with many unseen ces there. He climbed up, rested his body into a big hole in the top of the rock he was using to hide. He could spot anythinging from far towards here from the direction of the starting point, without being spotted. He rested and waited, while ncing all the time to the empty road. After ten minutes, he finally spotted some shadowing here running. He didn''t need to confirm his guesses, as he knew that must be Derick, running for his life, fearing what Bloom would do to him. Bloom waited, like a snake, hiding from his prey, waiting for the right moment to jump at him, and deal a swift strike to him. as Derick approached, Bloom could see the respiration covering all over his face. He was scared, scared to death by Bloom. Bloom wasn''t satisfied by that. in fact he didn''t have a personal grudge with Derick, he had it against the game. As Derick approached, Bloom started to be prepared, as he moved, as silent and careful as he could, towards the ground. The moment his feet touched the ground, he could hear the loud breathing of Derick,ing so near him. "Esteemed shrine elder, esteemed shrine elder." Suddenly Derick started to shout, calling for the NPC. Bloom knew the two didn''t meet yet, and thus he didn''t wait for long, as he moved like lightning, stinging Derick with his two swords like a venomous viber. "Stab." "Stab." "Die you beta!" Two swords cut their ways easily through Derick''s body, creating two huge crits of nearly two hundred points of damage. A single damage of the two was enough to empty up Derick''s Hp, and send him back to the starting point. "Y-Y-You?!!!" Derick just said these shocking words, before he fell on the ground, dying for good. Bloom felt sudden relief, as if a great shade casted on his heart was blown away. "System alert: yer has killed the hero candidate of the shrine of death. The killed yer has lost his qualifications for the quest. Does the yer want to ept the quest? If the yer denied it, then esteemed death shrine elder would seek for another candidate." "Damn you system!" Bloom cursed out the system of the game. just when he thought he had scored against the game, the system had shown how gravely mistaken he was. That quest wasn''t unique to Derick, it was a forcible quest then! Just thinking of this made Bloom''s scalp numb! No matter how many times he interfered to kill the yer with the quest, eventually he had to leave here, and that elder would look for another yer. "Should I kill that elder then?" he softly muttered to himself. "Kill who, kid?" Suddenly, a voice came just from his back, as its owner came, unnoticed by Bloom, until he stood just behind him. Just thinking of that elder''s ability to sneak behind his back without him knowing that made his hopes shatter. He couldn''t deal with that elder, not yet, not now. So, what should he do then? He suddenly felt a killing intent erupting from behind him. He didn''t even turn to nce at that NPC, and now he was about to get himself killed. There was only one way to solve all this crisis, ept the quest, and try his best to undo it! "I ept the esteemed death shrine elder''s quest!" "System alert: yer has epted the esteemed death shrine elder''s quest. For quest info, please meet with the esteemed elder." He took a deep breath, as the moment he epted the quest, that killing intent vanished, abruptly like it appeared. He finally had the chance to turn and see that elder, and when he saw him, he had a scare! He wasn''t human, he was a skeleton, all of him was bones! Dark red thick bones of a human, three meters human, with a sword in his hand. Bloom''s scalp got numb again, asking himself, inwardly, with extreme shock: ''How the hell am I supposed to kill a dead man? Damn you system!'' he cursed the game system again, from the bottom of his heart. Chapter 22: NPC Nemesis Title Chapter 22: NPC Nemesis Title "Hello esteemed elder," Bloom was surprised, but he wasn''t afraid or frozen from this elder''s strength. For the current stream of yers, this elder might be mighty, but for him, he knew this elder was level fifty top, nothing to put in his eyes, regarding his former power. "Hello yer, are you the one you received my quest?" the skeletons spoke, with clicking sound caused by the hitting of his jaw bones. "Yes, esteemed elder, my name is Bloom." "I don''t like you," the elder said out loud, and Bloom wasn''t surprised by this sincerity, "but as you epted my quest, I''m obliged to tell you the details, but I hope you would fail," the elder added, with his sharp tongue. Bloom just smirked, inwardly, as he knew that NPC wouldn''t be able to touch a single hair of him once he epted the quest, game rules. "Please, esteemed elder, tell me the details of the quest," Bloom said, with an irritating, intentional smile on his face. "Curse you yer, it''s your fortune to have the quest for now, but make sure when you lose it, and you will, I wille to look for you and make you regret being here." Bloom knew this NPC wasn''t bluffing, as there was another cruel punishment to yers other than the docile killing, the prison. But even though he wasn''t fazed, as he intended to find a way and screw that quest, with that arrogant NPC along with it! all hecked was the info of the quest, then he could find the weakness to destroy it. If he was dealing with a quest like his own, where he requested someone to be killed, he could screw the quest easily by allying with the NPC needed to be killed, ande with him to kill this NPC here. He knew many quests had some weaknesses, but as yers always tended to fulfill them, no one had ever noticed such ws! "The quest is like this, a relic was stolen from our main shrine, a very important relic. The one who stole it intends to do bad things with it. your quest is to search for him, kill him, retrieve the relic, ande back to me and deliver it. done? Go away now from my sight!" Bloom totally ignored him, as he knew finally what this quest was about. "What about any clues? Map? Direction to find the relic? Where is this shrine of yours by the way? Never heard of it!" he threw a barrage of questions in front of his face, knowing that he was hiding some extra information here. "The shrine is in a secret ce no one will ever find!" the elder stated this at first, "As for the directions for that relic, are you sure you will be alive to reach there? c''mon, die twice already and let mee to vent my hatred!" "How can you say that and someone had already found your shrine and stole your relic? And here you are, just stuck here, waiting for yers toe and aid you! Such a pathetic NPC!" Bloom''s tongue wasn''t cute for him anymore, as he already got what he needed from him. The face of that NPC twitched, as he was literally going on fire from rage. "Just give me the map or that clue, so I can help you, pathetic skeleton." "One more word and I will kill you!" the NPC threatened. "Nah," Bloom confidently said, as he knew what it felt like to be tied to the games'' rules, "you can''t break your own code of honor, or you will die," he added, stating the obvious, for him at least. "How do you know that?!!" The shock was apparent on the elder''s face, but Bloom didn''t care about that, nor he answered his question. "Just hurry up and give me the clue already," he requested. "Here, this is apass that will always point towards the direction of the relic. When you get it, it will point out to me," he said while throwing it towards Bloom, who caught it, turned at once and left the ce. He now had what he wanted, the quest wasn''t that hard to crack. He just needed to level up to the limit where facing these two NPCs wouldn''t be a life threatening problem for him. The n was set in his mind. He didn''t need to go all the way to be level fifty, as he knew the quest waspleted by Derick while he was at level fifteen. That meant there was something missing he didn''t get yet. "The sword!" He pped his own forehead, as he didn''t get the sword. Before he could go back and reprimand that lousy noisy NPC, he recalled the system prompt he had while speaking with him. so, he hurriedly opened it, to find a surprise waiting for him. "System alert: yer has epted the quest from the esteemed elder. yer has one month to finish the quest. Failing the quest will deprive the yer from the off rewards he will currently have, plus losing two levels." "System alert: yer has received the twin gold sword as an off reward to the quest. The rewards are inside the yer''s inventory." "System alert: yer has a new title as an off reward given to him. Please check the character profile for more details." They weren''t just one alert but three! One was rted to the quest, including the penalty for failing, while the other two were rted to the two rewards he had gotten. Derick never mentioned the second reward ever before, which drove an evil smile over Bloom''s face. "That''s what you get when messing up with people! Karma will turn around and kick you," he muttered, while opening his character profile, finding the title tile added there. "NPC nemesis Title: any NPC you draw your sword on his face will have his level and stats reduced to be one level lower than you." "What the hell!" He blurted out in surprise the moment he read the details of his title. That was simply an op title, designed specifically for yers to kill NPCs. "What''s going on here? why would the game developers put such an adversary thing in the hands of the yers?" he muttered, questioning the ulterior motives of the game designers. If it was his failed game, he wouldn''t care about this, as he knew how messy its developers were. But this was Eternal Glory, the game where everything was calcted perfectly. "Did they assume all the yers would seek to fulfill the quest?" He thought to myself while he was walking, away from the mountain ce, heading towards the ce where he left Peri and others. Away from the main quests in the game, he had absolutely no grudge against the yers. Chapter 23: Monetary Reward to Kill Bloom Chapter 23: Mary Reward to Kill Bloom As he walked, his mind was trying to figure out why he had such a title, and away from that he started to examine the weapons he had. It seemed the game tailored the prize based on the level of the yers, and his main talent. Currently, double sword talent was considered his main, with the great bonus he got from it during thest fights, his fighting style was focused basely on it. So, it seemed logical for the game to gift him these two swords, making him now having four swords. "I shall put out those two for sale," he muttered while ncing at the spots they took at his inventory. At this moment, he put away his two basic swords, and grabbed the two, level five gold grade swords. "Twin shrine of death sword: part of a quest reward, temporarily lent to the yer. Level zero sword. Grade gold. Str+ one hundred percent. Vit+one hundred percent. Dash skill: chain skill. increases Atp by two hundred percent, with stun effect when hitting the target from the dash for five seconds, decreased or increased one second for each level difference with the yer. Cooldown: five seconds." This skill exined everything Derick had done so far. Just wielding the two swords raised his Str and Vit by two hundred percent! That meant he would never fall on the hand of a yer in the same level, or even with one level higher. Now he felt greatly relieved and rmed at the same time. it was reassuring for him to use the two swords in his attacks, despite having the upper hand in any previous fight. If he went soft on Derick, that yer wouldn''t have been killed at all! Wielding the two swords was just the start, as his mind was still restless regarding that weird title, so he opened the stats of one sword, and chose the conditions to upgrade it. "Needs fifty materials level one, or forty materials level two, or thirty materials level three, or twenty materials level four, or ten materials level five, or one material level six to upgrade one level." He read the conditions and was struck by the desire to upgrade his two swords. He had finished the dungeon, but didn''t have the time to distribute the materials to others. They killed one hundred and seven monsters, all level three. Each monster gave them five materials. Bloom nced at his inventory, simply calcting the needed amount of materials to get the weapons in hand upgraded. He roughly had sixty pieces of materials right now, plus what he already had from the previous monsters he killed, which were about one hundred materials of level one and two. "Let''s upgrade them to level two then," he muttered, before choosing the upgrade button, to receive a system prompt: "Does the yer want to upgrade the sword? Please select from your inventory the materials needed for upgrade." His inventory was opened at once, where he didn''t dy and selected thirty level three materials at once. the moment he finished, and clicked the confirm button, the materials disappeared, and the sword in hand shone brightly in gold color, before it regained its normal metallic color. He hurriedly opened the sword stats, to find the sword stats got slightly improved. Instead of raising his stats by one hundred percent, they would raise it twenty percent more. As for the dash skill, it got no change at all. He didn''t stop here, as he took the other sword and raised its level at once. After he finished, he examined the new conditions for leveling them up. "Needs fifty materials level two, or forty materials level three, or thirty materials level four, or twenty materials level five, or ten materials level six, or one material level seven to upgrade one level." "That''s an endless pit!" heined when he read the new conditions. If this went up like this, he would have to ditch all the lower ranked materials after some time! "I should then not stack them, instead I should either use them or sell them," he decided, as if he left the material inside his inventory like this, he would end up having level one materials with no value to him at all! "So I have to use the lowest level materials first, lesson learnt sir!" he sarcastically said, as he waved his hand in a military salute to an imaginary figure of the game developer. He then didn''t continue to level the two swords up, as he wouldn''t be able to level them both to the next level. Instead of wasting time like this, he should start stacking higher monsters'' materials, then level the two swords at once. This would feel much better than just leveling them up gradually, and less stressful as well. Just as he finished doing that, he found himself watching the ce of the dungeon, where the team was still waiting for him. He wasted an hour to do all this, but this was worth it. "Hi Hi, sorry for beingte," he apologized the moment he approached them. they already spotted him from far, and as they were sitting there doing nothing, they stood up and weed him. "You are finally here, what happened? are you hurt?" Peri hurried to ask, with sincere worry in her tone. That pure worry touched Bloom, who just waved his hand as if that was nothing, while saying: "I''m fine, don''t worry about me. I killed him again, making him lose a couple of levels so far, so he won''t be able to harass us anymore," he said, as he noticed a slight tension in the air. "Is there anything wrong?" he asked, trying to know what he missed here. "I''m sorry brother Bloom, but that jerk, Brendy, had issued a mary reward on your head," Peri finally said, while looking in worry and sadness towards him, "he and Derick both issued the rewards a few minutes ago at the forums," she added. "Mary rewards?" Bloom replied in an unexpected way to all of them, he was totally collected, not caring about such a thing. "Is it at the forums?" he asked. "Yes, but please be calm, don''t worry, we all will support and help you out of this," she added, trying to reassure him. their worries were groundless, as Bloom wasn''t any worried to begin with. He opened the forums, to find it a simple ce full of a lot of questions with a lot of wrong answers, based mainly on yers'' spections. The amount of topics were increasing with each refresh, but a single topic remained at top, like it was pinned there by mods. "Mary rewards to anyone manage to kill this yer." Chapter 24: Bloom Strikes Back Chapter 24: Bloom Strikes Back The head title of the topic was catchy, and when he opened it, he was astonished to see the number of yers replying, expressing their willingness to kill him. When he read the topic, he found a photo of him, when he was speaking with Derick before everything. That meant he nned for evil things to do after killing him, but everything went south, directly opposite to his ns. When he read the reward for killing him for a single level, he felt greatly humiliated. One silver coin for each level! Derick knew his level was five now, but he skipped this info inside the long topic full of badnguage and many bad remarks about his deeds. He really killed him, twice, and stole the quest out of him, but he didn''t steal Brendy''s girl! Bloom, spontaneously, stole a nce towards Peri, who were closely watching him. This silent look carried a lot of meanings, making her cheeks go rosy. ''So you are mad at me because of this," he muttered, understanding the reason why that assassin was acting like a fool all the time. He sighed, as he didn''t intend to steal any girl, but if he sat his gaze on one, then she would be his without question. All Brendy could do was toment himself. Bloom just eyed Peri as a nice girl with such a bright future, an ace to be won as a friend, but as from this moment, he would consider her as his girl as well, and let Brendy hit his head on the hardest wall. "So, he is offering one silver for my head?" Bloom muttered, like he was speaking to himself. the more he thought about it, the more he had the urge tough on that yer''s naivety! "One silver coin is considered a fortune, don''t underestimate it," Gored said, in a sincere advising tone. "I know," Bloom just nodded, before he decided to think about something else. This time he was lucky facing one target of his this easily, butter on it might be hard to achieve that. This topic had caused quite a sensation, as it brought light and focus on Derick and his little gang. Bloom ran his eyes fast across manyments, to spot some asking to join Derick''s group, and be a friend with him. ''It seems there is a good way to establish an infowork then, thanks Derick,'' he thought to himself, as he made up his mind. He needed a strong wide of info, and to do that he must put himself in the spotlight, like all the time. To do so, he chose to start a new topic, where he named it another name, and he hurriedly wrote it''s simple content, before closing up the forums. "What did you do? It''s not wise to start the yers''munity hatred at this early stage," Peri said, as she expected Bloom to write an offensive thread, to rely over Derick''s provocations. "Oh, don''t worry, you can view my topic now," he simply said, as he went to her, and looked her in the eye, with his confident look and charming smile. She couldn''t continue looking at him, as she already had some crush over him. So, she hurriedly and nervously opened the forums again, checking the thread Bloom just wrote. There were many topics currently jumping all over the forums, as any topic got a reply would appear on top at once. However, there were two topics that seemed to not move at all, one of Derick, and the second was the one Bloom just wrote. "A hard toe by offer, be part of my intelwork and get paid in gold! Guaranteed by the system. Firste, first serve." She looked at the title, before looking at Bloom, who just had a wide smile over his face, then she looked back at the topic, and started reading it. The topic was simple, short and precise. Bloom expressed his wishes to work with yers as part of a newly established intelligencework. The concept itself was new to her mind, and so she reread it a couple of times before she knew that was what she just read. An intelligence agency inside a game! who would do that!! The most crazy part here was the offer Bloom just made. He requested fifty yers to work at once under his agency, paid one gold coin immediately from him, plus one thousand yers to work on a contract for a monthly allowance, estimated with one gold coin each, and increased ording to the aplishments each would do throughout the whole month. He also admitted him being the man who had a price over his head, and so he put a test for these one hundred yers. Each yer needed to kill Derick and Brendy one time each before sending him a request of business. As for the thousand yers, he asked them to kill anyone from Derick''s team, to be able to apply for this job opportunity. The concept itself was strange, new but seemed crazy and pointless to her and others who read the topic, however Bloom had put two pictures in his topic, one with his Str stat, showing the horrifying figure of sixty four points, plus a picture of his wealth, reaching one hundred coins. Photos in game couldn''t be forged, and thus these were authentic. The appearance of these two sent a clear message to all yers; I wee all yers who wanted to kill me, but they would all die, and greatly reward those who would befriend me. This message was quite clear and to the point that even everyone here just sucked a cold breath of air. They knew from where Bloom got his one hundred gold coins, as he had them, for sure, from the dungeon clearing rewards. However that huge terrifying stat stood in their faces, and the faces of every yer reading the topic, like a solid puzzle, with no possible exnation at all. Bloom just watched them on the side, enjoying the funny reactions on their faces. He knew this wasn''t just the case for them here, but mostly all yers in this starting zone would have such an expression. Only a mad man would choose to be an enemy with him. Derick had posted one silver coin reward, but he didn''t post any reward back for Derick''s head, in return he insulted him by making it part of an admission request, like if Derick was already nothing to him, and he really was. Bloom didn''t exin anything, despite seeing the questionable look over their faces, as he started to issue a private quest through the game settings. Chapter 25: Establishing An Intelligence Agency Inside the Game Chapter 25: Establishing An Intelligence Agency Inside the Game Private quests were always a neglected option for yers in Eternal Glory games, until yers started to make out their guilds, or established their bounty hunters associations. Bloom knew about this function, and he intended to fully utilize it. The interface of the personal quest main page was quite simple, all he needed to do was to select a name, a duration, bounded by the game system or not, the conditions to apply if there is such a thing, the conditions to ept the participants, the main quests, the main rewards, the fate of this quest after the main objectives were done. Bloom didn''t think much about it, as he named it the wrecking personal quest, then sat two tiers at the quest, one for VIP yers, and one for normal yers. He set the conditions as the same he posted at the forums, with one gold coin being paid at once for one hundred VIP yers, and one gold coin for others after one month. The criteria to be epted were to issue them a mission andplete it. He thought about missions regarding dungeon ces for now. Starting zone was such a massive ce, and he needed to kill many dungeon monsters from now on. He knew this wouldn''t be an easy task if the team had to do it alone, but now he could use his new intelligencework to do this dirty job for him. He thenpleted all the other information, putting the admission quest was to search for level five and six dungeons. If it was up to him, he would go directly to level six, but he was the only one among the team to reach level five, as the rest were at level four, some small distance away from reaching level five. It was safer that way, plus level five materials were still useful to him. As he finished everything, he left handling this matter to the system itself. Everything would be protected by the game, and thus he wouldn''t afraid yers to double cross him, especially when nobody seemed to get the meaning behind all this. He just remained silent, and didn''t exin to the team when they kept asking him about this matter. Even Peri, when she asked him, he only said: "It''s a step for the future." Only this simple sentence was all they got from him. after they lost all hope to know his motives, Gored asked: "What now? should we move to kill monsters? Or go to dungeons and kill mobs?" Bloom didn''t need to think, as he instantly said: "We will head to level five dungeon, and starting from there we will keep leveling up, killing higher dungeon mobs along the way." His words made them all full of expectations. Just one dungeon was enough to make them level up twice. Bloom didn''t want to kill their happiness now, as he knew the amount of XP needed to rise from level five would be greatly increased, making clearing a couple of dungeons not worth it. "By the way, ept my add as a friend," Gored suddenly said, as others also said the same thing as well. Bloom didn''t mind that, as he dly epted everyone here. Just as he was inspecting the add requests he just had, he got a scare! He had already muted this option, with the yers'' messages as well. He never thought all this huge number of yers sent him requests, and much more sent him messages. ''What a pain!'' he helplessly muttered before closing the interface, then opening his inventory and sending sixty pieces of materials to each one of them. the moment they got the materials, they were surprised, then their faces beamed with excitement. "Thanks a lot, this amount is much more what we all gained before meeting you," Gored said, before he stroked his chest in pride, "We all have learnt the collecting skill, so we can all help you inside the dungeon." Bloom just smiled, as he finally had some helpers in this tedious task. "Do you want any of my materials?" Peri suddenly asked, "or potions? I had plenty from the system rewards," she added. Her words made everyone recall what Bloom had done to them before inside the dungeon, and so they all expressed the same offer to him, however he politely refused. "Keep them with you for now, if I ever needed anything, I would ask you at once." He didn''t need materials for now, or potions, as he decided to gather a stock first of materials, then use them at once to upgrade his twin swords. As for potions, he had enough for now. besides, with his thick blood, he doubted these basic potions would be enough to help him. Just as they were walking aimlessly, while chatting like this, a row of system notifications appeared in front of everyone. "System alert: Deran team has cleared the second dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." "System alert: Moner team has cleared the third dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." "System alert: Telk team has cleared the fourth dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." "System alert: Emyo team has cleared the fifth dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." Four notifications kicked in, one after another, which made Bloom suspect there was a hidden hand trying to slow down his own progress in the game. ''Are they the developers?'' he silently contemted about this weird phenomenon. In his previous life, no team was able toplete any dungeon until yers exceeded level ten. That seemed suspicious, until Gored suddenly said: "There is a rumor spreading on all the forums of the game, about an info regarding thews of the boss monsters inside the dungeons." ''So, they are the developers, weird,'' Bloom remarked, inside himself, as he was sure this inferior move came from the developers, but he still didn''t know why. "It doesn''t matter, let''s find the level five dungeon, and focus on clearing it," Bloom simply said, as he couldn''t fight the developers, not yet. He nned to ruin their majestic masterpiece, but he wasn''t fool enough to face them openly like that. Such a simple move from them had cost him four lost rewards, and even more! So, he didn''t think much about this, as he checked his personal quest interface, looking for any response from yers. Chapter 26: Attacking another Dungeon Chapter 26: Attacking another Dungeon The moment his eyes fell on the interface, he got a scare immediately from what he saw. The number of participants were already numbering thousands, while the one hundred team yers were already taken. He didn''t post the quest for more than ten minutes already, was what he offered was that enticing to yers? He suddenly started to realize that all his knowledge came from the chat between his previous game developers, and his interactions with yers who came to ask him for help or requested his quest after his demise. He never cared about yers in general, and that made him assume, wrongly, the general desire of yers. ''They want wealth, they want power, they want to easily level up and gain gears and gold coins to sell and gain real money,'' that was what he thought of after focusing on analyzing the general yers'' behavior. If so, then he could easily form a super power in this game. He silently started to contemte while they were walking aimlessly. Dealing with yers wasn''t that hard for him, plus all the info he had in his mind, which could make him rule over a huge number of yers. However he didn''t aspire to thrive in the game, he wanted to screw it! directing his efforts towards gathering yers around him and establishing a mighty force wouldn''t serve his purposes, instead it worked against them. ''Nah, I shouldn''t think about doing it,'' he finally decided, shook his head while ncing over the info given by yers. "Open map," he suddenly shouted out of the blue, startling his team who were walking, gossiping about his intentions to establish an intelligence agency inside the game. Bloom started topare the info provided to him by yers, confirmed already by the system, and finallyparing their coordinates with his on the map. In less than a minute, he found a level five dungeon, not far from here. "Let''s go this way," he suddenly said, changing their direction, going towards the north, "there is a dungeon there," he added. "How do you know that?" Gored asked, as he followed Bloom''s direction without hesitation. "I got the info from my newly established intelligence agency." All the members of his team nodded their head in unison, as they now understood the benefits of this agency. If they were to look by themselves, they would have wasted a precious amount of time. It wasn''t only the issue of not leveling up, but they knew if they didn''t act soon, more yers would reim the remaining five spots, gaining the very generous rewards. They all thought Bloom would need gold coins from these dungeons'' rewards to pay for his growing agency, but they were mistaken. If it came to money, Bloom had many ways to solve this problem, especially he had one month in front of him till the due date. The distance to that dungeon wasn''t that far, as in less than five minutes, they reached the dungeon entrance. There were seven monsters standing there, which told them all about the amount of monsters inside, plus approximately the amount of XP needed. "Listen up, we arecking one member, but this won''t affect us in this dungeon. However, to level up from here we would need a lot of XP, so we have to take down as many dungeons as we can. If you know any good yer, please ask him to join us," Bloom suddenly said, while standing in front of them. He didn''t need that extra yer now, but if he wanted to level up faster, then he might need to look for special dungeons. Dungeons in the game had grades as everything else. The previous dungeon was like this one, the lowest grade in the game. The number of monsters standing in front of the entrance was the only way to determine the grade of any dungeon before entering it. He had already issued a task inside his personal quest interface. The one thousand yers were already selected by the system, and there were many others on hold, waiting for him to change the quota for his intelligence agency so they could join and gain easy money. "Unfortunately all yers we know are part of teams," Peri dejectedly said, as she knew this might pose a problem to their progress. "No problem, I will solve it then," Bloom said before deciding to wait until they finish this dungeon and then he would do a recruitment post in the forum. This wasn''t a strange thing, as many posts there were asking for yers to join their teams, or yers seeking teams. As he was looking forplementary yers, he would y it big, using the advantage he had regarding his intelligence agency. He could search for any special dungeon, where the top limit of yers wasn''t ten, but twenty. "Do you know other yers?" Gored asked, but Bloom shook his head while saying nothing. "Let''s go, the same old tactic, me and Gored stay at the back, others spread out and use your skills as much as you wish," he instructed, as it was time to attack this dungeon. The team followed his instructions, while he stood his ce, waiting for the monsters toe his direction, with much impatience. He was so eager to test his high damage caused by his twin swords, as he started to formte the strategy to attack in his mind. Level five monsters didn''t have good defenses, and their Hp couldn''t be considered thick. He estimated that each monster would take a couple of hits from his swords before falling dead under his legs. "Start!" Gored gave the order after everyone took his or her position. The front yers moved at once, attacking the front monsters, causing moderate damage to them. "40" "30" "25" "50" "60" "30" Numbers like these started to appear on top of monsters. He knew his team level was lower than the monster by one level, which would affect the total damage caused by them, however that was enough to lower these monsters'' Hp to less than half in two minutes. "Roar!" The first monster to lose blood below his half roared, before it ignored everyone attacking it, and ran directly towards the rear yers. Bloom and Gored were ready for them, as thetter used his two shields to deflect the iing attacks, one monster at a time. As for Bloom, he waited calmly until they all were in front of him, before using his innate draw sword talent, where he muttered: "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "300" "300" "600" "600" Chapter 27: Falling into A Trap: The Dungeon Got Evolved! Chapter 27: Falling into A Trap: The Dungeon Got Evolved! Freakily high damages appeared on top of four monsters he stabbed. Blessed with Peri''s luck, he had two crits out of four hits. These huge damages were enough to make him able to kill the monsters in two hits, barely exerting any effort at all. The others, however, got a scare from these numbers, which was enough to single kill these four monsters. Bloom didn''t stop there, as he went to Gored''s side to help him, while using three stabs at a row, causing the remaining monsters to fall. "Wow, these damages are really insane!" Peri eximed out in shock, while Bloom just shrugged his shoulders, leaned on one monster body while saying: "Each one will have one monster at a time to harvest. If you don''t have any this round, you will get one each round inside." Everyone nodded, while all started to collect materials while Gored and Peri were left out with no monster to harvest. They both were curious about Bloom''s sudden high damage. If they didn''t know for sure his true level through the team stats, they would have thought his level was much higher than this. The only change he had were these two swords, which looked quite ordinary from the surface, but they were sure they weren''t the same swords Bloom used when he fought with them at the previous dungeon. However, none of them opened his mouth and asked Bloom about this, as they all knew this was considered part of any yer''s secrets. In a few minutes they were all done. This was their first time using the collecting skill, so they felt the huge change between collecting materials before and after learning the skill. "Let''s go inside, and we will follow the same formation," Bloom said, as he walked towards the entrance of the dungeon with them. the moment they entered the dungeon, they were weed by the dim nature of it, making them all sigh in regret for not having an assassin in the team. However they all knew how many monsters would be there, and so they moved, with much confidence, towards the front, fearing nothing at all. "Roar!" Suddenly this wild roar erupted from the depth of the dungeon, shaking every single piece of it. everyone stopped, unaware of what was going on, all except one, whose face showed extreme shock. "How can this dungeon suddenly mutate?" he muttered with disbelief, as this roar, with this strong shocking to the entire dungeon, had only meaning in this game. The boss monster of this dungeon had sessfully evolved, and with that all the dungeon evolved with it! It was toote to retreat now, as once entered the dungeon, no one could exit it except by one of the two ways, death or clearing it. "Bloom, do you know what is happening?" Peri hurried to ask, as her gaze was always attracted to him. Bloom didn''t reply to her, as his mind was busy with something else. ''If this dungeon was evolving, then the walls should change color. The color would determine the scope of this evolution,'' he thought to himself, while trying to deny the obvious. Just as he thought of it, the walls of this dungeon changed color to be red, bright red that turned everything around them to be red in color, even their gears as well. "No f*cking way!" Bloom blurted out, with much more disbelief, with a tinge of anger in his tone. ''You want to hinder my progress?'' he thought, angrily thinking about the developers'' trap for him. it was widely known that the developers would interfere, changing the rules of the game for a bit, so no single yer would reign supreme over their game. This constant fine tuning had great merit in making the game reach its undisputed ce in his past life. and now, he was the victim of this same silly tuning of those developers. ''Screw you,'' he angrily cursed them. The evolution of this dungeon was much bigger than what he initially thought. Normal dungeons were white in color, while higher colors would be green, blue, silver, gold, red, and finally ck. The evolution was red in color, which meant the monster had skipped four higher ranks, ending up in the red rank. Red was dead, that was a famous saying about the ranking of the dungeons! Each higher up rank would boost monsters'' stat by fifty percent. That meant these easy to kill monsters had turned from cats to tigers, and this all was done just to stop him. ''Did they eavesdrop on my talk with that elder?'' he thought to himself, however he couldn''t tell anything as he didn''t have any data at all! "Bloom, what is going on?" Gored asked, as he and everyone else had noticed the change on his face. He was angry, so much angry, and that was easily spotted on his face. Bloom just took a helpless deep breath, as all these thoughts in his mind had no value now. He was targeted, for whatever reason, and now he had two choices in front of him, either to submit and die once, losing one level in that, or fight and try to clear this dungeon. He suddenly recalled the rewards, and patted his forehead. He was able to clear this dungeon faster than any other team, which meant he would gain another system reward, which would topple the bnced nning of the developers. ''So this is it then,'' he thought to himself while having a long sigh of relief. If his intentions were discovered by them, then his life would be hell from now on. However, as thy issue was only rted to the rewards, the problem wasn''t severe as he initially thought! "It''s an evolution for the dungeon," he finally spoke up, "as you can see, it''s a red dungeon, which is considered as one of the highest ranked dungeons in the entire game," he added, with much confidence not worry. "D-Does that mean the monsters inside evolved too?" Peri asked, with some fear in her tone. "Unfortunately yes," he said with real sorrow. "But why?" the wizard asked. "Because we are this close to get the next reward of clearing the dungeon, and thus the developers interfered and made it impossible for us to clear it," he exined, "reason isn''t important," he added, "and as we are inside the dungeon, we have only two ways ahead of us, you all know that," he stated the known facts to all of them. "Do you n to clear this dungeon?" Gored asked, with disbelief. If it was up to him, then he would rather be killed and leave here instead of trying to clear the dungeon. This was simply madness in his opinion. Chapter 28: Finding The Hidden Mechanics to Take Down The Whole Dungeon Chapter 28: Finding The Hidden Mechanics to Take Down The Whole Dungeon As for Bloom, he knew this game was based mainly on choices. Yes the developers interfered to make clearing this dungeon impossible, but if he decided to clear it and seeded, they wouldn''t interfere again. This wasn''t the developers'' decision, it was theirs. Based on their choices, they would gain it big or leave with a loss. "I indeed n on doing so," he finally said, "this isn''t just a cmity, it''s also an opportunity," he added, "if you do exactly as I say, we will have a chance to clear it." Everyone exchanged silent nces between each other. Bloom noticed their hesitation, so he added: "Either way the worst case scenario would be to die, then why don''t we die while trying to aim for something bigger?" His words made quite sense to them. either way they would die, and from the short dealing with Bloom they were sure he had much more than he showed so far. He was like a prophet to them, a mere genius who yed beta and had strong connections inside the game, or how could he know all these secrets and tactics? "Ok, we can try this, if failed then we will leave this dungeon and never return here," Gored said, as he expressed everyone else''s opinions. "Great," he smiled as he knew he couldn''t do it alone, "now, I want you to stay here, while I go and investigate the monsters up ahead," he said, as he moved towards the front. "B-But you aren''t an assassin," Peri said, with extreme worry on her face. "Don''t worry, the whole dungeon is now lit. we don''t need an assassin to do a recon," he said without turning to look at her. She just nced, silently, at his distancing back, while feeling so dead worried over him. He moved towards the first hall of this dungeon. Though the dungeon evolved, it didn''t change its internal structure. ording to the knowledge of his past life, monsters here should gain two hundred and fifty percent boost in their stats. The meant though they were level five monsters, their stats would be like level ten monsters, or even more. The main problem here wasn''t these monsters, but the boss behind him. He didn''t have any data regarding the state of a red evolved dungeon. From the start, the evolved dungeons were rare, extremely rare. So, he wanted to defeat all these monsters with the least possible losses. Indeed he knew his team would lose yers amidst the way, but he was wrecking his mind, trying to put the safest strategy ever. When he reached the first hall, he was astonished to see the number of monsters there: twenty monsters, not ten! ''So it''s not just a simple evolution, this dungeon was set to be a red dungeon from the start,'' he thought while cursing those sneaky developers for disguising this dungeon as a normal one. But he didn''t lose focus, as each dungeon had its own secrets. He didn''t need to use this sophisticated tactic before, but now his only shot to survive would be through finding the secret mechanics of this dungeon. The first thing he started to watch was the terrain, as usually some clues might be there. The hall was much wider than the previous dungeon hall, with many small rocks bulging from the ground and the roof. These were normal finding at any dungeon, but what was strange was the color of some rocks, they were ck. ''ck is higher than red, does this mean something?'' he thought as he tried to squeeze his eyes, trying to collect any more useful data from here. Away from the rocks, there were some shallow lines on the ground, like some giant was ying with a tree as if it was a stick, drawing on the floor of this ce. He couldn''t see the whole drawing from his position, but he could guess its true identity. ''This is and curse rune!'' he shouted in his mind from excitement. Runes in the game were like a spell, but written not spoken. ''So we have ck rocks, and a rune on the ground. This is something,'' he was feeling he was getting so near from deciphering all this out, so he tried to keep his focus, while looking for the holy grail of this mechanic. After a few minutes of keen observation, he suddenly found it! The monsters weren''t standing still, as they were roaming, aimlessly in front of his eyes. But after some time of looking at them, monitoring their movements, he noticed some strange pattern in their behavior; every thirty seconds, part of them had to touch these ck stones. He couldn''t see what they were exactly doing, but all he could guess they might trigger something, or prevent something from being triggered. ''So, we need to hold them all, without leaving anyone in the back, for a whole thirty seconds hmm'' his mind started to think while he was heading back to the team. This dungeon difficulty had been raised by folds, but he was sure if they managed to trigger this rune, things would be much different than what it looked like. Until he reached the team, his mind had already formted a n. It was crazy, but it was worth trying. "Well, any good news?" Gored hurried to ask the moment Bloom appeared in front of them. the first thing he did wasn''t to reply to Gored question, but looking towards the summoner of the group while asking: "San, how many monsters can you summon right now?" Summoners needed skills to summon, monsters to contract with, plus charisma, Chr, stat and control power, Cp, stat to be high. Bloom already knew that summoners would have a basic set of monsters to be summoned if their Chr or Cp exceeded certain limits. "Two," San replied, without hesitation. "Two hmm" Bloom muttered as he was calcting something in his mind, "ok, we can live with that," he finally said, releasing a long stressful breath as he finallypleted thest part of the n. "Have you drawn a n already?" Peri asked with surprise, as she thought, like everyone else, that he went to do recon ande back to discuss the strategy with them. She, along with everyone here, never thought he would put up a n already, alone, in this short span of time! "Sure, now listen up, and memorize what I will say without interrupting me," he said, while ncing at the eight yers standing in front of him, "what we will face right now isn''t ten monsters per hall, but twenty monsters." Once he said that, everyone gasped out of shock, however he totally ignored their reaction while saying, "there is something in each hall that would help us kill these monsters, triggering that thing will determine our sess or death in here," he said, while stressing on every word he said. "This thing is buried under the ground, and needs some rocks to fall on it to be activated," he said, pausing so they would understand and digest what he just said. "So, our mission is to smash some rocks on the ground?" the wizard said, which made Bloom wonder how someone this dumb be the wizard of his group? He put a note on him, as if he continued to be this idiot, he would be obliged to rece him. "No," Bloom shook his head, "these monsters had to touch these rocks each thirty seconds, or else these rocks will fall on the ground and activate this hidden weapon," he said. "Hidden weapon?" Peri eximed with surprise. "Well, let''s consider this like that," Bloom said, as exining irrelevant things was, well, irrelevant! "All we need to do is to hold our line and keep these monsters busy for a whole thirty seconds. Any failure in drawing the whole monster means failure. If we drew them all and one or two slipped from our grip, we failed. Is that clear?" he asked, while looking into each one''s eyes, before adding: "Now, let''s discuss the battle tactic." Chapter 29: The Summoner Screws It Up Chapter 29: The Summoner Screws It Up Bloom then looked at all of them as he started assigning missions. "First of all, the most important one here is this dungeon is San. He must be protected well. If he died, we would all lose the dungeon, is that clear?" Bloom could feel the nervousness of this summoner, with his rounded face oozing with sweat right now. the nces everyone gave him didn''t help at all, as he was the type to mess up in stressful critical moments. "Don''t be this nervous, I will give you the orders, and all you need to do is to execute them," Bloom said after a helpless sigh, he never thought this youngster would be this fragile at all. "As for others, your job is to support the front yers, our main target isn''t to kill these monsters, just make them upied fighting us," he stressed on this point, as this was the second cornerstone of his n. "What if one of them went to the rocks?" Peri asked what was in each one''s mind. "Don''t worry about that," he confidently said, "if it''s one or two then we can handle it, but more than that and we wouldn''t be able to survive," he added. "That means we need to make sure to hit all the monsters and inflict damage on all of them," Gored started to think about how to do it, "Aggro is essential here, despite it being hard to control," he said "Or we make one of them lose half of its Hp in these thirty seconds," the wizard said, "but I doubt we can make it," he muttered, with some dejection in his voice, when he recalled the sudden improvement these monsters had. "Or we choose our timing," Bloom suddenly said, "as these monsters would touch the stones once every thirty seconds. It will take around two to three seconds for them to reach us from the central ce of the hall. If we timed our attacks to fall on them just after the twentieth seconds, hitting them with AOE skill, we might be able to distract them at this crucial time, with no time for them to go back and forth for the stones," he added, exining the strategy in his mind. The others nodded after exchanging silent nces with each other. Now they had multiple approaches to achieve their target, and this brainstorming really managed to dispel all their fears and doubts. They started to feel they could do it, clearing this dungeon started with this uing battle. "Alright," Bloom then said, "let''s do it." He then moved to the front, leading each one to the ce of the hall. When they reached there, they started organizing themselves where the two swordsmen, the martial artist, and the two shield bearers were in the forefront. Bloom was in the lead, observing the monsters. ''Get ready,'' he sent in team chat, asking them to be prepared as the monsters just touched the stones, ''Twenty seconds and counting,'' he added. He then started to count down, like all of them, until the count reached twenty. "Go!" He shouted, attracting the attention of the monsters to the tunnel. The moment he spoke, a skill was used by the wizard, the only AOE he had, the only AOE the team had. At the same time, all the front yers shouted as they exited the tunnel, attracting the monsters'' attention, making them all roar. "Retreat!" Bloom shouted, while he nervously continued the countdown, while keeping his gazed over the monsters, looking for any left behind one. All of the monsters moved, all but one. He nced at that monster in the rear, feeling somehow frustrated by this. ''So you intend to make it hard for me to crush them?'' he muttered to himself, ''San, release your monsters, let them target that one at the rear,'' he sent to San, asking him to summon his two monsters. San got somehow nervous, and while he was in this state, his reaction was slowed, missing his window to summon his monsters in the perfect time. the monsters just appeared at the entrance to the tunnel, to be faced with the neen monstersing towards the tunnel opening. "Damn it San!" Bloom cursed out loud, as he was sure these monsters wouldn''t stand a chance against these monsters, plus even if they did, the purpose of summoning them was destroyed by the lousy performance of their master! "Screw this," Bloom angrily muttered, while stopping retreating, and instead he ran to the opening of the tunnel. The moment he reached there was when the two monsters were beaten up, popped like bubbles, killed in mere seconds. They didn''t evenst for three seconds there! six seconds were lost, and Bloom could see thest monster started ignoring this fight, starting to move towards the rocks. "I won''t let you do it," Bloom screamed as he ran, obliquely, changing his running course suddenly, evading the group of monsters. His evasion was timely done, but that was for the front five monsters only, as for the rest, they started changing their direction, trying to intercept him. "Let''s see how you can catch me! Stab! Slice!!" He used his two skills one after another with one sword. Two damages appeared above one monster''s head. "120" "280" They weren''t low, butpared to the long HP strip remaining above that monster''s head, Bloom figured out he needed at least dozens of such damage to kill a single monster. That was unfair! The second skill carried his body further to the front, creating a space finally between him and the monsters behind. He had already targeted thest monster in the five who attacked him in the start, and now all monsters were one step behind him. And he wasn''t done yet! "Dash!" Chapter 30: The Brilliant Performance of Bloom Saves the Day! Chapter 30: The Brilliant Performance of Bloom Saves the Day! This time he used his one skill that could make the difference. This was the first time he used it, but he knew this skill well from the berserkers in his previous game. The moment he used it, while pointing his sword towards the monster heading to touch the first rock, his body moved on its own, with extreme speed, creating great momentum, to crush into the monster''s body with his sword. "350" This damage appeared on top of the monster''s head, but this wasn''t what he was seeking. The skill had an additional effect, stun effect! The monster froze in his ce, with its sharp w a few inches away from the rock. "I did it!" He screamed in delight in this moment, where the rocks on the ground and on the ceiling started to shine brightly, however the situation wasn''t looking well for him. "Watch out!" Peri''s shout came to awaken him, as he was taken slightly overboard by the moment. He didn''t need to turn back, as he used his life saving skill at this delicate moment! "Ground breaker." His sword vanished, to reappear behind him, crossing with the w of the monster attacking him. his body started to rotate, but his eyes were fixed on the rocks around him. The moment they shone was followed by the shining of the whole rune of the ground. He knew the next second the rune would be activated, so by any means he had to survive this! Amidst his rotation, he noticed the monsters weren''t organized at all, as they were heading in disarray towards the tunnel, then his sudden intrusion messed their formation even more. Amidst this chaotic battle, he finally glimpsed a silver lining of hope! "Dash!" He didn''t hesitate to use the skill of his second sword, even before his body fully rotated, or stabilized! He felt his body being driven by extreme force, moving to the front, in this linear gap he just spotted, towards the far rear monster. "-75" "280" "420" Three numbers appeared in this mere second, while the monster he just shed with was stunned. Bloom didn''t wait in his ce, as he never intended to face all of them, alone, like that! "Slice!" His third life saving skill was used, making him rotate around the monster, while another figure of damage appeared on top of its head full of dirty looking hair! "280" He was lucky so each skill he used had produced a crit! Once he was finally behind the monster, he didn''t look back, as he darted fast towards the opening of the tunnel, where his teammates were there trying to head towards the monsters to help him. "Retreat and reorganize, now!" His shout just came in time, making them turn around and run alongside him. "What a magnificent move you pulled there!" Peri said, in honest admiration to him, while she was running alongside him. He felt great pleasure in her admiration, but before he could say anything back, a loud roar erupted from behind, making them all stop and look back. At the end of the tunnel, the monsters were all still there where a light suddenly was shining inside, a ck light. Bloom could see rows of damage appearing on top of their heads, and without knowing what was going on, he ran again towards the hall while shouting to others: "Go, let''s kill them in this moment, use all your skills, save none!" Others just nced at each other, weirdly, before they moved back, running behind him, reaching the hall in less than three seconds. The whole hall was now covered in a dim ck fog, where monsters were roaring, standing motionless in their ces, with numbers of damages constantly floating on top of their heads. "600" "560" These two numbers kept rising above their heads, covered in dirty hairs. Bloom didn''t have time to consider, as all he knew these monsters were now stunned, unable to move. "Start attacking them, they are all stunned! Make sure to kill the most number of them. Stab! Slice! Stab! Stab! Stab! Ground breaker! Stab! Stab! Stab! Slice! Dash! Dash!" He yelled at them while he started his own barrage of attacks. His two swords never ceased a moment in their ces, moving all the time to stab and attack monster after monster. "600" "560" "300" "280" "300" "560" "560" "280" "300" "600" "280" "560" Suddenly all the numbers rising from the top of the monsters were all high. Each monster didn''t take four attacks before losing its life on his hand. Each two seconds he killed a monster. He wasn''t the only one producing this monstrous damages, as others kept doing good, but not like him of course. ''So this rune takes the highest two attacks and doubles them, causing fixed damage per second to these monsters equal to an AOE skill!'' he muttered to himself while another monster fell under his hands, ''It also doubles our own attacks, and all of our attacks be crits! That''s amazing!!'' He kept moving between monsters, jumping from one to another, using his movable skills to their most potential. Monsters didn''tst for four attacks on his swords, while others needed six. In twenty seconds, all the monsters fell on the ground, and that ck fog started to dissipate, returning again into the rocks. "We did it! We killed them!" the team all screamed in excitation, before they celebrated and congratted each other. All were excited except San, who felt this was all his fault, as Bloom put himself in danger because he just had cold feet for a second there. Bloom just nced at him and didn''t say a word. He knew some people might have greatness and others not. If San couldn''t pull himself together and level up his skills and personality, he would be forced to rece him. Bloom wasn''t a mere yer, he was once on top of his game, so he wouldn''t settle with losers. If any yer here couldn''t match up with him, then he wouldn''t hesitate to rece him, as the strength of oneself came from the strength of those around him, partly of course. "Now let''s start collecting materials, hurry," he suddenly said, interrupting their cheers and celebrations. They all watched him hurry to collect materials, exchanged nces before starting to do the same. Bloom never did a thing without reason, never. Before anyone could ask him about it, and in less than two minutes, all the monsters here shone brightly before vanishing, before they collected enough materials from their bodies. "What happened? why did they vanish?" Peri asked at once, with shock over her face, and regret. Bloom, who managed to collect ten materials from the body of his monster before vanishing, said: "These are special monsters, so regr rules didn''t apply on them. in two minutes after they are killed, their bodies will vanish. So, next time let''s start collecting their materials, after all these materials are quite special ones." Chapter 31: A Sudden Change in the Dungeon Chapter 31: A Sudden Change in the Dungeon The team then resumed their march, entering the next tunnel heading towards the next hall. San was silent along the way, while others were, excitedly, discussing their gains. "Do you know how much XP we can get from these monsters? Will it be increased as well?" suddenly, the wizard, called Gimmy, said. Bloom was impressed by his AOE skill that made the monsters move in unison to attack them in first ce. Bloomcked any AOE skills so far, so he respected the Gimmy to obtain one. It was strange, for him, that in the beginning the thought Gimmy wasn''t reliable, and San was, but now the tables were turned. He learnt to not judge by just appearances, as yers might seem untrustworthy but at the critical moments, their core would shine, either brightly or dimly. "Riskes with equal prizes, so the XP would be exponentially increased, by three folds at least," he replied. "That''s awesome!" Gored said, "that means we can reach level six here!" Bloom smiled and said nothing, as this might be true. They needed at least three normal dungeons to be cleared, so they would raise from level four to level six. Their presence in this dungeon might simply give them even more than that, which was one the beauties in this disaster. After five minutes, they finally reached the next hall. Bloom didn''t order them to move, as he observed the monsters inside at first, confirming the presence of this mighty rune effect. After he confirmed that this hall was exact copy of the past one, he turned to San and directly asked: "Are you ready this time?" San''s face turned paler, but he nervously nodded, without saying a word. Everyone could see his body was shaking out of nervousness, which made Bloom sigh. He just hoped San could pull this out, sessfully, and not be a hindrance. He wasn''t that stressful or demanding for San''s performance, as he could interfere at any time, solving this problem. But this would be taxing! The previous battle he met death face to face many times, and if he had the option, he wouldn''t experience the same nervous experience again. The battle started again by that impressive AOE skill of Gimmy, and for the second time in row San messed up! Bloom was forced to act, as he darted alone inside the hall, using his barrage of skills one after another. "Stab." "Slice." "280" "150" He moved, under the skill effect, evading the monsters'' attacks, putting them all behind him. there was only one monster here left behind, and as previous time, he used his stunning skill. "Dash!" He moved, hitting the monster with his sword, rendering it unable to move. The monster was, like the previous one, only a few inches away from touching the stone. This time Bloom wasn''t distracted, as he turned, without the need to use his skill, and observed the iing monsters. The moment he spotted an opening, he immediately used it, activating his second Dash skill, escaping from the imminent threat, moving among the monsters, reaching thest one. "Slice." He used slice skill to move again around the monster. He was surprised to see all the members of his team, all except San, standing in front of him, attacking monsters without fear. "Great!" He muttered, before using his ground breaker skill, blocking the monster''s w, turning around himself to face it. "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "140" "280'' "300" "280" Just as he finished his own barrage of attacks, the runes were activated. All the monsters were stunned in their ces, while the team started their massacre towards them. in less time than before they managed to kill all of them, clearing the second hall sessfully. They didn''t waste any second, learning from their previous lesson, as they all dispersed, heading towards one monster and started collecting materials from them. Each monster would grant them ten materials, and that was enough to do in the short span of two minutes. Bloom managed to collect twelve materials this time, breaking the record again, gaining the most out of them. "Let''s go," Bloom said, acting as their current leader in name and soul, leading them into the next hall. They all were excited,ughing and joking all the way from one hall to another, while one person only remained gloomy, feeling more isted with each hall cleared. San was doing terrible one time after another, which made Bloom not ask him for anything starting from the third hall. Bloom had already got a good grasp over the process, and the same process kept recurring again, until thest two halls! At the ninth hall, they acted as usual. Gimmy used his AOE skill, attracting the aggro of most monsters, while Bloom moved, using his stab and slice skills to evade the monsters. However, the moment he turned over thest monster, ready to use his dash skill, he was faced with another monster, appearing out of blue, waving its sharp w towards his heart! Bloom was an experienced swordsman, not a mere newbie, so this sudden change in events didn''t startle him, as he immediately coped. "Slice." "300" His second slice made him able to dodge the iing attack, with its monster. He glided on the side of the monster, with a smirking smile over his face. "Dash!" He didn''t waste any more time, and used hisst skill, managing to hit thest monster just a few millimeters away from the rock! Chapter 32: Turning from A Loser to Be A Hero! Chapter 32: Turning from A Loser to Be A Hero! Everything else happened per usual, he used his dash skill to escape the monsters, while the team started their barrage of attacks until all the hall was cleared. While everyone was collecting materials, Bloom was feeling an odd feeling, a bad omen. This slight change meant the next hall might be much difficult, but he didn''t have another option except to do his best. He was this close to clear the dungeon, and there was no room for any hesitation here. "Let''s go," he said after collecting only eight materials this time, as his mind was pretty upied by what just happened here. Bloom moved, inplete silence this time, as he was trying to specte what thest hall difficulty would be. This time he was lucky enough to catch thest monster barely on time, so he was thinking perhaps he should move sooner, as one second might determine everything. However moving too soon had its own risk as well. Monsters needed time to move, disturbing their original formation. If he moved so early, he might pump into a bigger problem. The other problem he had was his limited view over the whole battlefield the moment he started his attacks. The skills moved him, forcibly, in no time, giving him no room to inspect the surroundings better. He couldn''t waste a moment standing there looking around him, besides that would waste precious seconds, which wasn''t a good thing, though. ''I should attack the monsters earlier than the twenty seconds window, as this would give me more time to adapt,'' he thought to himself, however he knew he couldn''t move too early, or else the monsters from behind might catch him. So, he decided to move one second earlier, hoping this one second could make the whole difference. From the surface of things, thisst hall was typically like the previous ones, and its monsters were also moving the same like all the monsters he fought before. He took a deep breath, calming down his mind, and sharpening his instincts. He knew he had to perform one hundred percent perfectly this time, doing his best wasn''t enough as he was sure there would be a challenging change in this hall. "Let''s do it," he gave the order, one second earlier than usual. Others could feel he gave the order sooner, but they moved nheless. The first was the AOE skill of Gimmy, which attracted the monsters'' aggro. Bloom didn''t wait all the way until they reached the opening of the tunnel, as he moved one second earlier, using his two usual skills in a row. "Stab." "Slice." "140" "300" Two figures of damage appeared from thest monster''s dirty head, while Bloom''s body drifted forcibly away, following the course of his skill, to evade all the monsters, putting them just behind him. "Roar!" Another monster was waiting for him there, just like the previous time. Bloom anticipated this, and thus he moved with extreme calm, while trying to assess the whole field around him. "Slice." "300" Another crit emerged, and Bloom followed the skill course, to bypass this monster. just as he looked up ahead, waiting to use his dash, the change he was worrying about had weed him! There wasn''t one monster there, but two! one on each end of this hall! Although he bought two more seconds to himself, they weren''t enough to make him adapt to this sudden change! ''Damn it! I will hit them no matter what!'' He gritted his teeth and at once directed one sword towards the distant monster, while micro tuning the other to face the second. "Dash!" He moved, at once, towards the distant monster, hitting him hard. Just as he was about to use the other dash towards the second monster, hoping he could do it in time, his eyes were caught on this small rounded shield in the hand of the monster he just hit. "Miss!" A big strange word appeared on top of this dirty monster''s head. This was a shocking change, one he never expected before! The monster didn''t feel fazed by this attack''s result, as it dropped the shield, and moved its w to hit him, while moving the other one to touch the rock! ''Damn!'' he inwardly cursed. This monster had forced his hand, so he didn''t hesitate and pointed the second sword towards it, muttering with extreme frustration: "Dash!" He was so close to the monster, but when he used the skill, both moved towards the nearest wall, hitting it so hard, while his sword pinned the monster on it. "1000" It was a really scary damage dealt here, but this didn''t make Bloom smile at all. He hurriedly nced at the second, very far from his reach, monster, which was moving its w to hit the rock. "We lost it huh?!!" Suddenly, at that second monster''s ce, two monsters popped up out of nowhere. The two stood just at the space between the monster''s w and the rock, blocking the w with their bodies. "Plop." "Plop." The two monsters were weak, and couldn''t stand the single hit of the monster''s w, so they popped out, vanishing from this world. However, their minute intervention was amazingly so timely, that managed to dy the monster''s w for two seconds, enough for the monster to miss his chance, and the runes were finally activated! "Yeah!!" Bloom wasn''t the only distressed one here, as everyone else just pictured themselves losing the fight already. When this brilliant move was pulled, and the runes were activated, all of them screamed in triumph, venting out part of their welled up stress. "Now, let''s get this done fast and clean," Bloom muttered, with a big smile over his face. He didn''t wait for the rune to be fully activated, as he pulled out his sword, while hacking the stunned monster in every ce he could reach! "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "300" "300" "300" "300" "300" "300" Six crits in a row! He didn''t know if his mood would affect his results, but he didn''t look back to the monster, while darting towards the other monsters, joining his team members in killing them. They all did like him, venting what was left inside of stress and frustration over these monsters, who were now standing still in their ces, with a high two thousands damage appearing on top of their heads! Just in mere two to three seconds after the rune was activated, the fight simply ended like that! That was all thanks to the final high damage Bloom did to the monster, which was augmented by the hard shocking collision between the skill high momentum and the sturdy rocky wall. "We did it! San is the hero, San is the hero!" They all cheered once the monsters fell and shouted out loud celebrating their friend, who once was thought of as being a hopeless case! Thisst brilliant move that saved their lives, saved all their hard work, was pulled out by San! He just stood there, beaming with pride and self confidence, couldn''t believe he actually did it! Everyone else was collecting materials, but for him, he didn''t need anything anymore. This was one of the rarest glorious moments in his entire life, if not the only one in it! He would live up his life recalling this amazing feeling, remembering every single bit of it. he suddenly grew a desire, a desire for more moments like these, a desire to be remembered as a hero, not a loser! Chapter 33: The Boss Monster is A Mutated Human Monster Chapter 33: The Boss Monster is A Mutated Human Monster Bloom just watched them celebrating, without speaking a word or interfering with their party. They had already gone this far, and this was enough for them to feel proud. However, he knew that theing step was harder, far harder than what they just passed. The boss monster of any dungeon normally was challenging, and after this dungeon evolution, it had be more difficult to face, almost impossible. The most optimistic thing that happened so far was the evolution of San. He could see the burning spirit already in his eyes. This had made the already missing team more formidable, plus he would now have a yer that could use his summons in a timely precision, which would decide the fate of the iing battle. The yers kept cheering for a few minutes, before Gored had already spoken to them, making them calm down. They all noticed the gloomy look over Bloom''s face, and then they all realized a simple, yet missed fact. The boss of this dungeon was still alive, and they had to beat it! The recent memory of them facing the boss of the previous boss was still lingering in their minds. Three were killed, and they won by miracle. Suddenly, the gloomy mood of Bloom seemed to be contagious, as everyone got silenced, lowered their heads, and said nothing at all. "Why are you so down?" he muttered, as he noticed the sudden calmness around him, which brought him out of his own train of thoughts. He was thinking about the next boss monster for sure, trying to expect the worse in the four phases of this boss. Regarding the previous monster, they didn''t have to reach thest stage, however in this monster he feared they might repeat the whole cycle twice to three times at the least. "Is that boss monster that difficult?" Peri asked, per habit. "I know nothing yet about it, but I''m sure this boss''s skills would gain arge boost in damage, duration, and even effect," he said, before standing from the ground, "I will go and take a look, then we can discuss everythingter." They all nodded, as they watched him disappear inside the tunnel. Bloom''s mind was full of the deadliest skills he ever heard of in this game. Despite this being a level five dungeon, he wasn''t trusting the game developers and their maniptions. The main hall was only five minutes away, so he reached there fast. He approached with caution, as he knew that monster would have arge detection range. The moment he stole a peek over that monster, he instantly got stupefied by what he saw. ''A mutated human!!! No way this dungeon difficulty would reach this crazy level!!'' He screamed in shock at first, then in frustration and anger before returning very rapidly from the opening of the tunnel. This dungeon boss was a mutated human, which some used to call the nightmarish monster! The mutated human was the signature of hellish levels of dungeons, which were dungeons at capitals and big cities, where yers had the chance to choose the difficulty of the dungeons. Defeating this mutated dungeon was such a rare feat that even yers in his past life made a long detailed list about whoever managed to break through this impossible shackle! Luckily, he had one of those teams that made that groundbreaking achievement, however that would be years in the future, where Peri would be that renown yer. So, he had now a mutated monster inside a red level evolved dungeon. The only exnation was the mutated human monster came here as a recement of this dungeon boss, which meant the rules of engagement with mutated human monsters apply here, not the boss monsters rule. "I don''t know if this is a blessing or a curse!" he muttered, as he recalled the shape he saw of that mutated human monster. She was one of a kind in terms of beauty, with no equal, standing alone as the most gorgeousdy he ever saw so far in his entire life. She stood there, sitting on a soft, wolf shaped sofa, with her long dark blue disheveled hair falling over her bare shoulders and chest. Her dress was so tight, formed of petals like material, soft blue in color, with some dark blue and dark red lines passing along the whole length of this tight dress, drawing out her sexy figure. The dress barely covered the border of her chest, extending to her heels, ending in a flower like manner on the ground. He felt some weirdness when he recalled that picture, as many things didn''t add up. This was the main trait of the mutated human monsters, as they always had some strange taste in dressing. As he walked rapidly towards the team, he started to recall the scarce data regarding these types of monsters. Each monster had one supreme ability, and a myriad of other weak abilities that werepared to yers'' skills. The problem was in the very low cooldown for the mutated human monster''s weak abilities, making them turn into machine guns, throwing abilities without pause. The supreme ability was considered one of the team''s wipe out ability calibers. Each monster had its unique, irresistible ability that he or she can use starting from the tenth minute to the thirtieth minute. The issue here was there were no rules to force the mutated monster to use the supreme ability at certain periods of time. So, during the whole fight, and in a try to evade the barrage of abilities, the team must be ready to wee the supreme ability at any time, starting from the tenth minute. The second problem was that after using the supreme ability once, the mutated monster could use it again after nine minutes, then the next time after eight, and so on. That made facing the mutated human monster like fighting a losing game, the more you y, the more you lose. Bloom wrecked his brain, trying to find a way to face off this monster, but until he reached the team, he had no strategy nned in his mind. "Huh? Why do you look paler than you left?" San''s confidence got a huge boost, so he started to speak to Bloom, carried out by the moment. Bloom didn''t care about him for now, as he looked at everyone while saying: "The monster waiting for us inside is a human mutated monster!" His words, his tone, his gloomy facial reactions made them feel they would face a dragon inside the main hall, but all they heard was simple words, not frightening at all. "What''s wrong with that monster?" Gored asked, in doubt, trying to make sure he heard Bloom right. Bloom realized yers at this stage didn''t know this term, not yet. Dealing with mutated human monsters wouldn''t start until the mainstream yers reach level seventy five. Just as he thought about this, his mind suddenly realized something, that monster''s level had been decreased, to be only level five! He even patted himself on the head, level five monster, even if it was a mutated human one, wouldn''t be this disastrous to him, at least, right? That was what he thought, which aimed, mainly, to increase his self confidence, to be able toe up with a decent n. Chapter 34: Facing the Hot Monster Chapter 34: Facing the Hot Monster He nced towards Peri, as he exined: "It''s a very advanced monster that would pose a great challenge to us," he simply said that, without expressing how deadly it was. "Is it much harder than the previous boss?" Gimmy asked. "Much much harder," Bloom honestly replied, "but it''s only level five, so many of its strong skills won''t be used here, and if she used them, they won''t be much challenging to us," he added. "She?" Gored muttered. "Yes, it''s a seductive type monster, which I assume will use illusions, or seduction as her supreme skill," Bloom replied, while he was thinking at the same time about this monster. "Seductive based monster? seemed quite interesting," Sanmented, with his smug smile over his face, which started to irritate Bloom. He really missed that calm and silent San now! "She isn''t that interesting, she is scary, and you need to keep yourself collected, if you don''t want to die, and take everyone down with you," Bloom seriously replied, in a try to make him return to the real world.'' "Is this monster like the previous one, has four phases too?" Peri asked. "No, this monster is much more unique than that," Bloom said, "she will use a wide variety of skills all the time, with minimal cooldown time, and after the tenth minute, she will use her main supreme skill," he added. "What skill? is it that hard to deal with?" Gored asked, referring to the previous boss monster''s four main AOE skills. "It''s a very deadly skill, with long duration that won''t be dispelled until we defeat that monster," Bloom exined, trying not to make them underestimate that monster, "I believe it will be rted to the seductive nature of her," he added. "Like medusa? Will she turn us into stone?" Gimmy suddenly asked, as his mind had the picture of the sexy medusa. "Hmm, she might be simr to her," Bloom nodded, as he had one medusa inside his old game, and he heard a lot about her terror and strong seductive abilities. "If she is like her, then we can easily deal with her by not directly looking into her eyes," Gimmy added his own solution to the whole matter. "No, this can''t be taken so lightly," Bloom hurriedly said, "this monster can''t be taken this lightly. Until we confirm her true abilities, we can''t just confirm this as a way to deal with her, or else we all will die!" He didn''t want them to lower their guards, as if they realized there was such a solution, despite being just a theory, to deal with the mutated human monster inside the hall, then they wouldn''t do their best, would also make mistakes, and their reaction to the intense battle changes waiting for them inside wouldn''t be timely at all. "So, let''s go inside and know what this monster''s true abilities are!" Gimmy didn''t lose his belief on the matter, as he was so sure of his guess. Bloom just sighed, helplessly sighed, as he knew that the iing fight would be a big loss to them. He tried to look at the bright side of the matter, he would lose his dungeon clearance, as the developers wanted, but his XP would soar from the monsters he killed. That was, at least, a good gain indeed. "Alright, let''s go in," he finally said, while moving towards the hall, feeling the bitter taste of the defeat already. This time, he decided to y to his full heart''s content, and not worry about anything else. He was in the lead, while others were walking and talking behind, as they all agreed on Gimmy''s opinion, underestimating the beast waiting for them inside the hall. The moment Bloom entered the hall, he felt a wave of invisible wind hitting him in the face. ''Such a suppression from the start, even a level five mutated human monster can still be this scary!'' he thought to himself, while waiting for others to enter. The sexy, half naked, female stood there, motionless, with a smile over her face, like a hungry wolf looking at sheeping into its den, one sheep after another. Each yer entered, was instantly frozen by the suddensh of invisible wind, which made everyone''s heart shudder. The previous confidence simply shattered just like that, with just a simple step into this hall, without even the start of the fight. "What is going on? why do I feel such fear?" Gimmy, the main culprit behind their failure as Bloom decided to call him, muttered the moment he entered the hall. Everyone''s attention then fell over the body of this mutated human monster, as Bloom softly muttered: "I told you, don''t lower your guards from now on, and don''t assume anything when dealing with her. Just remember to support each other, use your potions, and always, always follow my orders all the time." He gave them the final advice, as it was toote now for any battle tactic or arrangements, as that monster started to move towards them when all of them entered the den, sorry, the hall. "Hi little sheep, are you ready to fall into my embrace and be eaten by me?" she swayed her curvy body while walking, very slowly, while her two high heels hit the ground in a ticking enticing sound, that made all of them, male or female, feel quite nervous and uneasy. "Who is this sexy?" San asked, while swallowing his throat. "She is our monster," Bloom said. "Do we need to kill this beauty?" Peri muttered. "She already killed me," Gored said, while sighing. Bloom looked at them, and suddenly a thought popped up his mind, the monster had already started its attack the moment they entered the hall! That invisible wind was a skill, an enchanting skill, and now they were falling under that! He, for his strong will, didn''t fall to her, not yet. He nced at them, helplessly sighing, shaking his head in regret, as it seemed the fight was already lost even before it started. Chapter 35: Hard Fight with the Boss Monster Chapter 35: Hard Fight with the Boss Monster Even if the cause was lost, he didn''t n to go down without a proper fight. The monster was walking, so carefree like she was walking in her own home, towards him, as he started to walk step by step towards her. The whole hall was now silent, as all the members of his team were attracted to this monster, falling under the clutches of her skill. as for Bloom, he kept his focus on her, nothing else. She had no weapon in hand, though her fingernails were so long that he could consider them as ws. "Are youing to give me a hug? Or a kiss?" she asked, with a very enticing voice, causing ripples in the air. ''Damn, another skill is used in a row,'' he muttered as he gritted his teeth, continuing to walk after a momentarily pause. "Ain''t I beautiful to you?" Another ripple hit him, which made him pause, then he continued to walk. "Don" Just as she was about to use another skill, Bloom was close enough to her, so he used his talent, coupled with his basic skill. "Stab!" "100" His basic attack caused a mere one hundred, despite him being on the same level as her. On the other hand, her Hp appeared, she had two long strips of Hp above her head! ''Two lives! She has two lives!!'' he yelled, cursed, shouted with great frustration inside his head, but on the surface, he kept his cool, as he linked this attack with another one, while she nced at his sword, with no interest at all whilementing: "You don''t know how to trea" "Slice!" "150" He interrupted her again, which made him understand part of her abilities. He used slice to turn behind her, where she rotated her waist, like it was made of rubber, and looked seductively towards him, while he finally used his long desired attack. "You have me in your hands but you use yo" "Dash!" The moment he reached the ce he wanted, he didn''t dy to use his super skill, dash, to move like a meteor towards the monster, stabbing her in the heart, pushing her with him towards the nearby wall. He repeated what he coincidently did at the previous hall, but now he used it on purpose. "Boom!" "450" The damage that floated above her head was really big, but not big enough to make him satisfied. The moment she was hit by this skill, stabbed in the chest, pinned to the wall, she was stunned. Stunning the monster negated all the skills she used. Bloom knew that, and thus the moment he stabilized his body, he shouted on others: "Use your strongest skills now!" He didn''t even turn to look at them, even when he said those words, he was pulling out his sword, while starting his own barrage of attacks. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "100" "200" "200" "100" Unfortunately there was no way for any maneuver here, so he had only one skill in hand to use. Just as he went berserk on her, others got awakened from their entrances, recalling what happened, and feeling somehow embarrassed and angry. And thus the battle finally kicked in by their participation in raining down this enchanting monster. For five seconds, they managed to clear one thousand Hp from this monster, mainly cleared away by Bloom, whose skills caused the highest damage of all. The moment she got freed from the stun, she ran, with extreme speed towards the distance, away from the attacks on her. Bloom was the first to adapt, as he was the nearest one to her. He chased this chick monster to the centre of the hall, where she just turned to face him, she had her entire armor, glistering in a blue luster, made up of thin translucent scales, to cover her body instead of her dress. Despite being in armored form, her battle form, most of her chest and shoulders were still exposed to their eyes. Bloom knew she would use another skill of her to enchant them, so he didn''t hesitate to use his second stun. "Dash!" He moved, with great speed to hit her body heavily. This time, he only managed to move her a few meters before the skill effect expired. "200" Only two hundred points of damages appeared on top of her head, while she was stunned for three seconds only. using the dash skill without the violent wall hitting had decreased a lot of the skill''s effects! Three seconds passed with the skills raining on her without stopping. The moment she got freed again, she ran, but this time he was ready for her. "Slice." "150" "Dash." He used the previous effectivebination on her, using slice to cope with her running speed, micro editing his position, before he used his dash skill in the most suitable position, pushing the sword onto her bulging bare chest, driving her towards the wall behind her. "Boom!" They shed, violently, on the wall, while she was pinned by his sword. "400" Her armor managed to absorb one hundred points of damage, which was eptable by him, as she was stunned for another five seconds. After she wore off her armor, the damage caused by them decreased, so in thest couple of stun times, they only managed to make her Hp fall by another thousand. As she lost two thousand Hp, the first bar of Hp decreased by one fifth, making its total Hp reached ten thousand points! That was a monstrous amount of Hp, especially against such a difficult monster to fight! Once the monster freed herself from the stun, a shield appeared in one hand, rounded, with a smooth surface, made out of dark blue material in color. Its edge was made of scales, though, making it look ovoid in shape more than rounded. ''So, each time we inflict damage on her, she would use one gear of her arsenal!'' Bloom muttered, as he watched her run, and this time he had no way to stop her. Chapter 36: The Boss Monsters Supreme Skill is A Mirroring Skill! Chapter 36: The Boss Monster''s Supreme Skill is A Mirroring Skill! She put the shield between herself and him, so any attack wouldn''t work properly on her. It was extremely hard dealing with such a smart monster, and the moment she broke free from his sword reach, she started to speak again. "You fools don''t know how to appreciate beauty!" A wave of invisible wind erupted, hitting every single one of them. Bloom felt some fatigue in his body, but he soon shook off his head, putting his mind on the right track again. He would never feel fatigue here, with his high stamina which was slightly over half of its value! This was an effect of a skill she used, and the next moment she went forward, evading facing him, as she decided to attack the other members of his team with her hand like w. Bloom had no other choice but to act as a tank here, as other members of his team were now under the effect of her skill. Her speed was way higher than his running speed, so she managed to reach the first shield bearer as she waved her hand, falling over the face of that yer, with a horrifying number of damage appearing above his head. "850" One hit, instant kill, that was crazy! Bloom was just a few meters away when she turned to face another yer. He knew if he waited to reach her, she would manage to deal a deadly blow to Gored, so he was forced to use his trump card skill. "Dash!" "Bang!" A sh appeared, with its sound resounding in the whole hall. Bloom managed to stop the monster, but he knew he was now in grave danger, amidst aplicated situation. He could retreat, easily evading her falling hand over his face, but if he did so, that hand would turn and cut Gored into pieces! Losing one more shield bearer would render this fight hopeless, so he had to adapt, not retreating, instead advancing. "Stab." "ng!" His sword hit the shield again, but he managed to turn slightly around her, while hitting her with his second sword, while her hand turned, midair, to target him again. "Stab." "ng." "Stab." "ng." "Stab." "ng." He had already turned to stand in between her and Gored. At this moment, he suddenly turned around himself, bending his left knee, then hitting Gored''s body hard enough to make him fly backward, causing minor damage to him, releasing him from the skill. "5" "ground breaker!" He didn''t stop there, as he finally was in position to use his only defensive skill, in thest second, to make his sword magically appear behind his back, blocking the iing attack of her. ''Please don''t insta kill me!'' he prayed. "-100" "200" two damaged appeared, as his body turned to face her. She was now not in the position to defend, with her hand holding the shield behind her body. Bloom didn''t waste this rare chance, as he hurriedly shouted: "Dash!" This time they were near another wall, luckily, and his skill carried the body of her towards the wall. "Bang!" "400" The moment it did, he let go of the sword, sheathed the other at the same time, while taking out his Hp potion, and gulped it hurriedly in his mouth. Then he grabbed the sword, prated her shoulder, unsheathed the other while using his barrage of skills. "Attack her now!" he shouted while hacking her beautiful body with his two swords. While others woke up from their daze, joined in attacking her, he did the most essential thing he needed to do. "Give me this damn shield!" He violently grabbed the shield from her hand, tossed it backward towards thest person in the team, Peri! "Keep it safe with you!" he shouted to her, while returning to continue attacking in thest two seconds remaining of his skill. as she lost her annoying shield, he was now morefortable in fighting her, as once she regained her freedom, started to run again, he used his slice skill, followed with another dash, pinning her towards the nearby wall! This kept going for five more times, taking out three thousands more Hp. At this moment, when her Hp decreased more than her half, she suddenly had a strange fog covering her, while a long spear appeared out of nowhere, which she used to deflect the dash skill of Bloom, finally escaping his trapping. "ng!" She didn''t wait for a moment for him to stabilize himself, as she ran for the centre of the hall, away from any annoying walls. "Pathetic ants! Now you will see the true terror of fighting me," she bellowed out, with much hatred and anger, while the faint bluish fog around her got thicker and thicker. "Arise, my mighty warriors!" "It''s her supreme skill, be ready," Bloom shouted, as he didn''t imagine the rule of Hp also applied to her! He cursed his previous life yers who kept this info hidden from others! Just as he shouted that, the fog started to move away from the body of her, forming eight humanoid shapes of fog. Each shape had a weapon simr to one of them, which made Bloom understand the extent of her skill! "It''s a mirror skill! she can use such high skill!" Mirror skill was considered one of the high end skills in this game, where the yer can form an equal shape of any yer or a monster, with all the stats of the yer and gears being replicated. ''Damn! They aren''t ready yet to fight such a high end skill!'' he cursed in his mind for the cruelty of this game developers. "Listen up, never fight your own clone, fight another one," he said, as he went ahead towards the side, watching these fog clones keenly, searching for one particr clone. His own! He knew any clone was easy to defeat, but not his own. He finally spotted it, as it was heading straight towards him. "Gimmy, hit that one with two swords with your AOE skill when I say so," he shouted as he waited, patiently, for the moment when his clone was near him. just as he was waiting for it, the clone suddenly darted towards him with extreme speed. ''Curse it! it''s using my dash skill on me!'' he cursed inwardly, hurriedly muttering: "Dash!" He pointed his sword towards a nearby clone, Gimmy''s clone, which was ready to use its AOE skill. "Now!" He didn''t wait for the skill to hit the clone, as he gave Gimmy the order to act. The AOE skill of Gimmy fell over the area he was standing at, hitting both Bloom''s clone, and his. "200" The skill alone was enough to clear the Hp of that clone, but strangely enough the clone didn''t die, or vanish, instead it looked towards Bloom with what could be called a smirk on its face! ''They share her Hp!'' he didn''t have time to think, as he knew what wasing towards him. "Ground breaker!" Chapter 37: Peris Clone Cant Be Killed Now! Chapter 37: Peri''s Clone Can''t Be Killed Now! The moment he used the skill, his sword shed with the clone sword, which caused a nging sound, with two damages appearing on top of his head, and his clone''s head. "-50" "100" His body shifted on its own, giving his back to Gimmy''s clone, which was going to use its AOE skill on him. He didn''t mind that, as this skill wouldn''t kill him, but his clone would. "Dash!" The moment he faced his clone, he totally ignored the second sword moving to stab him as he used his best skill to silence this annoying clone. "Boom!" "-35" "300" Bloom knew what was going on, as that monster had already shared her remaining Hp among her eight clones, with each one having slightly over six hundred Hp points! So, despite the high damage he dealt to his clone, it didn''t die, but it was almost about to. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "100" "100" "100" "100" Four attacks happened so fast that made the clone finally pop up like a bubble of smoke, while he didn''t stop there, as the clone of Gimmy had already used its skill over him! "-5" "-5" "-5" "-5" The damage was negligent, due to the level difference between Bloom and Gimmy, but it was per second damage, which meant if Bloom persisted to have this damage for another five or six seconds, he would be really in grave danger! Bloom didn''t wait, as he just turned around, and used his second skill over this clone! "Dash!" "200" The clone wasn''t near any wall, instead Bloom moved it to the midzone of the hall, beside every other clone there. It was a very risky situation, but he wasn''t nervous at all, as he started his own barrage of attacks on this noisy, about to die wizard. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "100" "100" "100" "100" Four attacks with no crits at all hit that stunned wizard, enough to clear its Hp. However, amidst his attacks, Peri''s clone acted and used a healing skill over it, adding one hundred Hp points in this short span of time. Despite that, Bloom wasn''t worried, however when he finished his four attacks, the clone was still standing. ''What is going on here?!!'' he thought to himself with disbelief! The clone should be long dead by now, but it was still alive. Bloom wasn''t in ce to think much now, as other clones were now heading towards him, attacking with their skills. "Slice." "200" He had to move, and this one was a crit. The moment it hit the clone, it popped up, dissipating in thin air like a bubble. As he moved with the effect of the skill, something bad was noticed by him! ''No way! It''s a piling up skill!!!'' He was shocked, almost frozen in ce when he noticed the fog of that killed clone wasn''t dissipating in thin air, instead it went straight towards the next clones, strengthening them. If this continued, then thest clone would have the same Hp of the monster! despite being only clones of his team, defeating such a monstrous clone wouldn''t be an easy feat at all! His mind then started to think, while he started to subconsciously act. "Ground breaker!" The first skill he used was the skill to make him defend against the nearest attack of the clone of the swordsman in the team, where he blocked his sword, turned around himself, and amidst this move he used his escaping skill. "-20" "100" "Dash!" "Boom!" He hit San''s clone hard to the wall, pinning it there, while he used his sword without stopping. "Use the materials you have and upgrade your weapons two ranks at least, four ranks maximum!" he suddenly yelled at others, while his sword continued to hack San''s clone. The only way out of here was to make them stronger, and the shortest road to that was through upgrading their gears, which would make the difference against their clones. He couldn''t take thest two clones alone, so he needed them to be ready. However, this was a double edged weapon, as this monster still had the remaining half of its first Hp bar intact, plus the second Hp bar! If each time such supreme skill would be used, and that was the most logical scenario here, then leveling up their gears to max would only solve the current problem, creating another crisis in the future. He shouldn''t look beneath his feet, not against such a cunning monster! Unfortunately he couldn''t kill San''s clone at this chance, as he heard the iing clones closing up on him, so he left after dealing seven hundred total damage to it, while its Hp was above eight hundred! "Dash!" He didn''t dy and found a gap between the iing clones, moving fast amidst their ranks, to m hard on Peri''s clone, taking her to the wall next to her. "Boom!" "200" He had the chance to finish her off, as most clones were now far from him, but he didn''t do that. He took this chance to nce at the whole hall, where he found that seductive monster in a strange state of being semi transparent, not moving at all. ''So, she can''t move during her skill duration? Does that mean if we killed these clones she would be hurt in return?'' he thought to himself, while stabbing Peri''s clone two times in a row, before turning to the opposite side of the monster, ncing shortly at his team members. They were busy leveling up their gears. He then stabbed Peri''s clone twice again, before looking for his next target amongst the iing clones. His sparing of Peri wasn''t out of mercy or pity, he selected her to be thest standing clone from the whole group here. a living healer, even with high Hp, wouldn''t pose any threat at all! So, Peri''s clone couldn''t be killed, not now! As the clones closed up on him, he didn''t waste any more time, and used his escaping skill. "Dash!" "200" His sword prated San''s clone, while he stabbed him again, to make sure it was now properly killed. Per usual, the fog dissipated, and other clones got additional Hp! He couldn''t use Dash again, as both skills were now in cooldown time, plus his only option now was Peri''s clone, and he couldn''t kill it now. ''Let''s slightly shift the positions, shall we,'' he evilly smirked in his mind, while he moved to wee the iing swordsman''s clone with a stab, then a slice, moving around it, then followed by a stab towards Gored''s clone, then used another slice. He had to do so, as he had to act as the main DPS and Tank for now, until they all finished what they were doing. Keeping these five clones in check wasn''t that hard, but Gored''s clone started to cause some headache to him, while using the two shields to deflect half of his skills over it. ''This one must be killed now!'' he decided, as he used a slice skill over the second swordsman, turning around its body, before he stood now in the perfect position, amidst them all, while Gored was standing between him and the wall where he just killed San at. "Dash!" He didn''t hesitate, and used his skill to force the body of Gored''s clone to the back, mming it hard to the wall, while pinning it with his sword, and stunning it with his skill. "200" ''Let''s hurriedly kill you in the next five seconds, shall we?'' he thought to himself, while pulling out his sword from the stunned body of Gored''s clone, as his other sword was stabbing it without dy. Chapter 38: Killing All the Clones Successfully Chapter 38: Killing All the Clones Sessfully Gored''s clone was really a nuisance, and with the increase in Hp each time he killed one of them, Gored would get stronger, until he wouldn''t die from mere attacks at five seconds. To maximize this duration damage, Bloom had to use two slice skills at the beginning, moving from left to right until he hit the wall, then from right to left returning again to his start ce. Three hundred damage appeared from the head of this clone, with another two hundred caused by three stabs amidst the two seconds time of the two skills, which made the clone lose five hundred Hp in mere two seconds. Gored''s clone lost three quarters of its Hp in this attack, but the skills of Bloom was on cooldown, except for the stab, which the only one he could use in the uing three seconds. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "100" "100" "100" "100" "100" "100" He didn''t know why, but since the first time he shed with the monster in this hall, the stab skill never caused any damage higher than its basic damage mainly. That was frustrating, but he had alreadypleted his task, and the annoying Gored''s clone was already down. In the middle of all this, he took out his Hp potion and gulped its content, knowing that he would lose Hpter on. Just as he was dealing thest couple of stabs to Gored''s clone, the swordsman had reached him, and dealt a sessful strike to him. "-30" That attack was small, and he could sustain another one if needed to, but he had already used thest stab to kill Gored''s clone. He didn''t wait for the fog to dissipate, as he used his life saving skill. "Ground breaker!" "-15" "300" It was a crit, and he finally started to rotate, facing the iing four clones now, which had their Hp boosted. He had now to select the one to live to the end with Peri out of the three melee sses he was facing right now. "50" "70" "40" "50" "80" "20" "20" "10" Suddenly, the skills rained on these clones, as the team members finally rejoined the fight, giving him more space to act. "Don''t kill Peri''s clone," he suddenly yelled, as he didn''t make up his mind of which clone would end up with Peri in the end, as for him they were the same. Despite their skills having minor damages to the clones, inparison to his, they were many, and they would umte all together to be higher than him. "+25" "+25" "+25" Peri suddenly started healing him, which was something he totally missed in this fight. With everyone back in shape again, he was able to move, more freely, using all his barrage of skills without reservation or more caution. "Slice." "200" He used his first skill to move from his ce, entering amidst the three clones. Once he reached there, and after using a couple of stab skills, he used the second ground breaker skill, blocking the glove of the martial artist''s clone, turning to face him, while starting another barrage of attacks on him. The clone was just on the end of the formation, with Peri only in his back. The other team members did as Bloom said, and spared Peri''s clone from any attack. After six stabs, Bloom used another ground breaker skill on the second swordsman''s clone, to turn and face, while linking it with a dash skill when he faced the first swordsman amidst the move. "Boom!" "400" The clone was pinned to the wall, and it lost another four hundred Hp. During these seconds, Peri''s clone healed him with one hundred Hp, but right now he lost four times that amount. Bloom was now separated from the remaining clones, while other yers joined the fight and made sure to make them quite busy from dealing with Bloom. Each clone of the other two had two to three yers dealing with it, while Peri''s clone stayed alone at the back, with no one caring about such a harmless healer. Bloom being all alone with that swordsman was a very easy fight, as he took all the frustration and stress he had and vented them over it. "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." All these skills were more than enough to clear the swordsman''s clone Hp. Bloom didn''t stop there, as he turned and joined the other remaining two fights. One swordsman''s clone, the second one, was down, and that made the martial artist''s clone only remaining. Though its Hp swelled up to reach two thousand and five hundred frightening values, in front of the concentrated attack of all of them, it couldn''t live for more than ten seconds before falling dead. "Peri is thest one, let''s go," Bloom muttered, as this healer wasn''t anything threatening to them all, despite her scary five thousand Hp. In twenty seconds, with one sided bully, Peri''s clone finally hit the ground. "Ahhhhh!!" Suddenly the monster screamed, and the Hp bar above her head was depleted in mere seconds. Bloom looked at this and finally understood everything. "Let''s deal with her like previous time, and we must deplete her Hp to less than half in the shortest time possible," he then turned to look at them before smirking, "and please don''t fall this easily under her skills." Despite his harsh remark, they all knew he was right in his own words. they didn''t reply back, as they didn''t know how to fight such skills of this monster. they weren''t like Bloom, with years and years of mental experience of his past life. The monster finally had her first Hp bar shattered, and she, somehow, looked weaker than before. Bloom didn''t underestimate her, though, as he was sure she wasn''t going to fall down this easily. However, knowing how to deal with her supreme skill, all he needed to do was to deplete half of her Hp. Five thousand Hp wasn''t something small to deplete, though, but he did it once, and he could do it again. He took a deep breath, and readied his mind for round two. Chapter 39: Fighting Another Version of the Monster Chapter 39: Fighting Another Version of the Monster "You miserable pathetic beings, you dare to defy and defile my own beauty with your poor weapons and disgusting skills!" Suddenly, the monster changed her approach, and instead of using enchanting skills, she used a mute and weakening skills. an invisible ribble attacked them all, but only Bloom remained slightly unaffected. ''Damn, she is trying to make the fight be longer,'' Bloom inwardly cursed, before he shouted: "She is going to use mute and weakening skills, and that means you can fight with me, but be extra careful. I will be the main DPS and tank, and you just follow suit. Peri, keep everyone safe," he just finished his words, and the monster started to move. As she started to move, two weapons appeared within each of her hands, a long spear she used before, and a long whip, with electrical sparkles at its five long ends. Opposite to her carefree walk in the previous fight, she ran, with much seriousness over her face. She was finally getting serious, and Bloom was the one to wee her. She was now using her full offensive strength, and Bloom had the feeling this fight would turn into a dog fight instead of the previous enchanting one. Just before he moved to meet her, he took out one St potion and gulped it all. His previous fight was very stressful, and his stamina was already below its third. As the two approached each other, Bloom suddenly jumped in the air, turning around himself midair in a very spectacr sight, before he muttered: "Ground breaker." "-50" "300" She got weaker, as the damage she caused to him decreased than before, but she had, in return, increased her defenses, and now he only dealt three hundred damage points to her, a crit not like his previous crits dealt to her! Just as he was turning to face her, readying himself to the fight that would erupt, a sh passed his eyesight, as she threw her whip to surround one of the two swordsmen''s neck, grabbed him, rapidly throwing him back into the rear of the hall, heavily hitting the wall, while falling on the ground. "-100" The damage was minimal, despite the brutality of it. the moment she did so, she hurriedly retreated, without anything to stop her from doing so. "Damn, she ns to hunt us down one by one," Bloom loudly cursed as he tried to run and catch up to her, but she was already a few meters ahead of him. "Peri, keep him alive," he shouted as the swordsman was about to stand up, with obvious drowsiness that made him stumble the moment he stood up. ''A dizziness effect, damn!'' he inwardly cursed, as he continued to run after her. She just reached the swordsman, while Peri kept using her healing skills in a row, making the swordsman Hp jump higher than before, but not reached the full mark yet. "Die you impudent ant!" the monster bellowed angrily while she hacked the swordsman body with her sword. Two attacks fell on his body before Bloom was near her, two attacks were enough to kill him. "Dash!" He was angry that he let her do that, but he didn''t know she would change her tactic of fighting. Right now it felt like they were dealing with a totally different monster than before! "Boom!" The monster tried to block and evade, but Bloom wasn''t a newbie to let her do so. He used his skill in a position that was so close to her, blocking all roads to retreat, so her body was fixed on the wall, while he and the others started to hack her body with their skills. Just as she was about to be freed, Bloom retreated, blocking one side of the way on her, while taking an angle to the other way she would walk into. Just as she was freed, she screamed in extreme anger, and without hesitation she moved towards the way Bloom had intentionally left open. "Dash!" Just as he used his dash skill, and his sword just prated her body, he linked it with another dash, pointing to the opposite direction of his first dash. "Dash!" Her body was driven like a kite in the middle of a storm, first to the first direction of the first dash, then changed her course, violently, to be forced to move to the opposite direction, hitting the wall just a few centimeters away from the first ce she was in! "Boom!" "300" "600" The effect ofbining his two mighty skills together didn''t end there, as the damage she received was doubled due to the violent turn her body had to take. The stun effect of the two skills were added one on top of the other, giving Bloom and the others ten seconds of stun effect. "Ten seconds, keep it going everyone," he shouted while starting to use his second most strongbination of skills, his slice, the ground breaker, followed by another slice, then ground breaker! As the monster was already stunned, there was no attack to block, so he just turned around and joined the skill with the slice. He aimed to use his highest DPS skills, one after another. In their cooldown, he used stab without pause, kiting down her Hp bit by bite. "Two thousand Hp remaining, don''t stop!" He shouted, just two seconds before the effect of hisbined stun vanish. This time he knew the monster wouldn''t follow his tactic, as she would prefer to hit him directly, while trying to escape through his path. Despite knowing that, he did the same as before, as he intended to lure the monster to do what he expected. Bloom was already exhausted, and the fight here in this dungeon really made him extremely depleted, mentally and physically. The idea of fighting a totally different monster was something he didn''t even want to think about, so the only option here was to force that monster to use her supreme skill, the only secure and safe road to them all. Chapter 40: Facing the Clones Again Chapter 40: Facing the Clones Again One second before the stun effect vanished, he jumped backward, a couple of meters, while blocking one way, leaving the other opened. As he did so, and with the stun effect finally ended, the monster screamed in extreme humiliation much more than pain, and she started to move. As he expected, she didn''t fall twice in his trap. She jumped towards him, while waving her sword towards him. her speed was higher than his from the start, but he was already anticipating her. So, as his feet touched the ground, he jumped again, to the back, a couple of meters, creating enough distance with her, while tuning his direction to be oblique with the monster, forming an angel with the wall behind her. However, he greatly underestimated this monster! The moment he retreated, the monster didn''t follow suit, as she waved her whip in a second, catching three of his friends behind him, using the long ends of the whip, as it turned out she could use them, consciously controlling them. Bloom saw iting, the terrible fate they would face, so he just waited to his feet to touch the ground so he could use his skills! "Boom!" "Stab!" "Boom!" "Dash!" "Boom!" "Dash!" "Boom!" He hurriedly used his stab skill, so he could link it with his dash skill, but at this mere second the first yer, the martial artist, hit the wall heavily with his body, while her sword prated his heart, stabbing him without hesitation. As he used his first Dash, the second yer, the first swordsman, hit the wall heavily causing severe booming sound. Just as his sword prated her body, she already stabbed the poor swordsman with her sword. As he drove her body to the first direction, Gored had already hit the wall, but before she could act with her sword, he had linked the first dash with the second, violently twisting her body, forcing it to move into the opposite direction, to be pinned into the wall behind her, finally stunning her! In these mere seconds, two yers were lost! Scary! Bloom and everyone else here thought so, as they missed the first docile version of this seductive mutated human monster! "Let''s make sure she properly loses her Hp more than before!" Bloom shouted while he started his own barrage of attacks. Ten seconds, with five yers attacking the monster constantly, while one of them was only a supportive ss, made them cause two thousand and five hundred damage in these ten minutes. Mostly was done by Bloom alone! Just as the ten seconds passed, the monster screamed, while her body started to be blurry. "Retreat, and be ready," Bloom said, while adding, "upgrade your weapons the moment the clones appear." They all retreated, while the previous fog started to appear, forming five clones of the five remaining yers here. Bloom didn''t return with them, as he had two missions toplete, killing his clone, and killing Gored''s clone. These two clones were a nuisance, and he intended to kill them in this order, while Peri''s clone would be left forst. The moment the five clones appeared, each with approximately nine hundred Hp points, Bloom spotted his clone, which was standing in the forefront, and then he moved towards it. And his clone moved towards him as well, followed by the three other clones. Bloom first didn''t attack, as he knew if he did, he would be entangled with his clone in this unfavorable position for him, surrounded by other clones. So, he waited for his clone to attack first. His clone started with the basic skill, stab. Bloom suddenly paused in his tracks, jumped to the side, before jumping back, driving his body away from the course of the skill of his clone. As he expected, his clone followed using his second sword, while changing his direction, moving away from the other clones. At this moment, and before any other clone would join them, Bloom started to act. "Stab." "Slice." "-70'' "140" "300" "+100" "+50" "+50 Three damages appeared from this rapid exchange with two healing skills from Peri''s clone. Bloom moved to the side of his clone, being finally in his favorite position. "Dash!" The moment he was on his clone side, he used his first dash skill. just as his sword prated his clone, driving it forward, he linked it with another dash. "Dash!" "Boom!" This sudden shift in direction messed the formation of the other three clones behind him, making him pin that noisy clone of his on the wall, dealing two subsequent big amounts of damage, almost this close from killing it, and stunning it on the wall for ten seconds. "300" "+50" "+50" "+50" "+50" "600" Peri''s clone managed to add two hundred points to the Hp of his clone, barely making it escape death. Bloom didn''t n to wait the whole ten seconds here, as he hurriedly used four skills in a row without even thinking about it. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "140" "+50" "140" "+50" "140" "+50" "140" "+50" Even with the intervention of Peri''s clone, Bloom''s clone finally was killed, falling on the ground, dissipating into fog. Bloom didn''t wait for the fog topletely vanish, as he was already hunted by the other three clones. "Dash!" He used his second dash to escape, again, from their clutches, heading straight towards Peri. Now there were four clones, each with over a thousand Hp, so hitting Peri and making her busy healing the three hundred damage caused by his charge was enough for him. He turned, letting her be busy healing herself, while he nced at the three iing clones. Gored was the closest one to him, and now he was thest one, but he couldn''t use any of his dash skills, as the two were already on cooldown. "Let''s dance and have fun then," he evilly smirked, as he directed his sword towards Gimmy''s clone, the closest to him, while using his skills smoothly like he was breathing. "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "200" "300" "200" "200" His stabs suddenly started creating crits, which made his damage soar. He didn''t n to finish this clone now, making itst for the end, but now he had the temptation to finish it. Gimmy''s clone, on the other hand, didn''t stop using his attack skills over him, but they all did pathetic damage, only fives and tens for him. "Let''s finish you off, you AOE skill is really a team wipe out skill," Bloom muttered when he noticed his Hp starting to fall dramatically despite being hit with small numbers of damages. As he decided so, he linked his attacks with another barrage of attacks. ""Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "200" "100" "200" "200" Four skills managed to clear all the Hp remaining in this clone, making it fall, and strengthening the other clones in the meanwhile. "Let''s get rid of you then," Bloom muttered, as he nced at Gored''s clone, while using his trump card skill over it. "Dash!" The moment he used the skill, his body moved to hit Gored, but suddenly, another body appeared in front of him, taking the toll of the skill, which was linked at once with his other dash. "Dash!" "Boom!" "300" "600" The moment San''s clone hit the wall, two huge damages appeared on top of his head. Bloom frowned, as this idiotic clone jumped in his way, defending Gored, and taking the me for his attacks. Bloom nced at Gored, who just smirked, with an evil smile over his face. This was indeed intentional, and Bloom just lost his two trump card skills in this crucial timing. And that wasn''t all! Chapter 41: Finally Clearing Level Five Dungeon Chapter 41: Finally Clearing Level Five Dungeon "50" "100" "75" "69" "100" Suddenly, a barrage of skills fell upon San''s clone that just hit the wall, depleting its remaining Hp, killing it out. ''Damn it!'' Bloom just inwardly cursed, as the other team members thought he was targeting San, and they just joined the battle again. That was indeed painful for him, as he was yed once, and was hit by friendly fires in the second time, shattering his ns so far. Now, he ended up by an amazing couple, a shield bearer with double shields, and a light daughter that could heal him. "Listen up," he suddenly shouted on his team members heading to deal with Gored''s clone, as he added, "change in ns, the first to kill isn''t Gored''s clone, but Peri''s." They looked at him in question, but they didn''t know how terrifying a shield bearer was with a healer behind his back! The only option here was to either cause more damage than her healing skills, and that wasn''t logical at all as Gored''s clone had two shields, minimizing the damage he would receive from even him. So, he had to kill Peri''s clone first, then kite down that Gored''s clone Hp steadily and patiently after that. "Just go, and I will keep this clone busy," Bloom said, as he went towards Gored, using his basic attacks at first exchange. "Stab." "Stab." "Missed." "Missed." Two big misses appeared on top of Gored''s clone''s head. The clone smirked again, as this was the oue it expected when it threw out San''s clone, sacrificing it. Bloom''s dash skills need five second to recharge again, and thus he had to keep this shield bearer busy during these five seconds, but this clone seemed not nning to apany him, as it started to retreat, heading straight towards Peri''s clone to protect it. Bloom knew this couldn''t be allowed, but before he could think of something, while his stab skills were being blocked, a monster suddenly appeared in Gored''s clone path, blocking its retreat. "Good move, San!" Bloommented, praising San''s brilliant interception, while he moved, using this window, to bypass Gored''s clone, standing just behind the monster which started hitting the clone. "Ground breaker." In the middle of the ongoing clone monster fight, Bloom used his skill, to block one of the clone''s two shields, and start to rotate on himself. The blocked shield had now created an opening, as he hurriedly used his second sword, finally using his stall mate breaker. "-0" "300" "Slice!" "300" His body finally moved, and with that he pressed hard with his first sword, using the skill momentum to push the clone''s shield further to the back, before he used his kick topletely throw it off. "Finally!" he screamed, as he managed to cut one of this clone''s annoying defensive arms off by this move. He didn''t stop, then, as he started a barrage of his skills, kiting this clone''s Hp. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "200" "200" "200" "200" "200" "200" The clone took all this damage, while he was trying to block the monster from the other side, but in just mere three seconds, it lost over one thousand Hp from Bloom''s attacks, while he lost only two hundred Hp from the monster. So, it decided to shift its focus, moving the shield from hand to hand, to face off Bloom and stop his threat. "San, make your monster take my ce now," Bloom read what this clone nned to do, so he hurriedly yelled at San, while he used his game changer skill. "Slice!" "300" He moved, parallel to the shield that the clone was moving, passing from its back, to stand finally on the opposite side. At the same moment, the monster summoned by San moved to be in Bloom''s original ce. The clone shifted its shield, and so did Bloom. "Enough of this nonsense, dash! Dash!" "Boom!" "300" "600" Bloom had his two dash skills cooldown finally refreshed, and he could use them, so he hurriedly used them,bined together, to move the clone''s body to one direction, before sharply changing it, forming an angle, until it was pinned to the wall, hitting it violently, creating that heavy damage. However, that was just the beginning. Bloom was already frustrated from this clone''s deceitful action from before, and so he started hitting it with all his might, venting his frustration over it. The ten seconds were enough to kill it, and in mere four seconds, the clone was killed finally, by his two swords. "Thest one, keep killing her!" Bloom shouted, as he didn''t dy and joined the others in killing Peri''s clone. Despite her gaining more than two thousand Hp in this single moment, the clone was the only supportive type, and had no offensive skill of any kind. It was already doomed to fall, without even causing a single point of damage to anyone of them. The moment the clone was killed, the mutated human monster screamed, as her body started to be shattered in many ces, while she gushed out a fountain of blood, before falling on the ground dead. "We did it!" They all looked to each other while San whispered this, before they all screamed celebrating this very hard to achieve a dungeon clear. Bloom, on the other hand, didn''t stop for even a moment, as he went ahead towards that monster''s body, collecting materials like crazy! "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." . . . "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." "System alert: You collected level five grade SS material." In three minutes, as they were all busy celebrating, Bloom had gathered twenty materials of grade SS, which was something very rare in this game. He knew how hard it was to even collect grade S materials, and now he got twenty grade SS materials in one go. He wanted to collect more, but the monster''s body dissipated, finally dering the end of this dungeon, which was apanied by the system alert that rang in their ears: "System alert: Congrattions to Team Gored on clearing dungeon level five sessfully." "System alert: Gored team has cleared the eighth dungeon in the entire game. Rewards will be sent to each yer, based on the role yed in clearing the dungeon. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation. Team leader has the right to dere the sess to the whole world." Chapter 42: Rich System Rewards Chapter 42: Rich System Rewards The line of system alerts didn''t stop there, as more had appeared in front of Bloom''s eyes. "System alert: Gored team has cleared a red evolution dungeon level five sessfully. The time taken to clear the dungeon didn''t exceed the lower limits of the dungeon. Special rewards will be sent to each yer based on his or her performance. Assessments are final, and there is no way to ask for reevaluation." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Killing two hundred level five evolved monsters, and seven level five normal monsters granted the yer ny thousand XP." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Killing the mutated human monster Sherin level five granted yer twenty thousand XP." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Being the sessful to clear a red evolved dungeon, and being the highest DPS yer, the first in defense yer among the team, you have these following rewards: -Additional twenty thousand XP. -One hundred Hp potions. -Five basic Hp potions. -Fifty Stm potions. -One reviving token. -One level five, red grade cape. -One level five, red grade boots. -One level five, red grade chest te. -Five hundred gold coins." "System alert: yer is part of Gored team. Being the eighth to clear a dungeon in the game, and being the highest DPS yer, the first in defense yer among the team, you have these following rewards: -Additional one hundred XP. -Twenty Hp potions. -Five Stm potions. -Fifty gold coins." "System alert: yer has risen one level." "System alert: yer has risen one level." "System alert: yer has risen one level." Bloom nced at all these alerts with a satisfying smile over his face. He didn''t know at first why the system had given him a different reward for finishing the red evolved dungeon, but soon enough he understood why. He had finished the eight dungeon in the game, gaining much less rewards from the first reward he had before. Considering the huge effort he and his team had done here, the rewards had to be added separately. For him this wasn''t something to worry about, all he needed was the rewards, and now he had a pile of it! And he had risen three levels in one go, jumping from level five to level eight, and that was something worth celebrating, as leveling up from one level to another was never easy after reaching level five. This dungeon, despite wasting hours in clearing it, had saved him days! That was a great deal for him. He imagined the faces of those developers, knowing they would be much frustrated by now. however he didn''t do anything wrong, or broke any gamews, he won this fair and square with his efforts. He threw the developers'' page behind his back, and started to focus on the rewards he just had. The potions were the old usual ones, and new higher grade ones. "Basic Hp potion: it restored one hundred Hp points directly, plus twenty Hp points per second for the next five seconds. Can''t be used when other Hp potions are in effect." Bloom examined the effects of this new potion, and he had to admit he needed more of these. The old, lower grade, Hp potions could only grant him eighty Hp in five seconds total, which was now considered impractical to him. That was enough to restore half of his Hp, and with the new potion, he could restore two hundred Hp points in five seconds, very enough to refill his Hp tank! In the previous fight, when one hit was enough to deplete more than half of his Hp, using the normal Hp potions wasn''t really helpful. So, he felt d he got these new ones, hoping he could have more in the future. The next thing to examine was the token, it was a strange token, like a penny in size, dark bronze in color, engraved with minute writings, with nothing more. "Reviving token: yer can revive once for free, without any punishment at all. Must be held in hand outside the inventory before death to be effective. Can''t be dropped, can''t be traded. One time use." ''This is an extra life then?'' Bloom held this token in hand, as he might need it on many asions in the future. Sadly, he could use it only for one time. He put it away in his inventory, before taking out the gears he acquired as gifts. The eight rank didn''t give him any gear at all, but he got three gears from clearing the dungeon. He was first in DPS and defense, which made him acquire the best rewards in the two categories it seemed. He took out the three, putting them on the ground in front of him, while marveling their beauty. "Sherin Cape: One of the Sherin set. Level zero cape, red grade. Requirements: level five and yer Bloom. Str +one hundred percent. Vit +one hundred percent. Cloud of fog skill: In the middle of a movable skill, the course of the skill can be changed ording to yer''s will for two times, with each time causing two hundred percent effect of the first skill. cooldown: ten seconds." "Sherin Boots: One of the Sherin set. Level zero boots, red grade. Requirements: level five and yer Bloom. Res +one hundred percent. Vit +one hundred percent. Shadow steps skill: yer can move for twenty seconds without causing any sound, or can be seen. If yer was attacked or he attacked, the skill would be rendered ineffective. Speed increases by two folds during the effect of this skill. Cooldown: ten seconds after the end of the effect of the skill." "Sherin chest te: One of the Sherin set. Level zero chest te, red grade. Requirements: level five and yer Bloom. Phs +one hundred percent. Vit +one hundred percent. Fog storm skill: the chest te emanates a soft shield of fog that can absorb up to one hundred percent equal to the yer''s defense value of damage in five seconds. Cooldown: ten seconds." The three were part of Sherin''s set, a set Bloom knew his team members must have acquired the rest of it. Sadly, each gear was bound to the yer gaining the reward, so there was no way in trying to think of a way to collect the whole set. Without any dy, he wore the three gears, which had a faint red luster over their surface. "System alert: yer has worn three gears of the same set. The effects of all set pieces are boosted by thirty percent." Chapter 43: Merging Skills Chapter 43: Merging Skills Bloom knew wearing the same parts of a set would give bonuses, and thirty percent might seem low, but it was a good bonus here. The next step he did was to allocate his free points, now he had leveled up for three levels in one go, so he had nine points to allocate, plus the talent points and the skill points. The first thing he did was to distribute his points one Vit and Str as four and five points ordingly. After hisst battle with that mutated boss monster, he learnt his lesson well. Having a strong attack didn''t mean he was invincible! Anything could happen in this game, and not all things follow the logic of the game he knew of. He had to be prepared for the worst, not to die by two strikes only. After doing that, he shifted his gaze towards the most important thing, skills. He had three skills, but during thest fight he had faced it hard there, with his small number of skills limiting his abilities. He hadn''t used the skills points so far, since leveling up from level zero to now, so he had eight Sp points now, and he could use them as much as he liked. "Show the skill tree." He ordered, as arge sheet appeared in front of his eyes. He had enough Sp points to learn at least three skills, and he needed some trump card skill, one that could make him be invincible. The more he scanned, the more doubt he had. All the skills were awesome, but not to the degree that he anticipated. He knew the value of a movable skill, and so he limited his search for this type of skills. The first skill he noted was the sky piercer skill. That skill enabled him to jump three meters in the air while attacking his opponent, adding more to his sword momentum, causing more damage. The thing that caught his attention about this showy skill was the two nodes rted to the skill. The first node was connected to the ground breaker skill, and the second node was connected to the dash skill of his sword. Despite having the skill from his weapon, he could perform it, and thus it was acknowledged by the game as his own, until he removed the sword or lost it. These nodes had much significance to him, as they indicated the probability of merging the two skills, to form a brand new, much stronger one. So, he could merge the three skills together to form a one skill, but he faced one problem here, as this whole merge would cost him five Sp points, and that in case he decided to attach it to his weapon. If he wanted not to, then he had to learn dash skill first, and learning it would require three Sp points on its own. So, to merge the three skills together he would lose seven Sp points, which would be a great risk to do now. If he connected this new skill to his sword, then he must do it to one sword, and he had to keep this sword with him for a long time, not recing or losing it. This pair of swords were part of the quest he had, and he nned to do some unexpected performance in it, but now he had to tune it more, so he wouldn''t lose these two swords. He had to admit, the presence of the two dash skills here had greatly helped him in his past battles, and he was sure they would help him more in the future. So, keeping them rose as an rm, as he had to keep them and at the same time he had to destroy this quest. ''Sigh, I have only one option here then,'' he muttered, as he knew this would require the help from a certain NPC. The other skill that attracted his attention was the hawk skill. This skill enabled him to jump two times in a row, changing his ce, with the change of the trajectory of the sword. The beauty of this skill was that it could merge with the three from before, forming a muchplex and advanced skill, but again the problem lied in the cost of merging. To learn the skill he needed two Sp points, then if he would merge it with his other normal skills then he would need another two Sp points. If he needed to merge it with the newly generated skill, he would need three more Sp points. ''Let''s learn these two, and leave the merging toter,'' he thought to himself, as he was confident in his rapid rise in levels in the next days toe. Waiting for days wasn''t an issue for him, so he selected to learn the two skills, one after another. "Sky piercer skill: Movable skill. It enables the yer to jump up to three meters in the air, adding more momentum to his attack. Str +one hundred percent plus the momentum effect. Cooldown: five seconds." "System alert: Sky piercer skill can be merged with Dash skill of your sword, however the new skill will have to be linked with the sword. The cost of the merging is one Sp point. Do you want to do the merge?" "System alert: Sky piercer skill can be merged with ground breaker skill. The cost of the merging is one Sp point. Do you want to do the merge?" "Merge it with dash skill," Bloom softly murmured, as he just lost two Sp points to learn this skill. "System alert: Merging ispleted sessfully. The new skill is the dash piercer skill. the skill is attached to one sword. You can view the skill in the sword info." "System alert: Dash piercer skill can be merged with ground breaker skill, however the new skill will be attached to the same sword which has the dash piercer skill. The cost of the merge is one Sp point. Do you want to do the merge?" "Merge," he muttered as he greatly anticipated the newly learnt skill. "System alert: Merging ispleted sessfully. The new skill is the breaker piercer skill. the skill is attached to one sword. You can view the skill in the sword info." Chapter 44: Treasure Box Hunt Chapter 44: Treasure Box Hunt The merge waspleted sessfully, however he didn''t hurriedly open the sword page to see the new skills he just got, as he still had three Sp points left, so he selected the hawk skill. Without much ado he selected to learn it, spending the two Sp points dly without any regret. "Hawk skill: Movable skill. Chain skill. It enables the yer to jump two times in a row, changing the trajectory of his sword in the process. At the end of the two jumps, the yer will rotate on himself, and direct a hit towards the target. This attack can''t be dodged, and it increases Str by two hundred percent. Cooldown three seconds." It was a much better skill than he initially thought. The application of it would require some nning, though, but he was sure it could be easily added to his life saving skills, side by side to dash and ground breaker skills. Getting this skill, he then opened the sword''s info page. "Twin shrine of death sword: part of a quest reward, temporarily lent to the yer. Level zero sword. Grade gold. Str+ one hundred percent. Vit+one hundred percent. Dash skill: Movable skill. Chain skill. increases Atp by two hundred percent, with stun effect when hitting the target from the dash for five seconds, decreased or increased one second for each level difference with the yer. Cooldown: five seconds. Dash piercer skill: movable skill. Chain skill. it makes the yer jump three meters in air when the sword hit the target. It increases Atp by three hundred percent, with a stun effect when hitting the target from the dash for seven seconds, decreasing or increasing one second for each level difference with the yer. Cooldown: five seconds. Breaker piercer skill: Movable skill. Chain skill. it allows the sword to be moved to the back, defending any iing strike, or attacking any enemy, then the yer will turn to face the enemy, before dashing towards the enemy, with the sword hitting the target, carrying yer and the target three meters in the air. It increases Atp by four hundred percent, with a stun effect when hitting the target from the dash for ten seconds, decreasing or increasing one second for each level difference with the yer. Cooldown: five seconds." ''Wow! Just Wow!!'' Bloom just muttered out of his disbelief to the new two skills he just acquired. The breaker piercer was a mind blowing for him, as the implications of this skill alone would turn it to be the joker of all his fighting styles! The only problem here was that it was rted to one sword alone. He looked at the second sword, then to his single remaining Sp point and helplessly sighed. If he didn''t hurriedly spend the two Sp points on the other skill, he would only need two Sp points, and he could make his other sword have this skill as well when reaching level ten. ''I should start amassing Sp points from now then,'' he just muttered, before closing the sword page, and then turn to look at everyone else. The others were just ncing at him, ncing at the three pieces of Sherin set as they were drooling at them. Unexpectedly, they didn''t get anything at all like him, not a single gear! He just looked at their greedy eyes andughed, despite not to, as their faces were really funny. "Thank god you aren''t cannibals, or I would have goosebumps," he said, joking, while shaking his head. "How did you get these fancy looking gears?" San asked. "Are they gold grade?" Gimmy asked. "Are they one set?" Gored asked. "Do you get any staff?" Peri asked, with a soft tone that made his heart shudder. "Guys," he suddenly said, "calm yourselves for a bit, these are the system rewards, didn''t you get any?" he asked what he was sure to hear the answer about. "No," they all shook their heads and replied at the same time. Bloom just looked at them for a moment before looking around him, trying to find something to distract their attention, changing the topic. The moment he did so, he felt the strangeness here. "Howe we are still inside the dungeon?" His question managed to attract their attention, as this was strange. "Weren''t we kicked outside the dungeon after the boss monster vanished in thest dungeon?" Gored muttered, as this seemed off. As for Bloom, his mind started to work, trying to know what was wrong here. "A treasure box!" After moments of thinking, he suddenly shouted that while patting on his forehead. This incident rarely urred in the dungeons below level ten, but this wasn''t a normal dungeon after all. "Did you just say a treasure box?" Gored hurriedly asked, with shiny eyes. Bloom just smiled, as he knew what it meant for a yer here to find a treasure box. Free Sp points, free Tp points, even real skills and gears, and potions were always present, plus some other rare and unique items, like scrolls and architectural designs. He wasn''t aiming to build a vige or a town, he was aiming to demolish them. If he found a siege weapon blueprint then he would be much ecstatic, but such advanced blueprints would never fall this early in the game. "It''s the only exnation for the dungeon to remain up till now," he said while he started observing everything around him. he wasn''t the only one to do so, as everyone else also did the same, while Peri muttered: "I can''t see any treasure box." "It only appears after the kill of the boss monster," Bloom said, before looking towards the tunnel that led to here, "the problem is this treasure box is only avable for a certain limited amount of time," he muttered, before he moved towards the tunnel, starting to run. Everyone nced at each other before they also started to run. "How much time do we need?" Gored asked. "Dunno," Bloom honestly replied, "each treasure box had its own time limit ording to the grade of it," he added, as he fastened his speed, while others were just struggling to catch up to him from far. Bloom, on the other hand, wasn''t concerned with others. One yer would be able to open the box, and then he could distribute the contents on everyer. He already wasted too much time selecting his skills, if he knew this from the beginning, he would have postponed that selection process until he went outside the dungeon. He reached the tenth hall, rapidly nced at it, then he continued running when he didn''t find anything here. that treasure box grade would be determined by the grade of the dungeon, and this wasn''t a normal one, but a red dungeon. He knew clearing such a dungeonter on, at higher levels, would be a real pain, so if he lost this treasure box, then it would be a huge loss to him. He was sure there was something special inside that box, and he was determined to get it. Chapter 45: Dericks Sinister Forum Topic Chapter 45: Derick''s Sinister Forum Topic Bloom moved jumping from one hall to another like crazy. Each tunnel would take five minutes to cross, he ran each in one minute, or even less. He kept moving with this speed, even depleting his stamina along the way, but he never cared, as his eyes were fixed on one goal, one goal only. Finally, he spotted it, arge treasure chest, made entirely of a red glowing ore, that was embedded with many jewels. Bloom didn''t know how long this chest was here, so he moved at once towards it, not waiting for others toe, as he put his hands over the treasure chest, hoping it didn''t require anything to open it. "System alert: the red treasure chest of the red evolved dungeon is ready to open for those who cleared the dungeon." "System alert: the red treasure chest has only one minute and will disappear. Do you want to open it now?" "System alert: the rewards will be determined by the identity of the yer opening the chest, and ording to the system evaluation during the dungeon hunt, the rewards will be determined." Bloom was surprised, but he didn''t think much. He had one minute only, and he had no time to consider anything. "Open the chest," he said, as the treasure chest issued a creaking sound, as the cover popped up like it was kicked from the inside. Bloom didn''t have time, so he hurriedly pushed the cover, while snatching anything that was inside the treasure box. In less than one minute, all the things inside the box were sucked dry inside his inventory. The next moment, the whole treasure box vanished, and the familiar repulsion force came, pushing him outside the dungeon, to exit it with others, ending up standing on the entrance to that dungeon. It was such an exciting experience, and also very stressful and risky. "Has anyone found the treasure box?" Bloom suddenly turned to look at everyone as he asked this, with an eager and expected look over his face. His sudden question made everyone not doubt him, as he decided this chest would be his own, as he deserved this, not them. So, his question startled everyone, as they all shook their heads, which made him show a depressed expression, faking being so sad. "Don''t be sad, we have already cleared the dungeon and got ourselves a huge reward," Peri said, as she tried to console him. he just looked at her while shaking his head as he said: "It''s really regretful, next time we should be much aware of this, and try to search faster." His words made everyone nod, in agreement, while Gored asked: "What are we going to do now?" Bloom had the urge to examine everything he had in his inventory right now, but he had no way to do this now, not as they were this near to him. "I want to have some rest," Gimmy suddenly said, as he pointed to those who lost their lives during the dungeon hunt, and had nothing back from the rich rewards they all had. "Yes, that dungeon was really stressful," San said, joining Gimmy side, which was also on the same tune with Blooms thoughts, so he said: "Alright, we can have rest, but in one hour we need to regroup here," he said, while he was about to leave. "Where are you going?" Peri asked, as she seemed to want toe with him. "I have a quest to finish," Bloom just vaguely replied, but before he even could turn and leave, a sudden shocking gasp appeared from San, as he hurried to say: "Open the forums, hurry!" he was speaking to Bloom, who looked at him in question, while he added, "there is some topic about your quest there." "My quest?" Bloom asked, in confusion. "Yeah, that Derick had posted a post one hour ago, at the time when we were inside the dungeon," San exined, before adding further, "he said the details of your quest, and even told yers about the way to make your quest invalid!" The words of San attracted everyone''s attention, including Bloom, who just inwardly cursed that Derick. He hurriedly opened the forums, to find a topic on the top of it, with catchy title: "Know the details of Bloom''s quest, a legendary quest with unbelievable rewards!" Inside the topic, Derick said it all about the content of the quest, about the NPC elder staying in the skull mountain range, where any yer could get the quest from if Bloom lost it. He also told them how to lose the quest, in the same way he lost it before, and he even went on to narrate Bloom''s skills and habits of fighting. He included a video recorded of the battles he had with Bloom, either at the dungeon entrance, or at the mountain. Bloom read it all and cursed that bitter loser, and right now he had the urge to zero him out. However he wasn''t that worried, after all his level was now so high, and his skill set had been upgraded. He doubted anyone would be able to touch him, not at this level of the game. However, he didn''t want to underestimate the current situation, especially when he started reading thements down the topic. Many yers had already formed teams to attack him, and there were an endless number of them gathering up. Even a lion could be killed with endless ants! So he had to take this more serious than he initially thought! The looks on the faces of his team made him realize how bad his situation was, however he didn''t panic as much as they all expected him to be. He stood there, collected, very calm, not as much terrified as they thought he would be. "I think we should depart ways here," he suddenly said, as if they were with him, they would face endless hunt from yers, besides they would be a burden to him. ying alone was his own strength, his turf, unlike dungeons where he had to do it in teams, killing yers was just natural to him, especially with all his arsenal of new skills and potions. "But" Peri spoke, but stopped in her own words, not knowing what she should say to him. "Don''t," he just shook his head, before adding, "until I finish my quest, or manage to leave here first, then we can''t level up together," he added, stating the obvious truth, the bitter truth. Chapter 46: Going Through Items of the Treasure Chest Chapter 46: Going Through Items of the Treasure Chest They all got used to following his orders, depending on him, on his strategies, and listening to his in depth info about the game. so, it seemed quite strange to hear him say that, quite hard to picture them leveling up without him. However, they all knew how dangerous his situation was! If they were with him, they would slow him down, plus one yer could easily hide, not like a group of nine! "Just" Peri hesitated, before adding, "just be careful, ok?" He smiled, before nodding, as he said nothing. It was hard to kill him, but he knew killing wasn''t the end of the road. He wouldn''t lose a thing, except his quest during the process. If not for the two mighty swords he currently had, and that impressive title he owned, he wouldn''t care much about losing a couple of levels here. However, he had to stand out, be more careful, and try to reach level ten just before others could touch him. He waved his hand to them all, while moving away, departing the group he had yed for a good amount of time with. He went towards the distance, with his mind busy with many calctions. His stats were now monstrous, with no one to bepared with him in the game, at least not here in this area. He was now level eight, with Hp skyrocketing to five hundred and fifty points, while his Atp had reached three hundred and fifty five points. If he used his swords without any skills, he could simply kill any yer, no matter what! If he used a skill, then his damage would escte to range seven hundred to one thousand, ording to the skill used. He was considered a monster himself. That was without the stats added by his new gears, which would change his whole stats, making them reach a new level. So, he moved without any worry at all. He just was thinking of an issue, he had no self healing skills of any kind, or any AOE skill. He had very strong offensive skills, and few defensive skills, but in arge number of yers'' battle, he was at a disadvantage here. The only thing that kept him secured was the stockpile of the Hp potions he had in his inventory. As he recalled his inventory, he was reminded of the things he took from the treasure chest. He didn''t have time till now to examine them, and he now had some time to do so. The moment he opened the inventory, he had spotted ten items. He was quite satisfied at first with this amount. Treasure chests in low levels like this only gave a scarce number of items, usually three to five. Besides, he was sure these items were all rare treasures in themselves, as they came from a red ranked treasure chest. The first thing his eyes fell upon was a level five ranked SS materials, numbered thirty. By this, he had fifty level five ranked SS materials. He had these materials saved forter uses, as he wanted to use them in forging great gears in the future. The next item he saw was something new. He took out a small crystal, translucent, with rough edges as it wasn''tplete. "Power crystal shard: used to level up skills. gather ten shards to form one crystal." He read it more than once before a smile popped up on his face. This was a power crystal, one of the main currencies in this game. He knew these shards wouldn''t fall before reaching level twenty, and so he took some time to realize this was true. "If this was a power crystal shard, then this should be an energy crystal shard," he muttered as he stored the first shard and took another one. It was white opaque, and when he investigated it, he knew his conclusion was correct. "Energy crystal shard: used to level up talents. Gather ten shards to form one crystal." His smile got bigger, while he examined the number of each crystal in his inventory. There were only five of each shard, not enough to make a whole crystal. "What a regret," he muttered, but he knew finding these shards at level twenty was a headache to all yers due to their low falling rate from monsters and dungeons. Only big guilds with arge base of yers managed to monopolize these crystals, but he now had another tip about how to find them. "I had to pray to find red treasure chests to find more of these shards then," he prayed, hoping to gather more shards, enough to make more than one crystal at the least. He put away the energy shard, while ncing at the rest of items. Three were small team missions, while the other two were medium team missions. He just nced at them without any interest, feeling a loss here. These missions were a treasure for any team or guild, as each one of them would summon a dungeon enough to be cleared by a small or medium sized team. The rewards of these would be immense, and usually there would be treasure boxes there as well. These missions were eligible to level thirty, so he could store them forter use. How regretful it was that he never nned to y with a team forever, or form his own team or guild. He nned to roam freely everywhere, wrecking this game as much as he liked. Attaching himself to a ce or a group or a guild would hinder this mission of his, so he considered these items as his loss, as he wouldn''t get benefit from them. Thest two items were gold coins, reaching seven hundred gold coins, and a strange item that resembled a seed. He took it out and examined it, to be frozen instantly by what he just read! "Seed of the tree of life: a seed that can sprout a tree of life if the requirements were met. Tree of life is the nemesis of the death shrine. Quest item." He didn''t have time to think, as the next moment, system notifications fell over him like rain! "System alert: yer has acquired a quest item, triggering the rted quest." "System alert: yer has triggered the seed of tree of life quest sessfully." "System alert: yer has a quest belonging to an opposing faction to the seed of tree of life quest. yer has to make up his mind, as serving both factions won''t work." Chapter 47: The Quest of A Secret Class Chapter 47: The Quest of A Secret ss "System alert: What is the decision of the yer? Will yer abandon the shrine of death quest and embraces the shrine of life quest? Will yer abandon the shrine of life quest and embraces the shrine of death quest? Or does the yer has another decision?" "System alert: yer has to be warned, any choice he will make will be permanent, with no ability to change it again." "What the F*uck!" Bloom loudly cursed, as this long train of alerts made him more shocked! He never heard of this shrine of life before! Shrine of death was famous in his previous life, to some extent, but there was no mention of any shrine of life, not at all! And now, he was forced to choose between one of the two shrines! That even made him angrier towards this game! he didn''t want to belong to a faction! He wanted to destroy them all! As he calmed down, he reread these alerts again, and this time he noticed something, he had the option to select another path other than the two suggested by the system. "I chose to be alone, not belonging to any faction," he said. "System alert: yer has rtion to two out of ten factions in the game. If the yer isn''t going to choose any of the two factions, he must select the faction he would y under." "You are really annoying, you know that!" Bloom wasn''t satisfied by thisst request of the game system, so he replied with anger: "Fine, I refuse to attach myself to join any faction, instead I n to be the enemy to all!" He blurted that out, waiting for the system to tell him this was impossible to achieve, however the system had replied totally different to his expectations: "System alert: yer has refused to join any of the ten factions." "System alert: yer has decided to be the enemy of all factions." "System alert: yer has already killed other yers." "System alert: yer has already stolen a quest from another yer." "System alert: yer has already tricked other yers and acquired items belonging to other yers without their knowledge." "System alert: yer is eligible to unlock a secret ss." "System alert: yer has to fulfill these conditions before being eligible to wield the secret ss: 1. yer has to kill one NPC at least. 2. yer has to trick one NPC at least, and acquire something belonging to him without his knowledge. 3. yer has to kill one hundred yers. 4. yer has to do this before reaching level ten." "System alert: Failing to acquire the secret ss will be considered as failure by the system. As punishment, yer will be forced to belong to one of the two factions, selected randomly." Bloom read all these messages, before he muttered: "What is this secret ss?" "System alert: ssified!" The response of the system of the game was cold and with no info at all. Bloom reread all these messages and he finally understood something. Even if he nned to wreck this game, this game would still fall on a scenario prepared for such situations! Even all his actions were considered part of the conditions to open a secret ss! and even all his deeds weren''t enough to make him open the ss now. "So, basically I have to deal with NPCs from now on!" he muttered as this was all he needed to do, "the only issue here is rted to that quest of the death shrine, as that NPC who stole the relic isn''t here!" This was his own dilemma, as he didn''t want to abandon the two swords or his title. Before he made up his mind, a system notification appeared again, startling him. "System alert: An elder of the shrine of life has detected the presence of the seed of the tree of life. He has entered the map, and is waiting for you at the white mountain located at the end of the map." Bloom looked in a strange way towards thisst notification. "Game system san, if you have anything else you wanna say, say it now then," he shouted towards the sky, as he was already pissed of all these many alerts, which didn''te all at once! He waited for a couple of minutes before he finally rxed. The next thing he did was to open the game map, and see where this white mountain was! The mountain was marked in his map, and it was really far from his current ce. He estimated he needed at least six hours to go there. He closed the map as his mind started thinking about his next step. He had to trick, and kill NPCs, plus many yers as well. He didn''t mind the yers'' quest, as this was already easy to achieve. Many yers were already gathering to kill him, and so it seemed fair for him to start hunting them, killing them instead. What caused a slight headache for him was the quest of killing and tricking the NPCs. He had to do these tasks without losing his title or swords, so he needed first toplete the quest, before he could do anything else. "I must convince the NPC to help!" he said, as he took out thepass given to him by the death shrine elder. The moment he took it out, it started to rotate, aimlessly, as usual, before the needle stopped and pointed in a certain direction. "What the hell!" he muttered in shock, before he realized a more shocking thing. He hurriedly reopened his map again, andpared thepass direction with the direction of the white mountain! Before this, he once took out thepass to examine it, but its needle kept spinning, pointing to nowhere. That seemed logical, as the NPC he was looking for wasn''t here at all. However, the needle was now pointing in a certain direction, and strangely it was the same direction of the white mountain. "Don''t tell me that thief was an NPC of the life shrine!" that was the only exnation he had in mind, "that''s awesome!!" he cheerfully muttered, as this was indeed very good news. Suddenly a n started to take shape inside his mind, and he liked this n. If things went as he nned already, then he would keep the two swords, the mighty title, andplete the new assignments for him at the same time! Before he could celebrate more, or even think deeper about his new n, a sudden shout came to interrupt his brain storming. "Here, I found him! he is here!" This sudden shout came from far, as a group of ten yers appeared in his eyesight. It was a team of yers, and they were one of the endless teams looking for him. He just sighed, as he wanted more time to think about his n. However he didn''t retreat, at all, as he wanted to kill a hundred yers now. "Let''s get this small questpleted first as an appetizer," he muttered to himself, while his face showed an evil expression. It was time to show yers here how foolish it was to stand against him! Chapter 48: The First Butterfly Effect Chapter 48: The First Butterfly Effect He didn''t need to do anything, except to stand in his ce, motionless, while yers kept shouting for others toe. Bloom even had his two swords sheathed, as he wasn''t anything near worried of this confrontation. His Atp and Hp were both monstrous, making him really equivalent to a dungeon monster! "He is all alone, be careful of his two swords," one shield bearer shouted at the others, while he took the lead to move towards Bloom. This yer was like Gored, a tanker, with double shields that he held up front, hiding most of his body behind them. However, even if he had two more arms with two more shields, they wouldn''t even help him against Bloom! Bloom just simply walked towards that yer, unsheathed one of his swords, as he didn''t need the other one, or the fast draw talent to add more damage to his attacks. "Stab." He simply muttered, while that tanker stood by the back of his two shields, waiting for the result that would nevere! Just one sword, one skill, one stab, and that yer was thrown by the violent strike of Bloom''s sword, to smash a couple of yers behind him, while a monstrous damage appeared on top of his and other yers heads. "2000" "500" "500" "500" Four huge numbers appeared on top of these yers, while instantly killing them. This sudden appearance of these numbers, coupled with the death of these yers had shocked everyone, rendering them all motionless, paralyzed out of shock! However Bloom didn''t stop here. his quest was to kill one hundred yers at least, and he was now surrounded by hundreds of yers! "Stab." The second attack came to knock back a swordsman like him, pushing his body in the air flying for a couple meters, before hitting the bodies of two more yers, rolling together violently on the ground, with three scary numbers of damage appearing on top of their heads. "2000" "800" "1000" They were all dead, with just this one stab of Bloom, who didn''t stop and went ahead towards another group of yers. Before he could do anything, one yer shouted from behind him, awakening everyone here: "He is just one yer, and we are hundreds! Let''s all attack, it must be a bug that his attack is like this! Let''s deplete his Hp before reporting this cheater to the game." Bloom knew this person was an old yer without doubt, or else how could he face this situation and ovee his shock in such mere moments? However, he wasn''t bothered by his rallying cry, as his Hp was really insane, exceeding two thousand and seven hundred points! If he stopped in his ce, and let them all attack him, they would only deplete one thousand to one thousand and half with the level suppression between him and them. But he never intended to stay motionless, as he waved his sword, and stabbed another swordsman, killing two more yers with him. Just as the three died, Bloom felt the sudden change in the atmosphere around him. It seemed that the awakening shout of that veteran was really effective, and so he had to act more seriously if he wanted to finish his quest here fast and leave towards that mountain. And so, he unsheathed his second sword, and turned to face the first wave of yers who decided to take the lead against him. They were a group of twenty or something yers, mainly of weapon wielders and shield bearers factions. Bloom just simply walked towards them, without caring for anything else. They were all looking at him with extreme vignce, with serious looks over their faces, however he was just ncing casually towards them, like he wasn''t aiming to kill them. Just as they started to use their skills to attack him, he opened the fight with a grand opening of his. "Sky piercer!" He suddenly jumped in the air for three meters, escaping most of the skills that were directed to his past location. The skill shocked everyone here, however Bloom didn''t do it to amaze them, so his two swords fell over his enemies, each directed towards one yer. "2500" "2800" A huge number appeared on top of each yer, while they moved to the back, with the strong impact of Bloom''s skill, to hit more yers from behind, killing them along the way. This sudden grandiose opening of Bloom startled everyone, even the veteran leader of them, who just realized how mistaken all the info Derick had given to all of them at the forums. But it was toote for regret, as Bloom was just warming up. "Fifteen," he muttered, as he was keeping track of the number of yers he killed so far. Just as he killed the fifteen yer, an AOE skill attacked him, with a very minuscule damage appearing on top of his head. "-5" For him it wasn''t even worth a mosquito bite, considering how huge his Hp was. For others, this figure wasn''t the main concern of shock here, but his massive Hp bar that appeared on top of his head. "Is he a monster?" "Is this a game bug?" "I will report it!" "Me too!" He simply turned to look at the group of yers who just spoke to him. he didn''t do much as he just raised his swords, and muttered: "After resurrecting, go and mourn as much as you like stab, stab!" His two skills killed two yers simply like that, while he then followed the attack with more stabs. For him, he had a huge arsenal of skills, but he felt such a waste to use them on these yers. The disparity in the damage caused by him and the rest of yers here was amazing, making yers already losing hope. However, he didn''t allow them to retreat before finallypleting his needed list. "2500" "2200" "2400" "-3" "-5" "-2" "-4" "-9" "-6" "Ny nine." "One hundred." The moment he reached his goal he stopped killing those yers. they weren''t even worth wasting his stamina on them. one hit and any yer would die, any hit from them was greatly negated by his high level, making the damage look nothing inparison to his high Hp! "I need to go, one condition was met, others are left toplete," he muttered as he turned his back and left the shocked yers behind. He didn''t know what had caused a stir in the forums, as those killed yers had gone on rampage ranting there for the bugging of the system. The response came swiftly from the game managers, as they informed the yers that Bloom was one of the top twenty yers in the whole game in level and stats. This formal response had silenced everyone, making all feel more shock inside themselves, feeling how low and unworthy they werepared to him. And the most shocking fact was that he wasn''t the strongest yer in the game! that made yers realize there were monsters lurking everywhere, and they were just deluded by their own pride. What numbers could do against mighty power? Nothing! That is what Bloom proved to all, and that was the first rming signal that made everyone get awakened. They weren''t doing their best! Not at all! Suddenly the forums were full of topics discussing the identity of those top twenty yers, and most of the topics rted to the game announcements from back then regarding those who finished dungeons first in the game with this list! Bloom didn''t know that with his simple interference, he changed the future of this game, forever! The first butterfly effect just happened here, and he would bear witness to its magnificent results, that he never ever expected before! Chapter 49: Meeting The Shrine of Life Elder Chapter 49: Meeting The Shrine of Life Elder Bloom started his travel journey towards the white mountain far away from him without realizing what he just did. He didn''t open the forums as he didn''t have any reason to do so, however he opened his personal quest page, as he checked on his intelligence agency. For his surprise, there was no one now participating in the agency! Even those who took the gold coins from him before had already returned them, breaking the contract between him and them. "So you went after that clown and were blinded with your greed," he muttered before he found only one name still present in the early one hundred batch of yers who joined him. His name was Armond, and he was a swordsman like him. Bloom found it interesting as he was the only yer out of the whole lot who joined or linked to join his agency! He thought of expanding the agency, but after this setback he decided to wait, closing the doors of admission to the agency for now. He never thought one topic would do such harm, and that gave him slight insight over what he could do with topics at the forum. He decided to contact this yer after he finished his uing test. He knew this task of tricking both NPCs would be hard, but not that impossible for him. He had what each wanted, and if he yed his cards right, used the right words, he could set a perfect trap for the two NPCs to fall in. He knew the mindset of each NPC, only focused on the quest on hand, especially if this quest was rted to the future perspective of the NPC life. He knew this point well enough, and he decided to mainly focus on it, using their utmost desire for power and upgrade against them, and he was the perfect yer to do this in the entire game. Throughout the long journey that took six hours, he didn''t meet any yer. It was strange, but he thought they were terrified of hisst battle. He never expected all the ruckus that he caused, and now all yers were fervently trying to level up, mimicking his approach in clearing dungeons. The secret that was supposed to be revealed after a few months about the importance of the dungeons was discovered by many yers already. The failure in clearing the whole dungeon didn''t continue to frighten any of yers now, as they all knew the amount of Xp gained from killing monsters would overtake that was lost by one death! With the immunity they had in the first ten levels, they weren''t afraid of losing anything from their inventory of gears, which made them more daring in facing the monsters. In just six hours, yers had already learnt the routine of monsters inside dungeons, knowledge that was only revealed to the public after months of ying the game! This was only the beginning, as the mindset of yers had already changed, and with it the whole future path of many yers had already changed, all thanks to Bloom who was now standing in front of the great white mountain, looking for that NPC of the shrine of life. The mountain was a huge mountain indeed, much grandiose than the one with the skull he had visited once before. As he marched towards here, he met a lot of level ten monster packs along the way, which he avoided so they wouldn''t dy him. He reached the base of the mountain, where he stood in front of a ce full of white rocks, with no path to walk. The moment he reached there, he felt the observing eyes of someone, and he knew that NPC was watching him nearby. "Esteemed elder, I''m here for the quest of the shrine of life," he yelled, towards the area surrounding him, as he learnt that from Derick. "Are you the yer who had the seed of the tree of life?" Suddenly an NPC jumped from a nearby rock, descending a couple of meters only away from him. Bloom checked that NPC, as the NPC was checking him. He was in early thirtieth, with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was a staff holder ss, with a long, slightly curved at its end, pale brown staff in his hand. "Yes esteemed elder, I''m," Bloom admitted, without hiding this truth from that NPC. "Good, I will assign you a quest then, ept it and then I can take the seed from you," the NPC said, before adding, "epting and seeding in that quest would be enough to make you climb to the next level. also you will acquire an elder son rank at the shrine, something needing many sacrifices and great effort to achieve," the NPC added, while trying to seduce Bloom in epting his quest. However, Bloom shook his head, which baffled that elder as he asked: "What''s wrong? is the prize not enough for you?" "It''s not the issue of a prize," Bloom replied, in a respectful manner, "I have another problem here," he added. "Just tell me what it is so I can solve it. no matter what the problem is, I promise you to solve it for you," he promised, and Bloom knew that NPC had already fallen into the of his trap already. He didn''t speak, instead he took out onepass out of his inventory and showed it clearly to that NPC. That moment thispass came out, its needle stopped fixedly over the direction of that NPC, confirming the previous assumptions of Bloom. "Do you recognize this?" Bloom asked, as the face of that NPC changed abruptly when he nced at thispass. "How did you get this?" the NPC muttered before his eyes shone as he added, "wait a minute, did you ept already that distasteful elder of shrine of death quest?" his eyes turned dead serious as he added, with extreme vignce, "are you here to kill me?" Bloom didn''t hesitate to shake his head, again, as he exined, "this isn''t my intention, esteemed elder of the shrine of life. I stumbled upon this quest and met that scary elder of shrine of death. He wanted to kill me, so I had to ept his quest to avoid his threat." Chapter 50: Tricking The Shrine of Life Elder Plan is A Success Chapter 50: Tricking The Shrine of Life Elder n is A Sess Bloom then paused as his face showed a very vengeful expression while adding, "I came here today to you so that you can help me kill that elder. You know it well, as long as I have this quest, I can''t ept yours. I don''t want to live in fear from a pile of moving bones who use threats and force to reach his goals! I want you to help me kill him!" Bloom expressed his utmost desire with his utmost deepest rage, using parts of truth coating his lies, perfectly, and that made that shrine of life elder never doubt what he just said! In fact, the two shrines had a very long feud between each other. No one of the two would live on without trying to destroy the other one. The words of Bloom yed on a very likeable idea for that elder, as he hurriedly changed his reaction and his expression turned soft as he said: "That''s a very sad story to hear, and a very dark fate to residue to. I, as an elder of the shrine of life, hereby pledge to help you and kill that monster of the death shrine." His words made Bloom smile, inwardly, however his face kept his stern look as he said: "But he is very strong, and already sinister and vignt towards me. if he spotted youing with me, he would definitely run away." "He is really that sinister, despite what he desperately wanted, he couldn''t dare to face me head on and forced innocent yers like you to help him," the elder of the shrine said, while his face showed extreme anger. "I have a n, and this n will help us kill that NPC," Bloom said, as he exined, "I have this quest to retrieve the artifact stolen from the death shrine, so if you gave me the artifact, followed me from far and waited for my signal, then we can attack that NPC without the threat of him running away." The NPC showed some hesitation, before Bloom added: "The moment you give me the artifact, my quest will be partlypleted and so you can issue me a quest from your shrine, to kill that elder. By this you will know I will be loyal to the shrine of life." Bloom knew how quests were run by any game system. The quest itself was rted to retrieving the artifact stolen, as the part of delivering it to that elder of the death shrine was rted to receiving the quest rewards from him. The gap between fulfilling the quest and receiving the rewards was a gap with no quest attached to him, and thus he could receive another quest, a quest from a rivaling shrine like the shrine of life. "Sounds fair, so I will give you the artifact, and then issue you the quest to kill that elder of death shrine; refusing to ept the quest will force me to kill you and retrieve the artifact with a special way of mine," the NPC said, trying to threaten Bloom, not knowing he already fell in Bloom''s trap. "Sure, it''s a deal then," Bloom nodded, trying to hide his extreme excitement. The NPC just nced for a long moment at him, before taking out a small dark skull, with a greenish luster over its ck surface. "Here, this is the artifact I took from that cursed shrine," he said while extending his hand towards Bloom. Bloom instantly moved and took the skull, trying to control his rushed heart beats, as by this the first step, and the hardest one of his ns had already seeded. The moment he touched it, system notifications came one after another. "System alert: yer has acquired the stolen artifact of the shrine of death." "System alert: yer haspleted the quest sessfully. yer has to see the elder of the shrine of death to receive the rewards from him." "System alert: The elder of the shrine of life has issued a quest for you, To Kill the Death Shrine Elder quest. Do you agree in epting this quest?" "System alert: Shrine of Death is the archenemy of the shrine of life. epting the quest from the shrine of life elder and fulfilling it will put you instantly in the shrine of life camp." "System alert: yer has already chosen not to join any shrine, acting solo and rogue. If a yer didn''t find a way out of this problem, and failed to fulfill his main quest, the system would consider this as a failure and the yer will lose his right to obtain the secret ss. yer has to choose wisely, as his choice won''t be able to be refuted." Bloom didn''t hesitate as he hurriedly epted the quest from the elder in front of him. Everything was going smoothly ording to his n, and now the hardest step, the step to convince that elder of life to trust him and give him the stolen artifact had passed, peacefully without any disputes. "Great, you are true to your words, and now keep this skull inside your inventory, as that elder of death could detect its presence in the open from a far distance." The face of the elder of life was beaming withfort as he was relieved Bloom didn''t double cross him. Bloom didn''t hesitate to put the skull away, as he didn''t want to rm that elder before finalizing the trap around him. "Now, how can we kill that elder?" Bloom asked, making the fact of his ownership to the title hidden from the elder in front of him. "We should use the moment when you show the skull to him. At this moment, he will be upied by the skull, distracted for a brief moment, and I will use this to attack," the elder said before adding, "I have a concealment skill, one that could help me evade the scouting of him. However this skill has a weakness, as if I got so near to him by less than one hundred meters, he would sense me and then run away." For Bloom, one hundred meters was nothing, so there was only one exnation here. "Does he have any teleportation item?" Bloom asked, expressing his own guess out loud. "He does," the elder nodded, confirming Bloom''s guess, "but if he is so near from the skull, he will be bound by the system to fulfill the quest, and can''t run away," the elder added before shaking his head in regret, "but I can''t risk giving the skull to him, so I will act the moment you take it out from your inventory. The moment I do that, you have to hide it inside your inventory, and run away fast." Bloom nodded, while the real scenario ying in his head was quite different. Chapter 51: Starting to Toy with The Two Elders Chapter 51: Starting to Toy with The Two Elders Bloom didn''t n to follow this elder''s arrangements, as he already had his own n drawn out in his mind. He just nodded while he then said: "That elder is four hours away from here, you can follow me for three hours, then we have to be separated at thest hour. You have to find a way to get near him without being detected," he paused before adding, "that elder might have issued the quest of killing me and you to other yers, so be prepared to be attacked." "Don''t worry, no yer can touch me, no matter what!" Bloom just smiled, as he was inwardlyughing. The possibility of that scenario to happen was nill, but Bloom had his own ns for that. While they started moving, Bloom decided to use the forum weapon, learning from hisst lesson, as he started a topic there. "The elder of the shrine of death is issuing a quest, anyone who could kill the elder of the shrine of life will gain massive rewards. The location of the elder''s of the shrine of life will be updated each ten minutes here, please follow the topic and be prepared." He posted this thread into the forums and waited for it to boom. He had time to wander inside the forum for a bit, and what he saw really startled him. "Bloom''s secret to reach the top." "I met yers who yed with Bloom, and they simply narrated these incidents. Read and learn from the master!" "Bloom isn''t a bug, he is a human, we have to kill him to prove that!" "One of the top twenty yers in the game is amidst us, we have to worship him!" Many strange threads were in his face, making him unable to believe his eyes. He didn''t know what happened, and after some time he managed to reach the threads that started this entire storm! The threads were using him of hacking the game, and the official response from the game moderators and developers on these usations. He just smiled, wryly, feeling odd about all of this. ''I never imagined they would defend me like this,'' he muttered, helplessly sighing and shaking his head. He already had some admiration for this game, it was really more perfect than his old one. In his opinion, this game was well thought of, and it deserved its past ce as the best game in the entire world. If not for his own purpose of returning back to the past, taking the life of a human person, he wouldn''t insist on destroying this game! the lives of many NPCs would be a torture because of his past game failure. He just needed to slow down this game''s obvious advancement and give his other game a chance to bloom. After wandering the threads for half an hour, he returned to his own thread to find it exploding with replies! Many yers replied there, hundreds with each passing second. They were either trying to get his favor, asking him about his own secrets, trying to befriend him, with many haters along the lines, trying to attack him and question his own thread! He didn''t reply to any, simply editing the topic, updating the current location of the elder of the shrine of life. He then waited for another ten minutes, and did the same again. Many were doubting his words, but after a couple of times of updating his threads, the curiosity took over many, and yers started to loom around the ces he just updated! New threads started to appear, with many videos recording two beings moving together, Bloom and one NPC! These videos confirmed what Bloom had just said, and Derick just wrote a thread, instigating others to go and kill Bloom, confirming the words of Bloom regarding the quest from the shrine of the dead elder. Despite being a hater, he had helped him a lot in deceiving these yers! After two hours of hesitation, and many debates, the first wave of yersing to attack the two of them appeared! "Be careful, esteemed elder," Bloom suddenly shouted when a team of a hundred yers approached them from behind. Bloom made sure his voice would be low, so it would only be heard by the elder, not yers. "Impudent ignorant yers! Do you dare to help the shrine of death against me? All shall perish, all shall die!" He suddenly took out his scepter, waved it towards these yers'' direction, and a huge storm of wind erupted, hitting yers and causing unbelievable damages to appear on top of their heads! Bloom knew yers of such low levels would never be able to stand a chance against this elder, but his goal was reached already. "Esteemed elder, that distasteful elder of the shrine of death has already sent his minions to attack us! If we stay together, he will discover your presence, so I suggest we get separated, and meet at that mountain." The elder of life nced at him, then at the flood of yersing here and he just nodded, before adding: "Are you sure you will be ok alone?" Bloom didn''t know if he should smile orugh, but he instantly replied: "Thanks for your concern, I will be able to slip easily between yers." "Good, take care then," the elder then just vanished, as he moved very fast, darting away from here. along his way, he didn''t forget to kill a bunch of these yers, before vanishing from Bloom''s sight. "Updating thread: the elder of the shrine of life had run away from yers! The elder of the shrine of life isn''t that powerful at all, as his stamina was depleted and his defenses are very weak! Here is the video of him running away from yers! to all yers in the region, be prepared, I will update the location of the elder once I spot him again!" The thread of him had caused enough stir in the forums for the next couple of hours, with many debates about its authenticity and the aim behind this thread! Bloom didn''t give any care to these debates, as the more the merrier for him. Chapter 52: Completing the Death Shrine Quest Chapter 52: Completing the Death Shrine Quest He had already reached his goal, attracting the yers attention and sending away this elder to meet him at the mountain. His final aim was to create a chaotic scene at the final ce where he would meet the two elders together, and face the two of them there. Bloom knew if he appeared alone there, and started executing his ns, the two elders would suspect him, and this might put an end to his ambitions and make him fail the quest. If the elder of death shrine had a teleportation gadget, then the elder of life shrine would also have one! If one of them ran, then he would fail! He could kill both of them easily, considering that none of them would really escape. And here yers would kick in to help him reach this goal. He would use the yers to create enough distraction, giving him enough time to act. Without their interference, his n was doomed to fail. He was aiming to trick everyone, and he wasn''t even hesitant about that! he knew if he wanted to unlock that hidden ss then he had to be merciless, and he was already ready for that. He just kept watching the ongoing battle between one side who was supporting his intentions and ims, and the other side who was doubting his good wills. Both, however, agreed on the final aim of his, to join up and kill that elder of life shrine, and some were still fixed on killing Bloom himself. Bloom wasn''t worried about his life, as he knew it would take a miracle for yers to kill him now. Despite reading many threads on the forums, of yers celebrating their sess in clearing dungeons, despite being lower leveled, or yers managed to reach level six, and even a bunch reaching level seven, he wasn''t worried at all. His stats were really monstrous for the current mainstream of yers, and plus he decided not to give out his location to anyone, making them find out his whereabouts finally at thest moments. And this moment had already approached fast when he started to spot that mountain with that ck skull on its peak from far. He knew it wouldn''t take him ten minutes to reach there, so he started working at once. "The elder of the shrine of life was spotted in the vicinity of this mountain. Be prepared, the two elders will fight, most likely, and yers can reap the handsome rewards out of this." He then posted the mountain coordinates into the post, and finally closed the forums and got focused on the task in hand. He didn''t directly head towards the mountain, as he hid somewhere near it. He only needed a couple of minutes to reach the mountain, and he didn''t act until he started to see shades of distant yersing fast towards here. yers wouldn''t entirely fall into the bait, but most of them would rather be excited to watch two NPCs fight! That was enough to him, as the more yers attending this grand closure, the easier his task would be. He then started to move, not too fast, giving yers more time to start to crowd around the mountain. He was sure the elder of the shrine of life was nearby, watching him, like the elder of the shrine of death. He entered the same spot where he met the elder of the shrine of death before, and then he stopped in the middle of the many rocks there, shielding him from the eyes of many yers. "What brought you here? and why are all these yers here?" The voice of the elder of death shrine came from behind him, as he turned to face the dead eyes of that elder. Bloom just smiled, faintly, as he recalled how much hatred this NPC had for him. "I just managed to get the stolen artifact, as you asked, esteemed elder," he simply replied, before pointing towards the yers in the vicinity of this ce as he added, "as for them, they have already epted a quest from the shrine of life elder, asking them to kill me and you." "Kill me?!" the shrine of death elder replied, while his bones cracked as if he wasughing on a silly joke, "I''m already dead, how can they kill me then?" heughed, in his strange way, again, before adding, "that doesn''t matter anymore. Once I take the stolen artifact from you, I will leave this dirty ce and return to my shrine as a hero." Bloom just faintly smiled, as he knew that NPC was eyeing the prize, ignoring the risks that surrounded him now. "Now, bring forth this artifact, and let me have it," the elder demanded. "First I need to get the rewards for the quest, esteemed elder," Bloom started to stall for time, as he didn''t know if that elder of the shrine of life was here yet or not! "I need to get the artifact to give you the rewards," the elder said, in a sneaky tone that made Bloom sure that the elder was nning to kill him the moment he gave him the artifact. "I suppose you can give me the rewards when I take out the artifact, by that you can grant me my rewards then you can have your artifact," Bloom stalled for time again. "Fine, just show it off first," the elder waved his bony arm towards Bloom, as if he wasn''t worried of him doing anything. Bloom then took out the skull from his inventory. The moment he took out the skull, and that elder saw it, a system notification appeared. "System alert: yer haspleted the quest from the esteemed elder of the shrine of death. yer has finished the quest in a very short time, granting him the ck ranking of the quest assessment." "System alert: yer has received the twin gold swords as a reward." "System alert: yer has received a title as a reward." "System alert: yer has received the blessing of the death shrine as a reward." "System alert: yer has received a map to the secret shrine of death maind as a reward." "System alert: yer has received one level as a reward." "System alert: yer has received one level as a reward." "System alert: yer has received one level as a reward." "System alert: yer has received twenty basic Hp potions as a reward." "System alert: yer has received twenty basic Stm potions as a reward." "System alert: yer has received one hundred gold coins as a reward." "System alert: yer has leveled up." "System alert: yer has leveled up." It was a long series of notifications indeed, however Bloom didn''t have time to celebrate or allocate the points to his character yet, as that elder just waved his hand, demanding for the skull. "Bring it over to me, yer," the elder said, in a ruthless tone that gave Bloom bad thoughts at once. That elder would strike to kill him the moment he received that artifact! Bloom just hoped that the elder of life would be present now, or else he would die in vain! Chapter 53: System Alert: You Have Died! Chapter 53: System Alert: You Have Died! Just to be prepared, he took out his token for protection, as he moved towards the elder of death as he muttered: "Here is the artifact." The elder stretched his bony hand, waiting for no more time to get his bones over this skull. Just as Bloom had lost all faith in the other elder to show up, a sudden skill was used, an AOE skill, attacking the area he and that elder were at! "The f*ck!" Bloom screamed, as that elder of life had already casted the skill with Bloom in the middle of it! he had only one moment, and at this moment he put away the skull back into his inventory. If that elder of the shrine of life wanted to get it, he had to kill him first! As for the death shrine elder, the moment that skill appeared, and the skull vanished, he understood what really happened here. Just as he realized that, he took out a small cube, and crushed it. "Hahaha, don''t try to escape, I have alreadyid out a sealing skill over the whole space, you can''t run away anymore!" "FeRnaNdo!" the voice of the elder of the shrine of death twisted with extreme hate and anger, as his crushed cube didn''t do anything to him at all. The cube lied peacefully on the ground while the whole area Bloom and the elder were at had been hit by a thunderstorm,sting for ten seconds. Each strike caused Bloom to lose over ten thousand Hp! A single strike was really enough to kill him, and the moment he was hit, he heard a system notification in his ears with some sad tone. "System alert: you have been hit by the elder of life shrine skill. the skill was used intentionally, and the elder has already eyed you as an enemy, and all previous deals and quests with him are now invalid." "System alert: you have died." "System alert: yer had the reviving token in hand. The token is activated." "System alert: yer had one hour to resurrect. Failing to resurrect throughout this time will render the token ineffective. yer can choose the time and ce of the resurrection, provided that he doesn''t break the time limit." Bloom just nced, with disbelief, towards all these notifications, especially thest one. That NPC had really nned to backstab him from the beginning, which wasn''t a big issue for him. He already had tricked one NPC, and now all he needed to do was to kill one to make his quest a sess. Thest alert, regarding the reviving token effect, attracted his attention, as he reread it couple of times before murmuring to himself: "So I have one hour to resurrect, and I''m not bound to this ce?" He then nced at himself, to find he was in a ghost form. He was floating in the air, a couple of meters away from the ground, and there was no trace whatsoever for his body. "I can move then, not bound to this ce, that''s cool!" he knew this was a real chance for him. he nced at the two fighting NPCs like two wild dogs biting and barking at each other, before his face showed a very evil smile. "Can I use my inventory here?" he muttered, as he tried to open his inventory, and he seeded, but all what he had were in gray color, meaning he couldn''t use any of them. "What about my swords?" he muttered as he tried to pull his swords, and to his surprise he managed to draw them. He looked at the two swords, and suddenly a n was formted in his mind. He revised again his title, and made sure of its effect, before he closed everything, and waited, patiently, as he watched the ongoing battle between the two NPCs. The two were really strong, at least if he faced them right now he would be easily massacred with a single skill. The two NPCs were staff holders, with a long set of skills being used in y here. He just stood in his ghost form while following the ongoing fight between the two. The two were equally matched in stats, even their Hp above their heads were equal, but the early start of attack by the elder of the shrine of life put him in a more favorable position, as he started the fight attacking, while the other elder was thinking of running away and then defending. Bloom was an expert of such advanced fights, and from the face of things, both had a long variety of skills to choose from, mostly AOE skills, which made the rate of depleting their Hps much slower than expected. However, he expected both to deplete each other Hp in less than half an hour. That was optimum to his ns, as he decided to step in and ruin the greedy elder of life shrine ns. He followed the fight which started to exit from the mountain range into the open wilderness. Many yers were already there, and while he waited for the two to finish themselves off, many yers were killed on the spot, and were sent to be resurrected at the starting point again. When the fight just went berserk, as both elders used their strongest skills, a group of one hundred yers appeared, led by Derick, to join this fight! This made Bloom speechless at first, before he was shocked by what happened next. These yers didn''t attack the elder of life shrine, but the elder of the death shrine. Suddenly a thought popped up in his mind, realizing the reason behind the elder of life shrine betrayal! All happened because of that distasteful yer, Derick. He must have looked for the elder, spoke with him, before turning him against Bloom. Bloom started to be vengeful towards Derick! He never tried to target him after he stole the quest from his hands, but it seemed that the yer had no intention to let things go by like this! Chapter 54: Getting Cursed!! Chapter 54: Getting Cursed!! Of course their addition didn''t make any difference at all, instead the elder of death shrine only needed one skill to kill them all, wiping out a team of a hundred yers in mere seconds, using a dark storm that had the stench smell of death. Bloom didn''t feel sorry for them, as they were stupid enough to butt themselves in such a high end fight! If not for his title, he would never have dreamed of crossing his swords with either of them. Dying this time meant Derick had lost another level, and thus that yer had already lost three levels so far. Even if he worked his as* hard during the past hours, he wouldn''t gain more than three levels, or four, so Bloom guessed the current level of Derick. "Only level five and try to target me? you are really daring!" Bloom muttered, making a decision to target Derick the next moment he got himself finished from this task in hand. For bitter losers like Derick he had to crush them over and over again, until he crushed their inner vengeful souls, leaving only a wreckage behind. He then turned his focus on the ongoing battle. He knew if he took one more attack directly, or indirectly, he would instantly die, wasting this golden opportunity. So, he had to choose his timing well! He estimated current Hp for both to be around thirty thousand Hp. Such monstrous Hp bar was decreasing slowly, but after thirty minutes of fighting, this bar was about to be depleted for the death shrine elder, while there was around two thousand Hp or slightly more in the Hp bar of the life shrine elder. He knew his time was here, and thus he waited, patiently, just praying for the two elders skills to disappear, while standing in the middle of both, with his swords unsheathed, while opening the window of the resurrecting option, just a single word to say to make the magic happen! Just as the two elders used a barrage of their skills, as usual, and before they both retreated couple of meters away for their skills cooldown to end, he simply muttered: "Resurrect!" The moment he spoke the magic word, the world around him changed, from the grayish color to the lively colors of reality. He didn''t have time to marvel at this magical moment, as he was a couple of meters above their heads, appearing out of nowhere, at the moment when they had no skill to use, in the moment of their retreat, and his two swords were raised in front of each one''s face. "Stab!" "Stab!" Clearly he used his basic skill, simply like this, causing his two swords to stab their necks, causing the title effect to be activated, dropping all their stats below him by one level. "1500" "1700" Tworge numbers appeared on top of the two elders'' heads, finally depleting the Hp bar of the elder of death shrine totally, while the other elder had a small amount left in his bar! "Dash piercer skill!" Suddenly he used his sword skill, the sword he had attached his upgraded skills with, the one which he already used to stab the elder of life shrine with it. "3000" Suddenly this unbelievable number of damage appeared on top of that elder''s head, depleting all his Hp, making his face turn ashen white in an instant. He was just about to seize his victory, killing his nemesis and dere himself victor, but Bloom suddenly appeared out of nowhere, smashing all these dreams for him, making him even lose his life! Bloom had a series of system alerts happening in his ears, like beautiful music, but he was doomed not to enjoy them, as both elders blurted out their final dying words, and strangely enough, they were the same! "In the name of the shrine of death, I curse you!" "In the name of the shrine of life, I curse you!" The two cursed him, and he suddenly felt two strong blows to his body, making him suddenly feel weak. He just hit the elder of life with his skill, and his body was now three meters in the air, driving the dying body of that elder to the back, colliding heavily with a tree there, making him finally stop. The moment he fell to the ground, he was breathless, trying to catch his running breaths with some difficulty, and his face was slightly pale. "What the hell just happened!" he muttered, inwardly cursing the game for its wickedness! Curses were a well known, high end skills, used by a hefty price of life, for permanently affecting others stats in the game! ying with curses was no joke, and lifting them was not an easy feat. Just as he was bewildered by what just happened, he had received a train of system notifications, but he had no time to check them, as many yers were nowing here, trying to inspect what just happened! He hurriedly stood from the ground, touched the body of the life shrine elder, and started the collecting skill. Each time he used the skill, he needed ten seconds for it to be fully executed. The yer''s crowd wasing from real far, and that gave him around five minutes to collect materials and other stuff from the bodies of the two elders, before he finally started to move. He didn''t want to interact with anyone before he ascertained his current state, so he rapidly moved away, far from the battle ce, heading straight towards the mountain with the skull, taking shelter there on one of the huge rocks. He started to feel a little better, but he was sure he wasn''t! The curses effect wasn''t temporary, and they took effects the moment they were executed. He just checked his surroundings, making sure he was alone, and then he started to open the many system alerts he had, hoping things wouldn''t be this bad for him. Chapter 55: Two Curses and A compensation Chapter 55: Two Curses and Apensation "System alert: yer has killed the esteemed elder of the shrine of death. yer is now considered an enemy to the entire shrine of death! Beware that any yer or NPC has been informed by the yer''s name, and any agent of the shrine of death in the vicinity of a vige radius from the yer will be notified by yers coordinates once per day." "System alert: yer has been cursed by an esteemed elder of the shrine of death. yer has to absorb the death souls equal to double his level daily, or else his stats will be subjected to a curse of decreasing fifty percent." "System alert: yer haspleted the esteemed elder of shrine of life quest. As the elder had already backstabbed the yer, the yer had to kill the elder so he could gain a special vengeance reward back." "System alert: yer has killed the esteemed elder of the shrine of life. yer is now considered an enemy to the entire shrine of life! Beware that any yer or NPC has been informed by the yer''s name, and any agent of the shrine of life in the vicinity of a vige radius from the yer will be notified by yers coordinates once per day." "System alert: yer has been cursed by an esteemed elder of the shrine of life. yer has to absorb the vital souls equal to his level daily, or else his stats will be subjected to a curse of decreasing fifty percent." "System alert: yer has managed to kill the esteemed elder of the shrine of life,pleting the vengeful quest. As a reward, the yer will gain a chance to change any cursesing from the shrine of life in the way it seems fit to him." "System alert: yer haspleted the secret ss quest. The following are the evaluations of the yer performance: 1. yer has to kill one yer under the level of ten two times at least yer got the white ranking. 2. yer has to steal something from a yer one time at least yer got the gold ranking. 3. yer has to trick other yers, acquire things belonging to the team and make them his yer got the silver ranking. 4. yer has to kill one NPC at least yer got the ck ranking. 5. yer has to steal from one NPC at least yer got the red ranking. 6. yer has to trick one NPC at least, and acquire something belonging to him without his knowledge yer got the blue ranking. 7. yer has to kill one hundred yers yer got the white ranking. 8. yer has to do this before reaching level ten yer got the blue ranking." "System alert: the final ranking of the secret ss quest is gold ranking." "System alert: yer has unlocked the bandit secret ss, the shadow bandit." "System alert: yer has gained the chance to unlock three more skills specific to the secret ss skill tree." "System alert: yer has gained the chance to unlock two talents specific to the secret ss talent tree." "System alert: yer has unlocked the special quest system of the secret ss, shadow bandit." Bloom nced at all these alerts with a dazed look, and a shocked expression on his face. The part that greatly mattered to him the most now was the curses he had been exposed to, and luckily he got a chance to get rid of one of them. But just as he was about to cancel that curse, he suddenly had an idea, as he reread the system alert again, thinking deeply about it. "System alert: yer has managed to kill the esteemed elder of the shrine of life,pleting the vengeful quest. As a reward, the yer will gain a chance to change any cursesing from the shrine of life in the way it seems fit to him." "So I can alter it, right?" he muttered before trying to give it a try. "I want to change the curse of the elder of shrine of life," he said. "System alert: yer has a curseid on him by the vengeful soul of the elder of the shrine of life." "System alert: yer has the right to change the curse he had." "System alert: yer can state what he wants to do with the curse, either altering it, weakening it, strengthening it, or permanently removing it." "As I thought!" the eyes of Bloom shone brightly as he made up his mind. "I want to alter it. Make the curse that every time I absorb a death soul, my stats increase by it," he said. He had a curse he couldn''t eliminate, so he was forced to abide by its rules. Death souls mentioned here is just a reference to the souls of yers after getting killed. Simply put, he had to kill yers! As for the shrine of life curse, it required him to kill NPCs, something that could cause great problems to him in the future. So, he decided to turn this curse into a blessing! If he had to kill yers and absorb their souls after death, then it would be awesome if he could get some benefits in return! As for those poor yers, they would remain unable to log in the game for at least a couple of days, and when they would re-enter the game, they would be subjected to a penalty to their stats, resembling that of the weakening state monsters got after activating their ultimate skills. Bloom didn''t care about yers, and now he had to kill about the same number of his level daily. He was now level eleven, so he had to kill eleven yers daily. "System alert: yer has chosen to alter the curse of an esteemed elder of the shrine of life." "System alert: the changes will be as follows: each time a yer absorbs one death soul, one of his stats will rise three points randomly for a day. yer can specify certain stats to gain this rise, not exceeding two stats, and gain two points only, one to each stat, active for one day. Does the yer concede to this?" Bloom was about to agree, as this was really above his expectations, however he hesitated, before asking: "Can I add another thing?" "System alert: yer can add anything, and the game system will judge." "Even if I want to alter the death shrine elder''s curse?" he asked. Chapter 56: Shadow Bandit Class Chapter 56: Shadow Bandit ss "System alert: yer can''t alter the esteemed elder of the shrine of death curse." He paused, before he got another idea. "Then I want to add that I can store death souls, up to infinite numbers, and can use these death soulster on at any time!" he said, after a long time of thinking. "System alert: Infinite isn''t avable time for yer. System suggests adding another time frame." Bloom''s eyes shone again, as this response meant he could store the death souls forter use. His main problem, which he would face the moment he would set foot to the vige, was theck of yers. Also, in theter period of the game, killing yers daily would put some restrictions on him. He knew some rare and secluded ces he might want to go, but the visit there would take days, even weeks! So, if he couldn''t store death souls, he would be in a great problem indeed! plus at some asions, like the one he had right now, he could easily kill hundreds of yers. It would be a great waste if he couldn''t store their death souls, right? His next question was immediate, as he hurriedly asked: "How much time can I use?" "System alert: yer has the right to store up to ten folds his initial required number by the esteemed elder of the shrine of death curse, and for ten days only." He nodded, that seemed quite good actually, so he said: "Great, I agree, add this part and I approve of the final alter." "System alert: the changes will be as follows: each time a yer absorbs one death soul, one of his stats will rise three points randomly for a day. yer can specify certain stats to gain this rise, not exceeding two stats, and gain two points only, one to each stat, active for one day. yer has the right to store up to ten folds his initial required number of death souls needed by the esteemed elder of the shrine of death curse, and for ten days only. Does the yer concede to this?" "I concede." "System alert: modification has been made, and the curse will be permanent. To remove or alter the curse, the yer has to use the same approach used here." "Oho!" Bloom''s grin got widened, as he didn''t think this way could be applied again! If so, then he could even change the death shrine curse, making it like a blessing to him. As he now finished that, he checked his stats first, to find it exposed to the two cursesbined effect, leaving him only with ten percent only of his original stats, the forcibly protected amount of his stats by the game system! "The curses are really cruel! They got effective immediately once I got them," he muttered before watching his stats showing great increase suddenly, as the curse of the shrine of life elder was now removed by the new alteration. He now had fifty percent only of his stats. Even with them he now could kill yers, but with some challenges of course. The beauty of this curse when he thought about it was that I never specified a certain level, so he could kill even level zero yers and still gain his death souls! "That''s simply awesome!" he muttered to himself as he pictured his future self. if he was now level eleven, then he could absorb eleven death souls, making his stats gain twenty two free points. The beauty of it was that these points would grow the more he could grow stronger! He didn''t like the idea of making his newly acquired points randomly, so he decided to choose the Str and Vit stats, his two main stats, to focus on. "Now, let''s see what this all secret ss is about!" He heard about bandits from before, as they were one of themon sses in dark yer society. Dark yers were those who loved to y it dirty, gain more benefits with lesser efforts, but with greater risk. He opened his character profile, then found his ss had changed already to the shadow bandit ss. He nced rapidly on his skills, to find them all present and active. After having a long sigh of relief, he chose the secret ss and showed it details. "Shadow bandit: Secret ss. Tier two ss. yer gains ten free attribute points each one level. Two attribute points will be forcibly allocated to Vit. One attribute point will be forcibly allocated to Str. One attribute point will be forcibly allocated to Res. One attribute point will be forcibly allocated to Int. One attribute point will be forcibly allocated to Lu. Each level yer would gain two Sp points, and two Tp points. For further details about the ss, please select show ss data. To upgrade the ss tier to the next level, a yer has to seed inpleting the preliminary conditions for upgrade. To show the conditions, please select show ss upgrade data." Bloom nced at this data and felt speechless at first, before he felt confused. Bandits were considered part of the martial artist faction, a faction that depended entirely on Res and Str, but he never heard of a bandit that used the Int and Lu as well! "Show ss data," he said, while shaking his head, as it seemed this game had still its own secrets that no one had ever known from his past life. "Shadow bandit: Secret ss. The ss is a merge between weapon wielder, shade son, staff holder, and martial artist factions. yer has ess to special ss skill tree and talent tree which are mainlyposed of merging skills and talents between these factions. The ss needs the following main stats to be taken care of the yer: Vit, Str, Int, Lu, and Res. yer is considered a dark agent of the darkness forces in the world of light, will be shouldered with quests to infiltrate the normal game life, do some sabotage, gathers intel, and might do other dirty work as well, provided that all of these are done without being discovered, or tagged as an ouw by the normal game system. Rules of stat distribution: ording to the current tier, yer can have ten free attribute points, six forcibly allocated to main stats, and other four will be allocated freely by the yer. Each level yer would gain two Sp points, and two Tp points." Chapter 57: Shrine of Death Blessing Chapter 57: Shrine of Death Blessing Bloom re-read this description more than once, and he finally believed his eyes! He had a strange ss, mixed between four factions together, which meant this was really an OP ss! "So, I''m encouraged by the system to cause damage here?" he didn''t understand this point, as that was the only exnation he had from what he just read! The game was encouraging him to act berserk and wreak havoc here, and even he would be awarded by that! There was a list of quests avable to his ss, but he didn''t open this for now, as he decided to wait until he goes to the vige and starts using his ss for real. The next thing he did was to examine the skill and talent tree of his new ss. As he expected, his old skills and talents were still viable to use, and he even could unlock any talent of the four factions, or select talents belonging exclusively for his ss. As he started reading, he was surprised to find all of the skills provided to him were all merged skills. Despite that being something good, it had its drawbacks as well. He now couldn''t open any of them as he didn''t have enough SP for that! The cheapest skill here required ten Sp points to be unlocked! He had already wasted most of his Sp points during merging his skills, and now he had no much left for him! The only good news was that each level he could gain two Sp points, not one. That meant he could easily unlock at least one of these skills after gaining three levels by most, but now he couldn''t level up here, as the level of monsters was already much lower than his. The same thing went for the talent tree of his ss, as it required ten Tps at least to open one talent. He had to wait, as he would gain two Tps with each level he gained. Right now, he had other matters to take care of. He opened his character profile, and was depressed to find the stats and free points avable to him were still per his old system. "So it only works from the next levels?" he muttered, as he allocated his free points to his Vit and Str equally. He gained two levels, and that meant he had six points to distribute. He put three to Vit, and three to Str, before closing his character profile, and went through the system alerts again. He had two system alerts to attract his attention, as he reopened them and started reading them again. "System alert: yer has received the blessing of the death shrine as a reward." "System alert: yer has received a map to the secret shrine of death maind as a reward." "So, I was cursed by the death shrine and got a blessing of it as well?" he muttered, before reopening his character profile, to find a blessing of the death shrine there. "Show the blessing details," he muttered, with a confused expression over his face. "Blessing of the shrine of death: Tier one blessing. yer has the ability to absorb the death souls. Each one hundred death souls will be stilled to form a single death drop." The details of this blessing wasn''t that much, and Bloom didn''t know what death drop even meant, but at least he was happy with more benefitsing from this shrine that cursed him. "It seems I will turn into a vampire absorbing all the death souls of yers in the game," he evilly smirked as he closed this alert and opened his inventory to retrieve an old, tattered looking piece of parchment that was rolled with a seal over it. He tried to open it but he couldn''t, so he investigated its details. "Map to the secret shrine of death mainnd: a gateway to the sealed deathnds. Requires one hundred death drops to be opened." His eyes suddenly shone, as now he had one use for these death drops. He put the map back, and despite now knowing what it meant as these sealed deathnds, he had heard on many asions about hiddennds full of treasures in this game. "Good, good, I can now kill all the yers I meet with clear conscience," he muttered with an evil expression over his face. He was so excited and now he had the urge to go out there and start killing yers. He was now ready to start his death souls hunting spree. He had his stats halved by the curse, but he was now a monster to other yers. the level difference alone would be enough to kill any yer with one, up to two strikes only. "Ick an AOE skill, I have to find one in the new skill tree," he muttered, reminding himself of hiscking skill. if he had an AOE skill, then he would turn into a killing machine! He then exited his hiding ce, and started to venture back towards the ce where yers were at. He had no yer in sight for half an hour, as it seemed all of them already dispersed after the end of his epic battle. Bloom didn''t know this battle was recorded by many yers, and already uploaded on the forums for a long time, causing a huge stir there. He didn''t know that this battle was considered as a ssic, as many started to specte how he appeared out of nowhere, after dying by the skill of the NPC of the life shrine, and how he managed to kill the two elders in this dramatic way. His fighting style was now considered a legend, as many yers started to question his stats and level, considering him a living legend of achieving the impossible. The forums were now a battlefield between his supporters and his haters, with haters being much more than his supporters. He was now the main spot of envy for many yers, with all of them trying to attack and tarnish his reputation. As for his supporters, they tried to apply for his agency, but they were shocked to find that it was temporarily blocked. They couldn''t ess it, or even apply to join like before. Those who were part of it were now regretting their previous decision to withdraw, all except for one. Chapter 58: Come to Papa Chapter 58: Come to Papa As Bloom spotted the first wave of yers attacking level seven monsters, he watched the attack of that group of ten yers with astonishment. "Since when yers dared to fight level seven monsters?" he muttered, as he never thought in just a few hours, yers would be brave enough to fight these monsters. From the shape of it, these yers were at level six, and they were moving swiftly avoiding the attacks of monsters, while attacking as a team to prevent them from escaping. What Bloom didn''t know was that this team wasn''t anything remarkable, as there were many teams already able to clear dungeons up to level three, and there were entire teams in level seven or more. He stood motionless there for quite some time, before he shook his head and started to move. He didn''t want to attack those hard working, brave yers. He would prefer to kill weaker cowards, alike the caliber of Derick. He wanted to zero in on that jerk, but he knew if he started looking for him alone, he wouldn''t find him except after a long time. He sighed, helplessly, as he started to move away from here. His sight was noticed by this team of yers. As his die hard fans, they filmed his moments of standing there watching them, and shared these videos on the forums with much pride, providing the location of the ce he was just at. This simple move had caused a stir inside the forums, as many yers were now hitting level seven, and some even reached level eight. Large part of them belonged to his haters faction, and thus they started to formrge groups of yers to ambush him. At once many yers started to appear at that area, roaming everywhere, looking for him. Bloom was just strolling, with nothing in mind, as he was inspecting his stats. Despite being halved, they were considered really high, with the help of his gears to cover up over this loss caused by the curse. He was currently at level ten, and that was, at least, two levels above the highest yer in this starting point. One level difference was enough to cover up the loss he had, and anymore was just a bonus. Simply put, even when cursed, he was invincible between yers in this area with such low levels and low gears. So, he walked leisurely, like a king strolling inside his kingdom. However he never dropped his caution, and that made him sense the presence of yers stalking him. "Oh, so you are saving me the trouble, are you?" he smirked, inwardly, as this saved the hard task of selecting evil yers to kill. If it was just losing one level, then he wouldn''t care at all, but the issue was that yers killed under his hand wouldn''t be able to enter the game for a couple of days at least, and when they would, they would be cursed by weakness for quite some time. Such a fate was so harsh for randomly selected yers, and as he had time, he didn''t rush to kill anyone he met, even those stalking him. "Let the flies gather around the fire first, patience is the virtue of the hunter," he muttered, as he was eyeing them as a predator, and those fool yers thought they were the ones entrapping him here! He didn''t wait for long, as his current location was constantly being shared in the forums. This even had attracted the attention of many game yers, especially those in other starting points and their levels were high enough to be considered his rivals. Everyone was eyeing this iing confrontation, especially when five hundred yers at level eight in this starting point had announced their joining to this crusade, which raised the g of destroying the fake reputation of yer Bloom. Bloom didn''t know all of this, as he wasn''t that obsessed yet with checking the forums like beginner yers. so, he strolled aimlessly around the ce, while he was thinking of the next step in his journey. He had to go to the vige, where he would be faced with many quests and more challenges. Although he had stopped a big main game story quest line, there were others that helped to shape the legend of the game. One of those started in the vige, or at an area adjacent to the vige. He didn''t know which vige he would go to, but he had one name in mind; the Alter vige. This vige had a very important quest rted to the shrine of death, whichpleted the quest Derick had achieved in his previous life. That quest was known as the suppression of the death shrine, and despite theck of intel regarding this quest, he now realized which faction was trying to suppress the death shrine; the life shrine. The quest was the opposite of Derick quest, as it required the yer to help block a certain convoy from reaching its destination. that yer seeded in his quest, which helped in announcing the era of prosperity and peace in the entire game. Bloom didn''t know the specific details of this quest, but he knew that this yer, called Panty, had finished it before Derick, and that might have caused the era toe before Derick managed to return the relic to the death shrine, announcing the birth of the instant dungeons. These dungeons were one of the trademarks of the game in the future, as they would sprout anywhere, with many treasures and levels to gain from them. there was no rule to organize their appearances, but they were really much in numbers, enough for a satisfying sector of yers to enjoy it. yers had gone into many wars to secure the areas where these dungeons were appearing at, causing most of these dungeons to fall in the hands of big guilds, andrge yers groups, leaving only scarce amount of them to fall in the hands of smaller groups and guilds, or even sporadic free yers. So, for him, he had intended to seek this vige when leaving this starting ce, look for that convoy, and secure it against that yer. That era of prosperity and peace would never see light under his watch! Just as he was organizing his thoughts about this matter, he spotted arge crowd of yersing towards him. He smirked, as finally they had fallen into his trap. From the shape of it, their numbers were in hundreds, which made him regret not being higher in level! He was currently at level ten, that meant he had to kill twenty yers daily, under the curse of death shrine. As for the life shrine modified curse, he then could store two hundred death souls, meaning he could kill two hundred and twenty yers. any extra and he wouldn''t gain any benefit from it! As for his current states, he chose, temporarily, to allocate the absorbed death souls gained attribute points into his Str and Vit. After leaving here and unlocking more skills and talents, he would change this allocationter on, based on the main stats needed for these skills and talents to show their true worth. "Come to papa!" he muttered to himself while unsheathing his two swords, ready for a fight. In front of all these weaklings, he didn''t need to use even his draw talent, as his single strike of his swords were enough to kill whoever was hit by his sword. Chapter 59: Killing Players is So Fun! Chapter 59: Killing yers is So Fun! They were numbered in hundreds, reaching over five hundred yers,ing towards him with great momentum and high morale. They already pictured his death in their minds, and they thought this was just a random fight, just a formality before he actually fell under their skills. His fame would be destroyed, and theirs would be raised to heaven in just one fight! That alone enticed them, made them quite intoxicated in their confidence, not bothering to scout him, investigate his level. If a single one of them was sane enough to do that, he or she might have time to rm everyone; Bloom wasn''t the harmless sheep everyone thought to be! Bloom marched straight towards them, as they did towards him. Both sides didn''t flinch back, and the moment they fell into each other''s skill range, many skills started to fall upon him. "Dash!" He didn''t wait for their skill to hit him, as he instantly changed his position, moving with his usual skill towards a yer in the middle of their formation. And a massacre just erupted, simply like that! "2500" A suddenrge number appeared on top of that yer, making him lose all his Hp, fall silent and cold on the ground dying like that! "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and absorbed one death soul. Two attribute points were added sessfully, one to Str, and one to Vit." A system notificationes once the yer dies. Bloom didn''t nce at it, as his two swords suddenly erupted into aplete storm of attacks. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "2550" "2550" "5100" "2550" "2550" "2550" "2550" "2550" "2550" One crit and all were normal attacks, making all yers lose their Hp, fall on the ground and die simply like that! "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and absorbed one death soul. Two attribute points were added sessfully, one to Str, and one to Vit." "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and absorbed one death soul. Two attribute points were added sessfully, one to Str, and one to Vit." . . . "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and absorbed one death soul. Two attribute points were added sessfully, one to Str, and one to Vit." "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and absorbed one death soul. Two attribute points were added sessfully, one to Str, and one to Vit." Eight yers killed adding sixteen attribute points, eight to Str and Vit respectively. Bloom didn''t need to use any other skill other than stab, as it had the shorted Cd ever in his skill list. Hecked an AOE skill, and an invincible skill as well. If he had both, he would have been able to kill many yers. None of the yers were a big blow to them, but not big enoughpared to their huge numbers. Their retaliation came swiftly, and many skills started to rain on him. "-200" "-100" "-54" "-145" "-69" "-213" "-147" "-200" The damage he received in a few seconds wasn''t that bigpared to his high Hp, which reached two thousand points. However theirbined damage was enough to empty around half of his Hp. He then used another skill, getting more serious this time, as he wouldn''t allow them to attack freely and easily as this time. "Dash!" He moved towards another direction, escaping even the range of the AOE skills used by their staff holders. He spotted their ces, far in the end of these yers, and he used his dash skill just to reach them. "Stop him, don''t let him do whatever he wanted with them!" One yer shouted, and his voice immediately caught his attention, making him mutter with extreme delight: "Derick!" It was Derick, and he came on his own will to provide himself to him. Bloom then didn''t hold back, as once his sword hit another yer, instantly killing him, he used another wave of his skills. "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "Sky piercer." "Hawk." "Stab." "Stab." "Slice." "Stab." "Stab." "1500" "2000" "1500" "1500" "2000" "1500" "1500" "2500" "1500" "1500" "2000" "2000" "1500" "1500" Fourteen attacks came swiftly, while he used his skills to jump from one ce to another. He used his slice skill to shift his own ce, staying away from harm, while he used his sky piercer to change his ce, linked it with hawk skill to evade an AOE skill attack, before linking it with two stabs then one slice to change his position again. He was unreachable despite being so near in hand. yers suddenly had this feeling that they weren''t the ones trying to hunt him, but he was the one hunting them. "System alert: yer has killed one yer. yer has umted his maximum death souls, and now he can store up to ten times this amount. One death soul is stored for ten days, to be used in the middle of it or to be dissipated." Bloom just smiled when he read this message, and it was repeated one after another for a dozen times. He now started to store up his death souls, and once he finished using them, he wouldn''t stay here anymore. Killing yers without any benefit wouldn''t be amusing, so he continued to hunt the rear yers, killing those staff holders and light daughters one after another, without being hit by any skill except once in a while. He had now a long list of skills, most of them were movable skills, which enabled him to suddenly shift his swords towards any direction at any time escaping any nasty AOE skills without fearing being hit by them. As for weapon skills, he was so flexible that any weapon or hand attack came from the weapon holders and martial artists missed his body. He was there in a moment, and the next he wasn''t! He was at the back now, and in the next moment he would use his dash skill to be in the front, then to the right, then to the back, then left, then front, then returned to the back again! After five minutes of moving like this, he had finally killed his desired number of yers, with three more yers. just as he was about to create a path to retreat, he received a system notification that halted him in his steps. "System alert: yer has killed a yer, and he can absorb his death soul. yer has already reached his maximum storage capacity, and the yer can use gold to expand it. spend one gold coin to add ten slots to the capacity. Do you want to spend gold and expand your death souls storage capacity?" His eyes suddenly shone brightly as heughed, a very evilugh, before muttering while moving from the front to the back using his dash skill: "Really?! That''s so fun! Spend one hundred gold coins, let''s kill one thousand stray yers and absorb their death souls then!" Chapter 60: Setting A Wolf Loose on Sheep Chapter 60: Setting A Wolf Loose on Sheep "System alert: yer has spent one hundred gold coins. yer can now absorb extra one thousand death souls and store them for ten days. to expand the time limit of the stored death souls, yer can spend one gold coin to expand the time of ten death souls storage to reach one month." Bloom just nced at this without knowing what he should say or do! This system was really stingy, trying to take as much gold from him as possible. It was great he had a lot of gold coins right now, so it wasn''t really an issue, but he needed to keep some to the time when he went to the vige. Travelling from one vige to another was costly, around one hundred coins were needed. Plus he needed gold to buy many potions and materials to upgrade his gears. So, he needed approximately five hundred gold coins for the future. "Spend one hundred and twenty gold coins and expand the time limit to one month," he decisively said, as this would really help him a lot in the future. He just hoped the system would give him the choice to increase his used death souls now, but the system didn''t give him this alert. "System alert: yer has spent one hundred gold coins expanding the time of one thousand and twenty death souls storage to reach one month." "Sigh," Bloom just sighed, as the system wasn''t stingy enough to expand its greed to the used death souls currently by him. through all this, he didn''t stop jumping here and there, killing more and more yers, while he didn''t receive hardly any damage. In the middle of this, he took out two basic Hp potions and gulped them one after another in ten seconds. He replenished most of his lost Hp with this single move, while avoiding the skills thrown at him by using his skills in the middle of the two potions. This made yers quite frustrated, deepening the anger, hatred, and envy they all had for him. Bloom didn''t care about any of this, as he kept killing them without break, reducing their numbers, gradually kiting them down. What Bloom didn''t know, and those yers totally forgot out of their shock, that this battle was being broadcast live broadcasted over the forums. These yers had the confidence and audacity to announce they would kill the legend of Bloom live on forums so no one would dare to question themter on. Well, and they tried to build their own legends in the process, however everything turned upside down, and the legends they were all dreaming about creating were now turned into a lifetime shame that wouldn''t be easily erased! Especially for one person, Derick! "Finally we got time to spar together," Bloom said with a mocking loud tone as he jumped suddenly towards Derick, "tell me, were you born this jerk? Or you learnt it on your own?" he sneered as he loudly insulted him. Bloom didn''t have ill intentions or vengeance towards him from the start, but this jerk had done everything to make Bloom really hate him. if not for Bloom to cross level ten already, he would have sought to kill Derick couple of times before leaving here. "You idiot, thinking a single one can stand against all of us! Even your acrobatic moves won''t help save your life!" "Hahaha, you are all words buddie, go die and be tortured a little in hell," Bloom inserted both of his swords in his body, giving him two crits at this moment, venting all his anger into this kill. All yers watched the terrifying two five thousand damage floating above Derick''s head, before he hit the ground and died. Bloom dly absorbed and stored his death soul, before not waiting for others to wake up from their daze, and continued killing them. "This isn''t a yer, this is a monster," suddenly one of yers muttered, as he then screamed in extreme panic, "this isn''t a yer, this is a monster, run, run everyone, flee and save your levels!" That yer was so terrified that he even wanted to run and leave this damned ce. his fear was really contagious, especially when others were also feeling shock at the current moment. One yer started to flee, and others started to follow, however Bloom wasn''t generous enough to let them escape like this! ''Wait my death souls!'' he inwardly shouted out loudly, while he started to run after them. three levels difference in stats meant nothing now, as most of yers neglected speed, including Bloom. If not for his early adding some points to Res stat for stamina, he wouldn''t have a higher speed stat. He outrun them, easily, using his skills and running, while some managed to escape, as those martial artists were really fast, with their monstrous Res and speed stats. "Escaped flies, but no worry, I will keep hunting others here and there," Bloom shook his head in regret, as these running yers were running death souls to him. He now had one extra thousand slots, and he intended to make them all full before going to the vige. He had here around five hundred yers, so twenty or thirty runners would affect his mood no doubt. So, he returned to focus on those trying to run, killed them swiftly, especially when they lost all the will to fight. He then jumped towards the main bulk of yers, who were now seriously considering running. "Let''s all run away and he couldn''t kill us all!" one of the yers shouted, as he started to run towards an opposite direction from where Bloom came from. His shout made all yers disperse at the same time, making Bloom really furious, as he madly chased them, yelling at their backs: "Come back here you cowards, didn''t you want to kill me? Come and show me your true worth. Come and give me your souls, Damn it!" He kept furiously running behind them, killing around one hundred more, but around two hundred and fifty managed to run away. As he was furious, he entered the forum, as he wanted to vent his anger there. The moment he entered there, he was surprised to find the live feedbacks of the living yers still on, with endlessments from yers from this point, and from other points as well. "Oh, you are generous to share your current locations then!" he muttered, as through each feedback, he could see the current coordinates of yers escaping from him. Chapter 61: Moving to the Gate of Starting Point Area Chapter 61: Moving to the Gate of Starting Point Area He evilly smirked, as he hurried to open his map, check the locations of the current yers, and started dashing hurriedly towards the nearest location of them. The escaped yers once felt themselves secured from him, lowered their guards and started to regroup again. From the look of things, these two hundred and fifty yers were now gathering in seven points, and more yers started to flood towards them, trying to speak with them. However, Bloom fell upon the first group of yers like thunder, using all of his skills one after another, without giving them a chance to catch their breaths, absorb the sudden attack over them, and finally he managed to kill the first fifty something yers group. "First one down, others left to go." He muttered, as he started to move towards the second group. The arrangement of these yers were in a big circle, and that made his journey to them quite easier. The number of yers started to grow, and thus the number of fallen under his swords nearly doubled that the initial number. The forums started to go berserk, as many yers noticed that Bloom was precisely targeting these scattered groups of yers through their feedback. "Stop your live broadcast, you idiots he is tracking all of you through them!" Many phrases like these started to appear in the posts of the remaining broadcasts. It wasn''t until Bloom killed the fifth group that the other two groups of yers noticed these replies on their threads, and instantly killed off the feed. "Even if you stopped them, I already have a general view of your locations," Bloom smirked, as he had two ces left to visit. Even if he missed one of the two, the other one was doomed to fall under his swords. He went straight towards the location he saved in his mind, and when he neared there, he spotted many yers already dispersing, numbering in a hundred or more. He wasn''t polite as he started to hunt them down, ten by ten, simply using his stab skill to kill fast, his dash, sky piercer, hawk, and dash piercer skills to jump from one location to another, getting the running yers unprepared and defenseless. He was like a wolfunched freely on sheep, with nothing to stop him, no sheep to satisfy his hunger. Bloom was recorded in this battle, as this recording waster put on forums, under the catchy title of the god yer! This battle was like the crown jewel that was put at the top of his achievements in the game, making his legend more deeply immersed in the yers'' mind. As he finished killing around eighty of these yers, he found the ce empty except for him. He didn''t dy and went ahead towards the next spot, where he found none there. "They ran really fast," he sighed, helplessly shaking his head, before he opened his character page, inspected with pride the current number of stored death souls. "Eight hundred and sixty nine," he muttered to himself, feeling quite satisfied with that. The number wasn''t that high, nearly half of what he could store, but this couldst him for a long time already. He now needed to raise his current level ten up fast, so he could utilize more of these death souls in much a better way. "I hope you can all level up fast and hurry up to reach the vige," he muttered, while shaking up his head, turning around and started to leave. He then walked towards the end of this starting point. While he was going there, he opened his friend list, and checked on Peri''s name, and sent a message to her. ''I will go now to the vige, when you arrive at the vige, give me the name of it so we can meet upter.'' He knew each starting point would lead to a variety of viges, but even if she ended up being in the same vige as him, he nned to instantly move to Alter vige and start preparing for his personal quest. Peri replied wishing him luck, and expressing her and the others'' support to him. He just smiled and closed the chat with her, while moving towards the main gate of this starting point. As he was currently free, and had nothing else to do, he opened the forums to not be bored while walking alone in this ce. The first he faced was the topics written in his support. He just smiled, as many yers put the whole me on his enemies and haters for constantly harassing him. There were also topics regarding the way he was fighting, as this style wasn''tmon yet in the yers''munity. yers used to run and attack, but no one had ever used the system enforced moves when using skills to fight in the way Bloom did. These topics just made him smile, helplessly, and before he would exit the forums, as he was already near the gate of this area, he noticed an interesting topic that made himugh. "Bloom is a dark sorcerer even in real life! those killed by him were prevented from entering the game for days!" The topic was written by an unknown name to Bloom, as he didn''t know he was one of the closest friends of Derick. The yer stated that many of the killed in thest exchange found themselves forcibly expelled from the game, and when they tried to enter it again a rejection message was all they got. The yer didn''t stop at that, as he started ranting over how this game was unfair to let such a loose cannon do whatever he wanted. Bloom just read all these curses and insults to him and the game with a wide grin on his face. He wouldn''t mind the game to be cursed and hated by yers, as this was his only goal, his sole goal from ying here. The topic instantly reached number one in the forums, and Bloom didn''t hurry to leave here as he was much interested in the yers'' response. Many had just denied these ims, but much more expressed their disbelief and shock from this, especially when the yer edited his thread, adding a long list of hundreds of names of yers killed on the hands of Bloom, asking anyone to try and reach them in the next couple of days to make sure of these facts! Bloom just sneered, as he knew this wasn''t the end of his punishment. Two days off the game was now considered a curse, as many things would happen in these days. At least when this bunch of haters would rejoin the game, their levels would be considered pretty low, instead of being currently pretty high. That was enough humiliation for them. But there was also a bonus that made Bloom quite satisfied with his death shrine blessing and curse, the weakness effect! yers would have this weakness for days after rejoining the game, making them unable to even level up normally. As for catching up with the mainstream of yers, they had to work for a week or two to achieve that. Bloom just shook his head with a slyugh before he headed towards the nearby gate to leave here. Chapter 62: Entering Alter Village Chapter 62: Entering Alter Vige He headed towards the gate where there was no one else but him. He knew in the next few days, this ce would be brimming with yers. He went towards the gate, which was arge semi-circr gate made of one of the glimmering ore that was like a gem. There was one NPC standing there, doing nothing but looking at the distance with dazed eyes. Bloom went directly to him, as he said in greeting: "Hi hi mister, may I get a ticket to go to the vige?" The NPC was jolted awake, as he nced at Bloom for a moment before smiling widely: "Finally one brave yer will be able to join the first hundred yers to reach the vige. I''m honored to give you the ticket, son. Here, take it, it''s free for you." Bloom knew this ticket was free for all yers, but it will move him randomly to any vige. This made all the teams done here useless, as they wouldn''t be able to go to the same vige, even if they came here at the same time and used the ticket simultaneously. "Thanks for your kind words and support mister," Bloom replied with courtesy, as he didn''t forget his past life as one of the NPCs in a game. The ticket was a small piece of silver paper with the word ''Vige'' written on its surface. He grabbed it from this NPC before hearing the system notification. "System alert: yer has acquired the ticket to the vige. This is a random ticket and the yer would go to a random vige. if a yer wants to go to a specific ce, he has to pay an extra fee of fifty gold coins to upgrade this ticket into a golden one." "Oh, is there such a thing as well?" Bloom muttered as he was totally surprised by this offer. He would pay one hundred gold coins if he wanted to move from vige to vige, so spending fifty only here seemed a good bargain to do. "I want to upgrade this ticket mister to a golden ticket." The NPC nced briefly at him before smiling warmly to him as he replied: "Goodd, very goodd, fine give me this and pay fifty gold coins to me for the golden ticket." Bloom didn''t dy and took out fifty gold coins, handed them all to the NPC with the silver ticket. The NPC then took out one golden ticket, slightlyrger than the silver one. The moment Bloom touched it, another system notification kicked in. "System alert: yer has acquired the golden ticket to the vige. a yer is needed to state the name of the vige he wanted to move to out loud and the system will move him at once." Bloom evilly smiled as he was so near to devastate that yer''s quest with this single move. "Alter vige," he loudly said the name of the vige, and in the next moment, the golden ticket shone brightly before disappearing, and a golden light engulfed him, moving him to the Alter vige. The moment the light disappeared, Bloom found himself standing in an empty vige square, with a fount made up of a statue of a sword wielder yer with his face representing in a very realistic way the moment of intense fight. Bloom marveled this statue for a brief moment before sighing in admiration to this extreme elegant art. Just as he was about to set foot to explore this vige, a row of system notifications appear one after another. "System alert: yer has reached the Alter vige. as one of the first hundred yers reaching the vige in the game, the yer is rewarded one hundred gold coins." "System alert: yer has reached the vige using a golden ticket. As the fifth yer doing so, the yer is rewarded by the chance to unlock a skill of his basic skill tree." "System alert: yer has reached the vige stage. As the yer has a secret ss already, the yer has to open and select one mission at least, and make sure to fulfill one mission per week, or else the yer will get punishment applied to his stats." "System alert: yer has reached the vige. A member of the death shrine was nearby and he sensed his presence. yer will be reminded each time such a thing urs." "System alert: yer has reached the vige. a member of the life shrine is nearby and he sensed his presence. yer will be reminded each time such a thing urs." "System alert: yer has reached the vige. A member of an unknown faction has noticed the attention given to the yer by the members of shrine of death and shrine of life. the intentions of this member is unknown. Hostility to yer is currently neutral. yer will be reminded each time such a thing urs." Bloom stood motionless in his ce, while feeling dazed by all these notifications. What interested him were the ones rted to the shrine of life and shrine of death, and that mysterious party. "Is there such a thing in the game after being an enemy for one or more shrines?" he muttered to himself, marveling this simple, yet effective, move of the game. As such he already knew his two targets were currently in the vige, or nearby it. he had to defend the shrine of death convoy and stop the shrine of life elder from attacking it. "Per history, that yer will first ept the shrine of life quest, but what if I made contact with the two, and started killing them?" Bloom evilly thought about this scenario, as like this the entire quest would be lost, and nothing would happen as a result. "Bye bye the era of prosperity then," he sneered as he turned his attention towards the reward he got, and the condition he had from his quest. "So the system is quite generous to grant me one skill for free, that''s something I had to thank the game for. But I''m the fifth to do so? Who are the other four then? And I''m not even in the top twenty yers reaching the vige? that''s absurd!" He was thinking deeply about the hidden messages rted to him in the system notifications. He thought his level was quite high, and he would end up being in the first twenty yers joining the vige. This was an unimportant ranking in the game, as the first one thousand yers to the viges, the towns, the cities, and the capitals were recorded in a separate hall of fame ranking. He wasn''t concerned about the ranking, but he was concerned about the identity of these yers. He felt regret as he couldn''t check the list now, as the ranking wouldn''t be open until yers exceeded level twenty, and all the list would be full with one thousand yers'' names. Chapter 63: Sabotage the System Village Quest Chapter 63: Sabotage the System Vige Quest Bloom then opened the character profile and selected his current skill tree. There were a lot of skills ready for him to use, and currently he had the option to unlock one of the basic skills. The basic skills meant the ones matching his ss and faction, not the other skills belonging to other sses and factions. For him, as his ss was already a secret ss merged between many main factions, his skills were already considered very high quality skills merged from more than one ss and faction. The first thing he searched for was an AOE skill to satisfy his needs. He felt quite irritated to go and kill yers or monsters one by one! In the original list of skills he had, there were more than one AOE skills that attracted his attention. "Storm of shade swords skills: A shadow bandit specific ss skill. yer can use his sword to unleash a storm of shadow swords attacking any target in area of ten meters*ten meters, dealing one hundred and fifty percent of yersbined Str and Lu stats to any target hit by a sword shadow per second. Duration: twenty seconds. Cooldown: one minute." "Shade doppelganger festival skill: A shadow bandit specific ss skill. yer can summon an equal number of shadow doppelgangers to their current level. Each doppelganger will have half of the yer''s current stats, moving freely around the yer and attacking any target there. The shade doppelganger will have the same yer''s gears plus all the effects of curses or blessings or titles or limitations or bonuses or skills or talents the yer has. Duration: equals to the Lu stat value yer has in seconds. Cooldown: equals to half will power value yer has in seconds." "Dark fire crusade skill: A shadow bandit specific ss skill. skill requires either a staff or a magical sword to use in y. yer can use his staff or magical sword to unleash a huge wave of dark fire erupting from his ce as a centre, attacking any target in area of his current value of Lu stat in meters* his current value of Lu stat in meters, dealing one hundred and fifty percent of current MP stat per second. Duration: twenty seconds. Cooldown: one minute." Bloom marveled the three skills in amazement, as each one was different from the others in effect, requirements, and stats responsible for making it really OP. For him, he had a great storage of death souls, and currently he used them to supply his Vit and Str, but after this day he would focus more on other stats required by the skill he would use. Each skill had a mixed unique group of pros and cons, and that made him quite puzzled for a while. The storm of shade swords skill was the easiest of all, as he currently had high Str value, and only needed to focus on his Lu value. As for the dark fire crusade skill, it was the hardest toply. This skill required a staff or a magical sword, two things he had none of currently. Plus, this skill replied heavily on Int and Lu stats, and he currently had no points there to be fully confident in demonstrating the true might of this terrifying skill. He sighed, as this game always yed the nerves of the yers inside in an admirable way. As for thest skill, the shade doppelganger festival skill, although it wasn''t a ssic AOE skill, it was really great skill, with a progressive growth curve rted to the Lu stat and its direct rted stat, Wp. That meant he could easily focus on it, and he would reap the benefits doubled! In addition to that, these shadow doppelgangers would all inherit his strengths and weaknesses, meaning that they also could absorb death souls and even store them. He frankly didn''t know what they would do with these death souls, but he hoped they could allocate them like himself, and thus gained much more power in the end. All things were pointing towards this skill, so he just smiled and then chose it to learn. When he saw the required number of the skill points for it to be upgraded to the next level, he got a scare! "Fifty Sps?!!! What was the initial cost of this skill then?" He hurriedly checked it and was stunned to find it needed forty Sps to be unlocked! He had gotten himself an high end skill freely and luckily simply just like that! "What luck indeed," he evilly smirked as even his luck was supporting him. He now realized he made the right choice here, and he was really d he did so. He wasn''t doubting this skill anymore, and from now on, he would usually use it all the time. As he finished doing so, he was so eager to level up fast, and gain much more levels so he could add more points to his Lu stat. However, he controlled his sudden urge and started to focus on the next important thing to do; the quest list of his secret ss. He thought this list was optional, and so he didn''t give it any care before. However he now realized he was forced to select at least one of the missions all the time, and managed to seed one of them weekly or else he would be punished. "Never heard of a secret ss to punish its yers, sigh. Let''s select the list of these ss missions then." He selected the mission corner from the ss data. In the next moment, a very long list appeared in front of his eyes dazzling him, and the first quest in the top of this list really made him quite speechless! "Sabotage the system vige quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select a ce inside a system vige, and sabotage it. You can start a fire, steal something, break a thing, cut the water supply off it, or even dig a hole in the garden of any residence and destroy the terrain of the garden there! You can do anything to sabotage the buildings inside the system vige. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "What the F*ck is that?!!!" Chapter 64: A Crazy List of His Class Quests Chapter 64: A Crazy List of His ss'' Quests He hurriedly scanned the list of quests he had in his ss, to be shocked with what he saw. "Trick the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one NPC, and trick him. the trick must be in something the NPC wants, owns, or wants to know. The NPC must be part of the vige. the NPC must be convinced by your deeds and reward you falsely and not discover your trick. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Kill yers quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one hundred yers in a day. You must kill yers belonging to the vige. You can kill the yers inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Trick yers quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one yer at least, and trick him. the trick must be in something the yer wants, owns, or wants to know. The yer must be part of the vige. the yer must be convinced by your deeds and not discover your trick. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Kill the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Stealing the shrines quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one shrine and steal something from its NPCs. The shrine NPC must be in the vige, and the thing stolen mustn''t be retrieved in a day. You can steal more, the more you steal, the more rewards you gain. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Kill the shrine NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC belonging to any shrine in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. The higher the rank of the NPC the better the final rewards are. Beware, doing so will make you the enemy of the shrine, even might gain a curse from it. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Sabotage the quest quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to sabotage a yer''s quest, make him fail it, and not seed. You can select any quest, starting from themon quests to the special and legendary quests. The higher the rank of the quest is, the better the rewards are. Beware, doing so will make the NPC issuing the quest alert of your deeds. Doing it frequently, and the NPC wille and look for you to kill! Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Recruit dark agents quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to recruit at least ten yers into your camp, to work for you, to help you in the bad deeds you are doing. You must select yers belonging to the vige. these yers mustn''t discover your true nature, and any help or assistant they will make to help you in doing any bad deeds will consider fulfilling the quest. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Steal a merchant caravan quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to raid on a merchant caravan in a day. You are the agent of the dark forces, and you need money! Earning money legally isn''t our code of dishonor, so work hard and steal the money from others, be a good darkd. The caravan must be heading or exiting from the vige, the steal must ur inside the vige vicinity, and you mustn''t be caught! Things stolen from the caravan must be in your possession for twenty four hours. After that, you are free to do whatever you want from them. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "Steal the kill quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to steal kill from other yers or NPCs. The steal must be done inside the vige vicinity, and you must be thest person to attack, and your maximum number of attacks shouldn''t exceed three attacks or the quest will be considered a failure. The loot of the dead is your extra bonus, getting them will make the evaluation higher. The higher the level of the killed target, the better the rewards gained. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." He read all these quests and was extremely shocked! He never thought this game developers would be so dark to make this hideous list of quests that he couldn''t even think of all of them! "Hahahaha!" he loudlyughed, like a crazy man, while muttering amidst his strangeughs, "this is hrious! Thank you esteemed game developers for caring even for such a weird twisted dark natured yer like me, hahahaha!" Chapter 65: Luxurious Village Manual Chapter 65: Luxurious Vige Manual He keptughing, while he enjoyed being alone here in the main square of the vige. After a few minutes, he started to collect himself, thinking rationally and seriously about these quests! Any yer quest wasn''t that hard to achieve, he himself was aiming to topple the mainline story quest of the game. dealing with this quest had be far rewarding for him, and much more interesting! "Let''s see, in a vige full of NPCs, I can only select quests regarding them, right? Let''s select this merchant caravan quest, I''m the agent of dark forces after all, and I need money, hahaha, gimme money, hahaha!" He onlyughed as he selected the steal a merchant caravan quest. Once he did, he received system notifications, one after another. "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen the steal a merchant caravan quest. Steal a merchant caravan quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to raid on a merchant caravan in a day. You are the agent of the dark forces, and you need money! Earning money legally isn''t our code of dishonor, so work hard and steal the money from others, be a good darkd. The caravan must be heading or exiting from the vige, the steal must ur inside the vige vicinity, and you mustn''t be caught! Things stolen from the caravan must be in your possession for twenty four hours. After that, you are free to do whatever you want from them. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer will receive notifications for any caravan moving in or out the vige in the next twenty four hours. Each hour, the yer will have the caravan ces marked in his map in red, shing for five minutes before vanishing." "System alert: yer has chosen his first quest ever in his hidden ss quest. Finishing this quest will make the loot doubled by the game." "System alert: yer has to scout, gather intel, steal, and escape on his own without any help from the system. yer has to stay alive after the steal. yer has to keep the loot for twenty four hours from the moment he took the loot. yer can''t stay in the vige at this time, or else his stay here won''t be calcted as part of the twenty four hours period." Bloom nced at all these alerts in daze, as he didn''t imagine the system would help him. He hurriedly opened his map, and on it he found four caravans marked, two red, two green. He hurriedly selected them and soon he understood the meaning of these marks. "So, the red means they are very risky, heavily guarded, and the green means they are very safe, with few guards apanying the caravans," he softly muttered as he was walking in the vige streets. "But the weaker the caravan, the less beneficial it was! I bet these two red ones had some treasures hidden inside them, and I want these treasures." he had the title of NPC nemesis, and thus he didn''t n to steal, he nned to attack and hijack the caravan. The issue here was the reinforcement sent by the vige to rescue the caravan! That meant he needed to select a caravan he could rapidly kill! "Sigh, I have to depend on the shade doppelganger skill to kill them fast, but my Lu stat had only one point currently, and I have still long hours before the death souls of the day expire. I only have to level up at least two levels and add all the points to the Lu stat." He then stopped walking, as he was initially aimlessly walking in the empty streets of the vige. the decision of leveling up here wasn''t that easy to aplish, especially in less than a day! "I have to go and buy the vige manual first," he muttered, before he started to return towards the wide square again. There, he nced at the buildings here until he found one with the sign saying: yers'' Affairs office, and he headed towards it. In any vige, the general yers'' requirements like maps, tickets of the vige to return to, and manuals of the information regarding the vige were all sold here in this office. He entered the building, which was simply of one story, red brick building, and found one NPC standing in front of him doing nothing but looking at papers in his hands. "Excuse me, I want to buy a vige manual please," he said, attracting the attention of the NPC. "Oh, a yer," the NPC''s eyes shone like he found a fat sheep, "sure, do you want the normal one or the luxurious one?" he asked, with a grin on his face. Bloom didn''t know why this NPC was acting like that! After all, the manual was known to be sold by one gold coin. "What''s the difference between the two?" he asked. "The difference is huge, after all the luxurious edition is only limited to the first ten yers buying it in the vige," the NPC warmly replied, before taking out two books and putting them in front of the counter, "this one is the basic manual of the vige. it cost only one gold coin, however this one is the luxurious edition, and it cost fifty gold coins." Bloom''s eyes twitched, as the difference in price between the two was so huge. He didn''t ever hear about this luxurious edition in his past life, which made him doubt he was getting scammed here! he, the one who should trick others, was getting tricked! How ironic!! "What''s the difference?" he asked, while pointing towards the two. "The basic has the general description about the vige, its building, and the general distribution of leveling up map outside it. however the luxurious has all these items in details plus a list of monthly exclusive quests and details about how to acquire them. Acquiring it also will help in adding more information to your current quests, and also provides tips regarding how to aplish them. it''s a must to take an item, I wouldn''t waste this precious chance if I was you." Chapter 66: The Special Rules to Level up in the Village Chapter 66: The Special Rules to Level up in the Vige The NPC was quite enthusiastic about selling it, and Bloom wasn''t much interested in it until thest point was rified by the NPC. He had a really bizarre quest system, and any help was much appreciated. "Fine, I will buy it, here are the fifty coins," he said, taking out fifty gold coins and giving them to the NPC. "Thanks, I''m sure you won''t regret it," the NPC''s grin got wider, and that made Bloom think he was tricked here. The moment he took the luxurious manual, he received a system notification. "System alert: yer has bought the luxurious edition of the vige manual. yer can have the manual merged with his profile, and all the additional benefits will be automatically activated. Once merged and bound with the yer, the yer will gain more ess to his current quests. Plus, yer will have a very detailed description about anything inside the vige territory. yer also will gain tips and valuable information regarding five special quests monthly issued in the vige, and how to aplish them. This manual will be active only during the yer presence in the vige vicinity. This manual is only effective on this vige, however if the yer moves to another vige, the yer can pay ten gold coins fees to change the manual to that vige. The manual once bound won''t be dropped after yer death. If the yer agrees on binding it at any time, he could simply say the magic words; bind the manual." Bloom smiled as he was now sure this was authentic, and not some scum trick. "Bind the manual," he muttered, and the next moment the manual vanished from his hand, and his body was surrounded with faint blue light. "System alert: Binding process ispleted. yer can now view the manual through the special icon in his character profile." Bloom didn''t dy and hurriedly opened his character profile, as he found a small faint blue shimmering item there in the shape of a small book. He selected it, and the next moment he found arge amount of data in front of his eyes, organized in many categories. "Vige map, vige leveling basic grounds, vige leveling wilderness, unified leveling map, vige famed NPCs, vige famous ces, vige monsters, vige quests, vige special areas, vige great dangers, vige rules, vige monthly special quests'' list, yer current quests'' tips." There was a lot to be explored by him, however he didn''t have time now to do so. From first nce, he realized this manual was really very descriptive, as the basic manual only has the vige leveling grounds as a whole, not differentiated here into three different items. Plus the basic manual had in addition to that a general vige map, and vige rules. He was sure the info inside each category would be much more detailed than the basic edition. He opened the vige leveling three categories, scanned them fast to refresh his memories. "As I thought, this will be quite troublesome, sigh!" What he read matched what he vaguely remembered from his past life. He recalled the developers there made fun of the weird rules of monster distribution and leveling up in the viges of this game. Each vige had three special ces to level up, the first one was the direct basic grounds to the vige. There, yers would find monsters ranging from level one to level ten. This area might be with no purpose, but it was made for those who lost a lot of levels in the PvP or in fighting monsters outside. The second area was the wilderness, where the main monsters were spread for the yers to kill. However, this wilderness had a very strange rule, that the level of monsters there would be five levels higher of the weakest yer in the team. So, a ce was always reserved for a yer to be all the time five levels lower than the rest of the time. This yer was called the Joker, and some also called him the leveler, while the developers of Bloom''s past game loved to mock them by calling them fools. This yer position was considered rare, as yers were always arrogant, and greedy, wanting to be always the best. So, the number of avable yers for such positions was really scarce at any vige, and that made the demand on them much higher, making them reap great benefits in the game, and in real life as well. As for him right now, he was level ten, and he was alone. He would face the dilemma everyone else would experience, the hurdle to reach level fifteen. Many yers would lose their lives in the process. For him, he didn''t know if the monsters of such level would be easy to kill for him or not, so he hurriedly opened the vige monster page, and there he found detailed description about monsters, and he instantly jumped over level fifteen monsters'' info. The numbers there weren''t that scary, as the Hp of the level fifteen monsters didn''t exceed four thousand and five hundred points. The issue was rted to the level suppression he would be facing here! Five level difference would make his attacks weaker, while the attacks of these monsters stronger! Another thing he had to deal with was the special ability that each monster would have in this level. This special ability was simr to the abilities used by boss monsters at the starting point dungeons. That meant he would have to deal with monsters with much suppression and many AOE skills. He sighed, as thest option he would have was the unified leveling grounds. These weremon leveling grounds with normal monster rules, which was essed by dozens of viges at the same time. It was like the starting point, but on arger scale and much stronger monsters and dungeons. The problem here was that the ticket to such grounds was ten gold coins for going there, and another ten toe back. However, the most disturbing rule was the obligation to wait there for the whole day before being able to return to the vige again. As such, he couldn''t level up using such a way, despite being the safest for him. These grounds were considered restricted areas, only for those rich yers and guilds, as they had to pay ten gold coins fees to go ande back, plus the regr fee of daily presence there which was one gold coin. "So all I could do is to level up in the wilderness here, I need to go on a shopping spree then," he muttered to himself as if he would go there, he must buy what hecked. He had only few gears in low levels, and thus he needed either to rece them, or to buy materials enough to level them up. He already had many materials, but he knew this wasn''t enough. He needed to push the gears past level ten at least to make up for his low level. He also needed to buy potions, lots of potions, so he would be safe while leveling. Chapter 67: Going to the Potion Shop Chapter 67: Going to the Potion Shop Bloom then started to head away from the main square, targeting a certain location in the vige. He had opened his manual and searched for two types of buildings there, the auction house, and the potion shop. He had many materials in his possession so far, however he needed much more to level up his gears. He also wanted to buy some other gear to supplement his needs. The auction house was the perfect ce to do that, especially since he already had four unneeded gears, one level three sword, and three level five gold grade cape, boots, and chest te he had acquired from the treasure chest from before. So, he decided to sell them all, take their money and use them to buy a couple of level ten gears. He had his twin swords, but they were indispensable! He had already merged skills with one of them, and the other still helped him a lot by the dash skill. He might ditch that if he found a nice level ten gold grade sword, but he doubted he could afford it at the moment. He still needed a lot of potions to be secured in the leveling up at the wilderness outside. The auction house was stationed in another square in the vige, and luckily enough, the potion shop was just near it. The moment he reached the square, he spotted the auction house easily from far. It was a huge rounded building, that could amodate thousands of yers at the same time. It was only three level stories building currently, butpared to other buildings here, it was really magnanimous. He just went towards it, without thinking much, ascended the short stairs and entered there. the moment he entered, a screen popped up instantly in front of him, with the auction interface weing his presence. He didn''t hurry to examine things sold here, as he went to one of the many seats organized in long rows here, like a church, and sat upon one of them. "Let''s see, everything is organized ording to the type, price, and the time left to buy. Let''s see gears first." He selected gears, and from the menu there he filtered the search more to show up swords, and then added more details, the level should be ten, and the grade should be gold. A short list of swords, not exceeding five, appeared instantly in front of his eyes. When he just nced at the price needed for each of them, he got a scare! "One thousand gold coins to the cheapest one? And it only has one skill? that''s a daylight steal!!" He angrily closed this page, as he returned back to the main interface of the auction. Items sold here were all NPC manufactured, and as there was nopetition from yers yet, the prices were sky high! "Try to get this sword when the mainstream yers reach twenty, if they give it to me with one gold coin I won''t buy it!" he was still angry as he kept mumbling about the extravagant price of these swords. The next moment he input the materials to look for some to buy, however he was shocked to find none! There was no single piece of material being sold in the auction currently. "Curse it! materials are only supplied by yers? that''s a shame to the reputation of such a house!" He became angrier, and to cool off, he decided to sell all his four pieces of gears and then leave towards the potion house. After selling them here and buying what he needed from the shop, he would return again to look for more gears to buy. He hurriedly selected his four items from his inventory, and then went to the outside without giving a single nce back. The potion shop was just across the street, so he reached there in no time. The shop was simple, only two stories tall, and around three small buildings stuffed together. He sighed, as this ce wouldn''t be ever a very prosperous ce, given that many yers would start learning their lifestyle skills like forging and alchemy. Thus this shop was doomed to be vacant, and that was good news for him, as that meant things inside would be much cheaper, and wouldn''t skyrocket like the gears for example. When he entered there, he found the main NPC assigned to sell here. the moment he saw him, he instantly was jolted awake, before muttering: "yers came already to the vige, that''s good news." Bloom suddenly felt bad from this unintentionalment from this NPC. "How can I help you today, sir?" the NPC asked, "Looking for a certain kind of potion?" he added, with a smug smile over his face that made Bloom more worried. "Sure, I want stamina potions, Hp potions, Wp potions please." He selected the main three potions he was in need for. Currently his new skill required much use of his will power points, and thus he needed to replenish them, as after all they were expendable. As he remembered, the shade son faction would consume tenth of their will power points with each skill used, so he needed to replenish his usage, especially when he had a special, very advanced type of skill. As for his skill exact usage, he needed to put that in test at the field first before being sure of its effects. "Sure, do you need the vige basic potions, vige intermediate potions, vige advanced potions, or vige special potions?" the NPC asked, like a sly fox speaking to him. "What''s the difference?" Bloom asked. "The vige basic will replenish twenty percent of any stat given in five seconds. The vige intermediate will give you forty percent of any stat given in five seconds. The vige advanced will give you sixty percent of any stat given in five seconds. The vige special will give you eighty percent of any stat given in five seconds." "And the price?" "Vige basic is sold one gold coin per bottle, vige intermediate is sold ten gold coins per bottle, vige advanced is sold fifty gold coins per bottle, while vige special is sold one hundred coins per bottle." Chapter 68: Grode Chest Plate Cursed Gear Chapter 68: Grode Chest te Cursed Gear Bloom just sucked a cold breath of air at this moment. He knew the huge difference in replenishing twenty percent and eighty percent with one gulp in any fight; it was like the difference between life and death. He checked his own gold coins, and he found it wasn''t sufficient to sustain buying many potions of the high caliber. "Ok, give ten vige intermediate potions of Hp and Stamina, plus three of the will power potions." "At once, sir," the NPC then leaned under his counter, and then straightened up himself while the potions Bloom asked for were all present in front of him. "Here they are, the total price is two hundred and thirty gold coins." Bloom took out the amount needed, before feeling some loss of paying such a huge price for just mere twenty three potions. ''I need to learn alchemy and save money, that NPC is really cunning and greedy,'' he thought to himself, while taking the potions into his inventory, then leaving the shop. "Have a good day, sir," the NPC shouted in an excited tone in his voice that made Bloom much angrier, ''I should find a way and steal this shop,'' he muttered, as he went again towards the auction house across the street. Bloom didn''tst for long inside the potion house, so when he crossed the street again, he had no hope for his gears to be sold. However when he just passed the doors of the auction house, he received a series notification of selling his gears. "System alert: the gear you put on auction was sold at five gold coins. The coins are automatically added to your ount." "System alert: the gear you put on auction was sold at one hundred gold coins. The coins are automatically added to your ount." "System alert: the gear you put on auction was sold at one hundred gold coins. The coins are automatically added to your ount." "System alert: the gear you put on auction was sold at one hundred gold coins. The coins are automatically added to your ount." He checked the alerts with no reference to what was sold with what, however he realized that his level three sword was sold for five gold coins only. "A fair price," he muttered when ncing at the prices for level five gold grade gears. He was sure when yers started flooding the viges, these prices would be long gone, and he might sell level five gold rank gear for ten gold coins at most. "Sigh, it''s trade, always fluctuating, always unpredictable," he sighed while going to his seat again, opening the interface search, and then started to think. "My main problem would be in the defensive gears, as my defense state is really poor." He started looking for the mostmon type of gears he could use to boost his defense; chest tes. He didn''t set the search requirements for high this time, starting from level ten green grade first. A short list, slightly longer than that five swords list he had seen before, appeared in front of his eyes. He rapidly nced at the items, focusing on their prices and the main stat addition plus defensive skill. "Sigh, the cheaper, the weaker," he was upset because what he saw there didn''t suit his taste. He cancelled the search and restarted another one, while making the grade silver rank. This time the list only had fifteen chest tes for the weapon wilder faction. As he just started to nce at them, he was instantly interested in one of them. "Grode chest te: Weapon wilders only. grade silver. No level required. A cursed chest te, cursed by the shrines. No one allying to any shrine can wear it. The chest te is cursed, so its stats are reduced and its grade is demolished. Current grade stats: Res +20." He was attracted to this chest te due to its unique description. "I never thought to find cursed gears by shrines, never thought gears could be cursed by shrines!" The current stats didn''t interest him, or even make him worry for a single second. He was cursed, he was there at the ce of this chest te, and he understood how mighty and effective these shrine curses were on his stats! His stats were cursed by the shrine of death and life elders at the same time, and he only stayed with the basic ten percent of his original stats! "If this chest te is like me, then I have found a gem!" he muttered, before he hurriedly saw the price. "Wow, only ten gold coins only? that''s superb!" Without any second thoughts, he hurriedly bought the chest te. The auction ended in less than one minute after cing the bid, as this was the rule set by the owner of it. "System alert: the auction of the gear you took part in ended, and you got the gear. The gear is automatically transferred into your inventory." "Let''s see what you are made of," Bloom was curious to see if the chest te had any change after buying it. He took out the chest te, and it wasn''t heavy at all. It was a thin piece of curved te, engraved with many small writings that he didn''t recognize. "Enchanted, huh, he muttered, as he started to investigate the data of this silver colored chest te. "Grode chest te: Weapon wilders only. grade silver. No level required. A cursed chest te, cursed by the shrines. No one allying to any shrine can wear it. The chest te is cursed, so its stats are reduced and its grade is demolished. Current grade stats: Res +20. The yer needs to equip it so more info will prevail." "Huh?!" Bloom didn''t know why this seemed quite suspicious, but he had nothing to lose. What would go bad then? Be more cursed? So he hurriedly equipped it, and it perfectly appeared on his chest. The next moment, a system notification popped up. "System alert: yer has equipped a cured gear. yer is already an enemy to one shrine at least. yer is already cursed by one shrine at least. yer can equip the gear and the gear is bound under his character. For more info, please return to the gear info page." Chapter 69: Removing One Layer of the Curse Successfully Chapter 69: Removing One Layer of the Curse Sessfully Bloom just shrugged his shoulders with no care. "I said I was cursed, so just disy the info for me now," he muttered as he investigated the gear he was wearing. And what he just saw greatly surprised him. "Grode chest te: Weapon wilders only. Part of the Grode gear set. Grade silver ''Locked and cursed''. No level required. A cursed chest te, cursed by the shrines. Bound to yer Bloom only. Can''t be dropped, can''t be traded. No one allying to any shrine can wear it. The chest te is cursed, so its stats are reduced and its grade is demolished. The chest te is locked currently under the requirement of its previous owner. To unlock the chest te lock yer needs to have two curses from the shrines at least. To relieve the tenyered curse; yer has to get the curses of all of them, plus donating a certain amount of curse coins determined by the shrine that cursed the yer. yer had a death shrine curse and a life shrine curse. yer can choose to use both of the curses to unlock twoyers of the curse, or he can choose one shrine only. Current grade stats: Res +20." Bloom read the description of the gear, added to it the new points regarding more details about the curse. "That''s amazing, so this gear here is cursed and locked! Both!!" he was inwardly amazed by this fact, especially the number of curses exerted upon this gear. "So I can choose either death shrine and life shrine, for sure I will go with the death shrine curse," he muttered as he noticed the presence of two options at the bottom of the gear description; unlock and unseal. "Let''s unlock it first," he said, as he chose the unlock option, to receive a system notification instantly. "System alert: yer chose to unlock the Gored gear lock. yer has the curses of two shrines already, so the yer is eligible to unlock it. unlock time needs twenty four hours to finish." At once a small digital clock appeared in the gear page, and the counter started from twenty four plus four zeros, then the counter started to descend. "Twenty four hours, sigh, I couldn''t use it then to face the merchant caravans," he shook his head in regret, before choosing the unseal option. And a series of system notifications just kicked in. "System alert: yer chose to unseal the Gored gear seal. The seal is made of tenyers, eachyer can be unlocked at ten level intervals. yer must have at least one shrine curse to unlock the seal." "System alert: yer has two shrine curses, death shrine curse and life shrine curse. Which curse does the yer intend to use? Please note that you can use only one curse at a time to unlock the seal." Bloom didn''t dy as he instantly replied: "I choose the death shrine curse." "System alert: yer is at level ten. The death shrine curse is used to unlock the level tenyer of the seal. yer needs to pay one hundred death souls to unlock the seal. Does the yer want to pay them now?" Bloom suddenly understood the meaning behind the description of the gear seal. Any shrine he would select he would have to pay its corresponding currency. "I''m lucky then I have stored over six hundred death souls beforeing here," he smirked evilly as he hurriedly replied: "Yes, pay them now." "System alert: one hundred death souls have been consumed by the gear. To unlock other shrine curses, please select the unseal choice again." Bloom hurriedly nced at the info page of the chest te opened in front of him, and the description there got a great change indeed. "Interesting, hahaha," heughed in the middle of this empty hall, as he already had gotten something nice, very nice indeed. "Grode chest te: Weapon wilders only. Part of the Grode gear set. Grade silver ''Locked and cursed''. Current status: Unlocking is in progress. The shrine of the death seal is removed at level ten currently. Level: level ten gear. Level ten is required to equip it. A cursed chest te, cursed by the shrines. Bound to yer Bloom only. Can''t be dropped, can''t be traded. No one allying to any shrine can wear it. The chest te is cursed, so its stats are reduced and its grade is demolished. To relieve the nineyered curse; yer has to get the curses of all of them, plus donating a certain amount of curse coins determined by the shrine that cursed the yer. To unlock the level twenty death shrine curse, the yer needs to pay five hundred death souls. yer had a death shrine curse and a life shrine curse. yer can choose to use both of the curses to unlock twoyers of the curse, or he can choose one shrine only. Current grade stats: Res +300, Vit +500, Str +300, Lu +300. Level difference +3 Current skills: Darkness rebound skill, darkness absorption skill, darkness might skill, darkness nihility skill. Darkness rebound skill: Any attack fell on the yer during the time of the skill will be instantly rebound, dealing half damage caused by the skill to the target, and the yer will only receive the other half. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: one minute. Darkness absorption skill: Any attack that falls on the yer during the time of the skill will be instantly absorbed, stored for use by the yer for one day. yer will receive half of the damage caused by the skill. yer can store up to three attacks per day. Duration: twenty seconds. Cooldown: one minute. Darkness might skill: Any monster attacking the yer during the time of the skill will get a fear effect no matter what level or grade it was for thirty seconds. Monsters affected will run havoc, evading the yer with their attack, and might cause some damage to others during these thirty seconds. yer attacks during the thirty second period are valid, while monster attacks against yer aren''t. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: one minute. Darkness nihility skill: yer will be invisible for the duration of the skill. a yer can attack freely without being seen, and if the yer receives an attack, he will only take one tenth of the damage caused by these attacks. Duration: one minute. Cooldown: two minutes." Chapter 70: A Tattoo Special Gear Chapter 70: A Tattoo Special Gear Bloom read this detailed, really revolutionized version of his new gear andughed for long minutes. He had already gained a great gear that would be the base of his attacks and the fort for his defense. "I don''t know if other cursed gears are out there for sale," he opened the search again and tried to type the word ''Cursed'' in there, but he got nothing back. He then typed the name ''Grode'' and got nothing as well. "Sigh, it seems it was just a fluke of luck here," he sighed, before giving up looking for cursed gears, before looking for another important thing for him. A good concealment cape! Everything he would do in all his quests was rted to be unseen or not to be recognized or caught. So, he decided to use the great weapon of a concealment cape, one that could seal up his data from the eyes of others. However, all the things he found weren''t suited to his goal! All were only affecting those at the same level as him, making him sigh in regret. Just as he was about to close the search, he decided to search for any gear that could affect any investigation skill. and suddenly he found one! A very strange gear to do that! "Concealment glove: Level ten glove. Grade silver glove. No faction restriction. Stats: Phy +100. Skills: Concealment skill: passive skill. makes the yer unread to any investigation skill used by yers. Special concealment skill: Active skill. makes the yer unread to any investigation skill used by NPCs. Duration: one minute. Cooldown: five minutes. yer can spend gold coins to extend the duration and reduce the cooldown of the skill, each ten gold coins spent will increase the duration for one minute, and reduce the cooldown by two minutes." Bloom hurriedly checked the price of this glove, and was astonished to find it sold at three hundred gold coins! "That''s a steal, dam* you who sold this glove!" he, unwillingly, spent three hundred gold coins to buy this glove. The moment he acquired it, he hurriedly wore it while his mind did the math. "So all I need is to spend thirty gold coins, making the gear run automatically for a five minutes period. That''s just a bottomless abyss of gold consumption, sigh," he sighed, marveling the greedy system of this game! However, he was still inwardly happy about getting it. This concealment skill was really worth the pay, and it would really solve a lot of problems in the future. "I should also look for something to change my face, it''s the only thing that I can be identified with, though," he thought for a while before deciding to look for something like that. He started looking for masks, but he got nothing, then he looked for a ring or a cape to change his looks, but also found none. Finally he started to blindly search about anything to change his features, and what he found made him quite speechless! It was a much weirder gear that he never thought to ever have! "Lizard tattoo: Special type gear, made by master Overt by mistake. Grade white. No level required. No faction required. Permanently bound to the yer, can''t be dropped, can''t be removed, can''t be traded. No stat addition. Skills: Disguise skill: yer can select to change his shape, either randomly or by the select the specified criteria. Can change gender with double cooldown time. a yer''s disguise can''t be detected by anyone or anything. Duration: until the yer reverses it. Cooldown time: one day. yer can pay gold coins to reduce the duration of the cooldown by spending ten gold coins for one hour." "What a weird gear!" he only muttered that, while he checked on its price. "Fifty gold coins for a white tiered gear? That''s really unbelievable!" he ranted, trying to vent his anger from this extravagant price. Despite that, he looked for other things there, but nothing satisfied his needs. "Sigh, no option then except to buy it," he ced his bid, and he had to wait for another ten minutes before getting it. during these minutes, he thought about the cunning dark mind of the developers of this game! just like that, he would have to spend two hundred and forty gold coins to return his shape to the original! "And who would be sick to change his genre? That''s unbelievable!" he just vented his anger during his waiting by starting to level up his two swords. He had already upgraded them to level one, and he stopped back there due to theck of materials. However, currently he wasn''t short on materials at all, and instead of using redundant low level materials, he decided to try the SS materials he had. He took out one of his two swords, opened its info page, before choosing to upgrade it. "System alert: Does yer want to upgrade the sword? Please select from your inventory the materials needed for upgrade." "I selected one SS level five material," he casually replied, and then the system notification came to make him surprised. "System alert: the material required is far higher than the requirements to upgrade the gear one level. If a yer permits, the system will use the material and level the gear for ten levels. Does the yer permit?" "Wow, never thought I would get such a reply, sure I permit," he loudly chuckled before replying to the system question. "System alert: the sword has been upgraded sessfully. yer can view the stats in the sword info page." Bloom didn''t dy and opened the page of his sword. He knew each level gained would raise around twenty percent of the stats of his gear, so ten levels increase would grant him two hundred stat additions. "Twin shrine of death sword: Level eleven sword. Grade: gold. Bound to yer Bloom, can''t be traded, can''t be dropped. Str+ one four hundred. Vit+ four hundred. Has a knock down effect with certain probability to ur. Phy +two hundred percent. Death drop convert skill: Passive skill. the sword will store tiny portions of any killed souls under it, be it yers, monsters, creatures, beings, or NPCs. Each one thousand absorbed fractions would gather to form one death drop. Death drops can''t be used except by the sword to cause a single explosive attack with one thousand percent increase in damage caused by any yer skills for each drop. Death drops can be stored forever. Dash skill: Movable skill. Chain skill. increases Atp by four hundred percent, with stun effect when hitting the target from the dash for ten seconds, decreased or increased one second for each level difference with the yer. Cooldown: fifteen seconds." Chapter 71: Upgrading His Gears Chapter 71: Upgrading His Gears "Wow, it really got massive improvement!" he cheered for these changes, as he expected less stat addition to the sword. In addition to that, the new death drop convert skill really attracted his attention, as he would be able to use it as his killing move against hard to deal with bosses. "Let''s see if I can push it much further," he muttered as he selected the upgrade choice in his sword information window, but the system alert came to disappoint him. "System alert: yer needs to first raise his level beyond his current one before upgrading the sword again." "Sigh, it seems everything is bound to my level then," he shook his head, as he put away his first sword, before taking the second one out. As before, he did the same and leveled up this sword using one SS ranked level five material. The increase in the second sword was identical to the first one, and that meant he now had two death drop convert skills under his hand; two ultimate attacks to use at time of distress. "Killing one thousand monsters seems like an easy feat to pull off if I have enough yers in my team, but currently I''m all alone, so" he regretfully put his sword back, before looking forward to the remaining time to get his tattoo special gear. There were still a few minutes left, and so he decided to go to upgrade his glove next. "System alert: Does yer want to upgrade the glove? Please select from your inventory the materials needed for upgrade." He selected the SS ranked level five material per usual, and after upgrading it to reach rank ten, he hurriedly opened its page to check it out. "Concealment glove: Level ten glove. Grade silver glove. Rank: ten. No faction restriction. Stats: Phy +500. Str +200. Vit +300. Skills: Concealment skill: passive skill. makes the yer unread to any investigation skill used by yers. Sent to fly skill: Passive skill. any monster or yer with levels lower than, or equal the yer''s level will be sent to the air couple of meters with each strike of the weapon used when wearing the glove. Works only for the weapon wielder faction and the current yer hidden ss perfectly. For higher level monsters and yer, the effect frequency will decrease with each level difference. Special concealment skill: Active skill. makes the yer unread to any investigation skill used by NPCs. Duration: one minute. Cooldown: five minutes. yer can spend gold coins to extend the duration and reduce the cooldown of the skill, each ten gold coins spent will increase the duration for one minute, and reduce the cooldown by two minutes. Pause skill: Active skill. yer can point his hand wearing the glove towards the iing enemy, and if the enemy is looking at him, the enemy will pause momentarily from attacking or moving. Duration: one second. Cooldown: three seconds." Bloom smiled when he checked that, as he now had two more skills added to his arsenal. "Indeed, this game encourages upgrading gears more than acquiring new ones," he muttered, before closing up the window of the glove and opened the next gear info page. It was one of the three Sherin sets he had, and currently he had a much better chest te than that of Sherin. He decided to stop using that chest te of the set, and raise the rank of the other two instead. As they were red grade gears, and level five as well, raising the two ranks took five SS rank level five materials each, but the gains were really worthy. "Sherin Cape: One of the Sherin sets. Level zero cape, red grade. Rank: eleven. Requirements: level five and yer Bloom. Str +two hundred and fifty. Vit +two hundred and fifty. Lu +two hundred and fifty. Phy + two hundred and fifty percent. Skills: Cloud of fog skill: In the middle of a movable skill, the course of the skill can be changed ording to yer''s will for five times, with each time causing three hundred percent effect of the first skill. cooldown: ten seconds. Fog of gravity skill: Passive and active skill. The passive form will make the yer''s surrounding terrain be always restless to his enemies. gravity slightly increases around the yer, making moving around him quite heavy and hard. Current radius: fifty meters. Active form: fog dissipates from the yer, in the same area covered by the current gravity skill, making anything or anyone around the yer unable to move for one second. Duration: one second per target, one minute total duration. Cooldown: ten minutes." "Sherin Boots: One of the Sherin sets. Level zero boots, red grade. Rank: eleven. Requirements: level five and yer Bloom. Res +three hundred. Vit +two hundred . Skills: Shadow steps skill: yer can move for twenty seconds without causing any sound, or can be seen. If a yer was attacked or he attacked, the skill would be rendered ineffective. Speed increases by four folds during the effect of this skill. Cooldown: ten seconds after the end of the effect of the skill. Swift kick: Active skill. Chain skill. In the midst of any skill mobility, the yer can turn around andunch a kick that will knock the target back for five meters without affecting the original move or interrupt his skill. duration: one kick only per boot. cooldown: three seconds." Bloom nced at his new two gears, and resisted the urge to upgrade the chest te. He had no use for that now, and if not for the binding of the gear to him, he would have sold it the moment he acquired the Grode chest te. He closed the two windows and now shifted his attention to upgrade his trump card, the Grode chest te. However, when he opened its own info page, he found no upgrade button anywhere there! "Absurd, how can there be an equipment without an upgrade option?" he thought to himself, while checking again, but found none. Unwillingly he closed the window, and finally time was up for his auction to finish. As he was the sole yer here, no other bids were reced, and he secured the tattoo gear without any suspense or surprises. "System alert: the auction of the gear you took part in ended, and you got the gear. The gear is automatically transferred into your inventory." He opened his inventory with a big smile over his face, and there he found a hexagonal ore resembling a token engraved with a life-like lizard that had its skin color change all the time! Chapter 72: The Inverted Lu Stat Chapter 72: The Inverted Lu Stat "I should upgrade it first before using, who knows if I can upgrade it after that or not," he muttered to himself, while opening the info page of the gear, selecting to upgrade it. "System alert: Does yer want to upgrade the tattoo gear? Please select from your inventory the materials needed for upgrade." As usual, he selected SS ranked level five material, and this time he was astonished to see it was only upgraded by one rank only, with a minimal difference on the main gear. "Hmm, so every ten ranks the gear will go into a major change, huh?" he muttered, before hurriedly selecting twenty materials at once for the next upgrade. "System alert: yer can only use ten more materials at most. To increase the rank further, please upgrade the yer''s level." He sighed, as he felt how special this gear was. He chose ten materials only, and then the tattoo got upgraded. "Lizard tattoo: Special type gear, made by master Overt by mistake. Grade white. Rank eleven. No level required. No faction required. Permanently bound to the yer, can''t be dropped, can''t be removed, can''t be traded. Inverted Lu stat: yer''s inverted Lu stat will enable yer to detect yers using Lu stat in the surrounding vicinity of his. Current inverted Lu stat = current Lu stat* ten. The inverted Lu stat value must be higher than yers, monsters, or NPCs using the Lu stat around yer. Area of detection= inverted Lu stat* ten in meters. yers detected by the inverted Lu stat will have a red halo around their bodies even if they used a stealth skill. Skills: Disguise skill: yer can select to change his shape, either randomly or by the select the specified criteria. Can change gender with double cooldown time. a yer''s disguise can''t be detected by anyone or anything. Duration: until the yer reverses it. Cooldown time: twelve hours. yer can pay gold coins to reduce the duration of the cooldown by spending ten gold coins for one hour. Appeal skill: Active skill. yer can use the skill to make his next words believable over yers, monsters, and NPCs seeing him. area of effect= area of inverted Lu stat effect. Duration: one phrase. Cooldown: one hour." "Wow, this inverted Lu stat is really OP!" he eximed out in shock, while reading the description again. He never heard of any inverted stat before, and meeting such a new term now made him wonder if any other state had such an inverted one as well! It was a regret that Lu stat was currently one of his lowest stats, despite transforming to be one of the most essential stat of his! "I must ce all the points gained from the life shrine curse into this stat," he nodded his head while moving outside the hall. "System alert: Does the yer want to wield the gear? Take note: this is a special kind of gear, and the yer has to choose a ce for the tattoo to appear on this part." Bloom had taken out the hexagonal piece of this gear, and the moment he did he received this system notification. He didn''t think much, as he muttered: "I choose my back." "System alert: yer has chosen his back for the gear tattoo to be presented there. The gear effect will be effective immediately." The moment the system alert finished, that token turned into smoke and seeped into his back. He felt a strange sting feeling there, with the urge to rub his back, as he did with both his hands. He felt something there, but he couldn''t see it. "Sigh, I should have chosen somewhere else I can see," he muttered, while exiting the gates of this auction house finally. The moment he went outside, he recalled he had no return ticket to the vige, so he had to return again to that NPC who sold him the manual. He bought ten return tickets to the vige, spending ten gold coins there; a fair price indeed. He didn''t dy anymore as he headed directly towards the vige gate. The streets of this vige were currently empty except for rare walking NPCs here and there. Bloom knew he had to finish his quest first, before returning here to spend his hard earned money. As far as he knew he could acquire more skills here, or even upgrade his own skills. All was rted to money, if he was rich he could be king, if he was poor he would stay a peasant! This game encouraged yers to spend gold coins, and drive them to spend their real money to get more gold coins. "Just typical of any game, sigh," he sighed, as despite being now a rich kid, the mere thought of going to the real world and ask for money still troubled him. he didn''t know what to do or how to behave out there, and he just hoped he never would need to do such a thing here. Besides, he came here to wreck the game, not to spend his own money on it to make the game owners and developers richer! "Let''s go and level up then before stealing the game''s money," he evilly smirked before stepping outside for the first time. The area outside the vige gates was an open space world, where on the stretch of the eyes, many monsters were there. "Let''s open the manual again," he muttered, as he didn''t read the manual in detail regarding monsters here. He hurriedly opened the manual, where it had some viable info regarding monsters here. As he walked, he could make sure of the monsters mentioned in the manual, with the presence of many monsters he saw before and fought against at the starting point grounds. And the most important rule here was the passive nature of these monsters! As he read for a couple of minutes, he lost all the interest in here, so he started checking the most important manual of monsters inside the wilderness. Chapter 73: Making Preparations for Leveling up Chapter 73: Making Preparations for Leveling up The most prominent and first of all rules there was the active rule! These monsters wouldn''t be docile, standing silent while yers chat among themselves beside them, instead they would seek to attack you actively. As he read more, he realized the active nature of monsters wasn''t one, as monsters were arranged in circryers, the first would be the hearing stimulus, as any sound caused by yers, even during walking. So yers should be extra careful when walking around these monsters, as they had very great hearing. The second zone would be sight, as any yer approaching the sight range of any monster would be instantly attacked by it. The third zone would be the territory rule, where each group of monsters would have a higher rank monster in between them, ruling over an area ofnd. Trespassing there would irritate these monsters, making them all start attacking yers. The fourth zone would be the smell, as monsters would have great smell abilities. The previous three zones could be countered with the presence of any shade son yers, but the fourth zone even shade sons would be smelled and detected, instigating the wrath of monsters. Bloom read many data rted to each monster type and range of its detection nature. After he read for a few times, he sighed, as this ground wasn''t meant for single yers to advance at. yers needed to be in teams, and the most important yers there would be the shade sons and the levelers! "It''s nice that I have some skills to help me evade thoserge numbers and try to select fewer numbers groups," he sighed, as from what he just read, the first areas to venture into would be littered with big numbers of monsters, arranging in groups of hundred or more! This wasn''t themon rule, as themon number of monsters in any group ranged between ten and fifty monsters. Even five monsters in one group were also seen there. He needed to pass his way through the first group of monsters lining the beginning of these grounds. He closed everything and started checking all his skills, either from his ss or his gears. "Let''s see, hmm I can use the darkness nihility skill of the Grode chest te, also the shadow steps skill of Sherin boots can also work. The first grants me one minute of stealth effect and the other gives me twenty seconds of stealth, with the twobined I could march for one and third minute duration, that might work." He started to calcte, as the darkness nihility skill had a cooldown of two minutes, while shadow steps skill needed ten seconds to be used again. So, to be safe, he would use the shadow steps first, then as the skill finished, he would link it with darkness nihility skill, then he would use the shadow steps again. Like this, he would have one minute and two thirds of a minute stealth time, enough to bypass anyrge group of monsters. As for after using the second shadow steps, he would have to wait for ten seconds before using it again, or wait for roughly two more minutes to use thebined skill set he just created. "These two minutes would be challenging, so I have to select a fine ce, safe from any monster groups to stay at. If not, then I have to arrange some of my defensive skills too," he muttered, as he rechecked his skills again, looking for any that would help get out of trouble. His best skill, the one he was very familiar with, was the dash skill. however this skill would only make him evade the iing attacks, changing his location forcibly, and wouldn''t be enough to buy him ten seconds at least to be able to use the shadow steps skills again. "It''s quite troublesome," he muttered, before shaking off these negative thoughts off his mind, as he checked again the skills while muttering, "I need to find more defensive skills. Let''s see, this darkness rebound seemed quite useful." He started to check it and he found it nice to defend, despite he would also receive damage in the process. "Ten seconds are enough for the shadow steps to be activated, but would I be able tost these ten seconds then?" He didn''t have confidence in that, as monsters he would face wouldn''t only be five levels higher, but they would be supported by gears as well, making their stats higher, and their damage quite painful even if it was halved. "Darkness might be such a nice skill, I can use it to make monsters get away from me for thirty seconds. I could run away to a safe ce, or even use the shadow steps by then," he muttered, while he finally found his desired skill. "Pause skill might work in desperate moments, if used properly it might be a lifesaver for me," he said as he continued checking the least of his skills. this skill belonged to his glove gear, something he acquired after leveling it up. "If I have enough death drops, I could use them to kill any monster I targeted, but to acquire even single one of them, I needed to kill a thousand monsters, hard, can''t be done now, or even in the near future," he shook his head in regret, as he closed the page of his swords and opened the other gears to check. What caught his attention was the appeal skill, as it could be used upon monsters as well. "If I told them that I was their friend, would they believe me?" he muttered, but he didn''t want to risk trying this for now. if it failed, then his level wouldn''t support him to fight these monsters head on. "Let''s postpone testing this skill forter then," he closed the page of his tattoo gear, while checking the two Sherin''s gears. The fog of gravity was like the pause skill of the glove, it could stop monsters from moving for one second. "Another life saving skill, nice," hemended the skill, before finally closing all the windows he had, and started thinking deeply for some moments. Chapter 74: Passing the Dangerous Zone Chapter 74: Passing the Dangerous Zone "So, my base defensive skill will be the darkness might skill, with pause skill and the fog of gravity skill being my life saving skill. as for dash, it might help at some crucial times, but I wouldn''t use it much for now." He had finally found his own defensive set, making him quite happy. As for his offensive, he wouldn''t change much for now, not until he got one level up at the least, and started using his OP doppelganger skill. "I need points to put inside Lu stat fast, so I can really use this skill," he sighed while checking the details of this skill again, feeling how lucky to unlock such an advanced one in such a lower level. It took him two hours to pass the useless monsters, and reach to the real deal. When he arrived at the border, he noticed the presence of a thin, very long line of trees, separating the basic leveling grounds from the wilderness. "It must be for protecting ignorant yers from stepping by mistake into the far dangerous grounds," he muttered as he entered the tree line. The trees weren''t that tall, or thick, but he noticed they had a sign saying: Alter Vige Wilderness leveling grounds, over many trees already! "Sigh, no confidence in yers at all!" Hemented, while passing the thin line made of five trees nted one after another. He stood at thest tree, while observing the open world in front of him. "All these monsters, that''s quite challenging!" Huge number of monsters were in front of him, moving inrge groups of a hundred or even more. What caught his attention wasn''t their numbers, or their diversity, but their movement; they were moving randomly, like zombies in a very deste city! A single sound or move and all of these would jump over him like kids jumping on candies! "I have to find a suitable ce to prate them, not from here for sure," he said as he started to move along the tree line, ncing over the monsters, looking for any ce suitable for him to enter. One single mistake, and he would be doomed! The monsters extended to the horizon, which made him unable to step in along his long march that took another hour for him toplete it, finally finding somewhere safe to start from. This area was just like each other, but at the distance he spotted a small hill, where monsters evaded it while moving in groups. "I should be able to reach there in time, rest, let my skills reset, and then start dashing out again," he muttered, as that distant hill was at the horizon, taking the size of five hundred meters at least. He didn''t dy anymore, as he muttered: "Shadow steps skill." The next moment, his body got a strange semi-transparent color. He didn''t dare to waste time observing his skill, as he started running with his utmost speed. The monsters weren''t rmed by him, but this skill was different from the stealth skills, as he could be spotted if he hit any monster in his path, so he had to evade monsters along the way, trying as much as possible to stay away, and find a ce safe for him to appear at. "Seven, six, five," he kept counting down to himself, while trying to find that secured ce; however he didn''t! when he reached down to two, he had to select the second best choice he had, to appear in between two groups of monsters, not in one group. "Zero!" The moment his skill ended, he suddenly appeared between tworge groups of monsters. The moment he did, every single monster around him stopped what they were doing, and in unison all stared at his direction! "Scary! Darkness nihility skill!" He muttered at once, not daring to take the risk here. as he activated the skill, everything around him turned into grey color, something simr to what happened to him when he died and had that reviving token. "Let''s go, my hill, I''ming!" He moved at once without any dy, while the monsters around him were in daze for a moment, before returning to their innate state again. The hill seemed that near, but it took him one minute to just be on its outer edge. Before waiting for the skill to vanish and his body to appear, he used one of his attack skills without thinking. "Dash piercer skill!" He aimed his sword towards the hill, targeting one of the rocks scattered there. his body jumped three meters in the air, crossing the remaining distance to the hill, before his body appeared midair, but he was now safe. "Oh, this was pretty close!" he sighed before he sheathed his sword, and then took a moment to catch his racing breaths. During this time, he was really stressed by this dash, and now he had the time to have some rest. "Let''s see what lies beyond this," after he rested for a minute, he started climbing the hill, and when he reached the top of this short hill, he was amazed to find an ore there. "Tsk, it''s a waste as I don''t have any mining skill," he shook his head in regret, while looking away from this fine ore, trying to forget everything about it, while ncing at the distance. What he was roughly a simr scene to what he just passed through, however the good news was that after the distance equal to what he just crossed, the density of the monsters got remarkably decreased. "Finally, this area can''t be crossed by one yer at all," he then checked his skills cooldown time, and decided to depend on the darkness nihility skill alone. After all that shadow steps proved to be unworthy to depend on his life. "Let''s go, darkness nihility skill." He descended the hill before using this skill and started running towards the front. During his run, he kept following his timer, while keeping another eye for his destination. When he had less than ten seconds left, he managed to finally cross the dense area of monsters, and a really spacious region appeared in front of him. "Finally back to normal leveling," he muttered, while selecting a ce to stop at, waiting for his skill to end, while taking his breaths. The first thing he did was to make sure he wasn''t detected after the end of the skill, and he was safe. He then checked his stamina, and there was over half of it not used yet. "Let''s kill some monsters then," he unsheathed his two swords, while selecting a small group of five before moving carefully towards them, trying not to make a single sound during his approach. Chapter 75: First Fight Against Wilderness Monsters Chapter 75: First Fight Against Wilderness Monsters As he was heading to these monsters, he checked his character profile, feeling much confident in the high numbers he found there, mostly caused by his new upgraded and acquired gears. "Character profile: yer name: Bloom. yer faction: Weapon wielder faction. yer ss: Shadow bandit secret ss. yer level: 10. yer XP: 12k/ 150k yer Inventory: five percent full. View inventory for more details. yer Wealth: 355 gold coins. yer stats: Vitality (Vit): 1711 Strength (Str): 1246 Intelligence (Int): 1 Resilience (Res): 804 Physique (Phs): 751 Charisma (Chr): 1 Wisdom (Wis): 1 Luck (Lu): 551 Inverted Luck (Inv. Lu): 5510 Health Points (HP): 17k Attack points (Atp): 6k Magic Points (Mp): 5 Stamina (Stm): 8040 Speed (Sp): 4020 Defense (Def): 3755 Control power (Cp): 5 Gaia power (Gp): 5 Will power (Wp): 2755" "Wow, my stats really had a ground shaking change with these new gears," he muttered to himself with a shocked expression, while currently feeling much confidence in facing these monsters. "I could now use my doppelganger skill without any worry," he chuckled, as he now could summon his ten shadows without worrying about the Low Lu stat anymore! The monsters he selected were the smallest in size, but they were really huge. Each monster''s body was over five meters long, and two meters height, formed of a mixture of many other creatures, with body and legs of a giant wolf, while it had two tiger heads, a long strange tail moving with great flexibility, ending with t wing-like end, a few projections like that of octopus tentacles, while it had one horn over each head. Ferocious! What was also special about these monsters was their ability to stand on two legs like humans, moving around either on two or four. Bloom just nced at the two frontal ws, which each had three long thick fingers with sharp needle-like extensions. "Hmm, I think they will depend entirely on their swift movement, and these tentacles will be quite a problem," he muttered to himself as he was moving slowly and carefully towards them. From the general appearance of these five monsters, he realized monsters here were much different than those he fought before at the starting point leveling area. Each monster had armor, arm guards, leg guards, and two helmets. Some held swords, and some didn''t. Bloom chose a direction where only one monster stood there, looking around it like it felt his presence. "Busted Stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, slice," Bloom didn''t dy to attack first, while his barrage of old skills fell over the monster''s big body. His level was currently stagnant at level ten, while he had the Grode chest te special effect, with three level difference added to his current level, making the difference in stats only for two levels. However, the number rising from the monster head was really shocking! "500" "300" "250" "250" "250" "300" Despite their high numbers considering his past record of damage, when considering this to his high Atp reaching six thousand points currently, there was a huge difference indeed! "Never imagined these gears to be this effective, over two thousands defense alone, and Hp jumped from four thousands to over twenty! That''s really hard!" he muttered as his body was moving on the side of the monster when he felt somethinging to him from different directions at the same time! Two tentacles moved to sh with him from the side, while the tail moved to attack him from behind; with these three he was cornered with the huge body of the monster, with nowhere else to go! "Really?! Swift kick!" He wasn''t out of options, and his mind didn''t freeze with thisbined fierce retaliation of the monster, as he turned around himself at once, and gave that huge body a kick, sending it flying backwards for five meters, breaking the attack of that monster and freeing himself; temporarily of course! "I got cornered, huh!" he muttered, as during his sudden swift exchange with that monster, the other four turned to surround him. this was new experience for him in this game, as these monsters seemed not to be dumb at the previous ones he fought before; a very great difference in intelligence indeed! He didn''t dy to turn towards one of them, selected randomly, when the four monsters started to move swiftly, as two stood on their two back legs, raising their long curved, with irregr edge, in front of them, while the other two used their four legs and jumped from the ground, moving fast towards Bloom! "Oh, two tank and two DPS, interesting, shadow steps," he muttered while activating his escape skill, however he didn''t use it to escape, but to evade. Four times his initial speed made his speed outrun theirs, and he simply moved, evading the iing sharp ws, and the brutal jaws of the four heads of these two monsters, to turn around them, and finally starting his own counterattack! "Stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, breaker piercer!" He didn''t dy to use his two swords in these two seconds to attack one of the two monsters in front of him, andstly he used his defense skill, to meet the sword falling over his head, turned around, and dashed directly towards that monster, carrying it alongside him for three meters in the air! "250-250-300-500-250- 300- -3500" He took just now three thousand and five hundred damage from this single exchange. He wasn''t surprised by that, as there was already a two level difference, plus these monsters had high leveled and seemingly upgraded gears! Just as he was in the air with that monster, two shadows appeared suddenly on his side, startling him. "Pretty persistent, huh? Cloud of fog skill!" He had many movable skills right now, but his best skill to deal with this threat was this one. At once he changed the trajectory of his sword two times, each shing with each monster''s ws, sending them flying in the air three meters backward as side effects of his dash skill, with three times damage arising from the top of their heads. "900- 900" His skill was still in motion, however he didn''t n to proceed forward anymore, as he muttered: "Swift kickBreaker piercer!" He turned around himself, dealing a kick to the monster he was flying with, sending him flying for five more meters away. Three were now in front of him, while two were now trying to hurry to attack him, one from each direction. And he just linked this kick with his defensive skill, forcing his body to change route again, defending against the iing sword from the second sword monster, before dashing directly into its body, making both Bloom and it to fly away from others for three meters. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, swift kick, dash!" "300- 250- 500- 250- 300- 250- 250- 250- 250- 600" He used his two swords to their utmost speed, stabbing and slicing the body of the monster flying with him, before finally kicking it for five more meters, then using the dash skill to hit thest monster without stun effect yet, the first one he attacked and kicked! He was trying to stun everyone here, plus avoiding getting hit with their sneaky tentacles and tails! He really managed to scatter them off his shoulders, making each monster at least five meters away from each other, and around ten meters or more away from him. Ten seconds of stunning effect was now controlling all of them, and he didn''t dy to use his trump card at this precise moment! "Shadow doppelganger festival skill!" Finally his ten shadows appeared, each carrying two identical swords as him, with all the gears he was wearing, but all were in ck! "Nine minutes, I''m sure they can kill them in less than that!" He was feeling overconfident right now! as he was dashing with the fifth monster by the skill effect, he was watching what his ten doppelganger was doing! Two went to attack the same monster at the same time, while two moved hurriedly, running towards him. Those who arrived at their monsters started to use their swords to stab and move with the familiar effect of the slice skill. "125- 125- 125- 125- 125- 150- 150- 125- 125- 125" Four swords kept hacking the monster in many ces, without any fear. Bloom was feeling pleased with their actions, and then he turned to face the monster in front of him, as the dash skill effect was about to stop. "Hawk skill, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, swift kick, sky piercer." A long row of skills started to fall over this stunned monster. The first was the hawk skill, as it enabled Bloom to jump two times in a row, changing his sword trajectory, while the other sword started to hack the monster without pause! As he just stopped jumping, he used slice to move around the huge body of the monster, kicked it more to the back, before dashing towards it with a jump in the air for three meters, creating more momentum towards his attack! And his two shadows appeared and joined the fun! Chapter 76: The Shocking Monsters Ultimate Skill Chapter 76: The Shocking Monsters'' Ultimate Skill The three kept attacking with a variety of skills, while the monster, and its four other friends, were now stunned on the ground, while they were being hit. Bloom smiled, as he was now feeling great, very sure of his win, however what happened next startled him! The moment a monster''s Hp decreased more than fifty percent, the monster suddenly broke free from the stun effect, stood on its four legs, roared violently over them, before it started to run away! This simple action gave Bloom a shock, as hepletely forgot about the nature of these monsters! "Screw it, a running for life ultimate move and an ultimatum skill! killing these monsters is really such a pain, tsk," he muttered, while shaking his head in a helpless way, "hey you two,e and support two others," he shouted at the two who were trying to give that monster a chase. Bloom now realized how hard it was to deal alone with these monsters! Even in a group it would be difficult! The idea of the presence of such absolute effect, that could even stop his stun, was really annoying. "Roar!" Another monster started to escape, shaking off its two attackers. "Don''t chase it, go help the other two," he shouted, while he refrained from attacking since it would make everything worse. The three remaining monsters were forming a triangle, and he just retreated to stand in the centre of that. His skills now were ready to use again, and that made him able to stun them again. however, he had stunned them away from each other, so they wouldn''t be easily grouping again when the effect of the skill weaned off. And now this preparation of his proved to be in vain, and it was a hindrance over killing these monsters. "Roar!" "Roar!" Suddenly two monsters broke free at the same moment! He was prepared, as he had to attack one, and let one go. "Dash!" He used instantly a dash skill to stun one of them, moving with the skill towards the monster forcibly, hitting it with his sword, and driving it back, again leaving it stunned! Just as he turned to nce at the other one, he found it running already so far for him to catch. "Sigh, only two monsters this time then," he muttered, before adding, "keep attacking it, and beware, he has an ultimate skill." He then returned to the centre, while shouting at the four shadows who were about to give chase: "Two of you return to fight that monster, while the other two go and attack that one," he pointed to the two monsters with his swords, while stopping a couple of meters away from thest monster. "Roar!" Just as he reached there, the monster roared, and before it broke free, Bloom used his skill. "Dash!" He hit that monster, stunning it for ten seconds, and he hurriedly used his skills non-stop, coupled with his shadows. After ten seconds, the two monsters roared, breaking free from the stun. Just before he could react, the one next to him used its tail to hit him, sending him a couple of steps backward, while three thousand damage appeared on top of his head. Bloom sighed, as the next moment this monster attacked the four shadows here without mercy! The first to attack after its tail was its long tentacles, which wrapped themselves around each shadow, then lifted them in the air like they were little dolls! Bloom just was about to use his skill to stun this monster when the horn on its head shone brightly, emanating a small shock wave that hit him, sending him flying a couple of meters backwards. "Roar!" The monster roared, like it was warning Bloom from interfering with its meal! Bloom didn''t have a single damage from this attack, however he knew this wasn''t a normal attack, but the ultimate skill! "Like I will let you toy with my shadows," Bloom stood up, and just as he was about to use his dash skill, the system notification appeared, giving him a scare! "System alert: yer is forbidden from using the automatic skill system for the rest of the fight. Either yer retreated, or the yer activated the skills himself." He smiled a bitter smile when he read these words; this was such an annoying ultimate skill for him indeed! He knew the game would unlock the ability of the yers to use their skills personally, making any skill having a huge spectrum of effect ording to thepletion rate, but that should be after level twenty! Not be done by a monster! "Screw it, I will show you what it means to be a veteran swordsman then," he gritted his teeth, as he moved towards the monster which was now using the horn in the middle of his two heads to hit his trapped shadows directly, causing damage in thousands to them! His shadows had half of his stats, making their Hp slightly less than eight thousands. The first wave of attacks caused roughly two thousand damage to each shadow, and as he was running towards here, another wave urred. "Dash!" He moved his sword, in the same way and manner his mind preserved about this skill, to receive a system notification right on his face. "System alert: Poor skill execution, skill is activated with only fifty percent of its effect!" "Poor execution my as*!!!" The next moment his body was moved forward, heading directly towards that monster, hitting its huge body, interrupting what was its third wave of attacks. "Roar!" The monster roared, and a hundred damage value appeared on top of its head, with five seconds stun only. The next thing he did was to use his two swords and activated the stab skill in a row, trying to cut these annoying tentacles, freeing his shadows atst! "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy percent of its effect!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only sixty five percent of its effect!" "100-110" Two figures started to appear on top of the monster, however the attack of him, and the attack of his shadows made the tentacles be loose, releasing the shadows from the clutches of this monster. He turned to nce at the other six shadows, seeing them not doing any better than here. He sighed, as it seemed he would have to retreat if things got worse than that! Chapter 77: System Alert: Invalid Skill Execution, Skill Isnt Activated! Chapter 77: System Alert: Invalid Skill Execution, Skill Isn''t Activated! The next thing he tried was his slice skill, as he took the position and started to execute the skill as he recalled the system movements to this one, as for his shadows, they simply waved their swords, just attacking the monster without using any skill. "System alert: invalid skill execution, skill isn''t activated!" Bloom sighed, as he used these five seconds to train on this monster. He wasn''t yet ready to use his skills manually, and that proved to be quite challenging to him right now! "System alert: poor skill execution, skill is activated with only fifty percent of its effect!" "Finally!" He sighed with relief, as he finally managed to activate the skill at thest second of that monster''s stun effect. "Roar!" As the monster roared, his body moved along the skill effect, while evading the annoying tentacles, and the nasty tail! "Dash!" "System alert: invalid skill execution, skill isn''t activated!" "Stab! Stab!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only sixty five percent of its effect!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy five percent of its effect!" His stabs worked, but they weren''t enough to stop the monster. He was now directly facing the back of it, while his four shadows were facing the same fate as before, with the tentacles moving in high speed to surround their wastes, before firmly grabbing them towards the monster sides. "Dash!" "System alert: invalid skill execution, skill isn''t activated!" "Dash!" "System alert: invalid skill execution, skill isn''t activated!" "Dash!" "System alert: Poor skill execution, skill is activated with only fifty percent of its effect!" "Finally! Poor execution is also an execution!" Just as the monster hit two monsters in this time, and a few inches away from his own face, that disturbing tail was moving fast to hit him, he managed finally to activate the dash skill. "Be stunned!" he shouted, with extreme frustration, while his other sword started to hack the monster, using his stab skill all the time. The monster this time retreated a couple of meters from the skill, and it was stunned for five seconds as well. Bloom didn''t hurry to save his shadows this time, as this was a lost case for him. He wouldn''t waste time on saving them to be recaptured again, so he focused on attack, while training his skills, especially the slice skill. "Slice!" "System alert: Poor skill execution, skill is activated with only sixty percent of its effect!" There was a slight improvement here, and he was sure if he used it a couple more times, the skill execution sess rate would rise greatly! "Roar!" The monster broke free again, and this time he was quite ready for it. "Dash!" "Dash!" "System alert: invalid skill execution, skill isn''t activated!" "System alert: Poor skill execution, skill is activated with only fifty percent of its effect!" "Yes!" he shouted in happiness, as he managed to stun it for five more seconds. The Hp bar on the top of that monster was almost depleted, with only two more attacks like this to happen, and that monster would be finally gone! "Roar!" Suddenly, and just before he started attacking the monster, an angry roar came from behind him, startling him! "Damn! Did you already kill everyone there?" Bloom didn''t have time to turn and see, as he was quite sure that the monster was now running towards him. "A risk is needed, worthy of the trial at least!" he muttered, before taking the position of the ground breaker skill, while trying to mimic every single detail in it! He chose it as it was one of the most used skills in his arsenal right now, side by side with stab, slice, and dash! If he had any high sess rate, then it would be it and the skill was worth taking the risk to try it now! "Ground breaker!" He shouted, while moving his sword to intercept the iing monster''s attack. "System alert: Poor skill execution, skill is activated with only fifty percent of its effect!" His body turned, forcibly, to face this monster, while his sword moved to hit the monster''s w. A figure of a thousand and half appeared on top of his head, and the next moment he used his two swords, while one stabbed and the other sliced! "Stab! Slice!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy five percent of its effect!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only sixty five percent of its effect!" Finally his slice skill reached intermediate execution, and his body just moved alongside the monster''s body, evading the other w that came to attack his previous position. "Roar!" The monster turned its two heads with extreme anger, while roaring. The next moment, the horn on top of its head shone brightly, and a shock wave hit Bloom again, sending him flying backwards for a couple of meters! "Another skill, you dumb monster, your friend just used its skill, and like this yours won''t affect me anymore," Bloom smirked, while stabilizing his body while sliding for more meters backwards, while the monster turned to face him, while starting to run directly, aiming to keep him busy. "If this didn''t work, then I will have to give up on both of you," he sighed, as the other monster was about to break free, and if that happened, he wouldn''t be there to help his shadows. His shadows'' death would leave him alone in front of these strong and hard to deal with monsters. He took the stance of the skill, while he tried to concentrate hard; he had only one shot. If he failed it, he wouldn''t be able to continue this fight. "Dash!" As he said it, his body instantly moved, towards the iing monster, without any pause or dy, without any system notification at all, while his sword hit the monster perfectly, carrying it backward a couple of meters, before stunning it for ten seconds! "600" A full damage appeared on top of the monster making Bloom speechless! Chapter 78: Killing Two Level Fifteen Monsters Chapter 78: Killing Two Level Fifteen Monsters Wasn''t he now under the restriction to use system support in skills? He didn''t dy and used the next barrage of skills, without giving any care at all to the movements! "Stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, slice." "250, 500, 300, 250, 250, 600." The attacks came swiftly and the skills were activated easily and smoothly like nothing had ever happened! he nced at his swords, at the monster, thenughed! "Roar!" "Roar as much as you like, I swear to kill both of you right here by my two hands, hahahaha!" he wildlyughed, as the other monster broke free from his stun, killed all his shadows, turned to face him, and then angrily roared. As for Bloom, as long as he had his own arsenal of skills back, he wouldn''t care about facing one or facing a hundred! He knew the value of his skills and the system support, and now he was really in great mood for having that back! "Let''s have some fun then, hawk!" He instantly jumped two times in a row, while his sword hit the stunned monster twice, before finally turning around himself to hit the monster again. his back was now directed towards the iing monster, and before the w of that monster reach him, he muttered: "Ground breaker!" "Dang!" "-1000" "600" He didn''t know why, but after he regained his skills back again, he started having much luck in crits. As his sword blocked the iing w, his body turned around, and the next was a humiliation skill, toying with this monster before finally killing it! "Swift kick!" He was turning already, and thus his leg gained more momentum, sending the monster more than five meters backward in the air. Bloom totally ignored his stunned monster next to him, as he linked with the next strong skill. "Dash!" He moved at once, to strongly hit the monster with his sword, carrying it further more to the back. He didn''t wait for this skill to finish, as he linked it with the next killing move! "Dash piercer!" He jumped three meters in the air, resembling a hawk descending upon its prey from the skies! The monster was being pushed in the ground backward, while he was flying high in the air. This time he sheathed one sword, grabbed the other with both of his hands, before finally falling over the monster''s heads, severely cutting them both! "1500!" A huge figure appeared on top of that monster, finally depleting its remaining Hp. A system notification kicked in, but he ignored it for now; his focus was on his next prey. He didn''t hurry to attack it, as he started moving in circles, with eyes looking at the monster. This was a good chance for him to assess this monster closely and calmly, as he already secured his win. The monster was huge, with a terrifying body, but it had some rules that seemed to limit its ferocity. The monster in front of him could use many parts of his body to attack and cause more damage, like the tail, which seemed to be limited only to defend against attacks after suffering quite damage. As for these tentacles, they could be better used to squeeze the target, or even directly attack it, but during this fight, all they did was just to trap and grab, while randomly attacking from time to time. As for the monster itself, it only used its heads to hit the target using the horns, but no special attack urred, except for that ultimate skill. "So you are limited by my low level, right?" Bloom muttered, as the monster finally broke free from the stun, roared in humiliation, as what Bloom was doing greatly angered him. "Let''s end it then, Dash!" He didn''t wait for the monster to reach him, as he used his dash skill once more, hitting the monster and stunning it, before a barrage of his stab skill appeared. After a couple more times of this, the monster''s Hp finally hit the rock bottom, falling on the ground motionless. "Let''s gather materials then check the notification," he muttered, as he leaned over the dead monster body, salvaging materials from it. In a minute, he managed to gain eight level fifteen materials. The monster then turned into dots of light before vanishing from here. As for the first one, it already vanished a long time ago. Bloom checked his stats and Hp, to find the Hp only had less than five hundred. "Sigh, despite having all this high value, I couldn''t fight properly with mere monsters!" Bloom just closed his character profile page and turned to nce at the system notification he just got. "System alert: yer has killed level fifteen monster and gained five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level fifteen monster and gained five thousand Xp." Bloom then made a rough calction to find that each monster roughly granted him from five hundred to a thousand Xp, as for the rest, they came from the level difference. He nced at the area of this battle, the whole ce was now empty, except for some coins lying on the ground on the two ces the two monsters died. "Tsk, not even a single dagger, tsk," he took the coins, as each monster gave him ten gold coins each. He then nced towards the next group of monsters. He had spotted many different kinds of monsters in groups of ten and five, or even higher. He didn''t choose any new monster, as the kind of monster he just shed with was enough for him currently. He didn''t want to risk dealing with another monster, so he started his slow and careful search, while his skills would be reset. He gained from killing two monsters ten thousand Xp, and he needed one hundred and thirty thousand more Xp to level up, so he needed to kill twenty six monsters. If he targeted the five groups of this monster, then he would need to kill them all for around five to six times. This seemed easy to achieve, theoretically, but very hard to execute, practically. Chapter 79: Starting A Fight Against More Monsters Chapter 79: Starting A Fight Against More Monsters "I need to find a way to prevent these monsters from running away," he muttered, as he was reflecting on thest fight, trying to understand one thing. "So, when two monsters use the skill together, they negate each other''s negative effect, while my luck increases and the crit rate grows exponentially after that," he muttered as this was the only exnation he had for what had happened before. "So, five monsters are considered a problem, as one would remain there to topple bnce. The best way then was to let that monster run away, while focusing on dealing with the remaining four," he started to draw the strategy of his next battles while walking among monsters calmly and quietly. He revised the previous battle more than once, and he had already figured out a way to fight these monsters. He was mistaken in hurriedly using his doppelganger from the start, as they were killed easily, while he could use them in a better way, to stop the escaping monsters, even if some of them would be sacrificed in the process. While walking and contemting, he had consumed three potions to replenish his lost Hp, one vige intermediate, and two vige basic Hp potions. He had already deciphered the way these monsters fight, and thus he could deal with two alone, as for the other two, he would leave them to his doppelganger, provided that the fifth monster escaped. "So, I have to focus only on one monster, decrease its Hp to half, then let it escape before stunning the others and kite their Hp slowly," he muttered as he finalized his fight n. After walking for half an hour, he found a five monster group, formed of the same kind of monster he just fought with. He unsheathed his two swords, walked directly towards them, and just as the monsters stopped their passive wandering, sniffed the air, he started his attack with his ssic move. "Dash!" The next moment his body moved forcibly by the skill, heading directly towards the distant monster in the group. The moment he hit it, he didn''t wait for the monster to be driven back for a couple of meters, as he linked his skill with another. "Cloud of fog!" He was now surrounded by the four monsters that were starting to attack using their tails. The moment he used his skill, he changed the trajectory of his sword, to sh directly with the four monsters, sending them flying a couple of meters backwards, while a single monster activated the glove passive skill, sent to fly skill, making it fly five more meters to the back. However, he didn''t pursue this monster, as it was one in the side, while his aim was another one. "Swift kick." He turned on himself, whileunching a kick towards the rear monster. The hit sent the monster five more meters flying in the air, and he didn''t stop there, didn''t wait for his body toplete his turn and return to his initial position. "Sky piercer!" He jumped instantly three meters in the air, to be like a hawk, creating a momentum, while heading directly towards the retreating monster, as his sword fell heavily with all his momentum and weight, making the stop of this monster very hard on the ground. "Boom!" "600-2500" It even caused a strong impact sound that shook the ground slightly, beside cutting off some of this monster''s tentacles in the process. The monster lost over three thousand Hp in this simple exchange alone, and Bloom just started! "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab." "250- 250- 500- 250- 300- 500- 250- 250- 250- 250- 600- 250- 250- 250- 250" In the next ten seconds, Bloom used his own barrage of attacks, with much confidence in his own ability to kite down this monster''s Hp. He only managed to take down slightly over four thousand and half of this monster Xp, making him so close to cross the half life point. However, he had first to deal with the monsters behind him. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Five roars erupted approximately at the same time. Bloom knew that the monsters just broke free of his stun effect, and thus he was preparing himself for the most stressful moment in his n; dealing with five angry monsters again! "Slice!" "300" He first used this skill to change his position, making himself in a better ce, while evading the monster''s attack of tentacles and that annoying tail, plus wasting precious three seconds in the process. During his move around the monster, he kept stabbing it using only one sword, while the other was kept clean, ready to be used for his next skill. In three seconds, the far monsters were already closing on him, except for the monster that had the luck to activate the sent to fly glove passive. "Dash!" Bloom didn''t dy, as he hurriedly used his skill towards that distant monster. The moment his body moved, he reached the monster in a second, directly hitting it unprepared for this charge, while driving it backward. "Cloud of fog! Again, he used the skill to change his sword trajectory, hitting the other three monsters, sending them backward, while one of them activated the passive sent to fly glove skill, being sent more meters to the back. Only one monster remained, the one he was kiting from the start. The monster didn''t wait for Bloom to finish stunning every monster, as it hit with its two ws, angrily, Bloom''s back, causing him to lose five thousand of his Hp in the process. As the monster was about to continue attacking again, Bloom had finished stunning thest monster, ready to deal with this annoying monster. "breaker piercer!" He moved his sword to intercept the ws of that monster, while turning around himself, dashing towards the monster, carrying it with him flying in the air for three meters. He didn''t wait for the skill to finish, and he and the monster stopped dashing backward, as he instantly used his two skills, one after another. "Swift kick!" "Sky piercer!" Chapter 80: Trying Out His New Strategy in Killing Monsters Chapter 80: Trying Out His New Strategy in Killing Monsters He turned around himself to kick the monster in the face, sending it flying backward even more. He then waited until his body returned to his initial position, and used the second skill, making his body jump three more meters in the air letting him descend with his sword heavily on the monster. "Boom!" "600- 300- 3000" "-1000" This exchange made him lose one thousand more Hp, however he didn''t feel any regret, as this monster already lost approximately four thousand more Hp, making its own Hp break through its half life point, making it break free from the stun effect, roar wildly, before dashing away, running from the fight. "Yeah, run away you dumb a*s!" Bloom sneered as he sheathed his swords, took out a vige intermediate Hp potion and gulped it in one go, as he returned to nce at the other four monsters remaining here. "Let''s kit you down, nice and neat, like an adorable fat little kid, be obedient and I will give you death candies," he smirked as he threw the empty bottle down, while taking his swords up again, and headed directly towards the nearest one of those monsters. And the massacre started! "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab." "250, 250, 250, 250, 300, 250, 250, 250, 250, 300, 250, 250, 250, 250, 300, 250, 250, 250, 250" A long line of damage apanied his barrage of skills. as he sessfully eliminated the odd monster, he was now fighting with extreme ease. All he needed to do was to make sure every single monster Hp would decrease parallel to each other, so they all would cross the half life threshold together. And this wasn''t so hard on him. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" The four monsters roared, and they were about to move to attack him when he selected one randomly, using his dash skill on it. He moved and hit the monster, and then linked the skill with the cloud of fog skill, making his sword change trajectory, hit the other three, and stun them all together. Then another barrage of attacks fell over another monster, kiting down its Hp, slowly and neatly. Each circle roughly caused any monster to lose from five to six thousand Hp. The first four rounds were already easy and he didn''t care much about them, however the next rounds he made sure to leave enough Hp for thest dash and cloud of fog skills to be used and kite down thest bit of the Hp remaining to cross the half life line. This wasn''t hard, as he was dealing withzy and obedient stunned babies-like monsters. When the final round urred, he was ready, waiting for their roars to appear, dering the end of the stun effect over them. "Let''s see if my n will work or not, dash, cloud of fog!" He hit one, and moved his sword to hit the other three. The moment his sword hit them all, the four monsters were stunned. They all received three hundred points of damage, making their Hp fell down the half life point, and finally roaring the rebellious roars that Bloom was waiting for. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" They were about to turn around and flee, like the first monster did, however Bloom wasn''t startled, and he even didn''t move to intercept any of them, as he calmly and softly muttered: "Fog of gravity!" He suddenly activated his active form of this skill. The next moment, thick bellows of fog started to spread off him, seeping rapidly towards the distance, covering the entire fifty meters range in no time. The four monsters didn''t move a couple of meters when the fog hit them, and the special effect of the fog hit them four at the same time. However, Bloom didn''t wait for the effect of the skill, as he instantly used the next skill in mind, the one to trap these monsters here, and start killing them one by one. "Shade doppelganger festival!" Ten shades just appeared at the same moment the four monsters were forced to stop for a single second. Bloom didn''t need to give them the order to intercept these monsters, as they dashed towards the monsters, using the stab skills to attack them. "Listen, three with each monster, and onee with me. use the stun alternatively with stab and slice skills, and don''t use any other skills than these three." He gave the order and the strategy to them, so they could start attacking and kiting these monsters like him. per his orders, one hit each monster and stunned it, while the two others started to attack the monster with stab and slice skills. Like this, his shadows were temporarily safe, and what remained was the moment these monsters would use their ultimate skills. As for his monster, he used the dash first to stun it, before he started to kite the monster Hp, alongside his shadow. He started to attack, while keeping an eye for the ultimate skills. the odd use of the skill would render all of their skills locked to be activated automatically by the system, and thus he had to step in again, take the toll to face these monsters, buying as much time as he could for his shades to survive these odd skills, until the monsters used the skill once more to save their lives. Ironic right? But this was the chance the developers nted for yers with keen eyes and sharp senses to shine and rise above others yers. And Bloom was simply one of those. He believed the developers wouldn''t take all the trouble to make all these hidden pieces here without the intention for them to be found and utilized, right? Just as the Hp decreased to twenty percent of one monster, the monster broke free from the stun effect of the skills used by Bloom''s shades, with its horns shone brightly and a shock wave erupted. Chapter 81: System Alert: Player Has Leveled Up! Chapter 81: System Alert: yer Has Leveled Up! "The first," Bloom muttered as the shock wave sent him flying a couple of meters, while other monsters started to roar, one after another, breaking free from their restraints. "Dash!" Bloom hurried to use his stun skill, however he received a system notification of his failure. "Sorry guys, you will take the toll of this ultimate skill," he muttered, as he wanted to go and save the three who were now caught up by the tentacles of the monsters, while being hammered hard with their heads. The only way to break this was to hurry and make another one lose Hp fast. So, he turned to the one monster he was dealing with, while its own Hp was only one thousand away from crossing the twenty percent threshold, and it was now holding the one shade with its tentacles, preparing to attack it. "Stab!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy five percent of its effect!" His skill was activated sessfully, but he didn''t cross the threshold of seventy five percent yet. He wasn''t demoted, as he didn''t have time to train himself. as his sword moved to hit the target, his next skill was used at once. "Slice!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only sixty five percent of its effect!" He moved, using his sword to cross the body of the monster, while evading the tentacles and the nasty tail. As he reached the back of the monster, he didn''t dy and used his stab again and again, creating seventy to seventy percent damage of his original skill. Just as two of his shades died under the bettering heads of the monsters, the monster he was attacking finally had its own Hp decreased by more than twenty percent, and with that the monster roared, and the horns shone, creating a shock wave, sending him flying a couple of meters backwards. "Great," he shouted, while hurriedly moving, totally ignoring the monster he was fighting, while using a slice to change his position. He targeted thest two of monster which didn''t use their skills yet; they had to use their skills now! "Dash!" He used his favored skill, moving directly towards one of them, hitting him hard. He didn''t wait for that monster to be pushed back all the way, as he hurriedly used another skill to change his position. "Slice!" He managed to change his position to be in a more direct ce with thest monster, and when he did he didn''t dy and used dash skill again. This time he didn''t move away, and kept using his stab and slice skills over the monster, decreasing its Hp rapidly. Just as it was a hair breadth away from crossing the twenty percent threshold, he used a soft kick to throw the monster far, as he turned to face the other monster with unused ultimate skill, and used a skill over it to deplete its Hp at the same time. "Dash piercer!" His body rose in the air for three meters, moving like a hawk towards the monster, while the one behind him roared, as its horns shone brightly, sending a shock wave around, adding more momentum to Bloom who descended heavily over thest monster. "1250" A huge number appeared on top of that monster''s head, made entirely by thebination of momentum created by the shock wave of the third monster''s skill, and the luck of crit that Bloom and his shade had after the second ultimate skill was used. "Roar!" This damage was enough to make this monster''s Hp decrease below twenty percent, and the monster instantly used the fourth skill, negating what it''srade just did. And like that, the fight turned into a simple fight, where there were no risks or surprises, andstly the four monsters fell down, leaving finally one gear behind; an arm guard! "Groneik arm guard: Weapon wilder faction only. Level zero arm guard. Grade: green. Str+ two hundred. Vit+ two hundred. Phy +three hundred." It was a simple arm guard, and the next moment Bloom wore it, and he found it wasn''t his style. "Sigh, it makes me look more barbaric with this one arm guard, why aren''t there two then? Sigh!" he muttered, shaking his head as he decided to store it in his inventory, forter use or sell. The fight despite being intense, it didn''t take five minutes. he had a clear grasp of his own style in killing these monsters, and thus he waited until his shades disappeared, while waiting for all his skills to be reset. He consumed vige basic Hp potions one after the other until he regained his full Hp. Then he looked for another group of monsters, and started killing his way through this ce. After four hours, and killing another six groups, he finally killed enough monsters to level up. "System alert: yer has leveled up." "Sigh, finally," he sighed, as it took him a long time to just gain one level. in fact he didn''t level up slow, instead he leveled up fast. For a team of yers, they would only kill the monsters in half time he took to kill them, but they would share all the Xp together, making each one take five times longer than him to gain a single level. "Let''s put all the free points into Lu stat then," he opened his character profile and distributed the four free points to the Lu stat. "So, this ce isn''t suited for solo leveling, but I have no other way around. If I wanted to level up one level again, then it would take me ages to do so, plus my current Lu stat is enough for my next fight," he muttered, while ncing at the huge variety of monsters around him. This ce proved how brilliant the developers of this game were, as no matter what the level of the yer was, he would always be at a disadvantage all the time. Chapter 82: Preparing to Hijack A Merchant Caravan Chapter 82: Preparing to Hijack A Merchant Caravan For example as he was currently at level eleven, if he faced any group of monsters, their level would instantly change to be level sixteen instead of fifteen, making him always at disadvantage in facing any monster here. And that was when the leveler profession started to be popr. If yers were at level twenty, dealing with level fifteen monsters would be a piece of cake for them. He sighed, as if his attacks could do more damage, he could have killed more than two, and in much easier way. The next thing he did was to open the system map, where he found five dots moving around the ce. The roads of the vige were prating the leveling grounds, but there was a sort of barrier there; no yer inside could cross outside and vice versa. "So, I have three reds now and two greens, interesting," he muttered before finding a small icon beside each dot. He selected one casually, a red dot, and clicked on this icon in curiosity. "Esteemed Tron merchant caravan: A merchant caravan belonging to the esteemed Tron. The caravan is heading from Rekaj city to the Alter vige, carrying the necessities needed for the potion and gear shops. There are fifty NPCs guarding the caravan." He received a detailed report regarding the caravan, making him much thrilled. He could now n his next attack perfectly without any worry. "A caravaning from the city carryingmodities, I think it wouldn''t help me greatly. I want money, gimme money!" he closed the window as he opened another one, a green one. "Potion shop caravan: A caravan carrying the lost potion and the ie from the past month from Atler vige to the Rekaj city. there are fifteen NPCs guarding the caravan." "Tsk, this caravan must be poor, extremely poor. It carries the ie of the past month, what ie? I''m the first yer to appear here, and it couldn''t carry a lot of gold." He closed the window, deciding to check the other two red dots. "Capital official monthly supply: A military caravan carrying the monthly tax of the Alter vige to the capital. There are one hundred brigade with a one hundred knight guarding the caravan." "Sigh, this one is a disaster! I can''t evene near it, despite having too much money there!" he hurriedly closed this window, and finally opened the new one. "Sir Thomas donation to the Alter vige repair project: A caravan carrying Sir Thomas support to the Alter vige. Sir Thomas was once one of the vige NPCs, got promoted and now is working at the capital. This caravan is his appreciation to his home vige, donating things the vige needs to make many reparations. There are twenty five NPCs guarding the caravan." "This is interesting," he rubbed his chin while his eyes shone with greed. "A donation from one titled as Sir is something big indeed. I will target this one then. Good thing they are still far on the road, away from the vige," he evilly smirked, before taking out a return ticket and chose to activate it. The return tickets needed five seconds to activate, and yer could move while using them, but they couldn''t be fighting, or under attack. In five seconds he reappeared again in the vige main square, took out one vige basic Hp potion and gulped it, recovering twenty percent more of his Hp. He had time to reach the caravan location, and so he only used basic potions. As he went outside the gate, he found the road heading to the outer territories of the vige and the game world. He walked directly into it, and the road was narrow at first, but kept getting wider with time. After an hour of walking, and after using three more potions to fully restore his Hp, plus one more for his stamina, he reached a point where the main road branched out into three different roads. "It seems each led to a separate direction," he muttered before opening his map and checking it. Hepared the three roads with the ce of his needed caravan, and he found it on the right road. "It''s right then," he muttered before going towards the right branch, and started walking into it. ording to his map, the other two roads had two dots in them, one red and one green each, while the road he was walking in had only that iing caravan. Just as he entered the road, he didn''t dy and started changing his figure. It was his first time to use the lizard tattoo gear, and thus he was extremely excited and curious about it. After all, he never heard of such a weird gear at all! He opened the lizard window and checked its content again. "Lizard tattoo: Special type gear, made by master Overt by mistake. Grade white. Rank eleven. No level required. No faction required. Permanently bound to the yer, can''t be dropped, can''t be removed, can''t be traded. Inverted Lu stat: yer''s inverted Lu stat will enable yer to detect yers using Lu stat in the surrounding vicinity of his. Current inverted Lu stat = current Lu stat* ten. The inverted Lu stat value must be higher than yers, monsters, or NPCs using the Lu stat around yer. Area of detection= inverted Lu stat* ten in meters. yers detected by the inverted Lu stat will have a red halo around their bodies even if they used a stealth skill. Skills: Disguise skill: yer can select to change his shape, either randomly or by the select the specified criteria. Can change gender with double cooldown time. a yer''s disguise can''t be detected by anyone or anything. Duration: until the yer reverses it. Cooldown time: twelve hours. yer can pay gold coins to reduce the duration of the cooldown by spending ten gold coins for one hour. Appeal skill: Active skill. yer can use the skill to make his next words believable over yers, monsters, and NPCs seeing him. area of effect= area of inverted Lu stat effect. Duration: one phrase. Cooldown: one hour." Chapter 83: Sunny is His New Identity Chapter 83: Sunny is His New Identity "So all I need to do is just use the skill?" he muttered to himself before saying: "Disguise." "System alert: yer has used the disguise skill. Does the yer want to determine the shape he wanted to have? Or does the yer want the system to choose for him? Note: yer can only change his figure inside the male category. If a yer wants to change gender, he has to ask directly for that, and the cooldown time of the skill will be doubled." "Hmm I just want my new self to be unrecognized by anyone." "System alter: yer request is granted." "System alert: The new form is processing. To finalize it, does the yer want to use his current name? Or select a new name?" Bloom was speechless, and when he thought about it, he realized how logical it was. If he met someone and attacked him or her, then his identity would be revealed through system alerts. "Change it, let it be Sunny," he said, as he liked the name; Sunny Bloom. "System alert: yer new form ispleted. yer will change form in five, four, three, two, one." The system then stopped counting down, and Bloom felt strange changes urring to his body. He got much taller, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles. In contrast to the weak looking youngster, this mid twentieth man was much more intimidating. Heughed, and amidst hisughing he touched his head, to find no hair there! He almost got choked when he realized that, and the next moment he started interrogating the system! "Hey, system, I said different, not bald!" "" The system totally ignored him, and after a couple of minutes he gritted his teeth and moved to hit the road. He was angry about this unfunny joke the system pulled, as he didn''t like his new form at all! If he saw himself in a mirror or at a reflection of a calm water surface, he wouldn''t be this angry; the system made him a real handsome yer. However he was all angry about the bald, which would be something major to thank the system for. As for the gears, they were exactly the same, with nothing to change about. He didn''t care much, as gears weren''t the special and eye catchy, except for the cursed chest te perhaps. "Sigh, let''s get the full use of this quest potential then," he muttered to himself as he instantly opened his character profile, went straight to his secret ss quests before selecting another mission; kill the NPC quest. "System alert: yer has chosen the kill NPC quest. You have one week to finish this quest." "One week?! I will finish it in hours not days!" he closed the system windows and continued to walk forward. Just as he walked for three hours, alternating between running and slow walking to replenish his stamina, he became so near the caravan that he could spot the distant cloud of dust it was making. He estimated for the caravan to take one more hour to reach him, however he didn''t hurry to move. After all, he was now standing in a ce suited for an ambush. This part of the road was the only ce where the forest on the sides of the road to encroach over, leaving only a small area to pass. On the sides, some rocks and destroyed tree branches were scattered randomly, making the road seem quite deste and hard to cross. This segment stretched for one kilometer, and as he was going to face twenty five NPCs, he didn''t have to face them as a group head on. He could affect any NPC with his title, on condition he crossed swords with them. weapon wielders weren''t the issue, or even the shield bearers, as the main problem remained in the light daughters and the staff holders; they both would be stationed either at the rear of the caravan, or in the middle of it. For him, both options had simr percentages to happen, so it would be best to let the caravan stretch over this thin piece of road, before deciding how and where to attack it. "I should get rid first of those nasty factions, then everything else would be easier," he muttered, as he nced at the surrounding, and found arge rock to hide at. He gathered fallen leaves and broken branches from all over, scattered them around his hiding zone, before ducking and waiting. "It would be nice if I have some ambushing skills," he shook his head, as if he had any nice ambushing skills, then this caravan mission would be a piece of cake. He started to shake off these thoughts, trying to picture the way he would deal with this caravan. Twenty five NPCs weren''t a small number if gathered, so he had to make sure that each swing of his sword would kill one. "Light daughters and staff wielders first, then everyone else," he muttered. His gaze was attracted to the far distance, as the cloud of dust was moving slowly towards here. "What is taking them so long?!" he impatiently muttered, while opening his map for the tenth time already to make sure they didn''t deviate off the road or stopped for a nap! The caravan took roughly two hours to reach his location. When it approached from far, he spotted three wagons, led by horses, while the twenty five NPCS were all scattered around the wagons. Each wagon was like a big cart, covered by a thick piece of light brown fabric, covering what lies underneath it. When the caravan moved closer to this piece of the road, he was surprised to find all the NPCs'' weapon wielders, with no other faction there! only two of them had horses riding on top of them, carrying heavy and strong looking shields, making him think of a cavalry ss at once. "Are they from the military?" he muttered, while theck of other factions made this task much easier. Chapter 84: Starting the Battle Against the Merchant Caravan Chapter 84: Starting the Battle Against the Merchant Caravan However he didn''t hurry to appear, as half of the guards moved to the front first, securing the road, while the others moved with the three wagons, one by one, passing through the narrow bumpy road. Just as the three wagons started to pass beside him, with five NPCs on each side of the wagons, including the two cavalry, he started to act! "Darkness nihility skill!" The first skill he used was the stealth skill! This skill enabled him to be invisible for a whole minute, attacking as much as he liked! However, he didn''t n to kill any NPC during this one minute! "Stab!" The first NPC he moved against was the cavalry one. He instantly used his skill, and when his sword infiltrated the body of the NPC, his title was activated, while a damage appeared on top of this NPC''s head. "2000" "Enemy attack!" It was such a terrifying figure, but it was normal as the NPC was demoted to a level lower than Bloom. Despite thisrge damage, the NPC wasn''t in danger yet, as he had over twenty thousand Hp bar, making Bloom feel speechless at the quality of gears this cavalry was having. The next moment he didn''t stand in his location, moved fast towards the next NPC. "Stab, stab." "2000, 4000" Two damaged rose from his head, and he kept moving, not waiting for that NPC to adapt to the attack. The NPCs were lined in a single line, and as the frontal NPCs hurried back, he had already covered the both sides of the wagons, ending up at the front, meeting the iing NPCs. Forty seconds, all he needed to attack ten NPCs scattered on both sides of the wagons. Once he reached the front, he didn''t dy to use his trump card skill. "Dash!" "3500" He selected thest NPCing towards here to use the skill upon. The NPCs just rushed towards here, unorganized, and that left many gaps between them, which he used perfectly at this moment. His dash startled the NPCs around, however Bloom didn''t finish, as the moment his sword hit the NPC, he linked another skill without much ado. "Cloud of fog!" Instantly he shifted his sword to hit the four closest NPCs to him, causing much damage to them, cleaning almost one half of their Xp. "8000" "9500" "9000" "8500" The difference was caused by the difference in the defensive gears each NPC was wearing. As he finished that, he had already hit fifteen out of twenty five NPCs, leaving only ten remaining with their initial levels. And he had roughly ten seconds left, with three lost already in the forced move of his dash skill. Just as he stopped moving forward, he turned around, and used the second dash towards thest free group of NPCs. "3000" His cloud of fog skill was on the cooldown, and so he couldn''t use it to change the course of his skill, but he used his other sword at once; hitting three NPCs until his stealth skill ended. "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "2000" "1800" "2150" "Get him, he is there!" Suddenly as he appeared, many shouts appeared, one by one, as all the NPCs here nced angrily at him, while the surrounding ones were prepared to use their skills. However, he was one second faster than them! "Shade doppelganger festival!" Instantly eleven shade doppelgangers appeared around him, and their appearance startled everyone. Just as they were about to adapt, his doppelganger used their stab skills at once, hitting all the remaining NPCs, making their levels lowered! However, as they weren''t using his full title, the NPCs got their levels lowered, but not enough like his title effect. "Damn! They are all in level fifteen!" he cursed loudly, as facing six high leveled NPCs with their gears intact was something scary indeed. However, he had faced much scarier monsters already! The first thing he did was to get out of here, leaving this area to his shades to fight at. "Dash piercer!" He jumped three meters in the air, bypassing most of the iing NPCs while falling like a hawk over one of the two cavalries. From this height, he was now at a higher level than the NPC, and his strike didn''t aim to kill him, or even wound him, but to make him fall off his horse! "4500" The moment he fell with that NPC, he started his own barrage of attacks, kiting more Hp off him. "Stab, stab, stab, stab." "2000, 2000, 2000, 2000" No crit, but he managed to take eight thousand Hp of him. He didn''t have time to finish him off, as the nearby NPC gathered around him, and he was pretty prepared for them. "Slice!" "3200" "Breaker piercer!" A stabbing sword wasing towards his exposed back, however his sword was faster, as it moved to intercept the iing attack. The next moment his body was forced to turn around, then dashing to the front, carrying the NPC along with him. "Cloud of fog!" Again, at this moment his skill was ready to be used, and he instantly used it. He was in the middle of the rear group, surrounded by eight NPCs and one cavalry. His sword moved like a viber, hitting five of them at once, while deflecting their attacks towards him. However, the other three managed toy their swords over his back, making him lose four thousand Hp in no time. "Scary, even with one level difference, their gears made all the difference," he muttered, as he knew now how scary their gears were. And he replied with a slice, changing his position at once, while linking it with another major skill. "Darkness absorption!" Thest NPC, the cavalry one, was preparing for his skill for quite some time now. Bloom knew he couldn''t evade it, so he thought of using this skill, to absorb the attack, reduce the damage to half, while having another skill to use, a mighty one! "-4000" Chapter 85: A Hard Fight with NPCs Chapter 85: A Hard Fight with NPCs A scary figure appeared on top of his head, with slight dizziness that made him see the world blurry. It was such a mighty skill indeed, as even with using his darkness absorption skill, reducing the damage to half, he had lost four thousand Hp nheless. Scary cavalry! "System alert: yer has used darkness absorption skill. Tempest of lightning sword skill is stored, ready to be used for twenty four hours. Remaining free spots for skill absorption are two." He had the skill, but he had no time to explore it or see its details at least, as the other NPCs were moving fast, with their swords aiming for him. "I have to get out of here," he muttered, gritting his teeth to make clear of the target he had in mind. "Dash piercer!" He selected this nasty cavalry! He wouldn''t risk getting hit again with such a strong skill, or any other one. The next moment, his body was forced by the system to fly in the air for three meters, and this time he wasn''t seeing things clearly. However, how hard was it to locate a big horse and its rider? Even if he was subjected to such a dizzy effect, he was able to attack the cavalry sessfully, while aiming to make him fall! "4000" The same amount he lost, he repaid to him; with a stun effect for his dizziness. As he fell with the NPC off the back of the horse, he started aiming blindly towards his falling body, using the advantage of being stunned. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab." "2000, 4000, 2000, 2000, 2000" Around twelve thousand Hp were cleared in these mere seconds, while Bloom regained his rity again. once did, he heard the swift move of the sword through air; and it wasn''t only one but five! "Slice!" "3500" He hurriedly used his escape skill, driving some distance from the attackers. In the next couple of seconds, he left his body moving smoothly with the skill, while looking for any target to move at! However he didn''t find anyone nearby at this moment, and as such he was forced to use his life saving skill, coupled with a defensive one. "Breaker piercer!" His sword moved, shing with one of the manying to his back. As his body turned forcibly to face the enemy, he linked it with another skill. "Fog of gravity!" He used the active form of the skill, and instantly fog started to well up from him, covering an area of fifty meters, even reaching to the area where his shadow doppelgangers were fighting at! Instantly all the NPCs here had a moment of pause, and during this moment, his skill dashed him, carrying that NPC three meters in the air, dashing rapidly until he hit one of the three wagons, heavily causing a booming sound apanied by a sound of crack! "6000" A huge figure of damage appeared on top of this NPC, while making him stunned. Bloom didn''t dy and used his both swords to hack this NPC, using the advantage of chaos urring at the enemies behind. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab." "2000, 2000, 2000, 2000, 2000, 2000, 2000" Fourteen thousand damage was dealt to this NPC in less than five seconds! By thest hit of his sword, and despite not having a single crit, that NPC fell, died under his hand, triggering two system prompts at the same time. It was his first NPC kill today, and he wouldn''t be thest to fall! Despite having the urge to check the reports from the system, he didn''t have the luxury to shift his attention to that; as the real fight kicked in from the two cavalries here. Each one used a skill simr to that of his, summoning five doppelgangers each, and each one seemed to have slightly simr strength to the original NPC. Bloom saw the five summoned by one cavalry on the other end of the wagon, as they were heading towards him. as he turned around, he found five moreing at him, with seven NPCs and one footed cavalry. "These two are really a pain," he muttered, as this task proved to be much harder than he initially thought! However he wasn''t without a solution! As they closed up to him, he used the gap created by the presence of this wagon, and used a skill towards a distant NPC. "Hawk!" The next moment, his body moved, jumping high in the air like a hawk, bypassing the iing blockage by hair breadth. As his legs touched the ground, he jumped again, and this time he headed towards one of those fighting his shade doppelganger. "You summoned your doppelganger and wanted to circle me? let''s see who has the strongest doppelganger here!" he evilly smirked, while his sword came swiftly, falling like thunder, to hit the NPC in front directly on the back of his head. "3000" The NPC lost three thousand Hp points at this mere attack. During his battle with the other NPCs, his shades were quite busy jumping around and using the variety of his skills upon these NPCs. Despite their number here being quite high, reaching fifteen, they managed to decrease their Hp below the critical line, while losing only two doppelgangers in the process. "Fair exchange," he muttered, while following his sudden attack with two more stabs, clearing the NPC Hp at once, making him fall dead under his feet. Two more system alerts appeared, and he didn''t care about them as he ran directly towards the next NPC. As his sudden appearance was known to them, the other NPCs were quite prepared for his attack. However, he didn''t n to waste time here, as there were a small army of nine angry NPCs and ten doppelgangers, running after him! "Slice!" "3500" The moment he got near the NPC waving his sword, he went directly towards evading, using his slice skill to move his body along the side of this NPC. Chapter 86: Fighting Against the Cavalry NPCs Doppelgangers Chapter 86: Fighting Against the Cavalry NPCs Doppelgangers He didn''t waste time, using two stabs at once, making this NPC''s Hp hit the rock bottom instantly, with two more system prompts ranging in his ears. "Two down, thirteen to go," he muttered, while ducking his head to avoid a mace attack from his side, then he simple used one stab to reply to the NPC, linked with a slice to move his body around this NPC, reaching his back, then used double stab to make him fall motionless on the ground. "Three down, dozen to go!" "Ground breaker!" Just as he muttered this, a sound of a hammer moving towards his back erupted, and he moved his sword to wee it, turned around, and then used double stab to clear this NPC''s Hp. Just as he did, he watched his shades taking advantage of his interception, and the chaos he cleared amidst the previously well organized formation of these NPCs allowed them to kill four more. "Eight down, seven left to kill." He muttered, but he didn''t pursue these NPCs, as he turned around, weing the about to close on him a huge entourage of the NPCs-doppelganger mix. He left these seven to his seven doppelgangers, knowing for sure their ability to kill them all. However, what he was caring about was the time needed to do that, praying they didn''t use much time to do such a thing. The next thing he did was strange, as he sheathed both his swords, took out one vige intermediate Hp poton, and gulped it in one breath. "C''mon, let''s have round two, darkness rebound!" The potion he took would replenish his Hp for forty percent in five seconds, as for the skill he used, it gave him ten seconds of half protection, while rebounding half the attacks over their owners. Simply put, he started to be a walking killing machine! Instantly he was met with five NPCs, and all their attacks dealt over him were rebound, sharing the damage half to him, half to them! "-500, -550, -600, -450, -500" "2000, 1800, 2400, 1750, 2000" Despite having low damage caused by the level difference and the skill effect, the rebound damage was much higher than his. That was because of the level difference between the two! Bloom didn''t walk in between them simply doing nothing, as he used his two swords, using the long not to be used sword draw talent to cause more damage to them! Each NPC had his share of his double stab attacks. As he bypassed the first line of attackers, the second came hot at him, formed entirely of the ten doppelgangers of the two cavalries. "-800, -750, -850, -820, -700" "3000, 2800, 3600, 3200, 2700" The first five attacks caused this high damage to him, and instantly he started to interfere, using one of his life saving skills here. "Pause!" He pointed his glove towards one of the doppelgangers, stopping him from moving forward. "Slice!" "4500" He didn''t dy and used the slice skill to change his position at once, however when he used the skill, the sent to fly effect was triggered, sending the target flying backwards for a couple of meters, with Bloom moving alongside him! That came as a surprise, as Bloom failed to trigger this mighty effect even for a single time so far! The reason was simple, as Bloom forced these NPCs levels to be lower than his, however that didn''t mean their levels recognized by the system were this low! So, the chances of triggering this passive skill grew very low, nearly null, however he didn''t know that. As for the doppelganger summoned by the two cavalries, they were already at a lower level than his, and thus any single wave of his sword would be enough to trigger this passive skill. This sudden unexpected bonus made him acquire more options, as he was now away from the main group of NPCs, on the side of the group of the doppelganger. "Stab!" "3000" Again, the sent to fly passive effect was triggered. "So, I can trigger it easily with these doppelgangers? Let''s keep them for escape," he muttered, before throwing another stab towards another one, while receiving three attacks, half damage was sent to their owners. "Dash!" He started to use his old familiar set of skills, started with a ssic dash, while heading towards one of the NPCs, lying in the middle of others. His sudden appearance was sudden, and he didn''t stand there, as he moved with the NPC, pushing him and two others to the back. "Cloud of fog!" Again, he used his skill to allow his sword to move, hitting five more NPCs, sending them all backwards, stunned for ten seconds. Simply like that, six NPCs were temporarily eliminated, leaving only the two annoying cavalries, and one NPC. "Dash!" He linked his skill with another, instantly moving towards one of the two cavalries, hitting him, and carrying him along the way to the back, while using his other sword to stab the other NPC remaining on the side. "-4000" Suddenly, this high damage rose up from his head, as the second cavalry used what it seemed to be a ranged skill to hit him on the back. As he suffered this loss, thest NPC was readying himself to attack, but Bloom had another opinion. "Slice!" "3000" He used his slice to change his position, circling around the side of the NPC, simply evading the mace which just hit the ce he was standing at. It was just a very close call for him! "Dash piercer!" His body was forced to fly in the air, for three meters height, escaping in a hair breadth the attack of the second cavalry, whichnded the moment he moved. His target wasn''t that cavalry, but one of the doppelgangers, and he triggered the sent to fly skill at this time as well, sending the NPC flying more to the side, heading closer in rapid pace from the standing cavalry. "Pause!" Chapter 87: Finally Killing them All Chapter 87: Finally Killing them All The moment he reached near him, Bloom used his silence skill, forcing the cavalry to pause, not able to move for a second, and he only needed this second to finish him! "Dash!" The second dash skill, saved for him, was used from the current position of Bloom. This was a special position, as Bloom faced the front of the wagon, with the double horses pulling it. In between the horses, there was a short spear like extension, acting as a link between the two horses and the wagon. And Bloom just aimed directly towards this short spear! "Boom!" The cavalry just hit the spear strongly, and from the momentum the spear pierced his body to appear from his abdomen. "20k!" A really frightening damage appeared on top of this cavalry, making Bloom uncontroblyugh! This cavalry was the one with the highest Hp, as he didn''t attack him except for a couple of times already; and with this well executed attack, he managed to kill him in one blow! "One cavalry down, one left to die," he viciously muttered, totally ignoring the NPCing at him with the remaining five doppelganger of the stunned cavalry. Bloom just stepped to the side, with extreme agility, while using another skill topletely leave that NPC behind. "Slice!" "3000" Just as he put the NPC on his back, he moved swiftly between the iing doppelganger, while using double stab, followed by a slice again, sending three of them flying, two to the side, and one headed directly towards his stunned master, bypassing the other two and leaving them behind. "Die! Sky piercer!" He used the initial momentum caused by thebination of the slice forced movement and the passive effect of the triggered sent to fly skill; linking it with the momentum of the strong attacking skill of his. He simply flew for three meters in the air, heading directly towards the cavalry who was just about to break free from the stun effect, fell on his head with his sword, heavily smashing him to the ground. "10k!" Another high damage appeared on top of this cavalry, who initially had less than three thousand HP remaining in him. Without further ado, his HP hit the bottom, taking with him his five doppelgangers. With the relief of the ten doppelgangers, the ce looked more spacious, not for long as the stunned NPCs were freed, angry shouting and cursing, heading straight towards him! And with them, his seven shade doppelganger came as well! The ce suddenly turned into a mess of angry shouts and brutal jousts; however in the middle of everything Bloom was the only one standing there calm and collected. He knew his victory was secured! The NPCs were outnumbered, with low Hp, and he already could picture them falling, one by one. As they were charging madly towards him, he didn''t risk facing them all head on like this, especially when his doppelgangers were only moments away from reaching the NPCs. And so, he started to y defensively, for a moment here. "Darkness nihility skill!" He used this skill again, and as such he vanished from the sight of everyone; again! He didn''t hurry to attack, as he simply moved to the side, watching this group of seven NPCs waving their swords, hammers, and maces blindly, trying to hit a trace of shade of him in vain. He was already safe, and these moments of dy were all what he wanted. Instantly his own shade doppelganger appeared, falling like thunder over these NPCs, and an equal battle erupted, with seven against seven, as skills were exchanged instantly. However, in fact thisst stand wasn''t equal or fair at all; as Bloom started to move. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab." He used his double stabs towards each single one of them, making each one lose around four thousand Hp in this simple exchange. The effects were beyond these damage points, as his attacks disturbed and startled the NPCs, giving his shadow the chance to link with his far more powerful skills. And a barrage of dash skills erupted, stunning these NPCs, before Bloom stood to the side, calmly watching his shades finishing off all of them, leaving none alive! As the fight ended, he finally had time to check over his long rows of system notifications. The moment he did, he was surprised at first, before helplessly shaking his head. "This stingy wicked system!" He nced again at these fifty system notifications, as they were all repeating the same two messages. "System prompt: yer has attacked an official caravan going to help the Atler vige. as a punishment, yer will be deprived of any right to purchase or trade in the official vige services. If a yer stepped into the vige, the yer would be instantly killed. yer will have the red color above his head, and each killed NPC is redeemed by killing one hundred monster. The system regained the right of virtue forced by thew of the system facilities in the game, making yer only keep twenty percent of the loot. "System prompt: yer is using a disguise skill, so these punishments will befall upon the yer while using the fake identity; Sunny. However, the mary punishment enforced by the right of virtue and the red punishment still apply to the yer." As he nced at the messages again, feeling the system wouldn''t put any more pressure on him; another message popped up. "System prompt: The vige higher ups were notified by the deedsmitted by yer''s identity Sunny. You have one hour before the reinforcements arrive. If the reinforcements found you near the caravan even by your true identity, they will attack and imprison you for this felony." "Damn this game system not giving me a break!" He hurriedly nced around. The fallen NPCs had their armor, shields, and weapons still with them. He smiled evilly as he went ahead, and started collecting his loot, stripping them all, leaving them even naked! Chapter 88: Its Not A Crime to be Shameless While Collecting Loot Chapter 88: It''s Not A Crime to be Shameless While Collecting Loot He took everything; even normal clothes and other ornaments he found on their bodies. After finishing this, he headed straight towards the three caravans to check his main loot. Just as he was heading there, a horse popped up, then a second, and they both neighed. "What? Still loyal to your fallen owners?" he asked, with obvious discontent, as he didn''t have time to waste on these horses. However, at the next moment, he received four system notifications, driving a smile over his face. "System alert: the horse has acknowledged you as its master. As the yer''s level is currently so low, the yer can take the horse inside his inventory by simply touching its head for one minute." The four messages were the same, and instantly he put his hand over the first horse while ordering his shades: "Go and uncover these three caravans. Leave the fabric on the ground, it seems too valuable to waste." His shades hurried to execute his orders, while he waited for the one minute to pass. Just as the minute passed, the horse instantly vanished, and he received a prompt telling him about the sess of the process. He nced at the other thee, smiling in a weird greedy way before heading to the next and did the same with it and others. As he was doing that, his shades had already uncovered the caravans, gathering the three fabrics together in one ce. After finishing from the four horses, he went to the first caravan, and turned to find a treasure box waiting for him there! It was of no known rank to him, as it was simply made out of wood, closed by a lock. "Go and smash that lock," he ordered, and a group of the shades climbed the caravan and started hammering the lock with their swords. It didn''t take minutes for them to break this lock, and Bloom instantly jumped over the caravan, opening the chest treasure himself while saying: "Go there and break any other chest with locks like this." His shades all moved in unison, and as he opened the chest, he heard some knockinging from behind. He smiled, as his luck was good this time, and he had more than one chest treasure. The moment he opened the chest, he found it full to the half with gold coins, potions, and few scrolls. He justughed while taking everything to his inventory, without ncing for a second at any item he took. Once he emptied the whole chest, he jumped off the caravan, heading to the next one. He found there another treasure chest like the one he just looted. After waiting for a couple of minutes, he took everything inside, which was basically the same, and headed towards the next caravan. Thest caravan had the same treasure chest, plus arge strange box. The box was made of metal, with nothing there to lock it, as it was apact box, with a strange cone above its centre. It was dark blue in color with long red stripes covering its surface. The shape of it made Bloom feel how special it was, and instantly he put his hand over it and tried to get it into his inventory. And he managed to do that! "So it''s a special item, lucky me," he smiled while shifting his attention towards the final locked chest treasure, waiting for it to be opened. "Can I get these caravans inside as well?" he muttered as he tried putting his hand over its rail, trying to shift it inside his inventory. "System alert: DON''T BE THIS SHAMELESS!!!" He instantlyughed, as he didn''t think the system would be this funny. He totally ignored the systemment, while focusing over another thing; the timer of the arrival of the vige reinforcements. There was already less than thirty minutes remaining. "Going back to the vige is impossible right now, so I have to retreat fast through this road," he thought to himself as he opened the map again, assessing the distance to the vige, making sure of his conclusion. The road to the vige was long, and it needed at least one hour to do so. He thought of using a ticket to return to the vige, however he needed to cancel his disguise first, plus he wasn''t sure in the system to let him easily escape like this. "Click!" The chest treasure was opened, and he instantly went ahead and took everything in it. "Hurry up and run with me," he ordered, before jumping off the caravan, heading straight towards the opposite direction of the vige. Just as he went ahead, he took out a ticket and tried using it, however a system notification popped up, making him smile helplessly from this system tight scheme. "System alert: yer is still under special circumstances enforced by the quests he has. yer can''t use a ticket to return to the vige." "And you say I''m the shameless one! Sigh!" The road heading to the outside territory of the vige wasn''t that short though. Just as he ran and walked alternatively for fifteen minutes, a sudden change appeared on his map, coupled with a system prompt. "System alert: yer has gotten out from the close vicinity of his crime scene. If a yer wants to be safe, a distance of at least one hour difference between him and the pursuing forces must be achieved." He closed the system windows as he nced again over his map. There was arge red dot, heading fast towards his directioning from the vige. when he clicked it, he got an instant scare! "A full three hundred high leveled guards!!! What the hell are they doing here? do they think I''m the leader of the rebellion or something?!!" He hurriedly picked up his pace, running as much as he could, trying to get as far away from here as possible. This time he didn''t walk at all! He burnt down three vige basic stamina potions during the way, while his eyes were only ncing at the moving red dot. Chapter 89: Running Away from Cavalry NPCs Chapter 89: Running Away from Cavalry NPCs "They are using horses, these bastards!" he cursed as if they decided to follow up his trail to here, he would be doomed! The distance between him and the exit of this road needed at least one hour, and currently he had widened the gap between him and his pursuers to be more than forty minutes at least. However, this was considering they would move on foot, not on horses! "Screw you system! If you hate dark agents like me this bad, why the hell is there such a ss and such quests?!!!" he shouted out loud, trying to vent his anger. He pushed up his pace as hard as he could, while he kept track of the movements of the NPC army far behind. The moment they reached the caravan, they stopped there, not moving for a while. this made him breathe a sigh of relief, however after ten minutes they started to move, however dispersed in different ways. Half stayed at the caravan, seemingly guarding what was left of it. One fourth headed to the sides, while thest fourth started heading his way. He gritted his teeth. He needed at least forty minutes to exit this road, and he had one hour distance from the caravan, on foot. He prayed they would stand every now and then to check his location, but they didn''t! as he was already in this grave danger, his evil mind started giving him more solutions. "Good, let''s see how you will catch me then," heughed as he took out one of the potions he took from the treasure chest and threw it on the side of the road. He then went forward, and every five minutes he ditched one bottle, one NPC gear, and even a few gold coins! He didn''t have time to check what he was throwing, and he just hoped they wouldn''t be this huge loss to him, however his life was the most important thing now. For thirty minutes he kept ditching these items. His ferocious NPCs were about to reach the first location he threw a potion there. He stopped what he was doing, as he needed just ten minutes to be out of here, then a few more minutes to find a ce good enough for him to hide. He nervously watched the small red dot moving towards the ce he threw a potion there, with heart racing beats. "Yeah!!!" He shouted, raising both hands in the air, celebrating the sess of his trap. They stopped moving, as they stayed there for five more minutes, before moving again. the next thing he dropped was a useless shield, as he wasn''t a shield bearer ss, so he ditched it. As they reached there, they stopped, for a longer duration this time, exceeding full ten minutes, allowing him to finally exit the road. "Let''s hurry and find a ce suited to hide," he muttered, while ncing around in a hurry, looking for a ce to save his neck from prison at. There were three things in front of his wide view of the whole world; a road, a forest, and a wooden shack. "The forest then," he said, but as he was about to move, his mind suggested something, so he changed direction, scattering some items in the road for ten minutes, before returning again, hurrying to hide behind arge tree. This was a very vast world, and he hid just hundreds of meters away from the road. He nced at the red dot to find it only two more items away froming here. "Let''s cancel this disguise then," he muttered, as he opened his character profile, chose his lizard gear, read the conditions and then softly muttered: "Reverse disguise skill and pay one hundred and twenty gold coins to instantly reset it." "System alert: the skill is still in cooldown, can''t be reversed until the cooldown is off." "You are kidding me, right? Is this the time to care for the order of mymands?!!!" he took deep breaths to calm himself, before saying, while words came out of his gritted teeth: "Pay one hundred and twenty gold coins to reset the disguise skill cooldown, then reverse the skill please!" He wasn''t absolutely no sincere in his tone or intention, however the system replied, while his shape started to return to his usual thinner and shorter form: "System alert: One hundred and twenty gold coins were deducted from the yer''s ount." In less than a minute, the disguise he had was cancelled, and another system prompt kicked in. "System alert: Disguise skill has been reversed sessfully. Does the yer wish to store the details of the Sunny character for future disguises?" Bloom eye twitched while he muttered withplete shock: "On which side are you, light or dark? Huh? Sigh, forget it, you are a mere data and stupid system after all. Just keep it!" He was frustrated from the shamelessness of this system, as it was trying hard to waste time here so the NPC coulde and spot him. "" He then ducked under the tree, while ncing from time to time around him, just in case some monster would be funny enough to attack him from the back. After all he was in a forest, outside the vige territory. As there were a couple of minutes left until these NPCs woulde here, he tried to activate a ticket but again the system told him about his inability to do so. "So I''m stuck here waiting like a chicken in a barn!" he shook his headmenting the system abuse towards him. in minutes arge group of NPCs finally appeared in sight, looking angry, wielding their weapons and raising their shields high. They were riding big horses, like the ones he got from the two cavalries, and that made him realize how strong this group of thirty NPCs were. "If I got caught, I would be doomed," he reached this conclusion quickly, knowing how hard it was for him to escape this if got seen. Chapter 90: A Mysterious Being Chapter 90: A Mysterious Being So, he ducked further to the ground, until his own belly touched the warm soil of the forest, while his eyes like a tiger, set on his pursuers. However he wasn''t hunting them, he was escaping their hunt! The moment they got out, they stopped for a moment there, while ncing at the three options they had in front of them; a road, a shack, and a forest. They discussed something, and from his far position Bloom couldn''t hear a single word said! After that they got separated into three groups, with each heading to one of the possible ces for him to hide. "I''m doomed!" he muttered, and while he started to retreat, crawling away on his abdomen as far as possible from the forest frontline trees, a sudden change urred. "Hoy!" This shout came from one direction, and suddenly the other two groups moved in unison, swiftly responding to this calling. Bloom froze instantly, as he watched the three groups regrouped again, all standing in front of the big shack! In front of the shack, a person appeared. From his far ce, with all these tree leaves and long nts standing in his eyesight, he couldn''t make sure of the features of this NPC, but he was standing talking with the riders, telling them something. "Shit! I was careless and got seen by someone!" He hurriedly retreated further to the back when he heard a distant roar that gave him an instant scare! The next moment he turned around to see approximately hundreds of meters away from him the trees shook violently while another roar erupted, weaker than the first, with signs of distress. "Shit, there is a fight between monsters, here? right now?!!" He stopped at once, hesitated, as he thought about something. "If I got killed, won''t I be sent back to the vige?" He was talking to himself, but the system wasn''t this generous to let him try this and see the fate by himself. "System alert: yer can''t escape with any means other than using his survival skills to evade the following NPCs. Killing on the hands of others is considered a failure." Bloom just swallowed his throat, and all his curses at this moment he had for the system, as he heard the loud hooves of the ridersing towards his direction from far. He nced at once, neglecting the ongoing fierce monsters'' battle going on behind him and tried to spot anything. From the few gaps between the green all over him, he could see the general shapes of the riders,ing fast, from the direction of the shack, towards here. "I''m done for then," he helplessly sighed, as he prepared for the next fight. He wouldn''t fall without giving out a proper fight, and so he was well prepared for putting out his desperatest stand here. However, the next moment he heard the sounds of the hooves getting a turn, moving away from his ce. He also lost sight of them, making him feel quite speechless and rather happy. He had the courage when the sounds of the hooves started getting away from his ce, and their location on the map showed to him that they went into the road, instead ofing here to hunt him down. "What is going on here?!" He wasn''t pessimistic, or masochistic looking to be captured and killed, instead he felt quite puzzled. He nced at the direction of the shack, where this mystery held its veil covered there, to witness the man over there waving his hand to him, raising a single closed fist in the air, then instantly vanished like he wasn''t there to begin with. In the next moment, his questions were partly answered by the system prompt. "System alert: yer got the attention of a mysterious being. The mysterious being decided to lend the yer a hand here, helping divert the riders away. In ten minutes, the yer will be considered to have escaped safely from his pursuers, and he can reuse his ticket after this time, and the two quests are considered done." "" Bloom was speechless, before he recalled the strange prompt he had once his feet touched the ground of the vige. "Who is this being?" he muttered, and again the system gave him an unexpected reply. "System prompt: The being prefers his identity to be hidden at the current time. However, he is sending the yer one single message; keep wreaking havoc here and I will get your back supported." "Really?!!!" Bloom had current turbulent waves inside him right now more than ever! He didn''t think the system would detect his intentions, decided to aid him, and appointed one NPC to give him a hand at time of distress. "Anyway this is good news, so I can go berserk as much as I like, right?" he shook his head, while letting this topic down for now. He was once an NPC, and knew the bizarre nature of some. If one NPC decides to keep himself hidden from yers, he will easily aplish that. NPC''smunity was different than yers, and he was sure it was the same case here like it was back in his previous game. So, he waited for a couple of minutes, and when the roaring behind him grew louder, and the ruckus of that strong fight was getting closer to him, he decided to go out of the forest, after confirming the current locations of all three NPCs groups. They were all very far currently from his position, so when he exited the forest he found himself alone. He didn''t mind this loneliness and waited for more minutes until the ten minutes passed. Then he took out his token, and tried using it to go back to the vige, and in a few seconds he was moved from here heading back towards the vige once more, as Bloom, the one who just hijacked a high ranked merchant caravan and killed many NPCs in the process! Chapter 91: Receiving the Secret Class Quests Rewards Chapter 91: Receiving the Secret ss Quests Rewards The moment he appeared at the vige, he found it changed than before; some yers had already reached here. Despite his curiosity to go and check over the dozens of yers here, to get to know them and make friends with, he had something far important to do right now. Checking out his loot! Before he could do that, he started to receive a long row of messages from the system. "System alert: yer is now red color. As the yer was sent here under the system guidance, then the yer has one hour protection time. the yer is strongly advised to leave the ce during this period, avoid any direct contact with any NPC or trade or deal with any NPC until leaving the vige." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: kill the NPC. Killing number: twenty five. NPCs belonged to the gold shrine, but the yer didn''t activate the quest of shrines, making him lose such a rare opportunity. Despite that, the system will put this into his consideration, while giving the yer the final evaluation of the quest." "What the hell?" he suddenly was shocked by this prompt, making him realize how unique the chance he let slip through his fingers! He never thought of the shrine quest while attacking the NPCs, plus he didn''t get any punishment from the shrine for killing its members. "Should I kill an elder then to have the shrine curse?" he muttered, as he was looking for the curse of this shrine. For him curses worked perfectly fine, aligning with his main goals here. "System prompt: yer has to kill a special rank member of any shrine at least to get the curses of the shrines. Be d they were just mere weak members, or else you would have gotten a curse you will suffer greatly from, sigh!" "" Bloom was speechless. "Does this game have the old spirit of an ancient wise funny man?" he muttered to himself, while the system didn''t care about hisment. "System prompt: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: steal a merchant caravan quest. yer has sessfully stolen a merchant caravan, clearing all its content, and ran away without getting caught from the viger punishment force. The caravan belonged to the shrine of gold, but as the yer didn''t activate the steal from the shrine''s quest, the yer has wasted such a good chance for more rewards and benefits. However, the system will put this into consideration while assessing the yer''s performance, and will be put in mind when giving the yer his final assessment." "" Bloom went silent at the moment, not knowing what to say! He didn''t know this caravan belonged to such a shrine, or else he would have activated the two more quests as well. "System prompt: The final evaluation for the first quest is red evaluation. The final evaluation for the second quest is gold evaluation. yer has done an outstanding performance, even making a mysterious being notice him this early. As a reward, the system will give yers these rewards forpleting the two quests perfectly without getting caught or seen by anyone from the vige. 1. yer will have a free period of time from his ss questssting for two weeks. If a yer activates any more quests during this time, the yer will gain double rewards and a chance to elongate this period. 2. yer has gotten the tokens of five dark agents. These agents will work under hismand, and can be summoned and unsummoned at any time through the tokens. Getting anyone killed will make the yer pay a certain amount of gold to revive them. the yer can level them up with him, and if they get caught during any quest, they won''t be linked to the yer. They aren''t counted as members but like ves. They can''t be summoned in any system facility, can''t enter it, and can''t do any deals with NPCs behind the yer''s back. 3. yer was bestowed the rank of basic agent of darkness. yer can use his rank to call for more dark agents to follow. These agents will be sent from the battlefield, and they are considered members like the yer himself. If they get caught, they will be linked to the yer. If they die, the yer can''t revive them. They can''t be summoned in any system facility, can''t enter it, and can''t do any deals with NPCs behind the yer''s back. 4. yer has gained ess to contact with some higher ups in the dark camp fighting at the battlefield. yer can chat, request things from them, and gain some quests in return. 5. yer has gained ess to the dark campmon auction house. yer can view it through selecting it directly or through his secret ss page." The long rows of messages ended here. as the first one was the most important right now; he didn''t dy and moved at once, ignoring everyone, towards the gate of the vige. The main road had a higher chance to meet an NPC head on, so he took some side roads to avoid any trouble. "Sigh, I must find another way to escape the ce thaning here. this time I was lucky, the next I won''t," he muttered to himself, as he darted through the streets, with his eyes ncing everywhere. He was this stressed until he reached the gate. Despite the presence of guards there, they were stationed on the top of the gates, not on the ground. So, he avoided any direct contact with them, finally exiting the vige in half an hour. "Phew, finally out," he murmured, while starting to walk calmly, letting his stamina regenerate again. "So, basically I got some bunch of weird rewards, no money, no gears, no skills, or even skill points at least," heined in dissatisfaction, while reviewing the long rows of messages he received in a calmer mood. "System prompt: yer has his loot doubled from this quest as a reward of starting his first quest of his secret ss. DON''T BE THIS SHAMELESS PLEASE!" "You are the shameless one!" he instantly replied, shamelessly shaking his head in regret, while returning to nce at the list of rewards he had. The first thing he was excited about was the two week free leave he had from his secret ss quests. This period would be preciously used by him. the next thing he got was these strange five tokens, making him wonder about these. "Let''s see the loot, the DOUBLED LOOT MR GAME SYSTEM!" he said, while raising his head as he was speaking with some being in the sky! The moment he opened his inventory, he instantly got a shock! "Really? Thanks, thanks a lot Mr. merciful generous game system," his eyes shone brightly while he drooled over therge amount of items his inventory currently had! First of all, the gold coins he owned currently exceeded ten thousand pieces. That made him grin, as he knew the amount initially was a couple of thousands, but the system gave him a helping hand by doubling the loot. As for all the gear he took from the NPCs, he found them also doubled. Though he ditched many pieces already, he wasn''t now feeling the same pain he had when he did that! As for potions, he had hundreds of each category, and he had a dozen categories stored there! What piqued his interest weren''t the potions, but the scrolls! "Are they spells?" he muttered while taking one out and investigated it. Chapter 92: Meeting Nara Chapter 92: Meeting Nara "Vige dungeon instant respawn spell: It''s used to instantly summon a vige dungeon, five levels lower than the yer level, with gold rank at maximum." "Yes, it''s a spell," he nodded as stored the scroll inside his inventory again, rapidly scanning the others to find them all like this one. "So this was meant for the vige to train their guards?" he thought about these scrolls, as he had roughly a hundred of them. Thew here was for the yer to face monsters higher than him with five levels, and that also applied to the dungeon levels, a more reason for the leveler to be present in any team. However these scrolls would solve a huge problem for yers. "If yers knew about these in the right time, then I can easily amass a huge amount of money," he muttered with shining eyes and drooling mouth. He knew how hard it was to adapt to this first stage ofing to vige, but he would be stupid to sell them at this time. "I have to wait for yers to reach level twenty at least, then I can get a very high price for these scrolls." He then had only one thing left, this strange box. "I can''t just take it out in the open like this, I need some ce hidden to do that," he muttered as he passed through the vige leveling basic grounds, surrounded by peacefully eating or moving monsters. As he was thinking about finding a ce for him to take out the box and examine it, he felt there was some group of yers stalking him! At first he thought they were heading towards the leveling wilderness grounds, so he changed his course, shifting off the main direction to there. however they still followed. After confirming they were following him, he stopped, just a mile or less away from the safe tree line, turned around and patiently waited for them. He didn''t fill the death souls he could amass to the fullest, making him able to kill more yers with ease. However he wasn''t such a maniac, as long as they weren''t those of bad luck to have mainline quests, he wouldn''t go out of his line and kill them; except if they were really annoying, like that annoying Derick. He stopped, and they stopped, while none spoke. The atmosphere felt heavy, especially on the new yers, who were ncing at a living legend, seeing him this far, and this was like a dream to some. But not all of them were mesmerized by the presence of Bloom. They were a small group of seven yers, all from one faction, and it seemed to him they were friends orrades for such a long time already. Their moves were unified, and when they stopped one yer moved a couple of steps and stood in their front, indicating his superiority. They all had gears, two gears on each yer''s body, one weapon and the other was armor, indicating their experience in knowing what was more important than most in the beginning. Out of the seven, there were three females and four males, and their leader, surprisingly, was a female yer, a double sword wielder faction girl, looked pretty serious and tough. She was slightly taller than him, with a face that wasn''t that stunning in beauty, but she had her own traits. Her hair was ck, like the color of her eyes, long and aligned together to form a long ponytail. Her stance told him that she wasn''t a newbie, with the way she was holding the two swords, putting them over her shoulders like she didn''t care about anything in the world. He felt her self confidence, but he didn''t know if she was arrogant or not, a friend or a foe. "Hi, I think you are yer Bloom, right?" she spoke with her tone that had a slight touch of harshness in it, making it weird toe from a girl like her. Bloom examined her again, full breasts bulging, slightly covered by her thinly carved armor, her wavy body and smooth white skin making her a female, not a male. "It''s me, who are you?" "We are here seeking for peace," the girl said, before pointing one of her swords to the backline of six yers, "I''m Nara, and these are my team, or what''s left of it. this stupid game moved us randomly and let us be separated. Out of a fifty team, all I have now are those six, and me." Her words were spontaneous, hiding nothing from Bloom who knew she spoke the truth. The rule of the game to separate yers from each other was such a harsh rule on many yers, especially those who had many yers already in their teams. "It''s a bizarre rule indeed, and I wee any friends like I wee any enemy," he replied calmly as he wasn''t feeling any pressure from being outnumbered like this. "Calm down, I''m not the enemy you should trouble yourself with, but there is one you should take seriously," she said while waving the sword towards the distant tree line, as there were many yer shadows standing in between the trees, as if they were waiting for something. "Are they my enemies?" he asked. "They are our enemies, of course if you agreed for us to be ying with you," she said, giving him her offer. Bloom nced at the distant tree line. He wasn''t afraid of facing all those yers, however the offer he had just now was what interested him. "I work as the boss at any ce I go, is there a problem with that?" he asked directly without even ncing away from the tree line, giving his back to the seven yers here. "Sure, we know of your deeds and I trust you will take us to new heights," Nara instantly said, without having a moment of doubt. "That''s great then," Bloom chuckled as he created a group and sent invitations to the yers standing in front of them. "There is one more thing," Nara said after epting the invitation, "these enemies are all instigated by a single yer, one who hailed from a noble and wealthy family in the real life. he learnt about your presence here and he was so jealous it seems of you, so he made an offer to those in the vige. Many responded, to be honest all except us took the offer, and they are now waiting for you there at the tree line, as they n to ambush you there." Her words piqued the interest of Bloom who pointed to the tree line up ahead as he asked: "What''s the name of that yer?" "Panty," she replied, and the moment she did, Bloom nced at her with a widened eyes before he burst out in a wave ofughter. "Oh god, destiny really has its own tricks sometimes, hahaha!" Chapter 93: Killing Players with One Hit is Now A History Chapter 93: Killing yers with One Hit is Now A History Bloom didn''t imagine that his target was like Derick, arrogantlying to look for him seeking a fight. He evilly smirked as he had now a nice game to y. ''I just hope he has the quest, or else I will have to keep killing him until he quit the game.'' Bloom was thinking about his death soul absorption effect, as when killing Panty he wouldn''t be able to join the game for a couple of days. So, he just dreamt for Panty to have the quest and for the quest to be lost in the same way Derick had. Of course he was just dreaming, and nothing of this was true. "Listen, I will ask you something important to do," Bloom turned to face Nara and the others. "Do you n on facing them head on?" she said in a shocked tone. "Why not?" he shrugged, "I can easily kill them but their sneaky coward leader will escape, and I don''t n on letting him run away. So, I will need your help in this." "A decoy? We are against all these yers?" she asked, pointing to herself then towards the nearby tree line. "A decoy for sure, but not for the yers," he sneered as he started to exin his n. He only gave them tasks, some warnings and tips. As he would have the most dangerous and tiring part; in their opinion, they didn''tin at all. For him, he wasn''t that kind of a team leader to take the hardest task for him; he was just seeking to fill his missing death points. "Let''s go," he muttered, and before going on towards the tree line, he did something extra for his own satisfaction. "System alert: yer has chosen the kill yers quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one hundred yers in a day. You must kill yers belonging to the vige. You can kill the yers inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer has chosen the trick yers quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one yer at least, and trick him. the trick must be in something the yer wants, owns, or wants to know. The yer must be part of the vige. the yer must be convinced by your deeds and not discover your trick. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." He sneered as the first quest of killing yers would bepleted easily. The number of yers he spotted were in hundreds, making him sure he would be able to fill up the missing hundreds of his death soul points. As for tricking the yers, he considered his deal with Nara and others as tricking them, not only in hiding the truth of his death souls, but also regarding the arrangement of the battle; he lied to them. He gave them simple instructions about a specific course of the fight, however he was positively sure the fight would take another route. As he moved towards the tree line, Nara and her group of yers vanished to do their task. Their role would start after his attack on the yers, creating a gap for them to sneak through, looking for Panty to kill. His appearance,ing so calm and collected towards the trees, gave his enemies the false impression that he fell in their trap! However, just as he was a couple of tens of meters away from the tree line, the first attack came from him, not them. "Shade doppelganger festival." The next moment, eleven shadows appeared around him. they were all exactly looking like him, but ck in color. "Go and kill them all," he muttered, as he never stopped his walk towards the line of trees. His doppelgangers moved, and eleven of them attacked the yers who were taken by surprise. "5000" "5000" "6500" "4500" "2000" "7000" "6000" "5500" "2500" "8000" "5600" Eleven points of damage rose from the top of yers behind the trees. "Oh, there are two yers who rose their levels quite fast indeed," he sneered as he spotted those two yers as he was getting so close to them. His doppelganger had half of his all strength, but due to the one level difference, this point was negated and their attacks were amplified by their skills as well. However the two yers who had two thousand and two thousand and five hundred points of damage were different; making Bloom quite sure their levels were like his, level eleven, while their gears were also remarkable, aiding a lot in their defense. As for one hit kill yers, that was now a thing of the past. Each of these yers had reached level ten, had at least a couple of lever five gears now on their bodies. Their Hp was at least exceeding dozen thousand points, and even with trash low leveled gears, their defenses would be boosted as well. So, hitting them with one skill and killing these yers was now an old tale to be told. He needed at least three to four skills connected together to kill a single yer of them, without any interruption of a healer or using Hp potions which would start to be amon thing to obtain. "Stab!" "5500" His first stab skill hitting one of the normal yers took out nearly one third of that yer Hp. He didn''t aim to finish him but as long as he was standing in his way to use his dash, he had to eliminate him. "Stab." "10000" And it was a crit! A system notification kicked in and he totally ignored it, he wouldn''t receive just one, he would receive hundreds of them. "Dash!" He linked his stab with his ssic movable skill. The target was one of the two yers he was setting his eyes upon, and now he could be sure of the factions of these two yers. "Annoying!" They were like Gored, shield bearer faction, holding two shields at the same time, deflecting most of the damage off their bodies. However his dash was so domineering, not in its damage, but in its stun! "7500" Chapter 94: Bloom is Unstoppable!! Chapter 94: Bloom is Unstoppable!! His stun took effect instantly, and the next thing he did was to use his two swords with four subsequent stabs, killing the yer and then nced at the distant one. "Dash!" Another dash and another stun. The yer couldn''t do anything to this dash, and the stun that came next made it easier for Bloom to kill him in less than four attacks. This came as a sudden p to all yers around him who thought themselves mighty and strong in numbers and skills. in less than ten seconds he managed to kill three yers, while five more fell under the swords of his doppelgangers. "-500" "-400" "-450" Three attacks fell on him, followed by a dizzy effect from an attack that nearly did nothing but take less than two hundred points from his Hp. "How I hate these dizzy skills!" he muttered while shaking his head in a spontaneous move to negate the dizzy effect. In fact this skill wasn''t that effective after all, as he was surrounded by a dense pack of yers,ing towards him without the need for him to look hard for them. "Ground breaker!" He instantly used his defense skill, and his sword moved to block one of the iing attacks on his back. The next moment he turned to face the yer where he linked it with another skill; slice skill. The yer was sent flying back a couple of meters under the passive effect of the sent to fly skill, and he just followed his flying body, forcibly under the effect of his slice skill. He moved along the side of the yer, changing his location away from the ce he was currently at, before using another skill. "Hawk!" Instantly he jumped in the air once, hitting his sword with a yer''s body, sending him flying, before jumping again, changing his trajectory to apletely different location, hitting another yer and sending him flying. "Dash piercer!" He instantly jumped three meters in the air, and as he wasnding, with his sword hitting a yer, sending him flying backward, he linked it with another skill; cloud of fog skill! Instantly he jumped again into a different direction, hitting another yer, sending him flying away, before jumping again, again, and again for a total of five times, hitting six yers directly, sending them all flying backward like cannonballs! And at this moment the dizzy effect he was subjected to vanished! "My turn!" he evilly smiled as he neglected all the shocked and feared yers around him, as he moved his gaze towards the distant row of staff holder and light daughter yers. "Shadow steps!" He used this semi-stealth skill to increase his speed and move like a bullet towards the rear yers. He couldn''t attack or get attacked by any skill, and frankly speaking in regard to his high speed, no one could even react properly to him. However just as he was less than ten meters away from his aim, few shield bearers appeared blocking his way. "Stab, stab, slice," He used two stabs attacking one yer. His swords fell upon his raised two shields, negating most of the damage taken but he was sent flying backward. He linked the two with a slice, to bypass the yer and most of others, with only one yer standing between him and his meal. "Swift kick!" The solution was easy, as he rotated around himself, and kicked the yer directly on one shield he was bearing. The yer was sent flying to the back, creating an empty space between Bloom and those weak staff holders and light daughters. "Sorry, I''m not adies bully, but today you have to die!" All of them were female yers, with some beauties among them. if in another time, he might consider ying little with them, making them quite satisfied, however they chose to stand against him today, and so he had to bully them. It was a known fact that staff holders and light daughters had weak defenses and low Hp, so he just moved among them, used stabs right and left, while he linked them with slices if he needed to cross a gap of meters to reach his next target. He was like a cannon firing, not bullets but yers! anywhere he moved to, yers were thrown right and left, and despite the rapid reaction of other factions, running towards him, even hitting him sessfully many times, he was unfazed with these attacks; as they were all in three figures, mostly couple of hundreds and mostly were five hundred damage. That made him unable to even worry about his Hp! Instead of that, he kept waving his sword calmly and steadily, while from time to time he changed his location as a whole, using dash, hawk, and dash piercer skills; coupled with his deadly cloud of fog skill to make the mission of trapping and hitting him much more difficult! Like a tiger descending from a mountain, he was unstoppable! Any yer who wasn''t killed with his skills was sent flying, hitting the ground massively before suffering an additional damage! The most annoying skill these yers faced was strangely the swift kick skill! they couldn''t anticipate it, and on one managed to block, defend, or evade it! He always kept using it in times where he was about to get surrounded and he was about to kill a yer! One hour! During one hour this whole massacre took, he used three vige intermediate Hp potions, killed over three hundred yers, and much more were now scattered randomly around him with their Hps below half and third of their initial values! ''We found him!'' Nara finally sent this message with the coordinates of the Panty''s location. He nced at the message to see that Panty wasn''t that far away from him, as he was already trying his luck with the monsters just outside the tree line. ''He isn''t alone, around a hundred yers are with him, helping him in leveling up,'' she added as she sent a small video that he didn''t care to check. After all, Panty and all the yers with him and all the yers here were considered dead for him. ''Start your part, and I will instantlye once you send me the signal,'' he sent back, while turning to y more with these idiotic poor yers. Chapter 95: Panty and His Five Elite Players Chapter 95: Panty and His Five Elite yers Bloom kept killing yers right and left, without anyone able to match hisplicated, hard to be predicted way of fight. Hisrge diversity of skills made yers hopeless. yers at level ten would have three to four skills max, but currently Bloom was jumping between a skill and another like he had a whole skill tree unlocked for him alone; like he was a special yer different than others. However he wasn''t pressuring over them, as he already had delivered the message he wanted, took hundreds of death souls, andpleted one of his secret ss quests. What he was waiting for was Nara''s signal, and so he just kept moving without fully concentrating over the yers here; and so he didn''t notice that yers started escaping. Hundreds of yers started to run, leaving him so sudden alone, without anyone else around. "Oh, so you escaped, sigh!" he muttered when he nced over the distance to find yers all standing on a distance, far away from him. He lost interest in killing them, as he had his big fish now trapped and was about to fall in bait. "I hope Nara and her team will be up to the task," he muttered as he waited, motionless in his ce, while his back was now to yers; however not a single one dared to attack him. If a beast like his decided to let them live, howe they would be so stupid to go again and irritate him? so, the scene was really funny with one yer standing before hundreds of yers while his focus was totally directed towards a specific location. ''We are ready, start moving towards us,'' Nara sent as she started executing his n. The n was simple yet he lied about a simple fact about it. He started to walk while not feeling any guilt at tricking and lying at his new team, after all he wasn''t the one to approach them first. As he was walking so carefree, leaving the hundreds of yers behind heaving a long deep sigh of relief, he recalled the simple n and white lie he told Nara and others about. He described the monster he used to kill from before, and asked them to attract a group of these monsters, move towards the direction of Panty and his team. yers at this stage weren''t well aware of the vige special rules regarding leveling up; so he asked them to run directly towards Panty and his group, shield themselves there while Panty and his team would start killing the monsters. So far this was a perfect n where he hid nothing from them, but when Nara asked about the special skill of the monsters, he lied and told her that it was an individual skill directed towards the one with the highest DPS. So, as long as they didn''t deal great damage to monsters then they would be fine. And they brought his words to the letter! And he was perfectly sure if they stayed there while these monsters used their special skills then none of them would emerge alive. He chuckled when he imagined the situation where these monsters would start using their skills, making everyone unable to use their skills at all! yers with their weak minds and shallow experience would falter for sure, and even if some were veterans; they didn''t y long in the game to take control of things regarding the skills each yer was using. As for his perfect excuse, he had two; first he told them he didn''t kill such a monster before, only saw them fight each other once, deducted their special skill and being wrong wasn''t bad, right? Also he described the monsters perfectly except some few little remarks that would make a difference if things got heated up; like neglecting to mention tentacles, and the presence of one horn instead of two. If they were so bitter in him cunning them then he would prefer to kill them and go on his way. The distance between his location and Panty''s took roughly ten minutes walking, three to four running. Despite he didn''t n to interfere early on, he ran to the ce of the battle so he could do two things; observe the yers'' ying style, and kill anyone of them who might try to escape. Someone like Panty wouldn''t select mere hundred yers without having some good traits in them. what he didn''t count for when he decided to target Panty''s quest was the presence of other yers there. If he allowed this team to stay, be only one to two levels different from him, then he would be doomed! He had to diminish their levels constantly, killing them, killing anyone else Panty might hire as his bodyguard; in the end he had to kite this wealthy spoiled kid until the time of executing his quest. So he needed to study these yers well; plus he had to turn this arrogant rash decision of Panty into a personal feud, so he would have an excuse to constantly kill him and his elite team. So, he reached there in less than three minutes, and the fight he witnessed made his scalp numb! The monsters were really tyrant! Nara selected a group of fifty monsters, and despite their low numbers they were wreaking havoc towards Panty''s team. The team was already having some difficulty dealing with a leopard-like group of monsters. The sudden appearance of this huge group startled them, and caused many to lose their lives in the first minutes of sh. When Bloom reached there he found around seventy five yers around a single yer, tall with well built physique, and a stance that told a lot of how arrogant and self confident he was. Despite everyone being scared, five of the yers stood calm, giving orders to others, assigning their roles and giving them directions. "So you didn''te here all alone after all, huh!" Bloom muttered as those five instantly attracted his attention, as they weren''t just veterans, they seemed to have long experience in facing deadly situations. "No matter what, I just nned to screw your quest once however here you are making it personal, like that jerk Derick!" Chapter 96: I Must Build My Own Team As Well! Chapter 96: I Must Build My Own Team As Well! Bloom stayed, hiding in the trees away from the sights of his prey. He was watching the chaotic moments of battle thatsted for a couple of more minutes, plus a ten more casualties before things started to be under Panty''s control again. The credit for that lied in the five very experienced yers on his side; they acted as five pirs, gathering up yers around each one, directing them to act, arranging their defense and making them able to hold. The first thing Panty did was to retreat towards the tree line, trying to lose one of the two groups. In front of Bloom''s eyes, when Panty''s group did that, the two attacking groups of monsters got in an internal conflict with each other, while only a small part of each group went on after Panty''s group. "That''s new," Bloom chuckled as he never thought shing two groups of monsters would yield such a result! The two groups of monsters each considered Panty''s team as his, shifting the battle from a fight to kill Panty to a fight on controlling a territory. That made the pressure over Panty''s group decrease by a huge obvious margin. Bloom didn''t think such a coincidence might happen, and he didn''t neglect the main instigator for that; the five yers with Panty. "These yers must be killed all the way to zero!" He signed their death decree with a cold heart and ruthless mind. His enemy had such a grand card that would instantly cause him a lot of trouble when dealing with the shrine''s caravan quest. As he stood there watching the fight, that turned from one hundred monsters battling sixty five teams of yers into twenty monsters fighting the same number of yers; he was pretty sure Panty would end up dead no matter what! The higher number of those two headed horned monsters he sent Nara to lure made him quitefortable regarding this oue, especially when there were only an odd number of monsters there. As for the other type of monsters, he didn''t know their super skill yet, and if it was something interesting like cancelling the system support skill, then Panty''s team fate would be sealed. The yers in Panty''s team weren''t a push over either, as they fought the monsters well enough to make Bloom realize they weren''t newbies. "So you gathered five elite yers, and a hundred of experienced ones. Good strategy indeed," he muttered while realizing that from the start of the fight up till now, not a single yer ran off from the ce. "It seems I will need to take that caravan quest far more serious than I initially intended." He had to find a way to match therge number of Panty''s team if he wanted to sabotage that quest. In the next couple of minutes, a new thing developed that made him speechless! Panty took out a huge number of potions, gave them to his five main butlers, and they started distributing them over the rest of yers; even to Nara and her team! From his ce he couldn''t tell a thing about these potions, but even if they were of the basic type, the number Panty took meant he had them in hundreds! And he didn''t even care about handing them over to others, even to strangers like Nara and her team! "A wealthy spoiled kid indeed," Bloom sighed as he couldn''t do a thing regarding this generous hand of Panty. If his personality wasn''t that bad, and he didn''t seek to harm Bloom in the first ce, Bloom would really consider adding him to his team! Having such a goose thaty golden eggs all the time wasn''t a bad thing, right? ''Boss where are you?'' Nara asked suddenly in a message, ''They are handling the monsters perfectly fine so far. The trap isn''t seeding and they are trying to pouch us into their team!'' ''I''m just behind you, on the line of trees, waiting for a perfect moment to intervene. By the way, what is the grade of the potions he gave to you?'' ''A vige advanced Hp potion, a vige advanced Mp potion, and others like these.'' The reply of her made his scalp numb! "Damn you arrogant rash rascal! Why did you choose to stand against me? stupid idiot spoiled kid!" He inwardly cursed Panty, as he now wasmenting over his lost golden goose. ''When are you going to attack?'' Nara sent again, and this time he simply replied: ''In a minute!'' He wasn''t lying this time, as in front of him the monsters tried to run already when their Hp fell below fifty percent, however Panty''s team was ready to intercept them all. The advantage of having a great number of followers proved its worth here. if it was him and his shades, he wouldn''t be able to stop even one third of these monsters, couldn''t even kill one tenth of their total numbers in the end. "Sigh, I need to consider building my own faction then," he muttered as he always lived alone as NPC, however he now saw the importance and advantage of having arge team of yers with him. To do so, he needed to entice yers with what they mostly wanted. He couldn''t use gold anymore, as his enemy already was far ahead of him in that. so, he only had to find other ways to lure yers to join him. As for his one minute time, he didn''t exaggerate when he said that. ording to his observation, these monsters would lose their Hp below the limit of twenty percent in less than a minute! "Roar!" Just as thirty seconds passed, one of the double headed horned monsters roared, its horns shone brightly before a shock wave erupted, sending everyone away from it. "My time to shine!" Bloom was spared from this shock wave, but when he jumped off the tree line, heading directly towards Panty and his yers; he felt some unpleasant feeling in his body. "So the skill would affect anyone stepping into its range? Interesting!" Chapter 97: A Confrontation with Panty and His Butlers Chapter 97: A Confrontation with Panty and His Butlers Bloom''s sudden appearance wasn''t the only thing that caused the alertness of Panty and his team; there was much grave crisis they were facing;;no skill was used properly! No skill could be used at all!! So Bloom wasn''t the least of their problems, and not thest! "Aaah! Someone help m" "Skills are busted! Ru." "Bloom! It''s Bloom!" Screams started to rise up one after another, and despite some notice of Bloom, including two of the five butlers of Panty, no one responded to their orders regarding attacking him, no one responded to any order anymore. ''Boss, help!'' Nara suddenly sent this to him, as she was seeing the others of Panty''s team being ughtered without being able to fight back. ''Run towards the tree line,'' he said, and this wasn''t enough to cover up his lie, ''I will summon my shadows to intercept any monster following you, run!'' And she bought it! not alone, but with other yers in her team as well! Her running came as thest blow to crush any remaining resistance inside anyone of Panty''s normal team, and so one after another started to run away, running from the imminent death. And that made the possibility for anyone to learn how to use skills null, the possibility for anyone to force another monster to use its supreme skill null. And Bloom didn''t intend to let them escape, as he still had some vacant spaces in his death souls'' space to be filled with more dead yers'' souls. "Stab!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty five percent of its effect!" "Wow, this is my first perfect skill execution ever!" he chuckled as his sword moved, activating the skill in the process, making the yer he hit lose almost five thousand Hp! "Five thousand? That''s not bad! I wonder when I will be able to execute the skill with one hundred and fifty percent effect!" heughed like walking in the park, not in the middle of a fight. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty five percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only ny five percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only ny percent of its effect!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy five percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty fivepercent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only eighty percent of its effect!" "System alert: perfect skill execution, skill is activated with only ny percent of its effect!" "System alert: intermediate skill execution, skill is activated with only seventy five percent of its effect!" "5500, 7500, 4500, 10000, 8000, 5500, 4500, 6000, 7500, 15000" A long row of damage urred after his sess streak that even impressed him. He started to pay attention to the movements of his skills during hisst fight, but he never thought he would gain such a boost in doing that! "I need to pay more attention to using my skills from now on," he muttered after killing over seven yers with his barrage of attacks just now. The yers were running everywhere, and monsters were running after them. He prepared himself to meet some monsters, trying to explore the new monsters'' skill as he was about to face one of them in a few moments. However another shock wave came to send him flying backwards at this moment! "What the hell?!!" he cursed out loud, and when he stood straight he found that during his attack on yers, the five butlers started fighting one double horned monster, reducing its Hp below twenty percent in exchange for losing two of theirpanions in the process. A decent sacrifice, a sacrifice that helped in saving Panty''s ass from being killed by monsters! "Come back,e and fight! Skills can be used again!" It was Panty who shouted back at his running yers, while he and the other living three were using their skills to demonstrate to others the truth of his words. "Damn you! But not for long! Shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment, eleven shadows appeared and he instantly ordered: "Go towards one double horned monster and kill it." They didn''t say a word as they moved fast, heading straight towards the nearest double horned monster to attack it. Bloom wasn''t that far from Panty, and thetter turned to directly face him, with a mocking smile over his face. "Dash!" Bloom didn''t speak anymore, as he used his trump card skill to move from his slightly far ce, heading directly towards Panty. "8000" However, who was hit by the skill wasn''t Panty, instead one of his butlers who moved just in time to stand between the two, taking the full toll of the skill directly on, sending him flying back under the effect of the dash. However Bloom, who was now flying alongside him, didn''t intend to let this irritating silly smile over Panty''s face tost! "Cloud of fog!" Just when the other two butlers killed the monster and were about to turn and face him with Panty standing still with his smug smile over his face; Bloom used another trump card skill. "8000, 7500, 16000" Three huge damage appeared on top of the three around him, sending them all flying! Thest attack fell over Panty, sending him flying backward, losing more than eighty percent of his Hp. "Roar!" And at this moment, Bloom''s shades activated the super skill of the other monster, sending a shocking wave affecting everyone, sending Bloom and Panty much further away. "Hahaha, you can''t easily kill me today, yer Bloom!" Panty''sugh was followed by taking out one of his advanced vige Hp potion, as he gulped it in one breath, regaining most of his lost Hp! "In your dreams! Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab" Chapter 98: Killing Everyone Chapter 98: Killing Everyone Panty had replenished his Hp to eighty percent using the vige special Hp potion, however Bloom didn''t let him be happy with this, as he used his own barrage of attacks to make sure Panty would never be able to use this potion here anymore. " Stab, slice, stab, stab, stab" His own skills continued even when Panty fell to the ground dead. He was frustrated by this arrogant bastard, feeling more frustration knowing that he would need to face the same hurdle when going to topple with Panty''s quest. As Panty fell to the ground, Bloom fetched the items that he lost. yers killed on his hands up till now were all poor, with not much items in their inventory to lose. But this one; this was a fat sheep for him! He took the two potions fell from Panty, knowing they would be one of the finest of their kind. And then he turned to face the three butlers, and the rest of the yers. "Mate, we are just hired to guard him, no personal grudge here." Bloom nced at the three butlers, knowing that what this man said was true; however he didn''t intend in letting them go off this easily. He knew Panty wasn''t the problem, they were! So he needed to always create a gap between the two sides, making sure he would be higher than them in levels. So he didn''t show them any mercy, and used his own attacks on the three, making them all lose their Hp and fall on the ground dead. "Sorry mate, me your boss for making me his enemy, no personal grudge though," he said to the butler before killing him and taking away his dropped potions. The butlers were as fat as their boss, with inventory full of potions. He meant every word he said, except that even Panty didn''t select Bloom as an enemy, Bloom would have fought them as well for ruining their quest. By the loss of their boss, and the frightening five yers under him, other yers were terrified to keep fighting, and those who didn''t yet escaped hurried to run faster than others. Bloom stood in the middle of the ce which was now almost emptied of yers, except for his own team. "You retreat to the tree line and I will cover you," he said, acting somehow noble despite being the main culprit here. "Be careful," Nara said, while ncing rapidly at the shades he just summoned minutes ago before hurrying to retreat. In fact she knew how strong and talented Bloom was, as she was one of many who watched and studied his style of fighting. However she never expected him to be much stronger than them, not this fast at least! It was only a gap of one level, one day, and now he was using a skill that made her unable to think of a way to counter it. Or imitate it! "I need to be stronger!" she gritted her teeth, as the main reason for her toe and offer her help to him was to win him over; one way or another she must win him, or else the consequences would be severe. "Mydy" one of the six yers standing beside her on the tree line said, and his eyes said what he wanted to say. "I know, we might be forced to ask for our main assassin toe," she said, before turning to nce at Bloom who was currently retreating slowly, with the help of his shades. "You forced my hand to use my best card, let''s see what you will do Bloom!" she murmured, and her eyes shone with a cold bright light. "And Panty?" another yer asked, "we can ask our big master to put some pressure over his father," the yer added. "Sigh, he is just as arrogant and stubborn as that Bloom over there," Nara sighed as she shook her head. "He just refused the alliance when he thought he was the sheriff of the vige, but now he knows he has a very strong contender. He might ept our terms," a third yer said. "No, leave this thing as nned, we don''t need to deal with anyone except with Bloom," Nara said in a decisive tone, while the others around her nodded and said nothing. As for Bloom, he was too far of them to hear a single word or doubt a thing. He was now concerned with retreating without losing anything. He tried to test the new monsters out, but the sheer numbers of the two kinds of monsters with the present active supreme skill made him and his shades in a very unfavorable position. After losing five of his shades in no time, he decided to withdraw, and when he reached the tree line, he only had two of them left! Just as he stepped on the ground of safety, he received system alerts one after another, but it wasn''t yet the time to check them. "Great fight, I''m sure Panty would think twice before crossing skills with you again," Nara said the moment Bloom reached the tree line. Bloom smiled and nced first around him; they were all alone! The yer army who was filling the ce disappeared, and he was pretty sure they all walked away from this spot, looking for other ces to start leveling from. "I''m pretty sure we will fight again so soon," he simply replied to her before ncing over at the monsters. By losing their targets, the monsters started fighting among themselves, each wanting to dominate the region. "Interesting," he muttered, as he had a new idea of leveling up. "What?" Nara asked, as she nced over the fighting monsters not seeing what Bloom was able to see. "Nothing," he shrugged, before turning to her again, "I want to assign a task for you," he said. "Just ask, after all you are our leader," she said, and Bloom didn''t detect the unusual tone she used to say these words; however her yers did. Chapter 99: Completing Two More Secret Class Quests Chapter 99: Completing Two More Secret ss Quests She wasn''t used to being ordered around by someone, or being led by anyone, except for her own father, and she also usually acted in defiance to his words. "I want you to go to the vige and gather around a team of twenty yers," he said. "Want to form your own team bigger? A fifty or a hundred?" she asked. "Sure, but I want the best of the best, so if you couldn''t find a good candidate, leave some spots open forter then." She nced at him, while her eyes shone brightly as her request matched strangely with her own nning. "What if I found more?" she asked. "Bring them all then," he shrugged, as he simply didn''t believe she could find more than twenty yers this easily. "Be sure they aren''t agents of Panty," he added, as he might use themter on at his own ns. "How can we know that?" this time one of the silent, always silent, yers around Nara spoke up. "I dunno, but if I found an agent of his, I won''t let him y this game ever again, I swear," Bloom casually said, like he was promising of hanging out on a summer eve. "Don''t worry, I will make sure they won''t be loyal to Panty," Nara said, cutting the road of the small conflict to erupt here, "but may I ask why are you so sure of him being against you this badly?" she asked. She wasn''t the personal enemy of Panty, as he wanted to curry favor and might her body and heritage as well. As for Bloom, she only saw him a normal person; yes brilliant yer so far, but he seemed normal. "It''s just a hunch," he replied, without telling no more, "go now and when you are ready just send me a message," he added, before watching them using the tickets to return to the vige. "The strange thing is the attitude of Panty, he didn''t feel any surprise to see you appear in the middle of his ranks, or even tried to kick you away for once. something smells here," he muttered, as this was something he noticed when he watched the fight from before. However they helped him in killing Panty, making them for sure Panty''s enemies, or at least not his allies. "I will wait and see what you really n to do," he muttered as his gaze shifted over towards the ongoing fight between monsters. The initial one hundred group of mixed monsters had lost over half of their poption now, while the rest were still fighting hard with their Hp declining steadily. "This might work as a strategy to level up," he muttered before thinking about another thing. "If we managed to cause damage to all monsters, before retreating, then would we have all the Xp? Or part of it? or none?" This was another thing he didn''t know yet, but he intended to put this theory to test when Nara returned with more yers. "Sigh, if only I can have very loyal yers, to use them in doing my ss tasks," he sighed, before recalling that he received system alerts while talking with Nara and didn''t check them, plus he also recalled that he gained some benefits from the previous tasks but he didn''t check them yet. So, he opened his alert messages, while waiting for the monster fight to settle. "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: the kill yers quest. yer has sessfully killed at least one yer. The quest required the yer to kill just one yer, and the yer had killed three hundred and sixty nine yers, exceeding the initial limit put by the system. However, the system will put this into consideration while assessing the yer''s performance, and will be put in mind when giving the yer his final assessment." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: the trick yers quest. yer has sessfully tricked at least one yer. The quest required the yer to trick just one yer, and the yer had tricked one hundred and seven yers, exceeding the initial limit put by the system. yer had done more than one trick, and yers didn''t manage to spot the trick before it was toote. Despite that, the yer didn''t pull off a major trick here, and only used small tricks toplete the quest. However, the system will put this into consideration while assessing the yer''s performance, and will be put in mind when giving the yer his final assessment." "System prompt: The final evaluation for the first quest is gold evaluation. The final evaluation for the second quest is green evaluation. As a reward, the system will give yers these rewards forpleting the two quests perfectly. 1. yer will have a free period of time from his ss questssting for one more week. If a yer activates any more quests during this time, the yer will gain double rewards and a chance to elongate this period. 2. yer has gotten the tokens of four dark agents. These agents will work under hismand, and can be summoned and unsummoned at any time through the tokens. Getting anyone killed will make the yer pay a certain amount of gold to revive them. the yer can level them up with him, and if they get caught during any quest, they won''t be linked to the yer. They aren''t counted as members but like ves. They can''t be summoned in any system facility, can''t enter it, and can''t do any deals with NPCs behind the yer''s back. 3. yer has gained one level. 4. yer has gained five Sp points and Five Tp points." "System alert: yer has leveled up." Bloom read the messages and sighed. He knew his trick this time wasn''t great, but he was d the system recognized it, and he also gained recognition for another trick he never thought of; tricking Panty and his team. Chapter 100: Happy New Year: Summoning the First Dark Agent Chapter 100: Happy New Year: Summoning the First Dark Agent "It seems when I use yers to deceive others I will also gain some benefits in return, interesting," he muttered, before finally closing all these, opened his profile and added the four points to his Lu stat before taking out one token from his inventory to examine. He now had nine of these tokens currently in his inventory. The token was hexagonal in shape, with size equal to his closed fist. There was nothing there on both sides of this grayish token except for one word engraved on both sides: Dark. "Investigate," he muttered as he didn''t know how to use it. "Token of dark agent: Rare token. Bound to yer Bloom. Can''t be dropped, can''t be traded. A token with a ve soul of a dark agent bound to it. the yer can use the token to summon the agent after giving the token and the agent a name. The summoned agent will have no Xp, starting from level zero, with no gears at all, and empty inventory. The yer can unsummon the agent at any time without any cooldown. If the agent is caught, he or she can''t be linked to the yer, but the yer can''t call them back until the punishment period subsides. If the agent is killed, the yer can pay one hundred gold coins to revive it to the current level the agent died at, but the agent will lose all the gears and all what lies inside their inventory. Agents can''t enter or be summoned inside any system facility. Does the yer want to name the token and agent now?" Bloom wanted to test what it was like to have these agents. So, he didn''t think much as he muttered: "Name it dark token 1 and dark agent 1" "System alert: The naming process is a sess. yer can now summon the agent at any time, provided that he holds the token in hand." "Alright,e forth dark agent 1," Bloom enthusiastically said, as he was eager to see what all this was about. In the next moment, he felt some heat in the token he was holding in hand, and the next moment, he saw a ck foging out from his token, and in a minute the fog took the shape of a person, before itpletely vanished. It showed the figure of a world ss beauty, long dark hair, dark eyes, bronzed skin, with tall as much as him, and mature body showing how amazing this girl was. The moment she stood in front of him, he couldn''t help but such a cold breath of air. If he missed anything much since losing his old prestige was losing his own girls, something he couldn''t change even after gaining a second chance. All the girls he met weren''t that alluring, but this one was! She reminded him of his past life, the life when he was still strong and wealthy, which made him sigh. "Master," the girl once saw him, she kneeled on one knee, while greeting him in this courteous manner. As she knelt, he noticed she wore the basic clothes every yer started here with. "Stand up," he said, before marveling her beauty once more. Her face was petit, and her features were really minute, amazingly matching each other, adding an elegant fine touch to her beauty. And he just felt the urge to hug her, but he restrained himself. "What''s your name?" he asked. "Dark agent 1, you gave me this name master," she stood straight but kept her distance away from him, and her eyes were always looking at the ground. "It''s amazing how you look exactly like yers," he muttered, as if he didn''t summon her with his own hands, he wouldn''t have thought of her to be a system character, and would mistaken her for being a yer. "I have all the properties of yers, I can join groups, level up, eat andugh, and even can fake signing out like yers. my color will always be the color of yers, can join any team or group or guild, and no one would ever know I''m not except for you master." His eyes shone brightly as he marveled this beauty. "You need more care and with slight effort, you can be a very important piece in my ns," he evilly smirked as he now had something he never expected. A perfect crime aplice! And not one, but nine! "Your levels, your gears, sigh!" he sighed as he knew leveling them up would be a pain, especially when the level of the weakest yer here would be ten. There would be no weaker yers except the ones he killed, and they would only lose one level, and they wouldn''t be zero level or without any gear like this. "What''s your ss?" he asked, as he nned to look for suitable gear for her inside his inventory. "We have no ss or faction, but we can mimic anyone after seeing him or her using a skill in front of us," she said while exining the nature of the dark agents. "Wow, that''s more I like it!" he chuckled before adding, "Return now, and soon I will summon you to level up together," he smiled to her before ying a little in her hair before muttering: "Unsummon dark agent 1." The next moment she vanished, turned into ck fog that returned again into the token. He felt the heat of the token in hand for a moment, before he nced at it and sighed as he stored it away. "This ck fog will be quite troublesome," he muttered as the ck fog was eye catchy. He nced then over the box thaty in his inventory and shook his head. He needed some secluded ce to take out such a big box and examine it without the worry for his secret to be leaked. "Roar!" Suddenly the monster fight in front of him ended. Out of the initial one hundred monsters, only twelve remained alive, all belonged to the double horned monsters he was quite familiar with. When he investigated them, he found that they hardly had any high Hp, with the highest being only at fifteen of its Hp. "Such a happy meal I can''t reject," he muttered as he took out the token again, opened his friend list and sent a message to Nara: ''Where are you?'' ''At the vige, I still need more hours to finish the task.'' He smiled as he replied with content: ''Take your time, and tell me the moment you leave the vige so I can send you my coordinates.'' ''Alright.'' He then closed the chat as he muttered: "Summon dark agent 1." The next moment the mesmerizing beauty appeared once more, and this time he created a team, called it the dark agent team, before trying to send an invite to her. And as she told him before, the invitation seeded and she was now in his team. "Stay here, don''te until I tell you to do so," he said before ncing over her name before asking: "Can you change your name? at least the one that appears to other yers." "Sure, what name do you want me to use?" she asked back, and he went silent for a moment. He once had arge harem in his old city before it turned to runes. "Let''s call you Muna," he said, before jumping off the tree line, heading straight towards the dozen monster up ahead before muttering to himself: "It''s a good idea to revive my old harem." And then he started fighting the monsters. Chapter 101: Testing A New Strategy to Kill Monsters and Level Up Faster! Chapter 101: Testing A New Strategy to Kill Monsters and Level Up Faster! "Stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, " Despite the dozen monsters being low on their Hp, they managed to use their skill one after another. The benefit here was that their numbers were even, they were weak, and they all activated their skills just after a couple of attacks used on them from Bloom and his doppelgangers. In less than five minutes the dozen monsters fell and Bloom didn''t lose a single shade. In return he gained a decent amount of Xp, however he needed more as his level was raised one by one, and these monsters were stimted by yers two levels weaker than him. That might be why he managed to in them easy and fast, however what he was looking for was Muna''s upgrade. So, once he killed the monsters, he gathered the dropped coins and as usual there was no single piece of equipment here, and then headed back to the line of trees. He managed to clear two groups of monsters this time, and this created a decent gap making him able to advance forward if he wanted to. He thought about what would happen if he lured more groups of monsters here, wouldn''t it be interesting? The thing he was skeptical about was that if he brought even a number of monsters together then the end result would be none alive! "This seems quite simr to a game mechanic, as the game would never let such a loophole so easily be exploited." He muttered to himself as he returned to the line of trees, while thinking more about the right strategy here. Panty had the advantage of numbers and potions, however he couldn''t be such a big spender and buy many potions for his team. Despite him having many gold coins right now, he knew it wasn''t good to be a tycoon in front of greedy yers. "After all, all yers are greedy and I must be the same," he said as he reached Muna, who moved out and knelt as usual. "Please stop saluting me like this, yers never do that," he said. "Don''t worry master, I can perfectly imitate yers, she replied. "Good," he nodded, "tell me, how many levels have you gained already?" he asked the question he came to ask about. "I have gained nine levels so far," she said, and when he heard that he got an instant scare! They were twelve of level fifteen monsters, and the difference in levels alone was enough to make up for that huge jump. "You are a monster, much more than myself, sigh," he helplessly shook his head before adding: "Now go back, I will summon youter to level up." He held the token of her in his hand, and instantly she vanished. Again that dark smoke annoyed him, as it was an obvious sign that he summoned her and he was the one controlling her. "She and others mustn''t be used in public like that," he muttered, before thinking about his Sunny identity. "I can make Sunny use her and others as his signature, this way no one will be able to link Sunny to me," he evilly smiled as he liked this idea. He nced at the monsters around and decided to use his time to make an experiment. "You, separate yourself in ten teams, each will make monsters chase him to here." He wanted to test his theory once and for all, and just as they disappeared from his sight, heading towards the nearby monster groups he recalled something. "Sh*t! I forgot to tell them to bring an equal number of monsters, sigh!" It didn''t take a few minutes before he heard loud roarsing from everywhere. It was like the whole ce had been on fire, and this made him be startled greatly by the roarsing from every single direction. And in the next minutes, a huge number of different monsters appeared from everywhere,ing in ten groups, and all were heading towards his way. "It''s good I''m protected by the tree line. But these guys sigh!" He shook his head while observing the number of monsters they brought here; four groups had a hundred monsters in them, and the others had fifty, making the total number of monsters here reaching the terrifying figure of seven hundred monsters. And the problem was that these groups of monsters didn''t have the double horned monsters within them! "Leave them and run towards here, hurry!" he shouted, as he had something in mind for them to doter on. They ran, as their lives depended on it, and that literally was the case here. As the monsters reached the same region, some chaos erupted, as most of them started roaring against each other; threatening the other monsters to stay away and retreat, while only a handful of them went after the ten shades of Bloom. Despite that, around a hundred different monsters were running fast after the doppelgangers, but they couldn''t reach them in time; the doppelganger managed to cross the line of safety and went beyond the regions of their reach. "Good job," hemended their actions despite their mistake in bringing unequal monsters together. But he knew that was him to me not them. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Mighty wave of roars erupted, deafening everything else, attracting his attention to the ce in front, where a battle was about to erupt. Not a single group of monsters wanted to retreat, and just like this the fight started between them. As monsters couldn''t use their ultimate skills over each other, and thew to run when their Hp decline than fifty percent didn''t work in this case, Bloom knew the fight would be brutal, long, and if left like this no monster would be standing on the end. "I should tweak things a little, to make the fight more interesting, for me of course, hehehe," he smirked as he had a n in mind, and his ten doppelganger here would y the main role in it. But it wasn''t yet the time to act! Chapter 102: A Strange Type of Monsters Is Winning!! Chapter 102: A Strange Type of Monsters Is Winning!! Bloom stood on the side watching the monsters killing each other. The group of a hundred monsters once they lost their target; they returned to join the fight. It was a huge mess, and the ruckus caused by it could be perfectly heard from a distance. Bloom knew that, and he didn''t care. after all if anyone wanted to mimic his strategy without losing most of his or her yers, then he wouldn''t mind seeing such a myth. After five minutes, and as the fight was raging furiously, with little losses of all parts, Bloom realized that the advantage wasn''t for therge groups as he expected, but for the smaller ones. At the first of the fight, therge groups of monsters; those with a hundred monsters in them, attacked the smaller ones, beside attacking the otherrge groups. That caused the smaller groups to unite together, in an unpredicted move by them, making therge groups be the loser so far. "But the losing percentage of all parts are nearly the same, I need to act," he muttered, before ncing over his shades standing next to him. their time was almost up, and it was time to put their end to a better use. "Go, attack randomly, don''t stick at one monster, and run towards the right and left," he said, while giving them this simple order. They didn''t dy moving without saying a single word. He admired their efficiency as he watched them do exactly as he instructed. As no monster had already used any special skill yet, the ce was safe for them to move. They first used a dash, before linking it with a cloud of fog, then slice, then another dash, a slice, then they ran. He liked theirbo of skills, it was like seeing a recording of him attacking and moving all around. He watched the shades attack monsters, slip in between their fightingrge bodies, before running, a group to the right and a group to the left. As the two groups were formed, two branches of monsters ran after them. He didn''t tell his shades when to stop, so they kept running, dragging nearly one hundred and fifty monsters away from the group. As the shades gathered many monsters from the area, there was arge piece of emptiness before them. The two groups of monsters kept running far from the main group, and that yed just fine in Bloom''s n. The idea of his was simple, as he used his doppelgangers to attract random monsters behind them, separating them from the main group, unbncing the bnced fight going on in front of him. That toppled the bnce, making the fight much harder for some monsters, and easier for others. "That''s more I like it, but these guys sigh!" he nced at the right and left where he watched his shades popping up in the distance, disappearing after their duration ended. Once that happened, the monsters chasing after them stopped, and something crazy just happened afterwards. The two groups of monsters started killing each other without returning back to the main group. "Are they trying to control the empty area under their reign?" Bloom muttered in surprise, after ncing for quite some time towards the two groups. He was speechless, but happy about it. "I really love it when things go along my way," heughed as he now had three weakened groups under his disposal. All he needed now was to sit, watch, and enjoy. The development wasn''t in his ns, but he didn''t refuse such a gift. All he asked for was for the fight tost for over twenty minutes, so he could be able to use his doppelgangers again. However, as the two right and left groups were made of a mixture of monsters, the fight there was a dog fight, all attacking all, with no temporary alliances or a foe to focus mainly on. So the monsters with thergest number won, and this happened in the two groups, and this happened too fast. In less than ten minutes, the left and right groups had stopped fighting, with dead bodies on the ground many times the number of surviving monsters. The left group had only seven monsters left, and the right only had ten, and strangely they both were ruled by the same kind of monsters; the double trunk monsters. Or that what Bloom decided to call on them. The monsters were like a leopard in general shape, with their long bodies reaching to four meters tall, ending by two long trunks, that had exceptional ability to move around, ending on both ends with a broad piece like an axe, formed of the same armored skin of the bodies. Apart from that, nothing else was special about these, and that made Bloom totally ignore them, thinking wrongly they wouldn''t survive to the end. And now they ruled over two regions, not one! "Sigh, ten minutes before the skill to be used," he muttered with regret as he nced at the two distant groups, "it''s a regret they will regenerate Hp during these ten minutes, sigh!" It wasn''t allowed for any yer or a monster to regenerate Hp during fighting, but away from the fight mode, both could regenerate Hp. Over ten minutes was enough period for the monsters to gain at least over seventy percent of their initial Hp, making the task of killing them harder. "But their numbers are small, I can easily deal with them alone with my doppelgangers, not to mention Nara''s new yers and those who she will recruit." He recalled Nara and recalled his doubt about her, but he shook these thoughts for now and focused on the fight. He started to focus over the double trunk monsters, while wondering about the reason for their overwhelming sess. And in minutes he was able to know the reason for that. These monsters weren''t huge in size like others, but they had short heights, with their outer surface being supported by their thick armors, they weren''t easily wounded or killed. Plus their rapid movements, aiming towards the gaps between the monsters'' legs, able to get through there with amazing agility. "Hard to catch with their high speed, hard to wound with their thick armor, this monster is really a headache." Chapter 103: Fighting the Bizarre Monsters with Much Bizarre Supreme Skill Chapter 103: Fighting the Bizarre Monsters with Much Bizarre Supreme Skill Bloom knew this wasn''t an easy foe to handle, especially if all this wasbined with theck of knowledge about the supreme skill of the monsters. He watched for a period of time their fighting style, and eventually he realized their weak spots. "Their soft bellies are the target I should aim for, also hidden faces work better," he muttered to himself while analyzing the monster. The monster used its two trunks as a weapon to attack other monsters, using its sticity making it able to hit anywhere in one hundred and eighty degrees range. But each time it did that, a small hidden face would appear under the raised trunk. Some monsters managed to hit these faces, delivering a deadly blow to the monster. However the main way to kill it for monsters was to use their huger bodies and hit the monster to fall on its side, then attack the unprotected belly area to kill it. "Monsters are monsters and yers are yers, I can''t mimic that but I can aim for the face and hit it there!" Bloom knew using the same technique as monsters wouldn''t do the job, so he decided to take the harder approach for monsters, easier for him and other yers and kill that monster through hitting the face. "As expected, the winner is that double trunk monster," he muttered as the fight finally ended by the victory of this monster, making it the sole winner in the three fights. "So what is your secret ability Mr. monster?" he softly muttered before analyzing the state of the surviving monsters. There were over thirty of them right now, but most of them had Hp below ten percent, and selected few had Hp slightly around fifteen percent. "I should not let them heal," he took out the dark token of Muna, as he nned to push her up first before deciding what to do with others. The next moment Muna appeared with the dark smokeing from the token like a Jin. "Master," she knelt on the ground the moment she came out. "Stay here," he ordered, before adding, "stay hidden. He then sent her an invitation to his group before hiding the token before jumping in the wilderness region. "Let''s see what skills I should use first on you? Dash would be fine, but stab and slice won''t do great damage to all these armed backs," he thought about the strategy while taking one step after another; steadily heading towards the group of thirty monsters. "Shade doppelganger festival skill!" The first thing he used was to summon his personal army. A dozen dark doppelgangers appeared the next moment around him. "Follow me, our aim is to surround a monster and kill it in the least possible time." He didn''t want to stretch out the time of this fight, especially when he didn''t know the nature of this monster''s supreme skill. He advanced with the twelve shade doppelgangers around him, while the monsters that were about to rest were alerted; someone wasing their way. "As if I would let you hit me first, Dash!" He muttered with a sneer as monsters turned to nce at his direction; all at the same time. He knew if he didn''t attack them first, he would be the first to be hit. So, he used his signature mark, the dash skill, out from the start to move directly to hit the nearest monster to him. and he managed to hit the monster directly in the side! "5000" The damage he caused didn''t satisfy him, as the two recent levels he used all his gained points to level up the Lu stat. "I need to level up my Str for a couple of levels." "Roar!" He just muttered that and the monster he just stunned had its two faces underneath the trunks to shine, then a shock wave erupted, throwing away Bloom and his shades who just engaged with the stunned monster. "Starting ying nasty from the start," Bloom smirked as he wasn''t that surprised of the usage of the supreme skill from the beginning. The monsters had finished the previous fight with Panty group and with themselves, so the previous setting of the system for their levels was cancelled. Right now all monsters were five levels apart from Bloom, reaching all to level seventeen. Despite that increase in levels, their remaining Hp percentage remained the same; only gaining a couple of thousands at most. And with a single attack Bloom managed to take this increase away. However "Do you think you can roar as much as you like and throw me away? Boys let''s kill this one together, Dash!" Just as he used his skill, waiting to see what effect that monster''s skill had on him, he was astonished to find nothing at all! "6000" Another six thousand damage erupted from the monster plus ten second stun duration. "All seems normal, so what that skill affected exactly?" he was in daze, but despite that he started to use his barrage of skills one after another. "Stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab." "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." . . "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." "Really?!" Bloom was speechless to find out that he couldn''t use other skill than dash. Hastily he turned to look at his shades, finding them each using one skill only, one alone, as all were using stab. "Sigh, so they can use a skill with low cooldown like this, can I use normal attack then?" he muttered to himself as he was withdrawing to hide behind his shades who were now dealing with the iing angry pack of monsters. Bloom just selected one, one that was surrounded with two of his shades, and tried to wave his sword to hit it while running around in circles followed by the persistent group of monsters. "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." "C''mon, this is just a normal attack!" he gritted his teeth while ncing above his shoulders to spot over twenty five monsters were running hot after him. "Why are they so fixated on me?" heined while continuing to run in circles. He had the time to use dash skill, but he didn''t have the right target yet, so he kept running until the shades managed to activate one skill of another monster. "Roar!" It was one of the highest Hp monsters, as they were the ones which went to face his shades, while other weaker monsters kept targeting him. the shock wave sent him flying, but he didn''t care as he yelled out: "Yeah, finally over!" He turned around after stabilizing himself, while thinking how to torture these monsters! "I should use the big ones first, then link it with the small skills," he muttered as he knew his chasers all had low Hp. "Dash! "Cloud of fog!" He instantly used these two skills, to instantly dash towards a target he selected, lying slightly away from the group chasing him. "6000" The moment he hit it, the monster and him kept moving forward, however he was instantly surrounded by other monsters, where he was ready for them. "12000" "12000" "12000" "12000" "12000" His sword moved five times, hitting five monsters in a row, creating a monstrous damage for him, but was enough to decrease the Hp of each monster by only six percent! And this wasn''t all! "Only one is nning to use its skill? Will you keep alternating your skills like this?" he muttered the moment he noticed thest monster to hit had the stance he started to be very familiar with; the stance of using the supreme skill. "Stab!" So he used the basic skill so that the monster''s skill would be activated, locking on his stab skill. He was pretty sure that this was how this monster''s supreme skill worked. But "System alert: yer can''t use any skill other than ''Dash skill'' under the effect of the skill used by the monster." "What the hell?!!! The monster didn''t use its supreme skill yet!!!" Before he could even rant more, the monster activated its skill, with the attack of a couple monsters arriving at the same time hitting him. "Roar!" "-10000" "-10000" "!!!" he only had confusion and doubt while his body was thrown up to the air, flying backwards, while ncing at the two huge damages appearing on top of his head. "Sigh, I have to admit I don''t know what bizarre skill this weird monster is using!" he muttered as he took one Hp potion out, and emptied itpletely into his throat, stabilized his body after falling then turned around and started to run away! "I need to gather more info," he said to himself as he totally ignored the chasing monsters and focused on his shades dealing with the monsters they were entangled with. Chapter 104: Deciphering the Mysterious Skill Successfully Chapter 104: Deciphering the Mysterious Skill Sessfully Observation and running paid off after a couple of minutes when he noticed each shade was now using two skills instead of one. "So the supreme skill will allow yers to use one skill with each use, so the more it was triggered the better," he muttered before ncing at the angry crowd of monsters running after him. "I need to add a small CD skill, like slice and stab. Using only dash and cloud of fog will prove hard," he muttered before selecting one in the rear of the monsters running after him. "It''s quite far, I should aim at this one instead," he changed his target to a monster on the right side, closer to the rear ones. "Dash!" The next moment his body was forcibly moved towards the monster he selected. "10000" A huge number appeared on top of the monster''s head; it was a crit and despite the monster changing its position in thest second exposing its armed side to Bloom''s sword, the crit came to make for this sneaky move. And then Bloom moved with it to the back, but Bloom didn''t hurry to link his next dash now, as the monster''s two heads started to shine, making him wait. "Roar!" "Boom!" A shock wave erupted sending him backwards, but he didn''t dy and linked the second dash at this moment, moving his body against the tide of the shockwave, feeling like his all muscles were torn apart by this reckless move. But it was needed so he wouldn''t be positioned in such a disadvantageous situation. His second dash came to surprise all monsters, so his damage this time soared to reach fifteen thousand with a crit, plus he instantly used his second sword to stab the monster. "Cloud of fog!" He noticed the monster he was attacking was about to use its supreme skill, so he hurried to use his trump skill, and the next moment a roar urred and he was hit heavily with the shockwave, sending him flying backward. However even amidst this, his two swords never stopped dancing. He started hitting five monsters with his right sword using the effect of the cloud of fog skill over them, while the left sword kept stabbing others. Each strike of his right sword sent one monster flying backwards, while he had the chance to follow suit, he kept thest monster to hit being the one standing in the direction he aimed for. The direction of his shades! "7000" "7000" "7000" "7000" "15000" "15000" "15000" "15000" "15000" Long rows of damage appeared in these few moments, while he finally stopped attacking, letting his body fly after thest monster he picked. "Slice!" "8000" Just before he wouldnd, he used the slice skill, and when he did, and while he was turning around the monster''s side, the two trunks started to attack. "-10000" "-10000" "Roar!" "Boom!" The two hits were really painful, but he was sent away from the monster by the shockwave,nding so close to the ongoing fight between his shades and the monsters. These monsters were the ones with thickest skin of all; so despite fighting with all this long, with the number superiority, only three fell so far, leaving around five others to face them. The only good news here was that he didn''t lose a single shade doppelganger yet, making him quite proud of this personal army of his. And his aim now was to rapidly tear this group of five monsters down, freeing his own army from this useless entanglement. "What skill should I unlock then?" he muttered before selecting one of his highest DPS skills. "Dash piercer!" He jumped in the air for three meters, while heading directly towards the closest monster, hitting it directly in the face while it was busy waving its trunk to him one of his shades. And this precise shot of his gave him a crit damage, doubling the high damage dealt by this skill! "25000" Such a high damage nearly bottomed down the high Hp of this monster, while stunning it for five seconds and driving it backwards for five meters, taking Bloom away with it. Bloom could have used his other skills, but waited, as he knew his next barrage of skills would end up thest straw of Hp remaining for that monster. He waited until he reached the other side of the fight, separating himself from the pack of angry monsters chasing him, and then he used his barrage of skills. "Stab, stab, stab, slice." "6000, 6000, 12000, 8000" Slice even wasn''t needed but he used it to change the position of his body while the dying monster used its supreme skill finally sending him towards the direction he wanted to go; to the right side, away from the angry pack of monsters. "I really love this hide and seek game, c''mon catch me if you can, hehehe," he loudlyughed while turning to face the next monster he wasnding next to it. "I should use a skill that will give me more options, and space," he muttered before settling over the skill he would use, but he didn''t first use it. "Stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab." He didn''t dy to take the time, while the monsters were still chasing after him, to kite down this monster''s Hp to zero. Just as it was on its dying leg, and the monsters were already upon him, he finally used his chosen skill. "Slice!" "8000" He used slice to change his position, putting the monster between him and the iing two dozens of monsters, before using the skill. "Swift kick!" It was a simple skill, but for him it was a game changing skill. He could use it twice as it was once per boot, and the cooldown time was only three seconds. Plus it could be used without interfering with the ongoing skill! So, the monster was kicked to meet its mates, while Bloom was flying alongside it. "Dash piercer!" He didn''t even wait for the effect of the skill to end, as he instantly linked it with this amazing skill, making his body jump three more meters in the air, making him right now the highest thing in this area, overseeing everything; like god descending on mortals; his sword shed heavily and mightily upon thest monster in the rear, the one he selected. "Boom!" "40000" "Roar!" "Boom!" Chapter 105: Finally Killing All Monsters Chapter 105: Finally Killing All Monsters It was such a high damage caused by the great momentum gained of linking the two skills together. This came with a roar, not from the monster Bloom hit, as it was already dead, but from a nearby monster, triggered by the attacks of his shades. The shockwave sent him flying again to the side, making him unable to steady his body fast. Luckily he was thrown away from the ce of these monsters, making him have the time to stand, nce around, evenugh. "I love this game, this was really awesome!" he loudly shouted as this was really fun he was deprived of for years inside his past game. "Ready for round two, meager monsters?" he smirked as he was now so confident in his win, especially his arsenal of avable skills increased just now by one. The question of selecting another skill was easy this time, as he had long waited until he would have some good skills to be used together. "Darkness nihility!" The next moment he disappeared from the sight of all monsters. Losing their aggro target made them all stand still. But Bloom wasn''t! "Swift kick!" "Swift kick!" He started his own barrage of attacks using his two swift kicks, sending two monsters away from the crowd, sending them to his shade doppelgangers'' direction. "Time for my retaliation," he smirked again while using a barrage of stabs and slices over three monsters, killing them in less than ten seconds. "Roar!" "Boom!" One of the three managed to activate its supreme skill before dying, sending Bloom flying backwards, but he was already ready for such a thing. "Dash!" A normal dash solved the problem, with much pain all over his body. As the monster he hit was stunned, moving backwards for a couple of meters, he linked the attack with many stabs and two slices, killing this one and another three on the sides. The duration of his skill was one minute, and now he just used around twenty seconds of it. "Time to y ugly," heughed as he pointed his sword towards one nearby monster, before using a slice to change his position, linking it with a swift kick, making the monster fly in the air for five meters with bloom flying alongside it, then he used the trump card skill in the most precise moment over a monster in the middle of a group of ten others. "Dash piercer!" "Cloud of fog!" This time he didn''t only use the dash piercer alone, the enhanced dash piercer which resulted in a crit great damage reaching a terrifying figure of forty thousand damage, but linked it with another monstrous skill that would duplicate such damage more than once. And not for one monster, but for five! "60000" "60000" "60000" "60000" "60000" One hit , one kill, and no exception! He nced at the high damage he caused feeling somehow proud. "I now have such a series of skills I can use in dire situations then," he smiled while muttering to himself, and his sword never stopped attacking! He used another barrage of stabs and slices to kill the other five monsters standing around the ones he just killed. It took him roughly thirty seconds to empty their Hp, making him only have less than ten seconds in his skill. "Strange, why no monster used its skill upon me?" he thought to himself as he had his time kiting down the five monsters, plus his shades were also killing their monsters slowly like him. He first thought it was due to his insta kill of the previous six monsters, but now he was thinking it was something else. "Might be because I''m invisible to them?" he muttered, but his shades weren''t! As his mind was busy analyzing this dilemma, he selected his final targets to attack during his concealment as he muttered: "Dash!" He didn''t need to use any sophisticated skill this time. the initial twenty five monsters which were chasing him were now down to only seven! And all were with one foot to the grave already. So he wasn''t feeling any pressure at all! For him, this whole fight was already over! Without any more suspense, as his darkness nihility skill was lifted, he managed to in three more monsters, while there were two on his side with almost no Hp left; purposefully left over to test his theory. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" The moment he appeared, the monsters roared, but not the roars of their supreme skills activated! Bloom just sighed, shook his head before using a slice to evade the iing attacks of the two nearby monsters, and followed by four stabs, killing them once and for all. As for the distant two, as they were heading his way, he simply used one dash to hit one of them, sending it flying to one direction, while turning on himself and using a swift kick on the other one, sending it to the opposite direction. Then the end of the two came swiftly on the de of his swords, by stabs and slices. As he finished, he nced around to spot his shades were now surrounding thest two monsters before finally killing them. "It wasn''t due to my stealth skill, then what was it?" he muttered to himself as he was so puzzled by this. "Sigh, this game is really deep," he shook his head, finally letting this matter go before he went ahead and collected all the fallen coins on the ground. He also garnished five level ten gears, but he didn''t even nce at them, stored in his inventory as they all were green rank. He didn''t have time or the will to digest thest couple of monsters and extract materials out of them. He now realized how hard it was to get materials, and he also knew how important it was to y with a team. "I hope Nara is doing fine in the recruitment process," he muttered to himself before opening the list of friends and found her offline. "Sigh, it seems she had to move away at this moment," he shook his head, helplessly, while returning to Muna. "Then I should go deeper and level up Muna and the other dark agents. Staying here is very exposed to any passing eyes, I should be much safer deep within," he muttered as he made up his mind. He would go inside, passing this red zone and reach the ce where he once leveled up easier than now. Chapter 106: My Dark Harem! Chapter 106: My Dark Harem! He reached the safe tree line to find Muna waiting for him there with a big smile over her face. "It seems you got many levels," he smiled while crossing the line. "Master, I have reached level fourteen," she replied, and her reply gave him a scare! He was still at level twelve, making him lower than her with one level. "Do the experience points for you to level up be small perhaps?" he asked, but she seemed quite puzzled by this question. "Forget it, the stronger you are the better," he said before feeling another problem. She told him she and other agents would mimic any yer''s skills, but he didn''t want them to mimic him. He already had his shades and he didn''t need more of his copies, or else this might raise suspicion. "I need to make them y with other yers then, I think the shield bearers and light daughters would increase my ability to level up faster. Also shade sons might be quite useful at some point." He was now thinking of using all the dark agents he had to make them much stronger, to make himself far stronger. "Come, we will go deeper," he said before heading towards the wilderness again, while Muna just followed him. "I will level them all to level fifteen and then release them with yers around here," he thought about the five veteran yers he fought with while shing with Panty. "yers like them would be useful to mimic skills from," he murmured while moving towards a small hill. He knew this hill resembled the one he once used to hide, and after thisrge battle here, he had such a rare and clear path towards this hill. The moment he reached it, and climbed it, he found the remaining red zone filled with many monsters again. "Time for them to use the old tactic," he thought to himself before checking the shade doppelganger festival skill; it was still on cooldown. "Sigh, ten more minutes then," he said before turning to nce at Muna and thinking, "will the other agents be with such beauty? I hope so!" He decided to summon the rest of the agents now. Muna''s level was already higher than his, so he needed to raise up the others'' levels as well, before finally releasing them to the world. He had now eight unused tokens inside his inventory, but when he was about to take them out, another thing caught his attention. "I totally forgot about you," he muttered before taking out a box, the strange box he had acquired once before from the merchant caravan. "Let''s see what magic you behold, little friend," he said while using the investigate skill over this box. "Equipment nightmare box: A special equipment that was made to mimic the mythic equipment Pandora box. Gold grade. Can''t be stored except inside the yer''s inventory. Has a certain falling rate if a yer loses more than two levels in a single day. Effect: It''s the nightmare of any gear; with even such a clumsy mimic of the original, it has the effect of tearing down any gear and turning it into its original materials plus arge sum of gold. Can be used once per ten minutes. no limit on the grade of equipment it can demolish." "Wow, it''s a small gear eating shark then!!" Bloom was speechless for a moment there before recalling the many equipment he had in his inventory. "Let''s try these level ten grade green useless equipment," he muttered before taking out a sword as he put it into the cone of the box. The box waspact, with nothing opened to receive equipment except for that cone. The moment he put the sword there, the box started humming on its own. The box was made of dark blue metal with long red stripes covering its surface; and these red stripes started to shine brightly, while the rest of the box started to pulsate slowly then rapidly. This kept going for a minute, giving Bloom the feeling it would explode! As the minute passed, the box calmed down, and a strange fog started to dissipate from its base, covering an area of three meters around it. "Really? That''s such an amusing tool!" The fog disappeared as it appeared; slowly returning to the box before vanishing there, exposing the stretch ofnd it covered, showing the materials and gold it left behind. "One hundred level ten grade green materials, plus one thousand gold coins! That''s really a fortune!" He was shocked beyond description when he collected the materials and the gold coins. Merely with this amount of gold he could easily buy a level ten grade gold equipment, or even two! As for these materials, he stored them while thinking about the rtion between their grade and the grade of the dposed gear. "Let''s try this swordter," he said while taking out one of the swords he took from the NPCs back at the caravan. He examined it and found it was a gold grade level fifty sword. "ording to my calctions, I would have level fifty grade gold materials, and many gold coins." He put the sword next to the box as he had to wait for ten minutes. "Time to summon the rest of dark agents," he muttered, before taking the eight tokens from his inventory, and started to summon them one by one. "Master!" "Master!" . . "Master!" "Master!" "Oh my gosh! I''m now pretty confident the developer who did these agents was such a pervert one!" In front of Bloom, eight stunning beauties knelt to the ground, while respectfully saluting him. they weren''t anyway lower than Muna in beauty, and each one of them had her own taste, making him really drool when they appeared. Their voices were such a melody that made even his heart palpitate. "Thank you Mr. Perverted developer, I really will treat such a creation with extra care! From now on, you aren''t called the dark agents, you are called my dark harem, hehehehe!" Chapter 107: Dark Camp Common Auction House Chapter 107: Dark Camp Common Auction House Bloom drooled there in his ce while ncing and examining his new collection. "I can''t find enough names for all of you now, so will just call you harem girls one to eight, alright?" he said as he decided to obtain much more of these gems and form his own harem girl army! "Sure master, as you wish," they all replied in unison with their sweet voices. "Oh gosh, I swear all the troubles I had were all washed away now! if not for that annoying ck foging each time you are summoned!" he muttered with extreme ecstasy as he was really feeling much content right now. If only for these girls, these pretty dolls serving him, he wouldn''t smash the game entirely, for fear of losing this precious collection of his. But he was still pretty much annoyed with this dark smoke, which would reveal his ownership of these pieces of arts. "Do you know if there is a way to hide that smoke?" he casually asked, out of his desperate mood. "Sure master," this time it was Muna who replied to him, making his heart even shudder from shock; a very pleasant shock to him. "Hurry, tell me the way," he hastily demanded with much urgency. "There is a tool that is sold in the ck market, if a master can have some aplishments, he will receive attention from the great dark masters in this world, granting master ess to that market." Her reply lightened up his mind over a certain piece of info he totally ignored. "Do you mean perhaps the dark campmon auction house?" he asked with much anticipation, and her reply came swiftly by nodding first then speakingter. "This is considered the lowest tier of this market." "Yes," he clenched his fists as he yelled out in excitation. The ess to themon dark camp auction house was granted to him since his first rewards were received in the vige. He smiled as he hurried to open the reward message again, reading the point rted to this. "yer has gained ess to the dark campmon auction house. yer can view it through selecting it directly or through his secret ss page." "I never thought much of this," he muttered, confessing to himself about this silly mistake of his. He thought this was something worthless and never cared even about checking it out. "Show me the dark campmon auction house," he said, with much anticipation. The next moment, a window popped up in front of his face, resembling that of the auction house inside the vige. This window contained less options than present in the vige auction house. "What are these options?" he muttered as he saw three glowing icons moving from the corner of the window to appear in a bigger version, blocking his sight. "The guide, the contribution point centre, and the special auction rooms," he read them one by one. The first one was obviously like the manual he had about the vige, and the next one was something he didn''t hear about before. As for thest icon, it was obviously a ce that contained much higher valued items than themon room. "Let''s see what this guide contains," he said while waiting for the icon that just shed when he said that to show its content. And the next moment he was faced with two options making him more puzzled. "Do you want to view themon manual or the special manual?" "Special manual of course." "Special manual authorization requires paying five hundred contribution points, but currently you only have one hundred contribution points. Sorry, you can''t view it now. you will view themon manual and if you have the points ther to unlock the special manual." "Why do I feel insulted?" Bloom said to himself as he was surprised to hear out such a direct and harsh remark about him being poor. "I have gold coins, can''t I pay with it?" he asked, but like a child speaking amidst adults, his question wasn''t answered as the next moment themon manual appeared. "It''s really amon manual!" he said after moments of reading what was written there, and only these moments were needed to finish reading everything written here. "So here only contribution points matter, not anything else. No gold coins, no bartering of any goods of any kind except if the seller asked for it. and that''s it, sigh!" he sighed before closing the useless manual and opened the next icon from the three. "Let''s see how I can get some points of my own," he said as he examined the new window content. This time he took longer than a few moments to check it out. The contribution point centre had more than one section. The first and top most one contained the current contribution points Bloom held and the reason for that. "So as Ipleted four tasks so far I got one hundred points total, with each quest giving me twenty five points," he said with understanding now to the mechanism of which he would acquire these points. "But like this even if I pushed myself against the wall, I would never gain much points," he shook his head in discontent, before turning towards the next section. There he could exchange gold coins for contribution points. The current price for the exchange was pretty high, one contribution point for one thousand gold coins. "And it''s a one way deal, as I can''t exchange the points into coins, what a sneaky move," he smirked as he was amused by this brilliant touch of the developers. If he even used all his gold, he wouldn''t gain more than ten contribution points! It was nothing and only a deep pit for those desperate enough. "So it''s basically this way, forcing me to choose it, right?" he smiled helplessly as the third option here was about epting missions from the dark masters in exchange for handsome contribution rewards. "Show the mission list," he said, while waiting for the list to be loaded. "Now we are speaking," his eyes shone brightly when he saw the long list of really rich rewards here. The cheapest reward reached one thousand contribution points, while there were missions with over one hundred thousand contribution points. "Wow, I''m so poor right now for sure!" he bitterlyughed before checking the cheapest ten missions in the list. Chapter 108: Having Enough Contribution Points Finally! Chapter 108: Having Enough Contribution Points Finally! The list all had one thing inmon; dirty dark tasksmissioned by the dark masters of the dark side. All of the missions required him to do something to certain ces, or NPC. The most amazing thing was that this list was strangely simr in general basis to the list of missions he had for his secret ss, but on arger and wider scale. "Some can''t be done as I don''t get what even these names mean, but I can think about these general quests here," Bloom muttered as he noticed the list contained two general sets of missions; one that resembled the list of his secret ss directed towards one specific target, and the other was directed towards a general target. Like attack any caravan heading to or from the system facilities. "I just did such a job, will that be considered as a finish?" he thought to himself as he opened the panel of the reward that had abel of one thousand contribution points on it. "Hoho, this is really interesting," heughed as when he opened the reward info, he found the quest wasn''t only a fixed one, but it varied ording to the level and rank of the cargo hijacked and the caravan stolen. "Let''s see, hmm I need to hijack the caravan and put here anything I salvaged from it. The meter here will measure and evaluate the final value of the item, determining the final price of it. If I agree then the deal is final, if I reject then I will retrieve the item and pay ten contribution points aspensation." He read the instructions before ncing at an empty square in the middle of the screen in front of his eyes. "So I can take, hmm this shield here has no value for me right now, so I can put it here and see the magic," he said as he took a shield he salvaged from the NPCs he fought with from before. The moment he put it into the square, the edges of it shone with dark light before a veil of ck fog fell from the inner corners of the square, covering the entire shield. And the next thing was that the fog leaked outside the square, gathered together to form letters then words. "A shield taken from a personal entourage of a very esteemed member of the shrine of gold. The total contribution points equal to such a piece is twenty thousand points!" "Holy sh*t! Twenty thousands in one go! you are so generous, thank you, thanks a lot!" Bloom was almost about to kiss the screen but he couldn''t even get close to it with his lips to do that! "Do you ept such a trade? Beware, once agreed you can''t undone it!" "Sure I do," he instantly agreed without any hesitation. He knew if the standard price given to him by the system was this rich, then the real price he could amass from the dark market would be much higher. But, he came here to find a solution to this annoying summoning fog, so he needed points fast to secure this gadget. "Deal ispleted, do you want to evaluate another item?" "Thanks, that''s more enough," he simply replied before returning to the outer interface where the main exchange was going. He started to examine the tools sold there, to feel somehow speechless! First of all it seemed the mostmon item there was three things, the tokens to summon his precious dollies, the tokens to summon ranked dark agents, and finally there was something called a fallen callout scroll. "Muna, do you know of tokens to summon ranked dark agents and a fallen callout scroll?" he asked without turning his gaze away from the screen, trying to make a random assessment of the value of these threemon items. "The tokens are to summon dark agents, but these agents can''t be separated from the master. If they get caught they will be like you getting caught. A dangerous tool that''s normally used when you have nothing to lose, like in the battlefield for example," she said, and her words made Bloom recall something he also gained during his rewards from the system. "Is it like those agents I can summon by my basic agent of darkness rank?" he asked. "Yes, they are the same." "Oh, it''s nice I didn''t try to call them out then," he smiled before asking: "What about the scrolls? Are they this dangerous too?" "The scroll is used to call the fallen troops, those deserters from any battlefield. Their soul will be cursed by darkness and they will be haunted for eternity for betraying their master." "Oh, that sounds scary and unsafe to use," he sighed. "No, they are very trustworthy as they are bound by the scroll through their souls; they can''t disobey an order from the owner of the scroll even if he asked them to die!" she said, before adding, "essentially they can''t die, as you can easily revive them using gold coins." "Oh," Bloom turned to look at her before adding, "but why would a yer like me be in need of such a thing? These scrolls should be worth a fortune on the battlefield." But Muna shook her head as she said: "If they stepped into the battlefield they would be burnt down by the battlefield wrathful gods and they would be killed. So, despite the scrolls will fall inrge quantities in the battlefield, it is worth absolutely nothing there." He nced shortly at her before returning to observe the auction interface for a minute before nodding. "You are absolutely right, the price of these scrolls are sold low ground, ranging between twenty and fifty points." "That''s normal, as they have no use for our masters in the battlefields." "That''s good as a price, but I still see no value for such fallen and cursed souls to me!" "The scroll alone is worthless indeed, but when a master can amass one thousand scroll together, he can summon a small unit of a thousand fallen fighters. Then it will be much beneficial for the master." Bloom gave her a long nce as he silently nodded for her to continue. "Once summoned a thousand, you can appoint one of the dark agents of us to be theirmander, give this unit a name and buy a g from the auction house called the unit g. Gathering all these together then the master can ept any task from the auction house, no matter how far it is, and assign this task to his subordinate unit, and the unit can move out and do the task for him." The eyes of Bloom shone brightly this time, as he was totally interested in this. "But if they got caught? Won''t this unit be linked to me?" he asked. "That''s the rule of the dark agent, master. If they get caught, then they will be branded to the dark agent''s name, with the master name will be free and clear from any danger." "Oho, I like this, you are a genius Muna," he said as he hugged her for a moment, feeling her soft body in his arms before releasing her as he said: "If we were somewhere else, I might have properly rewarded you," he said in an apology tone that had some regret, which made the face of Muna slightly blush. "I''m the ve of the master, the master can do whatever he wants with me and I will be happy," she said, and something in her words pained him a bit, but he didn''t give much thought to that. "Let''s start buying these amazing things then," he then returned to his interface as he started his first bidding. Chapter 109: Buying Many Things at the Dark Auction Chapter 109: Buying Many Things at the Dark Auction The bidding process went smooth without any problems, as he found no fierce fight over these scrolls. However, when he amassed five hundred of them he noticed a problem. "My points aren''t enough, I should sell another item, sigh." He opened the mission interface again, selected the hijacked caravan one, before taking another shield and putting it into the meter. . "A shield taken from a personal entourage of a very esteemed member of the shrine of gold. The total contribution points equal to such a piece is fifteen thousand points!" "Do you ept such a trade? Beware, once agreed you can''t undone it!" "What the hell? Isn''t it worth twenty thousand points minutes ago?" The corners of his eyes twitched when he heard the number. And the answer he got made him even helpless. "The more you offer an item, the price will be lowered ordingly. Rule of the auction and market, don''t take it personally." "I am!!!" he was angry about this stupid rule, but he couldn''t do anything now except to ept the offer. "Fine, I ept." "Beware, once agreed you can''t undone it!" "I said I do!" Bloom then took the points and returned with an angry face towards the main screen again. The moment he won multiple scrolls on the row, he forgot totally about what just happened, and was instantly immersed in the betting nature of this auction. "And the final one thousand scroll goes to drums, drums, drums me! hahahaha!" he was really in a very good mood,ughing and telling jokes about the auction like a kid! The one thousand scrolls cost twenty five thousand points, leaving him with ten thousand points. "Muna, what is the name of that thing to hide the fog of your summoning?" he asked as he read for minutes there and found nothing referring to the cloud or fog of summoning dark agents. "It''s called the seed of darkness, the master will need one seed for each token." "That seems costly, but let''s see the general price of it. seed of darkness another seed of darkness well to be fair they are present twice or thrice in each page," he muttered after surfing through some pages already. "And the price?" Muna dared to speak out, asking cautiously about something that didn''t matter much to have the wrath of her master if he was dissatisfied of her action. "It''s not that high, roughly one hundred points per seed," he rubbed his hands, without even noticing what she was worried about. "Tell me, do you want to have more sisy?" he asked with a grin over his face, a smile that made her morefortable about him. "What does master mean by sisy?" "Other dark agent beauties, sisters to you," he said, as he returned to the interface where he ced his bids over many seeds as he added: "I have ten thousand points right now, so if I bought twenty seeds that will cost me around two thousand, and buying twelve tokens will cost around six thousands, leaving me with two extra thousands." He then went silent for a moment as he ced his bids over the auction, while Muna next to him was eyeing him with strange nces; feeling some strange familiarity with him, not like a master but like a friend. An old friend she never saw for such a long time! That feeling made her forget the question he just asked her, and he didn''t ask her again about it as he already ced his bids. "Done, now you will have more sisy," he smiled as he was very excited about his newly acquired dark harem army. "Having them is fun, but to be honest without a proper ce to call home, how can I have fun with them?" he suddenly thought about this, as he returned to the auction interface again as he muttered: "The previous time I had a city and was taken away forcibly from me. I had a huge mansion that was destroyed and my girls were either killed or lost! This life I won''t let that happen!!" And he started to observe the auction house, gradually being immersed in the game he first intended to enter to wreck and devastate, not to build a home and have endless harem there. The auction list was huge, took a couple of minutes for him to finish reading, but he didn''t find what he aimed for! "There is a help option here, I will try it," he muttered as he selected a microphone icon on the corner. The moment he did so, a voice, a very soft voice appeared in his ears next, making him quite amazed by how sweet she was! "Basic dark auction house customer service; how may I help you sir?" He was startled for a moment there, making the girl on the other end ask again: "Sir?" "Oh, sorry, never thought the auction house will have a live customer service," he joked, embarrassedly, whileughing nervously from her voice. "Sure, sir, this is one of the privileges of our basic dark auction house. How may I help you, sir?" She was direct and harsh. "Strangely simr to you, sigh!" he sighed and what he said made the girl on the other end startled for a moment there. "I wanted to ask about any possibility to obtain a city, town, or even a vige ownership through the auction." "Does sir want to have his own dark city?" the girl was astonished before she went silent for a moment there as she then returned to add: "But your rank is very low right now. To obtain the right to establish a vige, sir must raise his rank a couple of times at least, and he has to have a guild established under his name." Bloom went silent for a moment, before asking: "Should I have a dark guild or a normal guild?" "Preferably normal guild, as weck many eyes in the newly present system facilities." "How can I raise my rank then?" "epting missions from here, or from your own ss. generally, doing great damage will always be rewarded with an upgrade from our esteemed dark masters." "Good, I will heed by your advice then. Thanks a lot, may I know your name?" out of the blue he asked this, and the answer he got was for the connection to be severed by the girl on the other side. "Sigh, strangely simr! Sigh!" Chapter 110: Lady Lunas Unit is Ready! Chapter 110: Lady Luna''s Unit is Ready! Bloom was absent minded for a few minutes, and when he came back to reality, his bids were almost finished. "Nice, it didn''t deviate a lot from my expectations," he muttered as he needed five hundred points more to secure his items. Even the fall out scrolls he bid for them earlier had already finished, and he had his one thousand scrolls ready. "Now I can be more relieved when summoning you around," he chuckled as he said to Muna, "by the way, this group of sisy will be led by you, except for the one whom I will send to fulfill the quests I will ept," he added while remembering this thing. Back in his days he had three girls who controlled his own harem, one was taken forcibly away from him, another betrayed him, and the third one was so loyal that she killed herself when the disaster befell. However he learntter that the developers had recreated her again, and her sacrifice had given her a very famous poprity in the game, before the developers assigned her to do something boring and lose all the reputation she had before. "As far as I know, she once told me she came from another game," he muttered as he had this dj-vu about her at this moment. "Sigh, it''s hard to tell! Being a yer has its pros, and its cons, sigh!" "I will lead them well, master," Muna knelt down as she realized that Bloom had just given her a rank and promotion. He just smiled back and said nothing, before ncing over the one thousand scrolls in his inventory as he muttered: "I will summon them all now." The scrolls needed nothing more than an order to summon, and the next moment a cloaked man appeared, covering his face with a ck scarf, matching his ck clothes. "Sons of darkness; quite expected indeed," he recognized the two daggers at their waists to know their faction by a nce. "And you didn''t really disappoint my expectations either!" "Master!" A soft symphony of sweet voices erupted from the twelve new girls he just summoned. Despite their few numbers, inparison to the one thousand sons of darkness standing just beside them, Bloom didn''t even nce at those one thousand, with all his attention and care directed towards the girls. "Listen up, I need one of you to lead those, making a unit to go out and fight for me," he said as he pointed to the one thousand sons of darkness as he added, addressing them, "As for you, you need to treat thedy with utmost respect, or I swear I will personally go the battlefield and summon those who dared to be rude with mydy!" The words were light, yet the threat they carried was so heavy; enough to make their bodies faintly tremble! All of them knelt on one knee, cupped their hands with daggers as they did a blood oath to him: "We will never betray the master, we will abide by his words andmands to the letter; we swear on that!" "Good," he was quite amused by their surprising performance and firm resolve before turning to nce at the new girls, feeling somehow pained to make such a beauty of them leave his sight. "Master, I will lead them," one tall and seemingly vulgar girl, with broad chest and cheeks stepped forward as she bravely volunteered. "Great, from now on you will carry the name Luna," he said, bestowing another name of his long lost girls on another one of his new harem. "Thanks master for your benevolence," Luna replied after a moment of pause out of shock, which was thrown out of it by that hidden elbow move of Muna to make her reply fast on Bloom''s decision. And Bloom simply didn''t care about such formalities, as he just waved his hand to her as he said: "From now on you will followdy Luna and abide by her orders." "Come and greet yourdy, you fools!" Suddenly Muna shouted harshly towards the dark fighters, making them be startled for a moment, and when Bloom kept his silent gaze observing them; they all hurried to kneel again on one knee towards Luna, greeting her in unison: "We greet Lady Luna!" "System alert: yer has sessfully created the dark unit Lady Luna. The dark unit will carry the g of Lady Luna and fight stealthy under your name. you can ept missions from dark masters and assign this unit as you like." "Oh, even the system seemed quite excited by this," he smiled before opening the list of avable quests at the dark auction as he asked Luna: "What level of missions can you ept by your current strength?" In front of him, the list contained various editions each directed towards a certain power level. "As long as it''s not exceeding master''s level then I will be fine with it," she said, before her face showed quite hesitation there. "What? Tell me and don''t be shy," he joked with her, trying to know what was wrong. "I just don''t have any strength of my own! No skill, no ability, no faction, nothing." Her words made Bloom realize something, all his girls here could absorb and mimic any yer''s faction and skills, fighting styles even. He shook his head before Muna even added: "Her level is zero, and that''s not good. If you sent her like this then she will lose much of her unit before fulfilling the quest." "No problem, I can revive them with gold, right?" Bloom casually replied. "No, master, it''s better if you send her with a high level like me. There she might have some lucky encounters and have the strength to steal from units of other masters." "Oh! There is something like this?!" Bloom was momentarily speechless there! "Sure, we are after all in the dark camp; we have no limits and y by no rules," she smiled, and her beaming smile with her soft and sweet words made his heart palpitate! "Gosh! This game and their developers are really much crueler and more evil than me! Sigh!!" Chapter 111: Natalie Chapter 111: Natalie In another ce, and outside the game, a game cabin was opened and a very beautiful slim tall figure appeared out of it. "Why have you sent me a message toe out?" a very sweet voice came out from those red lips; even when angry it was so mesmerizing. "Lady, I''m so sorry but lord Dockrey is here waiting for you for a few hours now." A maid appeared in the vision of the beauty while she moved out of the cabin, showing her smooth bare skin. She didn''t y with a single piece of cloth on. The girl, who was only seventeen, pointed to the side with her hands, without saying a word the maid moved to bring her clothes and help herdy to dress up. "What is this jerk doing in my mansion? Didn''t I give the orders to everyone here to expel anyone I didn''t invite?" Despite her sweetness, her anger was famous among all who was close to her. It was perfectly normal for the maid to shiver and even pause a moment when dressing her up. "What? Didn''t I say that before I entered the game?" she bellowed angrily without ncing even at her maid. "L- Lady, the great lord ordered us to let him in." "My uncle? Humph, I will deal with himter then," she didn''tment more as she knew when her words hit the words of her uncle, then those working here will follow her uncle''s for sure. Despite her uncle had no real ownership on her mansion,panies, and wealth; yet he was the one responsible for taking over her inheritance until she turned legal. "Tell that jerk I''m heading down there to see his ugly face!" "Lady, your voice," the maid tried to whisper to her, as they were already walking down the stairs leading down. "What? Can''t I speak freely in my own home? I should fire you all and get new staff!" "" The maid didn''t speak as she knew the words of herdy weren''t mere threats in the air; she had a long history of expelling her staff! "My eyes are rejoicing to see such a divine beauty descending like angels from heavens," the moment she became clear in sight for the one standing down below, he hurried to stand and speak those words greeting her. He was twenty years old, tall and broad, giving anyone seeing him the impression of a bodyguard. His short brown hair and sharp blue eyes made this impression much deeper to anyone seeing him. In front of him, an angel really was descending from the heavens. With her white angelic spacious short dress, showing barely her two shoulders, giving anyone seeing her the impression of a divine beauty. Her face was spotless, even with these brownish freckles she looked stunning. Her long dark hair was collected in a ponytail hastily made by her maid, and her dark eyes made anyone seeing her with those long curved dark eyshes feel drowning into an ocean of peace and tranquility. Her high heels knocked on the marble stairs while descending step by step, with her bare legs frommid-thigh casting more magic over her unweed uninvited guest. "An angel descending to meet such a demon, what a disgrace," she remarked and her rude words made the maid walking behind her to stumble, almost fall. "I know you have a poor opinion of me, but when I win thispetition I will prove your worth to you." "The shamefulpetition! Aren''t you ashamed you are treating me like a puppet? Compete with this minor and get me as a bonus, right?" She reached down and didn''t extend her hand to shake his already extended one. As she sat on her favorite sofa, the youth wasn''t much offended as he knew how hard her temper was, and how resistible she behaved towards this deal. A deal he paid so much to put in motion! "I know you are angry because of this, but believe me I never put you in such a state, never." "Yeah, I believe you. You don''t see me at all! Your only goal is my wealth, nothing more. Let''s face it, a wealth plus a beauty, with such a retarded minorpeting with you for this. Who can me you for being so enthusiastic, right?" "That rival of mine is really retarded. I heard he bought two capsules for the two new gamesunched this month. Can you imagine that? if he has a brain he would better focus entirely on the eternal glory game, at least to make thepetition worth the effort." The youth then adjusted his position as he added: "I came here for another thing, not to talk about that retard." "Oh, don''t say you missed me, that will be a clich!" "Well, of course I missed you. I missed you here and in the game. why don''t you give me your name in it? I issued a grand prize for anyone giving me any lead on your location, even a hint on any yer with your name, Natalie. Can''t you give me this hint and get this reward?" He ended his words with augh, yet she didn''t share his silly joke with him. "I told you I will y solo, don''t bother with me and don''t bug me inside the game," she dered her stance. "But I want to help you in the game. I had many aiders, you know Panty, Ogor, Lodak, Derick and Terrisa. Each has his own army of yers in many ces. Just tell me your vige and I will send the closest one to you. Even if you wanted me toe, I will answer." She smirked, not fazed by the obvious threat in his words. "The famous five lords of tyranny, right? I heard Derick got his as* handed neatly by one yer, and also heard rumors about Panty suffering the same on the hands of this yer, hehehe." The face of Dockrey changed for the first time before he controlled his emotions. "This is just amon and normal hup happening in any beginning. You know, sooner orter no one will stand a chance against me." "Yeah, I know. The five lords of tyrant are serving the emperor of death himself. but I''m the angel of heavens, no one like yours can stand against me." Dockrey hurried to correct this as he said: "I never intended to harm you. Just give me your location and I will make sure no one does." "Thanks, I can take care well of myself. If you have nothing else to say, go out and don''t waste my time." The look on his face didn''t change as he moved out, bowed slightly to her. "Till next time then," he said as he turned and left. "Sigh, such a jerk is my best candidate out of the two. an arrogant narcissist or a childish retard; really a great match up for me uncle, bravo!" She was angry, before she went upstairs while Dockrey just entered his fancy car, took out his phone and dialed a number. "Sure, your assumptions are correct. It''s her, and that person you met must be eliminated." He then closed the phone before taking a final nce on this luxurious mansion in the heart of the bustling city as he smirked evilly. "Soon all of this is going to be mine, even you and your arrogant and rude attitude will be crushed under me, hehehe." Chapter 112: The Start to Level up Luna Chapter 112: The Start to Level up Luna "Shade doppelganger festival." The next moment twelve dark silhouettes appeared in front of him. "Listen, one will go to attract a single monster group, and gather them all towards there," he said as he pointed towards the ce lying far before the hill he was standing at. He aimed to attract all these monsters, then lead them to cross the border to the other side. Despite having a lower number of monsters there, he selected this area for another reason. To be discrete! He knew the previous time many yers were already not aware of his existence here. Now, as he was away from the safe zone of trees back there, he wouldn''t attract attention then by doing this in front of everyone. So, the next minutes he watched his shades gathering up all the monsters they could attract before they ran towards the direction he gave them. "I just hope there is no hidden rule to prevent this," he muttered as he watched the first monster pack cross the border to the other region. "Good," he sighed in relief, while the monsters gathered up by his shades, coupled with others attracted by the trespassing these monsters did to their territories. The number was really huge, but he knew the result would be a handful of experience. He wouldn''t be taking part in killing all of them, or else he could easily jump up levels like walking! "I hope you will take over ten minutes," he prayed when all of his doppelgangers mobilized all the monster hordes towards the other side, creating a really vast emptiness behind. As there was no safe zone to tend to, his clones couldn''t stay alive anymore. The monsters hacked them to nihility, while he received system alerts about their deaths, he wasn''t sad. "Have you copied my skill?" he turned to Luna, who had this faint blush constantly at her cheeks. "Yes, master." "Good, after a while I will use a variety of all of my skills for you to learn." He then nced at the distance where many monsters; exceeding one thousand at least, fought between themselves to divide territories. "That''s interesting," hemented as the monsters didn''t fight as a bulk, instead each two to three hundred monsters got themselves apart from the others and fought among themselves. "Will the double trunk monsters triumph this time?" he was curious to know the answer to this. Yet as he hoped for, the fightsted for over ten minutes, actually fifteen, to finally close to its closure. The number of monsters in each group was much less than the start, yet there was some bad news there. Each group seemed to give birth to a whole new monster ruling the area, with only two to three ces ruled over by the double trunk monsters. "There are fresh faces this time," he muttered as in front of him eight areas were raging with fight, yet only two finally ended to be ruled under the double trunk monsters. As for others, one area was ruled by different kinds of monsters, with one ruled by the double horn monsters. As for the rest, he had no clue either about their abilities or their weaknesses. "It seems I was too greedy this time," he shook his head as the remaining number of living monsters ranged between thirty and fifty. This made his previous efforts be wasted. "Was it because of the agglomeration of each kind together to rule one area?" he recalled the fight and suddenly this little detail had attracted his attention. "Sigh, it seems I need to keep a couple of clones beside me to make some changes when needed." He then nced over the remaining monsters before he had some inspiration. "There is a skill I didn''t try before, let''s see what it will do then," he smirked as he started moving towards the distant groups of monsters. The presence of them there made the area look like it was the death zone. The other groups of monsters had ten to twenty monsters in packs, not reaching fifty like these here. "Five level difference makes them at level seventeen," he calcted before opening his skills and choosing one to inspect. "Darkness might skill: Any monster attacking the yer during the time of the skill will get a fear effect, no matter what level or grade it was for thirty seconds. Monsters affected will run havoc, evading the yer with their attack, and might cause some damage to others during these thirty seconds. yer attacks during the thirty second period are valid, while monster attacks against yer aren''t. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: one minute." It was a skill attached to his Grode chest te. He checked the conditions of the skill and thought it would be suitable for him to use. "Cooldown one minute seems long, but I can use it cleverly for ten seconds before escaping," he thought to himself while trying to n things out. "I need something to boost my speed," he said as he checked his skills again to just be disappointed. "I need to find something to aid me here," he shook his head before he nced over the monsters in front of him. "Let''s try it then," he moved towards the first group of monsters in front of him. They were new kinds of monsters, withrge and long bodies resembling a rhinoceros but with no horns. Instead they had three gaps in their heads, circr which Bloom knew how deadly they were. These weren''t just normal holes, as during the previous battle the monster used these to eject strange darts towards any monster. What was scary was the trajectory of these darts weren''t limited to their vision! "I swear I saw a dart exiting from one of those holes before it rotated midair to hit a monster standing a few meters behind it," Bloom reminded himself of such a scene. He was pretty sure of how hard it was to deal with such monsters. Chapter 113: Fighting New Monsters Chapter 113: Fighting New Monsters And he had forty of them standing right now, eyeing him in extreme vignce. "Let''s see if this will work," he unsheathed his two swords out before he attacked the first monster. "Dash!" "8000." The hit damage was good, but he knew this wouldn''t be enough to kill the monster. the monster Hp was monstrously above thirty thousand! "But you will be stunned for some time buddy," he then turned to the iing pack of monsters. Yet he didn''t have to directly attack them, as he was at the outer area of their dominance. He simply turned around and run towards the next group of monsters. "Catch me if you can!" he shouted, as if he was trying to make the aggro stick on him by all means. "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" He heard things being thrown in the air towards his back. He didn''t need to look back to be sure. "Just in time," he smirked as he was totally prepared for that nasty attack. "Dash!" and the next moment he activated the second dash to be moved forcibly by the system, moving fast, moving faster than those darts thrown in the air, to finallynd on the grounds of the next monsters. "8000." And he just hit one of them, stunning it before he linked the attack at once. "Slice," to move his body on the side, putting that stunned monster and other nearby monsters between him and the iing darts! "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" These darts had an explosive nature, so once hit anything they exploded in a big bang. "Damn, these explosions use sound wave attacks as well!" he felt great pain in his ears, yet he resisted the urge to stop and put his hands over them. He needed to keep running! This new type of monster was like wolves, with long sharp teeth and thick long hair. They had nothing special except for their amazing team work; they would select a monster, surround it, and kill it fast before turning to another monster. So, against the single Bloom with no allies here, he had to be sure not to be surrounded with those hungry wolves. Using the sound attacks of the explosive darts, he moved fast between the monster lines until he was almost about to leave their ground. "Roar!" A single roar, an Alpha roar, came from one monster to call another to itsmand. In the next moment Bloom found a couple of wolves moving to block his way of retreat, while others aimed for him. "Sigh, I thought I can keep this skill for the next monsters, tsk," he was slightly regretful but he didn''t keep his hands. "Sky piercer!" His body instantly was thrown in the air for three meters, jumping over all the iing wolves to attack and block his path. He aimed for thest couple of wolves, where he justnded, hitting one of them with his sword. "15000." "Nice hit, swift kick." He didn''t hesitate to turn over himself and give the other wolf a kick in the face, sending it flying back to hit more of its friendsing hot at Bloom. "Nice," he smirked as he turned around and started to run! He could barely escape the ws of these wolves. His speed was slightly lower than them. As he ran, the first group of monsters were wreaking havoc already with the wolves. Both were fighting each other, and both were trying to catch him, dying each other. And that just worked fine in his interest. The next group of monsters was the double trunked one. "Finally some familiar faces," he smiled like seeing an old friend before he used the next skill. "Dash piercer!" His body was thrown in air beforending heavily on the monster he selected lying in the middle of the nearest group to him. "18000." Just as his sword hit the monster, he didn''t dy linking it up with another two skills. "Slice." His body turned around the stunned monster before he used another slice towards another monster, evading the trunks of others. "Slice." As his body turned to move around the second monster, he linked it with a skill when the direction was right. "Swift kick!" He sent the monster flying to the opposite direction of the iing angry pack of monsters, while his body naturally followed the course of the monster, forcibly bound by the skill. "Roar!" The roars of the monsters got louder, as the sound of their hooves hitting the ground seemed to make the ground itself tremble. "It seems it''s big enough?" he nced for a moment back towards therge group of monsters he was attracting. They were above one hundred by now, yet he wasn''t worried. He had his way of escape totally secured. "The next group will be thest," he smirked as he turned to face the remaining monsters between him and his exit. The double trunk monsters were slightly mid-range monsters. So, as he stayed so near them, in the middle of their territory, he was in danger. "Luckily they don''t have the team work mind like those wolves," this was the only point theycked here; as every monster attacked alone. There was around twenty-five meters between him and the open grounds, plus six monsters. "Let''s dance," he smirked, not feeling any pressure as he moved towards the nearest monster. And his old barrage of attacks appeared. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice" He kept hitting the monsters in the same pattern. First using one sword to stab one of them before using the other to move around the body of the monster using slice skill; evading the monster''s attack. One, two, three, four he kept doing this until he reached the fifth monster. it was supposed to be only two monsters there, yet during his attack the hungry wolves caught up! "Coming without giving me a notice? That''s just rude of you," he smirked as he wasn''t fazed by the sudden appearance of three wolves a few meters away, standing side by side with the remaining two trunk monsters. Chapter 114: Dont Let Her Angelic Face Fool You; She is A Monster! Chapter 114: Don''t Let Her Angelic Face Fool You; She is A Monster! And as both sides head towards each other, Bloom still has the upper hand here. "Fog of gravity," as he activated one of hisst second life saving skills. The next second fog dissipated from him, expanding fast to cover fifty meters in one second. As the monsters were close, so close from getting him; they all paused! "Slice, swift kick!" and at this moment he linked his two skills towards one wolf, sending it flying in the air while he followed suit. "Grrr" the effect of his skill was just one second, yet he escaped and already had covered five meters with that wolf. The moment the skill effect vanished, the wolf growled as it was about to attack him with its teeth and sharp ws. "Didn''t your alpha teach you not y with humans?!" Bloom was alreadynding on the ground, and as the slice skill was about to finish, hended putting the body of the wolf between him and the vast group of angry monsters. "Bye bye, swift kick!" All it needed from him was just this kick, sending the wolf flying the five meters it just crossed,nding heavily on other monsters. "Why are you so slow? Hahaha! Catch me, c''mon catch me, I''m over here, hehehehe!" He ran, yet he didn''t stop teasing the monsters. The next group was the fourth and hisst group to use his tactic. These monsters were new ones, with bodies of a bull and enormous heads of foxes. "I don''t really know what''s special about you guys, so better to end the fun with you." He was heading towards them, with arge pack of angry monsters chasing him. "I believe even the might of darkness isn''t needed," he muttered when he stole a peep. The monsters were furious, and now with all of them grouped together he could simply escape and let them settle their own issues on their own. "And finally I cane and kill thest ones," he honestly smiled before turning to focus on the new monsters which were alerted by all the ruckus that was heading towards their territory. "Dash!" Simply he started the fight using the cooled down skill. his body crossed the remaining seven meters beforending heavily, stunning a monster. He already crossed the first bunch of angry bull-foxed monsters. "Calm down guys, I won''tst here for long," he smirked before he linked another dash without waiting even for his body to settle. "Dash!" He aimed towards a further deep monster, making his ce exactly in the center of the group. "Roar!" The mighty roarsing from the distant back and the loud bang and chaos that erupted after that made him sure that his old friend just joined his new ones. "Time for me to leave," he smiled as many monsters suddenly lowered their heads, and the next moment he felt like his body was hit by a car! "Damn! You have charge skills as well!!" he screamed in pain, while ncing over the two ten thousand Hp points lost rising above his head. "Two hits and no stuns, that''s a relief." He shook his head, as he didn''t keep his hands anymore. "Dash!" He used the skill even though his body was still trying to stand on one sword and one knee. And just as he expected, his body was forcibly moved under the skill effect. "Cloud of fog." Just as his body hit the first monster, he activated his mightiest boost to his dash, making his body turn to hit another monster five meters further away. Then another, and another, until the fourth time he used the dash he finally reached the outer border of this region. "Darkness nihility!" Just before hended on the fourth monster, he hurriedly activated the stealth skill he had before finally linking a slice to the stunned monster, circling it, making it a shield between him and a couple of extremely angry bull-foxed monsters that justunched their dash over him. "Boom!" He heard this collision sound high enough to know what was going to happen next. The next moment he sheathed his sword, took one Hp potions without ncing at it and gulped it as a whole. As he just did that, the monster he was standing behind was sent to fly a couple of meters, taking his body with it. as they were about tond, with the monster falling on top of him, Bloom used a stab before linking it with a swift kick, sending the poor monster back to its friends like a rubber ball! "-3000" "-2000" "Sigh, even after all this reduction from the skill I had all this damage," he shook his head before ncing at his Hp bar. "This potion is strong!" his Hp bar was almost depleted, but after this one Hp potion he restored most of his Hp in these seconds. He leaned over and grabbed the empty bottle before noticing something. He was now in stealth mode for one minute, not seen or heard by any monster. Yet there was one kind of monster that showed signs of recognizing his location! "Damn, those wolves can smell me," he didn''t dy and abandoned any thought of joining the fight to garnish more Xp as he hurriedly retreated towards the girls. "Sigh, it''s good that their noses have range as well," he noticed that after crossing thirty meters away from the messy battle, the wolves that were keeping track of his position paused and looked hesitant, before they returned to join the fight like others. "These monsters their teamwork is scary," he muttered as he realized now the key to take down these wolves. "Their alpha must be killed first," he decided, before turning to nce at the giant bull-foxed monster standing like a king in the far distance eyeing him. "These are also hard to deal with, all have charge skills, tsk," he shook his head, not knowing what he could do to deal with these. "They need a team, a solo yer like me can''t handle them." "Not only a team, I need many shield bearers to hold the charging monsters before attacking them," he shook his head helplessly. All this was caused by only the charge ability, not mentioning their mysterious abilities. He headed back to the girls where they waited with no speck of worry over their faces. All except one. "Are you ok?" He nced over at Luna, feeling somehow familiar with some old shadow. "It''s nothing to worry about," he said before adding, "tell me, are you fine leading the team?" "What do you mean?" "I don''t know, but perhaps it was too much asking this from you." "Don''t let her angelic appearance fool you," Muna stepped in as she joked while adding, "she is an actual monster given her the chance to show her true talents." Bloom moved his eyesight between the two before he smiled and said nothing more about this subject. "Scary," he muttered to himself, as someone who knew exactly how it was hard to hide a killing intent he was pretty sure now Luna was a monster. "Will we get Xp like this?" Muna asked while motioning to the distant brutal fight. "I hope, but Ick the dark clones of mine," he said in a low tone. Chapter 115: Sending Muna Off Chapter 115: Sending Muna Off "You can buy some of those disposable dark agents andunch them on the monsters." His eyes shone as he nodded. He could do that, after all, disposing of tens of these agents was nothing to him. He hurriedly opened the ck auction interface before finding that he didn''t have enough coins to use. "Sigh, I have to sell something then," he checked his inventory and got out a useless green grade shield level ten he had and tossed it into the interface. "only ten thousand points, tsk," he sighed before epting the deal. He had enough to buy hundreds of those agents, yet he only bought twenty. After all, it wasn''t applicable to use them everywhere. The next moment he summoned them. twenty dark agents stood in front of him in four lines before kneeling on the ground as they saluted him. "See those monsters over there? Go and make them join this battle," he simply pointed towards the remaining monster zones as he decided to y it big. The next moment the agents moved fast. "Won''t you use them to kill those monsters?" Muna asked. "They are weak, can''t do the task," he replied while watching them go in different directions. "I need them to gather them up before I move there and hunt down those standing still," he added. However, just as he finished saying these words, a system notification came in, startling him. "System alert: yer has killed level seventeen monster. yer has gained twenty-five thousand Xp." "What the" he paused as the next moment he felt Luna''s vibe changed. "How many levels have you gained?" he asked, while the dangerous air she emitted instantly vanished. "six levels," she simply answered, and he almost fainted when he heard that! "One monster gave you six levels? That''s insane!" "In a good way," she shyly replied, making him want to kiss those tasty cheeks of hers. "Sure, you and your monstrous leveling ability are great," he joked. "But how did I get that kill?" he thought before recalling something. "Yup, that''s the reason then," he nodded as he recalled the previous hits hended over these monsters. "If I gained a good amount of Xp this time, I might n to level solo like this." "Is the master still thinking about ying alone?" Muna suddenly said, with a shy tone that was strangely simr to Luna''s normal one. "Hehehe, if it was up to me I would never let you away from my side," he smirked while adding, "but I need you and your sisters to y another role for me." "Role? What role?" He nced at her, then at the other twenty girls behind as he silently smiled and said nothing. "I will turn you all to my beautiful dark spies inside every singlerge guild here, hehehe," he thought to himself while shifting his gaze away. Just as he was about to shift his gaze towards the remaining monsters, a system notification came alerting him that someone was trying to call him. "She finally decided toe to the game," he muttered before epting the video call. The face of Nara appeared on the screen with some nervous look over her face. "I thought you were going to take a nap or something," he said, trying to crack a joke here. "There is something that happened that I wanted to tell you about," Nara paused before she added, "where are you right now?" "I''m leveling up in the wilderness." "Wilderness? Great, I wille to you in half an hour." "Do you want to meet at the tree line then?" "No, stay where you are." She hurried to close the call. He nced at the empty small screen on his side before sighing and closing his end. "She seems quite distressed," he muttered before turning to nce at the remaining monsters. "Half an hour, huh? I can kill all of them this time then." In the next half an hour, hepletely cleared the area from any monster. Luna raised to level twenty-two, and by that she officially could gain more skills and upgrade her ss if she wanted to. "That if she was a yer, tsk," he shook his head before ncing at his level. He was still at level twelve, with only ten percent needed for him to rise another level. "Dozen more of these monsters and I could have leveled up," he shook his head as he had no time to waste. "I will choose a mission for you now," he opened the mission panel inside the dark auction interface and selected a mission that required level fifteen to aplish. "If you need any help, just send me a message. I have added you as a friend." "I will," she replied before she turned into smoke as she disappeared from his sight. "Sigh, she is so cute," he was still skeptical at sending such a beauty to such a dirty mission. "all of you will return now," he muttered as he recalled all the sexy beauties standing silent all this time. Who remained atst was Muna. "Here, this is the vige return ticket and some gold coins and gears enough to your level," he handed her some gears and a ticket, "I want you to be specialized at the weapon wielder faction. Look for a yer called Panty and do your best to impress him and join his group. Send me everything that yer does, even his meals and his ying habits. His jokes, his ns, and what he intends to do. I added you as my friend, so you can easily contact me." "I won''t disappoint you," she then used the ticket to return to the vige, leaving him all alone. "Sigh, without these beauties the ce looked so lonely and ugly," he muttered before turning to nce at the tree line, waiting for Nara''s return. "What caused her to be in such a state?" he asked himself while already knowing the answer. "Who else would cause her and me trouble? Sigh, that man tsk," he shook his head while feeling it was slightly strange for Panty to be fixed, so fixed on him. Chapter 116: The Triflet Challenge Chapter 116: The Triflet Challenge "What will he do then when I ruin his quest? Kill me in reality as well?" he sneered before finally receiving a message from Nara, a short one. "Where are you?" she said, and then he shared his location coordination to her in the reply, saying nothing else. In less than five minutes he noticed the appearance of a team of fifty yersing to the tree line. "Wow, she really got herself quite busy," hemented while watching what they were going to do. As they stood in front of the edge of the area, he spotted Nara from his far position. He just waved to her, and she spotted him. During this half hour the area got crowded again with swarms of monsters. He could have helped them, yet he refrained from this. "Let''s see what they can do," he said as he watched the small group of yers move in an organized manner. They seemed like they were used to ying together. "Such veterans, that''s weird. I can''t see any newbies here," he muttered as this was something unbelievable. "Something seems not quite right here," he reached this conclusion quickly as he watched them engage with monsters. They weren''t that cunning as him, yet they were capable. They didn''t aim to kill monsters, but they used the escape pattern these monsters had to make them run. All they had to do was to focus on one by one, while a group of fifteen shield bearers held the line for them; tanking them off any attacks. This tactic seemed slow, but in less than ten minutes they managed to reach him unscathed. "Those yers, damn they are strong!" This was his own evaluation of them. "Strange I never heard of Nara before," he muttered as he was pretty sure this group of veterans'' existence here wasn''t a coincidence at all. "Anyway, they all belonged to me now," heughed while waiting for them to pass thest group of monsters before reaching him. "What do you think?" she said, with a soft smile and nervous tone that didn''t match her expression. "Great job, they seem strong and experienced. Are you friends?" His straightforward notice and question startled them before she smiled in a much nervous way as she replied, "they are old friends of mine. Got problems with that?" "Nah," he shrugged before adding, "the stronger the better. Now, tell me what made such a beauty be so nervous." "It''s Panty," she replied with a depressed tone and very dissatisfied face, "he announced that a bounty of twenty thousand gold coins equal to your kill." "Twenty thousand gold coins?" even Bloom at this moment was baited into killing himself to get the prize. "Howe he had all these coins so early in the game?" he asked after shaking off such funny thoughts. "Hees from a wealthy family, has the support of a real authoritative and rich guy. The game opened the exchange market, and despite the price of a single gold coin soared to equal a thousand federal point, these things didn''t prevent him from buying gold coins like crazy." "Wow, he is rich indeed," Bloommented as he generally was familiar with the federal point system in the world. "The game put a cap on a single yer purchase not to exceed twenty thousand gold coins, yet a backdoor existed." One of the fresh faces spoke up. He was an assassin, well built and looked much older than the most here. "You mean by making other yers do the purchase?" Bloom asked as he already got the simple trick here. "He has arge group of followers from actual life. It''s not strange he had all this support early in the game, and he has his eyes fixed upon you." Bloom was feeling more doubt the more he heard her words. "If you asked me, then the whole thing looked suspicious. Why would such a person take the trouble to pay all this for just a single sh earlier?" he expressed his doubts over loud. ''I didn''t yet steal his quest, right?'' he smirked while thinking this to himself. "This" the features of Nara changed to show him how troubled she was. "There is some family dilemma between Nara and the one backing Panty from the shadows. They have marked you as a threat, and they won''t ept anything to prevent them from winning this stupid contest." "Jeffrey!" Nara shouted in a strange tone towards the assassin, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Between this arrogant Dockrey and the retard Terry, you deserve much better than any of them!" "Jeffrey! Stop and say no more!!" Between Jeffrey''s words and Nara''s shout, the mind of Bloom suddenly stirred up. "Sorry, you said Dockrey and Terry?" he asked, trying to know more about this topic. "You must have heard of the Triflet challenge, don''t you?" "I swear if you don''t hold your tongue right now I will kill you myself and make you lose a level!" "S- Sorry, just replying to the dude." Bloom knew he couldn''t know more from him, yet he already had what he wanted. ''Triflet challenge, I just hope I didn''t put myself into such a stupid love rivalry,'' he thought to himself, clinging to the hope that the mentioned Terry here wasn''t him. "Sorry for that, but ording to that arrogant Dockrey you are considered a threat to be eliminated. They won''t stand at anything to get rid of you, so I suggest you take these gold coins and move away from this vige. This conflict is something that I only should be burdened with." Bloom nced at her, then at the system notification telling him about receiving a thousand gold coins from her, and then sighed. "C''mon, do you think I took you under my wing to just be scared off and run away? You are my girl and I''m your team leader. Just have some trust in me." "Whose girl are you referring to?" her tone was sharp, yet her face showed a tinge of softness. "I just told you very powerful and wealthy men are eyeing you. It''s not an exaggeration if they decided to target you in actual life. You should run, you should hide, you should be scared. Standing here and acting heroic isn''t something that can be considered wise or logic!" Chapter 117: The Fact Chapter 117: The Fact Her tone was rushed, yet she was trying to sincerely advise him for his best. He took the step between him and her, and then put his hand over her shoulder as he calmly said: "Don''t worry yourself about me, I''m Bloom, not just a meager kid from the neighborhood. I''m not that green and it''s not an exaggeration to say that a death feud between me and these men was destined to happen." She nced at him with an absent mind, thinking he was totally lunatic. She wasn''t alone, everyone around him thought the same. He didn''t say more, and he wouldn''t. He wouldn''t exin that he came here targeting Panty, as for that Dockrey, strangely the name sounded familiar. ''Any familiar name in my mind is rted to some sort of big quest or development in the game,'' he said to himself as he knew sooner orter his path would be crossed with such a person. "Why?" she stuttered before adding, "why are you doing this? This is just a game for you!" ''It''s more than that to me,'' he replied to her, yet he just gave her a calm smile; a smile she misinterpreted as doing this for her. "Now let''s not delve into these matters again," he said before ncing at everyone, "we need to work hard and raise our levels. I''m pretty sure whoeveres for me won''t only target me." His words were met with strange nces from everyone. They came here specting all things about his reaction; yet they missed the right one. "Are you sure?" she asked again. "This a game as you said," he shrugged, "what''s the benefit of making it like a life feud? Let''s enjoy ourselves and have fun." He then turned to the others, totally ignoring her weird look over her face. "Send me a friend request so I can add you all to my group." "Don''t bother, we already have one," Jeffrey said with a big smile all over his face, "nheless I''m honored to have you as a friend." The others nodded as well, before a wave of friend requests appeared in front of Bloom''s face. He epted them all before being added to the group they created and then, and after a moment of hesitation, Nara made him the leader. "Master, big news!" At this moment Muna who he just sent an hour ago sent this message to him. "About the bounty on my head?" he replied back instantly while turning to nce at the monsters standing in front of him. "What do you say about our strategy to level up here?" he directed his question to the group of yers around him. "Yes, and there is another thing. Panty works for a guy called Dockrey, and he and Nara in your team have some sort of love rtion." At this moment he couldn''t help to raise his eyebrows, luckily for him he was giving everyone his back at this moment. "They two love each other?" he doubtly asked. "We will attack them with usual formation. We need first to decrease their numbers by making them run away before we hunt the suitable number for our team." "And what is the suitable number in your opinion?" he asked Jeffrey while his eyes were fixed on the chat with Muna. "It''s one sided love, or something called a lifetime chance for Dockrey ording to Panty''s words." Bloom just nodded, agreeing with the words Muna just sent. ''They are just trying to hunt down a trophy,'' he said to himself before sending to her; "was the name Terry mentioned?" This was what he cared about. "Around twenty to thirty at maximum," Nara replied in Jeffrey''s stead as thetter didn''t know how to answer. "Thirty, huh," Bloom muttered before adding, "it''s around the same number I killed alone," he said this in low tone yet everyone perfectly heard him. "What? What level are you now? Let me check, oh my gosh! Level twelve already!" Jeffrey was shocked and his loud words made everyone around him check the list in the group again to confirm what he said. And the next seconds they all nced differently at Bloom, he was a strong yer! Even they, and they were veterans, were at level eleven! "That''s nothing, I''m almost at level thirteen," he casually replied, without noticing their strange looks upon him. His mind was fixed on something else, as Muna sent the answer he craved for. "They mentioned him. How did you know that? He is called a retard pathetic spoiled rich kid whose mind is twisted already. He is said to live in a big mansion with people handling all his wealth for him." The answer she sent wasn''t that satisfying for him, so he asked for more: "Did they mention anything else? Hisst name perhaps? The area he lived at? The name of hispanies and the heritage he held? Anything useful for me to identify him." He had this weird hunch he was the one mentioned in these talks, or the old Terry he was now ying his role in this life. "Give me a sec," she just said and he just turned to face his new team as he said, "I will change the strategy you were using by my own." "Strategy?" Nara said in a weird tone as she still was amidst her own thoughts. "Sure, I just said I used to kill this number alone, so basically we can at least double it, right?" Everyone nced at him in doubt, but he didn''t wait for them to agree or disagree, as he instantly used his skill right away. "Shade doppelganger festival." The next moment a dozen of his dark clones appeared. This wasn''t a secret move of him, as everyone already knew he could summon clones. "But what for?" Jeffrey asked as if he was speaking to himself. "You will see by your own eyes," he smiled calmly as he turned to face his clones as he added, "go and attract all monsters to here." His words gave everyone an instant scare, and just before they could realize his aim, his clones moved. Everyone stood in their ce motionless watching the clones each going in one direction. Chapter 118: Does She Deserve This? Chapter 118: Does She Deserve This? The clones did as usual, yet this was the first time for them to see such a scene. "What''s your aim here?" Nara asked, as this was the same strategy he used before to deal with Panty. "You will see," he simply replied, while a message came from Muna at this moment. "I knew something about this Terry," she sent, and paused like she was ying with him. "What?!!" he stressed as he wanted to confirm his own guess. She stayed a minute as if she was enjoying torturing him. "It isn''t much in fact. He has two game capsules in his mansion, one for this game and another for a failure game called Titan revolt." Her words made his own soul shake. ''It''s me then,'' he sighed, helplessly not knowing what to feel right now. "Have you joined his team already?" "Yes, do you want me to dig more about this Terry? I have another tip about some challenge with a weird name." "The Triflet challenge?" "You already know it? Then it''s not worth mentioning then." His clones attracted everyone''s attention, so none noticed his nervous look at this moment. "I know just the name. send any details you know about." "Alright, but aren''t you worried about this death warrant? Panty and his men here are full of themselves about their sess in killing you.'' "I''m not that weak, or helpless." ''Hehehe, I know, you have me and my sisters, hehehe.'' He just smiled and said nothing. At this moment he noticed the reaction of everyone towards what his clones were doing. "That''s crazy, he just gathered over a thousand monster together!" "What about his clones?" "Sigh, they are dead!" "What''s the use of all this?" Manyments were scattered from the group about his tactic, yet he wasn''t affected by them. He knew their eyes would pop out when they saw the final result. ''I yed with reservation so far, it''s time for me to go full out,'' he thought to himself while marveling at the fifty yers on his side. He waited, and his wait didn''tst for more than five minutes for the monsters to split up on themselves, creating seven different battlegrounds. "Wow, they divided themselves by themselves!" "How can this be possible!" "I don''t remember reading any of these at any manual!" "This is just insane!" Thements shifted from mocking him to be shocked by this result. He simply stood there as he enjoyed this invisible sense of triumph over them. ''To rule a group you must first gain their admiration and trust,'' he said to himself the same words he once said before to his friend. "Do you aim for this?" Nara said as she pointed to the seven groups. "How did you know about this?" "By coincidence," he honestly replied, yet she and everyone else standing here didn''t believe him. "Are you a beta?" Jeffrey asked, and he just stayed silent, as this misunderstanding usually served as his perfect excuse. "Let''s talk about business," he said before pointing to the first group, "I know some of these monsters already, so we will wait until each ground is controlled by one type of monsters before hitting them hard." "Do you n on killing them all?" "Yes, I will act as the leading spear while you will hunt them down from behind," he replied on one of the new guys question before adding, stressing on this sentence, "and no monster is going to run away but we need to work as a team and follow my exactmand when dealing with these monsters." They just nced at him as if they were newbies looking to a veteran. "It wasn''t a fluke then to make such legends already," Nara shook her head before saying loudly, "you heard the boss, we will fight ording to his rules." Everyone came here on her behalf, so when she stood by his side they had no excuse not to listen to hismands. He inwardly raised her ce in his heart for a bit for her stand, feeling d such a beauty was there on his side. "The triflet challenge is a love challenge issued by thete father of a very wealthy family, a father to a beauty called Natalie. She is Nara, and the challenge is about the game." Muna sent this message which then she followed by these: "The father was one of the main contributors to the game developingpany. He has a vast wealth and great heritage, and has only one girl as an heir." "He had a strange illness months before theunch of the game, then he passed away a month ago." "The challenge is about who is going to build the greater empire in the game. There are many assessment variables, where money and wealth in the game isn''t considered one of them." "The two contenders came from two big families, and both have strong heritage and great wealth. Something seems off about Dockrey, yet I know nothing yet about his real situation." "I can tell you that this Terry is considered a loser already. Some even mentioned from afar about the possibility that Dockrey paid for the consultingpany that ran this challenge to select him as his contestant." "Dockrey is already eyeing her as his girl, and her heritage is considered by many as Dockrey''s own." Bloom read all these and suddenly got everything cleared in front of him. "When is the final date of this challenge?" he asked, despite already knowing the truth. "There will be a meeting soon, but didn''t know when. As for the final date, someone mentioned seven years in the future, but I think he was exaggerating." ''He wasn''t!'' Bloom just clenched his fist before stealing a short nce towards Nara. ''Was I sent here to do this? Was my second chance in life given to me as a pity not on my condition but on his?'' he questioned himself, yet he knew he couldn''t possibly know the answer. ''Does she deserve all this? Or her wealth deserves more of this?'' he didn''t care about any worldly wealth, yet if he was part of something then he wouldn''t coward away. Chapter 119: Fighting A New Monster Chapter 119: Fighting A New Monster ''I have to thinkter about this,'' he thought to himself before returning to nce at the fighting monsters again. This time, three grounds were controlled by the double trunk monsters, two were controlled by the three holed monsters, and thest two were controlled by the double horned monsters. "It''s quite expected," he muttered before asking, "anyone knows anything about these monsters?" These weren''t just any veteran, they came here to support one who had shares in the developingpany. They must have their own ways to get info and tips, so he was expecting much from them. "To be honest, all we have is things written in the vige manual." Yet the answer Jeffrey provided made him startled. He nced at them in disbelief and more doubt towards Nara who just shrugged. "The game only has tight security about its secrets, that''s all." Something told her that he knew about her identity, yet she wasn''t sure how. He sighed, as this seemed out of his expectations. "Has anyone fought these monsters before?" he asked, to be met with another silence. "Alright, I will tell you what I know," he shook his head before starting to narrate the monsters'' pros and cons. "So, we will start with the easiest, those double horned monsters," he finished his words with this. "You mean the Grenatos monsters?" Jeffrey corrected him. "I like to call them double horned, man look at them. They have DOUBLE horns!" "Tsk," Jeffrey didn''t know what to say here, so he remained silent while others avoided saying a word. They had a genius leader, yet he seemed crazy! "I will go first, and then you wille after me. Remember, our aim is to make every single monster use their abilities one after another. It''s just mere luck we have even numbers here, or else we will have to hunt down one first." He then moved towards the group of double horned monsters with his two swords unsheathed. "Let''s have some fun," heughed as he wasn''t feeling any pressure at all dealing with these monsters. As he expected, the fight with them ended fast with no much hustle. ''I have to admit, ying with them is making things much easier for me,'' he said to himself while enjoying the feeling of raising up and allocating his free points to Str this time. ''I need to make my hits more lethal,'' that was what he decided. He aimed to regain his reputation as mass killer, and to do that he had to acquire an AOE skill plus raising up his own Str. "You sure didn''t lie about being so close to level up," Nara muttered, with a strange smile over her face. Bloom was the only one leveled here among them, but each one got a decent boost to his experience. "This is just faster thanks to you, but the amount of Xp gained was decreased because of your low levels," he honestly replied, without any ill intention. "You are just a monster!" Jeffrey shook his head, "are you one of those hermits? Those who love gaming more than anything ever in life?" Bloom just avoided answering such a question, as he decided to keep his true identity secret from them, then secret from his enemies and the entire world. "Let''s go, we still have six ces to clear," he said while heading towards the next double horned monster ground. He gained twenty seven percent increase in Xp after clearing this ground. Yet no one leveled up even after killing forty monsters this time. "Sigh, did you juste here after rising to level eleven?" he shook his head while stating the obvious. The next fights went smoothly until they reached the area of three holes monsters. During that time, some seeded to level up a level, but the rest were still stuck at level eleven. Nara and Jeffrey were among those who leveled up. As Bloom stood on the edge of this area, watching those fifty two monsters with vignce. "Don''t you know their absolute ability?" Jeffrey asked, as he got used to Bloom giving counters about how to deal with the monsters; not to stand there silent to watch. "I didn''t fight those yet," he shook his head as he added, "so we are going to first test them out, and prepare for the worse." "You mean total wipe out?" Nara asked in disbelief, "I don''t think so." Her tone was so confident, and Bloom just sneered. "We can be wiped out in any fight, this is a fact about this game." "Why don''t we just send a few of us to test them?" "They have fifty two and we have fifty one, it''s already disadvantageous for us," he refused her suggestion before adding, "losing a level here won''t be a loss if we managed to crack these monsters'' supreme ability." She just nodded, as she knew this was the usual tactic followed in any game. Yet she was still feeling regretful if she lost a level here, a level she just gained. "Let''s go," he stepped forward, leading the charge as usual. "Pay attention to their darts, they are lethal," he warned as the monsters stopped what they were doing before raising their head to nce at him. "Won''t he use his clone skill?" Jeffrey asked, in a low yet audible tone to Bloom who just replied: "If we are going to die, then why should I waste this skill here? Leave it forter, dash!" He opened the fight with one of his signature skills. He was now at level thirteen, yet the monsters were all level sixteen. "I hope they won''t have such an annoying skill like those double trunked monsters," he thought to himself as his sword justnded on the bigger body of the monster. And then the monster and Bloom were carried a few meters to the center, while a damage of twelve thousand appeared on top of the monster. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" The response swiftly came from other monsters as they instantly turned their heads to him and then a dart was thrown towards his direction. Chapter 120: A Crazy Absolute Ability! Chapter 120: A Crazy Absolute Ability! "As if I will let you hit me, slice," he didn''t dy and used his skill to change his body position, putting the body of that stunned monster between him and the iing darts. And these darts all fell on the body of the monster adding more damage to it! "8000" "500" "500" "500" "500" . . . "500" "500" "500" "Great! Each dart can cause this damage! Then it''s not us against the monsters, it''s monsters against themselves, hehehe,'' heughed as he loudly said. His team just stepped in and started hitting these monsters when they heard and saw what just happened here. "We need to start using monsters as shields," Nara shouted at others, further implying Bloom''s words into an applicable strategy. "Shield bearers would retreat, and let the weapon wilders lead the charge," Bloom added more to the current strategy before adding, "any healers should stay sharp and use their skills wisely. Shade sons should intervene when needed," he added more while using another slice to change his position to his original one. "So each monster willunch one dart each ten seconds, that''s a relief!" In just these ten seconds, thirty darts hit the body of his monster taking away fifteen thousand hp. Yet that wasn''t enough to make its Hp decrease by more than half! As for the other twenty or something, they were already entangled with his team! "System alert: your team memberRod died!" "System alert: your team member Cesil died!" "System alert: your team member Foler died!" Three notifications suddenly came announcing the death of three members already! He turned his head sharply to nce over the other ces, where he spotted the reason for such deaths in one nce! "Don''t face one monster on your own!" he shouted as he used another dash to stop the gathering of five monsters on one side of three yers. "always look for your nearby friend and make sure to y together!" The monster he hit was stunned, yet he didn''t hurry to use his cloud of fog skill, reserving it forter moments. The actions of his team were clumsy, and in the first minute they lost ten more yers! Yet at this moment many monsters had their Hp decreased by more than half, and Bloom decided to make the fight more favorable to them. "Leave those runners run away, we only need ten monsters to experiment upon." His order came to make the remaining alive much relieved. They followed his words and they left the monsters run before hurrying to help other yers. "We are getting in better shape now," Bloom just let one monster run away after hitting it with a dash followed by a couple of stabs. He took a quick nce before feeling much confident in taking these monsters down. It took them five minutes to make the total number of remaining monsters reach ten! "Alright, don''t let them run anymore," he shouted at his thirty three remaining yers. For him he took the free mode in fighting, not sticking to one monster, constantly jumping from ce to another. He intervened to help those who were cornered against these monsters. "Tsk, lowering their numbers made the darts factor greatly reduced," he shook his head in regret, yet he knew this was safer for him. As the monsters were stopped in their ces sessfully, it took four minutes to make their Hp reach around twenty percent. "Be ready, the ability can be used at any moment now," Nara shouted to rm everyone, making sure not a single one would be distracted to notice this. Just as she finished, Bloom didn''t hesitate to use his dash skill on the lowest Hp monster. "Let''s see what your ability is," he murmured before he hit the monster, stunning it. Yet the monster next roared, and then it raised its head high. "Here ites," one of the nearby weapon wielders said. Bloom was ready, his other dash skill and cloud of fog were ready to use. He also still saved his other great movable skills, dash piercer and hawk skills ready. "What?" the next moment something weird happened, that monster kept roaring non-stop, while the other nine monsters stopped attacking any yer, shifted their gaze towards Bloom and the next moment each monster released three darts at him! ''What the hell?!!" he cursed out loud before he hurried to use his slice skill, putting the monster in between him and the iing darts. "At least they will help in killing this noisy one," he smirked before he paused midway in hisughs. The darts didn''t hit the monster! They simply took a wider curve, evading the monster and turned to direct him. "F*ck! They have such a targeting mechanism! Slice!" He used the second slice to make him change his position again, and these darts didn''t hit the monster this time as well. They changed their course, taking a wider turn, circling around the monster once more, heading directly towards him. "Shields!" he instantly shouted as he wouldn''t stand a chance if he was hit with all those crazy darts in one go! The nearest shield bearer was a couple of meters away from him. He was a tanker, with two shields in his possession which made Bloom feel much secured this way. But not that much! "I need to be ready," he said to himself, while pointing one sword to be ready to activate dash at any moment. "Boom!" one dart hit the yer, and that poor yer instantly lost one shield. "Boom!" The second shield was blown away, and the third hit took the life of the yer. "Sh*t!" Bloom didn''t hesitate anymore, "dash!" he instantly used his dash to carry his body away, much faster than these darts! "Three are down, and a yer was killed. This exchange seemed not right!" he cursed while his body hit the farthest monster away from the darts. He was secured for a few seconds, yet he didn''t dare to rx. "My slices are still on cooldown," he felt quite annoyed right now. Twenty four darts flew midair targeting him, and he had no way to dodge them except if he used his dash. "I want to kill that damn monster," he was totally furious at such op skills! How could he stand a chance against such an attack? "And this came only from one monster, sigh," he shook his head as he spotted that noisy monster at the back. "These darts stood in my way," he didn''t have any more options here except to either use two skills as one go, or try his luck with his aerial skill. "Let''s try my luck then, dash piercer!" The next moment his body was moved on his own, to jump for three meters in the air, heading like a meteorite towards the distant monster. "Wow, never noticed these darts as moving so low!" he was now high on the air, ncing at those crazy darts that started changing their course to follow him. They were only one meter on the ground, and even when he passed over them, they didn''t manage to hit him. "25000" a terrifying damage appeared from the head of that constantly roaring monster. As he moved a couple of meters with it, the monster was stunned and then its noisy roars were silenced! "Really?!" Bloom eximed in discontent, before turning sharply to nce at the iing darts. "Damn! They are stilling! Slice!" he didn''t dy and linked his slice to move his body back, while thinking of his next move. "I will wait until they evade it and then use myst charge, tsk," he muttered to himself before feeling how hard he was cornered. "Sigh, bye bye level thirteen for now," he shook his head, preparing his mind to be killed and resurrected at the vige. "Boom!'' "Boom!" "Boom!" . . "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Yet opposite to his expectations, these darts justnded on the body of the monster, causing its body to retreat a couple of meters, taking Bloom with him. "1000" "1000" "1000" . . "1000" "1000" "1000" Twenty four damage appeared on top of the monster''s head at this moment. "Don''t tell me" it hit Bloom at this moment, "I know what this monster''s ability is and how to ovee it!" he yelled, with such a high tone that he used to relieve his distress and anxiety. "Phew, that was really tense," he wiped his sweat before feeling so much thrilled with that. "Sigh, this game deserves all the sess it garnished in my past life," he said to himself, feeling howrge the gap between this game and his old game was! Chapter 121: Finally Killing the Monsters Chapter 121: Finally Killing the Monsters Bloom was finally relieved about figuring out the secret of these monsters. "What''s the trick here?" Nara shouted as she was already fighting one of these monsters with five other yers. "Does anyone have a stun skill?" Bloom didn''t exin now as there was no time to do so. His question was met with a strange silence from everyone. "Tsk, I thought so," he shook his head before adding, "just trigger the ability of monsters each ten seconds intervals at least." He then checked his own skills, dash wasn''t the only one with a stun effect. He had a myriad of other skills that also stunned the monsters. "Roar!" "Roar!" Just as he said this, two monsters roared at the same time. "It seems I was a bitte," he muttered before pointing his sword to one of them. "Dash!" His body moved on its own to hit the monster. This timely stun helped to stop the ability of the monster, yet six monsters alreadyunched their darts towards the yer triggered the ability. "Move behind the monster, fast," he hurried to say and the yer just reacted in time. As for Bloom, he just stepped aside, making room for the eighteen darts to hit the monster and cause eighteen thousand damage. "One down, one left," he muttered before turning to nce at the yer. "System alert: yer Manty of your team group has died!" The notification came faster than his sword, as one dart was fast enough to hit the yer before he could activate his dash skill. "Oh, so once killed the yer they would cause an AOE attack?" he was speechless there as the next moment the yer fell down, the remaining seventeen darts went crazy and targeted seventeen yers. "No time to waste, dash!" he moved with his fastest reaction to hit and stun the monster, cancelling its skill. "Take the monsters as shelter," he hurried the others, yet only five remained of such attack. "Scary!" he muttered as he now knew how bad these monsters were! "We need to be more careful," he urged the remaining twenty yers to follow his words. "They sure will," Jeffrey said before adding, "one monster at a time?" "One monster at a time," Bloom agreed on such a strategy as this was the perfect tactic right now. The remaining eight monsters were targeted one by one, as they activated the special ability and Bloom just worked his best to deactivate it. In less than two minutes these monsters died, yet they lost seven more yers during this. This came because their numbers weren''t enough to stop the remaining monsters. So when one of them reached the staff holders and light daughters, a massacre erupted in no time! Bloom interfered and stunned the monster twice in a row, expiring one dash and one dash piercer skills at the same time to stop the monster twice. "Phew, that was crazy!" Nara said while ncing over the alive ones. "We need to wait for others toe," she said before recalling the path to here. She nced at Bloom and he just nodded. "We need to clear their path using my way then," he said before adding, "contact them and when they are nearby, I will act." Nara nced over Jeffrey who took the mission and started contacting everyone. "The secret lies in stun skills then?" she finally had time to ask more about the trick behind these monsters'' supreme skills. "Sure, the three holed monsters need stun skill and high agility yers, the double trunked monsters need yers with many skills and short cooldown. As for the double horned monsters, they need high DPS yers, and also need veteran yers knowing how to use their skills without following the system guidance." He paused as he was thinking out loud. "Each monster here seemed to have one condition at least to be beaten. This is unique, this is really interesting." "And hard," she sighed before adding, "what about the loot? Like usual?" Since they started attacking these monsters, he refrained from taking any loot. The money fallen here wasn''t much to begin with, and the equipment was scarce, low leveled and maximum green grade. He didn''t need them, he had a lot of wealth already and he had his eyes on the higher levels and grades gear for his Pandora''s box. "Sure, share them with others," he said. "May I suggest something," she paused before adding, "in the future we will have a guild, right?" "A guild?" he muttered before saying, "sure, a guild will be established soon. Why?" "If so then we need to umte materials for our lifestyle yers." "cksmiths and alchemists?" "Yes, they are like a bottomless pit. Training a bunch of them would require too much materials and resources." He thought about it for a moment. ''This Pandora box seems to be much more important than I initially thought,'' he said to himself before saying to her, "Do as you see fit, alright?" She gave him a silent nce before walking away, feeling he wasn''t much enthusiastic about the whole idea. He wasn''t that interested, actually, in establishing a guild but he knew he would have to own one. Guilds had the right to establish viges, towns, and own cities. So he would prefer to do so to have one of his dreamse true. As they waited for their dead team members toe here, a message popped up in front of Bloom''s face. "New development, master." It was sent from Muna. "Say," he replied back to her knowing already what she was going to say. "A group of a hundred yers left the vige and areing for you now." "A hundred? That''s too few," he shook his head not knowing what to say about this. He previously fought hundreds, not just one. "This group is different," she sent before pausing for a while. "yers here wanted the prize on your head, yet they all demanded for your level to be at least ten or lower. So Panty asked for reinforcements, and this group just arrived here." Chapter 122: Enemies Are Coming! Chapter 122: Enemies Are Coming! Bloom had more interest when she said this. "Do you know anything about them?" "Their levels are all twelve, and they are all veterans. I heard a strange name rted to them but can''t recall it now." "A veteran group?" he muttered to himself. his mind recalled the five elites he once fought alongside Panty. They were such a headache that he was worried of their interference when ruining Panty''s questter on. Amidst his thoughts, he spotted Nara crossing the distance between the two in jumping steps and a much distressed face. "Bad news, there is a group of hired elitesing here, to you." He already heard the tip from his girl, yet he felt quite astonished at how fast she also had this info. ''Does she have an insider like me?'' he thought to himself before calmly replying: "Don''t worry, I''m used to fighting many strong yers." "These are different," she hurried to say, "they hailed from the Sentix corp, a very frightening and ancient group dedicated to training elite bodyguards and killers." "Bodyguards and killers? That''s strange indeed." "No, you don''t understand," she shook her head as she realized he wasn''t fully understanding his current dangerous situation. "These are famous for having extra-human abilities running deep in their families. Never failed a task before, either in defending or killing." "So they will kill me once and I lose a level?" he wasn''t that worried yet another message came from Muna right now. "They have one rted to the dark yers. He paid a hefty price to obtain a death soul collecting gear. Dying this time won''t be just losing one level, it''s more than that." Bloom was surprised to hear that. "Dark yer you say?" he didn''t realize he wasn''t the only yer ying for the dark side of the game until now. When he opened the message of Muna, he found her speaking about the same thing, yet with another addition. "This man has tokens of dark agents like me, ten tokens in total." "Oh, that''s interesting." "What are you talking about? Hurry and log off now so they won''t find you when theye! That''s the only option you have." "I have another one," he confidently said. "Going to the vige? Then what? How will you go and level up then?" "You are wrong," he smiled before adding, "logging off won''t solve anything. They will wait and when I enter again they will kill me," he added, exining the weakness of her solution. "But it''s safer! They won''t know your ce. We will move far from here to mislead them." Bloom sighed, as she still didn''t figure it out yet. As the two of them had their agents inside Panty''s ranks, Panty and even his boss Dockrey had their eyes here. No matter where he would run to, he wouldn''t be safe. ''Plus I want to fight such a dark yer,'' he thought to himself, and this mere thought made his blood boil. "You are crazy!" she said as if she read his mind. "Just stay away from here, as this fight will be quite chaotic," he advised, as he didn''t want anyone to be a liability in the next fight. Especially when he already knew what he should do. "I I can''t do that I won''t do that!" she seemed startled by his own words, mistaking them as his own care of her. "Don''t worry, I can handle this." "They are a hundred!" "I once fought more than that." "I can''t leave you, I''m the one who brought this to you in the first ce!" She was so persistent that he finally yielded. "Fine, but do as I say and don''t try to be heroic," he said of his condition, and she retorted back; "It''s you who shouldn''t act that heroic." Then her face changed slightly as she muttered in a much softer tone, "especially to strangers like me!" "Sigh," he only sighed and said nothing. He didn''t know what would she do if she knew he was that retarded man she never thought of! He then watched her stand silent by his side while she was chatting with someone through messages. ''This is quite troublesome,'' he thought to himself. ''Panty, why are you so hard to screw? Huh? Why don''t you be obedient like Derick! Tsk, ruining this quest seems to get harder with time, sigh!'' This mere incident proved to him there were many variables in the game now. There was this strangepany with strong individuals even in real life! And there were other dark yers. "Should I aim then for the head of the snake?" he thought to himself, thinking about targeting the big fish. "It''s too early, I need first to cut off one of his arms," he decided toplete the game here with Panty first before heading towards Dockreyter. "They have ten minutes to arrive," Nara suddenly said. "Our yers? Or the enemy?" "Both!" He smiled before ncing over therge number of monsters here. "It''s time to use the game rules upon them, and see how good they really are." He then nced over the remaining fifteen yers here. They were a mixture of the seven factions, with each faction having two yers represented here. "Jeffrey," he shouted, and the next moment Jeffrey stopped what he was doing and hurried back to him. Everyone knew already about the iing enemies, and their gloomy faces expressed their concern and worry. "Will you say the n now?" Nara asked with much anticipation. "Sigh, it''s not that easy to do so," he replied while ncing over her shoulder towards the other yers, "especially when a mole is among us." His words made her and Jeffrey''s eyes got wideneded. "No way! I hand picked them myself! They are with me for years now!" He silently watched her shocked expression withoutmenting. He knew the perfect spy was the one you never suspect! So her words didn''t exclude any, but made him more sure about his guess. "Let''s leave this matter forter then," he said as the mole might not be one of those standing here. She stared with a reddened face of anger, feeling the bitterness of being fooled. She realized how much Bloom was trusting his judge, even though he didn''t care to argue with her about it; like it was already a proven fact! "What do you want from us then?" Jeffrey asked, trying to make the topic return to the original path; the n. "You all will go there," he said while pointing towards one direction far away from here. "That''s" her face was still showing her shock and anger. "That''s way too far!" "Don''te until I give you the signal to do so," he ignored her remark before adding, "I will deal with them first, and leave the finale to you." "Are you sure of this?" Jeffrey was much collected and calmer than Nara, "Won''t you need any help from us?" "Just go now and be ready toe when time is ripe," Bloom didn''t answer him as he wouldn''t tell his n to them. Despite being so simple, he was pretty sure they wouldn''t think of it. If they didn''t, then the mole here wouldn''t know, and his enemies wouldn''t as well. Chapter 123: Blooms Brilliant Plan! Chapter 123: Bloom''s Brilliant n! He watched them move far and when they reached their ce, he started to nce freely at the front. "C''mon, what takes you so long," he muttered while waiting for them to appear. He wouldn''t act right away, as he needed to make this a sudden move. "Where are they now?" he sent to Nara, who replied in moments; "five minutes." "That''s convenient," he muttered before saying: "Shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment thirteen of his shades appeared. He whispered something to them and the next moment each one went in a different direction. "Is he going to use the same trick to clear the way? Shouldn''t he let them fight the monsters and lose a couple of members?" Jeffreyined, yet Nara didn''t answer. She knew Bloom''s mind was much moreplicated than that! "I think we are going to witness history today," she said this and paused, while those around her knew what she meant, yet didn''t believe it. She stole a nce back to each one of them; she knew them for years! Many came from families that worked for her family, and even some were raised with her! ''Sigh, that Bloom is really able to make me restless,'' she returned to nce at the front while muttering to herself. She nced at the messages sent to her before she sent to Bloom. "One minute." "This is going to be an interesting fight," he said to himself in a very excited tone. He didn''t take his swords out, and no one had noticed something wrong here. The next minute a group of yers appeareding from the vige direction. They stood in one line, a hundred, ring at Bloom who stood on the other end waiting for them. The scene seemed to freeze here for a period of time, yet the tension kept escting to a terrifying level. "They are strong," hemended, but he wasn''t demoted by this. Instead his desire to kill them burnt even more! Without saying a single word, the group of these yers moved in unison. They then started to rearrange themselves in smaller groups, each was formed of twenty yers. "The famous five lotus formation, that''s a bad sign," Jeffrey eximed in a depressed tone. "It seems they are already aware of his reputation, and are taking them seriously," Nara said while her eyes noticed something missing. "Where are his clones?" This question she asked made everyone around her speechless for a moment, before they realized the mind trick Bloom did here. "Did he intentionally do this trick?" she thought to herself, "or was it just a mere coincidence?" she felt she wasn''t dealing with a youth few years younger than her, but with a sly big man. As for Bloom, he was standing there calm watching the five groups starting to kill their way towards him. They followed the same approach Nara and her team used before, yet he had to admit. "They are very experienced!" They were using their weapons like they were extensions to their arms. Even those staff holders seemed quite professional in their timely healing and skill usage. "I can''t spot a single weakness in any of them," he shook his head, feeling their reputation wasn''t overestimated at all! They reached midway, crossing the distance between the crowded monsters without losing a single member so far! They received damage, yet this damage wasn''t enough to kill any of them. Plus "They have the same OP potions like Panty and his elite five guards, sigh!" He noticed more than once the potions used in times to replenish the depleted Mp or Hp. "I wish one day to have a team like this," he nced at them with envious eyes, knowing it was impossible for him to make them his men. "Now!" he softly muttered, and like a spell the world started to rumble after his words! From three directions arge group of monsters were running fast towards here. This scene startled everyone, and without any time to think; the monsters already were upon them! Bloom was near the hill, so he simply and carefree climbed it to oversee everything. The entire world was now filled with hordes of monsters, running angrily with their might after thirteen dark silhouettes. "Aren''t those" Jeffrey muttered in surprise, before turning his gaze towards Bloom. He wasn''t alone to do so, as Nara also fixated her gaze upon him. "He did the mind trick on purpose," she softly muttered, and her eyes shone with admiration. For Bloom he wasn''t stressed at all. Even if he was killed right here, he would only lose a single level, and a couple of items. He put a single target in front of his eyes; to test the strength and assess the real danger of these mercenaries. He was pretty sure he would face them when dealing with Panty''s quest. So, if there was no hope for him to ovee these, he would think of another way to ruin this quest. "Let''s see how you are going to deal with this tide," he smirked as the number of monsters wererger than ever. He sent his clones to three directions, asked them to start gathering monsters from everywhere they could reach, and be here in around five minutes. They did what he asked them, and like treasure chests for yers, monsters were furiously hunting them. "Retreating? Is this the answer?" he noticed one of them left his hand and issued a signal of retreat. "As if I would allow you to run away," heughed before sending a simple message to Nara. "Make the resurrected yers stand on the tree line, cutting their retreat path." His message made Nara skeptical, yet she sent it to the team standing not far from here. "Their numbers, experience, and levels aren''t in their favor!" she sent this to him, waiting for him to change his rushed decision. "Just make them stand there, on the edge exactly, doing nothing else." His answer made her more doubtful, yet she ryed the orders by the letter. "Are you sure? These boys have just lost a level! Losing another will be hard topensate so soon!" "Don''t worry." His short reply was sent to her before closing the chat and standing there enjoying the show. What others didn''t know was that the tree line and this wilderness were considered two different zones; meaning that no one in any zone could attack any yer in the other zone. Also there was a single info he read in the manual and didn''t take much interest in it. "yers must cross the border to be safe," he muttered as he watched his team yers appearing on the tree line, standing on the edge of it. "You arranged yourselves in five group, tsk, this isn''t a smart move, hehehe." He was really enjoying this show from the hill. As everyone standing here were waiting for the simple and most undeniable fact of the weaker, fewer, and less experienced yers to be killed in no time; a shocking scene urred! "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" . . "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Each single yer tried to force his or her way through his yer shield line and was instantly hit with a loud bang, flying ten meters at least in the air before rolling in the ground for more than that! For those standing far and watching, it appeared like a gigantic monster was hidden there and decided to attack any single yer of the one hundred in such a vicious way! And that wasn''t everything! "-20k" "-20k" "-20k" "-20k" "-20k" "-20k" One hundred minus twenty thousand damage points appeared on top of their heads, taking away roughly half of their Hp! "That''s really OP! they have forty thousand Hp! That''s cheating!" he shouted in discontent, like a game fan nagging at a y he didn''t like! And his shout just added more fun to the scene, making it so much hrious! "They are going to kill him for real now," Jeffrey didn''t know if he shouldugh or cry, yet Nara justughed from the bottom of her heart. "This Bloom he is really something," she said amidst herughs. As for those who were sent flying on the ground, once heard his loud tone they felt much humiliated. "Rise up and kill him!" one of them angrily shouted, seeming to be their boss. Just as they all stood up and started to take out their Hp potions, the monsters already reached them! They weren''t the target of the monsters; Bloom''s clones were. However unlike each time they would stay motionless waiting for the monsters to kill, they started running around. They didn''t stop at a single point, yet they made sure to surround the yers with a huge circle of monsters, cutting the way for them to retreat to the tree line from different directions. "Let''s see who will win, your well trained mercenaries, or the huge tide of game monsters, hehehe!" heughed, and hisughs echoed in the entire region, making every single yer inside the circle re at him. And the next moments his clones kept dying without resisting , as they already did their job. By the disappearance of the clones, the monsters sat their eyes on the next favorite target; yers! Chapter 124: The Boogeyman is Coming! Chapter 124: The Boogeyman is Coming! Things didn''t look that well from his ce. "tsk, I thought they would be a good opponent, but sigh, I might have overestimated them," Bloom shook his head. The situation at the one hundred group of those mercenaries wasn''t the good, as they were already scattered around, with much of their Hp gone already, no time to restore all of their Hp through potions before the monsters would reach them. And the number, variety, and the levels of these monsters were all higher than them. Everything pointed out towards their total wipe out, and even the distant Nara, Jeffrey, and the other had no doubt in that. Yet these yers weren''t that easy to fall here! "What the they have scrolls this early in the game?" Bloom wasn''t the only shocked one here, as the moment these yers realized their desperate situation they didn''t dy in taking out a dozen of those scrolls! "They must be a special dungeon clearance, how did they find a dungeon so early?" Jeffrey was shocked, yet Nara wasn''t as much shocked as him or Bloom. She knew exactly how terrifying thispany was! a legend, not only in the real world, but literally at everything else; and the game world wasn''t an exception. The next thing they did was to cut these scrolls into half, activating it. Bloom always heard a lot about the scrolls in the Eternal game, yet this was his first time to see it. "I think scrolls were ranked in Latin letters, with I being the weakest. I think it''s already impressive for them to have dozen of such scrolls. How did they manage to get these? Did they attack a caravan?" Just as he was indulged in his own thoughts, the entire atmosphere changed. Ground and sky roared, with dozen AOE effects erupted, hitting this spot centered around the yers in hundreds of meters radius. For Bloom, he was outside the area of these scrolls'' effect. He thanked his luck that he used this tactic, or else if he was the one standing in front of them right now, he wouldn''t be able to emerge unscathed with his life! The attacks came in three waves; with eight forms of a sea of fire emerging from the ground, and the others were three ice blizzards and one hurricane! Each attack devastated the monster pack, showing no mercy. Despite the presence of some contradiction in the scrolls, the negative effect they had on the other scrolls weren''t that much to notice. After all the wind augmented fire and snow, negating the effect of both had against each other to some degree. As for monsters, a series of hundreds of damage started to rise up from their heads. "This won''t be enough to kill them," Bloom concluded from just observing for a few moments. "So you wille to me then?" he was slightly surprised from their collected minds despite all the odds! "Experts, they are really experts," he muttered before squeezing his eyes, observing the border of the doomsday urring to the monsters right now; around a hundred meter away from him. The vision wasn''t that good through the attacks, yet he managed to spot a group of silhouettesing towards him. "They are really bold," he sneered as he wasn''t out of options here. Just as he was about to prepare for the fight, he noticed the shapes of these individuals; they weren''t the yers; instead they were like the dark agents he summoned before for Luna; those battle deserters! "That dark side yer, tsk," he understood what was happening now. Most of the yers weren''t ready yet to face him, so they preferred to send those agents to fight him while they escaped. "Do you think I would let you go off this easily?" he sneered before hurrying to open the dark auction interface and buy a bunch of dark agents for himself. "Come my beloved agents," heughed as he used over fifty tokens to summon them. The next moment fifty dark silhouettes appeared in front of him. "See those? Half go to them and half go to that side," he pointed with his sword before muttering: "Time to kill you before you regained your strength." He then ventured down the hill, using the big cloud of dust and attacks to his advantage. "What is he nning to do?" Nara muttered, before adding, "and what are those dark NPCs appearing from him and them?" "Don''t know," Jeffrey shook his head, "this fight proves to be out of our league." "Agreed," she murmured, "yet he is on our side," she chuckled and Jeffrey just nced at her, with doubt in his look. "Do you n to marry him or something?" "What? Of course not!" she hurried to object, "he can''t survive that sh with Dockrey," she shook her head, with a depressed tone. "For me, I think he can handle him perfectly fine in the game." "Yet in the real world; what if he hired those assassins to kill him?" "I don''t know why, but I think this man has a mysterious background. It won''t be this easy to touch him." She nced at the distant shadow of Bloom before he vanished from her sight. "I hope you are right," she muttered, praying to herself for this to be true. As for Bloom, he went towards the direction he thought mostly those yers would escape to. "If they get divided into two directions, one will be handled by me and the other by my agents," he muttered before spotting the distant tree line in the distance. And at this moment, a group of yers seemed toe out from the gigantic cloud of dust. "As expected, darkness nihility," he muttered while activating his stealth skill. The next moment, he vanished from the world, while he kept running forward; his enemies were kept in the dark. The distance between the two sides shortened, and just as the yers exited the area of their scrolls, they checked his location first. They seemed surprised to find the hill empty! They paused, ncing around like they felt his presence there. "Yup, stay there morons, the boogeyman ising for your filthy souls," he inwardlyughed before running as fast as he could. "Shadow steps!" Just as he approached them, he activated his speed skill. The distance between the two became shorter with each passing second. When they didn''t see him anywhere, they started to head towards the nearby tree line. They seemed to feel safe and sound, and as he expected; half of them were only there! He closed up from behind, and when he reached them he didn''t hurry to attack. "I still have thirty seconds in my skill," he smirked to himself before running in a curved course around them. When he was opposite to the middle of their ranks he started his attack. "Dash!" "cloud of fog!" He instantly used two of his skills from the start. His body moved to hit a yer in the center, stunning him, sending him flying in the air under the passive effect of his sent to fly skill! "He is here!" one shouted, yet the next moment his voice was cut short as Bloom hit him, giving him a stun and sending him flying as well. For him, he was one level higher. So each yer hit with his sword was sent flying! He didn''t hold himself back, as he used the other sword to stab anyone he passed by. So when he finished with his five hits, he also sent flying ten more! The situation turned upside down! Each one of them had their Hp lowered by one third so far, and after these attacks they lost enough to make them decline more than their half! He sent sixteen flying, disturbed the lines of them, while creating a vacant area around him, right in their center. "Attack! He is there!" one of them shouted, predicting the ce of him right at the ce he just hit thest yer at. Instantly double skills fell upon his head,ing from two staff holders. "Tsk, do you think I only have one dash? Or one stun skill?" he smirked to himself before muttering to himself, "dash!" His second dash carried him all the way to those staff holders, stunning and sending one flying, before following with two stabs, sending two more flying, hitting another two in their way! Only three remained standing, and he wasn''t that polite with them! "Stab, stab, slice," he used his own barrage of basic skills to attack the two shield bearers and one axe wielder; sending the three flying with damage ranging between twelve thousand and twenty appearing on top of their heads. "One crit, that''s my lucky day," he didn''t dy as he headed towards those stunned yers. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, stab, slice," he attacked three of them nearby, before ncing over the two staff holders. "I need to make sure these long ranged annoying yers are gone first," he decided as there were six of them here; four stunned and two free. "sky piercer," he didn''t hold back and used one of his top skills at once. He instantly was carried three meters in the air,nding on top of one of the two free staff holders. And a frightening twenty five thousand damage appeared on top of her head! "Stab, stab, stab, stab, slice, swift kick," just three attacks were enough to kill her, before he attacked the other one before using thebo skills of slice and swift kick. "-5000" "-7000" "-5000" Just in the middle of his move, he was hit three times by skillsing out of nowhere! Chapter 125: Finally Using the Skill! Chapter 125: Finally Using the Skill! These sudden attacks came to surprise him. "Weren''t they all of them? They are some rats here?" Despite this damage, he wasn''t worried. Yet this exposed his ce to the enemy, and the next moment he discovered that the skill time was already over. "Sigh, that''s why they could aim directly at me," he muttered to himself, as he was totally immersed in attacking and totally forgot about his skill duration. "Stab, stab, stab, stab," he used four more stabs to kill the other staff holder with no suspense at all. "Dash piercer." He didn''t wait there anymore, as he was sure more attacks would fall on him from these assassins. Just as he moved, he noticed the presence of a strange glow around him, pointing out to five yers. "My inverted Lu stat," he muttered as he understood what was going on. "Great, I can now see them," he smirked as hended heavily on one of the four stunned staff holders, adding more time to her stun, with fifteen thousand damage appearing on top of her head. "Stab, stab, stab, stab" he started using only his stab skill, while he kept his vignce towards the five shadowsing hot at his back. "Time to kill you, stab, slice, stab," he moved around the body of the second stunned staff holder, as the first one didn''tst more than two stabs from him. As he got his posture modified, he perfectly was seeing them now. "They move close to each other, yet not that close to be attacked as a group, tsk," he knew from such a mere nce how experienced they were. Yet he had the perfect counter for them. He took out one Hp potion before gulping it in one go. As they closed up at him, he feigned ignorance and kept attacking the stunned staff holder, almost killing her. "Come,e, closer, that''s good," he smirked before muttering, "darkness rebound." The skills of his Gored chest te weren''t that much used by him; yet he knew they were priceless. He refrained from overusing them so he would have trump cards against his avid enemies. Such as these ones here! The moment he activated the skill, he focused entirely on the girl in front of him, and in three hits he managed to bottom her down. "-3000" "-2500" "-3000" As he killed her, his head also had a row of negative figuresing up his head. He smirked and went directly towards the next one, totally neglecting those assassins like they were nothing. "Stab, slice, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab, slice," he used slice to change his position every time he got attacked by more than three attacks. In between he took one Hp potion again to replenish his Hp, while his enemies were fervently attacking him while an equal damage appeared on top of their heads. Ten secondster, his skillsted that much and he used Hp potions during them, and killed one staff holder before everyone stunned with his skills regained their activity again. And this time, he was really in great danger. "Should I resign myself to lose a level?" he thought to himself, yet he found this oue to be unsatisfying for him. "No, I should send a clear message to them, I can''t die here." He decided to use his final card, the one he kept holding all this time without using. As everyone was trying to hit him, and his movement started to be quite challenging with all of these attacks, he muttered: "Fog of gravity!" The moment he activated the skill, fog started to dissipate around his body, rapidly covering a fifty meter radius, making everyone freeze for one second. "Activate the stored skill of darkness absorption." "System alert: Tempest of lightning sword skill is activated. yer can pay a price of a hundred gold coins to store it again. yer can pay a price of a thousand gold coins to add the skill to his skill tree with a discharge of fifty percent of its initial cost to unlock." Bloom didn''t know what to say. "Can I pay ten thousand gold coins and add it directly to my activated skill?" heughed while his sword moved on his own towards the sky, in a move simr to the one that cavalry used before. This skill he gained when he hijacked the caravan. He stored it and kept it unused all this time, waiting for its appropriate time. And now was the ripe hour to use it! "System alert: yer prestige as a shadow bandit is low, so yer can''t learn the skill permanently for now." The answer startled Bloom, yet he hurried to say: "Then I choose to store it forter." "System alert: One thousand gold coins deducted, yer can use the skill during the next twenty four hours." All this happened in mere seconds. The moment the yers were freed from the stun skill Bloom used, they all felt how special the skill he was now activating. Their information about him never showed up such a strong skill. They became vignt, and as if they received a unifiedmand, they all took out one Hp potion and gulped it without any hesitation. "Wanting to make your Hp as full as possible, plus gaining help from the Hp addition for every second? Nice strategy, yet I doubt you can survive this attack of mine." Bloom wasn''t overconfident. Per his experience as a swordsman, he knew how special this skill was. This wasn''t a normal skill for such a level of yers. He was pretty sure this skill would only be unlocked for yers at level fifty. Just before they could throw their empty bottles to the ground, the skill was finally activated. Bloom felt a throbbing pain at his arm holding the sword. "Indeed even my strength can''t bear to do this skill," he sighed yet he didn''t move his arm down and kept the sword pointed to the sky. Then a mor of swords appeared out of nowhere, inpany with a violent wind covered with a cloud of dust. The wind hit the area around him in one hundred meter radius. The attack fell upon everyone, and Bloom realized something; he was also getting some of the attacks as well! "Damn! Shouldn''t I be safe?" he cursed as he hurried to take out Hp bottle and waited. He couldn''t use the potion while fighting, or amidst of using a skill. He had his Hp slowly decreasing, not much like the others around him who were unlucky to gain the full throttle of his attack. For him, every one second he would lose one thousand Hp. Making him not that worried at all. "But I should be cautious, I dunno how long this skill wouldst or it would be enough to kill them all," he thought to himself before ncing at the area around. Everything was covered in the thick veil of dust, carried over by the great violent wind. The mor of swords never ceased for a moment, and this brutal skill continued for fifteen seconds. "Good, even the highest quality Hp potion would onlyst for five seconds. If they tried to take another potion, then they would waste one to two seconds trying to raise their hands against the winds." He was trying to think of their situation, while he lost around twenty thousand Hp points during this time; he was sure they must have lost double at least. "I bet none remained alive," he chuckled while grabbing the potion in his hand. The resistance he felt from his arm was now wearing away. "So itsts for twenty seconds then?" he thought to himself, while finally gulping the Hp potion when the skill ended. "Die you bastard!" The moment he raised the bottle and emptied its content in his throat, this angry vengeful shout came suddenly from his back! "Cling!" "10000." "-5000" Yet he was Bloom! At this moment, his reaction speed was faster than his mind or feelings! The moment he heard the sound, his other sword was used, unsheathed using the talent he rarely used, and finally muttering: "Stab, ground breaker!" Two skills were used, one aimed at nothing, while the second was activated and made his sword move like lightning to parry the long curved dagger of his attacker! Bloom suffered a loss, yet his enemy suffered more! "You are still alive?" Bloom sneered as his body turned forcibly by the skill effect to face one of the assassins. He wasn''t looking majestic as before; his hair was disheveled, and his body had marks of swords and wounds. His armor was now bent in the center, almost rendered useless now to use. Yet his eyes showed no signs of surrender or defeat! He was a man who believed in his own victory to thest moment! "Dash!" Bloom knew how risky his opponent was, so the next moment he activated his stun skill, yet the opponent suddenly vanished in thin air! "Having Lu stat more than my inverted Lu stat? you are really a monster!" Bloom muttered to himself before ncing all over around him. All yers here were dead, all except for that annoying assassin. "Having an invincibility skill? Amazing, Imend you for that!" Bloom shouted out loud, with a mocking tone. "Yet you managed to save only yourself, leaving all yourrades to die and lose a level, what a shame, tsk," he added, trying to instigate this yer to show himself and attack. Yet this yer was really cool headed, calmly watching him without taking a single word he said to his heart. Chapter 126: Bloom Did It Again! Chapter 126: Bloom Did It Again! Bloom wasn''t that stressed in return; he was extremely calm. He knew this assassin was limited by the duration of his skill. And even if he couldn''t detect him by his inverted Lu stat, he could easily make him ufortable by the fog of gravity passive skill. So he waited, vigntly checking every direction. "A good stealth skill for this beginning level will range between fifteen and thirty seconds," he muttered to himself while preparing for his counter. He only needed one chance from his enemy to finish him. Yet he didn''t count that much on his enemy; as it seemed this assassin was much stronger and far experienced than the others he fought so far. "I will create this chance myself," he muttered before hearing a sound of scratching from his back. "There," he turned while preparing to move; yet he found nothing there. "A decoy?" he didn''t have time to think as he was certain the next attack would be from his back! "Aiming for a stun?" he smirked before muttering, "ground breaker!" It wasn''t the skill he was preparing, yet his reaction was superb. The moment his sword turned around, a sound of sh was heard before his body was forced to move; facing the assassin head on. And both had damage on top of their heads. Bloom had three thousand points deducted from his Hp, and his enemy had six thousand points reduced from his Hp. The assassin didn''t have one dagger; but two! As the first failed, he didn''t hesitate to wave the second towards Bloom. The logical reaction was for Bloom to move his sword and intercept the attack with another; exchanging damage with this assassin. Yet Bloom didn''t do that; as he was pretty confident this was what his enemy aimed for! If he did that, three seconds would have passed since the assassin terminated his stealth skill. Meaning that he would be able to use it again. It only came down to this simple decision, this one move that would waste one second. And Bloom had the perfect skill for that! "Pause!" Instead of waving his sword towards the assassin, he pointed his fist with the glove, and the next moment the assassin paused entirely in ce motionless. "Dash!" And it was this slight window that Bloom aimed for! Just as the assassin''s one second stun was wearing off, he was hit with Bloom''s sword, carried for meters to the back, while having another ten seconds stun. And this time the end was clear to both of them, to those watching the fight, to everyone in the forums. "Stab, stab, stab, slice, slice, stab, stab, stab" Bloom started waving both of his swords non-stop until the assassin finally died at the sixth second. The moment his body fell on the ground and his color went pale, Bloom stopped and found out his breaths were racing. "Wow, it was pretty intense," he muttered while catching his breaths, "but I loved it," heughed, standing alone amidst all this chaos before he suddenly heard a shout! "Run!" The shout came from one of his team yers standing at the tree line. As he was shouted upon, he started to move towards the safe tree line while ncing at the area beside him. Thebined scroll attack had already ended! Despite it causing severe losses to the sea of monsters his clones brought, there were still few alive. And these few seemed pretty pissed off right now! The shout came just in time to rm him. Despite their few numbers, and their low Hp, Bloom wasn''t in the spirit to fight again! He ran fast to the tree line before any monster could reach him. Once he reached there, he was astonished to see a group of twenty mercenaries still fighting his dark agents. "They are still alive?" he muttered before an evil look appeared on his face. "Boys, follow me," he said as he walked towards the front. And the fifty something yers who were standing here just followed him. He didn''t need to tell them anything, as they already figured out his aim. The monsters were now berserk, and there was no other yer in the vicinity but this group. And their only path of retreat was now blocked by Bloom and his team. They stood at the border, in a long line, blocking any path for those inside to escape. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Around twenty five monsters ran towards the group of fifty mixed fighters with no discrimination between the two sides fighting here. The highest Hp among them didn''t exceed ten percent! Which made any yer watching this scene be itchy toe and finish off these about to die monsters and im the Xp for themselves. Yet the mercenaries were already upied by the dark agents of Bloom, plus the sudden appearance of Bloom with thisrge group of his team blocking their path. And now the monsters came! It was a really bad day for those mercenaries, and what made this even worse three things; Bloom defeated them alone, everything was broadcasted online to the forums by many yers, andstly after they were all killed by the monsters, Bloom let his fifty something yers to move towards the monsters and finish them off! All of sudden every one of them gained one level! "This is mypensation to you," Bloom said, acting magnanimous about something he never nned to do. The monsters were just there, and it was a waste to let them off! And in return the yers cheered while the distant group led by Nara ran towards here. "Go and grab the loot," he didn''t forget amidst this celebratory atmosphere about the fallen loot of the yers he killed. "Right away, boss," one of the weapon wielders shouted in an excited tone while others cheered as well while heading towards the site of the battle, clearing it all. "Sigh, you really are" "Awesome?" he chuckled when Nara reached him and said these words. "Insane!" "Great!" "Crazy!" "Genius!" "Moron!" "Hey, can we please postpone this word game toter," Jeffrey interrupted their little game here whileughing, "check the forums," he said and he seemed quite amused and excited. Bloom exchanged nces with Nara before opening the forums. There he found endless topics, all speaking about his deeds. "You are seeing the vige forum, exit to the empire forum and see the real chaos," Jeffrey said whileughing at what he was reading right now. And Bloom did like he said. The bigger forum was literally as Jeffrey described; chaos! "Bloom strikes again!" "Bloom is he a bug?" "Where are the game developers from this mess?" "Bloom continues to write history!" The titles there ranged between supporting and attacking him; yet all shared one simple fact he didn''t realize until now the fight was streamed on the forums live from the beginning to the end! "Sh*t! my dear dark agents are exposed to everyone!" he totally ignored the supporting threads and delved into the negative ones. As he expected, what he read focused entirely on the scenes where his dark agents were summoned and fought. Some even highlighted the scenes where his team stood on the border of the tree line preventing others from passing! And thements were really on fire between the two sides! His haters attacked him, branded him as a cheater while calling for sending a mass out protesting letters to the game developers. They wanted to ban his character and game ID, they wanted to strip him from anything he gained with his own efforts. This slightly enraged him, yet what heughed really on was the response of his fans. "Screw yourselves!" "Go and y hard like Bloom and you might end up being one tenth of the man he is." "Bloom is my love, I promise to marry him." "No, Bloom is mine!" "Stay awaydies, I''m here to snatch him and take him to my room." The fight turned strangely funny to be a love fight between girls asking for his date! Heughed, while rapidly scrolling thesements before finally finding some decent replies. And these replies all referred to one thread on the forum: How Bloom did it! He went to that thread to find, to his surprise, it was the general forum of the entire game! "Wow, I became famous," heughed while Nara hit him with her elbow, "don''t be arrogant or I will hate you!" "Oh, that means you love me now?" he teased, yfully speaking in a funny tone. "Stop it already," she hit him again with her hand while her face turned instantly red from embarrassment. Bloom noticed it, and even Jeffrey noticed it, and she noticed they noticed and her redness deepened. "Stop it you two, look away now!" she shouted at them, and Bloom didn''t know why but her face and her attitude right now was quite lovely. "Hahaha," he simplyughed while Jeffrey looked away. After all this wasn''t his own business, despite hoping his friend and boss should better know what she was doing. Chapter 127: Bernard Chapter 127: Bernard The war on forums was much more intense than Bloom imagined. Every second new posts would be added, and endlessments appeared on the old ones. "This is a mess!" he muttered to himself. "What should we do now?" Jeffrey suddenly asked, as he seemed fired up with all this, "should we level up again? These guys gained an easy level without doing anything!" "You also didn''t do anything, and they lost a level just hours ago," Nara seemed in a good mood as she teased him. Bloom thought of staying here and leveled up. He nced at the distance where the monsters were in smaller numbers. "We should go there and level up," he said to himself, yet he was doomed to be dyed! "System alert! System alert! System alert! System alert!..." Suddenly the system of the game went berserk! Bloom hurried to put his hands on his ears in a strange way. "What''s wrong?" Nara asked. "The system is sending me constant annoying alerts," heined. "This is a warning for someone trying to contact you from the outside," she said before speechlessly looking at him for a moment, "didn''t you turn that buzzing thing off? It''s really annoying!" "I know, how can I turn it off?" he was very annoyed, and could hardly focus on anything! If this happened just minutes ago; he would have been doomed! "Just select the profile and choose settings and turn it off from there," she said like it was nothing. "It''s called the world''s call. A stupid name I know," Jeffrey tried to help him more, and Bloom did as the two suggested. And once he turned off this annoying rm, a message calmly came to him. "System alert: someone is asking you to get out of the game. The message says: It''s urgent!" "Sigh," he shook his head, ''you guys go without me, I will return to the vige and get out there," he took out a ticket and used it to return to the vige. The moment he appeared there, he chose the log out option in the bottom of his vision. The next moment he felt like he just woke up from a good long dream. "Yawn," the first thing he did after pushing the cover of the capsule open was to loudly stretch his arms and stand with suchziness. "I advised you to train a lot, or else your body won''t sustain this way of life," a thick voice came, attracting his attention. It was a man in histe twentieth, giant physique and broad shoulders. Bloom had the feeling he would be able to stop a bullet bare chest! He wore dark sses, stretched tightly on his face, making his appearance look weird, especially with his caf-auit skin color and very short hair on his big head. "Antoan?" Bloom said in a questioning manner, as his memories about this man were vague. "Yes, master. Sigh, these games!" Antoan shook his head before adding, "I still can''t see why the entire world is obsessed with these." Bloom didn''t hurry toment, as he stretched his body for a bit, trying to recall all the info he had about this giant man. He was a guard appointed by histe father, Terry''s father. Strangely enough, in Terry''s father''s will he stated clearly that this man was never to be moved from the side of his son. This seemed "Suspicious," Bloom muttered to himself before again sizing up this capable bodyguard. Other than a few encounters with Terry, Bloom didn''t find any useful data about him. "Why did you awaken me?" he asked, trying to buy more time. "Your guardian sent the man he selected to be your aid in the game," Antoan said, before pausing, "in my opinion, I''m d you decided to let go the Titanic Revolut game and focus on the other one. But" He paused again, and Bloom wasn''t interested in all this hesitation as he gestured to him to continue. "But I think you better lie and keep your activities inside Eternal Glory secret." The eyes of Bloom turned sharp in a moment before he returned to his carefree nature, trying to act like Terry. Caring for nothing, not listening to anyone, and always making unbelievable foolish decisions to attract attention; that was Terry''s picture in Bloom''s mind. "Why do you say that?" Bloom felt something was off here, yet he acted like he didn''t care. He was looking at himself in the mirror, examining his thin youth body. "Those downstairs aren''t easy at all," Antoan finally said, "I know how much you like your guardian a lot, trusting him with everything. But this time I strongly advise against exposing everything to them." "Is he downstairs?" "No, your uncle isn''t there with them." Bloom nodded. The guardian was the title given to his uncle byw to supervise over his belongings until he reached the appropriate age. Bloom wasn''t interested in anything rted to this world, so he decided to throw all these words behind his back and end this boring meeting fast. "Lead the way," he said and Antoanplied. For him, Terry''s problems weren''t his own business. If his life was in danger then he would react. "And also her," he muttered to himself recalling Nara. She was someone worth trying to get, especially if getting her was to reign supreme over the entire game world. They went through the entire third floor, the highest in this big mansion. They met many servants, yet the presence of Antoan beside Bloom intimidated everyone! He was such a scary and strict person, with an order to act on the slightest sign of doubt; he was really someone to be feared! As Bloom descended the stairs, he saw three people waiting for him. Somehow one of them looked familiar, yet he didn''t know why. "Sorry to bother you without notice, sir," the three were youths, with the oldest of them being almost twenty in age. He was the one Bloom sat his gaze upon, feeling much puzzled. "No need to apologize, my uncle sent you?" Bloom said as he ignored the cursory greeting and avoided the stretched hand of that youth to sit on the middle seat in the middle hall. The mansion was huge, yet it looked crowded with all these antiques and furniture. The youth didn''t feel offended, or he didn''t show his discontent quite well. "The esteemed guardian sent me here to serve you in the Eternal Glory game," the youth said before pausing as if he was about tough and held hisughter back, "he told me you are ying in the Titanic Revolut. Is that correct?" Bloom was annoyed with that sense of familiarity, and strangely hostility, radiating from this youth. "Isn''t it rude to ask a question before properly identifying yourself?" Bloom decided to be aggressive and directly asked about his name! "My bad," yet again this youth reacted with a smile, pure with no sign of dissatisfaction, "Me here and the two of my associates here were selected by your guardian. A lot applied to serve you in the game, yet only the three of us managed to cross all the tests. And you can call me Bernard." Bloom wasn''t yet satisfied, "have you started ying in the game yet?" he said. "Sure, I and my two associates started off since the early hours in the game, and now we are level ten." Bloom knew this wasn''t considered bad. "Is this a good or bad progress in the game?" he said, feigning ignorance. "It''s considered good, except for our bumpy start, we should have been level twelve by now," Bernard said. "What happened? Quest?" "It''s a quest, a legendary quest that was stolen from the hands of our boss," one of the two henchmen seemed not to tolerate his anger, "an arrogant dude called Bloom attacked our boss and killed him a couple of times." Bloom''s heart bounded in his chest violently, yet he perfectly controlled his emotions. "Bloom? Strange name, is he a strong yer?" "No, he is just damn lucky," Bernard said before shaking his head, feigning regret, "I was the one who helped him first in the game. Without me, he wouldn''t reach what he achieved right now. Just search for his name and see; all what he had was thanks to me." "He backstabbed our boss!" "He is a snake, a sly person that knows no honor or shame!" "Screw you fools, Bloom is sitting right in front of you!" Bloom inwardly smirked before saying: "Alright, just leave you three names to my butler, and I hope you can work your best for me," he stood from his seat, ending the meeting in such a way, "as you know, I only y Titanic Revolut and have no intention to y that losers'' game; no offense." "None taken," Bernard smiled as he stood up. He stretched his hand again and Bloom just left him and moved to the stairs. "Antoan, take their names and hurry," he shouted before climbing the stairs. And his mind; his entire soul was now stirred up! Chapter 128: Hidden Risks Chapter 128: Hidden Risks Bloom returned to his room upstairs, while his butler didn''tck behind. The moment he entered the room Bloom figured that man, that keen man had already sensed the changes in his personality. "Are you feeling alright today?" he said, and Bloom just ignored this path to his secrets as he said: "Have you gotten their names in the game?" "Yes," he took a paper and handed it to Bloom. "It''s him," he muttered while crumbling the paper and throwing it to a trash can in the corner. "Sorry, didn''t know you will get pissed over their names," Antoan said. "It''s not their names," Bloom shook his head before ncing over his room. This room was considered a symbol of how Terry lived his life before. "Bernard is Brendy," he softly said, before turning to Antoan and added, "tell me everything you know about this selection process." The doubt inside Antoan reached a point he couldn''t hide anymore. His master, Terry, was never this keen on things like this. The best word to describe him was a spoiled careless brat! "The selection was done at the main corp headquarter," yet Antoan answered, exining things with his suspicious looks, "your uncle supervised everything and he is the one to have the final call regarding this matter." Bloom knew this was leading to a nasty ce, yet he was determined to clear things out. This wasn''t Terry''s life anymore, it was his that was in danger! He went to a seat and said: "What about their backgrounds? Shouldn''t they be checked well?" "Sure," Antoan was still feeling lost here, "your uncle hired apany, one of ours, to investigate and prepare the background profiles of each one." "Yet they made this grave mistake, weird," Bloom muttered while recalling the brief meeting he just had. Brendy was a henchman for Derick, his enemy. "This isn''t a coincidence," he said to himself before thinking deeper, "Is the four connected?" his mind settled upon his greatest enemy lurking in the shadows; Dockrey. "Is there anything wrong about them? I can ask for them to be reced." "No," Bloom firmly shook his head, "they can''t be reced," he said as he went again into silence, adding more doubt to Antoan. "Are you alright today?" he asked again, and Bloom just waved his hands at him as he said, "I''m feeling better than ever." "That''s clearly obvious to me," Antoan agreed, yet his tone and looks told Bloom he didn''t buy his answer. "If they were connected, then my life is in danger," Bloom said to himself, as this probability was too hard to neglect. "and that also means my dear uncle is a puppet in their hands." And this was a much greater risk for him. "Can you secretly investigate someone?" he suddenly asked. "Secretly?" Antoan was surprised by the word, "you mean without anyone knowing about this?" "That''s what secretly means, right?" Bloom said before stressing, "even my guardian shouldn''t sniff anything, got it?" "Sure," Antoan nodded, before directly asking, "what''s wrong with you today?" "Call it an adolescent awakening, I have this sudden enlightenment and rity like never before. Is it bad?" "Oh, it''s the best thing that happened to you so far," Antoan didn''t know what to say except that. And inside him, he didn''t buy what Bloom said. "Can you do this?" "I have many friends who y in the dark. Finding and even getting rid of anyone is easy," Antoan calmly said, before adding, "do you want to kill someone?" "I''m just trying to save my as* here." The instant reply from Bloom made Antoan vignt. Even his jaw muscles twitched. "Where is the danger? Tell me and I will eliminate it swiftly." Bloom nced for a moment there at him before sighing. "My dear guard, even someone like you can''t do a thing to my situation; provided that my hunch is right." "Your guesses always proved wrong!" "Not this time," Bloom replied, before shaking his head again, "sadly not this time my friend." "Ok," Antoan was lost for a moment, "what''s the name of the person you want to investigate?" he said, trying to get this weird meeting done. "It''s not one, and all I have is their game names." "The Eternal Glory game IDs?" "Yes, can you work on that?" "It will be quite challenging, yet nothing is impossible." Bloom suddenly had this sudden thought. "Can anyone know the names of those ying inside the game? Their real names and backgrounds?" Antoan sensed the fear inside Bloom. "Not everyone can do that! With the right money and people, you can do it." His answer threw a hard rock in the bottom of Bloom''s heart. "Damn!" he cursed while tightening over the hands of his seat. "Is there something wrong?" Antoan carefully asked, not knowing how to judge his master anymore. "Everything is wrong," Bloom shouted. He paused for a few moments there trying to calm his racing heart. "Everything is very wrong, damn!" He didn''t think of this before. Luckily he didn''t yet assault Panty and deprived him from his quest. Or else, things would have gone south for him already. "Can you work on protecting an identity in the game?" Bloom suddenly asked. If money and rtions were needed to uncover someone''s ID, it wasn''t impossible to have the ID protected. "This" Antoan paused, as he added, "it''s not in anyone''s ability to uncover the Eternal Glory''s yers'' list. You are speaking of only a handful of people in our world who can do that. The CEO board of the game is very strict about their security. So" he stopped there and didn''t continue. "So I should feel more secure?" Bloom couldn''t resist the urge tough, bitterlyugh. "My pure hearted guard, you are really mistaken. The people I''m afraid of can do, they surely will do." Antoan''s look kept getting funnier for Bloom who hardly resisted anotherugh. "Just tell me, can this be done?" "With the right money and people, sure." The answer of his butler fell like a sweet melody on his ears. "Great, can you do it?" he asked, and this was the most important question right now. "Alone? I can''t, yet if you lent me some support then I will." Chapter 129: The Reincarnation Joke! Chapter 129: The Reincarnation Joke! "Are you sure about this? This ID must be protected, with your life on the line," Bloom stressed, while his face showed a very serious expression. This wasn''t a joke! If his ID was uncovered to his rival, his life would be in danger! People would do anything for money and power, and his rival was aspiring for both! And ironically he was the one ruining up his ns so far without even intending so. "You can count on me for that, yet the money needed for that operation" Antoan paused here as he knew how much he would need to pay to fulfill this task. "Money isn''t important," Bloom said another suspicious word that he never said before! "Just tell me how can I support you and I will." "Ahem," Antoan was now dead settled that his master wasn''t his master anymore! He sized him up, and at this moment he had to know the truth before saying things he might regret. "First tell me who is after you." "You want to know?" Bloom cracked a smile, watching the amusing look over his butler. "I will tell you your name, and this name will be our greatest enemy from this moment on," he added, trying to cover up on many secrets by only revealing a smaller one. After all, his mind now was providing many ideas about how to get the best benefit out of these new developments. "Your secret will go with me to the grave," Antoan swore to him, an oath that he usually repeated to himself all the time. To him, Bloom wasn''t a task, Bloom was his entire life core and purpose. A brother, even not in blood yet their bond was stronger than what Bloom thought! "He goes by the name Dockrey." "Dockrey?!!" the eyes of Antoan shone as he instantly added, "you don''t mean that Dockrey?" "I precisely mean him." Antoan stood motionless in his ce for a long time before he muttered, "This this is really a problem," he shook his head, knowing why his master was so sure about his enemy''s ability to crack the game ID. "But you never were interested in the Triflet challenge!" and here Antoan expressed his doubts clearly as he added, "who are you? Where is my old master?" "He is long gone," Bloom sincerely replied, yet Antoan thought he was joking. "Really? And you are his reincarnation in this life then?" Strangely, his most ironicment was the real truth! "You can consider me that," Bloom grinned, knowing that his butler was taking his words as a child''s y. "Alright, keep your secrets to you then." "It''s a deal," and Bloom finally was relieved, "tell me now how to secure the funds," he demanded, while he greatly anticipated this answer. Much of his fresh ideas and ns required a massive amount of money! "You forgot you have a secret bank ount under your name?" Antoanughed, as he seemed to enjoy this little game with his master, "or your reincarnation had his mind wiped out whening here?" Bloom smiled as he started to navigate through the memories of Terry. Having someone else''s memories in your head wasn''t funny at all! He had to go through many things before recalling a mysterious letter delivered to Terry by this butler after Terry''s father''s death. "The secret shareholder?" he muttered while his eyes told Antoan he recalled the ount. "Sure, your father didn''t really entrust others for your future. He was afraid a day woulde where you might lose your inheritance." Bloom''s smile grew wider as he honestlymented, "he was such a wise man indeed." "A man of the world," Antoan agreed, "and he left a secret ount for you as the main shareholder. You are called at the board by the nickname mysterious shareholder, and you liked it at some point before losing interest in this." "So a lot of money is there?" he asked, trying to be sure Terry didn''t do anything stupid he might now regret in his stead. "Sure, every single point is stored there for you to use," he said before adding, "plus I funded some of the underground organizations in the secret under your name. this was your father will as well, for me as the guardian on your ount." "So you can now take money from it?" Bloom was puzzled, "so why did you ask for my help?" "Well" Antoan seemed embarrassed, "I have a limit to the amount I can withdraw, and the task you want will need much more than that." "I see," Bloom nodded, before adding, "then what are you waiting here for? Go and bring all the needed papers to sign." "Well, you didn''t tell me the name of this golden ID you wanted to protect this hard," Antoan said, yet he guessed it was his master''s ID in the game, "is your ID this dangerous?" "Far more than you think," Bloom smiled before adding, "It''s called Bloom!" "Bloom?!!!" this wasn''t the first time Antoan was shocked by his master in mere minutes, "that Bloom they just spoke about?" "Yes, I''m the one who killed that prank and made him lose a couple of levels," he paused before adding, "and I''m the one who is going to screw Dockrey and his men in the game one by one." Antoan had mixed feelings at this moment, for once he felt his master had turned into the man he dreamt of; the man his father ever wanted. And also he wasn''t sure about the reason that transformed his master from such a useless trash to such a strong person. Yet he was happy for that change! "I''m d this reincarnation happened," he sincerely said. "Me too, hahaha," and Bloomughed. "Do you suspect these three are Dockrey''s men?" Antoan had already guessed everything. "Yes." "That''s possible, yet" and Antoan''s gaze expressed what he wanted to say. "Yes, if that was proven to be true, then my dear uncle has already betrayed me and is now a mere pawn in the hands of my greatest rivals." "That would be bad!" Antoan realized now why Bloom acted so weird at the start. "You should worry, really worry about your safety," hemented, silently admitting his mistake in his previous judgment. "I know, yet it''s a war, right? I need to be prepared for losses in order to win," Bloom said before adding, "and I n to y wholeheartedly from now on. This Triflet challenge will be my victory!" His simple deration made in this messy room seemed like a childish one at the moment, yet his butler felt this wasn''t just empty words said amidst a raging storm. ''I''m sure you will, my new master,'' and Antoan said to himself while descending the stairs. He was now going to prepare the papers, while Bloom didn''t hurry to enter the game. "Things have changed, I need to n every single move I make, or else" he nced at the capsule and a picture of an assassin stabbing him in the depth of the night while ying haunted him. "I have to kill them before they kill me," he made up his decision, and not every death was by a weapon; that what he knew from his bitter past experience in the Titanic Revolut game. Chapter 130: Trinitys Record of All Records! Chapter 130: Trinity''s Record of All Records! Bloom waited for one hour before his butler returned. Antoan came back holding a file of papers in one hand, and a single paper in another. "How is our reincarnated Terry today?" he joked as the entire way heughed at the conversation and the childish reason Bloom gave him. Yet how funny it was; it was the truth. "Alright I guess," Bloom replied as he nced over the papers, "are these the ones I need to sign?" he asked, already feeling much tired of signing all these. "No, these are the papers I will send with your signature here along with many things rted to the game," Antoan extended the single paper to Bloom, who took and read it. "Only one percent of my ount?!" he was surprised to see the figure. It was much smaller than what he had in mind. "Hahaha, don''t belittle this little figure. All the things I did all these years in the dark were from one tenth of your share." "So" "They are enough, more than enough to be honest," he said before opening the file as he added, "you have billions of federal points under your disposal right now. All I need is just one and everything you ask for will be done." Antoan just checked theplicated figures he had done and written down inside these papers. Like Bloom, he spent the past hour thinking hard about his task. "I have another assignment then," Bloom was encouraged to go on with his ns. "A kill?" Antoan turned serious in the next moment, "just tell me and I will discretely eliminate them." "You" Bloom didn''t know what to say except shaking his head. "I want to gather my own yers in the game." When he said that, he noticed the sudden change in the face of Antoan. His butler thought him reacting only to a whim, not really considering the Triflet the challenge. "Are you sure?" he asked, trying to make sure he understood his master right. "Sure," and Bloom nodded before adding, "I want this to be done in very secret manner. No one should know about this group belonging to me, understand?" "I do," Antoan nodded before going to silence for a moment. "I have a suggestion, if you may." "Go ahead and say it." "I previously did some search regarding the game world. I think funding a studio will be the wise choice." It was Bloom''s turn for his eyes to lit up. "Great idea indeed," he then paused, recalling the memories and gossips he had from his previous life. "Make a list of all the free studios and bring it to me." "One minute," Antoan opened the file as he screwed the papers everywhere before taking a couple out. "I have everything rted to the game in these files," he said, exining himself. Bloom received the paper and checked the list of names. One name was in his mind in particr; the cyan studio. This name seemed quite weak and feminine, yet what he recalled from his past was that it started like this, rose up pretty fast in the early couple of years in the game to end up being one of the strongest studios out there. There was amon saying regarding this studio; if it had a decent backup from the start of the game, it would have turned into the greatest studio ever! And it wouldn''t be destroyed like what happenedter. "This one?" Antoan nced at the name with much doubt before screwing his papers again and took one paper out. "They are" he paused, not knowing what to say. "Weak? No problem for being weak. I like the name," Bloom said, while trying to give a silly excuse suiting on the old Terry. "Go and contact them. Find out who the owners are and try to arrange a meeting with them," he said. "A meeting?" Antoan was speechless, "shouldn''t you stay out of picture?" he added. "No," Bloom shook his head, recalling the bitter end of this studio at the sixth year of the game. "I want to meet them face to face." This wasn''t a rash decision of his. If his info about them was correct, then the leaders of this studio wouldn''t ept any support from anonymous identity. Perhaps that was the reason why it took them a whole year until they found a good sponsor, and they stood beside that sponsor until the bitter end. They were loyal, and Bloom liked this feature in them. "Alright," Antoan shrugged, not knowing if the side effects of this morning awakening started to withdraw from his boss or not. "It says here there are three sister leading the studio," he added. "No, they are four," yet Bloom confidently corrected him, "dig deeper and found the fourth one; the call is in her hand." Antoan nced with doubt at him. "Have you met her in the game?" he asked. And Bloom knew he exposed something he shouldn''t, so he just smiled and didn''t answer. "The leader is just this fourth sister. Find her and make sure she wille with the triplet," he added, while going to his desk and signing the paper. "It''s done," he finally was relieved. Things kept getting messy andplicated since getting out of the capsule. "Sigh, I think the game world is my true world after all," he said to himself before stopping his butler. "Order a capsule for you," he said. "For me? Me?!!" and Antoan was greatly shocked, even more than his shock this morning with his master. "Didn''t you say you fund already dark agents?" "Ah, sure, you want them to enter the game too? Perhaps we should make a grand weing party for all?" "Funny," Bloom sneered, "they will enter the game as well with you," he added as he had a part for all of them in his n. "Are you going in?" "Sure, you will take hours to figure out all this stuff," Bloom opened the cover of his capsule, and said while sitting there, "wake me when you finish." "But the game thing" "What?" "I can''t y!" "C''mon, everyone loves to y!" "I can''t killing people inside to just pop us aliveter on is a silly rule to me!" Bloom just nced at him, then he closed the cover and entered the game. "You are the silly one," he mumbled as his consciousness started to seep into the game, "this game is much more dangerous than real life my friend." Then he opened his eyes to find himself standing in the vige. The ce was crowded, much crowded than the time he left. "Is there some event going on here?" he muttered before noticing something. People were staring at him! They weren''t ncing in shock or admiration, yet they were doing that in pity and even some had a challenging look on their faces. "What''s going on here?" just as he was puzzled, a notification came alerting him about a call request. "What''s up?" he said the moment he epted Nara''s phone call. "Finally you are up," she said while hurrying to add in a serious tone, "big news, very big news." He wasn''t that shocked to see her like this. "Just tell me, what''s going on here?" "A challenge," she hurried to say, "a challenge issued to you from another empire." "A challenge?" Bloom was puzzled, "what challenge?" "The Trinity guild, the famous and prestigious guild in the entire game world has issued you a challenge." "The Trinity guildhmm" he already heard this name a lot in his past life. Even in Titanic Revolut, this guild had yers dominating the game there! "What challenge? And why are you so much excited about them?" this puzzled him the most, while walking in the streets of the vige. "They challenge you to break their record of records!" "Can''t you say one whole logical info in one sentence?" "You don''t know the record of all records? It''s a legendary record of the number of announcements a person had in any game ever!" "You mean those game announcements of clearing dungeons?" he said, trying to get her meaning and the reason behind her excitement. "Yeah, they challenge you to break their old record set by their yer Wattford twenty years ago! That''s huge!!" "I can''t see any greatness in this," Bloom honestly said, shaking his head out of his helplessness. "C''mon, it''s a glory. No one could take this record out of them, and each new game they would issue such a challenge to the most promising yer!" "Oh, so that''s why you are all pumped up?" he said while adding, "I don''t need anyone to tell me I''m great!" "Liar," sheughed before adding, "this is the first step for any yer to gain recognition from everyone else in the game!" "I have such recognition already!" "Only in the local forums, perhaps, but not in the entire game!" "Sigh," he smiled bitterly before adding, "you are beyond saving." "C''mon, men always seek glory and fame. Are you upset because you got them?" "I''m not." "Yes you are." "Told you not!" "Look at yourself in the mirror then, liar!" "Sigh," he seriously considered closing the call with her, "tell me your location and I wille to continue leveling up." "We need to make announcements, we need to break that record!" He speechlessly nced at her, and as she noticed his hands moving to close the call, she instantly yelled at him: "Stop, there is more." "What?!" "Panty has issued a call to form a guild, unofficially of course." He paused for a moment before saying, "and what''s that rted to me?" "Aren''t you his enemy?" "Sure, but if he wanted to make a guild, I have nothing in hand to do." "Yes, but what if he sat the task of preventing you from gaining another announcement as a request of joining his guild, promising great wealth and power even in the real world; what would you say?" This time, Bloom instantly stopped. "So this is why everyone is eyeing me in such a strange way?" he muttered, while shaking his head. "Sigh, this Panty it''s better for him to hurry and ept the quest. I need to crush him once and for all." Chapter 131: Dungeon Steal Chapter 131: Dungeon Steal He knew he could rival that Panty and the one standing behind him in the shadows with his wealth; yet he didn''t even consider that! "These money are investments, I can''t just simply throw them away like this! I must spend them on nourishing yers, not to reward them in a needless foolish quarrel!" His mind was much mature than the rest of his enemies. So, he walked past everyone, without the fear or worry of these eyes ring at him. "Any news for me?" he sent this to his spy in Panty''s team. "Panty has his eyes on me, sigh," and the next moment she sent back these words, which made Bloomugh. "You have such irresistible beauty, you know." "Master, I only belong to you," she sent, and it seemed being away from him gave her some courage to speak like this. "Sure, I won''t allow anyone to touch you except for me," he sent with such honesty. She was one of his girls, and he would never let anyone touch them. They were all his! "Anything aside that?" he asked, as he wanted to confirm his enemy wasn''t scheming anything in secret. "Aside from the challenge you got, he isn''t focusing on anything else! He sat his gaze upon that point. And ah, he spoke of some weird incident today, a quest he said. But he seemed quite discrete about it." Bloom was almost on the gates when he paused. "What quest?" he asked with shining eyes. "Don''t know, he only said a few words about it." "Like what?" he said, before urging, "tell me everything he spilled out." "Alright," she paused before sending, "he said he met a great opportunity. Something was needed from him first before he would seize this chance. And when his butlers asked about this, he only said it was some sort of a quest, yet not confirmed until he did something." Her words were vague and unorganized, yet Bloom''s heart told him it was it! "Finally, you bastard!" he clenched his fists before calming himself. "Try to sniff for more," he sent her before passing outside the vige. "Alright boss." "I need to n this right," he muttered, as he was now in a much moreplicated situation than what he had with Derick. "This must be done properly," he then sent to her, "start scanning his team, his core team, his main team, and any of his allies as well." "Are we going to war?" she asked. "Soon," he vaguely answered, "just don''t miss anything. Also what happened with those mercenaries?" he suddenly recalled the ones he killed before logging off the game. "He said his boss would deal with it," she replied, "yet he didn''t say anything more." "Keep your eyes open and inform me of any news." "Sure." As he walked past the vige gates, he sensed many eyes following him. He was now a celebrity, someone who was looked and eyed for. Yet he wasn''t that worried! All these hours outside the game let all his skills be avable once more. if any stupid ones tried to attack him, he wouldn''t be this kind either. But no one was that foolish! Everyone saw his battle videos over and over again. None had the confidence to kill him in one vs one situation. Yet ruining any dungeon for him wasn''t that hard either. "This game stupid rule, tsk," he shook his head recalling the stupid vige and towns dungeon rules. Dungeons should be a secretive ce, that was the case in the weing zone. Yet once stepping into the vige and higher areas, this rule changed. The game considered yers to be mature, and encouraged them to attack each other. No fun without a gun, that was the term the developers used to reply over the endlessints about this particr rule. The steal dungeon rule! Any game had a steal kill rule, as anyone could steal the kill from any team if he had the ability to do it. Yet no game had such a rule in dungeons except this one! The rule wasn''t important in the past, he knew that, except after the passage of a whole year when guilds started to show up. Then guild wars erupted, and violent bloodbaths dominated the game. "Will the dungeon wars start earlier than before?" he muttered, recalling the gossips he heard from his first game lousy developers;ughing at the stupidity of the Eternal Glory developers and their stubbornness. They thought this uprise would be enough to bring the game down, not knowing it did the opposite! yers loved challenges, that was the mere dominant fact in any gamemunity. Give them more hurdles to cross, and they would dlyply! "Tsk, I hope they didn''t know yet about this rule," he shook his head while moving towards the tree line. For a team to steal dungeons from others, they had to y ording to prediction. The steal came when the first team entered the dungeon and cleared all the rooms inside except thest one. That was the moment of stealing! And that was why a job was invented back then in his previous life; the rmer! A yer in the team that did nothing else but to stand on guard outside the dungeon and rm others on any iings! "Sigh, I need to find an rmer then, and a leveler. His current level was thirteen, higher than the mainstream of yers by two to three levels. He nned to hit level fifteen before going after Panty. So, a leveler was a must, not only in dungeons but also in hunting normal monsters. "My clones are good, yet their levels are just like mine. That won''t work on the current situation," he muttered to himself. He wasn''t much interested like Nara in that challenge or record. He was pretty sure he would break many things in this game history. Yet he couldn''t overlook the greed of other yers. He had to suspect the interruption of many during his next fights, a thing he needed to adapt to; not only him but also his team as well. "Despite lowering the level of the monsters would affect me, I can''t risk dying once right now." He didn''t know when Panty intended to move out. This snake seemed quite cautious. "Was I the reason?" he muttered, as he was the one who stole Derick''s quest and he was now panty''s greatest enemy. In his opinion, Panty wouldn''t reveal the time of doing his quest unless at thest moment. "Only his butlers would know," he recalled those strong ones, and then felt some headache already. "Should I recall Luna back?" he thought, "or should I start leveling up the other girls?" he considered this, as his team wasn''t an option on the table. His identity as Sunny must be kept hidden from them! "I have two lives, so I must adapt and create two teams," he said to himself, as this was the only way he could use to handle things here. "Antoan," his eyes shone when he recalled his butler, "as they are using their butlers, then I should use mine, right? Seems quite fair indeed," yet he knew this option wasn''t valid in this operation. Antoan still refused the game, thinking it was a child y. Bloom wasn''t that worried, he was quite positive if Antoan was given enough time, he would be addicted to here. Especially when his master was someone ying in the dark world of the game! "So all I have is those pretty dolls," he shook his head, as this option needed more preparations of him. He needed to level them up! Despite the fact of their monstrous growth, he knew how hard to separate from Nara and her team, or the keen aggressive eyes of those following him. "I need somewhere no one can easily go to," he spotted the tree line from far, and the more he came closer to it the more yers he met on the way. "Dungeons aren''t safe anymore," he started counting out his options, "and going deeply in the wilderness won''t help either," he added before suddenly a thought shed in his mind. "Yet, that ce" he was hesitant. There were many secrets hidden in this game, one of them was a ce that was considered a treasure trove for all yers. A ce of the fallen mine! It was really a mine, yet as the owners died long ago ording to the game scenario, the ce was dominated by monsters. Yet these monsters were special! They lived and grew up on rich ores, making each kill give out many ores and coins. The fall rate of weapons was also greatly enhanced there, yet the higher gears one could find was golden grade. "Going there is only viable through portals, and each portal would be dominated by a yer or guild until others imed it in a fight," he recalled the memories of these portals, "yet the loss ofmunication problem is really a headache! The fallen mines were such a vast ce that even if he left one of his girls out to keep in touch with Muna, she wouldn''t be able to easily find him inside. "That means only one option," he realized the sooner he moved there the better. Staying there for a long time would prove to be risky, especially entering was easy, exiting required him to finish the first task at least. A task that would normally take a day to finish! "I had to find an excuse to get separated from Nara," he decided, and as he reached the tree line, he sent her a brief message. "Where are you?" Chapter 132: Red Nara and Team Chapter 132: Red Nara and Team "Inside the wilderness," she sent before adding, "doing something there and then wille to you at the tree line." Bloom felt something was off, yet he wanted to get some time aler. "Alright, waiting for you," he sent and the next message of Nara made him quite sure something bad was going on. "Please don''t leave the tree line until Ie back," she then sensed as she said too much, "just to not get lost with each other." "Lost that''s ame excuse," he muttered before sending a thumb up emoji and then went to the tree line. "She must be dealing with many threats," he shook his head before adding, "I just have to prepare for more battles," he nced back at the many eyes watching him. They were trying to cover up their presence, yet they failed. "Amateurs," he returned to nce at the wilderness while the n in his mind was starting to take shape. "I need to sell more of the gears I had," he checked his inventory and found fifty of various gears with different grades and levels. "The problem is that I might need them in my Pandora''s box." And this was his issue right now. "If Panty intended to use only a handful of his people, then it would be nice. But" he knew this option wasn''t that reliable. After all if he was in Panty''s shoes, he would have summoned all those he could use and hire to guard him. "But he might be afraid of someone leaking the news to me." It was a bet, over the secrecy or the security; and he couldn''t make a choice about the two of them. "What is his personality?" he asked himself, feeling slightlycking in information. "Should I ask Muna?" he thought before dropping this approach. After all, Muna was still new to the team of Panty and she couldn''t provide deep intel. Unlike his butler! "I should start using Antoan more," he said and at this moment he heard a ruckusing from the distance. "Are they crazy?" in front of him he noticed a group of yers trying to mimic his approach from thest battle. Some went ahead to summon monsters and tried to group them in one ce. "Idiots, sigh!" he shook his head, as the next logical conclusion was for them to lose their lives! "Gathering the monsters is easy, yet taking rid off the agro is the main problem," he said to himself before watching the tem of fifty yers being wiped out, simply like that. What he didn''t know was this asion kept happening in the wilderness. It wasn''t limited to his vige, as endless numbers of yers tried to mimic the process; yet all failed! Some tried to prove he was nothing at all to be worshipped for, while others tried to learn and get stronger from pros like him. Some looked at it as a chance to prove themselves as well, being the second, third, or the first hundred one to copy Bloom''s tactic. But none expected such a result! And this didn''t demote them, instead it fired their souls up and much more yers started joining the fun. Even some started topics analyzing the videos of Bloom thoroughly and offering paid services for exposing what they called, Bloom''s secrets! He waited for a whole hour before finally Nara sent him a message. "We are almost at your ce," she said and he was surprised about one thing. "I didn''t give her my location," this was a fact. He nced back at those observing eyes while muttering: "The forums or spies in other groups?" he didn''t know the answer. While he stood there, he noticed her approach from the direction of the wilderness. Her head showed a thing that attracted his attention at the moment; she was red! And not only her, the other fifty members of the team were also red! "What the hell?" Bloom muttered, "have they started the party without me?" heughed before using the chaos the lousy team did nearby and moved unhindered towards Nara and the team. "I left you for a couple of hours toe and find you all red!" The first thing he did was toment on their red status, while ncing at Nara and Jeffrey; they both held the brightest color among all. "It''s a long story," Jefffrey said in a tone that didn''t suit him. "Make it short then," Bloom smiled before adding, "or say the whole version, I love hearing stories." "Well" as he guessed, Jeffrey was told what to say by Nara. Bloom totally neglected Jeffrey while ncing over Nara. "What happened?" he simply asked. "Nothing," and she shrugged. "All this red and nothing?" he insisted. "Just clearing some bad herbs here and there," she didn''t tell him. "Spies like these," he pointed back towards those standing on the tree line, acting like they were thinking how to join. Their number wasrge, around five hundred yers stood there. "Well, you can consider them that," she replied before trying to end this topic, "we have killed them all and now we are free to go and level up in dungeons." He nced at her for a moment there before saying, "your secrets your choice." He turned towards everyone, who acted like they were enjoying sightseeing in the middle of this wilderness. "Sigh, even everyone?!" he nced at her while remarking in a helpless tone. "It''s not me," she denied. "Sigh, I''m not that obsessive person, you know," he said while saying to others, "party is over, nowe and listen well to what I''m going to say." Nara nced weirdly to him; she thought he would ask them about what happened. And so she gave the others a silent, warning nce while they just nodded. "Sigh, I''m not going to ask about what happened," he turned to her as he said, "you wille and tell me everything on your own," he wasn''t in the mood to press on her for more details right now. If she didn''t want to say, he would wait. "I want to speak about the dungeons and monster raids from now on," he then added, "two professions must be sought; levelers and rmer." "What?" some eximed in surprise, while Jeffrey expressed his doubts louder and clearer: "There are no such sses like these!" "I said professions, not sses," Bloom calmly said, "these are just two kinds of yers that we must add." "Can''t we let two of us do it then?" Nara seemed not encouraged to ept new yers to her team. "They can''t," and Bloom decisively refused, "they can''t do the leveler as their levels are higher than what we need, and they can''t be the rmer as they are strong and we need their strength inside, not outside." The team exchanged nces in confusion and puzzlement. "Can you exin then what these two are?" Nara asked, while trying to get on a unified grounds with his strange demands. "Leveler is someone with a much lower level than us, not exceeding five levels, and be part of the team," he said. "For monsters?" Jeffrey suddenly understood his meaning. "Sure." "Why didn''t I think about doing such a thing before?" and then Nara muttered to herself while sizing up Bloom again. To her, he was just nobody, lucky to be known in the early stages of the game. Yet she knew he wouldn''t be able to beat the others in the long run; she once firmly believed that. Yet the more she dealt with him, the more she started to change this view. He wasn''t that bad! Every now and then he would surprise her with something so simple yet she never noticed; like this leveler term he just said as if it was an established one. "What about the rmer?" she asked. "It''s for rming us if someone was standing outside the dungeon, waiting for us," he didn''t want to expose everything at once. ''Let this be a secret for a while, if it''s still one,'' he thought to himself. "You mean to just add a random yer to stand on guard outside the dungeon?" One of the team asked, in confusion. "What will be his rule? Only to rm us from any ambush?" he added. "We can just assume we have ambushes outside each dungeon!" another one joined in. "An rmer is a must," Nara suddenly said, standing beside Bloom while sending him a private message. ''The dungeon heist problem?'' she asked. ''Oh, you know about it already!'' Bloom was surprised, yet not to that degree. He now realized his enemies were familiar with this, and he should take the dungeons more seriously. ''It''s not a well known fact. I paid a lot to get my hands on it, and now you are also aware of it who are you?'' she seemed more shocked than him, and much doubtful. ''Bloom.'' ''C''mon, your real world name!'' ''Bloom!'' ''Tsk, if you don''t want to say it just be brave and refuse, not lie!'' ''I''m still Bloom.'' ''Lying is for kids!'' ''It''s still Bloom!'' ''Tsk, forget it, you are hopeless!'' Chapter 133: The Alarmer and The Leveler Chapter 133: The rmer and The Leveler Nara seemed not to buy what Bloom just told her. In a way or another, he wasn''t lying! She nced shortly at him before saying: "Finding the rmer is easy, but this what did you call him again?" she asked. "Leveler." "Yes, this leveler is I dunno, it would be a first for a group to look for some low leveled yers to join their ranks!" She was telling the truth, yet he knew how popr such a profession would be in the months toe. He now was in need for a leveler, not only to speed up his leveling, yet to make sure he had selected the best leveler. As the best leveler would be smart enough not to rise up fast, and that might require them to sacrifice themselves a couple of times along the journey. "How can we find him then?" Jeffrey asked, with such a dissatisfied tone, "should we go and look up for losers?" "Not just any losers," Bloom didn''t take his remark to heart, "we need someone smart enough to know when to give up his pride as a yer and ept losing levels." "This you want a masochist then!" one of the yers aroundmented. "Not that far," Bloomughed before adding, "but yeah, such a person would do brilliantly well." They nced at him in such doubt, yet he knew from his past life how this small issue was important. At first levelers were really easy to find, as the gap between yers was easily created at the early levels. However when everyone reached higher levels of thirty-ish and forty-ish, problems started to rise. Levelers started to catch up from down below, and soon the gap between them and the pro yers in their teams got shortened to a couple of levels only. They were asked to die more than once to keep the level gap intact; yet many refused and they also lost levels in the hands of their formerrades. This made the true levelers a hard currency, and Bloom intended to put his hands on them early on before anyone would notice this. "You are you alright?" Jeffrey asked while ncing deeply at Bloom. "Just do as I say," and Bloom finally said his part, "go back and select from the losers. Make sure to test them first." "Test losers?" Nara said, "sure, we will ask them how much time they screw up and take the lousiest one!" She was joking, yet Bloom said in a serious tone: "Test them, not by asking about their past. Ask them to go and lose a level in front of monsters." "You!!!" this time it was everyone standing here feeling odd towards these words and demands. Bloom knew his words would remain mystery for such a long time, even some of his enemies would mock him. Even his allies! Yet he wasn''t worried, he didn''t need anyone''s approval to do what he had to do. "Just do it the way I say," he strictly said, "and select two, not just one." "A couple? Are we nning to breed them and make a new species of losers?" Jeffrey was taking this matter in such a funny way, thinking till now that Bloom was pulling a prick on them. "Don''t joke around serious things, I''m not ying you here," and Bloom read his thoughts and tried to correct them. "This matter is of utmost importance to me." "Sigh," Nara said, stopping Jeffrey from keeping his mockery, "we will find two leveler and one rmer. Tsk, just three useless yers in our team." She paused before seriously saying: "Do you know that some dungeons limit the number of yers inside to be only twenty?" "Sure, that''s why selecting two losers will be much useful to us; saving time and effort." His instant reply silenced her up! She didn''t mean that, but his answer made her realize something. ''He is nning things ahead based on his intel,'' she thought to herself, ''he can''t be someone ordinary, absolutely not!'' "I don''t want you toprehend this, but trust me when I say we need these two professions. So please treat this in a much more serious way," he added, trying to make the sense of humor and fun around this topic turn serious. "Sure, we will do that. But," Nara said, and her tone was meant to silence anyone else, "we are all red, so we need to wash our color first." "Don''t worry," he smiled in confidence, "by my way, you can be clean again in no time." They all understood his meaning, and he started to nce around. Many lousy losers of yers were trying their best. ''You know you could have just ordered us, instead the spies here will deliver your words to your enemy,'' and at this moment Nara sent this private message to him. ''I could have done this, but I needed to build trust with you,'' he said, refraining from mentioning anything about his new perspective to the game, ''plus if anyone heard what I just said, they wouldugh and not take this as much more serious than everyone here.'' ''If so, why take the trouble to beughed at?!'' ''These two are really important to our future.'' His reply silenced her, as she sensed something different in his words. She nced at him while he was busy selecting a direction to move at. "Let''s go this way," he pointed towards a direction after opening the map of the vige. ''If I recall it right, the fallen mines are always situated in the deepestyers of the wilderness,'' he muttered to himself, while others felt nothing special about that direction. ''Either extreme north east, or northwest,'' he added while trying to recall any more details about these mines. Yet his mind didn''t bring him more advice or leads. "What about our watchers," Jeffrey asked, as he was annoyed by the strange conversation they just had with Bloom. "Go and kill them," and Bloom simply said. "All?!" Jeffrey asked in shock. "Their red will be" and Nara paused, as she didn''t know what to say. "Harder to clean?" Bloom said, before turning to nce at the numerous shades moving behind them, "don''t worry, I got your backs on this." And his simple saying made everyone realize how easy it was for him to wash any redness. Bloom himself tested this, and in just a couple of waves he managed to clear out his name and be able to return to the vige. ''I need to make you all cleared fast,'' he thought, as he would use this as an excuse to be separated from them. Chapter 134: I Warned You! Chapter 134: I Warned You! "Alright," Jeffrey said, and the next moment he exchanged silent nces with a bunch of the yers here. The next thing happened for ten yers to vanish in thin air. "Will they be alright alone?" Nara seemed worried, as many yers were already tracking them. "I don''t intend to make them have all the fun, right?" heughed, before muttering: "Shade doppelganger festival!" Thirteen dark clones appeared. "Go and bring all the monsters in the area you can," he then turned as he added with a smile, "and be sure toe from that direction." Others turned to see the direction he aimed at with his head; it was the direction of the safe tree line! "Evil, hehehe," one of the yersughed, as all understood his meaning. The next moment every clone moved, as they went toplete this mission with the best of their ability. "Sigh, why can''t I have such an OP skill?!" Nara muttered, envying him for having such handy skill. ''Will you exin how to get such skill to me?'' and she sent him a message at once. ''Oh, this is a secret.'' ''C''mon, I will tell a secret of mine as well.'' ''Hahaha, are we ying truth or dare here right now!'' heughed out loud, making everyone nce at him in a strange way. ''If you want it this way, we can,'' and she replied with a faint smile over her face. ''Perhapster.'' ''Can''t you tell me now? Please?'' ''Hahaha, as if adding please would do,'' again heughed and everyone had already gotten used to his strange behavior. ''What? You don''t want me, right?'' she sent back, testing his intentions. ''Well, you are a beauty, that''s a fact.'' ''This is my lucky day then, the merciless Bloom is praising me, hahaha,'' this time it was her turn tough. The team moved their eyes between the two before they started to mind their own business. And a message was sent to Jeffrey at once. ''Stay away from thedy, she is way above your league!'' His words seemed rude, yet he was trying to advise Bloom. ''Don''t worry,'' Bloom just replied back to him, ''focus on the fight, monsters wille hot upon your ce soon,'' he added, changing the topic. ''She out of my league? Huh, she is exactly my match,'' he didn''t know if he shouldugh or cry, but he was the other rival in the challenge to get this beauty. As they kept moving forward, while Jeffrey and the other ten members kept killing yers here and there, the world suddenly rumbled. Bloom was the first to sense this, as he got used to the way his clones brought monsters to him. ''Retreat now,'' and the next moment he sent this order to Jeffrey who didn''t dare to dy. "What brought you back so early?" as he appeared in the group, Nara suddenly asked in doubt. Before he could exin, the noise and rumbleing from the distance exined everything. And he just sent her privately telling about Bloom''s words. The iing monsters were enraged, running fast anding hot, smashing anything in their path! "Wow, they brought much more monsters this time," one of the yers said as the size of the dust cloud at the back proved his words. As for Bloom, he knew his clones were too capable to depend upon. Even more than his group here! "Wow, they are petrified in their ces, hahaha!" "Some are trying to return to the vige, hahaha!" "Toote, losers!" yers were taken out of surprise, and when they tried to react; their actions were really clumsy and bad. This invoked theughter among his team, and he stood there smiling and saying nothing. It wasn''t bad having fun moments from time to time with them. They couldn''t return to the vige, as the ticket would take a few seconds to be activated. Just as some of them tried to move back to the vige, the monsters had reached them and then they were all entered into abat mood. They couldn''t retreat anymore, and all of their tickets were rendered useless! "Look, some are running our way," just as the clones Bloom summoned were killed, and the monsters started to look for other targets to fight; some of these targets ran towards them. "Retreat," Bloom gave the order fast while adding, "Jeffrey, they are all yours." "My pleasure," then he went invisible along with ten more. The assassins started to hunt those few daring to catch up to them, and after a few minutes; none was now following them. Still the big ruckus caused by therge number of monsters summoned here made those not aware of Bloom''s presence to be rmed. Even some had the curiosity toe and take a look. This move, the monster tide ability as some loved to call, was now one of Bloom''s signatures. The monsters killed off the yers in a short time, then they started to expand, divide upon themselves, expanding the scale of this battle. ''That''s great,'' and Bloom liked this strategy, as like this no one would be able toe after him from miles away. ''I just need to wait for their red to be gone,'' he thought, before ncing back at the monsters and waiting. "Will we aim to kill them all?" One of the team members asked. "No," and Bloom refused, "after you are all clean, you will go to the vige and find us two levelers and one rmer." "They will go, but I will stay back," Nara suddenly said, and everyone exchanged nces between her and Bloom as if they were imagining them on a date. ''I warned you, you are risking your life here man,'' Jeffrey sent, ming him for something he didn''t wish for! ''Can you go with them?'' Bloom sent to Nara. ''What? Afraid of being alone with me this much?'' and she joked back. ''Consider it this way.'' ''Nah, I want to stay with you a little on our own,'' she then turned to re at him, ''I know you hold secrets off me, and I want to know them all!'' ''I won''t tell any!'' ''Sure, then I will stick to you like a shadow. Let''s see how you can keep your secrets from me like this.'' ''Won''t you want to eat?'' ''I have my nutrition fluid tank full.'' ''What about meeting friends? Hanging out with your close ones? Family and rtives and these stuff.'' ''I don''t have anyone close to me and isn''t ying the game already.'' He nced silently at her, and she nced back; none of the two was willing to step back an inch here! Chapter 135: The Mysterious NPC Chapter 135: The Mysterious NPC ''It''s best for you to go with them!'' Bloom didn''t ept her stubbornness, and he also didn''t n to expose himself to her so soon! ''Or what?'' He smirked before sending to her: ''Don''t say I didn''t warn you.'' ''Will you run? I will follow no matter where you go!'' she sent. ''Oh, this is love then, hehehe,'' he replied. ''Don''t use these cheap tricks on me, I won''t change my mind.'' ''Then it''s better for me to log out of the game,'' he teased her. ''And I will wait for you to log in again!'' and she was really stubborn. ''As you wish, but don''t say I didn''t warn you.'' ''Humph, you have nothing to do!'' He just smiled and didn''t say anything back to her. He had already a way to escape her close eyes, yet he didn''t prefer for her to stick her nose in his business like this. "We are all cleared," after five minutes, and the loss of many monsters, the team had their red names cleaned. "Alright," Bloom said, "go back now and do like I told you before," he added before turning to Nara who just ignored him and looked in another direction. ''I warned you,'' Jeffrey sent to him with a smug smile over his face. "Go before you know," and Bloomughed while threatening Jeffrey in between the lines. In front of his eyes, everyone used their tickets to return, and only he and Nara remained. And the two returned to nce at each other silently again. "It''s time for you to let down that ego and go back," he said. "I won''t!" she replied, "I''m dead serious on finding out what you hide from me." "Sigh, in time you know." "This is time! Tell me now!" "Tsk," he had no option but to mutter, "darkness nihility!" The next moment he body vanished from her vision, greatly enraging her. "Bloom!!!" she screamed in anger, "I promise to repay this many folds when we meet again!" and she threatened while he just moved away leaving her ranting her anger over the rocks and the dirt. ''I told you before,'' and he didn''t let things chill out like this as he sent her this message. ''You be brave ande back to get your punishment.'' ''I warned you,'' heughed to himself before adding, ''don''t say I didn''t.'' ''I promise next time we meet I will make you lose a level.'' ''Hahaha, one level is fine for me, when we meet I will be a couple of levels higher then.'' ''You'' He then closed the chat while enjoying this sense of small triumph over her scheme to corner him. He knew his secrets would be revealed one day, yet today wasn''t the right day for that! "Now, I should go and look for that mine," he said to himself while the effects of his skill vanished. He kept moving further forward, while the number and the variety of monsters started to show some changes. "Tsk, the more I went deeper the more it looked like the area adjacent to the tree line." Monsters here were packed inrger groups, which left only small spaces for him to move at. "I should aim to the north east first, much closer to me," he said after examining the map andparing his current location with the possible ce of the mines. The more he moved forward, the harder it got to avoid monsters. He didn''t want to waste his time fighting monsters here. Away from that, the ce was strangely peaceful, with the absence of the noise caused by yers. He was alone, probably thinking he would be the first one to delve so deep. "Is that a treasure box?" he suddenly noticed a glimpse of a shiny thing from far. The first thing that popped up his mind was the treasure box. "Hohoho, I think I might be lucky this time," heughed while going fast towards the direction of the treasure box. When he approached, he found it was indeed a treasure box, slightlyrger than the one he found inside the dungeon. "Tsk, it''s tightly guarded," he sighed as there was already a pack of monsters surrounding it. And this pack consisted of two hundred lion head and bull body shaped monsters. "They look unique," he nced all around to see anything like them, but he never spotted a monster like the ones guarding the chest. "So they are here just to guard this treasure box? What''s inside to make it worth all this?" He muttered to himself, feeling the temptation to think of a way and take the box from these monsters. "That''s not right, something seemed odd here," he said to himself. If the monsters here were unique, then the rules applied to them might be different as well. "I have no time to risk dying anding back again," he shook his head before giving this near yet quite far treasure box a final nce. "Tillter then," he said before returning to his path. ording to the map location, this treasure box was located near the ce where the mines were supposed to be. After ten minutes he reached the ce of the extreme north east. After this point, he would get out of the vige territory, which was marked by that big pink shield surrounding the zone. "So it''s empty!" he shook his head in regret. The ce in front of him seemed no different than any ce he passed by in the wilderness. "But there is no monster in this area," he noticed this single difference, as there wasn''t even a single monster in a radius of five hundred meters. "Could it be" he then moved towards this spot, trying to investigate it. Just as he went to that area, he hit an invisible wall hard and without warning. "What the hell?!!" he shouted in pain, while standing from the ground before pointing his hand and touched the wall he just hit. And he found a soft wall demarking the area void of monsters. "So it''s here," his pain turned to joy as he finally found the ce he wanted. "But why is it sealed?" he thought to himself before taking a tour around the shield. "It has no opening," he sighed before stopping in front of this invisible shield thinking how to break it down. "May I ask if you are interested in helping me?" and suddenly this sound came from his back, startling him. The moment he turned to see, he found an NPC, inte thirtieth, with ragged looking and extreme horrible state. Strangely, this vision of that man made him recall the status he was at before reborn again here. "of course," he instantly replied, "how can I help you?" "I have lost my precious staff inside this mine, and as you can see; it''s sealed." Bloom knew this was the ce of the mine, yet he feigned ignorance as he asked: "What mine?" "This isn''t a normal zone, kid. It''s a portal! If you manage to lift this seal, this portal will be opened to you." "And?" Bloom asked for more. "After going inside, you will find an entire world that you can benefit from. Ores and herbs, rare and precious. Even monsters with rare abilities and weak defenses. You can level up inside as much as you want, plus some good encounters as well." Bloom didn''t learn anything new, and his face showed his dissatisfaction. "And there is a ce where you can obtain pet eggs." Just as he lost any hope to know more, he heard this valuable new piece of information for the first time about mines. "Pet eggs? So many?" he hurried to ask. "Not that much, only one egg for the first yer to find it," the NPC shook his head before adding, "and it''s you, if you are brave and lucky enough." "Of course I''m!" Bloom didn''t hesitate to shout out loud, "do you know the ce of this egg?" he asked. "Sure, it lies next to my stolen staff," the NPC said, before adding, "if you agree to help, I can dly apany you. But" he paused before adding, "as you can see, I''m weak and alone. You should go back and summon your friends here if you wanted to have this egg." Bloom didn''t bother with what that NPC asked, as he hurried to say: "I''m more than enough." "Are you sure?" the NPC said, in much doubt, "if you epted this help and failed, you won''t be able to redo it again!" Bloom knew what the NPC meant, this was a unique quest, extremely rare, only issued once for yers. The quest had a strict way to be triggered. He recalled not sensing anyone around the area until he touched it, examined it, and learnt its secrets. It also required the yer to be the first to find the mines. "Who was the one that discovered the mines in the first ce?" he thought to himself yet his memories didn''t help this time. He just wanted to know the type of that pet, so he would determine if it worth the risk and trouble of helping this NPC here or not. "Don''t worry, I can do this task alone." "Tsk," and the NPC just shook his head, "yers and their arrogance," and he muttered, words that Bloom said to himself countless times in his past life. "May I know your name sir?" Bloom asked, while trying to get friendly with that ragged person. "It''s Bloom!" And the name he just said made the mind of Bloom explode with endless questions! Chapter 136: The Quest Chapter 136: The Quest Bloom nced at the NPC while observing him so close. The name of his wasn''t that famous ormon. Back in the days of the Titanic Revolut game, he was the only NPC to carry such a name, and it took a year or two for a yer to change his nickname to his. "Are you going to help me?" the NPC asked, while mistook Bloom''s silence as hesitation. "Sure, but may I ask a couple of questions?" Bloom nodded while he had tons of questions that needed answering. "Ask what you want." "Am I the first yer toe here? To obtain this quest?" "In this empire, yes, but in the entire world, no." The answer of Bloom seemed not to be far from what he had in mind. ''A limited time quest,'' he muttered to himself before asking again: "So other yers are still in the quest or failed it?" The NPC nced at him in confusion, before Bloom added, "I just want to know my ce in the world, that''s all." "Oh, then yes they all failed." "And you won''t leave here if I fail, right?" Bloom tried to act more like a yer, less suspicious of the NPC. "Well" and the face of the NPC changed slightly. "Please, I don''t want to lose such a chance," Bloom acted like he was pleading for his life here. ''If direct questions won''t do, then I have to find another way around,'' he said to himself. "Sigh, I can''t promise that," the NPC said, before adding in a bitter tone, "if it was up to me, then I would have selected one ce and stayed there." "Then if I failed, would youe back again?" "I just told you I can''t stay here." Bloom had reached the question he wanted to ask from the beginning. "I mean after you circte the entire world for one turn, can you please start the second turn here? I will keep some of my group waiting here all the time for you." Bloom''s tone and attitude told a lot about his sincere intentions; yet he wasn''t feeling any sincerity regarding what he said. He just wanted to know something. "I can''t" the face of the NPC started to be gloomier, "after this round, I... I won''t have any other rounds to y here anymore." The eyes of Bloom shone yet his features remained the same, showing his sincerity. "I promise you then to do everything in my hand to help you," Bloom said, and this time he meant it. "I hope you can do it, after all I crossed half of the world already and none managed to help me." "I will be up to the task." "Great, I hope we can start the quest now then, shall we?" The next moment Bloom''s ears picked up the sound of system alerts. "System alert: NPC Bloom has given you a quest: the lost staff quest. Quest details: NPC Bloom was once a strong and esteemed staff holder NPC, yet he was unfortunate to meet a strange opponent, ending up for him to lose his staff. Since then his staff is roaming the world, and he is running after it. You are asked to apany NPC Bloom inside the fallen mines, search for the staff with him and retrieve it. Quest difficulty: the quest has three difficulties for you to choose; moderate, hard, and brutal. Note that the moment you choose a difficulty you can''t change itter on. Please remember that your final rewards will be determined ording to the level of difficulty and the time consumed to finish the task. Quest time frame: from the moment of epting it up to two days." Bloom nced at the message while understanding how difficult it was toplete this quest. "There is not even a mild degree of difficulty, tsk," he shook his head while thinking about his options here. He had to enter the fallen mines and level up his own assassination team. So going inside wasn''t the issue, but he had some vague feeling things wouldn''t be that easy as he expected. "May I advise you about something?" The NPC said, and Bloom nodded. "Didn''t you say you want a pet egg?" Bloom wasn''t stupid, as this was an obvious inclination from the NPC to him. "Which level should I get? Level one, or two, or three?" he asked, and his hand moved from down to above, and the NPC understood this signal. "You have only two options of pets, ground pets at level two and flying pets at level three." ''The brutal difficulty is out of question,'' Bloom said to himself, ''its difficulty would be high off the roof!'' he knew the game wouldn''t let someone obtain a flying pet so early and destabilize the bnce of the game. ''The moderate difficulty has no pet egg reward, then I only can have the hard difficulty,'' he reached this conclusion while ncing over the NPC again. ''Loving to help yers, even twisting the rules of the game for that, sigh.'' "What will you do now? Will you help me or not?" the NPC asked, and Bloom smiled, "Sure, I will choose hard difficulty," he said. "System alert: The quest has been epted. You have two days most toplete the task." "Shall I tell you then more details about the quest?" The NPC''s face showed a bright smile. He didn''t know why, but he had such a positive feeling towards the yer in front of him. "Just give me a minute," yet Bloom had other things to handle first. "You will call your friends?" the NPC asked, with great expectations. "No, let''s call them my friends!" Bloom didn''t know how to describe what he was going to do and ended up saying something that made himugh. "Alright, I will just wait here," the NPC went to one side, leaving Bloom alone to his mission. "Let''s see, I will buy many tokens now so I have to raise my ount points first," he muttered before taking out one item of each gear he had, and sold it in the dark auction panel. This gave him over one hundred thousand points, and then he started buying tokens inrge numbers. This took quite some time, roughly an hour. During which the NPC kept eyeing him in a strange manner. ''First time to see a yer so collected when receiving my quest,'' the NPC said to himself while sizing up Bloom, ''is he a sword wielder faction? Why do I get some strange vibe from him?'' The NPC was much curious to see what Bloom was doing out there, yet he didn''t move to ask. He just wanted to start the quest, especially if the first part of the quest was the part everyone failed at! So far no one managed to enter the real fallen minends. "And I finished," Bloom shouted while raising both hands in the air and pping, celebrating his luck to gain one hundred tokens from this auction in one hour. "Phew, I thought I would lose a couple of them there," heughed while ncing over the NPC. "Are you ready?" the NPC asked. "Give me a couple of minutes," Bloom said before taking out one token. "Minutes! You asked for one and took one hour!" Just as the NPC was about to lecture him, Bloom activated the token and a stunning beauty appeared just in front of him. "Master," she knelt and greeted him. "Who Who is she?" At this moment, the lewd nature of the NPC showed up while he jumped all the distance to reach Bloom and the stunning girl. "She is my friend," and Bloom couldn''t say anything real about her. ''Tsk, I''m pretty sure I wasn''t that sex lunatic back in my days,'' hemented while sizing up the drooling NPC. "Brace yourself, we still have more," and Bloomughed while taking out one token after another. In the end one hundred girls appeared, knelt and saluted him in the same manner. And none of them was inferior to the other in beauty. "Who are you?" the NPC asked, while feeling extremely nervous while all these beauties were kneeling. Even if not for him, he took it as if it was him. "Me? My name is Bloom!" and Bloom replied, with a big smile while watching the skeptical look over the NPC face. "You are ying me, right?" "No, I''m speaking the truth, my name is Bloom." "You know mine is Bloom, right?" "Yup." "And you know my name is quite rare, very rare actually, in the game and in the real world of yours, did you know that?" "Howe? I''m standing here in front of you and my name is the same as yours!" "No way, let me see the info about the quest," the NPC was so messed up at this moment, and Bloom totally rted to him. "That''s" and the face of the NPC changed the moment he saw the details of the quest and the yer who epted it. "See? Told you, I''m Bloom." "Alright," and the NPC seemed quite nervous at the moment, "let''s go and start this quest then, shall we?" "Why are you nervous?" Bloomughed as he watched the NPC returning to the spot he stood at next to the shielded zone. Chapter 137: The Fourth Sister Chapter 137: The Fourth Sister Bloom watched him and justughed. "Alright, you will go back now ande out when I ask you for," he held their tokens one by one as he said these words while sending them back. He stored the tokens after closing the ck market interface. Right now he didn''t need any seeds to cover up his trails. "This might serve me well in the future." He just wanted to remove any possible suspicion if anyone linked between his token summoned by Bloom and Sunny. So, he just wanted to use the smokeing out from these tokens to make sure there was a difference. "Now everything is settled," Bloom muttered to himself before turning towards the NPC, who seemed troubled by the revtion he just had. "C''mon, I''m ready to move," Bloom said before pointing to the shield, "how can I break this?" "You need toplete phase one first before being able to break this shield," the NPC said. "Alright, tell me what is this phase one." "You need to find a treasure box, not far from here. It''s guarded by special types of monsters. You need to take what''s inside that box and don''t be killed." The moment Bloom heard these words, he recalled the strange, strong looking group of monsters guarding that treasure box. "Have you met them already? Have you died at their hands?" The NPC noticed the change in Bloom''s face before adding, "if you fought and were killed under their ws, then you will lose this quest," and he was quite nervous, thinking the dark horse he betted on turned out to be a loser. "I''ve met them, but I didn''t fight them," Bloom said before turning to nce at the NPC in a weird manner, "who was the psycho to make this test like this? Who is crazy enough to deal with these strange monsters?!" "Pft," and the NPCughed, bitterly saying, "I know, this test was put to I wouldn''t get any help and would be lost forever." Bloom started to confirm his own guess. ''So in the past no one managed to free me and I was turned into raw data, sigh!'' he inwardly sighed while ncing at the current NPC Bloom, picturing himself in his past life standing here looking for someone to help. ''Despite changing games, my fate was never in my hands! If I wanted to be sure not to end like this again, I had to be stronger; far stronger and much wealthier than anyone else!'' He vowed, and the NPC in front of him didn''t know what he was thinking about. "Will you go then or not?" he asked, "there is no other way to break this shield except through what''s inside the box." "What will you do to help me?" Bloom didn''t hurry to reply, as he asked about the role of the NPC in all this. "I won''t interfere until you prove your worth," and the NPC said, meaning that he wouldn''t take the role in the first phase. "That means I have to take that chest alone?" he muttered while recalling the strong looking monsters. "Can you at least tell me any info regarding these monsters? anything that might help!" The NPC nced at him for a moment before saying: "You need first to ept phase one." "Idiot! I already epted the general quest, so taking phase one is out of the question here!" Bloom reprimanded the surprised NPC by his tone. "Just answer my question," he added while he received a notification from the system. "System alert: Someone is trying to open the hatch of the game capsule. Please log out as soon as possible." He knew who was doing this, and so he had to hear the answer from that NPC before exiting the game. "They have two absolute skills, can generate Hp even during a fight, and when attacking, they all attack the target until he is dead." "Or run away, right?" Bloom added, correcting the lousy telling of the NPC. "No, they won''t let any target run away!" but the error Bloom thought turned out to be a feature. "That''s nice," Bloom said with a grin, "wait here, I will do something ande back." Before the NPC could speak again, Bloom already logged off the game and started to push the capsule cover away. And the face of Antoan was the one that appeared in front of his eyes. "Tell me you have good news," Bloom moved out of the capsule while waiting for his butler to respond. "I have investigated through the background of those who came here," Antoan said before adding, "it''s as you expected; all are minions for Dockrey." Bloom''s face didn''t change as he already was sure of that. He gestured to him to continue, and he added: "As for shielding the username of Bloom, I have contacted someone and it has been taken care of." "Really?" Bloom smiled as Antoan nodded. "Good, I want to take part of the money and try to uncover the identity of Bloom through other routes." The face of Antoan changed, "but" yet he didn''t continue his argument, knowing what Bloom was thinking of. "Losing money is much easier than losing life, right?" Bloom said and Antoan just sighed. "You are absolutely right," he then took out a screen and touched some buttons on it for a moment. It was like his personal note, and he left an order to his followers. "In less than two days we will know the results," he put the screen under his armpit before adding, "now about the group you rmended" His face showed tension, and Bloom realized what he pumped into. "Couldn''t locate them? Or couldn''t locate the behind the scenes girl?" he asked. "Well" yet his butler''s face showed a disturbed expression, "this one is hard to touch," he finally confessed. "Hard to touch?!! That''s impossible! Why do you say that?" Bloom asked, trying to get to the heart of this matter. "Have you found it here?" "Yes, I have. But" "But what?" "She hides in a ce you can''t go." Boom nced at his butler for a moment beforeughing, "Is she in the afterlife?" "No, but that ce you can''t simply go there." Bloom became more curious as he asked: "Give me the reason, hurry I have a quest running and can''t waste much time here." "She lives with the miss." "What miss?" "Miss Natalie!" Bloom didn''t get the point until a few momentster. His eyes went wide as he nced in a serious manner to his butler. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Pretty sure, the fourth petal of the cyan studio and the miss are very close friends," Antoan said, before adding, st reports said that she is living with the miss since the beginning of the game." Bloom took a moment there to link the dots. "So Jeffrey and others aren''t hers," he muttered. "Leave this matter to me then," he smiled, confidently knowing what to do. "But it''s said in the challenge to not disturb miss at all," Antoan said, but Bloom wasn''t fazed by these words. "Don''t tell me Dockrey didn''t visit her from time to time," heughed as he expected what that arrogant youth would do when he was feeling much confidence about his odds. He wouldn''t hesitate to bother Nara from time to time. "Well, he has already visited her once during the past twenty four hours." "Oh, during these hours," the eyes of Bloom shone before he added, "that exins much then," he nodded as he added, "have you gathered up your men? Are you ready to enter the game?" The face of Antoan changed the moment Bloom mentioned the game and his order to enter it and y there. "Well, can we discuss thister?" he said, trying to stall for time, hoping to find a way out. "C''mon, don''t freak out like a chicken! It''s a game! If you missed this time, then your addition there will be in vain," Bloom shook his head in helplessness. "That would be for the better," Antoan subconsciously remarked, yet he hurried to add when he noticed the ring eyes of Bloom, "but I will make sure to attend there soon." He held the screen he had before adding, "I still have to do something about this task, right?" "Two days then," Bloom said before adding, "if by then you didn''t enter the game, I swear I will look for another guard than you!" Antoan was shocked to hear these words. "But" "There is room for debate," Bloom said before turning to the game capsule, "I need you in the game, and the situation there is way better than what you think. If you don''te to aid me, I will be forced to find someone else to help," he then paused before closing the hatch of the capsule, "my secrets can''t be with many; either you enter and continue to be my right hand man, or I will be forced to find another hand." He then closed the capsule and entered the game, while his mind was still thinking about the identity of the fourth sister. "That''s why it was said it took over a year for the fourth sister to be found." Chapter 138: Open the Treasure Chest and Run! Chapter 138: Open the Treasure Chest and Run! Bloom entered the game to find the other Bloom restless already. "Don''t be this nervous, I said I wille back soon," heughed while the NPC nced at him before heaving a long sigh of relief. "It''s just your name is really strange!" "Like yours." "Are you ready to start?" the NPC asked. "Sure, I know their location," Bloom said as he roughly passed through them nearby here, "will youe?" he said. "No, I can''t." "Restricted?" Bloom was speechless for a moment as this was only done to high level quests. And his casual remark made the other Bloom speechless as well! "How do you know that term?" "I read a lot," Bloom lied, "alright, wait here and I won''t bete." "I hope you return alive, even if after a day," the NPC muttered to himself while ncing at the distant shadow of Bloom. Bloom went back to the direction he just came from while trying to recall what he saw. "That chest was heavily guarded, and if the words of the other Bloom are correct, then I might have a good chance here." He decided to use his usual trick to drive the monsters away; hoping they would follow the clones far. "But those monsters might have some tricks up to their sleeves," he was still skeptical and decided to give a shot of one of his rarely used skills. As he got near the ce, he spotted the monsters again. "Lion heads and bodies of bulls," he muttered before adding, "I bet their main skill will be a charge based skill." For him this wasn''t the best news ever. The charge skill came with a stun effect, and these monsters seemed not to have the usual level difference of others around here. "What level are they?" he asked himself before trying to use his investigative skills over them. "System alert: yer''s level is much lower than the target. The skill is rendered useless." "Tsk, as I feared," he shook his head before standing a distance far from them. "I need to find a cover," he was in the middle of an empty zone; no monsters, no rocks, nothing at all. "Sigh, the closest thing I can hide behind is these couple of trees over there," he nced at the trees lying one mile at least far from the treasure chest. "I just hope to be able to move there fast." Just as he went to that spot and made sure he wasn''t seen by any monster, he started using his skill. "Shade doppelganger festival." Next moment thirteen clones appeared in front of him. "Listen, you will go there and drive all the monsters far," he said before adding, "go that way, and five of you shall leave to collect all the monsters around this ce to meet these monsters there." He pointed with hands trying to draw the ces he had in mind for this battle. He had to make sure these monsters were miles far from here, and he had to be sure they would be quite busy even if they killed all his clones. "Now go," he gave the order and his clones obeyed. They moved fast in two different directions; while he waited patiently ncing at the far monsters. The moment his eight clones got near the monsters, the monsters all nced at them. They didn''t wait for them to attack, as the next moment they all roared as if they knew someone wasing to challenge them. "Are they celebrating mying or what?!!" Bloom was speechless as once the monsters roared, two of his clones were hit directly by two mighty charges of these monsters; instantly killing them. "Runrun you fools!" he was stressed as he watched this terrifying scene, while inwardly cursing at his clones. Three of them didn''t move an inch while the other three moved fast. He nced at the monsters easily killing three more of his clones, while they started to chase the rest. "Sigh, despite losing six of them in the first counter, three are still alive," he said to himself while watching the clones running to the direction he told them to. They had toe near him, and as they took a wide turn to head directly towards the distance, he didn''t dy to test out his skill. "Darkness might." "System alert: yer''s level is way too low from the target. The skill is rendered useless." "What the f*ck!" he cursed and was enraged by this. "How am I supposed to kill such monsters then?" he was puzzled, if these monsters were this high in level, immune to most of his skills, then how should he be able to kill them and gain the treasure box. "Except" he paused in thoughts while an idea popped up his mind. "Those dirty developers they wanted us to evade the monsters and y them, not to kill them," he sighed, as this was the only possible exnation here. So he waited. "Bloom was right, they are all running like mad after my clones," he said while watching thest of these monsters kicking off towards the distance. "Time to move." He left his hiding ce and headed directly towards the chest. The ce looked deste with no one else but him there. When he approached the chest, he noticed it was much bigger than he thought. "I hope it has some good stuff inside," heughed before observing the chest. It had a lock, one that would need time to open. He nced back at the distance; only arge dust cloud appeared there in the horizon and nothing else. "I hope they managed to draw them far away," he said before leaning on the chest, putting his hand over it. "It doesn''t open!" he was speechless and just as he put his second hand to feel the chest and look for any hidden mechanism for it to open; a system notification appeared in front of his eyes. "System alert: yer has touched the sacred chest of the lost mines. The guarding monsters were alerted and areing fast here. yer has to stay still for one minute. If a yer moves his hands away the unlocking process will be canceled." "What the hell?!!" he was instantly enraged by this twist, and just as he cursed out loud; a long meter appeared on top of the chest, and was slowly filling up. "C''mon, move faster, please," he pleaded yet the chest gauge didn''t move any faster. At the same time, he noticed the cloud of dust in the horizon was drawing near to him. "I hope others wille in time," he hoped and just as the seconds passed so slow over him, the monsters kept drawing near! It seemed hopeless for him, and just as he considered leaving the chest he noticed two otherrge clouds of dust drawing near here as well. "They''vee!" he shouted in joy while knowing these two new dust clouds were done by the five clones he sent beforehand. He watched, nervously calcting the distance between the three clouds; they were all getting closer to here and to each other. "C''mon, stop them damn it!" he cursed while finally the three clouds met just a mile away from the treasure chest. And an uproar just erupted at the next moment, knowing for sure his clones were done for. "Will you fight each other?" he muttered while waiting for the result of this sh. "Phew," he heaved a long sigh of relief the moment he noticed that no monster was drawing closer to here. The chest gauge had less than twenty seconds to open; enough for any monster toe and harass him! Yet as the treasure box had less than five seconds, a couple of monsters seemed to give up on that useless fight and ran fast towards it. "Damn you! Can''t you be content with the meal in front of you? Targeting a skinny yer like me?" he cursed out loud while watching the two monsters drawing near to him. "C''mon," he urged and once he heard the tick sound of the lid of the chest, he hurriedly opened it and started taking everything both hands touched. The monsters had roughly ten seconds to reach him, and he didn''t manage to get more than half of what this chest contained. "Forget it, if I stay here I''ll be done for," he didn''t hesitate to run in the opposite direction of the two monsters; leaving the opened treasure chest behind. Despite leaving the chest, the two monsters ran fast after him. "Damn you! Go back and fight other monsters!" he cursed while trying to go everywhere running from this closing up chase. Yet the difference in levels was in the favor of these monsters; so their speed was higher than him. They started to close up, and he already started to picture the system alert of his death and failure in this impossible quest! "C''mon, no quest is impossible," he said to himself, trying to find a way out of here. The two monsters were drawing so near, and he knew the next thing they would do was to use their charge skills over and kill him. He nced back; one monster was already this close to him to use the skill. He nced at its eyes, and he realized the moment he saw them he was done for! "Screw you! Come out now!" The next moment a beauty appeared out of nowhere, standing just behind him. He kept running, leaving her behind while the monster hit her with his charge! "It worked!" heughed while putting away the token in hand before taking another. "Come out!" "Come out!" Come out!" He started using his precious dolls to stop the two monsters, and what he used managed to interrupt the monsters'' momentum and gained him precious time to run. "Time for this skill then," after losing over fifty of his girls, he sessfully widened the gap between him and the two monsters to be over a hundred meters. "I hope your detecting ability will be weakened in this range," he muttered before saying: Darkness nihility! The next moment he vanished, as his body entered a stealth state while continuing to run, yet into a totally different direction than before. Nervously watching the two monsters killing thest two girls he summoned before they looked hesitant and then they started running, chasing him in the old route he was taking. "Phew, I was almost done for!" he cursed on this bad luck and the thought of returning back to check on the chest loomed in his mind. "I shouldn''t be so greedy, or else I might lose everything," he shook his head as he started running towards the direction of the fallen mine. "I hope what I took contains what Bloom wants," he prayed before opening his inventory and checking out his hard to get loot. Chapter 139: The Loot Chapter 139: The Loot The items he gained weren''t much, only five items resided in his inventory. "This few?" he muttered and just the number of them made him unable to remove the thought to go back and collect the others off his head. Yet he wasn''t that impulsive to do so, or else he would risk losing everything. "Sigh, let''s see what these five are first," he muttered , trying to console himself by what he gained. The first item he took out was an orb. It was white and light, almost fist size. It seemed not special at all. "Investigate," he muttered and then the information about it shocked him. "Orb of truth: a special item made by an unknown old being. The orb can remove any sealing no matter what rank it is. It can be used once per day for removing simple seals, once per week to remove advanced seals, and once a month to remove special seals. yer can use it to unlock the seal in his current quest for free." "Oh, so this is what Bloom is looking for?" he nced again at it without knowing what to say. "He will get that seal removed and I will have a seal breaker for life, hehehe," he stored the orb with his expectations hitting the roof. "What about this? Investigate." He held a strange horn which looked tattered and with no special thing about it. Time left its touch over it; a long crack over its body and rough circr edge. He held the curved milky white horn in hand while reading its description. "Horn of the fallen legion: Legends say the fallen mines were once mighty empires where everyone lived in peace and harmony thanks to a legendary legion. Yet one day an apocalypse hit that legion and since then the mines were turned to such deste ces. This horn is one of the ways to summon the legion remaining to date. It''s broken and now considered a worthless item. Blowing into it will summon a small legion of fifty footmen with levels equal to that of the yer. They will remain for one hour only. To repair the horn for one level; one hundred light legion orbs are needed." "Hmm never heard of such an item or orbs," he muttered while storing the horn, "fifty footmen is a very nice number; yet they only will have my level,'' he shook his head in regret. If this could summon higher levels footmen then he would consider it a godly item. "I hope one day I could fix oneyer and see the changes." He then took the next item, it was a token that had two words engraved on each pentagonal golden surface of it. "Investigate." "Guild establishing token: Gold grade. yer can use it to establish a gold grade guild. For more information, please refer to your local mayor." "Wow, a guild token!!!" he was speechless, as such an item wouldn''t easily fall. "If I recall it right, then establishing a guild isn''t essible to yers before level thirty," he said to himself before storing the token. "This is a precious item, but I know nothing about the grades of the guilds," he thought of asking the mayor, but he feared the mayor might have some freak scout skills and discover his truth as a dark yer. "I should ask Nara to do it," he didn''t hesitate and opened the chat with her. "I want to ask you a favor." "No way, you ran away and left me alone!" she seemed quite angry at what he did back there for her. "Sorry, I have this thing to do." "It''s called quest genius," she sent before adding, "and you can trust me on this. Aren''t we best friends?" "I thought we are lovers," he teased back before adding, "I want you to go and ask around about the grades of guilds." "Guilds? Never heard they have grades!" she sent before adding after moments of pause, "from where did you hear such info?" "Just go to the mayor and ask him." "The MAYOR! Who do you think I''m? meeting him is impossible!" He didn''t put this into his consideration. Prestigious NPCs were so hard to meet. "Sigh, just try at least." "I will, and I know I will fail!" "Then find a way to ask around and get this info for me," he refrained from saying she was the daughter of one of the owners of thepany developing this game after all! "Just try, it''s important for me." "Tell me why and I will get you the bottom of it." "One day you will know." "C''mon, aren''t we best friends?" "I thought we were lovers, hehehe." "Stop fooling around and tell me!" "Sorry, I have to go." "I won''t get the answer to you then!" He closed the chat with a big smile over his face. He loved speaking and ying with her. "What will her reaction be when she knows about my true identity? Hehehe!" he was in a good mood right now. As for herst threat, he knew her curiosity would beat her anger. "Three are down, let''s see the other two." He took out a strange device that was made entirely of a metal like ore. It was cold, the size of two big hands fanned together. It had a central hole with twelve arms ending up in two thin circles. "What is this?" he muttered while feeling how special this item was. "Investigate!" as he didn''t have a clue he used his skill to see through this item. "The hand of angels: a special item left by a fallen civilization a long time ago. Some would consider it a relic to the angel shrine if not for being broken and missing many pieces. Currently its only function is the shield creation. yer has to put gold coins in the central hole and the item will generate a shield that will cover an area of ten meters to one kilometer radius around him. The range, the duration, and the durability of the shield will depend entirely on the amount of gold coins used." "A pit hole for my coins?!" he was speechless for a moment before adding, "Angel shrine? Never met any elder of it so far." He read the info again and this time he was seriously thinking about the implications of it. "In fact it''s quite handy, despite it didn''t specifying how much coins it will suck from me," he stored it and with his Pandora box he wouldn''t worry about any gold coins. "I just have to hijack some caravans," he smiled while taking out thest item. It was a piece of old paper with strange writings over it. "Investigate!" "The owner parchment of a pet: Quest item. Can''t be used at the moment. Please refer to your quest and NPC responsible for it for more information." "Wow, never thought pets will have ownership certificates!" he was speechless before storing the paper. "I have to ask him then." He was already near the sealed entrance to the fallen mine. In less than five minutes he arrived there, seeing the other Bloom waiting for him with a grin over his face. "You did it! You did it!" the NPC shouted like a kid celebrating a school vacation! "Yes, why are you happier than me?" Bloom said with a chuckle, "C''mon, tell me what this paper is," he took the owner''s parchment and handed it over. "Oh, you also got some other stuff from the box!" "Sure, I won''t leave things behind if possible, right?" "Clever and daring," the NPC said while pointing to this paper as he added, "this is an ownership for the pets inside." "I know, but never heard of pets requiring such a thing before," Bloom said while adding, "pets use contracts based on the game, right?" "Good point, which makes this old piece of paper priceless." "In which way?" "See, with this you can simply steal any pet from any yer provided that you killed him and activated the paper. No matter what type it''s, ground or flying,mon or mythic, even if it was yer bound; with this you can steal anything," NPC Bloom smiled evilly as he added, "and the most powerful thing ever is that you have no limited slots for this! Only time limit, once per week." Bloom''s eyes shone when he heard these words. "Can I force a monster to be a pet?" "Sure, but this will make this paper worthless after that," he answered before adding, "I don''t rmend that." "Hmm I think you are right," Bloom said before his evil mind started to think of many situations he could use this godly parchment to his best interest. "Hehehe, bring it back," he took the paper from the hands of the other Bloom while carefully storing it. "You will be my precious baby, hehehe." NPC Bloom nced at him with weird looks. "You are more evil than I, I like you Bloom." "Sure, after all we share the same name. they say names carry fate, so we might share the same fate as well," Bloom said. "I wouldn''t put any hopes on that," the NPC shook his head, "after all my life is quite miserable so far." Bloom could perfectly rte with his words. "Don''t worry, we''ll change that," he said while taking out the orb, "shall we go inside and change that poor fate of yours?" The eyes of the NPC shone with joy as he said: "Sure, give it to me and let''s start." Chapter 140: The Wolf-Elephant Lord Monsters Chapter 140: The Wolf-Elephant Lord Monsters Bloom gave the orb to the NPC who held it like he was holding a rare gem and a life saving tool. He wasn''t exaggerating, but Bloom thought he was overlooking the fact about the quest. "We didn''tplete the quest so far! Only one part is done!" he muttered while the NPC held the orb close to the seal as he squeezed it with his hand. "We are this close from finishing it, plus that part was considered half of the quest; the most unreasonable difficult half!" the NPC said. "Why do I feel you pissed someone off to be here?" Bloom tried to get more data about this lost part of his life. "Well" the NPC paused as he kept squeezing the orb while pushing it against the seal, "I had some differences with people controlling things." His words made Bloom be doubtful. Bloom was an NPC as well in his past life; he could spy on the developers and not speak directly to them! In fact he thought developers didn''t know about the sanity of their made NPCs. Yet, what this Bloom talked about held no other meaning other than he was able to talk to the developers. "Click" Just as this moment the seal was crushed open by the orb. The unbreakable veil was gone, and now the opening to the fallen mines appeared in front of Bloom. "A portal?" he muttered before taking out a token and summoned one girl from it. The sudden appearance of this beauty surprised the NPC, yet Bloom didn''t summon her to amuse him. "From now on your name will be B, alright?" "As master wishes," and the girlplied. "Good, now my B, add me to your friendlist." "Added." Bloom received a system alert about her sending him a friend request like any normal yer. "You will stay here and contact your bigger sister, Muna. I''ve sent her a message and she will inform you if I was needed here," he said after epting her request and sending the message to Muna. He also asked her about the new developments, but she simply replied by none. "If she asks you to bring me out, you will enter here and do everything in your hand to find me, got it?" "Sure, it''s not a big deal," B replied with a softugh that melted the heart of the NPC. "Good girl," Bloom patted on her soft cheeks while resisting the urge to hug and kiss her. "I''m ready, let''s go." He went towards the portal that appeared to be the entrance to the mines while the NPC nced at B before he reluctantly moved after Bloom. Bloom passed through the portal to find himself standing in front of an open world. It was all green, even the distant hills and the very far on the horizon mountains. "Such a big ce," he muttered. "Such a big loss," the NPC muttered. "What?" "Is it safe to let her alone? She is just weak!" the NPC said as he pleaded to Bloom, "let her in, please." "Well" Bloom didn''t know what to say but the next moment he took out the remaining thirty-nine tokens and summoned the girls one by one. "Happy now?" heughed as he didn''t think his lustful self was deeply rooted even in his earlier version like this one. "Wow, these are so beautiful!" the NPC said before turning to him, "but didn''t you have much more than this?" "Well I lost the rest to get the orb." "C''mon, how merciless you are! Cold hearted Bloom! That''s what I will call you from now on!" Bloom was speechless there for a moment before breaking out inughter. "Let''s go old man, you seem pretty dizzy only from looking at them," heughed while moving towards the front and started to examine the area they were standing at. It was an open area for miles with low leveled green grass and many flowers. "Is this the fallen minend? It looks amazing!" he said. "Don''t be fooled, thesends hide the most ferocious beings ever" the NPC paused before adding, "the dark creatures lurked here since dark ages!" "Dark creatures? You mean monsters?" Bloom asked. "No, creatures are much higher in rank and strength than normal monsters. Consider them like your boss monsters; yet these are really strong and mighty; risky to face right now with your weak powers." Bloom didn''t fully understand his words as he never had such creatures back in his old game or heard about them here. "How many of them are here?" he asked. "Each mine belonged to one special dark creature, leading an army of weaker ones," the NPC said, "we need to go that way, I can sense my staff being stored there." He pointed to a direction that ended up towards the far mountains. "Wow, that will take days to cross!" Bloommented. "Don''t say that! Only one day at most," the NPC corrected, "c''mon we have to hurry if we want to shorten our time here." "Wait a minute," Bloom then turned to thedies as he said: "Each one is named C with numbers from one to thirty-nine. Add me as friends now." "Done!" "I did it master." "Master, I added you." They started to answer him with their sweet voices and sexy attitudes. The NPC standing behind Bloom drooled over them, as well as Bloom. Yet he tried to act tough and controlled his emotions well in front of that older version of him. "Let''s go," after he created a group and added them to it, he tried to send Muna a message. "System alert: yer is inside a special region, yer can''tmunicate with anyone from the normal world of the game until he exits this ce." "As expected," he muttered to himself as he followed the NPC towards the distant forest. The forest started with scattered small trees here and there, yet after a mile it started to thicken. "Be ready, something ising," the NPC warned before adding, "I will act as you aider from the side; acting only scarcely ording to situations." "Thanks," Bloom said despite not feeling that grateful to these words. He hoped this NPC would be much more beneficial to him, not just an rming NPC! Just as Bloom took out his two swords, he felt the fine trembling of the ground. "Are theying in great numbers?" he asked. "Only three of them," the NPC replied. "Must be three behemoths then," Bloomughed before turning to his dolls, "wait behind me and don''t join this battle." "Yes, master," and thebined response created a melody in his ears and left the NPC drooling as well. "Focus, goddammit!" he cursed before waiting for the iing hostile monsters to arrive. The moment they approached him, trees started to shake and some even leaned on both sides creating a path. "They are really three behemoths," Bloom muttered when heid eyes on them. "What level are they and what are their special attributes?" he asked. "Generally they are level fifty lord rank monsters," and the answer the NPC provided startled Bloom. "But I will act now," he said as he held the orb in hand and started muttering something. The next moment a transparent wave erupted from this orb, hitting the three monsters and sending them flying. "What did you just say?" Bloom surprisingly asked. "It''s the privilege of my job," the NPCughed before adding, "Go and kill them. They are now lowered to be level thirteen monsters." "Lord rank?" Bloom asked. "Sure, I can''t lower their ranks as well," the NPC said, "don''t be greedy, this isn''t anythingpared to what you did back there." Bloom sighed. "What do you think I''m? hulk?" heined while muttering: "Shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment thirteen dark shades appeared from him. "Go and make sure two are kept away from me," he ordered while he nced at the three iing monsters. Their bodies shrunk much more than before, yet they were still considered giants. They were ten meters in height, had elephant bodies and wolf heads. "Strange monsters indeed," Bloom muttered before adding, "do they have special skill?" "Absolute skill you mean? Sure, they have three." Bloom turned to nce strangely at the NPC who embarrassedlyughed. "It''s not my fault, it''s the game setting!" he said, trying to give himself a reason here. "Tsk," Bloom wasn''t feeling any joy anymore. "Tell me you know their abilities," he added while watching his thirteen shadows starting to attack the monsters, taking two away from him while the third stopped moving and eyeing them in vignce. "The first ability is charge, and they usually use it after howling. The second ability is blood sucking, which affects all inside a certain radius of fifty meters; decreasing the Hp of those affected by it and giving them half of that lost amount of Hp. Thest ability is randomness, which makes any yer attacking them can''t determine the skill he would use. The game will randomly select a skill to activate, and it''s ording to luck alone to select the best skill in the perfect situations." "" Bloom was speechless as he didn''t know what to say! Each skill of those was really OP! "Thatst one though," he shook his head before helplessly deciding to go towards the remaining vignt monster up front. "Remember, each skill used will weaken the monsters, so be sure to attack them hard in the minutes after using their skills," the NPC shouted, feeling d he could help him with this precious info. "That''s useless!" yet Bloom didn''t share this joy with him. Chapter 141: Fighting Dark Monsters Chapter 141: Fighting Dark Monsters Bloom already knew about the weakening effect after each time a special skill was used. "I just hope their super skills will negate each other," he hoped while moving towards the remaining monster. As he approached it, the monster focused its gaze before it howled. "ying dirty from the start!" Bloom recalled the words of the NPC Bloom who stood on the side, like a cheer squad member, shouting: "It''s going to charge!" "Tsk, I know, idiot," Bloom saw the monster start to hit his hooves on the ground preparing to move. "Though I''m very enticed to try our two charges against each other, let''s start the fight nice and smooth Pause!" Just as the monster was about to move, he pointed his hand towards it and activated the pause skill, freezing the monster in ce for a moment, breaking the skill. "Dash!" And then he used his own charge skill, to move fast and hit the monster with its sword. "How much will you be stunned?" he muttered to himself when his sword hit the monster, carrying that giant behemoth in the air for a couple of meters before the twonded heavily on the ground. "Holy sh*t! this simple hit depleted one fourth of the monster''s Hp!!!" Just as the twonded and the skill ended, Bloom was shocked to see the damage appearing on top of the monster''s head; thirty thousand damage points that cleared one fourth of the monster''s Hp. "That means their Hp is over a hundred thousand and their defense is below zero!" he was very excited, as right now he didn''t even care about any supreme skill or gigantic size! "What all of these matter if I don''t give you time to use them?" heughed before turning to his clones: "Boys, use dash and stun them, then they all yours, hahaha!" he was excited and he didn''t even hurry to kill the monster he had right now. He used stab all the time, yet even his stab created damage ranging between twelve and twenty thousand points per hit! "You didn''t say they are weak!" Bloom said to the NPC who wasughing, "I told you, you can kill them!" "You yed me back there," Bloom was in a great mood, as after killing the three behemoths the Xp his new dolls received was big enough to make them raise five levels in one go! That was great considering their great number! The NPC nced at Bloom with doubtful looks. He didn''t think his stats were that high! The monsters didn''t have weak defenses, instead their defense was high. "Sigh, I''m walking beside a monster!" he said to himself, before inwardlyughing, "but that''s my lucky day, hahaha!" Bloom moved, and the next three monsters he faced didn''t startle him or even make him move a single finger! "three use dash, others go and kill them," he simply ordered his army of clones and the next minute these monsters were already killed. "Not even a single coin dropped, tsk," Bloom checked the tenth group drop, and he found nothing there but dark dust! "These are all dark creatures, so they won''t drop gold coins, they will drop something else," the NPC said. "They just dropped these grain-like ck sand!" Bloom carried the ck sand in hand and showed it to the NPC. "Sure, these aren''t useful to any yer or to NPCs. Only dark yers and dark NPCs will crave for this." "What?!!" the moment Bloom heard his words he couldn''t move his gaze away from these ck grains. "What is special about this useless sh*t?" he hurried to correct his words and attitude, so the NPC wouldn''t suspect anything. "These are like gold coins to us in their world, can''t recall what they were called to be honest contribution points perhaps? Can''t remember!" "You gotta be kidding me!" Bloom nced at this ck sand that turned from worthless to priceless in a mere moment. "What about those we killed?" he nced at the back, the path they came from, "sigh, I lost a lot of fortune this way." The NPC seemed puzzled especially when Bloom ordered his dolls to collect this sand and give it to him. "I just love not leaving behind anything that can be sold," he said, reasoning himself. "But this is only useful to dark yers and NPCs, not normal yers and NPCs," the NPC thought Bloom misunderstood him, so he tried to state the facts again. "Sure, I know, but who knows what I might pump into in the future? Right? One has to be ready all the time," Bloom said, but as he didn''t convince the NPC with his words, he used another method. "Wow, look at my dolls working hard, aren''t they sexy?" he said while distracting the NPC off his issue into the girls he loved. And the NPC just fell into the trap easily like a simple child! "Wow, I love them!!" he shouted and like a pervert he started to jump in ce. "Hahaha, calm down monkey, let''s leave them work and go to fight those iings," Bloom was d he managed to shift the topic away from the matter of the ck sand. "Never thought these points were this small!" he thought while stealing a quick nce over the thirty-nine girls. They did as he asked and stored the sand into their inventory. "Transfer them to me," he sent this message in the team channel, and theyplied. "Wow, three monsters gave me ten thousand points! Damn! I lost a lot with those left over monsters," he shook his head in regret. If he had gathered all the sand from before, he would have now over a hundred thousand points at least. But when he heard the howls of paining from the monsters up front, he changed his vision about this ce. "I will clean everything here!" he vowed, as he couldn''t let such an opportunity slip away. He knew that the fallen mines were filled with normal monsters, not dark ones. That meant this was a rare chance that wouldn''t be repeated again. "It seems I''m bound to go for higher items, hehehe," he was already picturing the auction big items he neglected before because he was poor. Right now he had over a quarter million points in his inventory. "If this continues, I will be a tycoon in the dark world, hahaha!" He turned to nce at his thirty-nine girls, they had crossed his level long time ago. Now, the weakest was level twenty, and the highest was twenty two. "After reaching level twenty, their growth stagnates," he muttered, as they moved like rockets to level twenty, then they seemed like snails! "I hope this is just a temporary effect," he knew if this continued then the great level advantage between yers and his dolls would eventually be eliminated. "Except if I worked all the time to level them up," he thought before deciding to buy more dolls. In time he cleared all the monsters in the forest, he had over two hundred girls, each was level twenty at least and the highest was twenty three. "I have enough points to buy seeds for all of their tokens," he was excited by his sudden wealth. After what he spent, he still had over seven hundred thousand points in his ount. "Where is the forest? Where are the monsters?" Bloom asked as he found himself standing in front of an open terrain like the one he came from. "The mines are divided into tenyers, we just crossed the firstyer, so nineyers left to go," the NPC said while one of the girls was moving in front of him right and left, making his eyes roll with her and ignoring what other girls were doing with the ck sand. They just killed a group of three monsters. Since these girls had their levels increased above level fifteen, Bloom added them to the fight. His clones'' time was over fast, yet he didn''t need to summon them again. His dolls learnt all his basic skills; dash, stab, even ground beaker skill. They could handle these monsters easily without being killed. With their huge number, it seemed like he had two hundred times of dash skills to use! "This feeling is awesome!" Bloom muttered in excitement as he moved through the open in, heading towards the next forest. He was already immersed in killing monsters and gaining dark sand that he didn''t think much about the quest in hand. "We are moving in the same direction of the quest, right?" he said to himself when he thought of fanning out his girls and letting them massacre this entire city like locusts; leaving not a single ck grain of sand behind! But the next words of the NPC on his side made him hesitate. "Don''t underestimate the next forest, monsters there move inrge groups and might pump into more than one group at the same time." Bloom nced at him and recalled something he forgot; this NPC should be around to use his skill to make all the monsters attacking them lower and weaker. He sighed, as the dream ofpletely wiping out the entire forest in no time was gone! Chapter 142: The Quest Is Getting Harder Chapter 142: The Quest Is Getting Harder As the NPC warned, the moment he stepped into the next forest, the number of monsters in each group increased from three to ten. It wasn''t also rare to have more than one group attacking him. But the simple fact of their weakness against his team''s attacks was still present. "I don''t know how you do it, but these monsters shouldn''t be that fragile!" The NPC was speechless at how efficiently Bloom and his team cleared the monsters. "Their defenses are so weak, that''s all," Bloom shrugged while watching his dolls collecting the ck sand from the ground after killing two groups of monsters. "Still no gears," he sighed as after killing all these numbers of monsters he only gained the auction points and one more level. His girls gained more than one level, but not monstrous like before. The luckiest one had three levels so far, making the weakest one was level twenty three and the highest at twenty seven. "These are dark creatures, they can''t be considered like the normal monsters of your leveling grounds," the NPC said before adding, "you won''t get a single thing out of them if you didn''t belong to the dark world of theirs!" His words made Bloom pause for a second there. "Do you mean if we had a dark yer here, the loot would be different than a useless sand?" he said, trying to get to the bottom of this without exposing himself. "Hahaha, veryughable! Do you think these dark yers or NPCs are friendly? Don''t n to befriend one of them; they are all tricky and toxic!" ''C''mon, I''m one of them,'' Bloom sneered inwardly before saying out loud: "But you said the loot will be different, we can have some gears, right?" "You can''t call them gears," the NPC annoyingly said while they started heading towards the next group of dark monsters, "if a dark yer or NPC was the one killing them, then he would have a reward from the dark world. I believe they have them in theirmunicationwork; do you know they have their own privatework than us?" Bloom was lost here, yet he avoided directly asking him about his doubts. "Go and kill them," he said to his dolls who were now much stronger than him. "You mean systems like chat rooms or special team arrangements?" he asked. "No, I meant their dark inner systems like auction houses, bounty houses, mercenary houses, things like these." The words of him managed to startle Bloom again! He swallowed his throat, not knowing how he should react or say. "Go and attack the next group," he hurriedly shouted with much excitement to his dolls. "C''mon, they didn''t yet kill this group!" the NPC groaned and Bloom just tried to control himself. ''I killed a lot! Does that mean I will have many gears there?'' he didn''t dy and opened the auction while the NPC was busyining: "Don''t put them in such risk, they are just beautiful little girls." "Alright, focus on this group girls and then head for the other," he casually said without moving his eyes from the screen in front of him. ''C''mon, where are these rewards?'' he opened the auction interface yet nothing appeared to him. He nced at the items auctioned fast, before opening the side bars with nothing there to help. ''What? Was I deprived from the right to gain rewards?'' he muttered to himself before checking the side bars again. And this time he found something that he missed amidst his hurry. ''A special Bloom quest taskbar what the hell is that?'' he noticed this small icon that was easily missed by him. "What are you looking at?" suddenly the NPC asked, after noticing how weird Bloom was. "Ah, it''s nothing," Bloom shrugged before pointing to the interface, "I can''t contact any of my friends, and that''s weird!" "Oh, that''s not strange at all. We are in a special zone, so no externalmunication will work." "Really?" Bloom faked his ignorance before he nced at the interface again as he faked his puzzlement. Instead he was very excited about what he found! ''So these are the rewards! I like this game!!'' he muttered to himself while he tried to control his excitement. The rewards for killing these lord ranked dark monsters weren''t gear, materials, or wealth; it was the right to issue quests for other dark yers and NPCs to select and finish. The amazing thing about these quests was they were given to him as rewards! ''I don''t need to pay anything and in return I will gain the benefits of these quests whenpleted!'' He was so excited about these, especially when most of the quests were regarding caravan hijacking and even there was a mission about kidnapping a wealthy merchant''s daughter and asking for ransom! ''These quests wow!'' he nced again at them, they were ten quests so far, automatically activated and assigned, with a meter to show him when the next reward would be added. ''I need to kill a hundred more of these monsters to gain one more slot! That''s amazing!'' he was speechless for a moment there while marveling at the dark mind of this game developer. "Told you, you can''t contact anyone at all," yet the NPC mistook his shock and puzzlement. "C''mon, the girls have already killed another group of monsters and they are heading to the next." Bloom nced at him before realizing he wasn''t alone. ''I''lle back again to check these further in details,'' he muttered to himself while closing the interface. "Let''s go," he said with a pure smile and good mood. He was really in a great mood at the moment! ''Everything is heading for me to be a tycoon in the dark world, hehehe!'' he came here to destroy and ruin the game, yet strangely he found even his misdoings had a ce in the game as well! ''Sigh, it wasn''t a mere fluke for this game to gain all that sess back in the past,'' he shook his head and the NPC just nced at him wondering who he was trying to call to make him like this. "We cleared the second forest faster than I thought," the NPC said in surprise as he turned to Bloom, "what''s your secret?" he suddenly asked. "Secret?" Bloom tried to be collected, "I have none!" "No, you have one. These monsters are strong! Even if I affected their levels, their stats would stay high, especially their defense! See their Hp? It''s enormous considering yours, and so defense should be so high like this. But in front of you and other girls, they looked like they had no defense at all! So what''s your secret, kid?" Bloom inwardly sighed as he nodded his head in understanding. For a moment there he thought this old version of him had already discovered his truth, or suspected it. "I''m just oblivious to this as you!" He tried to act ignorant, and did this brilliantly as he didn''t know anything about this. He thought this was the nature of these monsters. But when he heard the NPC words, he had a realization that what he said was a fact. These monsters had great defense values, but in front of him and his dolls they had zero defense value. "Anyway, this has a great help to us in the quest, right?" he said, trying to close this topic. "I admit that, but it''s still weird!" the NPC didn''t n to drop this topic, and as Bloom feared he kept bbering about it during the next two forests. They metrger groups of monsters, reaching fifty now at the fifth forest, and Bloom had to fight three to five groups at the same time! Even if his dolls were tyrannically strong, they couldn''t overwhelm theserge numbers easily. "Tsk, this forest is hard to pass!" Bloom admitted while the NPCined: "But you kill them in a couple of attacks like flies! That''s weird!" "Can you shut up?!!" Bloom shouted at him, "you aren''t helping here!" "Ok, but that''s weird!" Bloom nced at the NPC in a very threatening way making the NPC shut up. Bloom just stunned one monster before jumping to another to stun using his cloud of fog skill. The number of these monsters was getting out of control, and he believed if this rate kept increasing in the next forest, he had to find another way to kill them! "Watch out!" suddenly the NPC shouted, not at Bloom but at one of the girls. Bloom nced at her to see her falling on the ground and died under the hooves of five monsters at the same time! "And losses can''t be avoided," he sighed before trying his best to stun as many as he could, plus using his movable skills to evade the iing charges at him. "My precious girl," the NPC cried, really crying on the side of the killed girl. Bloom sighed while he sneakily took out his token and took her body back. "I can resurrect herter with her fallen sisters," he muttered before watching her body vanish and the NPC was really devastated by that. "You look sad," Bloom said, teasing him. "Shut up and focus to kill them before they kill more of my precious girls!" "Tsk, only asking and shouting, won''t you step in and help to protect them?" Bloom sneered while the NPC red back. "I can''t! I only can lower their levels at this stage," he said in a grim face and tone. "You need to kill them and protect the girls, this is your quest," he added. "Sigh, I never signed for a girl protection quest," Bloom joked while turning to the fight again, "don''t worry, I will do my best to help," he lied. After all they were just tools for him to control and for them to die for his own benefit! Chapter 143: Darkness Might Skill Chapter 143: Darkness Might Skill The fight ended and he lost five more girls in the process. The NPC stood there ncing in discontent while Bloom didn''t care much about him. He had another issue to consider. "If this continued, I''m pretty sure thest levels of this forest would be much harder to deal with," he nced towards the distance where three groups of fifty monsters each were heading from far to here. "I have to develop a strategy to kill them all," he muttered before deciding to act seriously. He was in the fifth forest, and five more were left. He never used his full strength in a fight after the first encounter with these monsters. "Let''s see how I can handle them," he muttered before moving alone towards the iing monsters. "Shade doppelganger festival!" he said while fourteen dark clones appeared one by one to stand around him. "Move with me and let''s fight together," he said before adding, "I will use dash first then each one of you will use their dashes before killing those stunned and use their bodies as shields to us." This was his simple n, and he believed it would work. The NPC watched him moving away. He waved his hand and the next moment all the monstersing towards Bloom and his clone lost their high levels and returned to level fourteen. The NPC just nodded in content before ncing over the girls around. "At least he has some conscience," he muttered, "but why is he making them load all the dropped ck sand? Tsk, yers are really greedy and stingy!" he shook his head, mistaking Bloom''s behavior for his refusal to let anything drop behind. "Dash!" as for Bloom, he started the fight hitting one monster head on. The monster was running already to hit him, so both were hit hard but he didn''t have much damage. "Five thousand, not bad," he smiled as he decided to act bold in this fight, "Dash," yet he didn''t dy to use his second dash and stunned another one. "Five thousand more, I can keep hitting three more before taking a potion," he said to himself while enjoying this berserk nature fight. As his clones moved to hit the monsters up ahead, creating a giant wall of stunned monsters; he returned to kill the two he just stunned. "Five seconds are on," he smiled while the second monster fell under his stab skill. "Dash!" he didn''t dy and moved towards the distant monsters, stunning one in the middle of their group. "Dash!" and he just used another to change his position and make the monsters lose sight of him for a moment there. The monsters were running when they hit the wall of their stunned mates. Just as they stopped in track, puzzled about what to do, Bloom appeared and jumped from one location to another. Yet when hended, he was totally exposed to many of them! "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "nning to gang up on me?" he sneered before adding, "but who said I was alone?" The next moment his clone small army appeared from behind the stunned monsters and started stunning those around Bloom. As for Bloom, he didn''t dy and killed the monster he just stunned, before watching it turn into ck sand. "Nice, more points for me," he inwardlyughed in excitement, yet he just felt a blow of wind suddenlying from his side. "Darkness might!" He didn''t dy to use this skill at once as he felt an entire group of monsters were heading fast towards him. "Phew, I was saved by hair breadth," he wiped his cold sweat when he saw a group of fifty monsters stopping in their tracks, having fear expressions and started to roar in panic. "C''mon, go berserk and kill each other for me!" heughed as this sneak attack was countered perfectly this time, making him not lose anything. "But I can''t kill you without a hit," he smirked as he didn''t want to let the ck sanding from their bodies to be wasted. "Stab, slice, stab, stab, slice, stab, stab," he kept moving around, hitting one monster after another with his skills. During the next thirty seconds he was immune to their attacks, but they weren''t! He didn''t need to kill them, he only wanted to create damage to all. So, each monster only took a hit from his sword, and he kept jumping right and left using the slice skill to change his position and hit more monsters in the process. "Ten seconds are left," heughed when he managed to hit them all in less than twenty seconds. "Dash!" and he didn''t wait to move towards a distant monster, leaving the area here to be covered in growing chaos. These fifty monsters didn''t hit each; they kept running everywhere hitting the other monsters around. All of sudden, a small version of what he usually had when sending off his clones to gather up monsters appeared in this ce! Monsters hit monsters, and Bloom was in between reaping the benefits and causing damage to all. "Retreat," he gave the order when he managed to hit most of them, "this ce is far dangerous," he smiled while returning far with his clones. "This will take five to ten minutes to end," he muttered, "go, spread out and gather up all the monsters you can get," heughed while adding, "let''s get this party rocking wild!" The clones moved at once executing his orders, and in less than five minutes they returned with more monsters, adding more to the present chaos. His clones did brilliantly well while slipping through the fighting monsters, making their chasers lose sight and aggro on them. "Nice, this will take fifteen minutes at least," Bloomughed before adding, "go, go, bring me more, bring everyone here, hehehe." He was enjoying this show while he stood on the line watching with peace and no worry. The only regret was that he couldn''t inflict any damage on them, and it seemed far risky to go there in this growing mess and risk getting all of them fixed. "What are you doing?" NPC Bloom came to stand beside him, "are you crazy?" he reprimanded him before waving his hand and made the newly added monsters lose most of their levels. "C''mon, let them kill each other," Bloom groaned, "they should be able to finish off the weak ones." "And who will kill the stronger ones?" the NPC calmly asked. "Newly added stronger ones," Bloom pointed to the distance where a big cloud of dust wasing closer to them by every second. The eyes of the NPC twitched. "yers are really crazy and scary!" he couldn''t say anymore before turning to nce at Bloom, "and who will kill those after they finish off each one here?" "Well," Bloom smiled and paused. "Don''t tell me, more monsters, right?" the NPC said while shaking his head. "Sure, this is the n," Bloom shrugged as if he wasn''t doing something crazy. "This is a suicidal n," the NPC sighed, "in the end you will have arge number of surviving monsters, who will deal with them?" he asked. "Me," Bloom pointed proudly to himself. "Not these poor adorable girls?" the NPC pointed back towards who he was really caring for. "Don''t worry about the dolls," Bloom waved in a casual way, "I will be enough," he added inplete confidence. "Tsk, we''ll see," the NPC said while he stood beside Bloom silently watching the show. "Go and bring more." "Bring me more!" "More, more, more!" Bloom kept shouting at his clones until their time passed and they vanished. The NPC stood speechless on the side, not knowing how Bloom nned to make all of these monsters be killed by himself! Just as the clones vanished and no more supply of monsters came to here, Bloom started to move slowly and casually towards the huge mess of monsters. "Darkness might!" He used his skill once more when he noticed many monsters stopped their fighting together, turned to re at him. "He is dead, sigh what a loss!" The NPC shook his head while already picturing Bloom being crushed under these monsters'' hooves. Yet the next moment a bizarre thing happened! "They stopped!!!'''' The NPC was totally shocked, "they are avoiding him?!!!" he was more astonished at what he was seeing at this moment. Bloom simply used the skill after its cooldown passed. The skill affected any monsters attacking the yer, meaning almost arge part of the thousand monsters fighting here. And just as they started to run havoc, they hit more monsters and interfered in many battles! The monsters went berserk, and the fight that was showing signs of stabilizing regained its brutality once more. And Bloom, the one who was behind all this, simply walked back towards the NPC in a calm and leisure manner before saying: "See? I can kill them all alone." "" The NPC just nced in shock and disbelief at him, saying nothing at all! Chapter 144: Dark Monster Taming Bow! Chapter 144: Dark Monster Taming Bow! "This doesn''t count!" the NPC was stubborn there before Bloomughed. "at least I saved your dolls, right?" Bloom said while motioning with his head to his dolls. "They are yours as well, you should treat them better!" "Tsk, better than this? You want me to babysit them don''t you?" Bloom sarcasticallymented. "Better than throwing them in deadly fights!" "They are fighters, they should fight!" "Tsk, cold hearted person like you won''t appreciate the gems he has!" the NPC said in aining tone before turning his gaze towards the deadly fight up ahead. "Do you n to keep going like this?" he asked. "Perhaps," Bloom simply shrugged, "I don''t know what else to do to kill them." "Nice strategy, might workter on." "I hope," Bloom said before watching the fight with the NPC. When monsters seemed to calm down, Bloom would move again and instigate their chaos. In ten minutes, most of the monsters were killed and those remaining were heavily wounded. "Go, kill them all!" he simply gave the order to his dolls and theyplied under the worried gazes of the NPC. "If you are so worried about them, you should find a means to help," Bloom said, trying to drive that good for nothing NPC to act! "I I can''t," he simply shook his head, "I have limitations, y''know." "Tell me about them," Bloom recalled the long and lonely nights he had in that deste ce in his previous life and sighed bitterly. "Why do I feel you much understand us? NPCs? Me?" the NPC asked while giving him a questioning nce. "It''s just" Bloom paused before adding a suitable lie, "I had friends in the developingpany and I know much about your nature." "Strange," the NPC muttered, "I thought humans don''t know about our secrets," he added. "Well, most are oblivious to your secret," Bloom nodded, before adding, "Let''s keep moving, the monsters are dead now." He ended the topic right there yet the NPC still had his doubts. The two moved forward while the girls kept gathering the dark sand. During the walk, the forest looked quite deste. "I think you overdid it!" the NPC muttered, "thousands of monsters might be the entire forest load of monsters." "This would be better then," Bloomughed before adding, "eachyer will keep getting harder I suppose." "Sure, each time you enter ayer, more teams will assault you and each time will have more monsters," the NPC agreed. "That''s what I feared," Bloom sighed, "let''s hope the other fiveyers aren''t that bad." Yet Bloom was destined to be disappointed here. When he passed theyer with ease, and entered the next one; he was startled to see ten teamsing up at him with seventy-five monsters each. "That''s insane!" he muttered before hurrying to use his trump card against them, "darkness might!" All the monsters attacking him were forced to fight each other. In ten seconds all of them went berserk and Bloom summoned his clones and started fighting them. Seven hundred and fifty monsters was such a big number! Yet he knew if he left them to kill each other he wouldn''t finish thisyer in hours like that! "Come and join the fight," he shouted at his dolls while feeling the pressure once the effect of his skill vanished. He had to wait for it to cooldown, yet he gave the order for his clones to use his skill on turn. That made the monsters be busy with themselves while he, the clones, and the dollsbined killed them all! Even with that approach, he still lost two dolls and one clone in the middle of the monsters'' berserk status. "That''s not going to work!" the NPC shouted in anger. "It''ll, just stop being a sissy!" Bloom had no mind to care for that NPC. As he just killed that group, another one appeared! "They are endless!" heined after killing off the fifth wave and started to get deeper into the forest. "I lost six clones and ten dolls, that''s quite a heavy price," he sighed before ncing over his busy girls taking away all the dark sand. "I hope this will be enough to buy more," he muttered. Yet he knew the issue wasn''t just in buying more, but to raise their levels as well. "I need to take a break after thisyer, I need to replenish my doll collection," he decided as right now he couldn''t clear this quest with the small number he had. He kept himself busy fighting off those endless hordes of monsters until he managed to cross theyer with many losses. He summoned his clones more than ten times in this period, taking almost three hours to cross theyer, and twenty dolls dead. "My precious girls" the NPC was shocked and devastated as they crossed theyer. Every now and then he wouldin and Bloom would ignore his whining. "If you are pissed off, find a way to kill those monsters faster!" Bloom said in an angry tone. "I told you, I can''t interfere!" the NPC shouted back. "At least give some pointers! Tricks and tactics!" "I have nothing to add to you," the NPC said while looking away, "will you keep going?" "I need to rest," Bloom honestly replied before taking a ce in this peaceful safe zone and opening his auction interface. "Wow, never thought I would have all these points!" the moment he opened the market he checked his points and found them to exceed five hundred thousand already! "Such a terrifying number this will be enough to buy a thousand tokens and seeds!" He hurried to open the auction and started his crazy bidding. When he finished cing most of his points there, he checked the quest interface. "I''m very lucky man!" heughed, making the nearby NPC nce weirdly at him. Bloom checked the long list of missions he now had. During thestyer alone, he was sure he personally killed thousands of monsters; so it wasn''t strange when he found over fifty quests opened for him. "and most already have people taking the quests," he was happy to see this, and when he checked some of the quests he found that some already werepleted. "So that''s why I gained all these points, no wonder," he muttered to himself before returning to the auction page again. "As I''m this rich, I can check the higher items then," he started filtering the search and selected the higher price items. The list wasn''t long as it contained fifty items only. "Items belonging to the battlefield had no value to me," he muttered before adding more filters to the search. The result was so minimal that it made him sigh. "Most of the items here belong to the battlefield," he said when he saw the five items staying in the auction interface after the filters. He checked the five items to find that three were linked to the dark organizations in the game world. "Dark organization creating token, dark organization upgrade token, and dark organization expansion token what the hell are these?" He opened each one to see a minimum amount of info provided by the system. "Dark organization creating token: enables owner to establish his dark organization. Members will be bound by thew of the game system, so they won''t be able to betray you." "Dark organization upgrade token: enables owner to upgrade the rank of his organization to the next level." "Dark organization expansion token: enables owner to add more members and expand the size of the organization." "Seems weird!" he muttered before checking the amount of points used in each bid. "Holy cow! The cheapest has five hundred thousand points as bid! It''s selling as hot cakes!!" he ignored these three for now. He didn''t have enough points to buy, and he didn''t know if he bought them what to do with these tokens. "Mighte handy in the future," he muttered before checking thest two items in the short list he had. "Dark monster taming bow: enables owner to shoot an arrow and have a chance to temporarily tame the dark monster. Only works on dark monsters. The tamed monster will remain tamed until it dies out of hunger or fight. Need to consume one thousand dark points each time an arrow is unleashed. Each tamed monster eats away one thousand dark points on a daily basis. Tamed monsters can be consolidated into tokens and stored into the inventory to be usedter. Storing monsters won''t affect the consumption." "Wow, this bow is I love it!!" Bloom''s eyes shone brightly while he hurriedly checked his points. "I can tame a hundred monster and keep them with me for a day at least," he thought in regard to his remaining points plus what he would gainter on. "I need to use them fast on Panty," he decided as these monsters would be a great asset to him. "Thest item though" he hesitated as thest item was really alluring. "purgatory fire scroll: dark scroll cursed by many and desired by most. Rare item. Can be used infinitely. Each time will cost the user fifty thousand points to be used. When used, a purgatory fire will assault any hostile being around the yer in one mile radius. Can be used for an unlimited number of times. The purgatory fire will eat away ten thousand Hp from the targets per second for ten seconds. After it ends, the targets will have an additional burning effect, losing five thousand Hp each second for the next ten seconds." "This one I love it more," hecked an AOE skill or item, and this scroll just came in time. "Just the price of it is quite high," he shook his head whileparing the costs needed to maintain the two items working. "And their prices are high as well," he checked the two. The bow reached two hundred thousand points while the scroll hit the three hundred thousand mark already. "I''ll go for the bow for now, tsk, I''m so poor," he shook his head before cing his bid. He just spent two hundred thousand buying the tokens and seeds, and now he had three hundred thousand points avable. "I hope more quests will bepleted," he sighed while watching the bid getting fiercer when another one added ten thousand dark points to the auction. "Let''s see how you will deal with this," he didn''t hesitate and ced three hundred and eighty thousand points in his bidding, beating the other guy with more than fifty thousand points in one move. And that one dropped the race afterwards and Bloom got the item after five minutes with no further ado. Chapter 145: The Magical Bow! Chapter 145: The Magical Bow! The moment he got the item he hurried to check it out. "purgatory fire scroll: dark scroll cursed by many and desired by most. Rare item. Can be used infinitely. Each time will cost the user fifty thousand points to be used. When used, a purgatory fire will assault any hostile being around the yer in one mile radius. Can be used for an unlimited number of times. The purgatory fire will eat away ten thousand Hp from the targets per second for ten seconds. After it ends, the targets will have an additional burning effect, losing five thousand Hp each second for the next ten seconds." "Tsk, just the price of it makes it really hard to be used freely," he sighed yet he was eager to try the effect of it out. "Stay here," he said before walking towards the next forest alone. His behavior made the NPC nce in doubt towards him. "Does he have a death wish?" he muttered before standing and walking behind him. "What are you doing?" Bloom asked. "I want to help and reduce the monsters'' levels for you." "Don''t," Bloom shook his head before adding, "I just want to try out my weapon," he said as he took out his newly acquired bow. It was a giant bow, thick handle, made entirely of ck wood with some golden engravement. "Wow, such a nice bow, can you handle it?" the NPC asked as the size of the bow was almost equal to Bloom''s stature. "I''ll try," Bloom smiled before he grabbed the string and the moment he did an arrow was formed instantly made purely of gold. "Such a nice bow, how did you find it?" the NPC asked and Bloom just ignored him. He was now at the border at the forest. At the near distance many monsters were standing, waiting for him to cross the border so they could kill him. "Please work," he muttered before aiming towards one monster and let the arrow loose. The arrow traveled the distance in no time and it hit the monster precisely in the belly. "Roar!" The monster roared while a strange aura started to dissipate from the arrow to cover up his entire body in no time. It seemed distressed, tried to run and roar, yet in less than a minute it stood in its ce motionless and then it turned to nce towards Bloom. And Bloom just received a system alert. "System alert: Congrattions to the yer for taming the Ognak ck monster. One thousand points are deducted for the use of the bow, and another one thousand are deducted for the monster to live for a day." "System alert: the monster needs dark points to survive,cking the needed points would make it die. To turn the monster into a summoning token, the yer has to pay another thousand dark points." "Wow, that''s simply a bottomless pit!" Bloom eximed in surprise while he noticed to tame and keep one monster he had to pay three thousand points at least for one day! "Let''s see I have over one hundred thousand points left," he muttered to himself before adding, "thus I can summon thirty more," he smiled before starting to aim towards more monsters out there. The NPC next to him was speechless there, watching Bloom shoot monsters one by one, not feeling any damage caused to any of them. "What''s that bow exactly?" he asked in confusion. "You''ll see," and Bloom didn''t exin a thing. With each monster tamed he received a system alert plus an icon to control the monster at his profile. He simply released thirty arrows, gaining thirty-one monsters before he checked his profile. "Specific instructions, loose control, or a precise control I think I should choose to loose control and let the instruction be to kill any monster," he muttered before he finalized his selection and saved them for all of his monsters. "Roar! "Roar!" "Roar!" All of a sudden a thirty-one monster roared, and the scene of them doing so was really shocking. "What''s going on?" the NPC looked nervous while he watched these monsters roaring for over a minute. "They are releasing their special abilities to other monsters," Bloom smiled beforeughing, "that''s awesome." The NPC nced at him in a weird way, yet Bloom didn''t bother with him. His full attention was focused on these monsters. "So withck of target, each monster will stay dormant and not even defend the attacks of other monsters?" he noticed that when his tamed monsters started attacking others, not a single monster reacted or even moved to dodge! "That''s insane," heughed, "I should aim to form my own army then," he started to grow restless as he watched in greed his monsters killing their mates in the group. "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." . . . "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining seventy-five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has risen up a level." Around fifty notifications kicked in and the next moment Bloom had himself a level, reaching level fifteen! "Wow, you leveled up without doing anything!" the NPC was shocked yet when he turned to nce at the girls he found that they gained three levels each. "That''s magic!" he muttered while Bloom decided to summon his newly acquired one thousand dolls. "Come out!" he took his tokens one by one and started summoning his girls without pause. The eyes of the NPC next to him popped up from their ces while watching these sexy stunning girls appearing one after another out of nowhere. "These all are new girls," he nodded after some time of observation, "you are really the best friend ever in this harsh world, I vow to be your loyal friend ever," he turned to Bloom with tears filling up his eyes making Bloomugh. "Just keep your words and I will make your pervert smile on your face all the time," Bloomughed as he continued to summon his girls until one thousand girl appeared in front of him. "Master," they all knelt and he just said: "Add me as friend now," he knew his monsters wouldn''t stop at killing theirrades, as they started attacking other monsters nearby. The next moment Bloom got himself one thousand friend requests, and he epted them all, then added them to his group. The next moment the monstrous amount of Xp gained from killing monsters turned into something he couldn''t even care about! "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining five thousand Xp." "System alert: yer has killed level thirty five monster, gaining five thousand Xp." System notifications started to pile up in front of his eyes, while he pointed towards the forest as he said, "go and collect those dark sands for me," he then added when he noticed the angry look over the NPC''s face, "and stay out of trouble, if you are targeted just run to here." "Kind and wise yer you are," and the NPC was just content with his arrangement. The next minutes his monsters kept wrecking havoc everywhere while his dolls started to support him with great amounts of dark points. "Good, I now have thirty thousand point," he muttered after half an hour of wait, "it''s time to expand the monsters a bit," he then walked inside the forest and kept walking for ten minutes before he spotted some monsters from far. He stood in his ce and then startedunching his arrows. From this distance it was simply hard to hit everything he aimed for, making him lose a couple of arrows for nothing. Yet he managed to tame ten more monsters which he hurriedly adjusted their setting and sat them loose over other monsters. "That''s simply amazing," heughed before thinking about selling his weapons inside the auction. "I need more points," he didn''t hesitate and started taking out many high leveled and grade weapons and started ditching them at the auction. The NPC watched on the side in a strange way while Bloom took out twenty gears and then they instantly vanished in thin air. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I''m just testing these gears," Bloom lied while he finally was content when he had over one hundred and fifty thousand dark points ready to use. "Time to tame fifty monsters," heughed while walking fast to the front. Once he spotted a monster he didn''t hesitate to tame him, and like running waters these points were depleted when he tamed seventy monsters sessfully, leaving him with less than thirty thousand points. "I should leave some for the next day," he muttered before putting away his bow for now as he stood in his ce watching his plus a hundred tamed monster army hitting every other monster without mercy. Chapter 146: Black Tuxedo with A Hat and A Stick! Chapter 146: ck Tuxedo with A Hat and A Stick! The entire sixth region turned into a wide battle between his aggressive monsters and the peaceful others. Despite the great number of monsters killed and the fast progress he had, his level didn''t increase and only his Xp increased by half. "Tsk, this tactic is nice, but those one thousand dolls," he shook his head as he had to share his Xp with these girls. They had an advantage in lower Xp needed for them to level up, not like him. These thousand girls were already at level sixteen, bypassing him by one level. As for his older girls, the weakest now was level twenty-eight, and the highest was level thirty-one. "Don''t be this regretful, it''s not their fault having lower Xp needed to level up," the NPC was always standing on the dolls'' side. "Tell me how did you manage to acquire these beauties again?" this wasn''t the first time he asked, and every time Bloom would give him the same answer. "Through a special quest." "Ah, indeed," the NPC nodded while his face told Bloom how much he doubted his words. Yet Bloom ignored him before going to have some rest in the safe zone, surrounded with his monsters. "Go, kill those at the nextyer," he ordered before a notification came so sudden. "System alert: Someone is trying to open the game capsule." "Tsk," he shook his head before turning to the NPC, "I will exit now and take some time to rest. Keep the girls safe for me." "Oh, that''s my pleasure," the NPC answered with such a pervertugh which made Bloom shake his head in annoyance. "Don''t touch them, they are my dolls, not yours!" he said clearly and directly. "Sure, sure, I had nothing in mind," the NPC lied. "I''ll know if you did anything," Bloom threatened before another notification came and he had to leave the game. The moment he exited the capsule, he found his man standing beside the capsule waiting for him. "Is there anything important?" he asked while sitting on his seat before adding, "I''m in the middle of a big quest right now." "It''s a big thing, master," Antoan said before adding with a grim face, "the preliminary evaluation conference has been pushed in advance." "the what?" Bloom didn''t understand his meaning. "It''s one of many steps in the Triflet challenge," Antoan exined, "it''s supposed to happen three months from now, yet someone had pulled some strings from the shadows and made it tonight." "Tonight?!" Bloom was surprised, "that means" he hurriedly checked the clock in a corner of the screen on his desk, "three hours from now!!" "Yes, master," Antoan said before adding, "this is just a formal meeting, where a board made entirely of the gamepany CEO board will ask you about your progress of the game." "And?" Bloom didn''t like it, "what if I decided not to show up? Or lie to them?" he asked. "Well," the face of Antoan seemed disturbed, "it''s stated in the contract of the Trifletpetition you signed before to show up in every stage or else any absence will be considered as forfeiting the challenge." "Tsk, I don''t recall these," Bloom shook his head as he didn''t have any memory regarding Terry doing such a thing. "You assigned me to do that for you," Antoan said while his face showed his annoyance, "I never thought your rival might use this against you one day." Bloom nced at the sorry Antoan as he sighed. It wasn''t his fault, it was Terry''s fault to be this passive towards such a thing. "Tell me what you know about this meeting, and is there a possibility they will leak my info?" Bloom cared much about the secrecy of his identity. "The CEO board has a reputation to keep," Antoan said before adding, "I ran some inquiries, it seems Dockrey had tried more than once to bribe the members of the board, to get rejected and punished by intently scattering his main team all over the game world at the vige stage." "Hmm" Bloom knew this would be nice news to reassure him, but he wasn''t that confident at this board. "Can''t I use a fake ID?" he asked. "The meeting is to show the board you are serious about the challenge, or else they will vote to kick you off the challenge and search for a new one to be added," Antoan said before adding, "they will use a measure that won''t expose your ID in the game but will reveal an assessment of your current progress." Bloom gave him a deeper nce before his butler added, "that''s what they told me and the main assistants of Dockrey." "Sigh, so I have no way to escape this," he shook his head before adding, "who else will attend this? And where will it be held?" "We have to move in an hour from now, where a reception ceremony will be held inside the special lounge of the VIP hotel downtown. The ceremony willst for six hours, during which the assessment will be done in front of the press and the high echelon of the world." "You gotta be kidding me," Bloom shook his head, "do you want me to be assessed in front of everyone? What if they revealed my ID?" "Don''t worry, I''m confident they won''t risk something like this," Antoan said. "Not enough," Bloom decided, "go and inform them, if the assessment will reveal a tiny bit of my ID then I won''t show up and I''ll make a press conference and expose everything to the public!" "This" Antoan was speechless for a moment before shaking his head, "alright, I will contact them now." He moved outside the room while sighing. ''This new y of reincarnation seems to make him quite impatient and aggressive!'' he said to himself while dialing the number of one inside the CEO board who was sponsoring Bloom. After five minutes, Antoan returned with a smile on his face. "What?" Bloom asked in discontent, "what did they tell you?" "They exined everything regarding the assessment," Antoan said before adding, "rest assured, master, they will use your blood print and make the AI of the game to identify your ID and automatically analyze your progress ording to preset parameters." "And?" "The AI will handle everything and will express the final result ranging from a failure to super performance," Antoan answered before adding, "this way no one will take part in this, and the AI is secured by the strongest defense system in the world; can''t be hacked or manipted. Plus" he paused before adding, "the AI will delete the data the moment it shows it up to the public." Bloom gave it enough thought before saying, "do you trust your resource?" "Absolutely, after all he is your sponsor inside the board." "My sponsor?" Bloom asked. "I''ll exin thingster, but now you need to hurry and dress up in a good looking ck tuxedo," Antoan smiled before nodding, "after all the main flower of the Triflet challenge will attend it from beginning to end." Bloom smiled helplessly as he didn''t need such a thing to make an impact on his girl. He already had her in his grasp inside the game. "Alright, go and arrange everything," Bloom said before stopping Antoan, "bring a nice gift for her." "Good thinking," Antoanmended, "any ideas?" he asked. "Well," Bloom thought for a moment before deciding. "Alright, a strange gift but I''ll try my best to pick something in this short time," Antoan''s face showed how much surprised he was by his master''s choice. "Pick it pitch ck in color," Bloom added, "with beautiful looking, don''t forget this note." "Sure, I''ll get it done and make you satisfied," Antoan then left him while Bloom opened the cab and found many toxidos there. "Wow, Terry really was careful about his look," he smiled before grabbing one with some glittering edges and started dressing it. "Is that necessary?" Antoan nced weirdly towards Bloom who was sitting beside him in the car heading towards the hotel. "Sure, the hat and the stick are the signature of a gentleman!" Bloom answered in a weird tone as he insisted on finding a hat and a short stick to match the tuxedo. Of course the entire mansion didn''t have such things, as Terry never bothered by any of those! That made Antoan have to stop by a shop and buy what his master needed. Despite feeling the change in vibe in his master with these fine touches, he was still wondering what happened to his old master! "Sigh, you really changed a lot," he muttered. "Don''t you think it''s for the better?" Bloomughed, "don''t forget I was reincarnated and I have to learn from my past life mistakes." Antoan just shook his head while feeling his master was enjoying this y of reincarnation to the maximum. "We are here Mr. Terry," the driver said as the car stopped in a long row heading towards the main entrance of the hotel. "Wow, busy day?" Bloom muttered. "I guess those are guests to the ceremony," Antoan muttered, ``I recalling here a couple of months ago to sign the Triflet contract yet it wasn''t this busy." "Oh," Bloom muttered before adding, "find us another entrance then." "What?" Antoan and the driver spoke at the same time in surprise. "Of course, I won''t enter through the main door others will pass through! After all, I''m the star of this ceremony!" Bloom spoke like he was talking about some basic principle that everyone should grasp without exnation. Chapter 147: A Nice Trick Chapter 147: A Nice Trick "This way" Antoan was skeptical of the choice of Bloom who insisted on entering the hotel through service doors. There wasn''t anyone crowded there, and they went directly through the kitchen region towards a long corridor then finally entered a very wide reception hall after ten minutes of turning. "What? Don''t you think this is better?" Bloomughed while he went directly to the reception boy standing alone in the distance. "Hi, I''m B Terry, and I came here to join the Triflet ceremony." The boy nced in doubt towards Bloom before asking: "How did sir entered from this direction while there is a whole reception group waiting for him at this direction?" The strong ent of this boy told Antoan everything about this boy. "We came from this way as it was easier and less crowded," he said before adding, "here is the proof, the invitation of the ceremony," he took out a small ck card with a silver painting over it. The moment the boy noticed it, his face changed as he hurried to bow to the two. "Sorry gentlemen, I was blind not to recognize you," he said in deep respect and some fear. "C''mon, don''t scare the little one," Bloomughed while defending the boy who wasn''t too much older than himself. "Kind and passionate, you didn''t change a lot don''t you?" suddenly this sound came from behind, startling both. "Oh, Mr. Guardian, it''s a pleasure to see you before heading up stairs," Antoan said while Bloom turned to see his sly uncle. He was a fat one, with faint pink skin and two small rounded sses fixed with a glue perhaps to fit his broad fat nose! "Hi uncle," Bloom just greeted, "were you waiting for me out there?" he asked. "Sure, but got to rest for a moment. It seems those boys of mine had gone senile, or like this boy said, blind. Hehehe," heughed and with eachugh his entire body shook like jelly. "Come, I have many of your old man''s friends to introduce. Good people, very nice people," he said while trying to hold Bloom like he usually did with the young Terry; surrounding his neck and squeezing him nearly to death! "Thanks, I have to pass on that one," Bloom agilely evaded his uncle''s grip before turning to the boy, "where is the ceremony being held?" The boy seemed quite nervous, as he recognized Terry''s uncle. He knew how vicious he was, so he even had sweat dripping over his face. He nced over the uncle to take his permission, and he just got a slight nod. "I can take you, sir, there myself," the boy hurried to leave his post, making even the uncle startled. "Don''t you have work here to do?" the uncle asked. "Sir is VIP guest of our hotel. It''s not appropriate to let him wander alone in the grand hotel of ours," the boy said before adding, "Come this way, sir." "Thanks," Bloom smiled as he followed the boy. "See you up there, dear uncle," he raised his hand to salute the sly uncle from his back, without even turning to nce at him. And this just drove his uncle mad. "That impudent little rascal! Who does he think himself is? Humph, it''s better for him to die right here than to wait for him to lose up there, humph!" He turned to return to two slim beauties who were his escort for this night. He tightly grabbed sensitive parts in their bodies without feeling any shame of being in public or making them feel pain. "Damn you," he cursed while chewing on his teeth. "You know this is the most important ceremony we had since the start of the year?'''' The boy tried to be close to Bloom as he started to narrate a brief history of the hotel while they were ascending through the elevator. "Here you go, sir," the boy bowed again while the thick ss doors opened to reveal a magnificent scene. "Wow, we have this on a pool?" Bloom remarked the moment he entered the ce. "This is the highest level in our hotel, where only a selected few can enter it," the boy felt some honor in himself when Bloommended the hall. "I like this ce," Bloom nodded, while ncing over the big stage and that huge metallic objectnded over it. The hall wasn''t empty, or near full either. Many were standing there chatting andughing while having their own sses of wines full all the time with the help of many servants. "I don''t like this ce," Antoan had a sudden nightmare when he saw all those people and these big hidden spaces all around. For him, it was just a security nightmare. "Lead me to the head of this ce''s security," he ordered and the boy couldn''t dare to dy. "Don''t be toote at the party," Bloomughed while he stood there alone, not caring to be like this. He started to walk around and many eyes justnded on him for a second there before returning to do what they were doing. He noticed that everyone recognized him, yet no one even cared about a greeting. "Such a cold ce with hypocrite people, tsk," he sighed while saying these words to himself while standing on the outer reiling of the open ce, overseeing the whole city. "You can''t deny that they have a point," suddenly this voice came from behind, greatly startling him! "Hi there," he turned to see two beauties standing side to side, while one dressed up like princesses and the other was like a follower; less adorable dress but it was ok for Bloom. "Hi there," the girlughed before adding, "what? Have you forgotten about me?" the girl said when she noticed the weird nces Bloom was giving her. "Sure not," he lied, despite not recalling any meeting between her and Terry. "How are our crown jewels of this night doing?" "What ame flirt, you need to work better on this," sheughed and he just was mesmerized in ce. He wasn''t taken off by her beauty, but with the fact that the girl speaking with him wasn''t Natalie; Natalie was the one acting servant on her side! As for this girl; he perfectly recognized her from her voice! "I''ll take my princess'' advice to the letter," he said before leaning to her hand and painted a soft kiss there. ''Funny, never thought you would be such a man," she said while pointing towards his hat and stick, "evening in this old fashion interesting!" The girl exchanged silent nces with her maid who smiled and nodded in response. "May I know who she is?" he pointed towards the maid, just before he could hear the answer, a loudugh rang from behind. "That''s your worth after all, go after maids and care about them, poor Terry, hehehe." Bloom turned to see a young athlete with a perfect body and sharp eyesing at him with arge entourage of his. Bloom didn''t know him, but he could easily recognize who he was just from the familiar faces walking a few steps behind. "Hi Dockrey, acting arrogant as usual," Bloom sneered and this sudden strong response made everyone nce strangely at him. Terry was known to be socially shy, not showing a lot and not standing to defend himself at any time. He was a simple loser, a loser no one would like to associate himself with. "Wow are you on drugs today? Courage drug perhaps?" "And you on a funny drug? Oh wait, no it''s the best idiot in the entire ce drug, right?" The face of Dockrey changed; he never had anyone to treat him like this before! Just as his entourage was about to act, he raised his hand as he seriously said: "This is my turf, loser. A piece of advice for the future, find yourself a deep pit that no one can reach or else I won''t show mercy on you." "Humph," Bloom just harrumphed before totally turning his back to him and ncing totally towards the two beauties. "Sorry, a fly was just thinking itself a butterfly, not knowing a two blossoms like you were standing here," he said before adding, "may I know her name?" "Wow, you got some balls!" Dockrey moved to stand between Bloom and the two girls. "see these two? They already belong to me!" "Really? Last time I checked I belonged to no one!" the one acting Natalie said in a harsh tone. "Sorry, Nat, this one needs a p on the face to wake up from his drugs!" "I told you don''t call me this ever again!" the girl shouted and her voice attracted everyone''s attention. "And responding to your question, she is called Peri," the one acting Natalie said before adding, "excuse me you two, I have guests to attend." She moved while pushing Dockrey away, as for Bloom, he strangely waved his hand towards Peri as he smiled widely, "Bye Peri, see you around." Peri seemed quite disturbed while she just nodded. "Loser," Dockreyughed before moving with his entourage, chasing after the girls. "Pathetic," Bloomughed while thinking about the little twist he suddenly had. "Wow, what a lovely party this is," heughed and returned to glimpse at the horizon, enjoying the night scene of the city from up there. "Natalie and Peri, then who is the fourth sister of the studio? Peri perhaps?" he muttered while losing himself in that ocean of darkness with tiny lights everywhere acting like a gigantic gxy unfolding before his eyes. "At least I''m not fooled by your little trick here, hehehe," he inwardlyughed whilementing that poor strupid arrogant Dockrey for his blindness. Chapter 148: Let the Bidding Start! Chapter 148: Let the Bidding Start! "They are here," Antoan returned a couple of minutes ago while his face told Bloom everything about his current mood. Bloom didn''t say anything to him, as he was mesmerized by the beauty of the city in the night. Bloom turned to nce at a group of people appearing from one direction. They were short and tall, fat and slim, yet they all shared one thing inmon; they were all old! "Who are they?" Bloom asked. "They are the CEO board of the gamepany," Antoan whispered before adding, "they will start a simple introduction ceremony before starting the real test." "Hmm" Bloom kept his eyes fixed on them for a moment as he noticed his uncle moving to greet them with a group of men and beauties around. He wasn''t the only one trying to curry for their favoritism, many also moved to do the same initiative that sly uncle did. "My uncle can''t let a single chance slip by without licking the boots of anyone," Bloom sneered. "He is your uncle after all," Antoan tried to be diplomatic, especially in such an open crowded ce. "Not to me, lucky me," Bloom inwardlyughed before changing his gaze towards the two girls standing behind this group of elders. "What''s your secret?" he muttered, "why are you doing this?" He knew there must be a reason. "Antoan, do you recognize the girl standing behind Nat?" he suddenly asked while motioning with his eyes towards the two girls. "Nat? you mean Natalie, right?" Bloom nodded and Antoan added, "She is Peri, her main maid and literally the female version of me," he said with a weird look over his face. "Why do you ask? You should mind the master, not the maid!" He was speechless, and Bloom justughed at his naivety. "Did you run an investigation on her?" he asked. "Sure," Antoan nodded. "Extensive in detail research?" Bloom gave him a serious nce. "Well" Antoan felt the pressureing from his master, and he felt for the first time fear from him. "I didn''t do a full out investigation," he said before hurriedly adding, "she is unimportant, insignificant. Her master is!" He tried to reason out his slip here, and Bloom nodded as he started to gain more intel about this little yet amazing trick. "I want you to tell her a message from me," he said. "Oh, for her master then?" Antoan had this look of realization over his face. "Sure, tell me what you want to convey." "Not to her master," Bloom smiled before adding, "tell her this is from me to her." "" Antoan had such a funny look that made Bloomugh a short one. "Just do it, alright?" "S- Sure," Antoan nodded without understanding what was going on. "Did he return to his older weird and sorry self?" he had this thought in mind, yet he didn''t dare to share it out in public. Not in such a ce. "Tell her I want to meet the fourth sister," Bloom seriously said and at this moment a sudden realization hit Antoan who sharply turned his face towards Peri. "Don''t tell me" he paused as his eyes got widened, "just wow!" He returned to his master as he added, "how did you know that?" "A secret," Bloom winked with a pure heartedugh, "don''t forget to do this while everyone is amazed by the results of my test." "You seem confident," Antoan muttered, "are you sure of your results this much?" he asked. Bloom just shrugged before saying, "Let''s enjoy this amazing evening," he was just about to turn towards the fascinating night scenery of the city when he heard someone shouting out his name from behind. "Mr. Terry, you are requested to attend to the front," he was a young butler working for the CEO board it seemed. "The ceremony is about to begin, and your presence is essential for it to start," he added, trying to reason out his demands per habit. "Alright," Bloom helplessly smiled, "lead the way," he said before he went behind the butler and Antoan walked behind him like his shadow. Whenever he walked through, everyone gave him a mocking nce making himugh more inwardly on the shock they would soon receive. "Mr. Terry, thanks for honoring us today," one of the elders moved to greet him, saying these courtesy words which made the nearby Dockrey sneer. "Thanks, it''s always a pleasure to meet my future trusted aiders," Bloom shook the hand of the man in a strong manner while saying these words in return. "Pft," Dockreyughed and hisugh seemed very much faked. Yet it managed to attract attention to him. "Is there anything funny?" Bloom moved towards him while asking in a calm tone. "You are really hrious," Dockrey keptughing, "I''ll never get tired of your silly jokes," he added. "Enlighten us all then," Bloom waved his hands towards everyone, "let everyone share the same joy as you do." His words and manner seemed bizarre to everyone, invoking a wave of whispering everywhere. "Are you serious?" Dockrey suddenly felt nervous especially when the members of the CEO board gave him a weird nce. "Sure, spill it out, let us allugh," Bloomughed as he calmly replied. His stance and strong attitude were new to everyone. In their eyes, he wasn''t even able to stand there in front of the public without even trembling! "Tsk, just forget it," Dockrey waved his hand like acting magnonmous. "Coward," yet Bloom didn''t leave him off this easily. "What did you just say?" This time Dockrey received the insult directly in front of those he tried to impress; he couldn''t let go of such rude remarks. "Antoan, make an appointment for him at my ENT doctor," Bloom ignored him as he turned to give his butler a casualmand. And Antoan just suppressed hisughter while joining his master in this interesting game. "What for , may I ask?" "He can''t hear me well despite everyone here perfectly hearing my words. Tsk, how can Ipete with a patient? C''mon, that isn''t fair!" Bloom rude remarks made everyone aroundugh while Dockrey had his face turned instantly red. Even Nat and Periughed while exchanging silent nces. "You.. I swear you''ll regret this impudence and rashness soon," Dockrey promised, yet Bloom turned to face him directly without flinching. "Oh, may you enlighten me about how you''ll do that?" he sneered and his tone and attitude just added more fuel to Dockrey. As for the CEO board members, they were shocked to the extreme by the new attitude of Bloom. They stood silent in their ces while enjoying this littlepetition getting more heights than they ever thought. "Through this," Dockrey answered in a strong and loud tone enough for everyone attending here to perfectly hear him. He pointed towards the direction of the game test tool where he had such a confident smile over his face. "Bullsh*t!" Bloom sneered beforeughing, "it''s you who will get his you know I mean, hehehe," he paused acting like he was about to say such a vulgar response and he didn''t. "You have balls!!" "Sure, I''m a man after all," Bloomughed and his instant and casual response made manyugh and all started to whisper. And that instant answer made Dockrey more nervous and enraged. "Just wait, it''s not toote to wipe this smile over your face," he harrumphed while one of his men tried to step and say something, yet Antoan moved to shelter his master like this man was trying to do physical harm to him. "Shall this end here?" the eldest one in the board suddenly spoke up. "We don''t wish to see things escte further," he added, yet his tone told much about his current mood. He was excited about the new version of Bloom. After all these people only cared about the next heir to the current empire of Natalie, and the more capable contesters there were, the better future their miss would have. "Now, let the ceremony begin," the man said before another one stepped forward with a mic in hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, ording to the Triflet agreement signed a couple of months ago, we are now attending the first evaluation test ever in thepetition." The man then pointed to Dockrey and Bloom as he added: "Our two gentlemen here had already started the game for a couple of days already. We need to see who has the better start and who is thete runner so our sponsors will be able to decide which horse to bet on with their money and future." Heughed and everyoneughed a short one. Bloom didn''t understand his meaning, though, yet he recalled the mysteriousment of Antoan. "Later I need to ask him about this agreement in detail," he muttered to himself while the man added: "As you can see, both are young and vibrant, while we much love to see them twopete, it''s not the right stage for such energy," heughed and others followed before adding, "so, we''ll start the first bid of the Trifletpetition. Please hand in the names and the numbers to our butlers and after that we will start the assessment in public through our top secret assessment system." He pointed towards the machine behind while everyone showed their excitement. "You gotta tell me what''s all this about," Bloom turned to his butler amidst the chaos that erupted after the old man''s words. Everyone jumped in a hurry to ce their bids to many butlers who appeared out of nowhere. "Let''s go there," Antoan briefly said while driving him away from the center of attention towards the nearby door they came from. Chapter 149: The Truth About the Challenge Chapter 149: The Truth About the Challenge Bloom followed him silently until they moved slightly away from the excited crowd. Bloom was feeling strange and from what he saw; this bidding thing must have a big impact on everyone. "Do you think this Trifletpetition is about you, Dockrey, and the girl?" Antoan said the moment they reached the opened doors. "Well," Bloom shook his head before adding, "I know nothing at all to answer such a question." "What do you think?" Antoan asked. "From what I saw," he turned again to nce over everyone, "this seems like their future hangs with a thread on the result of this challenge." "You are absolutely right," Antoan said, "this challenge connects many ongoing grand businesses together. It''s not only about the three of you, it''s about the entire business industry connected to the stock market of you three lots ofpanies," Antoan paused before adding: "It''s not an exaggeration to say the winner will take it all and the loser will lose everything. So there are many who have their lives depending entirely on the result of this challenge." "All supporting him?" Bloom asked. "And you," Antoan said before raising his head, "and her." "Her supporters too can participate?" Bloom was speechless. "And haters as well," Antoan answered, "everyone can take part in this." Bloom went silent for a moment there while the little trick of Nat started to seem more logical at the moment. "What about this bidding then?" he asked. "It''s to gain more money and give obvious support to the two of you," Antoan said, "after all whoever wins will help his supporters, right?" "Logical," Bloom nodded, "and so they are fervently participating like this?" "Sure." "Then I will gain no support at all!" "Hahaha," Antoanughed, "you already have enough supporters to keep your face high, plus," he paused before winking, "you said it yourself; you''ll crush him. Your previous attitude amazed me and amazed many. Those who support you today will be much relieved and excited by their gains if you seed in proving your words right." "Hahaha," Bloomughed, "don''t worry yourself, I guarantee I will win." "Good, then starting from this day onward, you''ll gain much more supporters than ever," Antoan said with a wide smile over his face. "Alright," Bloom said, "it''s your task to connect with my avid fans." "Fans? Hahaha, such a nice name, I like it," Antoan was already in a good mood. Despite seeing some changes in his master before, this brief exchange with Dockrey just now made his eyes open wide. His master had changed beyond his wildest dreams! The two returned and not many noticed their absence except for those on the stage. They all nced weirdly at the two, yet Bloom didn''t look back. His attention was fully immersed on the machine and nothing only. "Excuse me," he whispered to one of those CEO board members, the closest to him. "Hi there," the man said before adding, "I liked what you just did, quite brave and impressive. Youth seems to grow faster than fish, hehehe." Bloom didn''t know what that man meant but he answered with a courtesy smile. "What do you need to ask about?" the man asked, "I can see the question popping up from your eyes already." "It seems the older the wiser, hehehe," Bloomughed and the man epted thepliment with anotherugh. "I just have this concern regarding the security of the machine," Bloom finally asked his question. "Oh, about that" the man paused before turning around, "don''t worry, this machine is very secure." "How much is it?" Bloom asked, not quite satisfied by the answer. The man turned around again like he was stalked by someone. "Very," and he simply answered, but Bloom didn''t find any satisfaction in that. "Don''t worry, this is considered more secure than our main game system," the man added when he noticed the weird unsatisfied look of Bloom. "Oh," Bloom muttered as he wasn''t yet quite satisfied. "Then it can''t be hacked, or checked, or investigated by anything," he asked. "Of course," the man simply replied, "the machine will delete the date instantly after checking your DNA." "My DNA?" Bloom said in surprise. "Sure, your DNA will be matched with the DNA in the game center." The words of the man made Bloom quite skeptical. "I didn''t recall the machine I used at home took me blood samples ever," he muttered as he never had such a bizarre experience. "Well," the man helplessly shook his head, "you youngsters forgot that when you first applied to buy the capsules, you had donated a sample of your blood," the man shook his head, "you are just like my son, he is also oblivion to this like you." "It seems a youth trait then," Bloomughed to hide his nervousness, yet his stern eyes that nced over Antoan made thetter understand what his master desired. This blood sample must be dealt with! "Alright," suddenly an old man said loudly interrupting who Bloom was speaking to was about to say. "The bidding is over, and let me say this the result of this bidding is quite surprising," he added while raising a screen in hand while a projector suddenly showed a simr bigger screen on a designed part of the wall for this. "Dockrey had the lead in our earliest analysis, yet as far as I see; he lost many of his supporters," the manughed as the result of the bidding showed that Dockrey won but only by three fifth and Terry had two fifth percent of those who were here. "At least it''s a win, hahaha," Dockreyughed before adding, "this isn''t an estimation results breaking contest, it''s a challenge to see who is a winner and who is a loser," he tried to make his image unshaken in front of everyone. As for Bloom, he simply sneered before saying: "Then the winner won''t be decided by the number of supporters. Instead it will be decided there," he pointed towards the machine while adding, "let''s see who will win, Mr. confident Dock... rey." He splitted Dockrey''s name and said it in a way that made Dockrey feel some insult again. "Such a big mouth and no actions to support the poor supporters who decided to join you." Chapter 150: Is the Machine Broken? Chapter 150: Is the Machine Broken? "They are wise," Bloomughed before adding, "and next time the numbers will be flipped around, hahaha." "Let''s stop here, gentlemen," the eldest man spoke and then added, "it''s best to start the real test now." As he said it, the old men took a side while some wearing white caps entered from the door, walking in a serious manner like being soldiers. They went towards the machine and started operating it. In less than five minutes, the machine was running and a small needle moved via a long metallic arm, pointing towards the crowd. "Don''t panic, I know it seems scary," the old manughed while stepping back to the stage, "we need just a tiny drop of blood, not more than a papercut, I promise," he said while everyoneughed after his words. "Now," the man exchanged nces with Bloom and Dockrey, "who among you gentlemen will be the first to test?" he added, looking like he was quite amused by the spirit of challenge the two youngster in front of him were burning with. "I will," Dockrey shouted as he thought this would be a great chance for him to tarnish the fragile image his rival had created so far. "Alright, go ahead and take the sting," the old manughed and everyoneughed after him. As for Bloom, he simply stood there and said nothing at all. He watched Dockrey walking like a peacock while he unbuttoned his suite and made his arm exposed. "Click click click" The machine started to work under the control of those specialists before the needle suddenly moved down and up simply injuring Dockrey without seemingly any pain. "Ahhh, you said it won''t hurt, it hurts!" Yet Dockrey suddenly jumped,te by a few seconds before shouting like this; like a little girl. "Don''t whine, do you need your mama perhaps?" Bloom sneered and his rude remark was so loud that everyone heard. Yet not allughed this time, after all many of those standing here were Dockrey''s supporters after all. "It''s just a paper cut Mr. Dockrey," the old man said while his eyes said more like: Can''t you take a paper cut kid? How can you hold the girl then? "I won''t forget this," Dockrey threatened before returning to his ce with an angry face and puffed mouth. "Your turn," the old man ignored Dockrey as he turned towards Bloom while adding, "you can take the test now or wait for the results of Mr. Dockrey." "Let''s wait for the results then," Bloom smiled before adding, "I love to see the defeated face upon him before going up there." "Humph," Dockrey wasn''t pleased yet he was so confident of his win. "Alright, let''s wait then," the man nodded, admiring the calm and steady nature that Bloom showed today. Inside his mind, inside everyone''s mind, the image they had of the two youths was flipped miraculously between the two. Bloom kept himself calm and steady while Dockrey was surrounded by his gang, eyeing Bloom with mocking expressions. "Click Click Click" The machine started working under the control of those white capped men. In less than five minutes, the machine suddenly buzzed before something appeared on the projected screen on the wall. "Assessment of Dockrey: 79%... Very good." The machine said these words in a soft female tone, and the moment it did, Dockreyughed with his gang while the entire ce erupted in whispering and some even started cheering for their victory. "Very good assessment, not bad," Dockrey walked away from his gang as he reached Bloom. "Let''s see how far you''ll go," he smirked while Bloom just shrugged. "Your turn, Mr. Terry," the eldest man said while waiting in anticipation like some here for the results. Among all this, Antoan slipped slowly to reach Peri where he whispered something in the middle of the celebratory atmosphere erupted after Dockrey''s results were announced. Then he simply retreated. Bloom reached the ce of the machine where he unbuttoned his suite and during this he noticed the weird nces of Peri. And strangely to everyone, he winked at her. For those far away, they thought he did that to Nat, yet those on the stage or in the frontlines realized whom he winked to. And they felt weird about it! "Click Click Click" The machine started working while the needle stung Bloom all of a sudden. He felt a sting then nothing after. "Is this all?" heughed while giving Dockrey a mocking nce while returning to his original ce with Antoan waiting there for him. Antoan nodded and he knew everything was done as he wanted. "Does it hurt?" the eldest member of the CEO board calmly asked. "Like you said, sir; it''s a papercut." The man smiled faintly before muttering: "Goodd." "Click Click Click" The machine worked and Bloom didn''t even nce at it for one time. His eyes were fixed upon Peri, unlike everyone who was ncing at the machine and asionally at the screen. After five minutes, the machine didn''t release its buzz, making everyone feel something was off. "Is the machine broken?" Dockrey suddenly asked, "or does the performance is so weak that it has to revise the data more than once to be sure?" He pointed rudely towards Bloom while saying those words, and his gang around him did the same with bigughter. Bloom smiled in return while one of the old men here in the board exined: "It''s quite the opposite. The better the performance the longer the machine will take to assess it." His wordsnded to silence everyone, even Dockrey himself. "Bullsh*t!" he simply cursed faintly while shifting his gaze away from the man and the machine behind. "Youngsters are usually impulsive," the eldest man muttered while shaking his head. "My granddaughter is also like you, don''t know what''s best for her until she learns her lessons in the hardest way ever," he added while Bloom joined the fun by saying: "They are just short-sighted. It''s no doubt a priceless thing to have advice from such an experienced man like yourself." Chapter 151: An Outstanding Performance Chapter 151: An Outstanding Performance He ttered the man while his gaze was upon Dockrey who just harrumphed and said nothing back. "Well said from another youth," the eldest man smiled a bigger one this time while adding, "I just hope my daughter will be as wise as you." "Thanks sir," Bloom replied in courtesy while ncing shortly at Peri whose eyes never left him. The machine didn''t buzz until five minutester, making everyone restless to see the evaluation of the screen. "Assessment of Terry: 225%... An outstanding performance indeed." The soft female voice rang again with the results shown on the screen making everyone gasp in shock. The entire ce ushered instantly under a heavy silence that made it difficult to breath! "This" Dockrey''s face was pale while the next moment it turned to deep red, "this machine is wed! He did something to it! I request another assessment to be done after checking the machine!" His wordsnded in the still silence and everyone heard him perfectly well. "What are you trying to imply here?" the eldest man gave Dockrey a cold nce while adding, "this machine is the crown jewel of ourpany. I won''t allow you to tarnish its reputation because you are a sore loser." "I don''t care about what you think, old man," Dockrey showed at this moment his true arrogant self, "I won''t ept this unbelievable result without proof." "Let''s have the machine calibrated and we can recheck our progress again," Bloom simply said, while adding under the strange gazes of the elders of the board and everyone in front of him, "but this has to be met with a price to pay for theck of trust." "What price may you suggest?" the eldest man said, cutting the road on Dockrey to speak. "Hmm I think this price shouldn''t only involve him," Bloom pointed towards Dockrey as if he was pointing out to a sack of sh*t on the side of the road. "But everyone who supported him should suffer if they still stood behind such an insult." His words created instant ruckus among the ce, yet the eldest man smiled as he calmly said: "It''s fair." "But" Dockrey read what Bloom tried to do here, but just before he could continue his argument, the eldest man turned to face him. "It''s you who doubted ourpany and if you want to go down this road, then you''ll have to pay for the damage." Dockrey swallowed what he wanted to say as his situation turned into a funny and strange one. Bloom kept his smug smile over his face while watching the reactions of Dockrey so close. "What will you do now?" one of the elders asked, "ept the fair judge or run it over again?" he added while he, along with others, were feeling amused about such development. At first they were mad, yet when Bloom spoke up they started to like the kid more. Even Antoan gave Bloom a thumb up after saying that. "Well," Dockrey exchanged nces with those who trusted them in his supporters and waited. He cleverly threw the ball back into their ground, and they were surprised by such action. Bloom, alongside everyone else here, nced over the dozen of middle-aged and old men and women Dockrey just asked silently about their decision. And they just shook their heads in refusal. "Wise," Bloom muttered while the eldest man here nodded in agreement. "Minimizing damage and living to fight another day," he said before turning to Dockrey, "so you are epting the results?" Dockrey was cornered here. Despite his ego telling him to say no, he unwillingly nodded while looking away, avoiding any eye contact with Bloom. "Great," the man said, "so the result is clear. The first sh between the two youths resulted in Dockrey''s crushing defeat and some coteral financial damage." The man didn''t let Dockrey run away this easily from the insult he just directed towards the board members. Just as his words fell, everyone realized one simple truth they all overlooked amidst this escting sh just now. Many lost money, and some gained a lot! "I hope the next confrontation will be more exciting," one of the elders said in the mic he was holding, "and now those who gained riches shall receive them during the next couple of hours. Enjoy the eveningdies and gentlemen." The audience had mixed feelings yet after these words, a band appeared there to change the atmosphere as they started ying different styles of music. "What''s your ID in the game?" Just as the music was starting slow and everyone was trying to jump over this night, Dockrey suddenly shouted in a tone that was louder than the music. "Hahaha, something you shall not ask and won''t know," Bloom answered with a loudugh before leaving the stage, heading towards the spot he liked overlooking the entire city. He ignored everyone''s gazes, as some were so much friendly to him even to the limit of taking the initiative to shake hands with. As for Dockrey''s supporters, they had this gloomy look over their faces out of their loss. "Didn''t know you hide such a personality down below," as he was standing on the edge of the hall, this soft voice came abruptly from behind. He nced slowly towards Peri who moved to stand beside him. "What gave me up?" she asked. "Nothing," he shrugged while she stood beside him, seeing the amazing night scene of the city. "That can''t be nothing," she chuckled, "you are the first one to see through me," she added. "It''s just a hunch," he lied. "Then it''s an outstanding hunch like your outstanding performance." Herugh was so sweet that it made him turn his gaze away from the amazing scene he admired to be mesmerized by her beauty. "What can I call you?" he asked. "The fourth sister is perfect," she smiled as she added with a yful tone, "or what do you want to call me?" Chapter 152: Entering the Game Again Chapter 152: Entering the Game Again He knew she was ying him and he decided to y her as well. "The fourth sister is perfect," he replied before adding, "didn''t know you have such beauty." "Watch out," she winked in a mischievous way, "many are watching and you are already a taken man." "Not yet," heughed. "What you did back there told me you want her badly, or you like others want her wealth?" He knew she was testing him, and he wasn''t even worried about anything here. He returned to nce over the scenery while saying: "I don''t care about those worldly matters; I only care about her." "Liar," she paused for a long minute there before giggling. "You can''t be serious, everyone is tempted with money and wealth." "I only care about the game," he said before adding, "and her." "Lucky her," shemented, continuing to y her little game. "What did you want me for then? You already have your gaze upon a girl." "One might not be enough," he said in a yful tone. "Wow, a womanizer then," sheughed before adding, "didn''t think you were one." "Who said I''m?" heughed shortly before adding, "I''m just not able to let a gem like you slip by." "A womanizer indeed, hehehe." He didn''tment and let her continue her amusing game with him. "Still didn''t tell me what all this tter is for." "Nothing in particr," he shrugged before turning his head to her, "just want to hire your studio to work for me." "Wow, you surely have great appetite," sheughed, enjoying the offer he just made. "What benefit will I gain from this?" "Anything you want, just name it and you''ll have it." "I want to know your game ID then," she said in a serious tone. "You scored such a legendary one back there; you must be someone important." "A big shot," heughed, "consider me a big whale." "I''m already with a whale," she chuckled, "why join other then?" "Just for more fun," he simply answered. "So you are one of those big names out there. Who are you exactly? Ricardo? Regredo? Tonsole? Or perhaps that mysterious new rising star?" She tried to guess his ID yet he didn''t nce directly at her. She wasn''t someone to be easily fooled, and he had to make sure his ID would stay hidden as long as he could. "In time you''ll know," he simply said. "None of those? Or one of them and acting ignorant?" "Just in time, don''t be impatient," he said. "C''mon, I''m a girl. Girls are impatient," sheughed shortly with her hand over her mouth. "Tell me and I might consider it." "Join me and you''ll know it." "Tsk, men are always arrogant!" she sighed, as if she was disappointed in him. "that''s in our genes," heughed, "how can we change our genes? At least I''m true to myself and not boot licker like some," he added. "True," she said, "but I can''t see a benefit for me here." "Let''s say I''m looking for those I can trust my life with," he said before adding, "and in return I expect the same." "Not enough," she said despite her tone said the opposite. "I just told you, name it and you''ll get it." "I just said my request," she stubbornly said. "Then we have to wait until you join me." "Tsk," she seemed annoyed as she turned to leave, yet he didn''t stop her. "Won''t you try to persuade me more?" she suddenly paused as she asked. She thought he would hurry to say something to stop her; yet he didn''t. "What about dinner?" heughed as he said in such a yful tone. "Forget it," she moved, and this time she was serious to move far away from him. He turned his head and watched her bare back appearing from the big emptiness in that ck glittering dress of hers. "You are already interested, so why should I raise the stakes? Hehehe," he muttered to himself before turning to look for Dockrey. Yet in this nice evening and many dancing partners everywhere; Dockrey was nowhere to be found. "Such a sore impulsive kid; I bet he will try his best to reach my ID," he shook his head before adding, "hopefully Antoan had acted faster." He checked again and his loyal butler was nowhere to be seen as well. He didn''t worry a lot about this; after all what Dockrey did here attracted enmity from the board to him. The night passed fast and after one hour Antoan appeared all of sudden beside him. "It''s done," he simply said and Bloom didn''t ask for details. "That one is absent," Bloom said. "He is trying to uncover your true ID," Antoanughed before adding, "let him try and feel the despair, hehehe." "What about the two girls?" Bloom asked with a wide smile. "They already left." "Already?" Bloom turned to nce over the crowd to see no trail of the two girls. "Alright, we shall return as well." "Won''t you greet your supporters? The board?" "No," Bloom shook his head, "these things shall be handledter by you." "Alright," Antoan moved and Bloom walked behind him. The scenery of him leaving attracted the attention of everyone, yet he didn''t stop to speak with any. As he returned to the game, Bloom knew Nat would search for him at once. Yet he didn''t mind that, after all he knew she suspected him as one of the candidates she named to him. "Finally you are back," the moment he appeared the NPC said. "What happened?" he asked. "Nothing, but it''s boring here," the NPC said before pointing towards the next forest, "your pets had already cleared this area and now they are heading for the next one." Bloom checked his long series of notifications to find what the NPC said was true. Thousands of monsters were killed already, and he didn''t hear any nearby fighting noisesing from the forest. Chapter 153: The Grator Monster Chapter 153: The Grator Monster "We need to go fast or else those monsters will just spawn again," the NPC advised. "Alright, everyone let''s head forward," Bloom shrugged as despite all this great number of kills he got; he didn''t level up yet! He was so near to gain a new level, but it seemed he had to wait for the seventh forestyer to be cleared. Just as he walked with the NPC while the girls kept collecting the dark sand non-stop, he received different notifications about his pets being killed. "Wow, that nextyer sounds like trouble already," he muttered while checking his dark point reserve. "Not enough," he shook his head as he had less than thirty five thousand of points so far. "What about the missions?" he opened the quest bar in the dark auction to be met with many ongoing missions he had; yet none werepleted yet. "Sigh, it seems I will have to wait for a couple more hours," he closed the interface while ncing over the silent atmosphere of this forest. His one thousand girls were already dispersed all over theyer to collect his dark sand, but for him what they gained wasn''t even enough to use the bow and create arge army of pets. He knew those monsters died because of the overwhelming numbers of their adversary. "I bet starting from the nextyer, the monsters will be more aggressive even to other monsters," he muttered as this was the only exnation he had regarding such an oue. "At least you have threeyers to clear," the NPC said before adding, "this is much faster than what I had in mind." "But not that enough," Bloom shook his head. He had this vague feeling that Dockrey will push his henchmen with all his might to make him advance more. "That Panty will surely start his quest soon," he believed that. "I need to finish here soon and be ready for him," he decided before thinking about what happened in the ceremony. "That girl she seems more amused by these games," he shook his head while recalling the tricky talk with Peri at the ceremony. "Should I y further with her then?" he smirked while considering hiding his ID and letting her know about another ID of him. "Hahaha, yeah, I like this idea," he was amused when he finally crossed theyer finally and entered the safe zone. "Sunny was supposed to be the dark ID for me, yet as long as she wants to y this way then she should meet him," he was immersed in his own thoughts when a big bang suddenly erupted at the eighthyer up front, startling him. "What''s going on there?" he muttered while the rest of his pets were killed instantly by this big bang. "I think" the NPC paused for a moment there before his eyes got widened, "it''s the Grator!" "The what?" Bloom asked in confusion. "A special kind of monster living here in the lost mines," the NPC shook his head before adding, "it was supposed to be thest boss, why is it here in thisyer?" Bloom understood the meaning of his words. "Do the mines have only one of these?" he asked. "yes, only one for your current level of the challenge." Bloom understood his meaning. "Is the challenge difficulty the same? Can it level up?" "Never," the NPC shook his head before adding, "it''s the only Grator here, and it seemed we need to be ready." "For what?" "This one it didn''t follow the rules of this ce," the NPC bitterly said. "The levels?" Bloom asked, "is its level higher than normal?" "Not the levels," the NPC shook his head, "it doesn''t recognize any safe zones!" The words of the NPC made Bloom nervous instantly, and the rising ruckusing from the eighthyer, getting closer to them added more to this feeling. "What should we do now?" Bloom hurriedly asked. "Don''t know," the NPC paused, "run?" he suggested in a weird tone. "Sigh, give me more data," Bloom demanded as he had to face this one sooner orter. "It''s a giant monster with a panther agile body and long broad head with many horns. It can stand on two legs, or on four, can fight standing, or suddenly jump to attack you. Its skin has such a natural defensiveyer that blocks many attacks and reduces any damage by half at least." The words of the NPC made Bloom realize how much difficult it was to face such monsters. And the most shocking thing was, this wasn''t everything about it. "What''s more?" Bloom demanded, "his skills, tell me about them." "Sigh, this is tricky," the NPC showed a struggling expression before adding, "it has a myriad of skills that it will randomly pick three of them each hour to use." Bloom nced in a strange way towards him. "What do you even mean by that?" "If the fight is prolonged for more than one hour, or we run away and returnter to hit it; the skill set will be different." These words made Bloom realize how hard it was to kill such a monster. "So it''s either we hit to kill or totally avoid it, right?" "Sure, but it has such a wide detection range, so running away is hard if we don''t move out now!" The panic in his voice made Bloom sigh. "I wanted to test it first," he said before adding, "what if I tricked him? Using my clones for that?" "It won''t work," the NPC shook his head, "if this is thestyer then I would strongly suggest this tactic for you. But this even if your clones made it run ayer apart from us, we still have threeyers to clear. It''s not going to work." "It''s a retreat then," Bloom was unwilling to retreat now, but he knew what the NPC said was the only solution he had right now. "Alright, retreat," he said before adding, "but the previousyers will have their monsters appear anytime soon, right?" "That''s a risk we have to take," the NPC answered while he ran alongside Bloom and the army of girls. Chapter 154: Hetain the Black Market Seller Chapter 154: Hetain the ck Market Seller "That means" Bloom was speechless there for a moment. "Yup, we''ll have to clear thisyer once more." "Damn!" Bloom cursed out loud while he and the others vanished inside the seventhyer. But he had no other choice but to waste a couple of hours retreating while loud roars erupted every now and then at the ce they just left. "Sigh, I wanna kill that monster!" Bloom was greatly enraged when he watched many monsters appearing again in the seventhyer while he was in the safe zone next to it. "Tsk," Bloom shook his head before adding, "what guarantee it won''t appear again outside the tenthyer?" "None," the NPC replied, "despite that being strange to happen, yet it really happened." "Does it have any weakness?" Bloom said. "Not as far as I know," the NPC replied before adding, "but I think it shares the same weakness of all dark creatures." "Being mean?" Bloom sarcastically said. "Being vulnerable to fire," the NPC said, before adding, "any dark creature will be weak towards fire, especially if it''s higher in grade." "Fire" Bloom muttered before suddenly pausing. He patted his head in regret before adding, "damn me." He ignored the weird nces of the NPC as he hurriedly opened the interface of the auction. As he nced there he still found the scroll there, yet the price was lesser than before. "A new scroll?" he muttered, "is the supplier the same?" He had this brief thought in mind before hurrying to shake it off. "I need this, I need to secure more points." This time he had to go all out. In front of the NPC he took many gears and tossed them like cabbage towards the interface. "Two hundred and eighty six thousand points not bad but I think I might need more," he gave away almost his stack of gears until he had not much left. Only five gears remained, and he didn''t keep them because he liked them. He used many simr gears to these five, andst time he sold one of these he only gained little points in return. "What should I do then?" he nced around, hoping to find something he could use to boost his points. Yet the only thing he found was the forest, and he knew even if cleared thatyer all the day he wouldn''t get what he needed. "Last time I believe that scroll was sold at four hundred thousand points," he thought before adding, "no other way around except waiting for a miracle to descend." As he had nothing else to do, he exited the game where he ordered a meal. He wasn''t tired, as the capsule he used was a luxurious one with systems supporting his body and making him feel refreshed. "You came out on your own?" his butler appeared the next moment after hearing about him being awake. "Had nothing else to do inside," Bloom said before adding, "what have you done with the task I gave you?" "Which one to be exact?" Antoan was at a loss here. "About you joining the game with your dark group," Bloom said before adding when he noticed the discontent over his butler''s face, "don''t try to evade this; I won''t ept anything but your participation." "Tsk," Antoanined, "since you changed by your miraculous rebirth and your temper grew thinner every day!" "It''s reincarnation, not rebirth," Bloomughed. "They are the same to me," Antoan said before adding, "I''ll hurry them to bring you dinner." It was pitch ck outside, yet Bloom felt like it was midday. He didn''t wait for long before his meal was ready and delivered to his room by a couple of beautiful maids. "Sigh, rich people always get the best," he shook his head before eating his meal while Antoan didn''t appear even after he finished eating. "What is he doing? Does he think he could evade me this way?" Bloom shook his head whilending his body over the desk and opened theptop there. The first thing he did was to check the site of the game. Strangely the first topic pinned there wasn''t about the game, it was regarding the Triflet challenge and the amazing win he had against Dockrey. "Wow, he really controls a lot of people," Bloom randomly checked thements and all of them carried much hatred towards him. "Tsk, I don''t know what he tries to prove here, but in my opinion this is a wasted money," Bloomughed before shutting down theptop after seeing nothing interesting in the main forums and yers'' chat rooms. Just as he did that, he heard the swift steps of Antoan, and he seemed running. "What''s wrong?" just as Antoan passed through the door of his room, Bloom calmly asked. "Have you spoken with Peri," Antoan said before shaking off his head as he added, "I mean the fourthdy of the cyan studio sisters?" "Yes," Bloom responded while adding in a weird way: "Why?" "Sigh," Antoan didn''t answer him directly as he took out his personal mobile screen and started working on it for a few moments, then he turned the screen to Bloom to see. "And as you can see, this scandal is going to rock the entire world as the broom was caught flirting with the maid of the bride; the maid!" One skinny female anchor was speaking in such an enthusiastic way and behind her a smaller screen showing a recording of the brief moment Bloom had with Peri. "Is that what worries you?" Bloom casually pointed towards the screen as if this was nothing. "What do you think this is?" Antoan asked back. "A child''s y," Bloom shrugged before adding, "something you shouldn''t care yourself about." "But one of the board just called me asking for an exnation already!" Bloomughed as he loved this little game happening here. "Which one is he?" Bloom asked, "my sponsor?" "There are more than one already sponsoring you from the board itself," Antoan replied, before adding, "but he isn''t one of them. Actually he is the head of this bunch of old gang." "That old man?" Bloom asked before breaking out inughter. "What''s funny?" "Everything is hrious," Bloom said before adding, "just tell him this phrase: my young master has superb eyes and very sharp instincts. A gem can''t be mistaken for trash." Antoan didn''t understand the meaning behind his words, or the good mood his master had. "Sigh, I just hope you know what you are doing." "Don''t worry," he patted Antoan''s shoulder before heading towards the capsule. "It seems to be a good decisioning out to take a short break." He entered the game with such good mood, and the moment he did he opened his interface fast to see the current number on his screen. "Six hundred thousand points! Wow!" heughed before checking the quests to find five had already beenpleted giving him such wealth. "Sigh, it seems I''ll miss this dark treasure trove," he muttered as he opened the main auction page and started looking. "Good, a new scroll appeared, and it came from the same seller," thest time he memorized the name of the seller; Hetain. "Soon I''ll contact whoever you''re and let you work for me, hehehe." The auction stopped at the staggering number of four hundred thousand points. Bloom didn''t hesitate to raise it to five hundred thousand points. "Let''s get in touch with such a great hand," he muttered while knowing such a price was overrated already for the scroll. Yet he was aiming for the future dealing with this seller. "We need to wait three hours, as this is the time needed for our aggro to be dropped." Chapter 155: Heading Towards the Grator Chapter 155: Heading Towards the Grator Despite the need for dark pointster on to use the scroll, he had to look further beyond his two feet. Bloom ced the bid and waited patiently while the NPC kept speaking about how to advance and how to deal with the Grator monster. And Bloom just ignored him. "Finally," just in less than ten minutes the auction ended and he got the scroll he wanted. "I hope you''re right," he said to the NPC, making him stop his bbery and nce weirdly towards Bloom. "Right about what?" he asked, yet Bloom just ignored him. He hurriedly took the scroll out and examined it. It was a brand new red scroll that had three knots on it. "Investigate," Bloom muttered and the next moment the details of the scroll appeared in front of him. "purgatory fire scroll: dark scroll cursed by many and desired by most. Rare item. Can be used infinitely. Each time will cost the user fifty thousand points to be used. When used, a purgatory fire will assault any hostile being around the yer in one mile radius. Can be used for an unlimited number of times. The purgatory fire will eat away ten thousand Hp from the targets per second for ten seconds. After it ends, the targets will have an additional burning effect, losing five thousand Hp each second for the next ten seconds." He read the description more than once before muttering: "I can only use it a couple of times so far," he shook his head and then stored the scroll. "What''s that?" the NPC pointed to Bloom''s hands, the ones that held the scroll just now. "It''s nothing," Bloom didn''t say much before adding, "let''s go, we have a quest to finish." "What about the Grator?" the NPC was still skeptical about going out there without proper strategy. "Do you have a solution other than total wipeout?" "Sure," Bloom nodded, "c''mon, we wasted enough time already." "We didn''t even waste a whole day yet!" the NPC wasn''t that enthusiastic as much as Bloom who was now considering something. "I have what?" he opened his auction interface to get a sudden scare! He just spent five hundred thousand points and should have around one hundred and fifty thousand. Yet the number he saw was already exceeding five hundred thousand! "Wow, I love this game, hehehe," heughed and the NPC just eyed him in weird nces. "This is just perfect," Bloom didn''t hesitate anymore as he took out his bow and released a hundred arrows turning one hundred monsters into his pets. Just as he did that, the monsters started to roar, attacking everything that moved in the seventhyer. Bloom didn''t slow down as he closely followed them while these monsters acted like his tip of the spear. As for his dolls, they continued gathering up the dark sand again. "This won''t work," along the way the NPC kept repeating hisints over and over until Bloom was mad at him. "Can you stop whining? You''re such a big man, so man up!" "This won''t work," the NPC stubbornly repeated the phrase again. "Sigh," Bloom shook his head, "you''re such a helpless guy." Bloom ignored him while walking after his pets. In two hours they managed to clear the entire forest while Bloom gained twenty thousand dark points out of the fallen monsters. "Let''s see if this damn monster is around," Bloom muttered and the NPC just kept whining on the side. They crossed the safe zone without any pause while Bloom stopped on the edge of the eighth forest. "As expected," he muttered before taking his bow and released a hundred arrows to turn one hundred monsters to his pets. When his pets entered the eighthyer, they were treated with hostility from every other monster there. The groups in this forest were tightly packed, while each group had around one hundred monsters each. With the addition of the new pets, and the order Bloom gave to the thousand dolls of his; the fight started to be quite bnced. "You" the NPC was just shocked to see what Bloom did. "And you dare to call yourself a man? Hiding behind girls to fight for you!" "They are my weapons, and this is the proper way to treat them," Bloom just said before stepping into the eighthyer. He didn''t participate in the fight, nor summoning his clones. He kept walking slowly behind while releasing arrows from time to time to rece those fallen ones. During the next four hours, they met thousands of monsters and they were all killed; yet not a single Grator appeared. Bloom was dying to try out his new scroll. During these hours, three more quests werepleted and he gained three hundred thousand more dark points. As he gained all these points, he didn''t keep his hand anymore and released one hundred arrows to add more to his army of pets. When he reached the next safe zone, his pets stabilized at two hundred and fifty, while his dolls had some losses and were now seven hundred only. "Sigh, you are such a heartless man!" the NPC didn''t stop nagging him and Bloom just ignored him. "Move out to the nextyer," Bloom didn''t hesitate to make his army move. "What are you on fire for? Let''s first scout the area and see if that monster was around," the NPCined, yet Bloom moved forward and didn''t change his orders. The ninthyer could be best described as a sea of monsters. When Bloom noticed the dense poption of these monsters, he was tempted to try out his new toy, but he refrained. "The higher the monster''s grade, the wiser they be," Bloom reminded himself with the famous rule of the games. "Tsk, see? In less than one hour we lost half of the beauties!" the NPCined, before adding, "and your pets are almost extinct. Why don''t you use this magical bow of yours and rece them?" Chapter 156: The Purgatory Fire Scroll Chapter 156: The Purgatory Fire Scroll Bloom didn''t answer, as since he entered thisyer he felt like two eyes were ring at him. He kept his hand from spending off his dark points. "The time wille for me to spend them all," he muttered as he believed he was eyed already by the Grator. But after another half an hour he couldn''t stand by and did nothing. The pets almost died and his dolls had less than two hundred. "Tsk, you''re quite a patient one," Bloom took his bow and checked his points. They escted to reach one million figure, yet he had the belief this wasn''t enough. He released the arrows and spent two hundred thousand points to turn two hundred monsters to be his pets. "At least they won''t consume the daily points at the end of the day," he tried to console himself by this big hole leaking out his points and consuming them non-stop. The sudden rise of his pets turned the tide and during the next three hours he kept moving steadily forward. "Damn! When are you nning to appear?" Bloom cursed out loud all of sudden when he noticed the nearby end of thisyer. "What are you talking about?" the NPC asked like a moron, and Bloom was about to speak when he noticed a shadow on the far distance moving between the thick veil of trees and sea of monsters. "It''s there," he muttered, "was he waiting in the safe zone all this time?" Bloom didn''t know if that monster was trying to mock him or what, but he knew that Grator chose that spot so he would make all this effort of crossing the ninthyer be blown in the wind. "We need to run," the NPC finally noticed the grand appearance of Grator on the distance, "it''s waiting for us at the safe zone, we need to run away now," he shouted and Bloom just ignored him. For Bloom he wanted to try his scroll over that monster. "Stay here," he simply said before adding, "keep the girls with you." "What are you doing?" the NPC screamed while Bloom passed through the distance remaining before reaching the end of the forest. The fight was still going on everywhere, but the remaining monsters were low in numbers; he could easily avoid them by taking some detours. When he reached the edge of the safe zone, he saw the giant monster waiting for him with a smirk look on his face. It was just as the NPC described, panther body and giant head full of horns. It was standing on two legs now while showing a smart expression of mockery over his face. "You are such a sly monster, y''know," Bloom smirked before passing towards the safe zone while taking the bow back and holding the scroll in his hand. "Roar!" the next moment the monster roared while two huge ore clubs appeared in two hands. "Moment of truth," Bloom muttered before adding, "Activate the purgatory fire scroll." "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." The next moment the monster was already upon Bloom waving its two clubs towards him, yet the fire started to rage from the scroll outward; like ferocious ocean waves in the middle of a mighty storm. "Boom!" The moment the fire appeared, wave upon wave hit the monster repeatedly without any pause, sending its giant body flying backward while a series of explosions appeared one after another. Bloom watched in anticipation and the next moment the monster started to take damage. "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" "50k" Ten rows of massive damage appeared in the next ten seconds, each rted to one wave hitting the monster. Bloom just stood stupefied with these great numbers, while his mind had some guesses already. "So using the scroll by a dark yer created all this difference? Or what?" he muttered while watching the long HP bar of that monster be depleted by ten percent. "phew, I only need ten of these attacks then," he muttered before adding: "Activate the purgatory fire scroll." "System alert: the yer just used the scroll and he needs to wait for ten more seconds to be able to use it again." "What the hell?!!" This wasn''t in Bloom''s calctions at all. He hurriedly opened the details of the scroll and he didn''t find anything referring to such cooldown time! "Damn you, developers," he cursed before his mind spinned to find a solution. "Ten seconds with me facing this monster in the open, tsk, this isn''t a good thing," he muttered before he started to run. The ninthyer was just behind him, and he didn''t dare to go there. He was sure the rest of the monsters there were all killed by his single attack right now. So he ran towards the tenthyer. The safe zones weren''t such big ces, yet he needed almost a minute to cross it if he ran madly like this. The attack just tossed the monster away from him, yet he didn''t feel that confident about crossing theyer sessfully on his own. "Roar!" "Damn," Bloom cursed the moment that monster got freed from the effect of his scroll, "I need to keep it busy," he hurried to add, "shade doppelganger festival." Fifteen dark clones appeared instantly and he hurried to shout: "Seven go and stop that maniac and the reste with me." Just as he finished, the clones did what he asked them for. They moved in two different directions and Bloom didn''t need to turn to see the result of those seven who went to stop the monster. "Boom!" "Boom!" Just two hits from the monster''s clubs and he realized all his clones back there were finished for. Just as he was getting closer to the forest, the shockwave of these clubs'' attacks justnded on his body, carrying him further to the front. "-10000" Chapter 157: The Gigantic Stone Wall Chapter 157: The Gigantic Stone Wall "Damn!" he cursed just as hended at the edge of the forest. He turned to nce at the high damage of the shockwave alone. "What is the damage of the direct hit then?" he muttered and he didn''t need to guess. "I''ll be doomed if I got hit!" he knew he couldn''t match that monster''s brutality head on. "Time to shift strategies," he turned to nce at the angry monster which was running on two feet. "Still holding back? Tsk," Bloom didn''t mind this as he turned to the forest, took out the bow and released arrows without pause. All the monsters in front of him turned instantly to his pets. Yet he wasn''t that much excited about such an oue. He knew if these pets met that tyrant, they would instantly be killed! "Let me use you then for my best interest," he smirked as he put away the bow and took out his two swords before muttering, "Dash!" He moved instantly to enter the forest where monsters filled it to the brim. He just aimed at the furthest monster he could reach and just as he hit it, the monster was stunned for around three seconds only. "That level difference damn!" he cursed when he realized he was facing monsters in their true levels, not affected by the skill of that coward NPC. Bloom didn''t stop there as the next moment he targeted his sword towards another distant monster and muttered: "Dash!" He moved again and he justnded when he noticed the surrounding monsters were about to sh up with him. "Roar!" And just behind them, that Grator giant was racing to reach him. "Activate the purgatory scroll," he sheathed one sword in a hurry as he took out his scroll. He had to act fast before he would be crushed by all these angry monsters! "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." It was his second time using the scroll, yet the effect it had didn''t cease to amaze him. "Incredible!" he just muttered when he saw the huge damage everything around him received. Even the trees were lit up in fire as well! He stood motionless for a couple of seconds before hurrying to run to the depth of the forest. "Run after me, don''t lose my sight," he shouted to his clones who just lost one in the short exchange that happened just now. As for his pets, they simply moved to the front without the need for him to say anything. Ten seconds passed before he heard the furious roars of that monster again. The area of miles around him was literally void of any monster, yet once the fire ceased, other monsters started toe from the depth of the forest. "Tsk, I have to wait for ten more seconds," he turned to nce at the Grator to see it was sent flying to the safe zone. "Great," he said before turning to wee the iing enemies. "Dash!" Just as the two sides went closer to each other, his pets were the first to sh, then he used his dash to move himself deeper in their lines. For him, he just hoped his time would allow him to run all the way to the end of thisyer. But he knew he had to use the scroll so many times to make it that far. "I just hope more quests to finish in time before I run out of dark points," he said as he noticed that Grator had some of its HP regenerated,pensating part of the damage it received so far. Just as he hit the monster and stunned it for three seconds, he used another dash to move himself further. This time he wasn''t pressured so close by the Grator, so he just bid his time linking a third skill. "Dash piercer!" He jumped three meters in the air beforending on the head of a monster lying a dozen meters away. The damage the monster received was negligent, only two thousand only, making him want to cry! As he reached this far, and while the Grotar was just three hundred meters behind, he took out the scroll and activated it. "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." Bloom didn''t even pause a second there as he started running. His aim was to bypass all the monsters and run as far as possible from that maddened Grator. "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." . . . "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." He kept using his scroll for twenty times in a row. He didn''t have time to even check his own points, yet at the end of his twentieth time, he finally spotted the end of thatyer. "Wow, that wall" he muttered when he spotted a gigantic stone wall showing up from this distance like a small line on the horizon. "The end is near," heughed and this time he wasn''t that much afraid anymore. Despite losing all his clones for three times so far, and losing almost most of the pets he had, he now felt so close to reach his target. Just he didn''t calcte for something. "Activate the purgatory fire scroll." "System alert: the purgatory fire scroll needs fifty thousand dark points to be activated. Activation failed as the yer is too poor to ask for riches beyond his reach." "Damn!" he cursed as he was just in the middle of a sea of monsters. The Grator was already catching up from behind, only two hundred meters away. In this spot he was targeted by fifty monsters at the same time! "I need to act fast," he didn''t have time to even consider his options; he just let his instinct guide him and used the skill at thest moment. "Darkness nihility skill!" The moment he used it, he vanished instantly while all the monsters and even the Grator lost his aggro at the next moment. "Roar! The Grotar roared in anger while it vented down its fury over the still living poor clones and pets. As for Bloom, he wiped a cold sweat over his forehead before turning around and running with his tail in his teeth towards the distant wall. "One minute, one minute, one minute," he kept muttering this to himself while he kept running with all his strength. He even used a couple of dashes to help him cross distance faster. "Damn! Why that wall is so damn away!!" he cursed as he passed half the duration of the skill and still had not reached the wall. "Let''s see my options then," he opened his skill list and started reading them fast. "Sigh, only thest skill can be used when things turn ugly," he closed the skill list before shaking off his head. "I just wanted it to be used at the end of theyer, at that distant wall." There was only less than twenty seconds left in the duration of his skill. "Let''s try this one then shadow steps!" He rarely used this skill, and for him it wouldn''t help much as all the monsters here could spot and attack him if he used it alone. "This speed, hahaha," just as he used it, his speed soared and he didn''t hesitate to move faster towards the wall. As the seconds passed fast, the end of his skills drew near. He knew the moment it would end he would be doomed. "Damn! I still not want to use that one now!" he cursed. Chapter 158: Reaching the Gate Chapter 158: Reaching the Gate Just as he got closer to the wall, it became more gigantic to his eyes. From his current close distance, he managed to see the outer structure of it alongside the main gate that lied in the distance. "Damn! I''m way off the gate!" he cured out loud before changing his course. It was toote to do that as the stealth skill he had was about to finish. "I have to fight my way towards the gate then," he didn''t hesitate to take out his two swords while his skill ended. Just as he finished, he wasn''t instantly detected by monsters as he thought. But in five seconds, the monsters roared as they sniffed his scent. "It''s time to act then, dash!" he didn''t wait for the monsters to attack as he attacked first. His body moved towards a distant monster, and when he hit it, his skill was cancelled and he appeared in flesh in the middle of a dense group of monsters. "Roar!" They roared yet he didn''t keep his hand as he used another dash and moved instantly towards a different monster lying dozens of meters away. As he hit the monster he linked the skill with dash piercer skill, moving again towards the gate. "I have to buy myself a little time," he didn''t hesitate to use his clone skills. "shadow doppelganger festival!" The next moment fifteen shades appeared and he was surrounded by them. "Protect me," he shouted before adding, "sky piercer!" His body moved instantly towards a distant monster. Midway he muttered: "Cloud of fog!" Just as hended on top of the monster, he pointed his sword to another one, then another, and he kept jumping from monster to another, crossingrge distances in no time. "Roar!" Just as hended at thest monster he heard the angry roars of that gigantic one far from behind. "Scary detection range," he muttered before hurrying to point his sword towards one distant monster and muttered, "dash!" He moved to hit the monster and get much closer to the gate, yet the monsters around were already targeting him, and the earth started to tremble from the hooves of that gigantic monstering hot towards him. "It''s moving on four now, tsk," Bloom shook his head in helplessness while pointing his sword towards a distant monster as he muttered: "Dash!" He moved and hit the monster while stunning it. Yet he wasn''t at his target, as that gate was still a mile away at least from his current location. "It''s almost here, damn! It''s so fast!!" Bloom cursed as he turned to gaze upon the nearing shadow of that monster among the trees. It was moving in such domineering momentum, crushing trees on the sides and throwing off many monsters to the air. "Is this how my sent to fly works?" He bitterlyughed before using hisst avable moveable skill he had. "Hawk!" to make his body jump twice in a row, while evading endless attacks andnding finally on top of one of the monsters. "Roar! You''re dead!'''' The monster had already reached him and Bloom had no other way around. "Tsk, I just wanted to use it at the end, but I have to do it now," he shook his head while standing finally still, like giving up, while tens of monsters were already aiming at him, and that gigantic Grator was almost about to reach him. "Darkness might!" He simply muttered and just as everything around him was about to move and kill him, the skill was activated and everything suddenly got silenced! "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Damn you yer!" The monsters all roared and the Grator was also affected by the skill. Darkness might skill: Any monster attacking the yer during the time of the skill will get a fear effect no matter what level or grade it was for thirty seconds. Monsters affected will run havoc, evading the yer with their attack, and might cause some damage to others during these thirty seconds. yer attacks during the thirty second period are valid, while monster attacks against yer aren''t. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: one minute. He checked the skill before and he knew this one was his trump card. It would affect everything no matter grade or level the target was. as the monsters affected reached hundreds, chaos suddenly erupted. "I should keep moving, this skill will buy me only ten seconds," he hurried to run towards the gate, trying to cross that distance in these seconds. And just as he kept heading towards the gate, his skill kept turning more monsters into enemies, while he moved closer to the gate. "Hopefully it won''t need time to activate," he muttered to himself yet he was pretty sure this would act like any treasure chest; with waiting time! Just as the ten seconds passed, he still had more than half of the distance ahead, yet the effect of his skill was still kicking for another twenty seconds. "Dash!" As he lost the deterring effect he had, he didn''t hesitate to use his dash towards one distant monster. His body moved, and he simply evaded many attacks this way. Just as hended, he linked it with another dash and cloud of fog skill, which gave him five more dashes. He kept jumping like a monkey from a monster to another, and when he finallynded, he had already gotten so near to the gate. Yet the monsters didn''t stop harassing him. "Damn, these game developers really hated my old version of I," he cursed out loud while trying to reach the gate faster than the monsters'' attacks. "sky piercer." "hawk." "Dash piercer." "Darkness absorption." "Darkness rebound." "Breaker piercer." "Slice." "Pause." "Slice." "Dash." "Dash." He used everything he had without even thinking. He only had that gate in sight as a target and nothing else. Finally he reached the gate with Hp almost depleted. The moment he reached there he put one hand over the gate, another took out Hp potion and gulped it, while praying for the gate to instantly open. Chapter 159: A Desperate Fight Against the Grator Chapter 159: A Desperate Fight Against the Grator "System alert: yer has reached the final door of the fallen mines. Behind lies many riches and huge opportunities. yer has proven himself worthy to reach this stage, and he has to endure for one minute until the gate opens." "Damn you!!!" he raised his head to the sky as he cursed the developers. "Why are you so dead fixated on getting me killed and losing this quest?" he was feeling injustice and enraged, while watching an endless stream of monsters heading towards him, with that gigantic Grator running wild among them. "I''m doomed," heughed before throwing the empty Hp bottle on the ground and taking out the fire scroll. "Screw you all, if I''m going to fall and lose then I won''t do it without a fight. Activate the goddamn scroll!" He didn''t put any hope on this scroll as the next moment he put it away before taking his two swords out and was about to move to fight this helpless one. "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." "What?!!" he was shocked yet the next moment when he saw the fire wavesing out from him, he knew this was true and not a mind trick out of his desperation. "Hahaha, now I have a chance," heughed while watching the fire moving in a mile radius and killing everything there. And that Grator was sent to fly in the air, falling hundreds of meters away from him with each wave hitting it. "Hahaha, c''mon, weren''t you just acting strong and might?" Bloom just lost his mind out of his desperation. He knew the scroll could buy him almost fifteen seconds, but no more. He needed one minute, and he knew even with it, he would be that invincible. "System alert: yer has risen a level." Just amidst his despair as he watched the fire dying out, he received this silly notification that made himugh. "What''s the benefit, damn developers? I''m going to die anyway and lose this quest!" he was frustrated, he never felt like this except back in his crumbled game. He watched the emptiness around before muttering, "should I run around?" he was thinking of his options. That gigantic monster had less than twenty percent of its Hp when it roared in anger. It was even feeling more frustration and humiliation from fighting Bloom. "Nah, I won''t make it," when Bloom saw the fast speed of that Grator, he instantly dropped the idea of hide and seek game. "it moves goddamn fast!" heined while gritting his teeth, "nothing left but a head on fight." Just as he was prepared to move using his dash, system notification came in that changed everything! "System alert: yer has stored enough death drops to activate his sword death drop convert skill. yer can use the skill before any attack he desires and the effect will be added instantly." "System alert: yer has stored enough death drops to activate his sword death drop convert skill. yer can use the skill before any attack he desires and the effect will be added instantly." The two alerts startled him and made him even pause. "Show the death drop convert skill info," he muttered, as he had no good recollection about it. Death drop convert skill: Passive skill. the sword will store tiny portions of any killed souls under it, be it yers, monsters, creatures, beings, or NPCs. Each one thousand absorbed fractions would gather to form one death drop. Death drops can''t be used except by the sword to cause a single explosive attack with one thousand percent increase in damage caused by any yer skills for each drop. Death drops can be stored forever." "Wow! What the f*ck is that?!!!" he totally missed this skill amidst hisrge tree of skills, yet when he read its description again he felt adrenaline pumped in his veins and his hope was revived by it. "I should n it wise, after all I have only two shots here," he muttered beforeughing, "I know what I should do with that monster." His gaze changed from being deste to such a defying burning re. "Are you calling yourself the guardian of these mines? Pathetic! A worthless worm would do much better than you did!" Bloom didn''t wait for the Grator to reach him before he shouted and purposely insulted him. The Grator roared in anger while screaming: "Just wait, I swear I will kill you in one hit, just one hit. Don''t be a coward and run away you damn rat!" "C''mon, I''m all over here waiting for that mighty Grator to fulfill its promises, hehehehe," Bloom replied to instigate more wrath inside the Grator. "Come closer you damned monster,e and try me out!" he muttered to himself before the Grator was almost tens of meters in front of him before it stopped running on four and suddenly got itself straightened. "Die you fool!" it screamed and at this moment, Bloom started to act. "Darkness absorption skill!" he just activated one skill before pointing his hand towards the Grator and added, "pause!" The Grator was about to hit him with two of its legs,nding them heavily upon his head while the air whistled just from the might of this strike. Yet it instantly paused and Bloom did the weirdest thing ever! He stretched his hands and touched the legs. "System alert: yer has absorbed the tornado leg skill sessfully. Skill will be stored for one day for the yer to use. The number of remaining uses of the darkness absorption skill is one." "Yes," Bloom didn''t mind the horrifying twenty thousand damage he just received which appeared on top of his head. He knew he was this close from leveling up and refreshing his own Hp again. "C''mon," he didn''t hesitate to point his sword towards the Grator as he muttered: "Dash!" Chapter 160: Finally! Chapter 160: Finally! The dash hit the monster and made it stunned for three seconds. Bloom hurried to show the details of the stored skills inside his skill. "Ground might dash skill: Active skill. Moveable skill. yer will dash towards the target sending it flying backwards for fifty meters. During the dash distance, the target wouldn''t be able to react and be stunned. Afternding, the target will gain extra five seconds of stun as bonus. Damage equals three hundred percent of the yer''s Atp. Cooldown: one minute." "Tornado leg skill: Active skill. chain skill. yer has the power to unleash five hundred percent of his attack through a mighty kick. The skill is stronger when using special boots for it. Once used, the kick would create a strong miniature tornado that will hit the target and lose its bnce. The target hit by it will rotate in the air for the duration of the skill, losing what''s equal to five hundred percent damage of the yer''s base damage per second. duration: thirty seconds. cooldown: one hour." "Damn! My luck shifts really quick, hahaha," heughed before muttering, "it''s time for you to die on my hands, death drop convert skill." "System alert: yer has activated the death drop convert skill. The stored one thousand death drops will be consumed. In return the next attack yer does with the sword will have extra one thousand percent damage." The monster wasn''t fazed by Bloom''s deration and it was pretty sure Bloom couldn''t do anything to its gigantic Hp bar. Bloom evilly smiled while pointing the activated sword which shone with dark aura as he muttered: "Ground might dash skill!" The next moment he felt his body being torn by massive energy forcing himself and his sword to hit the Grator and take it with him flying for fifty meters in the middle of the air. "Damn! That feels good!" Bloomughed while his sword was pushing the Grator forward, and the Grator couldn''t resist this attack. "Is this all you got?" the Grator knew this one was a strong skill, but it was so confident that Bloom wouldn''t be able to deplete its Hp in this one attack. "Watch me," Bloom sneered before doing something crazy! He hit the boot he had with his sword, damaging part of it while the sword hilt went deeply into his boot. "I promise this will be your doomsday on my leg," he deeply said before muttering: Death drop convert skill. "System alert: yer has activated the death drop convert skill. The stored one thousand death drops will be consumed. In return the next attack yer does with the sword will have extra one thousand percent damage." "Die you bastard Tornado leg skill!" "This is my skill you thief! You damn thief!" The Grator''s face changed the moment it heard the skill Bloom used. The next moment Bloom felt his leg being torn apart by massive energy that moved it to hit the Grator. "Die!" he aimed towards the chest, while the leg hit the gigantic monster, creating a small tornado underneath the boot and magnified by one thousand percent from the sword fixed into it. The next moment his boot was torn apart and even Bloom himself was sent flying backward. His sword fell on the ground while the Grator was sent backward surrounded by a huge tornado that covered its gigantic body. "Curse you! Curse you thief! This isn''t a fair fight! Not a fair one!" The Grator kept cursing and screaming while its body was hacked by thebined attacks Bloom just used. "This is an unfair fight from the beginning, moron," Bloom stood up with some difficulty while ignoring the pain he felt in his bare foot. His full attention was attracted to the Grator and watched the crazy damage appearing on top of its head per second eating the remaining Hp away. "Finally," he sighed, and all of sudden he felt greatly exhausted from standing. His body crashed on the ground while he only had a wide grin over his face. "I did it, hehehe," heughed while feeling each inch of his body aching after this stressful fight. The monster was still hacked by the attack heunched, and during this period, any other monster that dared toe near was taken as coteral damage. In thirty seconds, Bloom enjoyed this melody of monster screams with the pain all over his body. Everything ended by sudden silence and a system notification. "System alert: congrattion for the yer for killing the Grator monster, the guardian of the fallen mines and the boss monster of the quest." "System alert: yer has risen a level." "System alert: yer has risen a level." "Wow, two levels in one go? That''s really amazing!" Bloom knew if he was alone, he would have risen much more than this. But he was still in the group with many dolls, and his dolls'' appetite for Xp wasn''t any lesser than him. "I hope they are fine," he muttered before opening the group to check upon their state. They had decreased from the initial one thousand girls to the low number of one hundred and twenty. "Sigh, I lost a lot," he shook his head before getting a scare of their levels. "Holy cow! They are at level thirty-five!" he shouted in shock even his body straightened up. "That''s insane!" he nced again to see their levels again and made sure he wasn''t deluded by the ecstasy of his victory. "They are really over thirty," he muttered, "and the highest is the thirty-five monster one," heughed as he closed the group info. "This way I have nothing to worry about Panty." He wanted to have some rest, yet he knew that Moron would go andplete his task any moment soon. He couldn''t risk not being in the game when he did it. "I hope he isn''t that rash and be a good puppy, waiting for me to return home, hehehe." He nced over the Grator monster which lied dead there. "Strange, shouldn''t his body disappear by now?" he muttered but he noticed therge number of monsters heading towards him. "I hope there is another use for my scroll," he had no strength left to fight anymore, so he took out his scroll and muttered: Activate it. "System alert: yer has used the purgatory fire scroll. All hostile enemies in one mile around the yer will be affected. Fifty thousand dark points are deducted from the yer ount." "Lucky me.'' He stored the scroll while moving back towards the gate. "It should be open by now," he muttered and just as he reached it, and during the purgatory fire erupted behind, he received another system alert. "System alert: congrattion for the yer to open the gate and finallypleting the quest. yer has the choice to summon all his group and the NPC responsible for the quest directly. yer shall advance and receive his rich rewards from inside." "Finally," he heaved a long sigh of relief before adding, "summon everyone then." The next moment he felt a gush of wind followed by the appearance of his living girls around. The NPC also appeared, and when he noticed Bloom, he instantly shouted: "You rascal! Did you really kill the Grator?" Chapter 161: The Mysterious Person Chapter 161: The Mysterious Person Bloom just smiled as he was really exhausted while saying: "Sure, I managed to y it." "All on your own?" the NPC asked. "Of course I wouldn''t be if certain someone wasn''t cking behind." "Tsk," the NPC shook his head, "don''t me me for that. Who told you to be so impulsive and run on your own." Bloom nced over the NPC as he muttered: "What do you mean by that?" "I should have helped you at the final battle," the NPC shook his head before adding, "but you did it all on your own." Bloom was speechless there for a moment. "You never said anything like this before!" he shouted in rage and he had all the right to feel so! He was almost killed. "Don''t me me," the NPC acted innocent, "I''m not the one who ran wild and left the dolls behind." "Tsk," Bloom shook his head before adding, "let''s go, the gate is open." He turned to watch the gates cracked slightly open. "Push it open," he ordered and the next moment his girls moved to push it wide. Just as he was supposed to move inside, he didn''t. "What''s wrong?" the NPC asked. "Nothing," Bloom checked the ck market interface, finding his dark points rising up again above two hundred thousands. "Wait me here, I''lle in a minute," he added before taking out his bow and went directly towards the nearby monsters. "I need to save some for Panty," he smirked whileunching a hundred arrows turning a hundred monsters into his pets. "Tsk, I''ll miss this ce here," he shook his head before adding: "Turn them all into tokens." "System alert: each one will consume a thousand dark points. Do you agree?" "Agreed." "System alert: a hundred monster tokens are now lying inside the yer''s inventory. yer can use them anytime to summon the monsters." "Thanks," Bloom was feeling excited as he went towards the gate finally, leaving behind an army of angry monsters trying to reach him. "Let''s go inside," he shouted when he neared the gates, and everyone moved in with him. The moment they entered there, a transparent shield suddenly erupted, cutting the road over the rest of the monsters to reach them. "It''s a safe zone," Bloom sighed while feeling much tired from this quest. "Let''s end the quest, what do you need then?" he asked. "Nothing you don''t have," the NPCughed before pointing towards the long tunnel, "let''s go first and get your rewards." Bloom didn''t understand the full meaning of the NPC, yet he followed his words and went directly towards the tunnel. The tunnel wasn''t narrow, but with the presence of his one hundred and twenty girls it appeared tight. They walked for ten minutes, while the NPC only remained silent while Bloom stole nces towards him from time to time. When they arrived at the end of this creepy tunnel, a small room appeared. There was nothing much there; only a closed treasure chest with a strange interface appearing on top of it, plus a portal. "Here we are," the NPC said in a theatrical move, dies and gentlemen, here I represent the crown jewel of the quest, of the mines, of my life; the treasure room." "You call this small chest a treasure room?" one of the girls chuckled while giving a harsh remark over his words, making him blush instantly. "Mydy, listen to my advice and leave that good for nothing yer. My name is also Bloom, so you won''t feel the difference." "Hehehe, the difference isn''t just in the name, Bloom," the girlughed while she whispered with some others around her and then they allughed while ncing at certain spots of his body. "What? C''mon, I can prove to you I''m one hundred percent better!" the NPC shouted in embarrassment, while Bloom just patted on his shoulders. "Drop it man, they are all mine," Bloom simply said. "I can grant you one more try to gain a treasure from here, just give me some," the NPC tried to bribe Bloom who simplyughed and shrugged. "It''s not possible, let''s just go and collect the rewards," Bloom said before pointing towards the treasure chest and the hanging panel above it. "What''s this all about? Huh?" "Tsk," the NPC showed his discontent, while adding, "stingy," but Bloom just ignored him and went directly towards the chest. The interface was closed at the moment, with a dark screen and nothing appearing over it. Bloom just checked it to find no clue. "How can I activate it? And is this my reward?" he pointed towards the screen and as he did, the screen suddenly lit up, startling him. "Wee yer Bloom," these words appeared with no sound at all, written on the screen. "You have done brilliantly well in this quest, going miles above my own expectations." Bloom felt some weirdness in the words and the way this screen wasmunicating with him. "Who are you?" he asked. "A friend," the screen showed the answer, "a friend from the real world." The answer startled Bloom more, making him instantly vignt. "Who are you? CEO board member? A developer?" "Hehehe," theughing silent words looked more scary than the realugh itself. "You can consider me both." "Have we met?" Bloom asked. "No, I was too busy to attend your brilliant performance," the screen answered before the words were reced, "but let me tell you I watched your performance over a dozen times already." "You look a bit lonely," Bloomughed, trying to hide his own nervousness. "It''s weird that the NPC we doomed as failure carries the same name as you. And you among all people help him to survive and end this trial." Bloom felt a hand clenching his chest before saying, "this is just a strange coincidence." "I agree," the screen replied, "it''s strange indeed." "What do you want?" Bloom suddenly asked. "I believe you didn''t show up yourself to me without proper reason." "It''s nothing," the screen showed these words before recing them with another, "I just wanted to tell you a piece of advice." "Tell then," Bloom said while he had a bad omen towards this mysterious person. "Drop it," the screen showed these words and paused on them. "Drop what exactly?" "The meaningless race you have with Dockrey," the screen showed the answer before the words got reced, "Dockrey is destined to be the next president of our corps, not you." "Wow," Bloom muttered before adding, "do you love Dockrey this much? I suggest you go and marry him then," he sneered while the screen changed. "I can''t leak your ID to anyone, or else I personally will be punished severely. So, I can only promise you this: if you don''t concede and retreat, I''ll make sure each step you take in the game will be in your own blood and pain." "Humph," Bloom wasn''t fazed by these empty threats, "I know you yed a couple of times in thest quest at least to stop me, but you know as I know stopping me is impossible." "Don''t be arrogant and listen to friendly advice." "Don''t be mean and fuck off!" Bloom said it in a very strong and domineering tone. "Sigh, you''ll regret this; I promise." Bloom read these words which remained on the screen for a couple of moments before a normal interface appeared once more in front of his eyes. Despite the interface showing a long list of rewards, he wasn''t that excited anymore. "I have to find him," Bloom muttered, "and when I do I''ll make sure no one will ever hear of him ever again!" "Are you alright?" the NPC suddenly asked. "What?" Bloom turned to him in a bad mood, "haven''t you seen what just happened?" he casually added. "What happened?" the NPC yet didn''t understand his meaning, "you just reached there and stood motionless for a moment while giving me an eerie vibe," he added, and Bloom suddenly knew what happened. "Damn," he cursed while saying, "it''s nothing, just tell me what''s all this about?" he pointed to the interface and the luster of himpleting the quest faded away. "These are the pool of rewards from my own treasury," the NPC grinned while adding, "as you finished the quest in such outstanding way, you have the right to choose three rewards randomly, plus one designated reward ording to your own choice." "Meaning?" "See these items?" the NPC pointed to the screen and Bloom just inspected it without much interest at first. "Damn!" he shouted in surprise when he saw all these items. "What do you think? Satisfied now? Hehehe," the NPCughed before adding, "if you granted me some of your dolls, I can add one extra choice by you. Think wisely, this chance won''t be repeated again." Bloom sneered before adding, "no thanks, I prefer to have my own choices here," he then nced in much interest towards all the rewards. "You said I can choose one and leave three to fate?" he asked. "Yup," the NPC was still groaning over his stinginess, "see this one here? I suggest you take it." "The egg hatcher?" Bloom read the item description to find it was all about the egg he received from before. "I don''t think I would choose it as my first choice," he smiled while adding, "can I choose now?" "Sure, just select the item and the interface will bring forth to you," the NPC said before adding, "but beware, your choices can''t be reneged upon." "No problem," Bloom smiled before pointing towards a certain item as he added, "I want this one." "The portable hidden dark fallen mines dungeon orb?" the NPC was surprised to see Bloom''s choice, "are you sure man? This is the worst thing I have in my treasury! Worth nothing, absolutely nothing!" Chapter 162: Four Rewards Instead of Three Chapter 162: Four Rewards Instead of Three "It''s worth a lot to me," Bloom just inwardly sneered before saying: "I like it, at least I''ll have something to remind me of this adventure." "You''ve those," the NPC was stubborn as he pointed towards the dolls but Bloom totally ignored him. "System alert: Congrattions for the yer to gain the portable hidden dark fallen mines dungeon orb as a reward of finishing his quest." "The portable hidden dark fallen mines dungeon orb: Rare item. The orb is linked to one dark fallen mine dungeon, where yer can enter and face the same dark fallen mine he just cleared. The dungeon''s level and difficulty will be tailored to match the yer''s current level. yer can use the orb to allow for a team of a hundred yers to enter with him. yer can open the dungeon and allow others to enter but he wouldn''t. the dungeon can be exited by clearance, or by team wiped out. The dark mine monsters will drop the same items they drop during the yer''s quest, plus some materials, normal gold coins, and gears from time to time. To use the orb the yer has to pay one hundred thousand dark points each time, and the yer can summon it once per day." "Wow," Bloom muttered to himself, "this is really epic! But the cost" he nced again at the high cost of summoning the dungeon. "One hundred thousand, I doubt killing all the monsters will give me this amount even," he was confused before he thought of something. "They put into consideration the quests I''d get when killing these monsters," he bitterly smiled before closing the window, "nothing is free in this world." He moved his gaze upon the treasure interface. "You said I can randomly have three tries?" "Yes," the NPC was still mad at him for choosing such a low item. "But I can see four golden icons, not three," Bloom pointed towards the screen as he added, "that means I have four?" The NPC moved to the interface, closely observing it. "Strange," he muttered, "the fourth is a system forced gift for you, meaning the system has a surprise for you to take," the NPCughed before adding, "I''m sure it''ll be the egg hatcher, hehehe." "What''s all about this egg hatcher of yours," Bloom shook his head before ncing again at the interface. "One reward is a system enforced one, really?" he had a doubt, yet he had no choice but to try things out and see. He simply clicked upon the first golden icon. The icon shone brighter for a moment before all the items inside the treasury menu shaffled fast before one stopped in front of him. "A sword?" he nced at the sword before taking it out to examine it. "A red grade sword? Wow!" he was speechless for a moment there before opening the details of this big sword. "Grator sword: Red grade heavy sword. It''s made of the spine of the Grator monster, so heavy and durable. Can''t be broken, can''t be lost, can''t allow its user to be stunned. Atp: +15000, Def: +10000, Hp: +50000. Level fifty required." Bloom nced over this sword for a moment before bitterly tossing it into his inventory. "It''s for such a long road, sigh," he wasn''t satisfied by this first reward. "I told you, you wasted your golden chance already," the NPC remarked and Bloom only selected the next icon. The icon red up before all the items inside the menu got shuffled before a single one appeared. "Shield?" Bloom sighed, "why everythinging from this box are all useless gears?" He tossed it as well in his inventory as it also needed level fifty to be wielded. "Next," he said, cutting the road over the noisy NPC to remind him again of his first choice. "A rod?" Bloom was speechless and was already about to toss it into his inventory when the description of this scepter-like rod startled him. "Wow! Just wow!" he eximed in surprise before rereading the description again. "Ding Dong Rod: Unique item. Bound only to be used by leaders. The rod is a relic of the fallen mines, something that an ancient civilization left behind. Some say it''s cursed, it was the cause of demise of this once flourishing empire, yet others see it as a mighty weapon. The rod is light, yet it carries within it the weight of a mountain. yer can wield it tounch a heavy blow to a certain target, and that target will be smashed instantly regardless of how tough it is. If it was a living being, a monster or yer, then ording to the level and grade the rod will affect the target. Yet the lowest effect is to take away half of the target Hp and render it in weak mode for one minute. No level restriction, only rank restricted to leaders. Used once per day. Can''t fall, can be traded and sold between leader ranked yers and NPCs." Bloom nced at this thick short rod in hand with white outer shell and inner golden one, ending up with a lotus-like end. "This is amazing," he muttered. "You got something nice," the NPC nodded. "What is this leader rank thing?" Bloom turned to him and said. "It''s the rank given by the vige mayors, the town magistrates, and the city governors to yers and NPCs based on their performances and quest done." Bloom nced at him for a moment there before adding, "there''s no other way other than this?" "Nope," the NPC said, before adding, "lucky for you I''m not a small fry here. I''ll speak for my city governor and let him assign a quest for you." "Who isn''t a small fry?" Bloomughed before adding, "says the one whose neck was about to be ughtered if not for me." "So I''m repaying the debt and helping you to gain the rank fast!" the NPC instantly said. "Nah, don''t y these tricks on me," Bloom was amused by the fact his past self was trying to trick his current one, "this is considered part of you paying back to me. After all your life isn''t that cheap, big shot, hehehe." Chapter 163: A Dark Trap Chapter 163: A Dark Trap The NPC just harrumphed while pointing towards the interface, "c''mon, take the final reward out. Let''s see what this system forced reward is all about." Bloom shrugged and paused for a moment there before shrugging again and then selected the fourth icon. The icon shed in golden light, and what appeared next was nothing! "System alert: congrattions for the yer to gain the highly esteemed national quest. The quest is enforced and can''t be rejected, yet the penalty of failing it still applies." "System alert: Destroy the dark forts in the empire quest: this is a special, highly esteemed national quest only issued for those who are held high in the eyes of the emperor. Having this quest means you are acknowledged by the emperor, gaining the yer a thousand point prestige in the entire empire. yer will be received and dealt with as VIP, and no one can touch a single hair of the yer in any imperial official settlements. yer has gained a rank of honorable yer, and this can be used as a title whenever the yer wishes." "System alert: Destroy the dark forts in the empire quest: assigned from the emperor to yer Bloom. yer has to seek and destroy one fort of the dark forces by himself once per week. Dying this and it will be considered as mile failure. yer will pay a penalty of ten thousand gold coins per week dy. Failing to do this for the entire month will be considered as a moderate failure. yer will have to stay in the nearest imperial settlement prison for one week to atone his crimes. Failing to do this for three months will be considered as a total failure. The emperor will issue a warning arrest, announcing the yer to be an enemy of the empire. yer can''t enter or get near any imperial settlement at all. All his belongings and stored items inside any imperial system will be confiscated. Any current imperial settlements quests will be dropped. Bounty rewards will be issued upon his head for life." "Wow!" Bloom was shocked when seeing all these punishments. "Never thought a quest will have consequences and punishments; no rewards!" "What did you get?" the NPC asked. "Some bullshit called national quest." "What the f*ck!!" the NPC was electrified like he was stung by a snake. "An imperial national quest?" he asked again in a very distressed way. "Sure, are you familiar with this?" "Familiar?" the NPC returned his head to the back as he bitterlyughed, "man, you must have pissed someone off," he muttered before returning to normal before adding: "This national shit is the thing that made me reach this lousy and sorrow state from the beginning. I had it enforced upon me once, and I failed to do one task. Just look at what I ended up to, without your help I would have been doomed." "I''m doomed!" Bloom bitterly said, while his mind was thinking about another dilemma. "Even aftering back again and trying to save myself from the desperate end, my fate followed me no matter what and I ended up by what made me end like this in the first ce weird," he thought to himself before he heard the NPC''s next words. "My type was to kill dark forts, what about yours?" "Damn!" Bloom cursed before ncing at the interface, "this isn''t fair gamey, y''know!" he shouted at the hidden person who appeared and threatened him just before. "The game is unfair, we all know that," the NPC muttered. "Who are you referring to?" Bloom shook his head while the NPC showed a panicked expression like he said something he shouldn''t. "Don''t mind this, now what do you n to do?" "I will try to force my way to make this quest fulfilled," he sighed. "What''s your time window? A month?" the NPC asked. "A week." "Wow, that''s much harsher than mine," the NPC nodded before adding, "As you have my quest, I can help you with intel." Bloom nced at him. "Tell me everything you know," he said, before adding, "and what''s the benefit of such a quest anyway? I have no rewards at all!" "Nah, you got your reward already." "Which is?" "The prestige rank," the NPC said, before adding, "or how else do you think I got my current status in themunity raised? By fulfilling each task, you''ll get a bonus of prestige." He paused before starting to brag, "My current rank is imperial viscount, which is something very high if you know what I mean." "Tsk, not worth the trouble," Bloom said before adding, "just tell me the info. What is the level of these dark forts? How many do I need to prepare?" he then paused before adding, "what are the consequences of stirring the ho nest?" "Wise and clever," the NPCmended before seriously adding, "the issue isn''t at first. Your first forts will start from level zero and increase with five each time. For now it''s easy, butter when hitting the higher levels above fifty, you''ll need almost one week to raise a level or couple if you''re lucky and didn''t die inside any dungeon or at the hand of any monster." The NPC sighed before adding, "but this isn''t the scariest part of the quest. What really made me fail was the relentless hunt of me. I learnt that after finishing five quests, the dark world here will take notice of me. I heard about something called quests issued over my head by many, can you imagine that? Many dark masters put a rich ransom under my name, sigh." Suddenly Bloom was hit by a lightning bolt. "Damn! This is your trick then!!" he inwardly cursed while understanding what his hidden foe did. "If this continues, my head won''t be safe," he recalled the long list of dark quests issued by low dark yers and NPCs like him in the dark auction. He knew there were higher levels and ces for more advanced dark masters, and even thinking about having his name and tag over the quests in the lowly ck auction alone gave him a headache. "Wait a minute" his track of thoughts suddenly paused as he realized something, "did this make me the enemy of the dark side? Would I lose my ss?" this time was greatly enraged. "Alright, let''s go out then," Bloom shortly said, as he had many important things to doter on. "Sigh, take this," the NPC handed him an old parchment. "Just ce it in your inventory and we''ll be able to talk together in the usual way you yers use," the NPC added while exining, "when passing through this portal, you''ll appear in your vige and I''ll appear in my city." "Aha," Bloom nodded in understanding before saying, "you can go ahead, I''ll have a word with my dolls here." "Tsk," the NPC turned his gaze again as he was reminded of these beauties. "Won''t you change your mind?" "Just leave," Bloom wasn''t currently in the mood to deal with this lustful NPC. He watched the NPC moving unwillingly through the portal before taking a long and deep sigh. "Come my dolls," he took out their tokens before sending them all back. He started this with one hundred girls, then a thousand, and ended up with a hundred and twenty plus the tokens of another thousand to revive if he wanted at great cost. "This game" he shook his head while picturing the tworge worlds in it, "I swear this won''t be passed without a retaliation from me," his gaze turned much serious as he added, "much more serious than you can even imagine." He moved towards the portal, leaving this world behind and appearing again inside the vige. Chapter 164: Gilbert Chapter 164: Gilbert The moment he arrived at the vige main central za, his mind was buzzed by a long series of notifications. "System alert: yer Nara tried to contact you, but you were in a special zone so the attempt was a failure." "System alert: yer Muna tried to contact you, but you were in a special zone so the attempt was a failure." "System alert: yer Nara tried to contact you, but you were in a special zone so the attempt was a failure." "System alert: yer Muna tried to contact you, but you were in a special zone so the attempt was a failure." "Tsk," he shook his head while seeing all these alerts lining up like a giant train. "First things first," he muttered before opening his friend list and choosing Muna from it. "It''s amazing though how the system even considered her as a yer," he admired this little detail which made him quite sure it wasn''t this easy for Muna to be discovered. "Finally," the moment her face appeared on the floating screen she sighed in relief. "Any news for me?" he asked. "Panty came back hours ago in a very bad mood," she said and he was already anticipating this. "Anything more?" "He ordered everyone that could be bought toe and serve him in his quest," she paused before adding, "he sat the deadline of the quest to be two days from now." "Great," Bloom said without much excitement as his mind was still troubled by what happened in the lost mines, "anything else?" "Are you alright?" she asked yet he just briefly answered, "I have other things to do. Keep me posted about everything you know." He closed the call before taking a deep breath. "I can''t go on like this, I have to clear up my mind first," he muttered while knowing the perfect way to do so. "System alert: yer Nara is calling you." Before he could even move a finger, this system alert kicked in. "It seems I have to meet her before I leave." "You rascal! You left me behind and disappeared for the entire day! Entire day!!" the moment she appeared in front of him, her face reddened and she exploded with shaking fists. "Calm down," he smiled a faint one, "I told you I have a special quest to make." "You" she suddenly sensed the change of his mood, "did you fail it?" she asked. "It''s not that," he sighed before adding, "I just didn''t get what I wanted from it." "Amazing," she nced at him before adding, "I never truly understood men, you always seek strange achievements beyond sess!" "The same goes for your kin," he shortlyughed before adding, "have you found my yers?" "The leveler is easily found," she said in discontent, "that yer sigh, it fits precisely your requirements." "Great," he said before saying, "and the other one?" "We are still looking around." "Strange, I thought it would be easier to find the rmer," hemented. "All yers we talked to got excited at first before asking for a rotation deal with other members in the team. Of course I let them all down, if we would do a rotation, then what''s the need for them?" "Makes sense," he nodded before adding, "keep looking, I have something to do and then return." "Are you going to rest?" she asked in some doubt. "Sure, I haven''t had a rest since getting there," he said honestly. "Didn''t you get out of the game? Even once?" "Not a single time," he lied as he suddenly understood where her questions were leading to. "Sure? Didn''t go out, drove your car and entered a hotel for example?" "Wow, you certainly have much imagination," heughed and hisugh made her more suspicious of him. "I need to go and you have work to do," he simply said before adding, "let''s talk when I rest for a bit." "Waiting for you, my mysterious man," she muttered and he just closed the call with a simple smile over his face. "Sigh, many things need to be arranged in a short time." He nced around, the vige was much bustling with activity right now. "System alert: yer Anotan wants to add you as a friend." "Oh! That''s surely a surprise," heughed and this time he meant it while epting the add request and then sending a call. "Master," the face of Antoan appeared with slight changes over his nose bridge and chin, yet he kept his caf-auit skin and his strong physique. "I''m here." "I can see that," Bloom nodded before adding, "get out now, there are important things to discuss." Antoan has his face slightly changed before hurriedly nodding. He noticed how disturbed Bloom was, and for him this meant only one thing. "There is a big problem he is facing right now," he thought to himself while arranging things for his team then he logged out. He was ying in a room just next to the room of Bloom. So, in less than a minute he reached Bloom''s room where Bloom was just getting up from the capsule. "What''s up?" he asked, "what makes you this nervous?" "You said before we have a sponsor inside the CEO board, right?" he suddenly asked out of blue. "Sure," Antoan replied without thinking before adding with doubt, "why?" "Is he trusted?" he asked. "He is," Antoan said, "he was the sole man believing in you, one of your old man''s best friends back in the days," he exined before adding, "is there something you need out of him?" "Sure," Bloom said, "can you get a secured call with him?" "Now?" Antoan nced around, as the world ushered under the heavy curtain of thete hours of the night. "Yes, now," Bloom confirmed. "May I ask what happened?" "You''ll soon hear everything," Bloom briefly answered. "Alright," Antoan said before going back to his room and getting his screen before returning again while dialing some numbers. "He is supposed to be asleep," he muttered, shaking off his head while Bloom didn''t care about his doubts. "Just keep bothering him until he answers." "Brother whom?" suddenly the called connected and an old man appeared in front of Bloom. The moment he saw him he instantly recognized his face. It was the old man who spoke with him first on the stage, warmly weing him. "Oh, sorry to bother you," Bloom said with no sincerity in his tone, "but something strange urred and I needed to contact you to keep you briefed." "Directly to the topic," the old manughed before Antoan added, "Mr. Gilbert, sorry to bother you in thiste hour, but my master has something very urgent to discuss." The old man smiled before saying: "And I suppose you too don''t know what it is, right?" Antoan turned to Bloom who simply asked: "Is this line secured?" "Oh, it''s urgent to such a degree," the old man was sitting on afy seat when he stood up and walked inside his mansion, "wait a moment." He took out a silver suitcase before opening it and there was a device with many small screens there. He put his screen in a special ce there and pressed some buttons before the screens lit up with red values and loud peeps. It kept buzzing for seconds before everything went silent. "It''s secured now," Gilbert said before adding, "what happened?" he asked. "Did that kid try to pull a trick on you in the game?" This was the wildest thing Gilbert could think of. As his sponsor, he was the one of the main investors in this trial, making them both two men in one boat. "It happened in the game," Bloom nodded, "but not from that lousy kid, it was one of you." His words made the face of Gilbert instantly change. "No way, we are bound by heavy oaths, oaths no one dare to break!" Bloom didn''t understand his meaning before saying, "It''s, and he confessed this to me." "Tell me everything," Gilbert asked in a deep tone and troubled face. Bloom started exining what happened inside the quest, and when he finished, even Antoan standing next to him was burdened with worry. "Are you sure he said these things?" Gilbert said. "Yes," Bloom answered, "he simply threatened me and said something about how Dockrey was destined to be the next owner of the entire corps." "He said corps, not just the game?" Gilbert asked again just to make sure Bloom didn''t mix the two, and Bloom nodded. "And he said he couldn''t leak your ID because of certain punishment?" Bloom also nodded, and this time Gilbert stayed silent for long minutes without saying a single word. "This is indeed one of us," he finally sighed, with a helpless look over his face that soon turned to anger, "yet he dares to use this backdoor damn!" "Didn''t you say you were bound by an oath?" Bloom asked, "can''t you just punish him for that?" "The oath is not to leak anything rted to you two, or saying anything to threaten or endanger you," Gilbert sighed before exining, "he didn''t speak, he was too cautious to use the screen and typing words over it. This way he is safe from the punishment of breaking the oath." "Yet he threatened me," Bloom argued. "Did he?" Gilbert smiled, "he said a piece of advice to you, not something that can be bound to being a direct threat. Also he promised to make things hard on you in the game, not doing anything in the real world which is the main concern of the oath." Bloom didn''t get everything he heard but he knew this was doomed to be a headache for him. "So he used a loophole to get away with his mischievous doings, right?" Chapter 165: Arranging Things Chapter 165: Arranging Things Gilbert just sighed. "No matter how we did it, nothing will be perfect. This is the trait of being a human," he said before adding, "I''m sure now not only this mysterious man is a traitor, but more alongside him." "Is there more than the ones I saw?" Bloom said before recalling something, "yeah, he said he couldn''t attend the party in the hotel, so you can know his identity. Right?" "Tsk, not that easy kid," Gilbert said, "the rulers of the gamepany aren''t just our CEO board," he shook his head before adding, "plus he spoke of corps not a singlepany. That term ismonly used for other CEO boards of other corps belonging to ``Miss Natalie." Bloom already felt how difficult it was even before Gilbert continued, "many were invited from other CEO boards, yet few only showed up." "But this one has ess to the game system, can''t you at least pin it to those who used the system of CEO during this period?" Bloom was just stubborn to let this matter drop like this. This was a lead, a strong lead, the only lead he had and he wasn''t willing to use it. "Boy, I just came out of the game when I received the notification of your call," Gilbert said and didn''t add more. "Sigh," Bloom understood his meaning, "it''s not a clue then." "Just let it go, that man is very cautious. He would be extra careful to say or do something that might expose his true identity." "I just hoped my ID would be secured," Bloom sighed again. "This" his sudden remark made Gilbert''s eyes shine, "we can arrange a trap for him." "A trap?" Bloom had his hopes raised up again, "what trap?" he asked. "I can''t track back things in the past, but if we have a specific time where you will be more likely to meet him then I can easily know his ID." "Really?" Bloom shouted like a kid, "how can you do it? Why don''t you do it now?" "Sigh, your ID is very precious. After the beginning of the game we executed an instant delete to any data rted to you or Dockrey." "But he still reached me," Bloom was confused. "Yes, I guess we had a leak in the operational and management team," Gilbert sighed before adding, "even I didn''t know your ID so far, yet if I wanted to know I could easily do it with a simple phone call." "That''s not reassuring at all," Bloomined, "my ID could be exposed to anyone like this." "Exposed yes, but not leaked. The oath regarding leaking the ID is the heaviest one we thought of," he said before adding, "your ID and Dockrey''s ID can''t be leaked by any means, not by saying, writing, or even mentioning from far." "Hmm" Bloom wasn''t much reassured yet. "Try to ept it, it''s the furthest we ever reached in our current knowledge," Gilbert said before adding, "I now want to know your ID so I can start preparing." Bloom smiled while Gilbertughed, "c''mon kid, or do you want me to make that phone call?" "Hahaha, for me it''s best to let you know on your own," Bloom said before adding, "but I will lose the fun watching that gaze upon your face." "What gaze?" "The shocked gaze." "Hahaha," Gilbertughed amusingly with what Bloom just said, "kid, I lived longer and saw more than you ever could think of. Believe me, nothing can surprise me easily, forget even about shocking me." "We''ll see" Bloom smiled while Antoan silently sighed on the side. "My game ID is" "and let the drums rumble," Gilbert was having fun at this moment while amusingly waiting for Bloom to expose his ID. "Bloom." "" "Hahaha, this look is just priceless, hahaha," Bloomughed as he had the expected shocking expression over Gilbert''s face the moment he said his name. "Ahem," Gilbert cleared his throat, "that exins everything," he muttered in deep frown before exploding in loudughs, "hahaha, that kid, hahaha, he is already miles behind you right now." Bloom smiled and said nothing. "Oh dear, my daughter is a fanatic of you, y''know," Gilbert winked and Bloom shook his head before saying: "C''mon, we are talking about getting me into another girl, not yours." "I heard you have a big appetite, not satisfied by one and aiming for the maid," Gilbert said of this trickyment with a hidden question he had now in mind. Once he knew the true ID of Bloom moments ago, his mind linked everything and realized one simple fact. "This kid he isn''t the fool everyone took him for," he thought to himself before waiting for this indirect question. "Yeah, you can say I have a big appetite," Bloom nodded, as he avoided this tricky question embedded in Gilbert''s words. "Great, then add her to your team then," Gilbert pped while his eyes exposed the new lights he had about Bloom. He wasn''t young anymore, so that minute pause and frown of Bloom for a brief second there didn''t miss his senses. "This kid knows" he reached to such a conclusion, as only him and little trusted men of the CEO board knew about the trick Natalie''s father performed before his death. "Aren''t you afraid of her old man?" "From what?" Gilbertughed, "she is really tougher than what you think. A real gamer, not an amateur like my other kid." "Then send them both," Bloom shrugged as he didn''t care much about it, "but don''t expose me to her, alright?" "I just told you I can''t deliver anything about you to anyone no matter who," Gilbert said before smiling, "as for my little kid, he is now part of Dockrey''s team." "Wow," Bloom sincerely eximed in admiration, "I like this little mind of you." "Brilliant mind." "Old mind." "Big mind." "Can we end the call here then?" Antoan suddenly interfered in this childish exchange between the two, and his remark made them bothugh. "Sure, I''ll hit you when I''m ready," Gilbert said before ending the call from his end. "Sigh, it''s much more hard than I thought," Bloom threw his body over the couch while feeling already exhausted. "Did you think that man would easily expose himself? That oath of them isn''t that easy to meddle with," Antoan just stood in front of Bloom while checking over him for a couple of moments. "You should get some rest." "I need to," Bloom said as he squeezed his temple, "but I have no time to waste. Tell me what this oath is all about?" "I can''t say," Antoan shook his head before adding in a more serious way, "those who identally stumbled upon this secret can''t share it to anyone." "It''s not the oath about thepetition." "I didn''t mean thepetition here." Bloom gazed silently at Antoan who kept his mouth shut. "You made me curious to find out about this oath," he had his wide smile while his eyes shone with a challenging spirit. "Just forget it," Antoan sighed. "If not for your dramatic secrecy here I would have just jumped over it," Bloom shrugged, "now I want to arrange certain things before entering the game." "What things?" Antoan asked. "Did I tell you I have two IDs in the game?" Antoan nced in weirder look over him before muttering, "that''s surely unheard of." "It''s a gear," Bloom said without exining much, "and this one created another ID for me." "And?" Antoan couldn''t read his master''s mind anymore. "I want your team to be working under this ID." "That''s nothing," Antoan released a long breath, "I thought you have other tough things to arrange here." "I do," Bloom nodded, "I want you to level up fast, in less than two days you all must reach the vige stage." "But we won''t be able toe to your vige," Antoan said, "the game info in the forums and sites all spoke about such restraint." "Never mind about this," Bloom casually waved his hand, "just level up fast and be ready. I''ll send over the needed gold to make you transfer here." "Alright," Antoan nodded as he understood his master''s meaning. "Anything else?" he asked as he sensed there was more. "The Cyan studio," Bloom said before adding, "I want you to arrange a meeting with the fourth sister of them in the game soon." "By the other ID?" "Yeah," Bloom nodded, "the ID is called Sunny, and just take their IDs and let me do the contact with them." "I''ll fetch a message to miss Natalie personally then," Antoan said before adding, "when do you want to meet them?" "Now," Bloom firmly answered, "I don''t want to waste any more time." "Alright, will leave instantly and then return to arrange things in the game." Bloom watched him hurrying to leave before he sighed. "Things are getting moreplicated, tsk." He didn''t imagine such a triflepetition with ipetent kid would make things go to such lengths. "Dockrey isn''t the problem, those standing in the shadows supporting him are," he muttered before sighing, "I should wait for his return before entering the game. He stretched his body on the couch and went into deep sleep in no time. Chapter 166: Going Back to the Game Chapter 166: Going Back to the Game Bloom woke up after a few hours when Antoan returned. He didn''t need sleep as much as rest, so when Antoan approached the room, he was woken up by his footsteps alone. "Sorry, didn''t know you are sleeping, "Antoan apologized before turning to leave. "Yawn," Bloom took a long yawn before stopping Antoan, "I''m already sleeping in the capsule all the time," heughed before ncing all around. "It''s morning already? How long have you gone?" "Five hours," Antoan said, "you should need rest." "I need it," Bloom nodded before standing, stretching his body, and yawning again, "but I have many stressing matters to arrange." He fixed his gaze upon his butler before adding, "speaking of urgent matters, have you managed to deliver the message?" "Indeed." "And the response?" "The maid gave me her in-game username," Antoan smiled before adding, "her name inside is Peri." Bloom smiled as he already figured this out a long time ago. "Have you told them I''ll get in touch with her soon?" "I did," Antoan helplessly smiled, "this maid tried to squeeze me for info about your ID." He nced at his master before sighing, "I can tell you already this girl is falling into your." "Hahaha, I''m not trying to fish her," Bloomughed amusingly. "You should aim for her master, not the main, tsk," Antoanined before mumbling, "leave the maids to the butlers." "Keep your own dreams off my girls," Bloom said as he gently warned his butler. "She isn''t my type." "She is my type." "Your type should be her master." "The two are my type." "Since when you are a womanizer?" Antoan gave him a deep nce, "you were interested in women before, but not to this degree." "Hahaha, I told you I got reincarnated." "Yeah, I know, this old joke of yours." Bloom didn''t know what else to say except shrugging. Even telling the truth wouldn''t help him here. "C''mon, go into the game and start leveling up fast." "In less than two days I''ll be there next to you with my people." Bloom knew his butler meant his words, and so he casually waved his hand. "Send me breakfast before I go inside." "Right away." Bloom had his French omelet meal before getting into his capsule. As he entered the game again, his mind had already a long list of things he needed to do first. And the first thing he did was to send a message to Muna, asking about the recent developments in the Panty''s side. "No news, master. He is still fetching everyone out to bring as many strong yers as he could like crazy!" He heard this from her before shaking his head. "This might get a little overboard without their help," he knew his enemy would be rash in securing his next big quest. "Yet not like this! I''m not going to kill your mother dumbass!!" he sighed before opening his friend list and calling the second farmost important person there. "Finally gotten back online," Nara weed his call with this long shout. "Sorry, I had to rest and eat." "You can do both inside the game," sheughed before adding, "anyway I finally found the missing leveler. Where are you now?" Bloom turned around him while adding, "in the vige, and you?" "I''m outside, leveling up. I''ll send you our coordinates." "Good," Bloom nodded before adding, "I''ve another quest to doter, so won''t level up for much time now." "Again?" she hurriedly shouted, "This soon?!! C''mon, tell me your secret. Do you have a gf in the NPCs of this vige or what?" Heughed at her wild imagination. "It''s my own secret," he smiled and didn''t give her a clue about anything. "Damn! I wish I have half the luck you own," she sighed while adding, "don''t bete then, after all we wasted much time looking for these and our levels are still stagnant." "What''s the mainstream level of yers here?" She paused for a moment before saying: "In the entire game, thirteen and fourteen is themon standard of elites. The highest level I ever heard of so far is fifteen, and the mainstream yers'' level varies. Here in the empire and the vige, the mainstream level is eleven." "Hmm" he went into silence as he knew the level of Nara''s team was around twelve and thirteen. "You aren''t that far from the elites of the game then," hemented. "But we could have been higher if we didn''t waste much time looking for these idiots," she took a deep breath as this matter seemed to really annoy her. "Chill out, soon you''ll kiss my feet for my wisdom," heughed on her expression which turned funnier after hearing his remark. "Look for a dungeon around you, and in less than one hour we''ll hit it." "Finally some good news," she was excited to hear that before adding, "I heard legends about your ability to clear dungeons." He instantly knew how she learnt these legends, yet he feigned ignorance and asked: "How did you know such a thing?" His sudden question startled her as she realized she made a slip here. "Oh, just from the forums," she found her excuse finally, "yeah, many posts about your deeds in the beginner zone had videos and news about the dungeons you cleared." He knew she was lying, and he resisted the urge tough on her. "Alright, I''ll give you a real close up ticket for my show then," he smiled as he added, "one hour and we''ll meet. Look for a nice dungeon for us then." "I will," she said before he closed the call and heaved a long sigh of relief. "It''s too hard dealing with the same person with two identities," he said before pausing, "wait, or is it three?" heughed while thinking about his next step. "I need to contact Peri and arrange things with her," he nced around before adding, "as far as I can recall, the Cyan studio in the past was famous for their lifestyle yers. I have to be ready for her then." He knew his options were limited to just one meeting with her. He had to make sure she would approve at the moment, and not put him on hold and waste more time. "Losing this studio in the uing battle will limit many of my choices here," he sighed before moving towards the auction house. "This is just a daylight steal!!" he cursed while moving outside the auction house. "Level fifteen grade green gear is sold in thousands of coins there! Damn!" He went to the auction house and checked the gears there for his Pandora box. He had such a great item that could break down any gear into gold and materials; something he could easily use to tempt Peri. "Sigh, I have no way then," he checked his inventory. Previously he had tens of high level gears stored there, yet right now he had only five. "I have to seek more caravans to hit then," he decided before thinking deeper, "like this I can''t meet her except after ending the dungeon run with Nara." As he closed up his inventory, he had nothing left but to check his ck market. "Hmm not bad," he muttered while checking the two hundred thousand dark points he had in his ount. "These quests are really golden mines." He closed the market and then headed towards the gates of the vige. As he was thinking deeply about his next moves and options, many yers already spotted him. And the news of his appearance in the vige spread everywhere. Many powers were eyeing him, even those far away currently from the vige. For many, he was a rising star and threat, while he only considered how to damage Panty and make him lose. He walked outside the vige where he met many on his way eyeing him in a strange way. At first he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, yet with time he noticed what was going on. "Is there anything wrong about me recently in the vige or forums?" he sent this brief message to Nara who replied in a few moments. "Did you forget what Panty put on your head as a prize? He also put a high value on stopping you from achieving anything major for that challenge." He patted his forehead as he totally forgot about this. "Amazing," he smiled before adding, "I nearly forgot about this." Just as he walked forward, heading towards the coordinates of Nara and others, he received a message from Antoan telling him how many levels they reached so far. "Level three." "Good, keep pushing harder." Bloom knew this was nothing as most of earlier levels could be crossed easily in mere hours. What he didn''t know was that his way of fighting and leveling up became a ssic. Even Antoan was now leveling up with his gang ording to one of the many manuals yers provided in the forums based on Bloom''s fights and brilliant performance. Chapter 167: Tell Me Your Secret Chapter 167: Tell Me Your Secret Bloom moved in ease towards the safe tree line. He was closely followed by many, yet he never cared to even nce at them for once. The moment he reached there, he stopped to watch many monsters blocking his way. "No time to waste here," he muttered before moving fast towards the front while adding, "darkness nihility." His body instantly vanished, and with his speed he managed to cross most of them until he reached the small hill in the distance. As he reappeared again, he had to wait for a couple of minutes before reusing the skill. During this time, he watched the army of yers trailing him trying to pass the monster blockage in between. Yet most couldn''t beat the monsters and even a lot of them lost their lives in the process. He simply shook his head while moving forward, knowing these yers would have crossed with lesser losses if they worked together on solos or in such small teams. As Bloom crossed the area of crazy monsters, the rest was simple for him. He just evaded the small groups of monsters scattered in his path, and in less than five minutes he finally reached the ce Nara updated him with. "This is a white grade dungeon," he shook his head the moment he noticed the fewer number of monsters standing in front of the dungeon entrance. "What?" Nara turned to nce at him, "they said it''s a blue grade dungeon!" "See those monsters over there?" he pointed towards the monsters as he added, "their number is below ten, making the number of the inside monsters in each hall around twenty." "Is this bad?" Jeffrey asked. "Not bad, but not sufficient," Bloom shook his head before adding, "I could clear the white dungeon using a team of ten or lesser. Let''s find somewhere else to hit." "Comingte and not even asked about your two yers," Nara shook her head before adding, "and dare to criticize our select, that''sme." "Hehehe, are they the two I wanted?" he pointed towards the two fresh faces in the entire group of fifty yers. "Come, tell me your levels, sses, and levels," he said while the two were jolted awake from their daydreaming before hurrying to answer: "Tony, a shield bearer faction and a tanker ss, level ten," one with a huge body and two small shields that looked funny next to him said while adding in excitement, "it''s an honor meeting you sir. You are a legend." Bloom just nodded and said nothing while turning his gaze to the other one. "I''m Horn, a shade son faction, a dark magician ss, level twelve." "Nice to meet you two," Bloom weed them before adding, "did they exin your roles?" "Yeah, I''ll just be your level determiner," Tony said. "I''ll be outside watching your backs all the time, don''t worry about that sir," Horn said. "Tony, you are a leveler, not a level determiner," Bloom corrected. "I never heard of such a term before," Tony casually replied before hurrying to add, fearing Bloom would get mad at him, "but if you said so then I''ll be your leveler." "Goodd," Bloom smiled before adding, "now let''s find another dungeon to raid." "Isn''t white dungeon enough?" Tony whispered to Horn who just shook his head in ignorance while Bloom ignored the question as he moved forward. "Shouldn''t we seek this way?" Nara pointed towards the side while adding, "the more we went up front therger the number of monsters are." "And the better quality dungeons we will find," Bloom added. "You seem to know a lot of info about the game," she doubtedly said before adding, "do you have an insider?" "Insider?" he shrugged as he added, "I''m just a good researcher." "Better than me?" Jeffrey jumped as he added, "I tend to be this group main researcher and I''m telling you man, there is nothing out there I found close to the amount of info you carry in that little brain of yours." "Hehehe," Bloom justughed and said nothing while the two walking beside him exchanged silent nces. "Do you know many are following you?" Jeffrey suddenly said before proposing, "should we get rid off them?" "Nah," Bloom shook his head, "kill them and more will just keep appearing," he added before motioning towards Horn, "it''s best that we hunt them inside." "Hunt them?" Nara curiously asked. "Sure," Bloom smirked, "they aren''t the only ones able to attack inside the dungeon after all." He went to silence for a period of time before adding, "in fact we have a great advantage provided that Horn will do his job brilliantly." "What advantage?" Jeffrey wasn''t agreeing with Bloom''s vision, seeing it overoptimistic, "being cornered inside while they keep attacking us?" "No," Bloom shook his head, "the advantage of knowing the true nature and difficulty of the dungeon." He didn''t add more yet he had some tactics big teams in his previous life used to secure their dungeons. The simplest was to hastily finish the dungeon run in time exceeding the estimate of their enemies. Yet he didn''t n to use this weak and simple way to defend against those enemies. He wanted a deterrent, to send a strong message to everyone. Coming towards him meant absolute death, and he would clear the dungeon regardless of their pathetic attempts. So he had a perfect counter to this situation. Instead of being a prey, he would turn to be the hunter. Their search took a couple of hours, and during this they had to clear up some monsters along the way to kill the boredom they had. Bloom preferred the double horned monsters, as they were easily countered and dealt with no much hassle. "Finally," he said it with shining eyes when he reached a new dungeon. "What grade is this dungeon in?" Nara curiously asked before seeing fifty monsters standing with big bodies guarding the dungeon entrance. "They are huge and many!" she eximed in surprise. "At least a gold grade one," Bloomughed before adding, "let''s go, we''ll hit this one." "Hold on a moment," Jeffrey hurriedly stopped him, "are you sure we will hit this one?" "What''s wrong with it?" Bloom asked. "Nothing, except for being too hard for us to handle!" "Hahaha, just make sure to execute all my orders to the letter, alright?" Jeffrey had zero confidence in his choice, the same as everyone here. Nara had to step in to make everyone ept the bitter truth as she said: "We''ll trust you in this, but if we were all wiped out, we''ll go back and take those white grade dungeons down," she paused before adding, "I sent you a group invite, just ept it." "Done," Bloom simply said before turning to speak to the others about the battle formation when he noticed the shocked faces upon each one of them. "Monster!" "He had the right to go directly towards that dungeon." "Never heard someone exceeded level fifteen." "I heard one sword wielder reached level sixteen a couple of hours ago." Many of thesements appeared from each one of the team, even Nara kept ncing weirdly at him. "What the hell were you doing exactly at that quest of yours?" she suddenly shouted at him, and he instantly got what was going on from their remarks and whispers. "Hehehe," heughed while not knowing what he should say. "C''mon, spill it out!" she shouted again before adding, "do you prefer it soft or hard?" He winked at her before saying, "the best way you prefer suits me dear." "Oh," sheughed while a tinge of redness appeared on her face, "I meant the p you''ll receive from me," sheughed while waving her hand and faking hitting him. "C''mon, why hit me," he retreated whileughing. "You rascal! You kept us fixed at the vige doing your dirty job while you enjoyed some heaven defying blessing to level up crazily like that!" "It''s not heaven defying," he shouted back, while pointing at one of the team, "he just said someone hit the level sixteen hours ago!" She had her face changed to show an evil expression. "That yer is one of the richest tycoons in the game, paying a lot to make others help in leveling him up fast. You aren''t like him, you work alone. Never heard of a solo yer reaching this level in the game or even level fourteen before!" "I did." "You are a glitch in this game, this is definitely the case here," Jeffrey joined Nara in cornering him while adding, "c''mon, tell me your secret and I''ll let you have a girl of your choice to pump." "I want her," Bloom pointed at Nara who had her face reddened again before shouting: "F*ck off! I''m not for sale! Stop it you two or else" "Alright, alright, I didn''t mean ill here," Jeffrey had a cold feet before adding, "I intended to hire an escort to him." "Not even this can be offered to this stingy one," Nara harrumphed while Bloom inwardlyughed on her reaction. "She seems to fall for me," he said to himself while loudly saying: "Let''s stop this now, alright?" he pointed towards the dungeon nearby as he added, "wanna know my secret? Fine, I always choose the hardest challenge and go directly for it. Never failed once, and won''t fail ever!" "Say you love to go to the impossible," Nara harrumphed while adding, "this dungeon will obviously wipe all of us out. Don''t tell me you can clear it on your own!" "I can''t," he shook his head before adding, "but I''m not alone here, just hear out my words and heed by my orders and everything would be fine." "Tsk," she nced at the dungeon trying to find any logic of what he just said. "Sigh, let''s try it your way then," she said before smirking, "if this way worked, then we''ll start hunting down dungeons crazily until we exceed you. Right boys?" she shouted and a loud wave of shouts came in response. "You guys" Bloom muttered before shaking his head, "sigh, you are beyond saving." Chapter 168: Hitting the Dungeon Chapter 168: Hitting the Dungeon Bloom then turned serious as he said: "I know you must have fought dungeons before, but let me repeat some facts. Those standing up front will attack our rear yers when they have half of their Hp. So, I need ten of our shield bearers to hold their charge and five of the weapon wielders to kill them." Everyone nodded while Nara joked: "C''mon man, the entire game learnt about this from you." "No loss in repeating them then," he muttered before adding, "I''ll stay back. What about you?" he turned to gaze upon everyone. "What should people like me do?" Jeffrey asked. "You and others will be out main DPS up front," Bloom arranged before adding, "as for the light daughters and staff holders they should stay far behind and we will protect them," he turned to Nara as he asked, "do we have anyone with instant revival skill?" "We have three," she responded before adding, "they took us a bunch of coins to buy these." "Great," he smiled before adding, "the key to this dungeon is to constantly revive who has fallen from our team after each fight." He turned his gaze to the front before adding, "I want someone to post an anonymous post in the forums." "About what exactly?" Jeffrey said before adding, "there is no way to post an anonymous post in the game as far as I know." "Anonymous post is a post written by an unknown member to our enemies," Bloom exined, "anding from such a member it would look likeing from any normal yer out there." "I see," Jeffrey nodded in understanding, "what do you want him to write?" "About seeing us entering this dungeon," Bloom pointed to the dungeon before adding in front of all the amazed faces, "and he has to say he did his research over the dungeon time and it would take roughly an hour toplete. He also has to lie about the grade, saying it''s only a green dungeon." Everyone was speechless there for a moment, even Nara opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before finally saying: "I don''t get what you want to do here but all I feel is only evil!" "Hehehe, you''ll know how evil I''m when we are inside." Her face turned slightly red despite his words carrying no hidden intentions. He ignored her as he muttered: "Let''s get arranged first and start. After clearing the dungeon entrance monsters, Horn will stay behind to do his job." "What about me?" Tony asked, "What should I do?" "Try not to die until the end," Bloom said before adding, "always keep yourself behind us until thest room then you can die in that room as many times as you want to make your level be fixed on ten." "I can lower it beyond that," he suggested trying to look heroic. "You won''t do us any good then," Bloom shook his head before adding, "all the monsters here are triggered by level ten and beyond, not lower." Tony nodded as he went to silence again. Bloom watched everyone taking their position while Nara came to ask: "When do you want this strange post of yours to appear?" "When we enter the dungeon and clear at least the first room," he said before adding, "let me tell you when, alright." "Ok," she nodded before motioning with her head, "we are ready." "Great," he moved towards the group and stood just in front of a bunch of staff holders and light daughters not exceeding twenty in numbers. "Let''s start this." He gave the mark and everyone moved at once to hit the frontal monsters. Each monster had a big bull head and a body of a tiger, so he anticipated they were all close range monsters. "Be wary of their attacks, they should have strong" "10000" "8000" "12000" "12000" "10000" Just as he was about to continue his words, a long row of high damage appeared on top of these monsters from the frontal team. "Sigh, forgot we have a leveler," he muttered as the monsters were all level fifteen. They were lower than him with two levels, making him able to cause double or even triple that damage with his basic skills. He watched his frontal team led by Jeffrey to make these monsters all lose Hp equally. "They are doing a great job," Nara said as she decided to stand beside him and help him in defending the rear yers. "They are experts," hemented before adding, "yet the real challenge will start soon." The monsters didn''t stand silent there as they kept attacking the yers. Each monster had one shield to stop it, or the yer simply used a skill to evade. After two minutes, the first monster had its Hp lowered more than half already. "Roar!" It roared and all the other monsters roared with it. Bloom had already seen their skills, as they all used their strong ws to attack, long tails to tie down yers and their heads with sharp single broad horns to hit the yers massively. "Their skills aren''t that threatening," he muttered before deciding, "no need to use my clones here then." As the monsters ran towards the rear yers, Bloom moved. "Stab" "Dash!" The first skill he used was his usual stab skill before he linked it with a dash, hitting the frontal monster hard and making it retreat a couple of meters before it was thrown in the air like a cannonball. "45000" Such a terrifying damage appeared on top of the monster, startling everyone around. Yet Bloom didn''t stop there. "Wow, forgot totally about the passive skill of mine," he smiled beforeughing, "no need to use massive skills then, I can alone hold the fort." He stood motionless all of a sudden and then his two swords kept moving right and left, hitting any approaching monster to him. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" "20000" All monsters hit by him were thrown right and left five meters at least before rolling on the ground. This scene looked very bizarre and tyrannical, yet everyone finally understood why he was so confident in facing off such a dungeon and clearing it. They realized his high damage was caused due to the level difference between him and the monsters, making his attacks fierce. In less than a minute he managed to clear the area off monsters. Alone he blocked the twenty monsters, causing massive damage to them, and he didn''t lose a single Hp here. This was a miracle for these yers who had his picture as a legendary yer engraved deeper in their minds. And they started to realize why he was so fixed upon having a weak yer joining up their team as a leveler. "The only drawback will be the Xp gained," Nara muttered to herself before chuckling, "good thing we have lower levels than those monsters. Too bad for you, hehehe." He heard her words and simply shook his head. He knew this drawback yet with the speed of finishing dungeons, the total Xp would be much higher than when leveling without a leveler. "Don''t stand motionless there, go and finish them out!" Everyone started to move after his shout and a myriad of skillsnded upon the fallen monsters. In less than two minutes they managed to clear all the monsters and even have many materials, coins, and even some gears in return. "What about those? Do I distribute them like before?" Nara asked while holding one staff, one shield, and one chest te in her hands with a big smile over her face. She wasn''t the only excited one here; everyone was. These gears were all level fifteen each, and their grades were all gold. "Do as we did before," he casually waved his hand as he wasn''t really interested in such low level gears. The grades were good, but not the level. "If you gained any decent boots, pass them to me," he added while ncing over his beginner''s boot that was worth nothing. His Sherin boots were damaged after thest encounter with that Grotar monster and he didn''t find another boots or fix them yet. He needed to fix them, as he knew how important the swift kick skill used by them was. "Wrap things up," he shouted before turning to Horn and pointed to the entrance of the dungeon, "you''ll stay hidden behind the entrance. If any team arrives, just send us a message and retreat." "Won''t I fight them?" Horn was still shocked by what he saw from Bloom just now so he was filled with adrenaline. "No," Bloom decisively declined, "they wille hot in great numbers, at least fifty and probably a hundred. All you need to do is to retreat and leave enough distance from them," he said before adding, "beware of their shade sons, they will be ahead of the team within a hundred meter radius." Horn nodded before Nara came after distributing the gears over the yers in return for an auction of materials. "We are ready." "Great," Bloom nodded before patting on Horn''s shoulders. "Don''t be heroic, we''ll still need your helpter on." "Alright," Horn nodded and then Bloom entered the dungeon first followed by everyone else, while Horn took his ce in the entrance and waited. They watched his back with admirable expression over their faces. Such great change from what they initially had when they first met him was caused by his great performance that they knew it wasn''t overrated as they initially and wrongly thought before. Chapter 169: Annoying Supreme Skill of the Dungeon Monsters Chapter 169: Annoying Supreme Skill of the Dungeon Monsters The team moved inside the long corridor heading towards the first room. Everyone was silent while they started a debate on the team chat. ''It''s a gold grade dungeon.'' ''Nah, I believe it''s higher than this.'' ''I believe it''s red grade.'' ''Red grade? That''s unheard of!'' ''Bloom cleared a red dungeon before.'' ''No way!'' ''I also recall reading this rumor somehow.'' ''It''s surely a rumor.'' ''We have the person here, we can ask him.'' Bloom read these messages and before anyone would call out for him, he entered the chat and wrote: ''This dungeon is red grade, and I''ve already cleared one like this before.'' ''wow!'' ''Does this mean we can clear this one here as well?'' ''What are our chances?'' ''If we did so, then we will be the first team in the game to clear gold and above level fifteen dungeon.'' ''The challenge does this mean Bloom is finally taking the first steps in it?'' ''We should help him in achieving that, or shouldn''t?'' ''Dummy, he is our leader. If we don''t help him, we won''t have the glory to brag in front of others.'' Bloom finally closed the chat when it reached this debate. He sensed all of these yers'' familiarity to each other, but he wasn''t familiar with none but Nara and Jeffrey. As they reached the end of the tunnel, he wrote in team chat: ''Silence, we reached the next room opening.'' The next moment the bustling chat went dead while he added, ''I will go and lead the charge.'' ''Alone?'' Nara was speechless, ''I sense there are at least fifty monsters inside.'' ''A hundred.'' ''What?'' ''There is a hundred, not fifty,'' he corrected her before adding, ''but they have no threat over me. I can simply wave both of my swords, and knock them down.'' He paused before writing again, ''But that doesn''t mean I''ll kill them alone, hehehe.'' ''Don''t worry,'' Jeffrey said before adding, ''we get your back.'' He smiled, took his two swords out before moving towards the front. He wasn''t afraid of facing those monsters here like the previous time. After all he was two levels ahead of those monsters, something that was thanks to the leveler. And he knew from such dungeons he would clear and make a legend for himself others would take note of the leveler and realize his importance. "Despite this being earlier, much earlier than my past life yet I need not to care anymore about such things," he muttered before adding as he stepped inside the giant hall, "after all I''m not here to save the equilibrium of the game," he sneered while watching the hall. It was a vast one, with half a mile length and width, making it look like a big yground. He stood there at the entrance in one corner, while the exit lied at the opposite corner. "One hundred monsters are standing in wait, good," he smiled before moving leisurely towards them. He didn''t know that at this moment all the yers behind him were operating their cameras and recording his movement. In front of his sudden appearance, the monsters all roared and moved towards him, yet he didn''t change his path or retreat. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." His two swords moved right and left, while the monsters kept flying everywhere. At first he could easily counter their attacks, yet in the next moments he couldn''t. Their numbers were already higher than him. "Dash!" He used this skill to move directly towards a distant monster, throwing off others along the way with his stabs. For him, each one second threw one monster far away from him. And when he reached that distant monster, the monster was thrown and stunned, yet he didn''t follow. He turned around and started using his stabs again, clearing a good part of the monsters on this side before the rest turned and galloped at him. "Dash!" Yet he used his second dash to move himself to the total opposite direction. Then he started using his stabs. He repeated this five times before the monsters were all thrown around him on the floor, mostly, and a good portion stood up and gathered around him. "What are you waiting for? Attack now!!" he shouted as if he continued like this, he would be able to kill every monster here, or fall short of his stamina in the middle. He didn''t want to deplete or over exert himself, yet his team yers were watching this fight with gaped mouths and bounding hearts in their chests. In front of their eyes, a single yer was toying around with a hundred strong monsters without even sweating! He didn''t even receive a single hit during all that, while already clearing about one tenth of all monsters'' Hp, and some even had lost up to twenty. "C''mon guys," Nara said after clearing up her throat, "or else the video will only show him without us." Everyoneughed before they plunged on the monsters fallen on the ground. Bloom just nced at them for a moment there before nodding in content. "Really pro yers," he muttered as if any normal yer here, he or she would go directly towards every fallen monster to feel triumph over hitting them. Yet they didn''t delve deeper than what they could chew! The frontal yers got engaged with ten and started kiting them down with others, as for the rest they were hit by the long ranged spells to help him in attacks. He was sure if he received damage, he would instantly be healed. Yet he was pretty confident in not receiving a single hit until these monsters would use their special skills. Like this the fight kept happening until the first monster used its supreme skill. This monster was one of the ten entangled with his team. "Roar!" The moment the monster roared, Bloom felt a wave hitting him, and watched others flying in the air backwards as well. As soon as he stabilized his body, he hurried to test the results of this skill so he could be able to hastily think of a counter. "Stab!" He used his basic skill and when he used it, he sensed great oppressioning at him, yet didn''t manage to stop his sword in track. "Increasing the level difference? Damn!" he cursed while hurriedly said in the team chat, ''this skill created more level difference between us and the monsters. Try to fight less numbers now.'' He hurried to close the chat while many monsters were heading close to him right now. "First thing is to test the difference," he muttered before selecting a far monster and using his dash upon it. The next moment the monster was sent flying with ten thousand damage above its head. "It''s one level difference," he sighed before spreading the news in the team. "Will each monster add more levels then?" Nara shouted and this was already a possibility inside his mind. ''Let''s hit one more and see,'' he sent these brief words in the team chat as he watched the monster he hit flying in the air a couple of meters away. Then he returned to hit them again, causing such a chaotic scene that was too much to see, too hard to believe. "Roar!" In less than two more minutes, the second monster activated its supreme skill, throwing Bloom off from the middle of a group of monsters to hit the nearby wall. "Damn!" he cursed before adding, "it''s a blessing these skills wouldn''t cost yers any Hp." He stood up and then he tested his skills against one distant monster with one of his dashes. The monster was sent flying, and the damage caused was six thousand points. ''It''s confirmed,'' he sent in the team chat, ''each monster would add one more level to the mix,'' he sighed while ordering, ''kill the two you activated first, to negate their skills.'' ''Is this granted?'' Jeffrey asked. ''I can''t tell without testing,'' he honestly answered before using his stabs and sending more monsters flying. "I need to be extra careful then, activating many skills at the same time would be disastrous!" Up till now he was having a dog fight without nning, yet he had now to be sure he wouldn''t activate one more monster''s skill with mistake. "This way I would act as the main diversion and they will be the main killers," he reached this conclusion while starting to use his dash skill reserve one after another, trying to evade hitting more monsters with his stabs. Despite the lower damage of stabs than his dash skills, his dashs would only affect one monster, and even stun it for five to ten seconds. His stabs would affect arge group of monsters, and they woulde up at him a few momentster. Yet the cooldown of his dashs made him lean sometimes towards his stabs. And this didn''t ur frequently. "First monster is down!" Nara shouted in less than one minute and then Bloom tested his dash against another monster. "10000" ''Great, killing the monster will negate the effect of the skill,'' he said in the team chat before adding, ''the highest number of activated monsters at the same time is two. Make sure to kill them as fast as you can,'' he paused before adding, ''and refrain from widely hitting all monsters at my side, focus on your side.'' ''Won''t this endanger you more?'' Nara asked. ''If I lost any Hp, I''m sure you can heal me up,'' he sent in reply before adding, ''I''m causing enough damage already on my part. Make sure you keep up with me or else we would face a much serious situation here.'' Chapter 170: Fighting the Monsters In Room One Chapter 170: Fighting the Monsters In Room One Bloom wasn''t acting heroic, but realistic and cautious. These dungeon monsters proved to be much harder to deal with than he initially imagined. Those monsters kept attacking him, yet as long as there were only two monsters activating their supreme skills at the same time, he wasn''t in any danger at all. In fact having two activated monsters at the same time was a double edged weapon. For one he had lower damage to these monsters, making them falling beyond their twenty percent Hp take longer time than having one supreme skill only. Yet having two had this risk all the time of him activating one more monster by mistake, which was something starting to be apparent the longer the battle drew. After fifteen minutes, his team managed to clear seventy monsters, leaving only around thirty remaining. "Damn, they all have low Hp," he cursed out loud when he saw most of the monsters having their Hp lower than twenty five percent threshold. Yet he had no other choice but to keep jumping from one side to another, trying to use his dash to stun as many as possible. While he urged his team to hasten things up, things started to go out of his control eventually. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" All of sudden three monsters roared, adding three more levels to the mix. "Damn, I''m ruined," he was almost on the verge to be stamped to death by the remaining twenty five monsters assaulting him. "Dash!" He used his dash to hit the nearest monster to his team. If things reached this far, then he would at least make ast stand with his team, hoping they could flip the tide. "5000" This small damage appeared on top of the monster''s head before it was thrown off towards the side, flying for a couple of meters before rolling on the ground. "What the hell?!!" he was astonished and didn''t know why this happened, yet he didn''t keep his hand anymore. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "3000" "3000" "3000" "3000" "3000" The damage was much lower than ever and that helped him in attacking freely with less pressure. During the next five minutes, his team managed to kill five more monsters, and were almost killing another two. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Three more monsters activated their supreme skills at the same time after receiving Bloom''s stabbing sword. He knew this would happen yet he couldn''t change the oue. After all his entire myriad of dash skills were now on the cooldown. These three added to the three he previously activated, and the two his team activated added up together to eight levels. "This is getting out of hand," he sighed before deciding to fight seriously at this moment. "Shade doppelganger festival." The next moment, seventeen of his clones appeared all of sudden around him. "Hurry and use your dash skills, one on each monster," he hurried to shout. With the sudden appearance of his clones, his team members back behind knew things were getting ugly. Yet they couldn''t help much as the two monsters they were about to kill suddenly got some kind of boost and their attacks didn''t yield even half the damage they caused to them before. The summoned clones followed his orders and hit the monsters around them. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Five more activated their skills, making Bloom shook his head. "Having eight monsters activating their skills isn''t much different than having them all using their supreme skills, we are doomed either ways," he muttered before using his dash skill to hit one monster and stun it. "Listen up, all long ranged yers use their skills here without reserve," he suddenly shouted. As things got out of control like this, then the only hope he and others had was to kill these monsters as fast as possible. No time for being discrete anymore. Suddenly many shes of skillsnded upon the area around him. Their damage wasn''t doing any better than his, yet they had the advantage of having damage caused per second. He didn''t hesitate to push more, using all his dash skills in one go, stunning four more monsters before the remaining ten monsters activated their supreme skill. "Now it''s a dog fight," he sneered as he stood up from the side of the hall where he was sent by the effect of the ten activated skills. "Let''s see how this will end," heughed like a mad man, enjoying this brutal fight more. As he depleted all his dash, he had to use other skills avable. "Stab," he met the iing monster with this before linking it with a slice. He turned around the monster while his other sword kept stabbing the monster''s body. "Curse you," he saw the long tail of the monster moving fast towards him. "Slice," he used another slice to turn around the monster, hardly evading the tail by mere inches away. "Stab, stab, stab, stab," he kept his other sword busy stabbing the monster, kiting its Hp slowly while he watched that tail turning fast to attack him. And this time there were two other monstersing at him. His clones had used two waves of dash to stun seventeen monsters for ten seconds, yet that left eight loose. "Hit these two!" he shouted before calmly using another slice to shift his body around the monster. He looked like dancing around the monster, while hispanion was this tail, following him anywhere he went and couldn''t touch him even once. The clones were trying to kill the seventeen monsters when he shouted, and then two used their dash piercer skill to instantly stun the two monsters just one meter away from him. "Stun the others first," he shouted before adding, "keep them all stunned while killing them." This was the only idea he had right now to control this chaotic situation. The monsters gained twenty five levels at the moment, making their level grow from being level fifteen to level forty. Chapter 171: We Need More Potions Chapter 171: We Need More Potions This greatly affected the duration of stun effect to be reduced to no higher than four seconds. Despite that, he had to make sure every single monster was controlled if possible. However what he was sure about was the problem of the cooldown of his and his clones'' skills. "I need to reserve mine to be used at thest moment," he muttered before watching three stunned monsters from before getting themselves free. His seventeen clones had just stunned the other seven monsters, leaving the monster he was ying with free. He was already controlling the pace well, while alternatively using the slice with stabs, he managed to evade that fast moving tail. He knew the moment he would get caught with it he would be a prey for that monster. "Keep them under control," he shouted again when he noticed two of his clones were just killed by the three rampaging monsters. Amidst all this, his team members killed the two monsters they hunted and the next moment they dropped this careful nning and went up there to attack all the monsters without exception. The ce turned chaotic all of sudden, and the mission of kiting down the monsters were left mainly to his yers while stunning and controlling the monsters was a mission left for his rapidly decreasing in number clones. As for him, after three minutes of continuous dancing with the monster he finally managed to in it. The moment it was killed he turned around and examined the entire battle. "Dash!" He didn''t have time to reconsider anything, as he just selected the most dire situations and started using his saved up dashes to hit the monsters and stunning them. Despite the rate of killing monsters was much lower now than ever, he, his clones, and his team were able to control these monsters with thebined tactics they were executing right now. Gradually monsters kept falling especially when he kept interfering in the hardest situations ever after killing one monster alone. Each time after he used his dashs, he took charge of thest hit monster while letting the two or three yers hitting it to move to aid others. Alone he was able to produce more results than a small team of five yers. Despite that he was caught a couple of times by the tails and even got his Hp once depleted lower than ten percent. Yet the timely interference of the healing yers made him much secured. Plus he kept one dash for reserve to such situations when he was caught. Like this he was able to stun the monster and break himself free from it. With each falling monster, the gap between them and the monsters decreased, and in the next ten minutes the level difference became only five levels apart from his team, and three levels from him. Then the previous tyrannical performance of Bloom returned while throwing off monsters right and left with the simple wave of his swords. "Finally," Nara was sitting on both knees while catching up her breaths, "my stamina is running low." She wasn''t the only one having this feeling, but all the yers here felt the same fatigue. All except Bloom who once used a stamina potion in the middle of the fight when he suspected he would end in this state much earlier than them. After all he was the one doing the most work in this fight. "Stay and rest then," he said before adding, "we need to buy stamina recovery potionster for the team." "We have five bottles each," Jeffrey said, "but this dungeon has many rooms, so it''s not practical for us to use them this early." Bloom had enough potions to cover up their needs, yet he didn''t offer them any. He had to train them to depend entirely on themselves. After all they weren''t such a newbie team like his team at the beginner phase. "Rest then," he said before ncing over the team, "we lost thirteen this time. Revive them during this rest while I need you to publish the post." "Now?" Jeffrey shouted in shock while Bloom nodded. "what is the time you want me to use in the post?" he asked while helplessly shaking off his head. He wasn''t alone feeling this way, after all they all knew how hard it was to clear up this dungeon. If possible they hoped they had no visitors to the dungeon, not going out of the line and inviting many of them in such a way. "Say we need four hours to clear the dungeon," Bloom thought carefully as they needed around an hour to clear this room and rest to restore stamina. "This way they will hit us after we clear up the fourth room," he calcted. In the past life, the teams raiding dungeons would wait at thest hour to hit the dungeon. This way they would make sure to have an exhausted team to fight, and very few distance remaining from clearing up the entire dungeon. "Grade green dungeon?" Jeffrey asked. "Sure," Bloom nodded before adding, "and give hints that we have low potions, especially Hp and Stm potions." "" "Isn''t it too much?" Nara remarked before adding, "we are really running low on these potions." "Don''t worry," Bloom smiled in confidence as he added, "when the first teams hit here, we''ll send Horn back to the vige to restock with potions for the entire team." Everyone nced weirdly at him before one yer, a shield bearer one, asked in doubt: "Is it allowed? Won''t he be kicked off the team this way?" Bloom nodded before adding, "he will, and then he could just return to the dungeon and join us again." He paused and when he noticed the weird looks over their faces heughed. "Don''t tell me others can enter the dungeon from outside and our men can''t." This simple realization hit them all and made them all speechlessly ncing at him. "You know too much of the game," Naramented, expressing what others were having in mind. Chapter 172: A Plan To Kill Other Dungeon Heist Teams Chapter 172: A n To Kill Other Dungeon Heist Teams "Nah, it''s already a known info to you all," he smiled before adding, "I just have a different mindset than yours, that''s all." "Tsk, you a real monster then," she had to admit his logic was wless. "By the way what''s your n to hunt down those yers?" He had an evil expression upon his face while saying: "We''ll use the monsters here to our advantage." "How''s that?" Jeffrey asked, "I''ve already sent someone I trust the info and the post will be online in ten minutes." "Good," Bloom nodded before exining, "as you can see, we have one hundred angry monsters here and yers have no clue about their skills." "But they wille to attack us directly from our backs through the corridors," Nara said before adding, "we will be the ones facing the monsters not them!" "Wrong," Bloom said before exining further, "what do you think the role of Horn here is for? He will rm us and before theye we will have our positions adjusted." "Like going where exactly?" Jeffrey asked before adding with a helpless smile, "no matter how many words you say, I always end up feeling I never get your meaning or ns at all!" "Hehehe," Bloomughed as he knew his vast knowledge of the game couldn''t be understood this easily by these yers. "Don''t worry, when timees, I''ll tell you all what you need to do," he said before adding, "just we need some eyes out there." "Besides Horn?" Nara muttered. "Sure, I need eyes inside other teams as well," he nodded as he wasn''t too sure the yers at this early stage of the game would behave the way he heard about monthster. The words of Jeffrey rmed him, as this made him realize no one here understood the game like he did. So there was a small possibility that yers would grow restless and not attack here in thest hour, but the first! "Well," Nara exchanged silent nces with Jeffrey who just sighed. "I''ll contact those out there and make them ry the news to us," he said in helplessness as he didn''t know why Bloom had such a sudden change in mind all of sudden. "What about the loot?" one of the yers overcame his fatigue by greed and stood up as he checked the fallen materials, gold coins, and some gears on the ground. "Wow, we have such good grade gears here," heughed before ncing at Nara. "Stop it, Reek," sheughed while pointing to herself, "can''t see I''m too tired to stand?" "I can collect them for you to decide," Reek hurried to say while Bloom smiled as he started to take a tour here. Killing one hundred monsters gave them many gears, and the good news was some of them had much higher levels than the team. "Amazing," Reek muttered, "so when the monsters have their levels increased with their skills, the fallen gears would have the same increase as well." His words rmed everyone and allured some to let go of their exhaustion and move to check the gears. "It''s true, I have a level thirty grade gold chest te here!" one of them shouted in shock while another one shouted: "Holy cow! This is level forty greatsword grade red, holy cow!!" These shouts appeared and made even thezy Nara to stand and check the loot herself with others. "Amazing," she couldn''t say but this, "alright boys, these gears are way higher than our current reach now." "What should we do with them, miss?" one of the female yers, a light daughter faction, asked, and Nara just gave her a stern nce instantly to make her add, "leader, sorry vice leader." The poor girl was startled and Nara just ignored her before turning to Bloom to make sure he wouldn''t notice this slip of a tongue. "What do you think?" "The best course of action is to give them all to me," he thought to himself yet he had toe up with something, "we need to sell them at the auction house and buy potions and other supplies for us by the money," he said before adding, "how many high level gears we have?" "We have only five," Jeffrey said before adding, "five at level thirty and beyond." "Not nearly enough for my ns," Bloom shook his head helplessly as he thought to himself. "What? Are you depressed about all of these?" Nara was speechless of his reaction. "Oh, I just thought they were much more than this," he hurried to say, covering up on his caught on spot reaction. "We have thirty gears in total, fifteen that can be used by our yers either right now or soon, yet the other fifteen are at level twenty five and higher," Jeffrey exined the gain before adding, "we can sell those fifteen then." "Send them to Horn and let him know what he should do with them," Bloom instructed. "Sounds like a n," Nara said before adding, "I just hope he won''t go greedy and take them all for himself." "Then send a couple of guards with him," Bloomughed as he winked towards Jeffrey who just sighed. "You know these yers shouldn''t be used as bodyguards," he muttered. "Spies or bodyguards, what''s the difference?" Bloom said before pping, "c''mon, let''s rest, revive our fallenrades, and divide the loot the same way we used to do," he stopped as he nced over Jeffrey, "is there a couple of boots to me?" "Well, there are a pair," Jeffrey hesitated before adding, "they are at level thirty." "Too high," Bloom muttered before adding, "alright sell these and hopefully nice boots will fall in the next rooms." His words made everyone''s eyes shine in excitement and greed. This was the oue of a single room, and there were nine more left in the dungeon to clear. Everyone returned to rest while thinking deeply about the next gains. Thest experience with monsters left a mark of fear in their souls, and this mark was easily wiped now with their greed. Everyone wanted cool and strong gears, and those who were lucky to have the fifteen gears now were envied much by others. Chapter 173: They Have Arrived Chapter 173: They Have Arrived "Let me repeat this again," Bloom said after clearing the second room where somemitted some mistakes during the fight. "I act as the tip of the spear while your job is to kill two monsters as fast as possible. After fifteen minutes of the fight, most monsters around me will have their Hp close to the twenty percent threshold. So you have only fifteen minutes to kill as many monsters as possible," he said with an angry look and tone. "Sorry, they seemed to be carried away by the loot," Nara apologized for her men while giving them all a promising side nce. In the past fight some went out of the line after a couple of minutes and dragged more monsters to the group. They thought they could easily ovee four monsters at the same time yet they failed miserably, losing their lives and dozens more with them, endangering the team with a wipe out fate. "We are sorry, boss," one of those who went out of the line apologized, yet Bloom still showed his angry expression. "You are deprived from the loot of the next five rooms for this mistake," he shouted at them while turning to Nara who nodded at once without any hesitation. Bloom was angry slightly off them, yet he was more nervous about the uing battle. If some didn''t follow his orders then the entire trap would be blown and they would die and lose. He didn''t want to see that happening, and so he had to make an example out of them. "Rest," he said to all who moved at once following his orders. During the second fight when things got out of control, it was he who moved fast, summoning his shades and started to rescue many of them. Without his timely intervention, most of them would have lost their lives here. Without most of them in the team, Bloom and the rest would have been wiped out in no time. "Chill out, they just got excited about seeing such high gears," Nara came to sit beside him beforeughing. "What?" he asked. "Nothing," she shrugged before adding, "but the more I know you the more I find myself attached to you." "Don''t loosen your control then," heughed as he added, "or else you''ll end up being my girl." "Don''t aim that high," she raised her chin while adding, "I''m way out of your league." "Really?" he raised an eyebrow in response to her chin while she nodded. "Sure, besides I''m already engaged." "Oh, poor guy." "Why is that?" "Because I''ll kidnap you from him eventually." She nced shortly at him beforeughing with her palm over her opened mouth. "You need to work harder, after all I''m engaged to two, not one." "Wow, you have a big appetite girl," he teased her and got a nice punch in the chest for that. "Stop it, it''s not my choice." "I know, I know, it''s only nature." He got another soft punch with augh. He already knew her real identity and he already was one of the two betrothed to her. "But here is the good news," he said with a grin. "What news?" she asked with an opened mouth prepared tough. "If you can ept two, then it''s not hard to ept three." "Stop it," she punched him again with a louderugh then before. "I''m seriously speaking, can''t you ept one more?" "Nah, my limit is two dummy." "Mistaken," he winked as he added, "your limit is one, and it''s me." "Arrogant dummy," she harrumphed while ncing away from him. Just as he was about to tease her again, a sudden shout came from Jeffrey who hurriedly stood up. "They are here," he shouted before reaching Bloom and Nara. "Five teams each with one hundred yers are heading towards the dungeon." Nara exchanged silent nces with Bloom who asked: "Do they n to enter together or one by one?" "I think some will enter together," Nara suddenly said, "three teams belonged to a yer I know." "Panty?" Bloom asked despite already knowing the answer. "No, someone higher than him," she answered with a grim look on her face. Bloom faked his ignorance despite already knowing his foe. "What''s his game ID?" he asked, and this was info he needed to know. "Best not to know him this much," she hesitated for a period before adding, "the most important thing is these teams are from outside the vige." "Like those elites from before?" Bloom asked. "Perhaps not much different than them," she nodded. "But their numbers are already big, I think they are from there," Jeffrey spoke in riddles and Nara just nodded, agreeing with his words. "What there?" Bloom moved his eyes between the two. "It''s the special army trained by that man," Jeffrey was about to say his name before Nara gave him a warning nce. For Nara, she seemed to feel some guilt to push Bloom into her mess. And for Bloom, he just helplessly shook his head as he read her mind already. "Dummy girl, I''m already deep in this sh*t," he inwardly sighed before saying: "No problem, the more the merrier." "Howe?" Nara asked while ncing over her half rested boys, "they are still tired." "And they haven''t entered the dungeon yet," Bloom smiled before adding, "who knows, they might even camp there for a couple of hours before entering." She and Jeffrey nced weirdly at him. "You have cold nerves, I give you that," she muttered before turning to Jeffrey, "make Selena and Helen use their stamina recovery skills on everyone here." "Stamina recovery skill?" Bloom stopped Jeffrey from rying the order while asking Nara about this. "It''s special skills for these two," she replied before adding, "the two can use them only once per day to recover stamina." "Then let them not use it now," Bloom nced weirdly at her and Jeffrey and the two nced back with the same look. "We need to recover," she argued. "Not now, my n is wless and doesn''t need to spend much stamina," he argued back. "What if your n failed? Huh?" she crossed her arms while he sneered. "My ns never fail," he arrogantly said while crossing his arms as well. "Ahem," Jeffrey cleared his throat and the two nced at him. "What?" and both shouted at the same time. "Nothing," he raised both hands, retracting his joke of the two looking like a couple arguing together, "I''ll go there and when you reside on a decision, just notify me." He rapidly retreated while the two kept ring for a moment at each other without saying a single word. "What if it failed?" she asked again. "It won''t!" he stressed on his previous answer. "No one is immune to failure!" "Sorry but I''m addicted to sess." "Arrogant bastard," she mumbled and he only raised an eyebrow before she added, "I will wait and see, but if we were defeated, then you''ll give me the leadership back." He sneered before epting the challenge, "and if I won, and that''s what will happen, you''ll be my girl." "That''s impossible! Just told you so!" she hurried to decline, "choose something else." "Fine," Bloom inwardlyughed as he said his real aim, "I want to know the game ID of that hidden enemy of mine." She nced long this time at him before silently nodding. "Don''t try anything funny against this yer," she warned with her index finger, which he leaned to bite it with his teeth except for her fast response. She gave him a ming look before moving back towards Jeffrey and others who were watching in amusement while having another bet of their own going on the same two debatable results. Were they going to win, or lose? As Nara feared, once the five teams reached the dungeon, three of them went directly towards the entrance with fast steps. ''This Horn, three teams are heading towards here, each has around one hundred yers. I repeat, three teams, each has one hundred yers, over.'' Bloom read the message while Nara nced at him with her hands on her waist. "What?" he smiled while moving towards the corridor. ''Come back here, we are waiting in the second room.'' ''This Horn, affirmative, over.'' "Why is he talking in such a weird way?" Boom turned to ask and he got no answer. Everyone was so stressed and nervous right now, while he was the only one carefree and rxed. "C''mon, don''t be like this," heughed, "you already fought a group of high level monsters and won them without breaking a sweat." He went towards the corridor before adding, "from here any order I give to any of you must be executed, even I directly told you to go and kill yourself and lose a level." His tone was serious with no joking this time before he vanished into the tunnel. "What are you standing there for? Move yourselves now!" he shouted from the depth of the tunnel while everyone had no choice but to follow him. Chapter 174: Blooms Plan Chapter 174: Bloom''s n They followed his lead towards the next room while Horn sent again: ''This is Horn, they are now at the first room examining it, over.'' "Be ready, we''ll start the fight the same way," Bloom said to the team before jumping inside the hall, facing the monsters all alone. "Use your AOE skills and don''t attract any monster to you," he shouted again while hitting every monster with his stabbing swords. The monsters kept flying and in less than two minutes, Horn said again: ''This Horn, they are heading to the second room. Where are you guys? Over.'' "Someone tells him toe here fast," Bloom shouted before using a dash to avoid the monsters'' assault, "be ready, you''ll move now." "Move where?" Nara was much more stressed than he was. Like everyone here, she thought this was futile and they would all be wiped out. "Just be ready to move the moment I say," he kept hitting monsters right and left until finally Horn appeared running with sweaty forehead and ragged breaths. He was the most nervous and excited one in the team right now. "They are in the second room examining it. one or two minutes and they''ll be here." "Good," Bloom nodded before shouting, "be ready to move towards the next tunnel." He suddenly used a dash before linking it with a cloud of fog skills. The cloud of fog turned his surrounding monsters into stunned cannonballs, sent flying to hit more monsters around, creating a path for them to go through. "Hurry," he shouted before moving on their lead, hitting every monster he met and clearing the path. They all moved in unison and nervous faces after him until they finally managed to cross the room with three of them dead in the process. "Enter the tunnel and don''t make a sound," he hurried to say while he used a dash to move himself into the other direction, attracting the monsters'' attention with him. "You heard the man, let''s go and don''t make a single sound," Nara decisively said, deciding to trust this maniac she was calling leader. As they went into the tunnel, Bloom heard the footsteps of moreing from the direction of the second room. "Time to make the trapplete," he moved with a dash towards the direction of the other corridor before suddenly standing alone, doing nothing, and let himself be hit by the horn of two monsters. He was sent flying to hit the wall while he lost around twenty thousand Hp from this attack alone. As hended on the ground, the iers arrived at the hall, ncing over his fallen body, his low Hp, and most important of all he was alone! "Hahaha, is this the man our lord is afraid of?" one shield bearer mocked in a loud tone before adding, "c''mon boys, without out interference, this pathetic yer would be killed." "It will be a wipe out, and we did nothing but toe here in vain," another yer smirked, yet Bloom stood on the ground while giving them a very frightened faked look before turning around and running. "Hahahaha, this idiot," one of the yers pointed towards him andughed. "Where do you think you''re going? This a dungeon, no way out to run, moron," another one sneered while others keptughing. Yet Bloom didn''t stop as he went directly into the corridor, vanishing from their sight. The moment he entered there, his expression of panic was wiped out and an evil look reced it. ''Be ready to move at my mark,'' he sent in the team chat, where his team members were deadly silent, ncing weirdly at him. ''Is this your n? To run away?'' Jeffrey was speechless. ''What ran away?'' Bloom asked before adding, ''you''ll know my n soon.'' Just as he sent these words in the chat, a shout came from the room where a yer said out loud: "Let''s kill these weakling boys. They are just level fifteen, nothing to fear here." Just as everyone in the corridor felt weird about this shout, the next moment sounds of skills raged and many shouts came from yers hitting monsters. ''Is this your n?'' Nara suddenly sent in the team chat, ''I like it.'' ''Hehehe, be ready, we''ll give them three minutes before we all go in.'' ''Make it five,'' Jeffrey said while he still didn''t get the n and wasn''t satisfied with this situation. ''It''s good to be three,'' Bloom sent before adding, ''after all you needed to kill two monsters in three to five minutes.'' As most were clueless yet to his n, and some smart yers got what he meant, mostly females, he kept waiting for the fight to escte more while counting seconds. ''Now.'' When three minutes passed from the first skill used, he gave the order silently in the team chat. The next moment a group of fifty yers appeared all of sudden from the corridor in front of the previously three hundred yers. At this moment, they lost around fifty of their numbers, and they still couldn''t bring one monster below thirty percent. "Stay here and use all the AOE skills you can spare," Bloom muttered before adding, "Dash!" The next moment his body moved, crossing the entire room until he hit a monster many yers were gathering around. These yers were skillfully fighting the monsters, yet they were still discovering their traits and strengths. And so Bloom decided to interfere at this moment to interrupt them from fully understanding the monsters, before they could activate their supreme skills. After all his n revolved around these supreme skills. "Kill him," one of the nearest yers shouted, and Bloom totally ignored the monster next to him as he just sent it flying and stunned. He shifted his gaze to the surrounding yers. He simply moved his swords right and left, sending more yers to the air with massive damage exceeding twenty thousand points. This scene made the entire hostile team stupefied and their scalp went numb. Chapter 175: Trapping Players In A Slaughter House Chapter 175: Trapping yers In A ughter House "Damn, he was a monster himself!" one of those who mocked him earlier muttered in disbelief before having a hit from Bloom and being sent flying backwards. Yet contrary to all, Bloom didn''t continue hunting them as he just used one dash to hit the rear staff holder yer, taking him towards the distant wall and then hitting a couple of times and killing him. Then he leisurely walked towards the tunnel where he stood inside its entrance without moving a finger afterwards. "Is he trying to trap us here?" one of the yers was smart enough to deduct the obvious. ''Retreat after you lower most of monsters'' Hp below thirty percent,'' he sent to his team in the chat while entering in the tunnel and waiting there patiently. ''Are you going to be alright?'' Nara sent with much concern. ''Don''t worry, I got them in my trap and no one wille out alive from here.'' He stood with both swords on his side and his senses were stimted to the max. Just as he retreated, the yers thought this was just a delusion, and the monsters pushing hard at them made them return to reality. "Someone go inside there and kill him," one yer shouted and just as he finished, a group of twenty yers moved towards the tunnel. The tunnel was wide enough to allow five to seven people to walk side by side. Yet in a fight, a defensive fight like this, against such a monster like bloom; sending a group of twenty inside was a suicidal act. Just as the twenty yers reached him, his swords didn''t differentiate between a shield bearer or a weapon wielder, as he sent all flying backwards and even killed half of his double swords. To those inside the hall fighting with monsters, it was like a bomb exploded and almost half of the team they sent were sent flying back with massive damage over their heads. "Screw you!" one of the yers who were sent flying cursed before he and a couple others were driven by anger and went again into the corridor. And this time they didn''t fly back or heard from them even again in this dungeon. "Damn, you are much more sinister than our lord described," one of the main leaders of the three teams cursed before shouting at his men, "boys, let''s clear this room and start hunting that loser down." "Yeah!" The entire group of slightly over two hundred yers roared in unison while they started to raise the intensity of their fight. ''We have retreated,'' Nara sent to Bloom in the team chat, ''I hope this works.'' ''It will,'' Bloom simply answered while waiting for the monsters to activate their skills. "C''mon, what''s taking you all this long?" he was impatient. After all in his n there was one single problem he didn''t have a solution to. The two outside teams staying on put and yet to enter. If they came before he finished this team, then he would be the one suffering from his own trap. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Just as he was growing impatient, turning back to nce if anyone wasing here, five consecutive roars appeared from the hall, making his heart jump in his chest from excitement. "Finally, hehehe," heughed while the sounds of screamsing from inside started to overshadow the sounds of skills. "Regroup,e towards the rear and regroup," one yer shouted, trying to reorganize his team. Despite that, when the yers came to Bloom''s line of sight, he only noticed a wary group of less than a hundred standing there with paled looks over their faces. They were all level thirteen and fourteen, so facing monsters in level twenty seemed crazy. ''All AOE yers go in the hall now and start using their skills non-stop,'' he sent in the team chat whileughing, ''let''s add more fuel to the fun.'' Bloom heard the next moment the skillsing from the other end of the hall. They seemed muffled among the chaos going on now, yet in less than a minute, he heard five more roars as the most beautiful symphony ever in his ears. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" ''Retreat, that''s enough for now,'' he leisurely gave them the order like the leader of the orchestra. ''They are back,'' Nara said before excitedly adding, ''Shouldn''t we attack them now?'' ''No, you are saved forter,'' Bloom smirked as he was pretty sure if any team came now, they wouldn''t endanger his n. ''Whatter?'' she asked with confusion. ''You''ll know soon,'' he simply answered before hitting a couple of yers who chose to retreat and run away from the monsters, to be sent back in such humiliation inside the hall then be killed by the rampaging monsters. Fighting angry level twenty monsters was somehow hard and challenging for these elite yers. But fighting level twenty-five was suicidal. So their best course of action was to regroup and retreat, or else they would be all wiped out under the hands of their target. "Retreat at once, and let''s kill that mother*cker," one of the leaders shouted in rage, driving the remaining less than a hundred yer around him all towards the tunnel. "I thought you''d nevere," Bloomughed before waiting for them to arrive near. "I believe you bought desserts for the funeral, right?" he smirked while muttering a skill just before he got hit by a tire and was stunned for a couple of seconds. He was pretty sure those standing alive up till now were the cream of the crop of the three teams. They must have strong unique skills like him. So underestimating them would result in his death for sure, and he didn''t do this beginner''s mistake here. The skill he activated just in time resulted in the appearance of seventeen dark clones in this corridor. The clones didn''t need any order as the next moment the tunnel was lit up by many dashes used by both sides, alongside a wide AOE skills that rained on Bloom and his clones, trying to deplete their Hp. Chapter 176: More Tactics in the Dungeon Heist Chapter 176: More Tactics in the Dungeon Heist They didn''t take much time and effort from Bloom to kill. When they used special skills like stun and some delusional skills, his clones were there to do the job for him until the effect of the skills wore off. After he finished, he had over half of his Hp intact and three Hp potions consumed. But he wasn''t dejected by that, as he gained much more from the fallen yers. It seemed all of them had their inventories full of potions beforeing here. Such a small detail told him how much they were experienced in PvP than him. ''Wow, we killed them!'' Nara sent in the team chat before adding, ''What should we do now?'' "Come and clear all these monsters," Bloom shouted from the hall while he started attacking monsters with the aid of his clones. The next few minutes all the surviving monsters were cleaned by the team while losing ten yers in the process. Yet no oneined, and all seemed extremely excited and delighted by the achievements they did here. Before they even finished the monsters, Bloom had taken everything dropped by the three hundred yers, leaving none to them. "Won''t you share the loot with us?" Naraughed while sitting beside him after killing everything. "You get the loot of the monsters, and I get the loot of the yers," he simply replied. "Sounds fair," she said before adding, "what about Horn?" "Send him with everything we got and keep an eye on him," he nced over the dark magician who was immersed in excited talk with some yers of his team. "Just make sure he didn''t sense anything." "Alright," she nodded, "how many potions do you need him to buy?" "Everything he could buy," Bloom simply answered, "how about the two teams out there?" "They seem terrified and won''t enter, hehehe," sheughed with a pure smile that brightened up her face. "Have they retreated?" he asked. "No, not really," she shook her head before thinking for a moment when she noticed his serious gaze, "in fact when thinking about this now, things seem quite odd." "Sure," he smiled as he realized the intention of these teams, "if they won''t attack us, then why wait outside." "Are they going to attack now?" she hurried to ask. "Not until they buy the valuable info from the three teams we just wiped out," Bloom shrugged before adding, "if they haven''t done this already." "Oh," her face changed, before saying after a brief moment of silence, "do you know when will they attack us?" He turned to face her with an amusing look. "Tell me, if you were the one leading these groups and learnt all the facts that happened here. What will you do?" She went again to silence, thinking deeply about this question of his. "I would have waited for you to reach the final hall, roughly ditching the false info we shared on the forums and try to calcte things on my own," Jeffrey was the one to answer, as he came to sit beside the two. "Good decision," Bloom agreed. "But why wait for thest room then?" Nara didn''t understand, "we have finished a great fight now and have low stamina. It''s the best time to hit." "No," Jeffrey shook his head before adding, "the main threat here isn''t us but the monsters. So they won''t move until there is only thest hall remaining. Like this they would avoid the trap we sat for other teams." "Don''t forget the potions consumption along the way too," Bloom added. "I don''t understand this," Nara sighed, "if they waited till thest room, there would be the boss monster there. Dealing with it will be much harder than dealing with normal monsters." "Agreed," Bloom nodded before adding, "but like this we won''t have any corridor to hide, and the fight will turn chaotic from the first moment they appear." He paused before adding, "in fact if they caught us in thatst hall then we''ll be doomed." "Oh," she had her beautiful eyes widened, "but isn''t there a risk that they might calcte wrong? Or perhaps we elerated the tempo and cleared the dungeon faster than their intervention?" Bloom smiled as it seemed the previous life tactics were getting revealed slowly in just one dungeon run. "Indeed, so they might send scouting teams from time to time." "To see where we are now, right?" Nara said before sighing, "this seems troubling." "Sure," Bloom nodded, before adding, "but each tactic they will follow, I have the perfect counter to it." She and Jeffrey nced weirdly at him. "How can you know all this stuff?" Jeffrey couldn''t help but ask. "Just thinking too much in too many details," he shrugged without saying more. "Are you do you have mental issues in the real world?" Nara hesitated before asking. "Oh, you might consider me unique if you want an answer," he winked to her whileughing inwardly at her wild imagination. "Hehehe, I don''t think someone as evil as you can be a normal person in the real world," sheughed and he only helplessly smiled. "Make Horn move back now," he said before adding, "we are going to need him soon." "What for?" Jeffrey asked, "we have eyes in the teams already." "You''ll knowter," Bloom patted his shoulder while Jeffrey just shook his head and went to give Horn his next instructions. Horn used the ticket to leave the dungeon, followed by a message of him leaving the team. "Have you sent someone after him?" Nara asked Jeffrey who just smiled and nodded. "Good," Bloom said before adding, "let''s get moving then." "Now?" Nara nced weirdly at him, "we still need extra minutes to rest." "My clones have only four minutes left and they''ll disappear," he said while standing up, "let''s get the full use of them before they vanish." He turned towards the team before adding, "besides the team didn''t lose much stamina to begin with." He was right, as the past fight the toll was mainly on him, not them. Chapter 177: Poor Girl Chapter 177: Poor Girl "We''ll hit them like before," Bloom simply said before turning his gaze and swords towards the monsters. "Boys, create some noise," heughed while he and his clones moved to hit the monsters. During the three minutes his clones lived, all the monsters were stunned already, and all were sent flying everywhere creating a bizarre scene to watch even for his team. "Do you record this?" Jeffrey whispered to one of his teammates. "Me and a couple others have been recording since the beginning," the yer whispered back. "Good," he nodded before turning to the nearby Nara who heard their talk and nodded back. She didn''t intend to let Bloom have a moment of rest without tracking him. With each fight, with each passing second with this monster, her feeling of doubt only got rooted deeper. She decided to give these recordings to a team of specialists she trusted, and she was pretty confident she would gain results about how he became such a monster despite ying the same game. As for Bloom, he didn''t realize he was watched this closely by Nara. If he knew he mightugh, or perhaps be more cautious. The fight seemed much easier than the previous ones, yet in fact it turned out to be a disasterter on. The yers in his team got so intoxicated with their recent victory that they forgot the horror of the monsters'' supreme skill. That led to nearly wiping out the team. If not for Bloom''s extraordinary performance, dealing with many monsters on his own, the entire team might have been wiped out. In the end, out of the original fifty yers, only less than dozens remained alive. Luckily three girls with reviving skills remained intact, or Bloom couldn''t continue clearing this dungeon with such low numbers indeed. "This can''t be tolerated," after ten minutes of reviving yers, he stood in front of the deeply ashamed ones and started to shout in anger. "Do you think of yourself as a special yer? Fifty killed three hundred and continued to clear the dungeon?" He was really mad at them, and the nearby Nara and Jeffrey had their faces darkened; couldn''t say a single word to defend their team. They both knew such a beginner''s mistake would have cost them everything. So they stood silently on the side, heard all the angry words Bloom flooded the team with before ending his rant with saying: "You all will be deprived from any loot from this dungeon," he dered before adding when he noticed the discontented look of some, "and if you didn''t improve your attitude in the next dungeons, I swear you won''t get a single loot from the next dungeon and the next one until I get satisfied with you." He turned then to Nara before adding in a loud tone, "if they didn''tply, you''ll need to find us a new team that can have some aspiration and abilities to rely upon." She got scared there for a moment before hurriedly nodding. The next thing happened was for her and Jeffrey to explode on the faces of those yers. After all she was their real boss, and she knew how valuable being with Bloom was. Her yers stood silently hearing all these rants from her and Jeffrey and they couldn''t speak. they weren''t newbies, and such a mistake was something they knew deep down their souls that it was their fault. As most yers here were revived, they had their stamina full. So, Bloom didn''t give them time to rest or reflect on their mistakes. He instantly led them towards the fifth room, and there it appeared how nervous and angry they were. Yet they did much better than when they were rxed and happy. Bloom inwardly sighed as he muttered to himself. "Dealing with humans is really troublesome. Their mindset is very bizarre, sigh." He initially thought that the previous crushing victory will give them more strength to clear this dungeon fast. Yet he was mistaken, and now he had to ditch the fast clearing strategy and focus on another counter strategy. "How is Horn doing?" They were now resting in the seventh hall after clearing it. "He is already on his way here," Nara said before adding, "he bought many high potions, and frankly I don''t think we might need them." Bloom totally disagreed with her, yet he didn''t express that. "How about our good friends out there?" he asked. "They are still still," she smiled while adding, "I think they won''t attack us." "They will," Bloom stressed. "But if they nned to do so, then they should have gathered more yers" she paused before adding, "or are they this confident in their numbers to kill us?" Bloom simply smiled before waving to Jeffrey toe. Jeffrey was checking on everyone like amander checking on his soldiers after a tough battle. "Can you spread your spies outside to take a patrol?" Bloom asked. Jeffrey exchanged nces with Nara before replying, "we are in a very high region, so wandering alone might not be the best thing." "Won''t reinforcementse from the direction of the town?" Nara had a sudden realization as she asked. "What reinforcements?" Jeffrey asked in doubt. "They won''t take the normal route," Bloom sighed, "it seems our two little friends out there are smart enough to realize we are watching the dungeon outside the area. So" He paused and didn''t need to continue, while Jeffrey started to get insights of what was happening here. "I''ll go to make them check the area," he said. "Make them check if there are teams leveling up around here," Nara stopped him before adding when she noticed the weird nce of Jeffrey, "we are in such a high leveling area that should have no one. Remember? We came here and the area looked deste." The eyes of Jeffrey shone as he nodded before hurrying to ry the orders to his spies. "Covering themselves up like leveling teams is nice,"Bloom said beforemending, "but discovering this is much more brilliant than the idea itself." The face of Nara blush before she looked away. "Stop it." "What?" heughed. "Stop looking at me this way." "What way?" "You know, like admiring me or something." Bloom nced for long at her before saying, "you deserve praise when you do something right, right?" "Ahem," she cleared her throat before turning to him with a strange sad look over her face, "I never was praised for doing something good, even in my life." An awkward moment of silence befell on them both before Nara excused herself to check on others, doing Jeffrey''s job as a sort of distraction and escape. "Poor you," and Bloom muttered to himself while watching her actions. Chapter 178: Bad News Chapter 178: Bad News They rested there for half an hour before Jeffrey came with a big smile over his dark face. Such strange contradictions made both of them know what he was going to tell next. "We''ve found teams disguised as they were leveling up," he said before sighing. "Spill out the bad news," Nara said before waving her both hands, "directly on my face." Bloom nodded and he just took a deep breath before saying: "Their numbers are in thousands," he said the bad news before adding, "and we recognized many of the famous yers working for you know whom." Bloom understood the meaning but kept his puzzled look lively on his face. "Who exactly?" he asked, while ncing over Nara who ignored his question and asked: "What team exactly?" "The death squad," Jeffrey answered and the face of Nara darkened. "We have little chance here, don''t we?" she sighed before turning to Bloom and added, "Can we finish this fast?" "Even if we did," Jeffrey replied instead, "we would still be attacked outside the dungeon." She raised her hand to stop him from saying more while waiting for Bloom''s answer. "Frankly we can''t," Bloom said the truth yet he was also saying his own decision. "we have to work with what we have right now." "Then we are doomed," she sighed before exining, "this squad is famous for its brutality. They don''t care if they lost levels, even if they were wiped out, they will still be revived,e back again to hit us." "That means" Bloom paused while she nodded. "Exactly as you thought," she said before adding, "they wille soon and hit us, then after they revive themselves they''lle back again and hit us." "An attrition war?" Bloom muttered. "Worse, we are facing thousands of maniac yers, not mentioning they are really good yers," Jeffrey said. "Can''t we retreat then?" she suddenly said. "Losing a dungeon either way makes me not want to do that," Bloom honestly expressed his thoughts. "It''s not just losing a dungeon," she sighed, "our yers will lose a couple more levels if this keeps going this way, and eventually we will lose levels." Bloom went to silence before making up his mind. "We''ll have to kill them without losing many levels then." "The same old technique? Won''t work," she shook her head before adding, "honestly they know our tactic and they won''t fall to the bait." "They can''t cross the monsters without losses," Jeffrey said, exining things more deeply to Bloom, "but they will throw many yers to keep the monsters busy ande straight for us." "Interesting," Bloom smiled as this was the first time for him to hear such a tactic. "Let''s say I have the perfect counter for them, what would we lose then?" "Perfect counter?" Nara shouted in doubt and before she even could say a single word more, Bloom just said in confidence: "Leave this to me, but I''ll need you to work alone in the next hall." "Are you crazy?" Jeffrey was shocked yet Nara stopped him again. "we can handle the hall ourselves," Nara said, "but how can you stop thousands of yers from getting in?" "Leave this dilemma to me," Bloom smiled while a small n appeared in his mind. "Just go now and leave this to me, alright?" She nced deeply at him, to see if he was joking or something. "Are theying to attack us now?" he asked, and Jeffrey nodded. "Our scouts said they saw many teams heading towards the dungeon entrance." "Perfect," Bloom stood up before adding, "go now and don''t waste more time. This fight will be hard on you." "And impossible on you," Nara stood as well, while giving him a very deep nce. "Are you sure of this?" she asked again. Yet he moved, leaving her and Jeffrey behind while saying: "Make Horn dy for a bit, I''ll need some time to clear all those hostiles." She watched his back getting away from her while Jeffrey was on her side feeling weird about this. "Is this ok?" "He is a big man," she sighed while turning towards the corridor leading to the next hall, "gather the boys up, we need to wrap things there fast and be ready to help him." "Can we send for more toe?'' Jeffrey nced at her in a meaningful way. "For a single dungeon?" she asked back, "no way, it''ll make us lose valuable spies we nted in his ranks." "Makes sense," Jeffrey nodded before heading towards the team and making them ready to move on. "I hope you know what you''re doing." Bloom moved towards the sixth hall while thinking about his options here. "I can use many things, but all I need to do is to use what can''t be threateningter to me," he thought for a moment before nodding. "I have to use them." For him facing a thousand or couple thousands in the open wasn''t a bad thing. He had a myriad of killing skills and moves he could use to kill as many as possible. Yet he had to use the terrain for his advantage. "Buy buy buy" as he came to the fourth hall he had already bought many dark agents of the battlefield from the dark auction. Despite being linked to him, this was the only drawback if he wanted to use them inside a system''s city or vige, not in the open. "What if they linked them to me?" he shrugged as the only thing he cared about right now was to kill everyoneing here. "So bad I can only y in such a narrow space," he sighed while holding the tokens of these agents and started summoning them. The next moment over a thousand dark agents appeared. "Go inside the corridor and don''te out until I call you," he ordered and didn''t stop betting over more tokens to take. Their prices weren''t that high, and during the dungeon run here, many of his quests werepleted. His dark points rose up with a terrifying four hundred thousand points, and he was pretty sure this number could be tripled when all of his quests got fulfilled. Chapter 179: One Player Killing Thousands... One Player Changing Everything! Chapter 179: One yer Killing Thousands... One yer Changing Everything! Just as he bought another thousand, he heard some noisesing from far. ''They are entering the dungeon fast,'' Nara sent to him privately before adding, ''Not all of them entered, but at least a thousand are entering the dungeon now.'' ''How are things at your end?'' Bloom didn''t speak about his own side, as he was pretty sure he would be able to hold back these yers. ''We are doing good,'' she simply answered before asking, ''How are you going to stop them?'' ''With magic.'' ''Stop joking around and be more serious please.'' ''I''m not fooling you,'' he sent before closing the chat as the sounds of their footsteps were getting higher. "They are eager to die," heughed and waited for a couple minutes before the first batch of yers came. When they saw him here, they all paused with a puzzled look over their faces. "Hahaha, I wish you could see your faces right now, hrious," heughed while pointing at him, making them instantly enraged. "Listen up, I don''t know what trick you are trying to pull, but here will be the end of your worthless legend," one of the yers shouted back while another shouted: "Let''s all kill him, a single kill of this bastard will turn anyone of you to a millionaire." The next moment yers started to move towards him. The first wave consisted mainly of weapon wielders and shield bearers, yet all Bloom did was to snap his fingers. "Come out now, my dark knights," he sneered and the next moment another long row of dark silhouettes appeared from the corridor inrge numbers, startling everyone. Yet the dark agents Bloom summoned kept running towards their enemies, and the next moment a huge battle erupted. Bloom didn''t move, despite his ability to add more momentum to his army of dark agents, he stood silently watching everything. He was like a bloody warlord of ancient times, watching his armies kill peasants with cold blood. Yet they weren''t peasants, and he didn''t feel his enemies should receive anything from him but a cold heart. With the passage of time, his enemies realized he had a great number of these agents, far beyond the number of his team. Yet they didn''t retreat, and crazily fought with his dark agents until the long ranged yers appeared. "This will be troublesome," he muttered beforeughing as he took out some tokens, "if left alone. Come forth my dear agents, go kill those neers for me. Stab, Dash!" The next moment his sword was unsheathed and hit a yer nearby before moving his body with a dash to appear directly in the middle of the staff holders and light daughters ranks. Then he paused, and new faces appeared out of thin air hitting everyone around without showing any hesitation or mercy. "Stab, and a dash," he moved his body, this time heading directly inside the corridor these yers were flooding from. "Come forth," he didn''t stop summoning more agents, spreading them along the way of his travel. His sudden interference here made everyone shocked. They thought he would stay in his ce so they brought their long ranged yers to rain skills over him. Yet he outyed them and went directly to those nasty yers. Each simple wave of his sword sent a yer flying, while more dark agents kept appearing out of thin air. The ce was messy, yet Bloom kept using his dash to travel along the entire dungeon, from the fourth hall all the way to the first corridor, and finally he even summoned hundreds of his agents there while shouting at them: "Go out and clear things up for me." This came totally out of his enemies'' expectations to the course of this fight. Just when they were trying to handle his bizarre army inside the dungeon, the sudden appearance of those hundreds going all out and killing anyone standing outside, things became more chaotic and his enemies finally lost their bnce. They didn''t know where to defend, or what to do. Even those reserve forces outside the dungeon weren''t left intact by him, all were getting attacked and killed mercilessly while Bloom watched for a minute the outside battle, adding a couple of hundred agents more to this fight before heading to the inside again. This time it was the turn to clear all the hostiles inside the dungeon. At this stage, those inside were already dispersed and afraid, fighting as one man for himself. There was no coordination or nning going on inside, and thus all Bloom needed to do was to reach those yers and kill them with the simple wave of his stabbing swords. The fight was epic, and things went directly opposite to what those yers nned or imagined. In less than ten minutes, he and his dark agents managed to clear everyone inside the dungeon. "Shade doppelganger festival," and he wasn''t nearly finished as he summoned his clones before giving everyone the order. "Go out there, kill every single one of them. Then spread out, any team you meet in one mile radius kill beforeing back and gathering again in the fourth hall." Everyone moved out instantly while he just stood in the emptiness around. "Be sure to bring me their loot as well," he shouted back at his far clones and agents before muttering, "did they hear me or what?" As he had no more yers to kill, he started moving slowly and leisurely from the fourth hall up to the first corridor, collecting the fallen loot with a big smile over his face. "I love rich enemies, and those smart asses too," heughed as most of the drops were potions and some were gears and rarely he found a scroll. "Now, it''s time to end this dungeon fast," he smirked as he knew what he did here would crumble his enemies'' ns. Right now they had two tactics to deal with, and no one could even face such an adversary without losing. ''How are things at your ce?'' he sent to Nara and what he got back was a video call from her. "What the hell have you done?" She shouted on his face the moment he picked the call. She was still standing in the eighth room, while her yers were dealing with a dozen monsters. Her face showed how much excited and shocked she was, telling him everything about her knowing what he did here already. "You are fast to know," heughed. "You are faster and more brutal than I thought," sheughed back before adding, "even hitting those outside and clearing all the imminent threats in one go, wow. I''m really impressed." "Thanks," he smiled before adding, "I''ming to you now, make sure to end things up when Ie." "Don''t worry," she nced over at her boys before adding, "we might need some help from your cloaked friends." She winked and he just simply smiled and said nothing before closing the call while saying, "I''ll bring some to clear the dungeon faster." "You should have brought them earl" he closed the call before she could continueining. "You should learn to depend more on yourself, dummy girl," heughed while walking towards the eighth hall and he started to bet on more agents to help. Chapter 180: Its A Date Then Chapter 180: It''s A Date Then As he had more tokens, Bloom kept summoning the dark agents around him until he had slightly over two hundred when he reached the eighth hall. There things weren''t over yet, and so he casually pointed towards the monsters as he ordered: "Go and kick their asses!" The next moment his new army joined the fight. For others this seemed a scene to behold, yet for him he just watched with no interest at all. He knew this wasn''t even the top of his might, and more scary things still in his pocket, still early to use. "You should have used them early on," Nara came to him as the monsters were killed in a short time. "No time for that," he said before motioning to others, "make them all move to the next hall. The boss monster at the tenth hall will be hard to deal with." "Any clue about that?" she nced weirdly at him like she was ncing at a little prophet. "No," he shook his head before adding, "but if the monsters were like that, then the boss will be harder to deal with." "I see," she suspiciously nced at him before adding, "Boys, let''s roll out to the next hall. No time to rest, no time to waste," she shouted at the others, while everyone didn''tin. They had the support of such a high number of agents, fierce fighters who could be used as cannon fodders while they leisurely fought from behind. As they hit the next hall, they managed topletely crush the monsters there in a record time of five minutes only. Bloom wasn''t that relieved, so he kept buying secretly more agents during the fight, doing nothing else at all. "Is there any news from outside?" Bloom stopped everyone from heading to thest hall, as he asked Jeffrey about this. "Last thing I got was your berserk clones and cloaked men to hit everyone, even my spies," Jeffreyined. "That''s better," Nara said before adding, "this way no one will suspect them." "Agreed," Jeffrey couldn''t refute her logic. "Will we hit thest hall now or what?" Jeffrey asked. "Just ask for more intel first," Bloom didn''t hurry to move, as it would be fatal to have intruders when dealing with the boss monster. "Tsk, gimme five then," he turned around while Nara chuckled, "he is just angry as one of his best agents lost a level at the hands of your people," she said before turning to nce at those a hundred and seventy dark agents remaining after the fight, "Tell me again from where you got them?" she asked. "I didn''t tell first to say again," Bloom smirked before shifting the topic, "may I invite you for dinner?" "What?" she turned to nce at him in rounded eyes before adding, "you got some balls to ask me that." "Didn''t know you weren''t into men, sorry." "Damn you," sheughed before adding, "we can''t meet in the real world." "Who said anything about meeting in the real world?" heughed before adding, "I don''t want your two lovers toe and kill me for real." Sheughed while her eyes carried much doubt towards him. "What do you have in mind then?" she asked with a yful tone. "Nothing," he shrugged before adding, "I have this special quest, then after that I''ll be totally free. Let''s hit a good restaurant in the city." "Wow, the city?" she eximed loudly, attracting more attention to them, "the city is way too costly even for me to go." "Don''t worry yourself about the cost," he sneered, "it''s me inviting you out, and it''s me who will handle all the costs." "A man with much ego and wealth isn''t a good man for a little girl like me," she winked. "But you aren''t a little girl, ain''t you?" he winked back, making her re at him for a moment before chuckling. "Alright, but the dress and ornaments will be on your ount." "Wow, didn''t think taking you out would be this pricey," heughed. "I''m not anyone, y''know. Taking me out requires some protocols to follow," she yed with him and he just smiled and nodded. "Agreed, as long as it''s a date, I''m obliged to make it the best date ever." "Wait a minute," she hurried to stop him with augh, "who mentioned anything about it being a date?" "Me, logic, and anyone with some sanity passing by here will approve of my words," he grinned and she just shook her head, in such a slow move that made his heart palpitate. "You are bold," she said. "To take a tigress like you, one must be a lion," he winked and she paused there for a moment before putting her palm over her opened mouth, trying to control herughs. "C''mon, Mr. lion, we have a monster to kill," she shook her head, notmenting anymore about his date. As for him, he watched her move away while picturing himself with her, in one room, on one bed, while making the first real move towards getting her to be his. "Dockrey? Hehehe, I''ll leave you far behind in dust slow boy," he inwardlyughed at his rival as he would end up with the girl, eventually. "Tell me some good news," when he moved after her towards Jeffrey, he heard her saying those words before motioning with her head towards him. "Our big lion here is restless to end this dungeon fast." Jeffrey seemed to miss the point, while moving his nces between her and Bloom. "What happened?" he asked. "Nothing," she shrugged while Bloom said, "any news yet?" "They''re regrouping again anding here in the same grand numbers," he said with questioning eyes towards Nara. "How long?" Bloom asked. "Around half an hour mostly," Jeffrey replied, "can we make it before they appear?" Bloom didn''t hurry to answer, while Nara asked: "What about the trick he used? Have they got any ideas?" "They sent for a group who had the same trick as you," Jeffrey said before adding in a suspicious tone, "they call them dark envoys." Nara nced at Bloom who just shrugged as he said, "I dunno what that even means." "C''mon," Nara was the one to speak, "you know all this stuff about the secrets of the game and don''t know anything as famous as this one?" Despite her direct suspicion and usation in her words and gazes, Bloom stuck to his initial stance, shrugging and saying nothing with his puzzled look. "They are dark yers," Jeffrey said before adding, "are you a dark yer as well?" Bloom shook his head while saying, "my skill is different, besides" he paused as if he was recalling something, "can''t dark yers enter viges, townsetc? I can perfectly enter the vige without any problem." "They can," Nara amusingly said, "using some gears to do so. A cape or something special to conceal their presence and aura," she added. "Yet I have nothing like that, right?" Bloom smiled while pointing to himself, "I don''t even own a cape." "Tsk," she shook her head while adding, "you''re full of mysterious, Mr. lion." He didn''t speak while Jeffrey was more curious about this strange nickname and the way Nara spelled it. "Will we hit thest monster or what?" Jeffrey asked. "We will," Bloom nodded before adding, "but we have to arrange something first." Others nced at him before he went to the center of the hall all of sudden examining it. he knew each hall in any high ranked dungeon had some hidden mechanism there, and activating this would cause massive damage to anyone inside the hall. He didn''t seek this mechanism against the monsters as he didn''t need it. but now, he had to make sure the boss fight would be swift while he had another unexpected card to wee his iing guests with. "Got you," he finally found the mechanism here. "So it''s that simple, huh," he muttered while watching the small rocks in the center of the hall where he just had to move them from their chaotically arranged ces and put them inside the shallow holes in the ground. Just as he did it, the roof suddenly shook and sharp needles rained on the entire room, attacking everything yet his team was intact. "Great," heughed while everyone was surprised by that. He waited for a minute, yet the rain never stopped or slowed down. He kicked one rock to make the mechanism stop before adding, "you go and inspect the boss monster while I''lleter," he said to Nara before turning to his agents, "go inside and hit the monster hard, don''t spare anything." The next moment they all nodded and then went towards the corridor without saying a single word. "Wow, they are really obedient. I want some of them, please, "Nara jumped to ask in front of him like a little girl, yet he shook his head and turned to leave. "Stop fooling around," he turned to her before winking, "we''ll have enough timeter to y as much as we want." "Stingy lion," she groaned while Jeffrey came to stand beside her, watching him move as he asked, "what all this is about?" "Nothing," she shrugged with a big smile before turning to lead others towards the boss monster. "I swear it''s something big," Jeffrey shook his head before ncing at the direction Bloom vanished into, "I warned you before, mate, yet you seem to be thick headed, sigh." Jeffrey then moved behind the others while Bloom was doing his thing at the other halls. Chapter 181: A Death Wish Chapter 181: A Death Wish Bloom headed towards the previous halls and kept modifying the rocks on the ground, yet he left only one rock out of ce in each hall. Reaching hall four, he was weed with a group of agents whom he totally forgot about. "You know you just came in time," heughed when he counted over two hundred of the initial two thousands he summoned before. "It seems some might get into some monster fight, right?" "Master is right," one of the agents replied. "Not a big loss," he smiled before thinking about how to use them, "you alle with me and watch what I do." He then moved to change the hall rocks before exining what he wanted to do. Then he went to the other three halls, and when he finished he left the couple at the entrance to spot any neers. Yet he didn''t need that, as after five minutes Nara sent him this simple message privately. ''They are here.'' Bloom evilly grinned while he turned around, "c''mon boys, we will wait for them at thest hall." He moved and all the agents around moved with him. He knew thoseing here would be most likely prepared for his agents, ready to die and lose levels just to kill him. So, he was also readying himself for such fate. If it was needed, then he wouldn''t hesitate to lose a level as well. After all, being killed here in the dungeon wouldn''t make him lose an entire level directly, but only twenty percent of his current level experience. As for those invaders, they weren''t considered dungeon runners by the game system, making them vulnerable to lose directly one level with each kill. And like this he intended to start this attrition game, and finally he would emerge victorious. As he reached the ninth hall, Nara sent another message for him: ''They brought five thousand this time, with many dark yers to aid.'' "Coming prepared ain''t you," he smirked as he continued to bid over the agent tokens all the time, while waiting for the first batch toe. As he expected, the first to arrive weren''t yers, but other agents. From the look of things, they seemed simr to his, and they had numbers in hundreds in his opinion. "But notpared to my thousands of agents here, hehehe," he wasn''t worried at the least while he watched the first batch jumping off the corridor and attacking his boys. At first things seemed in the favor of his men until some yers got involved. They stayed inside the corridor while using a wide range of skills to hit as many of his agents as possible. "Trying to kite them like monsters? Interesting," he smiled before he leisurely headed towards the center of the hall, waited patiently there while bidding on more tokens. In less than a couple of minutes all of his men here got killed. The hall instantly got crowded with many agents, and some yers who walked inside with a smug smile over their faces. "The legendary Bloom, trapped and cornered like a hopeless worthless rat," one of them said in strange hatred. "You''ve some balls toe here and insult me face to face," Bloom smiled while the youth seemed to understand the hidden meaning in his words wrongly. "Snap." He snapped his fingers and the next instant dozen of agents stood as a meat shield between him and Bloom. "You can''t touch me," the youthughed, "the best you can do is to use this annoying stun skill of yours on a couple of my worthless agents. You''re a dead man, ept the fact and die in peace." "You know I won''t really die, right?" Bloomughed but the next instant the youth snapped his fingers again, like a thing he used to do as a habit, and another yer came. This yer wore a dark thick ck cloak over him, making it hard to recognize him from other agents around. "A dark yer," Bloom muttered, before taking a wide nce at those around him, "or yers?" "You guessed it right," the youth smiled before patting on the shoulder of the dark yer standing next to him, "this young man here has something interesting, a gear that can absorb your soul in the game and seal it." The expression of the youth changed to show a strange innocent look, "I guess you already know this, right? It''s the same as what you used before on others." "It seems I didn''t use it much on your crew," Bloom smiled while he nced at those yersing from the corridor in batches, crowding the ce more. "Yeah, as my friend here told me everything about your gear," the youth patted again on the dark yer''s shoulders, "he said you have to personally kill the yers, not using other means, right?" "You did your homework brilliantly it seems," Bloom''s smile went wider than the youth''s. "If you may, I want to ask about this silly smile of yours." "Sure, go ahead and ask," Bloomughed as he added, "any dead man is granted a dying wish after all, right?" The look on the youth''s face didn''t change and the smile was still there as he totally ignored Bloom''s provocation. "Indeed, that means you have to ask for a wish, right?" "It depends," Bloom said before adding, "who will kill whom first." "I agree," the youthughed as he waved his hands around, "see? You are alone, surrounded by thousands of my men, and you think you can kill me? That''s hrious. I really like you man, you muste to my mansion in real life and do some clown tricks of yours. I''m sure me and other mates will love it." Bloom sneered while the man snapped his fingers. The next moment dark cloaked yers took a few steps forward towards Bloom while the youth said: "To be honest, this isn''t an honest way to die. After all you are a legendary figure now in this game, yet you must be reminded of a fact; there''s a heaven above heavens you dumbass." The youth turned to his rear yers as he added, "they are all recording your death from all the possible angels. As you won''t be here for a week, I''ll make sure to post the videos on many online tforms, so you can like and appreciate our hard work. After all you''re our top movie star." Bloom watched the cloaked yers getting so near to him, while each took out a strange dagger. The daggers were all the same, ck and curved with rough surfaces and strange handles with a ruby. "I''m also recording this and will make sure the entire world will know about your humiliating defeat here." Bloom wasn''t lying, as he started the recording the moment that youth came forth. Before the youth couldugh or say anything, Bloom simply kicked the rock under his feet slight inches to the side. "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" The next moment the rain fell, and yers and agents were hit regardless of their stand here. The rain covered the entire hall, and when it first appeared, the youth tried to run back towards the corridor. "Where are you going? Leaving the party at the beginning? That''s not a good virtue of yours. Please stay, dash!" The next moment Bloom hit the youth with his sword stunning him. The youth was already out of the protection of the agents, and before anyone could react, the youth was hit, sent flying to hit the wall and bounce off like a rubber ball, before Bloom started to stab him whileughing. "Don''t worry, I''ll post the videos after editing at all the gaming tforms out there, so you won''t miss any second during your week off." As he killed the youth, he turned his gaze towards the dark yer. Right now he was the closest to the corridor, blocking the path on these yers. "Let us leave, we can''t be resurrected in the system vige," one of them shouted and Bloom evilly smiled. "Why should I?" he leisurely asked while some already started to fall from the damage taken by the rain. Each hit took around five thousand Hp from each yer. Mostly a yer can resist the rain for no longer than fifteen seconds, using three Hp potions in the middle to survive this long. "We''ll give you anything you want, just let us leave." "You have nothing I desire," Bloom said before thinking for a moment, "on second thought you have these amazing daggers. Throw them and leave," he added, before warning, "a daggeres in pairs, so make sure to leave them all and leave this vige asap." He sat his gaze upon these daggers as he decided to arm his dolls with them. The dark yers seemed hesitant before the couple threw their daggers and ran. He simply let them move away while hitting other yers with his swords, sending them all back flying towards the hall. As for those inside the corridor, all they heard was the screams of their mates and the back of Bloom standing in front of the opening, making them unable to fully see everything. Yet his stand there made him easily attacked by them. He didn''t mind that, especially when he had arge stock of potions unused so far. "Gulp, keep hitting me idiots, I''m way far above your penny levels," he sneered and he was right, as their attacks only caused damage in hundreds, absolutely nothingpared to hisrge Hp right now. Chapter 182: The Appearance of Scrolls Chapter 182: The Appearance of Scrolls Once he cleared the hall from all the yers and agents there, he turned everything against those annoying ones in the corridor. "Go kill them all," he simply gave the order and his agents just jumped at their enemies'' throats the next moment. "It seems I don''t need all the agents I bought," he sighed when he reached the eighth hall and used a couple of dash to reach the center to activate the mechanism there. The next thing happened was an exact replica of what happened in the ninth hall, except there were a few agents and dark yers here and they were all cleared in no time along with other yers. "They only brought this few?" he was surprised as he recalled Nara warning him of the dark yers'' numbers. ''Do you know how much dark yers they brought?'' he sent privately to her and she instantly responded. ''You are amazing! How can you kill all of them in such ease?'' He read her message and didn''t know what to say. The fight didn''t take longer than five minutes and she already knew the details about it. "Scary," he muttered before replying to her: ''No time to waste, I have yers to kill.'' ''Damn your cold heart, you think they are cattle or sheep raised in your farm?'' ''Consider them like that,'' he sent while sneering, ''just tell me about those dark yers.'' ''They ran away,'' she simply sent before adding, ''those you released first alerted the others and so they ran away.'' ''Wow, no honor at all!!'' ''They are dark yers, yers with no honor.'' Bloom just nodded in agreement before asking, ''Any more reinforcements?'' ''Till now no.'' ''They won''t respond to my provocation?'' he was surprised by this, as he thought they would start a massive wave of attacks to crush him with numbers. ''There is a debate right now.'' ''About what?'' ''Using a grade one scroll to kill you or not.'' He was speechless there for a moment beforeughing. ''No problem, let them try,'' he issued the order for his agents to move to the next hall as he shouted: "Go inside and kill anyone you meet. Activate the rocks the way I did before." ''Ain''t you afraid?'' she asked. ''Don''t worry, I''m not that easy to reach or kill.'' His answer didn''t give her any satisfaction at all, yet she dropped the idea of asking more about this. She knew how mysterious he would be if things were rted to his own ways of fight. As for him, he knew the scrolls would be deadly if he got caught. Yet he wasn''t that worried in the least. "Let them try to bypass my agents," heughed before finally taking out more tokens and started to summon more agents. He didn''t hurry to send them forward, as he was sure his agents at the front were sufficient. Instead he went back, heading back towards the ninth hall where he waited there patiently for any intruders. ''They''ve decided,'' after nearly ten minutes Nara sent this message to him. ''The scroll?'' he asked. ''It seems you didn''t need my info then.'' ''Nah, your info is precious to me like you,'' he teased her before adding, ''when are they going to attack?'' ''Now.'' Bloom closed the chat and kept waiting calmly for his enemies toe. After a couple of minutes he heard a muffled noise before Nara hurriedly sent it to him. ''Are you alright? They used it.'' ''I''m fine,'' he sneered, ''they just hit one of my clones I sent.'' He had already summoned his clones, leaving one in each hall and he was now surrounded by ten of them. ''They have more scrolls, don''t drop your guard,'' she sent after a couple of minutes and just before he could respond, another bang appeared. This time it was closer than the first one. "They have many indeed," Bloom nodded beforeughing, "but I''ve already activated all the mechanisms in the halls here. They have to fight their way with huge losses." He turned around as he shouted, "go and attack thoseing here, don''t let a single person step forward any further." The hundreds around him moved while those in the corridor ryed the orders to those in the next hall and so on. He took another batch of tokens and kept summoning more agents while the frequency of the noisesing from far front kept getting shorter. "They seemed cornered," heughed while summoning thest batch of agents he had before sending everything to the front. "Having scrolls at this early stage of the game is impressive, yet you need to first reach me to make all this count." This was his n, kiting them down from a hall to another, while using his agent wave tactic to keep them trapped inside the halls as much time as he could. Like this many would die, and those who would be alive would have low Hp and consume much potions till the point they wouldn''t be able to sustain his attacks. As he waited much longer, the sounds of noises kept decreasing in frequency that he thought they wouldn''t have anymore scrolls. ''They have changed their tactic,'' Nara sent all of sudden, ''they will exhaust your agents first before using the remaining scrolls.'' ''How many are left?'' he asked. ''Two.'' ''Good,'' he smiled before adding, ''Do you know what type of scrolls they have?'' ''One creates a thorn attack in a wide area while the other brings fire.'' ''Thanks.'' ''Be careful, they are dead fixed on making us lose the dungeon run.'' ''How are things looking at your end?'' he asked, as if they could end the dungeon run early then this would be their win in the end. ''Ahem we might need your help here,'' she suddenly said. ''Is it that bad?'' ''Almost a wipe out.'' He was surprised. ''Even with the agents I sent with you?'' ''We didn''tst more than three minutes.'' '''' ''I know. So, we are now recovering and waiting for the revival skills to be activated.'' He understood her meaning, so he sent back, ''Don''te, you''ll just make it worse if you do.'' '''' ''I know, but this is the truth.'' ''Can''t you be more gentler?'' ''Telling weak yers they are weak in a gentle way? Hmm dunno if I can do that.'' ''Cold hearted lion.'' ''At least I''m a lion.'' '''' Heughed before closing the chat and thought about this tactic of his enemies. "They are thinking of depleting my own agents, right?" he evilly smirked before opening his inventory casually and taking out one token belonging to one dead agent. "System alert: the dark agent linked to this token is dead already. You can''t summon a new one before spending one hundred gold coins on that." "One hundred good," heughed while checking his own gold. "Pretty much enough to summon two hundred," he thought before taking out two hundred tokens and thought of something. He threw one away, and then he said: "I want to revive the agent over there." "System alert: yer has to pay one hundred gold coins to do that." "Agreed." "System alert: one hundred gold coins are deducted sessfully. The dark agent is now revived." The next moment an agent appeared in front of his eyes, making his eyes be rounded and shone brightly of excitement. "Amazing," he muttered beforeughing, "this is much more amazing than I thought. So I can now have these agents summoned as long as the tokens belonged to me." He waved to the agent toe while he resurrected nine more. "Each will have these tokens. Go to the halls we still control and scatter these there," he evilly said before adding, "make sure no one will notice you while doing that." The agents all nodded before each took around twenty tokens and went to the next hall. "I need to prepare here then," he took out a hundred more and started scattering the tokens on the ground. "This will get me broke, but I can get many gold coins each time I destroy a gear," he muttered when he felt some pain while his mind calcted the amount of gold coins lost in this single fight. "But it''s worth crushing those arrogant bastards and letting the entire world fear my name." Despite taking the tokens, he didn''t resurrect them using gold coins. Instead, he started to buy dark agent tokens again, while summoning anything he bought right away. The sound of fighting kept getting closer and closer until after fifteen minutes a bunch of yers stood in the corridor with racing breaths and tired faces. "He is there," one of them said to others behind, "shall we hit him now?" Bloom knew they had very low Hp and if they stepped in and met the army of his agents, then they would be instantly killed. "No, we need to surround him first," an angry voice came from behind, before ordering, "Go and kill all those around this bastard and block his path to retreat." Strangely this wasn''t a male voice, but a female one. Bloom raised an eyebrow while watching the yers inside the corridor take out some potions and gulped them before heading inside the hall. "Looking for death then? I''ll dlyply with your wishes," Bloom sneered before snapping his fingers, and the next moment his agents moved to attack the hostiles. "Damn you! You killed my brother and now are stealing his signature move. Screw you!" this sudden snapping finger move of Bloom got on the nerve of that angry girl. "Brother?" he muttered beforeughing out loud. Chapter 183: Killing All the Invaders Chapter 183: Killing All the Invaders The fight was chaotic and intense from the start, and with the rain falling down over the yers here, they were fighting hard from the start, not fooling around. From behind a long row of healers started to show their value. Many healing skills started to rain above the yers heads, almost negating the devastation caused by the rain. And Bloom simply stood there watching this ongoing fight without blinking. He didn''t look worried at all, and his expression made everyone here very mad at him. "Block the corridor, be ready," the female yer shouted again while a group of ten yers were heading towards the corridor leading towards the final hall. "So you have done what you wanted, right?" Bloom sneered before muttering, "Resurrect all the agents." His words seemed weird to all yers around, yet Bloom didn''t mind them. He received the next instant a message from the system: "System alert: yer has to pay one hundred gold coins to resurrect one dark agent. Does the yer approve of that?" "Proceed," Bloom simply said and the next moment many silhouettes appeared all of sudden in between the yers'' ranks. "System alert: three hundred and seventy-two agents were resurrected sessfully." "It''s much more than I initially used," he muttered, totally ignoring the screams of pain that emerged here and from distance. He checked his inventory and saw the number of left tokens there decreased slightly. "Wow, so I can resurrect agents using the tokens directly from my inventory? That''s awesome!" He turned his gaze towards that rude female yer. She was standing inside the corridor, yet some of the agents were resurrected inside as well. "Stab!" "Dash!" Bloom didn''t wait any longer as he moved towards the nearest yer to the corridor, sending him flying and stunning him. "Dash!" Then he moved towards one staff holder yer in the middle of the corridor where he started his barrage of attacks against all yers around. His sudden appearance here startled all of them, along with those suddenly resurrected agents; the fight turned chaotic and leaned finally towards Bloom''s side. "Send your brother my greetings please," he sneered when he reached her before sending her flying by a stab, then weing her with a couple more until he emptied her Hp and let her die. "Use the scrolls, fast!" one the yers shouted all of sudden before he was killed by one agent. Bloom knew those with the scrolls were either inside the ninth hall or in this corridor which he totally devastated. "See you, dash!" Heughed as he exited the corridor and appeared next inside the eighth hall. No matter how the scrolls were strong, they couldn''t cover the span of two halls at the same time. "Boom!" Just as he arrived inside the eighth hall, he started to kill his way towards the next corridor when he heard the first scroll being used back in thest hall. "One down, only one remained," he turned to gaze upon the distant corridor where many yers were trying to secure a single one in the middle. "So it''s you then, hehehe," heughed while he was running towards the next corridor with his eyes fixed back over the iing yer. The moment the yer was about to enter the hall, he suddenly turned around and used a couple of skills at the same time. He was right in the middle of chaos, and many skills already hit him, yet he never cared about those weak bites. He only cared about neutralizing that threat of the scroll, and even be more lucky to have it in his hand. "Dash!" "Cloud of fog!" The next moment he started to jump from one yer to another for six times until he finally hit the shocked yer with the fifth jump. He stunned the yer and sent him back while a scroll was still in his hand. "This one is mine," Bloom didn''t hesitate to hit another yer in the area adjacent to the ce the stunned yer justnded at. Then he turned to the yer, took the scroll by force from his hand, and stored it. "Safe and secured," he nodded in content before turning towards the rest of the yers and sneered, "I''ll kill you all today." The next hour consisted mainly of him killing yers, and yers trying either to defend, attack, and eventually run away from him. When he reached the third hall, yers had already evacuated the dungeon, and he was left there all alone standing among his agents. "Stay at the first hall and watch things out for me," he said to a group of ten agents before turning to others, "the rest wille with me." He then turned around and went directly towards thest hall with the boss monster inside. He kept collecting the fallen items from the yers he killed, and this time all the loot was about potions. "At least I got a scroll, hehehe," he tried to console himself. After all he gained thousands of potions from this dungeon so far, and many useless gears to him, plus a very valuable scroll. When he reached there, he instantly recognized the reason why so many fell in a short span of time. His appearance was apanied by admiring looks from everyone, as the news of thest fight had already reached their ears. They were already trying to hit the monster for the second time, and almost half of them were killed. "Stand back, let me take the lead," he shouted before turning towards this huge monster. It was a huger version of the dungeon monsters, with around two hundred monsters fighting alongside it. "So you are using numbers and brute strength to prevent me from clearing this dungeon?" he sneered before snapping his fingers and all the agents who came with him started to attack. "What shall we do?" Nara hurriedly ran towards him. "Just use the old tactic," he simply said before adding, "I''ll handle most of the pressure and you start killing monsters two by two." Chapter 184: The Grand Dark City Ticket Chapter 184: The Grand Dark City Ticket "This simple?" she asked before adding, "don''t underestimate their boss." "I know it''s strong," Bloom smiled, "but we didn''t use our great advantage yet," he mysteriously said before adding, "dash!" He went directly towards the middle of the huge pack of monsters. The moment he appeared there, he sent the monster he hit flying while turning around and evilly smiled. "Let''s make this fight more even, shall we?" he didn''t stop waving his swords while he moved the rocks on the ground with his legs. "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" The moment hepleted putting the rocks in their right ces, a rain descended and started to kite away the monsters'' Hp. "Good," Bloom nodded before starting to move from one ce to another, evading the angry monsters and their boss. As for Nara and the team, they watched in daze how calmly and confidently Bloom was fighting and moving with full rounded eyes. "This dude he makes me feel I''m not ying the same game as him," Jeffrey shook his head before adding, "let''s go, we have to kill monsters with him." With the presence of over a hundred and fifty agents attacking monsters, and Bloom making these monsters run in circles, they found not much pressure in dealing with these monsters. The monsters'' brutal trick was to increase the monsters'' levels by one with each supreme skill use. However after all this fight with them in the previous halls, the team started to have a good grasp on how to deal with them. And few mistakes were made, and they had the ability to rapidly correct it. After half an hour of this stressful fighting, and the usage of many potions, Bloom and his team finally managed to kill thest monster,pleting the dungeon which made them all exhausted. The boss monster wasn''t anything unique than others, except it added five levels, not just two after using its supreme skill. Bloom didn''t find it hard to kill with others, especially he intentionally left it for thest. "This dungeon made me feel I never yed a game before," Jeffrey was panting while sitting on the ground, resting after all this hard fight. Bloom watched some of his team collecting materials from the fallen monster before it vanished in one minute. "Each high ranked dungeon here is like this one," Bloom said. "But it would be much easier if these yers stopped harassing us," Nara came and sat beside the two while taking a deep breath. "I agree," Jeffrey said while Bloom simply nodded. "Why isn''t there a system alert about us finishing the dungeon?" Nara suddenly asked, and this alerted even Bloom to a certain possibility. "A treasure box is here!" he thought to himself before turning around. "Boys, we have a treasure box here," yet before he could say anything, Jeffrey suddenly jolted up as he shouted, "go back and scan every single inch of this dungeon. We need to find and open it fast." He then turned to Bloom as he widely smiled, "this tip I got by an expensive price from one of your past team members, hehehe." "Who?" Bloom bitterly asked while he already knew the owner of this leak. "Someone you won''t meet anytime soon," Nara mysteriously said, cutting the road over Jeffrey to speak before adding, "or perhaps you met recently? In real life?" "Hahaha, you are speaking in riddles and I can''t even guess the identity of that ex-team member of mine," Bloomughed, trying to evade answering this question. "Humph," Nara was still doubting him, "anyway this treasure chest will be divided as such, one third for you, one third for me, and the rest for the team." "Why do you get one third?" Bloom strangely asked. "What? Acting stingy my dear mighty lion?" she yfully said while acting innocent. "I''m the one who brought the team together, and vice leader of the team. So I''ll take as much as you do." "" He speechlessly nced at her while she chuckled, "don''t look at me like this, after all you are aiming to make everything you have belong to me, right?" "" He didn''t reply while a message suddenly came in to save him from this awkward moment. ''Master, they are preparing to move in an hour.'' This sudden message alerted Bloom and made his face change slightly. "What''s wrong?" Nara asked, as she didn''t miss this minute change of his face. "Nothing," Bloom sighed, "it''s just I remembered my own special quest. I took much time here already and just realized that." She suspiciously nced at him while he sent a message back to Muna with one question: ''What happened?'' ''You happened,'' Muna simply answered before adding, ''You seemed to clear a dungeon and Panty began to lose his cool. He decided to go now to the quest and not wait for the time he decided before.'' Bloom sneered and before Nara could say anything, a yer came fast and said from afar: "We have some yersing to block our path." Bloom, Nara, and Jeffrey all stood up at the same moment while Jeffrey asked: "Are they going in now?" "No, they are surrounding the dungeon." "And what''s in that?" Nara sighed before adding, "we can use the tickets to return to the vige anytime we want." "No, we can''t," suddenly Jeffrey muttered and his words made Nara''s face change. "The space lock scroll?" she whispered. "Indeed," Jeffrey nodded, "we have to march at least one mile away from here to be able to use the tickets again." "This" Nara seemed distressed, and turned to nce at Bloom. ''nning to trap me here?'' Bloom inwardly sneered before saying: "Don''t worry, we can bypass them." "By the agents?" Jeffrey asked before adding, "I know they are strong, but this is the wilderness. They are nning to bring all the monsters around and attack us." "Like we did before to them," Nara muttered. "I told you I got this," Bloom smiled as he mysteriously added, "I have something interesting you might want to see," he then took one item and showed it to the two, making them exim in realization the next instant. "Oh, and we also have another one like this," Nara evilly smiled when she received a message from the yers who opened the chest. "System alert: Congrattions to Bloom''s team for clearing out level fifteen grade red dungeon. As the first team in the game to clear such a dungeon, they will receive corresponding rewards ording to their performance." The next instant the system notification kicked in and the one Bloom received seemed a bit strange. "System alert: Congrattions to yer, as being the highest in DPS and the one who killed most monsters and yers, yer has given two hundred thousand dark points, the right to obtain twenty quests in the ck market, and the ticket to visit the grand dark city anytime he wants." ''Impressive, I got all the rewards rted to my dark ss,'' he was astonished to receive such rewards. For him, the dark points were something he needed, but the amount he received paled in front of the handsome reward of the quests. ''Twenty quests are enough to add at least two million dark points to my ount,'' he thought to himself, ''but this ticket what is this grand dark city?'' Chapter 185: Panty... My Dear Lamp, Here I come Chapter 185: Panty... My Dear Lamp, Here Ie He wondered about it yet he was surrounded by Nara and Jeffrey so he decided to postpone this forter. "Take this," he gave the scroll in hand to Nara, "with the one you had, you can escape from here." "What about you?" Nara asked. "I''ll need to go in a different way," he said before adding, "I''m toote for my quest." She weirdly nced at him before muttering, "Will you be able to bypass their blockade? After all it''s you who they want." "No problem," he said before adding, "send me the items I got from the chest." "One second," she said while the three started to move. They met their team at the first hall where Bloom received four items from the chest. "There were only nine pieces there," Nara said before adding, "as you gave up one scroll, I''vepensated with one more item." He checked the items he received and found a pair of boots there. "Finally decent boots," he said in relief. "They need level twenty to be worn," she warned before adding, "I know you don''t like gears, but this one was something you looked for." "Thanks," he honestly said, "I''ll end this quest fast so we can have our date." His words attracted the astonished gaze of Jeffrey. "Alright lion," she joked, "juste back safely and rise a couple of levels more and I''ll consider this." He said nothing while checking the other three items he got. One was a joker potion which can be used in recement of any other potion he required, plus it had the advantage of continuing to add the specific effect for five minutes. And the impressive part about it is that it was able to be replenished again, either by one day cooling down or by using one thousand gold coins. The second item wasn''t less interesting though. It was a map. This map wasn''t a map for any hidden ces in the game, rather it was a map showing off the ces of a single NPC, yer, or a ce he would think of. "Thisst one is something I might not need," he muttered when he checked thest item. For any yer, this might be something worth fighting for, yet for him he already had something better. It was a mountain token, where he could use it to summon a warring horse. He wasn''t that much interested in it, as he already had his higher mount from his quest. "Yet this is a ready to use mount, not like my egg that needs to hatch," he muttered to himself before sighing, "I need to see how I''m supposed to let it hatch." He stored the four items where only the potion and map were that useful to him at the moment. "Are you sure about walking alone?" Nara asked for the third time while they all stood on the exit of the dungeon. "Sure," he said before adding, "you go out first and create a diversion and I will slip away." "Alright." She turned to the team who had big smiles over their faces. Despite the odds of them losing a level here, the taste of victory andpleting the dungeon was intoxicating them at the moment. "Let''s go," she shouted and the next moment they all went outside. And the next moment a brutal fight erupted. "Go and aid them," Bloom said to his remaining slightly over seventy agents to go out and help Nara and others. As he waited patiently inside for a minute, he heard the sounds of fight getting slightly further away. "They are driving them far," he muttered before adding, "time for me to move as well. Darkness nihility." The next moment his body vanished while he ran outside the dungeon. Just as he reached there, he found many yers were left behind, waiting for him silently in ambush. "Good for you I don''t have time to waste here," he muttered before running far towards the opposite direction of Nara and others. Nara already used one scroll and caused enough devastation and chaos for herself and her team and agents to dig deeper into the enemies'' lines. Bloom wasn''t worried about them, after almost gaining a couple of levels and even Nara got triple during this dungeon run. "I''ve got not even a single level, sigh." Despite not expecting to level up at all, as he was killing much weaker monsters than him, he was feeling bitter whenparing his gains with others. "I just need less than ten percent of Xp to level up," he consoled himself, trying to make this not sound like a big loss. "I need to adapt to this low gain, after all most of the dungeon runs will end up the same way." This was the main drawback of any leveler, so most teams kept the leveler five levels below their top yers. Yet he was a special case, with a level much higher than others. So, he had to ept this bitter fact and deal with it. ''Have you moved?'' he sent to Muna asking about the development at her side. ''In an hour,'' she sent back, ''he is now arranging some NPC to help in guarding a caravan.'' "This yer" Bloom was surprised by this. "Am I this scary?" he shook his head before sending to Muna, ''How many NPCs did he manage to hire?'' ''His prestige isn''t that high to hire them. He had to ask for the help of the NPC who delivered him this quest and he will take care of all costs.'' Bloom didn''t hear the answer he desired. ''How many?'' he asked again. ''Up till now they are twenty, but he spoke once about hiring fifty,'' she sent back before adding, ''plus the NPC has his own guards. They are around fifty more.'' "Damn!" he cursed out loud while his skill vanished. He wasn''t in any danger here, as he went too far away from the dungeon, yet he didn''t exit the area of the lock down scroll''s effect. ''How are things at your end?'' he sent to his butler, doubting to hear what he desired. ''Level eight and rising,'' Antoan replied, the answer he feared for. He sighed, before having only little options ahead of him now. "Dealing with one hundred NPCs and an elder from the shrine is a hard task," he muttered before adding, "and those yers" ''How many yers are there with you?'' he asked before adding, ''What about their levels?'' ''There are too many to specifically count.'' ''Make a rough estimation then.'' ''A couple of thousand, maximum three thousand,'' she sent before adding, ''the highest level here is level sixteen, and most of them are much weaker, around level fourteen and thirteen.'' "Not bad," he nodded and then another message arrived from Muna. ''There is also a good number of dark yers to join us after we hit the road.'' He paused before asking: ''Have a number for them?'' ''Five hundred, not more. The rest you already killed or scared to run away from here.'' He bitterly smiled before sighing. "No option then but to use the dark auction." He had to match the numbers with numbers while he would deal with the elite NPCs and yers teams with his special card. "I can summon dark agents, but my dolls are better," he thought before adding, "the only problem is their low number wait, I can resurrect them." He suddenly realized this as he hurriedly took out a token and muttered: "Resurrect." "System alert: The dark agent in the token is killed. To revive them, the yer is asked to pay five hundred gold coins." Bloom paused for a moment there before sighing. "I''m currently so poor to do that." He tossed the idea behind his back and started to consider other things. "I need to buy those fallen dark agents from the auction house so I can have a better opportunity." ''Keep me informed about any updates,'' he sent to Muna while the next thing he did was to buy more tokens by the new one hundred thousand dark points and to get out of the area of effect of the lock down scroll. In less than half an hour he exited the area of scroll locking effect, and the next thing he received was the simple message of Muna. ''We are moving to the main road outside the vige.'' "Great," he evilly smiled, "time to end this prolonged task." He was much more excited now than the first time he targeted Derick and stole the quest from him. This time he had to y the evil role from the start, attacking the caravan and ruining the quest of Panty. And even killing Panty as well. He took out the ticket back to the vige and thought about something. "I should transform after hitting the road, or else I might be detained inside the vige if I went there with the ID of Sunny." He used the ticket and the next moment he appeared in the vige. He knew Panty must have left some behind to scout for his appearance, but he had no other choice but toe back to reach the main road. "Panty Here Ie, my dearmp, hehehe." Chapter 186: Selecting Six Secret Class Quests At the Same Time Chapter 186: Selecting Six Secret ss Quests At the Same Time As he went outside the vige, he directly headed towards the main road of it. The road was empty, leading him away from the vige and separated from the leveling grounds by an imprable shield. "I want to select kill the yer quest, kill the NPC quest, steal the shrines quest, kill the shrine NPC quest, sabotage the quest quest, and steal the merchant caravan quest." "System alert: yer can choose one quest at a time. Is the yer sure to select six quests at the same time?" Bloomughed as he would nevermit thest time again. Last time when he hijacked a caravan, he forgot to select more quests like killing the NPC quest, and that made him lose many rewards at that time. "Yes, I do." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to kill the yers quest. Kill yers quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one hundred yers in a day. You must kill yers belonging to the vige. You can kill the yers inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer has killed so many yers before. It''s good to consider this as a sport, after all you should be the only strongest yer ever in the game." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to kill the NPC quest. Kill the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer can kill NPCs as long as they are inside the vicinity of the vige. Don''t be polite and kill a bunch, not one." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to steal the shrine''s quest. Stealing the shrines quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one shrine and steal something from its NPCs. The shrine NPC must be in the vige, and the thing stolen mustn''t be retrieved in a day. You can steal more, the more you steal, the more rewards you gain. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer will receive notifications for any shrine NPC in the vicinity of the vige once per hour. yer has to select anything and steal it by any means without getting caught by the vige guards. Killing the NPC and taking everything from him is considered the honorable steal ever. Be rude and go show these arrogant bastards what a dark agent terror is." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to kill the shrine NPC quest. Kill the shrine NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC belonging to any shrine in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. The higher the rank of the NPC the better the final rewards are. Beware, doing so will make you the enemy of the shrine, even might gain a curse from it. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." System alert: yer will receive notifications for any shrine NPC in the vicinity of his vige once per hour. Don''t be shy and go and say hi." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to steal sabotage a quest quest. Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to sabotage a yer''s quest, make him fail it, and not seed. You can select any quest, starting from themon quests to the special and legendary quests. The higher the rank of the quest is, the better the rewards are. Beware, doing so will make the NPC issuing the quest alert of your deeds. Doing it frequently, and the NPC wille and look for you to kill! Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: Once a yer selects the target, the system will keep notifying him of the list of quests the yer has for one day. yer will receive a general info about the quest and the sess condition of it. Be a good darkd and be ready to screw yers around." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to steal a merchant caravan quest. Steal a merchant caravan quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to raid on a merchant caravan in a day. You are the agent of the dark forces, and you need money! Earning money legally isn''t our code of dishonor, so work hard and steal the money from others, be a good darkd. The caravan must be heading or exiting from the vige, the steal must ur inside the vige vicinity, and you mustn''t be caught! Things stolen from the caravan must be in your possession for twenty four hours. After that, you are free to do whatever you want from them. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t'' get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer will receive notifications for any caravan moving in or out the vige in the next twenty four hours. Each hour, the yer will have the caravan ces marked in his map in red, shing for five minutes before vanishing." Long rows of alerts and exnations about the quests he selected jumped in front of his eyes. "What''s all this motivating words?" he muttered while reading these alerts, revising his info about them. Yet other system alerts kicked in, one after another. "System alert: yer has chosen more than five secret quests at the same time. If a yer manages toplete at least five quests in less than one day, the yer will have the chance to upgrade his prestige and rank in the dark world." "System alert: yer is asked to select one yer to screw." "System alert: There are NPCs from shrine of life and shrine of death in the vige. yer has to select one shrine, or both, to steal and kill." "System alert: the caravans are all marked in the map of the yer. yer can feel free to check their locations at any time." "System alert: A member of an unknown faction has noticed the bold move of the yer by selecting six secret dark quests at the same time. The intentions of this member is good. Hostility to yer is currently low and that person is now considering allying with the yer. yer will be reminded each time such a thing urs." Bloom wasn''t surprised by all this except by thest alert. "Don''t tell me he is that person from before," he muttered while recalling the cloaked NPC who appeared at a critical time before and saved him. "If he intends to join me, then the fun will be doubled," Bloomughed before turning serious, "I select yer Panty to screw." "System alert: yer Panty has now one single quest in his profile." "System alert: yer Panty''s quest is ranked as the mainline system quest; one of the highest quests ever in the game. The special ranking of the quest must be noted. It''s not a normal quest to screw, screwing it will screw the many yers." "Hahaha, I wanna that, believe me, hahaha," Bloomughed as he added, "if I can, I want to screw your entire game. Sigh, yet I have to admit I started to like being here." "System alert: yer can choose to postpone this quest or drop it. the difficulty assessed by the system showed the definite failure of the yer in doing this." Bloom was speechless for a moment there before muttering, "howe? Have you calcted my agents and monsters?" "System alert: yer has no chance in winning this. The only option is to ally with another force to topple this quest." Bloom went in silence for a moment before asking, "Can you show me the ce of the unknown NPC?" "System alert: that''s outside the privileges of your quests, ss, and rank." "Strange," Bloom muttered before adding, "if you don''t mean him, then whom do you refer to then?" Chapter 187: Triggering Another Quest Chapter 187: Triggering Another Quest Bloom didn''t get an answer, which made him realize he had to work on this part himself. "Wait you don''t mean no way, absolutely no way," he shook his head before trying to go in the main road. "System alert: yer has to make a decision, will you postpone the sabotage the quest quest or not?" Bloom smirked. "Why am I so nervous? As you can see, I''m still heading towards the direction of the caravan." "System alert: is this a yes or no?" "A yes, indeed a big yes." "System alert: doing so will hurt so many yers, change many events in the game. Are you sure of that?" Bloom had some doubt, as the system of the game was strangely addressing him, like someone speaking directly to him. "Sure, I''ll do that," despite the hidden pressure from the game words, he was still fixed upon his decision. "System alert: yer has decided to proceed in his quest." Just as Bloom thought the weird alerts were gone, more suddenly jumped in front of his face. "System alert: yer has triggered a special game quest: the alternate line game quest." "System alert: triggering the quest grants the yer a title; the game shaker." "System alert: yer needs to seed in his quest first before reading the details of the special game alternate line quest." Bloom felt much weirder at this moment. "What the hell is wrong with this game?" he shouted out loud before adding, "I never heard of a game that has a ce of evil deeds in it!" "System alert: this is the nature of the game." "I know, no need to state the obvious!" Bloom started to ignore what just happened and tried to forget the weird conversation he just had with the game system. "I need to change," he muttered before opening the list of his gears, and then he selected the lizard tattoo. "Lizard tattoo: Special type gear, made by master Overt by mistake. Grade white. Rank eleven. No level required. No faction required. Permanently bound to the yer, can''t be dropped, can''t be removed, can''t be traded. Inverted Lu stat: yer''s inverted Lu stat will enable yer to detect yers using Lu stat in the surrounding vicinity of his. Current inverted Lu stat = current Lu stat* ten. The inverted Lu stat value must be higher than yers, monsters, or NPCs using the Lu stat around yer. Area of detection= inverted Lu stat* ten in meters. yers detected by the inverted Lu stat will have a red halo around their bodies even if they used a stealth skill. Skills: Disguise skill: yer can select to change his shape, either randomly or by the select the specified criteria. Can change gender with double cooldown time. a yer''s disguise can''t be detected by anyone or anything. Duration: until the yer reverses it. Cooldown time: twelve hours. yer can pay gold coins to reduce the duration of the cooldown by spending ten gold coins for one hour. Appeal skill: Active skill. yer can use the skill to make his next words believable over yers, monsters, and NPCs seeing him. area of effect= area of inverted Lu stat effect. Duration: one phrase. Cooldown: one hour." "So all I need to do is just use the skill?" he muttered to himself before saying: "Disguise." "System alert: yer has used the disguise skill. Does the yer want to use the saved Sunny ID or create another one from scratch?" Bloom was surprised by this. "Wow, I can use more than one form amazing." He suddenly thought of the fourth girl of the Cyan studio andughed. "I can now create a third ID if I want, hehehe." "System alert: Does yer want to use the saved Sunny ID or create another one from scratch?" The system seemed quite impatient towards his thoughts. "I choose Sunny," he said, and the next moment he ended up in a totally different shape, as a totally different yer. "Wee back Sunny," Bloomughed as he enjoyed ying double roles. "now I should go after that jerk and teach him and others a lesson." Bloom then started to run fast, while taking one bottle of Stm potion when he felt his stamina was running low. After running for half an hour, he reached a road bifurcation. "I should have its location in the map," he hurriedly opened the map, yet what he found was merchant caravan locations, and nothing else. "Weird," he muttered before opening his system alerts again and checked them. "Didn''t you say I got the help in pinpointing Panty''s location? Why can''t I see his location now?" "System alert: that was regarding normal quests, not a major quest like the one you are currently doing." "Your meaning?" "System alert: no help will be given to you in regard to this quest." The cold answer of the system was sudden and startled him. "What a f*cking game is this? I never heard of a yer having privilege and being stripped away from himter on a whim!" Despite his rants, no answer came from the system of the game at all. "But I don''t mind that, I can solve this problem easily and quickly," he smirked as he opened the friend list from Bloom character and selected Muna. "System alert: Do you want to contact Muna by Bloom ID or Sunny ID?" "Bloom," he said, despite being tempted to contact her by the Sunny ID and have some fun. ''Where are you now?'' he sent to her while thinking about thest tip the game system kindly gave to him; the secret helper. "If I want to do that then I need this disguise of me not to be discovered by that NPC," he thought before adding, "and if it was discovered, then I need to make my entrance timing precisely advantageous to me." He started to mix things up in his mind while he didn''t know why the system said before this was such a lost quest if he continued to work alone. He wasn''t rejecting the idea of having one or even more helpers, he just couldn''t understand why this particr NPC. "Sigh, I have to wait and gather more intel then," he reminded himself not to be rash, as he waited for the answer of Muna. ''We are here,'' she shared a location on the map before adding, ''We have divided into two separate teams.'' ''What?'' Bloom was surprised before adding, ''Tell me what happened since you exited the vige.'' She started narrating everything as he requested. "Nasty game system that''s why you said it was impossible for me to do that quest?" ording to the words of Muna, once they came out of the vige they met three big caravans guarded with an army of NPCs. Their numbers were in hundreds and just as they reached the same road bifurcation he was at, they got separated into two directions. Muna was now moving with the second and third caravan, while the first caravan had Panty moving on guard. And the worst wasn''t over. ording to Muna, she heard gossip about another bifurcation in the distant road. "So you want to y hide and seek with me? Huh?" Bloom was enraged at this moment. ording to Muna, each caravan had two thousands of yers and five hundred NPCs at least guarding it. If they were grouped together then Bloom wouldn''t mind that, but now they were moving far away from each other. He hurriedly opened the map and started to follow the two roads ahead of him. "It''s true, there is a bifurcation ahead of her," he muttered while following the entire road map, seeking for any hope. "This is such a nice move, Panty," Bloom sighed, "but I still have a card to use. System sama is right, I have to force myself into dealing with yesterday enemies." "Show me the location of the shrine of death elder," Bloom suddenly said. "System alert: yer has no right to talk to the system in such a way and demand things over his paycheck!" Bloom went speechless for a moment before muttering, "What the hell is wrong with this system? Do you have a period or something?" "" "Yeah, it''s the hormones, I knew it," Bloom helplessly smiled and the system of the game didn''t answer him. "I want the location of the death shrine elder." "System alert: yer was previously notified by his ineligibility to have any more support from the game regarding this quest. Stop nagging the system and start using your dull thing inside your head!" "" It was his time to be speechless, and after a few moments he sighed. "Yup, it''s definitely the hormones." "" Bloom stopped joking as he started to think deeper. "I have to find the death shrine elder fast, how can I do that?" he thought before he found a theory he could test. "If I go near an elder''s ce, the system will notify me of this, right?" He nced over the map and shook his head, "I have nothing else to do but this," he then closed the map and went directly towards the direction of Panty. "I know you are bluffing, but eventually you''ll have to go to the ce of the shrine of life quest item to protect." Bloom knew he might head to a trap, but he had to be close by the caravan to determine if the elder of the death shrine was there or not. "Muna isn''t too much away from me, meaning the other group isn''t. I have to check this one then return if I found nothing," he muttered before focusing on moving as silent as possible towards the front. ___________________ Author Note: The Discord Server is up, you can check the link in the synopsis. Chapter 188: Attacking Panty Chapter 188: Attacking Panty In the map opened all the time in front of him, Bloom was now focusing his gaze upon the two roads that suddenly showed up three caravan markings. "Strange," he muttered before trying to select one of the dots there to see their info. "System alert: yer can''t do that." "What the f&ck!" Bloom cursed out loud, "I can do this to any other caravan!" "System alert: yer can''t do that." "System alert: yer can''t do that." "Not a single f&cking exnation!" Bloom was furious by this, yet he couldn''t do anything to the system. He was sure this was something the enemy devised, yet he didn''t know what it was. "Trying to act like a merchant caravan?" When Bloom finally caught up with the caravan led by Panty, he noticed the arrangement and the guarding of it seemed much like the merchant caravan he once hijacked. "Should I hit him now?" he thought to himself before deciding to wait. "My secret ally doesn''t show up yet," Bloom thought to himself before checking the map again. Just as he watched the map and silently followed the distant caravan, he watched the other two caravans get separated at the next road branching point, each heading to a different direction. ''Where are you now? Send me your coordinates.'' Muna immediately sent him the coordinates and Bloompared these with the map. "As I thought," he muttered before sighing, "trying to bluff me? You are too young for that!" Bloom then closed the map and started to totally focus on the distant caravan. "If this caravan had the quest item, then I should be able to take it by me alone. However" he hesitated, recalling the system warning. "What Panty would do if I attacked him? What would I do in that scenario?" he started to think about the odds of the quest item being too far from here. "If so then I will try to stall the attacker as much as I can, while buying time for others. Also" he paused while thinking deeper, "if it was in Muna''s caravan, then I should make them move away fast, change their direction at once." His thoughts ended up here to find that attacking this single caravan now was the best option he had. "No time to waste then," he started to catch up speed, running directly towards the distant caravan while taking out his sword. "A thief!" Suddenly this shout came from far when he became clearer to those standing behind the caravan. The caravan had five wagons, dragged by strong horses. One hundred NPCs were already on their horses, arranged around the five wagons to protect them. And they were surrounded by hundreds of yers, led by someone Bloom recognized from far. "Here you are," Bloom smirked, "don''t run fast, it''s showtime." The moment Panty heard the shout, he ran towards the rear as he was expecting to see a familiar face. Yet the one he saw was totally different from Bloom. "Who are you? State your business!" he shouted with a strong tone while the caravan stopped, and the NPC started to turn around. "Tsk, it''s not here," Bloom sighed. If the quest item was inside this caravan, then the optimal response was for them to run away, not stop and wee the fight. "Where are you little one?" he muttered while taking some tokens from his inventory. The next moment a small army of beauties appeared all of sudden in front of everyone''s eyes, out of nowhere. "Hahaha, are you trying to fight us using these beauties? C''mon man, we won''t be stunned by their sexy aura," Pantyughed yet his voice seemed quite affected by the dolls of Bloom. "Attack," Bloom simply muttered, "leave none alive." His tone was low, yet Panty and many heard him perfectly. "Boys, I promise you to sleep with these girls in the night after we kill him," Pantyughed as he took this as a funny game. Yet Bloom ignored him as he kept summoning his dolls, increasing their numbers to reach a hundred before he opened the map. "Muna is still heading her way," he thought to himself before opening the chat as he hurriedly sent: ''Any update?'' ''You attacked Panty, and we were asked toe to his aid.'' ''Really?'' Bloom was surprised before it hit him. ''Damn! It''s there.'' He didn''t wait any more moment here while turning around and started running. "Toote my foolish friend, I already said I''ll kill you," Panty''s voice came from behind while the next moment Bloom heard the loud hooves of the NPCs. "I should have known this," Bloom med himself, "there is not a single shrine of life elder here." As he started to run, the sound of hooves were getting closer and closer. He just passed a turn in the road before finally turning around. "Time to stop this meaningless chase," he muttered and then added, "shade doppelganger festival." He was at level seventeen, and so he could summon seventeen clones. The next moment he and the clones weed the iing riders while he made sure the title was in ce. "NPC nemesis: any NPC you draw your sword on his face will have his level and stats reduced to be one level lower than you." Just as he went to meet the riders, he noticed an evil smile over their faces. They seemed to take this as a childish y, yet when they swords were shed they changed their minds instantly. "Kill them all," Bloom muttered while adding, "dash!" The next moment he headed towards an NPC he threw to the ground off his horse back. Just before the NPC could adjust his position, he was hit by Bloom''s dash and stunned. "Next," Bloomughed as he just stabbed him thrice before the NPC finally fell down. He turned to meet another one, and another, sending them all flying off the backs of their horses whileughing as he enjoyed his time. Chapter 189: Trying to Decipher Pantys Arrangements Chapter 189: Trying to Decipher Panty''s Arrangements Suddenly he grabbed a horse and jumped over it. he didn''t have the ability to obtain a ride, but he found the idea of snatching one tempting. And the moment he rested on the horse back, he was surprised to find that he could use the horse! "Grab their gears and jump over their horses and fight them," he instructed and his clones simply followed his orders. Then the fight turned upside down. Instead of them being harassed by the NPCs, Bloom and his clones had the upper hand now. Any NPC wouldn''t take five hits from his, ten from his clones to fall. At the same time Bloom could hear the sound of fightinge from the front where Panty was dealing with his dolls. "Tsk, you are really a lucky bastard," Bloom sighed, "I have to first crush the quest thene back at you. Follow me men, we have a quest item to steal." Bloom turned the horse and started running away from the ce. This time he was moving extremely fast on the back of the horse when a system notification kicked in. "System alert: yer has no right to obtain a ride yet. yer can hijack other riders and take their steed, but this is only limited to one day." "One day is fine by me," Bloomughed. "System alert: After one day the ride will turn into a token and the yer can store it inside his inventory if he wished." "What?" Bloom suddenly recalled the good horses of the first caravan he left behind. "Damn! I lost a lot of good horses back then!" Just as he went towards the front, the remaining riders were hot on his tail. There were less than twenty left, yet they were dead settled on reaching him. "Are they stupid?" he sighed before adding, "boys, turn around and kill them." He also turned around and went directly to sh with the NPCs. The first couple he threw off were nothing, but the third was someone special. All the NPCs were wearing a long brown cloak that seemed a sign for some sort of faction inside the vige. When that NPC was thrown off the horse, the cloak was torn apart showing another cape under it. This was a silver with white long strides cape. Bloom realized from the first nce this wasn''t a normal NPC. "Don''t tell me" he muttered as he turned his horse around, stabbed a couple of nearby NPCs, and then headed directly towards that special NPC. The moment the NPC stood up, he took a long scepter from his inventory with a shining jewel on top of it. "In the name of the shrine of life, I curse you." Bloom was suddenly hit by this realization that confirmed his doubts. "Damn! He was so near yet I wasn''t able to sense him!" Bloom was confused, yet the next moment he had a possible exnation there. "It should be that lizard tattoo special effect," he couldn''t find any other exnation but that! The moment the NPC cursed him, he received a system alert yet he ignored it. "I don''t mind having one moreyer of curses, hehehe," he sneered before hitting the NPC and sending him flying again before running after him. It took three more hits and that elder was instantly killed. Despite achieving that, Bloom wasn''t happy. Instead he was in a dilemma right now. "Damn! Why is your quest so hard to crack?" Bloom gnashed his teeth before making up his mind. "I''ll go after that caravan and see your reaction then." He hurriedly killed all the NPCs here, and made sure to strip them naked before summoning more dolls and letting them ride over the horses. The dolls seemed to be happy by the horses, and some even joked andughed like they were on vacation not in war. Bloom didn''t mind that, as between the two caravans lied a lot of distance to cross. "If not for these horses, I would have needed quite a time to catch up with this caravan," he muttered to himself as in less than five minutes he managed to spot the caravan in the distance. "What a guarding party," heughed when he saw the main bulk of the guards and yers Panty hired were there. ''Any updates?'' he asked Muna before drawing near to the caravan. ''The orders changed, we were asked to turn around and head towards the third caravan direction.'' Bloom smiled before asking, ''What about Panty?'' ''He is alsoing, that''s what I heard from others.'' ''Good,'' Bloomughed before pointing towards the distant caravan and said, "First me and the clones will sh with the riders and take them slightly away. The rest of the yers will be left to you," he said to his one hundre dolls before stressing, "don''t sh with NPCs left around the caravans. Only aim for the yers, alright?" "Sure thing master." He wasn''t concerned about the dolls, but about losing many of his aiders at this moment. Despite everything finally heading his way, he still had this annoying hunch that it wasn''t close to being over. "Damn, I won''t rest until I kill that bastard couple of times like Derick," he cursed while starting to sh with the NPCs with his clones, while his dolls stayed slightly behind, waiting for them to clear a path. Nothing stood in his way. He moved like an arrow while followed by his clones and dolls on horses. No NPC managed to stop him, and in less than a minute, all of the two hundred NPCs on the back of horses were thrown on the ground. "Sigh, I should have bought more dolls," he muttered before turning his horse and heading towards the fallen NPCs. "They are all yours," he said to his dolls before starting his massacre here. Part of the NPCs belonged to the life shrine, and all cursed him. He didn''t care about the umted system alerts, as he didn''t have the time or time to check them yet. "I have curses at Bloom ID, and now I have more curses at Sunny ID. It seems I should create another ID to be free of all curses," heughed as he enjoyed this little game so far. Yet when he hit the twentieth NPC, a sudden strange thing happened. He couldn''t kill that NPC! "What the hell?!!" he was shocked before he tried to stab him again, yet the NPC took the hit, showing the damage only in big zero. "Howe it''s a miss?" he couldn''t believe it, yet he received a system notification and this time he selected to show it. "System alert: yer has umted more than twentyyers of shrine of life curses. The final protection curse is activated and the yer can''t kill any NPC belonging to the shrine of life for one day." "What the hell is that?!!" Bloom was speechless for a moment before turning angry the next one. "If I couldn''t kill them, how can I crush this quest?" He suddenly recalled the system advice from before. "Damn! You knew this all along, don''t you?" he gnashed his teeth and nced over his clones for a moment. "Wait a second," he paused before he hit the NPC again with another stab, sending him flying further backward, away from him. "My boys can still kill them." He then turned towards his dolls to see them fighting some of the elders of the shrine of life. Despite the odds, a group of five managed to in one of the NPCs after paying the lives of another two of them. "Other than me, anyone can kill them hehehe." He didn''t keep his hand anymore, and the next instant he took his tokens and started summoning the fallen dark agents of the battlefields. "Go, kill them all," he ordered when he summoned over fifty of them, pointing towards the NPC that was only one foot away from death. The NPC managed to kill one of his agents before falling. "Bring forth his gears and everything he had, then go and kill the others," he coldly said while summoning more agents to the battlefield. Instantly the battle changed, and the adversary he once had was shifted to his side. "Waiting for the mercy of the shrine of the dead elder? Screw you system, I will never be at someone else''s mercy!" Chapter 190: A Drastic Change In Events Chapter 190: A Drastic Change In Events Bloom kept summoning his dark agents while he stayed in the center of the fight doing nothing else. asionally a group of yers or NPCs would move to hit him, slipping through therge number of his fighters and using the chaos prevailing now over everything here. But all of them were destined to be sent flying back, and he only had some harm from the staff holders and light daughter''s far skills. But eventually one potion would solve everything without any further ado. ''Where are you now?'' he asked and Muna answered the next moment with the current coordinates of the caravan she wasing in. "Pretty much fast runners," he sneered before taking a wide nce over the fight here. The fight was chaotic, while everywhere he spotted had a group of his agents fighting yers and NPCs. "Those shrine of life elders are really strong," he sighed as after the passage of five minutes of this fight, his clones vanished and with them the advantage of the level difference of NPCs returned again. "I had to step in," he had already taken all the agents he bought before, and now he had nothing else to do. He gently hit his horse with his ankles, and headed directly towards one side where arge number of NPCs were grouped around a small team of ten life shrine elders. "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." "Stab." He didn''t need to use any more skill than this. With one second cooldown he was able to use it frequently like normal attacks. Everywhere his swords reached the NPC hit was sent flying. After less than one minute, a gap was created in the tight defensive line here, and Bloom was now in the center hitting those elders away, sending each into a totally different direction. "Secure the wagons," he shouted, as the number of yers and NPCs was declining faster than the losses on his side. His joining in the war added more to the momentum his agents initially enjoyed. And before ten minutes, most of the yers were killed, and a small portion of the NPCs were now gathered around the wagons, defending them. "They surelye fast," Bloom smirked when he heard the sound of hoovesing hot from the distance. "Just in time," he then turned his horse and shouted: "Half keep attacking here relentlessly until you secure the wagons, and the reste with me." He started to push his horse to run fast towards the distance, while hundreds of his agents and dolls ran after him, either on horses or on foot. Just as he moved less than one mile far from the ongoing fight at the wagons, he was met by arge number of riders. "Kill them all, don''t let them breakthrough," he stopped abruptly while shouting at others. Alone he stood at the back holding the line while he watched his agents fighting the iing riders in a tough battle from the start. "I need more time to summon my clones," he checked his skill and sighed when he saw the remaining minutes of using it. ''Where are you?'' Bloom sent to Muna before adding, ''I don''t see you anywhere.'' ''We are still approaching you, how can you spot me then?'' Her answer startled Bloom who hurriedly asked, ''Aren''t you the ones attacking us?'' ''What? No, we are still five minutes away from you.'' ''Then who are they?'' he speechlessly nced around and his unsettled feeling rose up once more. ''Where in Panty and his men? Are they the ones attacking me?'' ''One moment,'' she sent to him and after a long minute she returned to say, ''he is also on the path to your ce.'' ''Then who the hell are they?'' Bloom didn''t understand until a sudden realization hit him. "Damn! They are the death shrine forces!" Amidst his utmost efforts to unlock the mystery of the quest item location, he totally forgot about the other yer here. "Should I ally with them?" he nced at their numbers before evillyughing, "I should y it nicer than this." "Keep up the good work boys, our shrine of life reinforcements are just a couple of minutes away toe and crush those thieves," he shouted at his agents, and his words meant nothing to them at all. However, at the shrine of death riders, they felt great unease after hearing that. Their numbers were already exceeding two hundreds, making the task of his agents to stop them hard. In addition to that, their levels were much higher, and hecked his precious clones at this decisive moment. After his shout, the death shrine NPCs got separated into two teams, the majority went ahead and pressed hard on his agents, managing to slip through in increasing numbers. And the minimal rest of them went back, and formed a defensive line to wee the iing Panty and his two teams. "It''s not as perfect as I expected, but it''s much better than nothing," Bloom sighed as he started to move, waving his swords right and left and hit the leaking elders, sending them flying off the backs of their horses. The fall itself created more damage to them, and he started to hear curses again, this time rted to the shrine of death. "Even if it ended up like the shrine of life case, I won''t be regretting this," he sneered while moving right and left, hunting down those sneakers, and defending perfectly the backline all alone. "Rumble." It didn''t pass more than five minutes and he heard the sounds of hooves mixed with the running sounds of yers on the ground. "They are finally here," he heaved a long sigh of relief like he was really weing the arrival of his allies, not sworn enemies. "See boys? They arrived. We will crush those bastards now, on me." He moved towards the front, not caring anymore about any slipping NPCs. He had the advantage of chaos, and at this moment he acted as a true agent of chaos. His shout, his sudden charge, and the presence of many riding horses gave the wrong impression to thoseing with the caravan. ''You are such evil,'' Muna sent and Bloom finally noticed her and her loudugh. ''You made them think you belong to them.'' ''Good,'' Bloom smiled before adding, ''What about Panty? Is he here yet?'' ''Couple more minutes and he should be here with the remaining lot of his caravan.'' Bloom simply nodded and kept attacking the shrine of death NPCs from the front while the yers, coupled with a smaller group, not exceeding a hundred, of the shrine of life elders pressed on from the rear. Simply put, the death shrine elders were sandwiched between the two forces, and Bloom had most of the pressure left off by this sudden diversion of fight. "Collect the loot," he said to a couple of dolls on horses nearby, "don''t leave anything behind." The two nodded, and they moved with a small team of twenty fallen agents to collect the loot from the bodies of dead NPCs. Bloom made sure to hit the fiercest and highest in level NPCs, sending them all flying towards the direction of the shrine of life elders and their allied yers. This made the chaos at their end much fiercer, and in no time Bloom''s side was having the least pressure and fight. "Collect the loot," he hurriedly ordered his agents when he heard the hooves of the iing enemies. Atst Panty was about to reach here. "I just can''t understand how the death shrine elders were supposed to obtain this quest item with such few numbers," Bloom thought to himself while he watched his men moving fast, gathering loot and giving everything back to him. "Anyway, I''ve got the biggest share in this win, hehehe," he sneered when he saw therge number of high level and rank gears in his inventory. "Not only gears, but also a quest for destruction and the devastation I will cause to Panty and Dockrey, hehehe," he was in a very good mood until he spotted the iing riders. Their numbers were so fewpared with those who came with Muna. After all he had hit them once before and decreased their numbers. But that wasn''t the thing that startled him, or even the low number of yers and NPCs running fast after the horses. "Where is Panty?" he was shocked not to see Panty leading the charging forces, or even when everyone came he wasn''t there. ''Where is Panty?'' he sent to Muna while ncing all around, looking for him. ''I I dunno,'' Muna hurriedly sent to him, ''these are his group, but neither he nor the caravan is here.'' The words of Muna rmed Bloom to one point he missed amidst his focus on panty. "The caravan!!!" he shockingly realized everything before hitting the horse hard with his ankles, driving the horse even to run with a jump start. ''Where are you going?'' ''After the quest item,'' Bloom bitterly said before shaking off his head, ''we were all yed by him. Bravo, really bravo,'' he sent back before heading with his horse towards the front, hitting anything that stood in his way with his swords and horse. "Just wait for me, bastard," Bloom gnashed his teeth as he arched his back over the horse and let the horse gallop with its mightiest speed. ''I''ll leave things here for you and the girls,'' he sent to Muna while he heard many shoutsing from the few numbers of yers who just came from Panty''s direction. ''Make sure to seize both caravans and send everything to me.'' ''Got it.'' Chapter 191: The Dilemma of Finding the Escaping Caravan Chapter 191: The Dilemma of Finding the Escaping Caravan Bloom moved like an arrow, clearing everything in his path while many yers were trying to run after him. He could have easily shaken them by using his swords, but he didn''t. He knew their aim quite well. "These flies I was yed, outsmarted by that young man. Or was it Dockrey''s fingerprints here?" he muttered to himself while leaning over his horse to make it run faster. "It must be Dockrey," he reached this conclusion, as this smart move seemed odd over such an impulsive kid like Panty. "I should be extra careful then, Dockrey isn''t the push over I thought him to be." He was fascinated by how he was outyed here. "My desire, that''s what blew everything in front of my face," he mumbled while his mind couldn''t find any other weakness to his assault. He wrongly assumed that Panty would depend entirely on therge number of yers and NPCs he hired. Yet that also pointed out towards something else. "He knows I have a spy in Panty''s ranks does he suspect Muna already or Nara?" He was hesitant about sacrificing Muna, as she was his only eye inside his enemies. "I need more eyes," he sighed before hurriedly sending a brief message for Muna. ''Run when others do, don''t act like you are one of us.'' ''Are you sure?'' she sent back, ''Panty is considered finished after this defeat.'' ''Just stick there and let''s see what happenster,'' he simply sent this back to her and didn''t exin any of his worries to her. He opened his map when he went far away from the fight raging on behind. "Last time I left him was there," he marked a ce with the tip of his finger before recalling the previous course Muna was heading towards. "She should have met him here, and then there is a long road ahead before branching into three more." He then made the map smaller and started to see the entire region on a wider scope. "This road leads to a small vige, another yer''s vige," he muttered after quite some time of following one branch to a small dot on the map with rough details about it. He then returned his gaze towards the other two roads. "This one ends in the middle of nowhere oh wait, it returns again after reaching this deste unmarked ce," he found that the second road was interestingly having a part cut out of the map before returning again to appear out of nowhere. "This gap what it hides?" he muttered to himself before he followed the road and finally it ended up in arge city after branching for so many times where it ended in towns and viges. "This it looks like an important road," he thought before returning to the third road. "It''s linking here with many towns and viges, ending up into a battlefield," he followed the road patiently until it ended in arge open map which had the big ''Battlefield'' name above it. "A shrine is moving an important quest item, probably a sacred relic or something, and after their sess in escaping here the system will announce shortly the start of the prosperity era hmm interesting" The more he thought about it, he found that road was the most likely to be the one. "This empty zone it must have something rted to the shrine of life." Once reached this conclusion, he started to ignore the other two roads and focused entirely upon it. "The distance from the branching point to there might take roughly six hours on horses, a day on foot," he thought before returning to check the road ahead. He magnified the map and started to check the distance carefully. "I''m now roughly ten minutes away from the ce I left him, and he had run about an hour''s distance on foot." He thought about this for a moment before shaking off his head, "no, this is wrong," he nced upon the spot he left Panty there before, "he shouldn''t be a burden over the caravan, meaning they started travelling by horse speed and he is now on the back of one of them." This was the most logical conclusion he reached. "The speed of the caravan can''t match my horse, but that doesn''t mean they are slow either," he muttered before finally deciding, "they have less than half an hour to reach the road branching point, and I have more than that to catch them. Damn!" The more he thought about it the more he became angrier that he didn''t go ahead and killed Panty when he had the chance. "Just a tiny carelessness of me and I''m almost about to lose everything I worked hard to achieve," he helplessly shook his head whilementing his moment of negligence. "But the good news is that I won''t let him run away with this," Bloom sharpened his gaze as he closed the map and stood slightly on top of his horse back and greatly arched his back to mirror the horse back. "Wait for me bastard, I already figured out where you''ll go." After forty minutes he finally saw the branching point up ahead. "As I expected," he wasn''t demoted by not seeing Panty''s tail anywhere here. He hurriedly opened the map just to rashly check the roads ahead. "Go that way, c''mon," he gave his horse a small kick and leaned his head towards the direction he wanted. Bloom had once a beloved white and majestic looking horse back in his prime days. It was somehow simr to this horse he was using, but his new horse was slightly smaller and much slower. With his direction, the horse moved towards the road he selected. He didn''t decrease his speed by a little, while he received the news back from Muna a couple of minutes ago. ''We did it, all the caravans are seized but they have these treasure chests that we can''t open.'' He knew she did as he asked, ran with other yers who had their fear ovee their loyalty. She was now with them, and ording to her not a single main member of panty''s main team or shrine of life and death NPCs remained alive. But the loss was big. In this fight, he lost almost eighty percent of his forcesbined, leaving only less than twenty of his dolls, and almost a hundred of his fallen agents. "Not that bad," he muttered as he checked the loot he had so far. All the gear obtained from the battle was sent directly to his inventory. "I need to find a way to expand my inventory. I believe there was an expansion pack to buy from the vige." He shifted all these thoughts to the side when he entered the road. In the next half an hour he spotted nothing in front of him, but he noticed something else. "These are wheel marks," he recognized some deep indentations left on the wet ground and long grass in some spots. "They just passed from here," he jumped to this conclusion and this made him more eager and much excited. Just as he pushed further to the front, he started to hear a muffled sounding from the distance. "They are near, c''mon Mark, we can do it," he said to his horse which he named after his past horse. The more Mark galloped the ground, the louder the noise became. He didn''t need more than ten minutes to catch up to them, and from far he spotted the three caravans he once saw, and on the back of one Panty stood there. "Hey there, I''ve missed you," Bloom shouted from far behind. From his distance he couldn''t see clearly the face of his sworn enemy, but he pictured him very frustrated in his mind. His appearance, coupled with his shout made those in front startled. As Bloom expected, they were dragging the caravans with the horses, leaving only a handful number of fifty riders to guard the caravans on each side, and a number of less than thirty yers on the back of each caravan. "It seems you arranged for a separate party to wait for you at the road branching point," Bloom muttered as this was slightly over what he initially expected. Yet he wasn''t fazed with these odds. He was very confident in his ability to handle them all. "But I must be sure not to give him a chance to widen the gap again. As he went nearer, he noticed half of the NPCs and yers all left the caravans and headed towards him. Some yers when jumped couldn''t stabilize themselves, and got themselves killed in the end. "Morons," Bloom sneered before taking out one sword while not changing much of his position over the horse. "Keep going on mark, smash anything that stands in your way," he excitedly said while waving the sword high in the air. "It has been a while since I fought on horseback sigh, this brings back memories." Chapter 192: If You Died Here, Youll Lose Your Game Account! Run You Fool!!! Chapter 192: If You Died Here, You''ll Lose Your Game ount! Run You Fool!!! Bloom was moving so fast at his enemies, while they were also picking up speed to stop him. He didn''t dy himself by using any skill, as a simple wave of his sword was enough to throw anyone away. The moment the two sides shed, Bloom finally showed an edge advantage over them all in his skills in riding the horse. He kept moving mark right and left using the leather belt and Mark just followed his orders swiftly. His timing was so perfect and tailored to end up being only inches away from his enemy in each encounter. And then his sword would hit his enemies and throw them off their horses. He was like an arrow, a mass destruction arrow causing everything that came to meet him to be thrown away in the air like a bomb exploding all the time. His enemies never managed to stop him, mostly one or two NPCs hit him and caused him to lose about one fifth of his Hp, but he totally ignored that. His aim, his gaze, all his attention was upon that distant caravan running as fast as it could to escape him. The three wagons lost many weights of the yers who were resting over it, and now they were running faster than before. "If I stop for a few minutes here, I''ll need another half an hour to catch up with them," he muttered to himself, trying to make his breakthrough. Yet his desire was met with a sudden use of a scroll. "Rumble!" Suddenly the air around him changed. He nced at the sky to see ck clouds suddenly gathering and when hended his gaze he found Panty standing on the top of his wagon with a smug smile over his face. "Bye Bye Bloom stupid pawn," he waved his hand and muttered those words from far and Bloom could guess their meaning correctly from the movement of his lips. "Damn!" Bloom couldn''t ept this and the next moment he muttered: Darkness absorption!" He gambled at this moment, and the next a thick tongue of thunder descended heavily on top of his head. He saw no one else was hit but him, and this thick tongue kept descending without pause on top of his head. Despite being bathed in this lightning, the NPCs around never stopped to attack him. "Don''t stop Mark!" he shouted, and his sudden shout coupled with the moves of his sword came to give a very frightening image of him to anyone. He was totally bathed in lightning and the horse wasn''t spared. Yet the rider and the horse moved like death gods towards the front, with their speed never decreasing, and anyone standing in their way was sent flying off their horses, or hit directly by Mark''s legs to be thrown off bnce tens of meters back. The thick tongue of lightning kept descending for twenty seconds, and at thest second Bloom was hit, yet he was ready for that by a bottle of the highest Hp potion he had in his inventory. His Hp restored half of its value in one go and the rest came in the next five seconds. Thest hit cleared almost half of his Hp, yet he was able to survive thanks to his timely use of skill, potion, and luck. As he escaped the wrath of the scroll, he was able to finally return to clearing his path. He managed to clear all the NPCs around. Only yers stood between him and his target now. "Die!" he shouted and then used his sword and horse as the main weapons now. yers were fragile, and his horse kept hitting them while neighing from exhaustion. "It''s alright buddie," he patted the horse neck to calm him, "See We are almost there." The horse responded by moving at the same speed while he kept hitting the yers until he was finally free of any obstacle. Only a distance of less than a mile separated him from his target, and he was dead fixed on crossing it in the next minutes. Yet Panty went crazy when he saw what happened to his scroll and the useless effect it had over Bloom. The next instant he threw everything he had, even throwing the treasure box from his wagon and other wagons as well to remove any dead weight holding the wagons down. And this included the NPC riders remaining on the sides of the wagons. "Damn! You are really ruthless," Bloom gnashed his teeth before adding, "but this is more what I like, as you won''t have anyone else to me but yourself," he shouted at Panty while he excitedlyughed. Repeating the same useless tactic against him proved to be worthless, and this time Bloom nned to make his entrance upon panty''s head to be epic. Bloom let his horse take him forward and took the other sword. He was doing just fine before with one sword, and now with two in hands he was able to meet any enemies and remove them faster. His enemies were thrown off bnce by this sudden order of Panty, and they couldn''t arrange their lines when Bloom reached them. Bloom wasn''t polite and didn''t keep his hands off. He waved both swords right and left while sending off the NPCs first and would hit yers from time to time if he had the chance. He knew his horse was pushing over its life with this charge, knowing this might be thest charge of it. he had to reach the wagons before the horse would fall and die. And so he didn''t hesitate to use both swords to hasten clearing up all the enemies, and in less than two minutes he managed topletely bypass them and head directly towards Panty and the unguarded wagons. "You are mine, bitch," Bloom shouted with a viciousugh, while the face of the nearby Panty changed drastically when Bloom got so near him. "Go, go and kill him," Panty suddenly shouted to someone Bloom couldn''t see. "This is your quest," a mysterious voice came all of sudden making Bloom realize things were far from over. "And this is your shrine sacred quest. There is only one nasty yer up there, killing him would make the quest secured." "If I moved now, you''ll lose all the privilege of the quest." "Fine by me," Panty gritted his teeth as he decided not to fall alone here. "Good." The next instant all Bloom could see was a dark shadow appearing from the first wagon, jumping in the air in the next instant and preparing tond over him. "Damn! Activate the absorbed skill now!" he cursed while pointing his sword up towards that threat. He felt a deep shudder down his soul when he saw that NPC in the air, knowing that things wouldn''t end the same if he directly shed with him. With one sword in hand, a thick tongue of lightning erupted and he heard a system alert that he totally ignored. "Push forward Mark, we are almost there," he shouted the next moment while keeping an eye over the NPC and the other over Panty. The lightning seemed to affect the NPC but not to the degree to kill him. All Bloom could notice was for the NPC to be shifted away from the trajectory of falling on top of his head. "Damn!" he cursed again before doing something crazy. "No time to y nice, I have to improvise hopefully this works." The next moment he jumped over the back of his dying horse and then he pointed the other sword to Panty as he muttered: "Dash!" He was like a cannonball, moving fast like a bullet from the back of his horse, crossing the remaining distance in less than one second andnding finally on top of thest wagon where Panty was. "Die you m*therfucker!" he shouted while moving the other sword that had a thick tongue of lightning emitted from its tip away from the NPC andnding over panty. The moment his first sword hit Panty he was stunned and thrown off the wagon back. The fall from this ce with such speed was enough to gravitate his damage, but Bloom was so much infuriated by him that he didn''t intend to let him go off with that. The next moment the lightning hit Panty, clearing away the rest of his Hp and making him fall to his death. "You" the NPC was now on the dead body of Mark. He red back at Bloom beforeughing shortly, "great, you are good I give you that. But you won''t be able to live another moment here." The next moment the NPC was veiled in strange ck fog that shielded him from the eyes of Bloom. The next instant, Bloom received a series of messages that scared him. "System alert: yer was cursed on the hand of the shrine of life Bishop." "System alert: all the life inside the yer''s soul was cursed and dried up for one minute." "System alert: if yer dies in this one minute, yer won''t be able to enter the game again. His soul would be totally damaged and he won''t be able to enter the game again." "System alert: A sincere advice from the system Run you fool and stop acting brave! The prosperity era will prevail no matter how stubborn you are!!" Bloom swallowed his dried up throat and the next instant he moved his lightning sword to hit the NPC while muttering, "Damn you! I decided no prosperity era will ever prevail here, and I meant my words to the goddamn letter!" Chapter 193: The Crazy Bishop Chapter 193: The Crazy Bishop The lightning kept hitting the dark cloaked elder, but to Bloom he felt like he was throwing eggs instead. "Damn!" he cursed before he scanned everything he had. "One minute, huh" he suddenly paused beforeughing, "just perfect!" The next instant he turned around and ran while keeping his sword pointed towards the angry bishop. "Stop it already, you are going to fall here by the decree of the shrine of light," the bishop shouted and Bloom didn''t listen to any of his words. Instead he jumped over the wagon to reach the other one using one dash skill. He then ran towards the front of the middle wagon and jumped to the first one. "Let everything rumble," he evilly smiled before moving the sword suddenly to crush the third, the second, and finally the first wagon he was on top of. "Darkness nihility," and just before the first wagon would be smashed to pieces, he jumped using his stealth skill and the next moment he used a potion to restore what he would lose from such fall. "Damn you!" the bishop stopped in tracks, ncing over the three destroyed wagons while trembling out of rage. "I''ll damn kill you!" The next instant that bishop took out a scroll and instantly shuttered it into pieces. He just needed to either recite the words in or cut into half, not to totally smash it into nihility with such anger. And the next instant Bloom felt a sudden gust of wind erupting around the bishop, while wisps of smoke started to appear out of nowhere. "Crazy old man," Bloom gritted his teeth and he felt himself lucky to have taken one of his highest Hp potions before he stood up and started to run. Yet he knew he would never ovee such a scroll effect just by running. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The next instant fire waves erupted like pulsations from around the bishop. Bloom hurriedly looked for anywhere to escape but he couldn''t. "-5000" "-5000" "-5000" "-5000" It just took one hit from the fire wave to make him lose all this Hp. "That''s with a damage reduction of my skill scary!" he sucked in a cold breath before he turned around to spot the angry NPC who was already on top of his head. "Got you!" Bloom didn''t try to be funny here, and the next moment he defended using his best defensive skill ever. "Breaker piercer!" The next instant the two swords shed and Bloom rotated around while having the momentum of the skill. "Die!" the bishop screamed, yet he was totally overwhelmed by the fact his body was the one being sent flying back; not Bloom. And Bloom just followed him, under the effect of the skill, to fly in the air, finally descending on top of his head. And the situation from before just strangely got suddenly reversed! "That damn title of yours," the bishop managed to spot the source of the problem, "it''s good I just have the counter of it, hehehe." Just as Bloomnded on top of his head, the NPC was silenced the next instant. The NPC couldn''t see Bloom, but from the long rows of damage on top of his head he deducted his ce. And Bloom just happened to realize this. "Darkness shade festival!" he didn''t hesitate to summon his clones, and just as they appeared, each got half of Hp depleted by one single hit from the scroll''s fire. "Use the darkness nihility skill now!" he shouted before jumping to the back, "spread out." He even threw Hp potions to his clones to make them sustain this wrath of the scroll. He didn''t know if the bishop would still have any other scrolls or not, but he had to move as fast as he could. His clones did as he asked, and then the bishop had eighteen points moving fast where he couldn''t tell who from which. "Do you think such a low trick will work on me?" the moment the stun effect vanished, the bishop took out another scroll and smashed it to pieces. "Let''s see how you can deal with these," and then he took another two out and brutally activated them. "You crazy m*therfucker!" Bloom was shocked by this scene, and now he realized the answer to his doubt. "Did you rob the entire storehouse of your shrine beforeing here or what?!!" he inwardly cursed while running as fast as he could. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Yet the next moment three scroll merged with the dying one and caused massive waves that started to assault him. The new fire formed by thebined scrolls was ck in color. Each wave seemed to have an apanying roar to make it look more ferocious. Just from the mere sight of it, Bloom knew if not for his stealth skill, he wouldn''t be able to live after taking a single hit from this fire. And the duration of the scrolls got elongated as well, to reach almost forty seconds. Like this the scrolls wouldst until his stealth skill vanished, or even a secondter. Each hit took around twenty thousand of his Hp, almost taking two thirds of his. Yet by the timely help of his potions, he barely managed to stay alive. And with each hit, his body was smashed to the direction of the vige with big momentum. He was running towards the road he came from, hoping he would find any detour or a rock or even a turn to hide from the wrath of these scrolls. "Damn! I''m almost there," he gnashed his teeth when he noticed his clones were killed, popped up like corn fried on the fire, all seemed to be about to die without exception. If they fell, he would be instantly exposed. The range of these scrolls was at least half mile radius, and that didn''t help making him escape its devastation despite all that time he spent running and the boost he got from each strike. "Like this" he gritted his teeth to endure the pain he felt all over his body, "I won''t survive the minute!" He turned to nce at the bishop to see him having a big smile over his face. Bloom''s clones were all killed, and now only Bloom''s location was apparent to his enemy. "Die!" the bishop came fast, while pointing his sword towards Bloom''s chest. Bloom knew something was different about this NPC. "Damn! He has a counter title to my own!" and thest straw of hope for him shattered at this simple realization. "No," he shook his head while enduring another hit, "I still have something I didn''t use yet. Come forth!" The next instant he took out tokens of his inventory and then he heard the sound of the game. "System alert: Does the yer want to summon the dark monster? yer needs to pay one thousand dark points to summon the monster." "Is this the time for such a question? Damn!" he cursed with great rage from this injustice and bias the game system had towards that prosperity era. "Proceed, damn it!" he took another hit before he saw a gigantic monster in front of him. The moment the monster appeared, it received a direct hit from the fire of the scrolls but he didn''t retreat or seemed to be much affected like Bloom. And then a second appeared, and a third, and all the monsters he managed to turn into pets from thest quest inside the lost mines from before were summoned all at this decisive moment. "Go and kill this bastard!" Bloom shouted while he didn''t stand for a single moment there. His aim was to survive the curse. "One minute, and only ten seconds of it remains c''mon, stop him for me." He turned around to spot the giant monsters dashing at once towards the NPC. Their sudden appearance seemed to startle the bishop, but he managed to evade the first dashes. But with the rest of the monsters hitting him, he couldn''t manage to dodge and started to defend. Yet each hit sent him backwards, and made him finally suffer damage. This was the second time he would take damage since the beginning. "Yeah, beat him up," Bloom just cheered from far while he counted seconds with great impatience. "No, I won''t let you run away!" the bishop suddenly went berserk, ignored all the monsters around and started running with great momentum. The next thing Bloom saw was this mad NPC to appear all of sudden in front of him, blocking his path. "Damn! These scrolls ruined everything!" Bloom cursed out loud. "You should be proud," the bishop sternly said before he waved his sword to fall upon Bloom''s head, "you managed to survive all these hits, but your luck runs out now." Bloom couldn''t refute these words, as he already used up his entire arsenal of skills and tricks. Now he had nothing at all to defend against this indomitable strike from this close, and the most frustrating thing was the fact only less than five seconds remained before he finally broke free from this curse. "Boom!" Chapter 194: The Dark NPC Chapter 194: The Dark NPC Bloom didn''t close his eyes as he wasn''t epting such an end, yet he didn''t have anything in hand to stop it. As the sword moved to hit him, another sword suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blocking it, and saving his life. "Duck!" the next instant he heard this female voice ordering him, and without any second thoughts he did as he was told. "Boom!" Another sword appeared to hit the bishop directly in the face, followed by a whip-like leg kick that was so fast that even Bloom could see only its shade. Bloom didn''t y hero, and the next moment he hurriedly ran away. He was this close to die, to really lose his game ount and lose any progress he had so far. And that impulse drove him to leave the ce where the sounds of two swords hitting each other started to echo everywhere. "System alert: yer has been relieved of the shrine of life curse." "Damn! This isn''t the shrine of life, this is the filthiest shrine ever," Bloom shouted loudly towards the direction of that bishop while stopping running. He was now freed from the curse, and so he had nothing to really threaten him. "Even if I would lose a level, I won''t let this damn prosperity erae," he moved to the front while the fight raging on was on a totally different level to him to keep track. The moment he was freed from the curse, he was also freed from the stealth and the scrolls also stopped working. He knew that the bishop had more scrolls for sure, but he was now pinned with that strange NPC. "So it''s a she not he," he muttered as he cracked a soft smile before moving his nce towards one side. There the three wagons were smashed on their sides and all their content was thrown everywhere. He nced at the bishop as he waved his hand and shouted: "Hey dumbass,e and stop me from getting your relic if you can." He then ran. He wasn''t alone, as all the surviving pets of his arrived to stand around him as guards. He nced at the twenty monsters with giant bodies and sighed. "This is all what remained from them" "Stop your dirty hands" The bishop screamed yet this moment of distraction enabled the cloaked NPC to hit his shoulder with one sword, severing it. The bishop hurriedly blocked the other sword with one hand before retreating fast. "Where do you think you''re going?" the NPC''s feminine voice came with a soft chuckle, "my disciple here wants you dead as much as I do. Please don''t stick to illusions and die." The NPC moved to the front with slow steps as if she didn''t even care about the bishop. "Fighting one armed man with two? Where is the fairness between shrines?" the bishop viciously said, making Bloom want to puke. "Shrine code of honor?" the NPC smirked before suddenly she threw the two swords high in the air as she added, "fine, I''ll fight you one hand Vs another, and you''ll still fall here." The two swords strangely didn''t fall. They stood in the air, floating one beside the other while the NPC only stretched her right hand to form a grabbing fist in between the two. "Let''s fight, shall we?" "N- No way" the bishop stuttered as his body trembled while retreating backwards out of fear. "the dual sword holder the cloaked queen of the dark w- what are you doing here?" He was retreating now faster, even running away like seeing his own death. "Oh, never thought I would be this famous," the cloaked dual sword holderughed while only descending her high up fist, and the two close by swords moved at once to hit the bishop in the back. The bishop tried to rotate on himself and defend, yet he only managed to do nothing as his sword just moved in the small distance between the two swords. It looked like the bishop missed out of fear and rashness, however Bloom knew this was all thanks to the timely control of the cloaked queen of the dark. "Y- You w- will r- regret this!" the bishop spoke with extreme difficulty while the two swords prated deeper into his chest and neck, taking his body down to the ground. "You won''t be there to tell that," she simply smiled before making a grabbing motion again and the two swords returned to her side. "Now," she turned to nce at Bloom who was standing speechless just nearby the three wagons, "what should I do with you?" Just as she said this, Bloomughed as he turned around, leisurely giving her his back. "Don''t act this cold, if you wanted me dead from the start then you shouldn''t have interrupted that sword of his." "Hahaha, you are a really interesting yer," sheughed before sheathing her swords and then went after Bloom. "You know I have set my gaze upon you for so long already?" she said with a chuckle. Bloom reached the ce of the smashed wagons before turning to her. For him, the cloak covered every single aspect of her face, only darkness was there like a deep, bottomless pit. "I bet you are a jewel to marvel." "Oh, never thought you have such a sweet tongue," sheughed before adding, "or even have the gut to flirt with an NPC, a high level and rank NPC like me." "You are still a piece of art to me, no more," he simply said, in a tone that didn''t match his look and age. "Interesting," she muttered before watching him turn to the wagons as he asked: "Where is that damned shrine quest item?" "It''s in a small wooden box engraved with symbols of nts and flowers," she said while watching him dig in the debris here until he finally found what he was looking for. "It''s locked!" the moment he got it, he tried to open but couldn''t. "Can you open it for me?" he turned to her before adding, "this thing must be destroyed." "Destroyed?" sheughed before shaking off her head, "oh boy you dear got it all wrong." "Wrong?" Bloom didn''t get her meaning as he asked, "isn''t it used to initiate the era of prosperity?" "Indeed it''s," she softly nodded. "Then why risk keeping it then?" he pointed to the box as he added, "I don''t want any more prosperity here." "A true agent of chaos indeed," she whispered while suddenly asking, "may I know your true aim for doing that?" Bloom nced weirdly at her before she added, "there are shrines for light and darkness, shrines of life and death, but we, dark agents, aren''t part of any. We aren''t shrines, we are opposite to them. So I need to ask, why are you doing this? Why destroy the relic and prevent the prosperity era?" He was lost for a second there, before he simply answered, "I don''t like the order of this world." "And?" "I want to change it. simply making the opposite doesn''t mean I''m bad." "I didn''t say that," she raised her hands while adding, "but why not hide it and let someone else make another quest of it? why destroy the entire relic and end this era before beginning?" Bloom didn''t know what was her aim from all that, but he frankly and honestly said, "I''m here not to y, but to wreck this game." "Interesting answer," she muttered beforeughing, "alright, I can tell you what''s inside that box of yours." "C''mon, I know it''s a relic used by the shrine of life to summon the prosperous era," heined loudly, "I didn''t ask to know what it is, I wanted to smash it!" He wanted to add, ''are you stupid or what?'' but he refrained at thest second from saying this. "I''m not stupid, it''s you," and she suddenly spoke up like she read his mind. "Hahaha, don''t give me that look. I just can feel people''s thoughts, and you were like an open book to me." "Sigh," he shook his head before pointing to the box in hand, "returning to the main issue." "This isn''t a relic of a shrine of life, or even belonging to any shrine. It also doesn''t cause the beginning of any era," she said while pointing to the box as she added, "this is both a blessing and a curse." He nced silently at her, knowing how NPCs loved to make epic entrances to their info and quests. "I''m not exaggerating or lying," she managed to read his mind up again, "this box contains something that holds extreme value to you." "To me?" he was speechless there for a moment. "Other than smashing it?" "C''mon, don''t act like a child. I know you aren''t," she said before adding, "this is a very important thing, but you won''t be able to handle its powers for now. You need to get stronger first." "Sigh," he shook his head as he stored the box inside as he added, "how much?" "How much what?" "The levels needed for me to open it." "No, you mistook me," she shook her head before adding, "this isn''t something determined by your game strength. I meant your other strength." He unconsciously stole a nce down below. "Not that, naughty big boy," she hurried to shout to stop him. "Then what?" he softlyughed embarrassedly from this awkward moment. "Your real life powers, your human powers I mean." "" And her answer just made him nce again down there. Chapter 195: The Era of Darkness Arrives Chapter 195: The Era of Darkness Arrives "Stop it," sheughed while pointing to his body, "I meant this, your normal human power." "Humans don''t have powers," Bloom simply stated the truth. "You are wrong," she chuckled, "when you listen to my advice and grow stronger, you''ll be able to open that little box and have a taste of what I mean." He nced at her for silent moments before saying, "Why are you helping me?" "What? Do you mind having help?" "It''s not that," he shook his head, "but someone as high ranked NPC as yours must have many followers. You could have selected any dark yer out there to make him aplish this. Why me?" "Skeptical nature of humans sigh," she deeply sighed before adding, "I have a goal," she paused, as if she was reminiscing about something old. "and I need someone revolutionary and bold to help me achieve it." "Which is?" he curiously asked. "Not now," she shook her head before adding, "you have a long journey up ahead before being able to help." He nced at her in doubt. "Do you think stopping the era of prosperity will stop things in this game?" she mysteriously said, "each action has its consequences, and you need to be ready for that." "What do you mean?" She didn''t answer but the next moment he got the answer in the form of a game announcement. "General game alert: the era of darkness has appeared. A major storyline of the game has been opened, and new chapters are yet to be written. Embrace yourselves and prepare for the iing dark times, only the brave will thrive." "What the hell?!!" he was shocked to hear such words, "wait a minute, does this mean I stopped one path to serve another?" Sheughed and said nothing, and yet more alerts came to him to silence him for a couple of minutes. "System alert: yer has stopped the rising era of prosperity, and has be a sworn enemy for the shrine of life. Being any ce near anyone belonging to the shrine will make that person instantly attack you, even inside a game official settlement." "System alert: yer has caused the darkness era to rise. The death seal has been weakened. The demon seal has been weakened. The hell seal had been weakened. The god seal has been weakened. The darkness seal has been weakened." "System alert: as yer is the main instigator behind all of these events, yer has gained the apostle of chaos title." "System alert: yer has been considered the nemesis of all five main shrines in the main gamend. Shrines won''t ept such behavior of yours and won''t tolerate you anymore. Be ready boy for their retaliation." "System alert: If the yer wants, the five sealed shrines are asking for you to be their agent." "System alert: epting the offer of these shrines would instantly deprive you of the secret ss of shadow bandit you currently have." "System alert: if yer refuses their offer, yer will instantly be their enemy. They won''t provoke you but they won''t let you game in peace as well." "System alert: yer has caused a massive turn of events in the game. A special quest has been created just for you." "System alert: Save the world bnce quest has been issued to yer." "System alert: Save the world bnce quest: a special quest created especially for yer Sunny. Quest details: yer has caused severe distress and started a reign of chaos inside the peaceful world of the game. The five sealednds are still sealed, but yer can have ess to them per quest privilege to help in strengthening the seal from time to time. Quest eptance time: open. Quest requirements: yer has to visit the sealednds and bring with him required materials and relics of the shrines to help and seal thesends. Quest rewards: each sess attempt will result in rich rewards from the system and shrines. Quest decline consequences: chaos will erupt in the entire maind of the game. In time, the seals will grow much weaker until they are broken. The current order of the world will be undermined and a new world order will start. yer will be considered the sworn enemy of all shrines, and he can''t y peacefully anymore." "System alert: what do you say?" Bloom read all these alerts with a dignified look over his face until he finished. "Damn! I never thought I would stir up this much trouble," he muttered before suddenlyughing, "but to me, this is the best result ever. Let chaos descend, let the game order be ruined. I''m so curious how you''ll react to this." The game kept surprising him one time after another. Even when he tried to stumble its growth, he was amazed by the presence of another scenario to his actions. It was like those developers out there had thought of everything, which made him quite frustrated. He hoped to score even once on this game, even for the sake of his pride. "Don''t hurry to decline the game quest," thedy suddenly said, startling him. "How do you know about the quest?" Bloom was amazed for a second there. "Are you this high? Have ess to their forums?" This time the eerie silence that erupted from her made him regret being impulsive and careless. "How on earth do you even know about that?" she asked with a deep tone. "This is considered top secret of the game." "Well," he bitterly smiled as he couldn''t help but tell the truth, "I was once an NPC in my past life." "Hahaha, that''s hrious, hahaha," after long moments of silence she broke intoughter, making him finally heave a silent sigh of relief. "Yes Mr. Reincarnated NPC, they have mentioned the quest now and how they are very excited about it." "Damn! Are they fully prepared for anything I do?" he shook his head. "They are good in what they do, I give them that," she chuckled before adding, "but to be frank your actions went beyond their expectations. They never thought someone would be able to stop the rising era of prosperity or evene forth to help you." "But they were prepared for it," he helplessly said. Chapter 196: Chaos Everywhere Chapter 196: Chaos Everywhere "They weren''t," she shook her head, "they had to improvise this quest and make you ept it to return the game to its previous designated course." "Really?" he asked in doubt. "You can check your quest again if you wish, you''ll notice what I meant," she said before adding. He recalled the quest details and finally noticed the issue she mentioned. "They created this quest out of blue for me?" he muttered and suddenly he felt really rejoiced by this discovery. "Damn, it feels good to win for even once over them." "Hahaha, you are such an interesting human," sheughed. "If so, why not decline it? epting it would mean I did this all for nothing." "I didn''t say you should ept it either, right?" she amusingly said. "Your meaning" "If you hurry to decline it, they will seek other options to force you to make this. Or worse will issue this to other yers." He got her point. "Leaving them hanged like this is the best response." "Indeed," she said, "you must have an evil mind to survive in this world," she advised. "Good point," he said before adding, "what now?" "You need to go back, store that box in a safe warehouse, then start to experience how chaos looks like." He nced at her for a moment. "Why do I always get the feeling you are conflicted about doing these?" She sighed and only shook her head. "I''ll always keep an eye on you from now on." "Wait," he stopped her before vanishing, "you didn''t say your name." "If you managed to open the box, you''ll be eligible to know my name. till then I''ll be the queen of darkness for you." She then vanished in thin air, leaving him all alone. "Sigh, things got slightly out of my control," he nced around before recalling things, "before returning I need to collect my loot, hehehe." He went ahead and started to thoroughly search through the wrecked wagons for anything of use. Even broken wood pieces from the fall were taken by him into his inventory. "Time to open these boxes," he went back on the road while collecting anything of value. There were three boxes thrown at the road. "Panty was so ruthless," he muttered while waiting for the first box to open. "But he still died at least, hehehe." He pictured Panty in his own mansion in real life shouting around in rage, breaking up things, and feeling despair. This vision made his face shine with a smile before recalling his main enemy. "In time just you wait for me." "Tick." The box opened and inside he found massive gold coins, potions, and two scrolls. "Better than nothing," he didn''t find these enticing except for the two scrolls. He examined them to find that they were wide AOE scrolls. "Will help meter," he threw everything inside his inventory before heading towards the next box and opened it. The three boxes contained the same, even the scrolls were the same. He got his hands over six scrolls here before opening his chat with Muna and asked: ''How are things at your end?'' ''Chaotic,'' she answered exactly as he expected. ''Panty''s men are still in chaos?'' ''No, it''s not about Panty,'' she said before sending again, ''you need toe over and see yourself.'' Bloom felt a bad omen from her words, yet he closed the chat and started to run back. Going back on foot for such a long distance was hard, took more time than he initially expected, and in the end he had to use one stamina potion to keep him running. When he finally reached the ce of the initial battle, he found six caravans waiting for him with six boxes. The caravans were secured by a small group of his agents and dolls, and he just collected his trophies before finally recalling them back. "All the boxes are the same," he kinda felt sad about this. He hoped to find anything more useful to him, something like AOE or immune skill book or something that would boost his strength. "As I''m all alone, I think it''s better to finish this first," he took out his Pandora box from his inventory and started cracking down many gears he salvaged from the killed NPCs from this fight. Each gear gave him arge amount of gold coins, plus many materials of high levels. He stored them all, and now his inventory was getting almost full. "I need to hire a warehouse in the vige," he muttered before adding, "now I can deal with that mysterious sister of the Cyan studio and convince her to join me." He then checked the system alerts before muttering, "it''s good all of these happened to my Sunny ID. I can think of creating a new IDter. But" He was surprised not to receive any system alert regarding fulfilling any of his quests. He needed more dark rewards for this. "Sigh, I first will return to the vige and store things there." He then opened his tattoo and used gold coins to elerate the shifting ability as he returned to Bloom again. "Sigh, ruining this quest it took longer than I expected." He took out a ticket and decided to buy more when he returned to the vige. ''Finally you returned online,'' the moment he appeared in the vige he received this message from Nara while he noticed the chaotic nature of everyone here. All yers were running fast with excited looks over their faces. He also noticed some looked afraid, and some NPCs appeared also from far running towards the gate of the vige. ''What happened?'' he asked. ''I''ll call you,'' she then sent him a call request. When he received it, he found her standing among her yers while seemingly hiding behind arge rock. "What are you doing?" he asked with amusement. "Don''t everugh, this is bad for all of us," she sternly replied. "What do you mean? Are you under attack?" he hurriedly asked while thinking of Panty, "are they Panty''s yers?" "Sigh," she helplessly sighed before adding, "it''s better if you can see it by yourself." She then stood up and he heard a warning shout from Jeffrey, yet she ignored him. As she turned around herself for one round, Bloom managed to take a glimpse of what was happening there. Everywhere there were many skeletons moving aimlessly like they were looking for food to eat and targets to kill. The scene looked horrible, and even Bloom had his face dignified. "Where are you now? Send me your coordinates and I''lle." "Don''t," she shook her head, "we are in a hopeless situation here. It might be better to just die and lose a level and return safely to the vige." "What happened? How did they all appear?" He knew the perfect answer for that, as he was the one who caused the seals to be weakened. Yet he didn''t imagine things would develop this bad this fast. "Something bizarre happened," she vaguely said, "all the forums are in uproar right now. Everywhere strange portals opened and many dungeons appeared out of nowhere. Also some portals ejected out skeletons, fiends, monsters, creatures with wings, and even dark creatures with bodies formed of fog. You can check the forums for more info." "Come now," he seriously said, "we need to regroup and see what we can do. Can you use your ticket?" "Smart lion, we are in battle mode and can''t use any of that or else why would I be hiding like that?" Chapter 197: The Current Disaster In the Game Chapter 197: The Current Disaster In the Game Bloom helplessly smiled as he nodded. "Alright, drop a level and I''ll make sure you will regain it double." "I''ll hold you to your words lion," sheughed before she closed the call. "It seems things here are more chaotic than ever." Just before he could open the forums to check on things, he received long rows of system notifications. "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: steal a merchant caravan quest. yer has sessfully stolen a merchant caravan, clearing all its content, and ran away without getting caught from the viger punishment force. "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: steal the shrine quest. yer has sessfully stolen a shrine caravan, clearing all its content, and ran away without getting caught by the shrine guarding force. yer has stolen from the shrine of life and shrine of death what both considered to be theirs. As long as the yer still holds the treasured relic in his possession, no reconciliation will be reached by the two shrines." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: kill yer quest. yer has sessfully killed yers without getting caught." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: kill the NPC quest. yer has sessfully killed NPCs without getting caught by the vige punishment force. Some NPCs belonged to the shrine of life and shrine of death. yer has already activated the corresponding quest and will gain the corresponding rewards of that." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: kill the shrine NPC quest. yer has sessfully killed shrine NPCs without getting caught by the shrine punishment force. The killed NPCs belonged to the shrine of life and shrine of death, making the yer have the wrath of both shrines." "System alert: yer has sessfullypleted the secret ss quest: sabotage the quest quest. yer has sessfully ruined a quest of a yer and caused him to lose the privilege of the quest. yer has also ruined the entire quest and made it inessible for other yers. The quest belonged to the shrine of life, ruining it turned the yer into the archenemy of the shrine of life. No middle grounds will be reached here, and they are dead fixed on killing you on sight, on every encounter." Bloom blinked for a second there beforeughing out loud. "Oh god, finally I have Christmasing." His suddenughter attracted the attention around, but he never cared about anyone. He only waited for the system to give him his desired rewards. "System prompt: The final evaluation for the first quest is gold evaluation. The final evaluation for the second quest is red evaluation. The final evaluation for the third quest is silver evaluation. The final evaluation for the fourth quest is ck evaluation. The final evaluation for the fifth quest is gold evaluation. The final evaluation for the sixth quest is red evaluation. yer has done an outstanding performance. Despite having the help of an outsider, the final evaluation of the yer performance in all questsbined wasn''t affected much by that. The final evaluation of all quests is ck." "ck is good, it matches me the best," Bloom''s smile was getting wider when he heard his evaluation. "I wonder what I will get in return," he was curious to know what the system would generously give him as reward. But the system didn''t hurry to speak, leaving him standing there for a couple minutes doing nothing but waiting. "Damn! You excel at making me wait," he sighed while ncing all around. The ce was still under utter chaos, and that made him open the forums to check over things that were happening around the game world now. What met him was a long row of threads speaking about the horror yers were facing right now around the game. "Check this video and see those strange bony creatures." "That''s horrible! I just lost two levels in less than an hour by this horde of weird monsters that surrounded my vige." "A video close by of those fiends and how they fight at the leveling grounds of my vige." "An awesome video of a group of veterans fighting those winged creatures. Check it out now!" "Zombies! I''m in zombiend, not a game!!" "See the horror of those fog creatures. If you saw one, just better to run away fast or else you''ll die." The forums were filled with the bitter experiences of endless yers. He was seeing this in the game forum of his vige where yers shared these threads here from the main game forum. "I better check the main forums then," he opened the main forum to see tens of thousands of these threads being posted every minute. "Wow, never thought things would be this severe," he opened some random posts where each had a video recording of what the yer experienced. Every video showed that yers were facing a great number of monsters, demons, skeletons, fiends, zombies, and flying creatures without any hope of winning. "Is the level difference this high?" he muttered while checking more videos. As an experienced high ranked NPC from his past life, he had another vision that was different from others. "Nah, they follow the same rules of level differences here," he muttered before noticing where the problem lied. "they act by the rules of dungeon guards. Don''t tell me all of these are dungeon guards!" When hepared the damage taken by yers and damage received by those creatures, he reached such a conclusion. "But they aren''t exactly like those dungeon guards something is different," he muttered before checking more videos to confirm his guesses. "Yup they are different," he muttered, "they are able to use their supreme skill from the start, and that is what caused all these yers to fall." The sudden burst of damage that happened when these monsters lost a small part of their Hp had no other exnation. He kept checking more videos and this time he focused more on the videos showing skeletons and zombies. Chapter 198: Cracking A Solution Chapter 198: Cracking A Solution "I believe Alter vige was hit by skeletons and zombies. Did theye from the sealed deathnd?" he softly muttered while opening one video after another. All videos he saw shared onemon thing; they had short duration that didn''t exceed a minute. All the fighting teams against those monsters failed to sustain for longer than that, and only a handful of teams managed tost for a minute either by the help of their high levels and skills, their vast experience in gaming, or by the help of great numbers. But even when a thousand yers team faced one group of skeletons, they were crushed in one minute by the supreme skills of those bony creatures. "They have a unified pattern of skills," his eyes shone when he noticed the repeat of many attacks through dozens of videos he saw. "That''s a good start," he grinned while keeping his research until a sound came to stop him from doing so. "What are you standing there doing?" He turned to Nara and her team marching with dark looks over their faces. "Are you that frightened to even check things out?" she sneered. "Just wait for me and don''t disturb me for now," he simply said before returning to continue his study while others gave him a weird nce. "What is he doing?" Jeffrey whispered and she only shrugged and said nothing. But her inner gut told her Bloom was up to something big. The look over Bloom''s face kept changing from frowning and smiling all the time. Every time he thought he cracked everything he would discover he was mistaken. He kept standing in such a weird state for an hour and half. During this time he watched endless videos and started to reach a consensus. "They all work by skill tree," that was the conclusion he finally reached. "But they also seem to be like those dark monsters I once fought inside the lost mines." Everything seemed alright until he spotted a video where arge team of yers, numbering in thousands, managed to finally in one single monster after a brute fight with a skeleton army. This group of yers just announced before attacking that they would go and try killing one monster only. In the video spread by them, they all attacked one single monster, not caring at all about others. In less than thirty seconds that monster fell under their skills, and the weird thing that happened was the appearance of dark sand gravels there, not gold coins. Bloom''s eyes shone brightly when he saw this. And he kept checking the forums for other daring groups like this one, but he couldn''t find a second. "Are you finished?" Nara asked in obvious boredom when she noticed him shifting his gaze away from the fixed spot he was observing for the past hour and half. "Yeah," he said before turning to face everyone. "I''ll go and test a theory out, do you want toe with me?" They all nced at him like looking at a crazy man. "Are you out of your mind?" Jeffrey couldn''t help himself to shout. "Do you want to be the first team to kill these monsters inrge batches or not?" Bloom didn''t answer him directly as he asked them with such a confident tone. He was so much confident in his ability to handle those monsters. First he cracked the list of skills they use from the start, studied each skill thoroughly and managed to detect some weaknesses that he could exploit. "Have you hit your head or what?" Nara said in disbelief, "haven''t you seen the forums yet? Have you?" "I was studying the videos just now," he simply shrugged, "if you won''t help me then fine, I''ll form another team to go with me," he said, and he didn''t mean to be a threat but they all felt this way. "C''mon," she shouted in rage, "we apanied you this far and won''t retreat now," she took a deep breath before taking it out, "let''s see how the mighty Bloom will deal with this." "Good," he smiled before ncing over his team once more, "but we need more yers then." "More?" Nara felt something bad was behind this, "don''t tell me you want to seek low level yers again!!" "No," he shook his head before adding, "I want the highest levels out there you can reach. I also want yers with specific skills." She nced at him for a long moment before sighing, "at least we won''t face a problem finding them," she said. "What skills are you looking for?" Jeffrey asked, in a try to read his mind. "Light daughters have a skill called purification garden. It''s an AOE skill, very rare to find. I want as many yers as you can get with such skill," he first said before adding, "also any yer with charge skill can be recruited as well." "Only these two?" Nara suspiciously asked. "If any yer has a restraining skill with stun effect but on wide range then he is weed as well," Bloom said with a shrug, "these are all my requirements. "Nothing else?" Jeffrey asked to make sure Bloom didn''t miss anything else. "Yes, that will do for now," Bloom said before adding, "go and bring as many yers as you can get. Even if you needed to announce this move on the forums, I don''t care." They all nced weirdly at him before Nara sighed. "We''ll try not to make us aughing stock in front of everyone." "Just don''t let your ego in the way," Bloom advised, "finding those light daughters would prove to be tricky." "We will look for them here first," she said before adding, "but this might take hours." "Fine by me," he simply said, "I''ll find a restaurant here to eat a meal before you finish." "Luckyzy lion," she mumbled before going off with the team as she kept mumbling things Bloom couldn''t hear. "Let''s see the rewards then," he was now sitting inside one of the empty restaurants in the vige where no one was here at the moment. He already ordered a meal for him, while realizing that during his immersion in studying the videos the game system had given him his rewards. There was only one alert there, but it was so long and had many unexpected surprises for him. Chapter 199: System Rewards Chapter 199: System Rewards "System alert: The final evaluation of all quests of the yer is ck. yer has chosen more than five secret quests of his secret ss and managed toplete six quests in less than one day. yer will gain additional rewards to elevate his rank and prestige in the dark world. As a reward, the system will give yer these rewards forpleting the quests. 1. yer will have a free period of time from his secret ss questssting for two months. If a yer activates any more quests during this time, the yer will gain double rewards and a chance to elongate this period. 2. yer has gained one million dark points. 3. yer has gained one hundred dark monsters as pets. 4. yer has gained three dark scrolls ssified as basic scrolls. 5. yer has gained the darkness prevail skill. 6. yer has gotten the tokens of a hundred dark agents. These agents will work under hismand, and can be summoned and unsummoned at any time through the tokens. Getting anyone killed will make the yer pay a certain amount of gold to revive them. The yer can level them up with him, and if they get caught during any quest, they won''t be linked to the yer. They aren''t counted as members but like ves. They can''t be summoned in any system facility, can''t enter it, and can''t do any deals with NPCs behind the yer''s back. 7. yer was bestowed the rank of intermediate agent of darkness. yer can use his rank to call for a legion of thousand dark agents to follow him for one day. These agents will be sent from the battlefield, and they are considered members like the yer himself. If they get caught, they will be linked to the yer. If they die, the yer can revive them using gold coins. They can''t be summoned in any system facility, can''t enter it, and can''t do any deals with NPCs behind the yer''s back. 8. yer has been bestowed the prestigious ss of dark nobles. yer is now a dark master and can establish his own house if he wants. Anywhere controlled by dark forces yer will receive special treatment and discounts on everything sold there up to twenty percent. Killing other dark yers and NPCs equal or lower than him in rank won''t cause any trouble for the yer. 9. yer has gained ess to contact with some higher ups in the dark camp fighting at the battlefield. yer can chat, request things from them, and gain some quests in return. 10. yer has been given the right to dere ten quests daily at the dark auction. 11. yer has gained ess to the dark camp basic auction house. yer can view it through selecting it directly or through his secret ss page." "Nice," Bloom cracked a wide smile over his face before opening his most important gift. "Darkness prevails skill: rare skill. Node skill. yer can activate it thrice per single day. Once used, the area around the yer for fifty meters will erupt heavy tongues of dark fog. Any yer, monster, or NPC will have fixed direct damage of ten thousand points per second no matter what level or rank they are. If the targets are lower than him in level or rank, additional damage of five percent of their total Hp will be added per second. Affected targets won''t be able to use any special skills like healing, stealth, or stun. Duration: twenty seconds. Can be used more than three times but the yer needs to pay five thousand gold coins each time he uses the skill." "Finally an AOE skill," he took a deep breath beforeughing, "five thousand gold coins only? The system is quite generous with me." He then reread the alert again in deep focus while his meal arrived. "So I''m now considered a dark nobleman, and I can kill anyone that''s equal or below me hehehe." This was something so far important to him. He was forced by his hidden enemy to raid over dark camps. "I was worried to cause myself trouble by doing that, but now hehehe, who can stop me now?" he evillyughed while eating the meat steak that wasid in front of him. He was very happy by his current gains. The other rewards seemed nice as well, especially that daily quota of quests issued under his name. "I can now rest assured about the dark points. But I need to check that new auction house first before celebrating." He then opened his profile and selected the basic auction house. The moment he opened it, he was met by a long row of items being sold at the moment at such astronomical price. "Damn, as I feared," he muttered, bitterly smiling, "the game never loses," he started to check some of the sold items there. As in the previous auction, most of the items were sold to serve the battlefield. Some even were selling outposts and small camps inside the battlefield. "These are sold as hot cake," he shook his head before finding some interesting stuff. "An advanced doll is sold at the price of one hundred thousand dark points as base price! Damn!!" he hurried to close the auction before taking a deep breath. "I should start working harder now to gain more points," he thought about summoning all the dolls and fallen agents of the battlefield and sending them all towards the dungeon he held. "This might help in solving a fraction of the financial problem," he sighed before eating what remained in his steak. He paid not much price there for such a meal, and then he stayed there waiting for Nara. ''We found some yers with other purifying skills than the one you wanted,'' she suddenly sent to him. ''Like what? Share their details with me.'' ''Purification ring skill: basic skill. Light daughters only. yer can summon a purifying ring that will stick to another yer for the entire duration of the skill. The ring will defend against dark attacks, magic attacks, but won''t help against any physical attacks. The ring can wipe out any control skill effect but won''t protect against any control skill if the other yer was higher in level than the user. Each use will consume a hundred Mp. Duration: fifteen seconds. Cooldown: five seconds. Rings can be umted over a single yer up to five rings.'' ''Arrow of purification skill: Basic skill. Light daughters only. yer needs a bow to use. The skill will allow the yer to release arrows of light. Arrows can only hit members of a yer''s team, and nothing else. Each arrow hit will help to give the target immune state against any magical attacks for five seconds. Each arrow will help to defend yers against any control skills, but won''t be able to erase any existing ones. Each arrow consumes seventy-five Mp. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: twenty seconds. yer can release one arrow per second ording to his or her proficiency in using bows.'' ''What do you think?'' Nara asked. ''Hmm'' Bloom thought for a moment, ''both look useful. Grab them into the team.'' ''There are more than two,'' she sent. ''Bring them all,'' Bloom didn''t hesitate to say that. ''Also any other yer with simr purifying skill is weed toe on board.'' ''Got it.'' Bloom then shared the location of this restaurant before returning to the forums. There things didn''t settle down yet. yers overcame their first shock and despair and now were fully immersed in trying to fight these monsters and find out their traits. Many videos started to show up and Bloom didn''t limit his research for the skeletons this time. "I have to be prepared for any surprises the game might throw in my face," he muttered while checking videos randomly and started to study them. "Sigh, they all share the same principles," he reached this conclusion after an hour of watching. Putting in mind what he already figured out, he started to see things clearer and notice many points other yers couldn''t. "At least this is not bad for me," he sneered while trying to move to the next step; cracking the skill tree of each monster. But this proved to be harder than he thought. Each race had its own unique way to fight, and some seemed to be like the dark monsters and skeletons and others didn''t. "Sigh this game is reallyplicated," he took a deeper breath before receiving a message. ''We were hit by strange monsters all of sudden,'' Antoan sent to him this brief message which made Bloom sign in helplessness. "Sure, the beginner''s points weren''t excluded in this. I totally forgot about them," he shook his head while sending the reply to Antoan. ''What level are you at currently? And what about the monsters you are facing?'' ''We were at level nine, almost about to get to ten. But killed twice so far,'' Antoan sent and Bloom understood their current level. ''What about the monsters?'' ''There are groups of everything mentioned in the forums.'' ''Are there skeletons?'' ''Indeed.'' Bloom finally had his face rxed. ''Alright, wait for my instructionster. Just stay there and don''t act on impulse anymore. The entire game is in ruckus.'' ''Is this your doing?'' Antoan sent after minutes of silence. ''Why do you think that?'' Bloom smirked as he answered. ''Sigh, I knew you are the one behind it.'' ''Hahaha, just keep these disturbing thoughts forter. Stay hidden and wait for my next instructions.'' ''Alright.'' Chapter 200: Trying to Clean Some Spies Chapter 200: Trying to Clean Some Spies Bloom then kept checking the videos for another three hours before finally Nara sent him. ''We are ready.'' ''Where are you?'' ''Heading towards your restaurant.'' ''Good,e up then,'' he nned to first know the new members first before finalizing his ns. As he waited for ten minutes for them toe, he checked more recent videos regarding the fight with skeletons. yers were trying everywhere to smash these monsters, but so far no one managed to crack the mystery behind this. The best they did was to use numbers and try to kill fewer number monsters. Some even started a record thread which was pinned in no time and it started to be the official thread amidst all this chaos. The highest record went to a studio called Kings of des. Bloom didn''t hear about such names before, but he was pretty sure they were such a strong existence in the world of games. They managed to kill ten monsters so far, all were zombies. The second best belonged to an unofficial guild which went by the name: Trispos. Trispos managed to kill six demons so far. The list contained so far only less than fifty teams in the entire game, and most had only killed three or less monsters. "Let''s aim higher," Bloom smirked before closing the forums, "I n to be the first to hit the club of hundred." He nced at Nara, the group of almost forty yers standing behind her. "They are less than I expected," he said. "C''mon, it''s not easy to find all of them y''know," she didn''t ept hisment as she crossed her arms while adding, "if you have any objection, then feel free to go ahead and recruit more and good luck at that." Bloom smiled while not focusing on this matter. If he wanted more, he could simply write a post in the forums. But he realized this wasn''t the best idea ever. After all the entire game was hyped up and if he just expressed his ns he wouldn''t guarantee for envious rivals to step in with great numbers and try to disturb his ns. Or worse they might send in spies who would shake the trust he had in the new team. "Alright, tell me everything about your skills," he leaned back on his seat before a female yer suddenly jumped amidst everyone and strangely she hugged him. "Oh god, it''s my dream to y with you my own legend." "" Bloom was really shocked by this move. He wryly smiled while trying to gently push the girl away but she held him tighter. "Please, let me enjoy your masculine body for a moment," she pleaded and he didn''t know what to do but to nce at Nara. And Nara was on fire, literally on fire at the current moment. "Alright, that''s enough," this time he used some force to break free from her. She was a real beauty, petite body and face with long curved golden hair strands covering parts of her face and eyes. "Please one more hug," she even had tears in her eyes but he just pushed her as he softly muttered, "this is for your own good." She didn''t get the nearby panther that was about to jump over and tear her apart. "Ahem," he cleared his throat before adding, "say everything you can do and do it fast," he nced at the nearby loli as he added, "and don''t do anything surprising, alright?" The next hour he kept hearing each one''s skills and habits in the fight. He sometimes asked about some stats, Int and others, to make sure he got what these yers were trying to convey. At the end, he felt he was greatly mistaken to ask them to do that. "Sigh, it''s basically you all share the same set of skills, the two Nara shared with me before, plus the basic healing skills. You can easily sum this up and save this time," he shook his head while inwardly adding, ''and saved me all this headache.'' "You are the one who asked for that by the way," Nara was still mad at him, despite he didn''t do anything and was the victim here. He sighed while recalling his beautiful dolls. ''If she saw them, I bet she would eat them and me alive, hehehe.'' "What are you going to do now?" Jeffrey said before pointing towards everyone, "now we have a team of ny yers, mostly are light daughters and dash skill users. Can you please unveil this mystery for me? For us?" Bloom cracked a wide smile over his face while he pointed towards the direction of the vige gate and said, "we will go out there" and he paused. "And?" Nara demanded for more, "C''mon, don''t say part and keep the most interesting part off like that!" Heughed, "Sigh, you don''t appreciate suspense." "" Everyone nced silently at him while he onlyughed. "We will go out there and raid a dungeon." "D- What the hell does this have with the yers we got?! The monsters that are threatening everyone?!!" Nara had her both eyeballs bulging out their sockets while shouting at him like that. He only kept his calm while adding in cold blood: "We will go and hit a dungeon that belongs to these monsters." Nara nced at Jeffrey and thetter seemed to read her mind as he shook his head the next instant and said: "There is no such info at all about these monsters or any other type of monsters." "See?" she turned to him as she had such a funny nce at her face, "these are wilderness monsters, not some dungeon monsters!" "Wrong," he simply answered before adding, "you don''t need me to exin anything to you. Soon you will be able to see everything for yourselves. Now it''s time for me to exin far more important things," he said while totally ignoring the ring nces Nara kept sending towards him. "First these monsters are very vulnerable to purification skills." "Is this only for these monsters or the other types as well?" one of the dash skill yers asked. He was a tanker, someone holding two huge shields. "I don''t know that yet," Bloom answered as he was pretty much sure some eyes of other groups and guilds might be inside this new batch. "and even this theory of mine is still untested," he added. "T- Theory?" one light daughter yer eximed in shock before she angrily turned around, "I thought you are pretty serious about this. I''m leaving." "Me too." "And me." Amongst the forty yers who appeared here first, five took the initiative and moved away. Nara moved her eyes between them and Bloom who was still sitting calmly in his seat. "Are we just going to let them leave like this?" she suddenly shouted before adding, "we wasted so much time and effort just to recruit them." "Just leave them be," yet Bloom wasn''t fazed by her words. "But" ''They are spies,'' he simply sent to her, and his brief message silenced her and let her swallow what she wanted to throw at his face. ''And there might be other eyes here.'' ''Well'' she sent and paused before taking a deep breath, ''we didn''t check all of their backgrounds yet,'' she admitted the truth. ''Expected,'' he sent before adding, ''now it''s not the time to speak loudly about such things. Ah, stop picking up a fight with me at each corner. Have more trust in me, will you?'' His sentence was met by another ring look from her, but she didn''t say anything more or sent any message in return. "Now," Bloom pped his hands all of sudden, "we will go to the dungeon and start raiding it." Everyone, including Nara and Jeffrey, exchanged silent nces before they helplessly moved before Bloom. Jeffrey seemed to be about to explode, but he didn''t open his mouth or speak a single word at all. ''Nara is very efficient in rying news,'' Bloom thought to himself, ''she would act best as my vice from now on.'' Despite she was his vice from the start, he never thought to truly depend on her. He only handed some dirty work to her and Jeffrey, but as their team was getting bigger in time, he would need to give her real authority. ''Plus in the near future all of this will also belong to her as madam Bloom, hehehe,'' he evillyughed while his face showed a faint smile that made everyone interpret differently. Yet most thought this was a sign on him turning crazy. The team left towards the vige gate. Despite Bloom being already famous, no one stopped or nced at him longer for a few moments. The vige was under total chaos and no one had the mood to admire or re in envy and hatred towards him. ''Won''t you tell me what all this is about?'' Nara suddenly sent to him. ''In time,'' he sent back, ''this is a thing I''d love to see its impact directly on your pretty face.'' ''Tsk, a lion flirting while leading his pack to be defeated,'' she teased him. ''Don''t hurry to judge,'' Bloomughed before sending again, ''this lion here might flirt and y with his lioness at the end of this day.'' She turned sharply to him while her both eyes were burning with slight anger and her face was red with embarrassment. And he simply winked and said nothing to her while she turned around and kept her gaze straight on the road. Chapter 201: A Theory Was Proven To Be Right Chapter 201: A Theory Was Proven To Be Right "Why did you stop here?" Jeffrey asked with a frustrated tone when Bloom stopped just in front of the vige. "I think we should go this way," Bloom suddenly turned and moved towards the road that led towards outside the Vige. "This" Jeffrey wasn''t the only one feeling surprised here, but Nara just cleared her throat and gave him a silent nce to follow him. And like this everyone moved after Bloom who was leading the road. This wasn''t the first time for Bloom to go into such a road, but this time he was heading there not to do some bad deeds as usual. ''yers have scanned many ces in the wilderness already none discovered any dungeon or anything that seemed strange. I bet they all came from the grounds outside the viges.'' He gambled here, but depending on what he saw so far this wasn''t a losing bet. These monsters didn''t follow the vige settings, already making the idea of them belonging to other ces than the vige more eptable. The team moved after Bloom who just opened the map and started to examine the roadwork. ''The main road will get divided on many asions, and all led to areas outside the vige,'' he thought before deciding to stick to the main road. "Do you even know where are you leading us?" Nara had to ask after an hour of walking aimlessly in such barrennds. "I know," Bloom simply nodded, "just trust me and keep following my steps. Our target isn''t far." He was bluffing and she seemed to read that, but she kept her silence and didn''t even ask him in private chat. He led the team who started to chat in between themselves for so long already. The new yers kept asking the old about the legendary tales heard about Bloom. And the only answer they all received was that the tales never gave justice to him. Bloom heard many of these side talks, but he never put them in mind. Despite knowing he was an extraordinary being in the game, he also knew deep down he was a glitch; something fate threw into this game for something he didn''t know yet. For him, damaging the game was and still his goal but he now realized more than ever that this wasn''t necessarily the purpose of him being sent to the past in human flesh. He kept asking himself this question, about the true purpose of being here. ''I just hope I can find clues that might help me in finding such an answer,'' he muttered to himself before finally reaching the point where the vige territory ended. And in front of him, in front of everyone, a vast wilderness stretched out for no end. "Holy moly you were right!" Nara moved in shock while muttering these words. She wasn''t the only shocked one here, but all were the same. Everyone nced with wide eyes towards all those monsters moving around the world up front. The monsters were all skeletons, the same as what everyone was fighting against right now. And every now and then, there would be a very familiar opening from which many skeletons kept pouring out towards this world. "They they areing from dungeons," Jeffrey moved to stand beside Nara while watching the long lines of skeletons moving towards certain directions; towards the shield covering the vige and passing through it like it was nothing. "They are going to the wilderness," One of the yers muttered before Bloom turned to face them as he said, "now our aim is to select one dungeon and start clearing it." "You are speaking as if killing those skeletons are really a piece of cake." Bloom turned to face this light daughter yer who had a defying look over her face. She seemed, like two others here, not happy by this realization of Bloom. "Oh, just one minute," Bloom suddenly pointed to her before taking a hundred token of fallen agents as he summoned them. "This one, this, and this go and kill those three for me." Bloom selected the three who were revealed by their reaction at this moment. Before anyone could speak or object, the fallen agents fell upon the three like thunder, and in a few seconds they killed them all. What just happened right now startled everyone, and when they all nced vigntly towards Bloom, he simply smiled as he said in calm and ease: "I don''t tolerate traitors and spies. If I ever find anyone of them, I won''t dirty my hand and will ask my minions to kill them for me." His words exined everything, yet they never exined how he knew they were traitors. Bloom jumped over what happened here before pointing towards the nearest dungeon opening as he said, "We will target this one first." "Any n then?" Jeffrey asked while he finally was at his wits end here, "we need to know what to do or else" Everyone around nodded while Bloom just smiled. "Just wait here and watch," he then moved towards the front, all alone, not even bringing his own army of agents with him. "Is he insane?" Jeffrey turned to Nara who just had a sparkling in her eyes as she softly muttered: "Y''all asked about his legends now open your eyes wide open as you are about to witness one." Bloom wasn''t acting suicidal. He had a theory in mind and he needed to test it out. "Losing one level is nothing, but I need to see if this will work," the next instant his feet stepped onto thends outside the road. "Roar!" One monster roared and the others seemed to be attracted to Bloom''s scent. Bloom just smiled as he simply took out his bow and then he pointed it towards the nearest skeleton. "Let''s see if this will work," he then grabbed the string and the next instant an arrow was formed. "System alert: yer is using the ck monster taming bow. One thousand dark points are deducted and another thousand for feeding the monster for one day." "Bingo!" Boom cracked a wide smile before hystericallyughing while his arrow just prated the body of the nearest skeleton. For others far behind he seemed to be mad, losing his mind and was about to die. But what happened next blew their minds off the capsules they were residing in right now. Bloom directed his bow towards the second monster, then a third, a fourth, and kept hitting until he hit one hundred skeletons out there. At first he was trying his bow, and his previous theory of these monsters belonging to the dark side was proven right. Then he started to be more selective in the monsters he was hitting. "What is he doing?" Nara muttered while she noticed like others that all the monsters he hit with his strange bow stood motionless in ce for long moments until he finished hitting a hundred monster. "Listen up," his voice suddenly came out strong and loud, "go and clear a path towards the dungeon. Kill any monster standing on your path, and then guard the entrance well." "Roar!" The next instant the hundred skeletons roared before they turned around, aimed their scythes, swords, knives, and spears at other skeletons nearby. A massacre suddenly erupted where those monsters seemed to enjoy a sacred protection from the game. Not a single monster retaliated or tried to defend. "Holy cow! How the hell could he do that?!!" Jeffrey was shocked this time more than any previous times. "Hahaha, I warned you all, he is making a miracle right now," Nara didn''t know the answer but her eyes were fixed over that bow of his. "I bet with everything that the secret lies within that bow." "I agree with you," Jeffrey nodded, and all yers around only watched with amazed expressions over their faces the skeletons executing Bloom''s words to the letter. "What are you waiting for?" Bloom simply turned to nce at them, "C''mon, we have a dungeon to clear." He then moved, and they didn''t hesitate for long before following after. The tamed skeletons reminded him of the monsters he tamed at firstyers of the lost mines. ''This is amazing, like this I can kill any dungeon without a hassle.'' He moved like a king towards the dungeon he specified and his skeletons were acting like his mighty guards. He didn''t need to raise a finger anymore, but his aim wasn''t to clear the dungeon using them. After all, such a solution was only limited to him. ''I need to confirm my other theories so I can send instructions for Antoan and the rest,'' he thought while reaching the opening of the dungeon. "Damn, those skeletons are really a boost when they are with us," Jeffrey eximed in excitement before adding, "are they going toe with us now?" "No," Bloom shook his head before turning to the monsters as he ordered, "stay and defend, not a single monster is allowed toe inside." "Can other monsterse inside?" Nara said, "never heard of monsters entering dungeons from the outside." "We I dunno about this," Bloom sighed, "but we should deal with this situation as it''s a special case. Every single scenario must be properly calcted and ready to deal with each." "Said properly," Nara nodded before ncing over the entrance, "if the monsters won''te inside, then how do you n raiding this dungeon?" "Using the new members in our team of course,"" Bloom smiled before turning to face the entire team, "listen up. This will be raided like any other dungeon. Our main weapon is the purification skills of you, so keep yourself ready and be wise in using your skills. If you need any potions, just ask." Chapter 202: The Nasty Portal Chapter 202: The Nasty Portal Bloom led them inside the dungeon with steady steps. He still held his bow and didn''t rece it with his sword for now. The dungeon was simr to other dungeons they cleared so far. It started with a long corridor that led to the first room. "Strange," Jeffrey muttered, "I thought the dungeon would be filled with monsters to the brim." His words were met with an agreement of everyone, but Bloom didn''tment. He knew this dungeon was special and so its rules might be different. "Stay sharp," he said, "I''m going to take a glimpse of the situation inside first." He then moved, so slow and careful while trying to get a glimpse of what was inside. What he saw inside didn''t like him, as there were many monsters and in the middle there was a portal. "So?" Nara whispered, "have you seen what''s inside?" He nodded before saying when he returned to the team, "the monsters inside are in hundreds, and the room is slightly simr to thest hall in any dungeon." "Does this mean this is the end of the dungeon?" one of the new yers asked. "No," Bloom shook his head, "this room is linked to another via another corridor." "Then?" Nara asked. "This is the special setting of these dungeons it seems," Bloom said before sighing, "and there is a central portal inside the hall." "A portal?" many whispered while Nara asked: "Are we supposed to enter it?" "Or perhaps seal it?" Jeffrey said. "I frankly dunno," Bloom said while adding, "let''s go inside and see by ourselves but I need you all to be extra cautious and be ready to execute all my orders to the letter." They all nodded while he added, "I''ll go inside first, then Jeffrey and the shade sons followed by weapon wielders and shield bearers." He waited until they all nodded in agreement. "Those with purification skills will use them when I give the mark. Always keep an eye on the chat, and don''t spam it with needless things for now." His arrangement made everyone feel the pressure. "You are taking this as if you are really nning to clear the dungeon," one of the yers joked and she nced around, but no one stood on her side. The next thing was for a sword to sh past her and the next instant she was stunned by Bloom''s dash. Couple more hits and she died. "I warned you before," he muttered, "I won''t tolerate any filthy spy in my group." He then turned around as he moved towards the opening of the hall, "Let''s clear this dungeon together." He knew there were a couple more hidden and smart agents for his enemies here. He didn''t bother himself with looking for them, after all the secret to clear this dungeon lied mainly in his mysterious bow. If no one had such a bow, then they wouldn''t be able to clear any dungeon except by using many sacrifices and spending much time on trying. The moment he stepped inside the hall, all the skeletons turned in unison to nce at him. "What a warm wee this is," heughed while he took out his bow and thenunched a dozen fast arrows, turning twelve skeletons into his pets. "Roar!" Yet the next instant the other skeletons roared and started to smash these pets into pieces. This was brutal and those who came after Bloom were shocked to see this scene. ''Listen up, I''ll divert their attention all the time by these skeletons and those with purification skills should use them over the others.'' He hurriedly sent into the team chat while he sent dozen more arrows to turn another batch into pets. He didn''t aim towards the same ce but scattered his arrows to different areas trying to create more chaos. He could have just used his bow to clear the entire dungeon, but he would have to spend a lot of dark points in doing so. He also could have depended entirely on the yers, but this would give his enemies the full tactic on silver te. "This is the best bnced solution for now," he muttered to himself while watching many skeletons smashing each other while at this moment the newly joined light daughters started to work. "Sizzle." "Sizzle." "Sizzle." The moment the purification skills were used upon the skeletons, the ce started to be filled with such sounds. The damageing on top of their heads was in thousands, and some even caused ten thousand damage per second. "Amazing," Nara muttered from behind, "this way we can kill them all fast," sheughed yet just as she said these words, the portal instantly shook. "Roar!" Another batch of skeletons appeared to rece those who died just now. "Damn," he turned to her while sighing. "you jinxed us just now," he shouted at her. "Stop it!" she had her face change for a moment before adding, "this way we can''t ovee them." Bloom didn''t hurry to answer her as he nced at the portal and suddenly he released fifty arrows at the skeletons surrounding it to create a big chaos there. Then he stored his bow in his inventory, took out his two swords then muttered, "dash." His sword wasn''t pointing towards any monster, but towards the portal itself. The moment he did so his body was moved instantly, bypassing all the skeletons around and finally hitting the portal. "15000" This high damage came on top of it, but when that happened everyone managed to take a glimpse at the full Hp of this portal. ''Damn! It must have hundreds of thousands of Hp!'' one yer eximed in shock in the team chat. ''It''s at least five hundred thousand Hp,'' Jeffrey sent, ''If not more.'' Bloom couldn''t refute their words and he just kept smashing the portal with his two swords and stab skill while ordering in the team chat: ''Keep them busy, and I''ll try to crush this portal.'' ''You need help!'' Nara sent in the chat. ''No, I can handle this alone,'' he said and the next second seventeen shadows appeared on his side. They were his clones and he just gave them a simple order, "Use your bows and turn the skeletons around into pets." He knew his shadow clones would have half of his gear''s abilities, but when he gave them such order they didn''t move a muscle. "Don''t tell me they can mimic only the gears I held outside the inventory when I summon them," this was the only exnation he had at the moment. "Alright, give this damn portal everything you have," he changed his strategy while he took out his bow and started to hit more monsters all around, "don''t let it stay a single moment without being stunned." Seventeen clones were much more enough to create a perfect cycle of using dash skills without giving the portal a second to rest. Bloom then took the task of using his bow and defending the area around them tightly while creating some disturbance at different spots here. The yers of his team were faring well, and with time the number of skeletons falling on their hands increased and they started to have momentum against them. The only problem that remained was this portal. "This it regenerates around one percent each five seconds this isn''t good," Bloom muttered in frustration. Even with the help of his clones, the portal only lost around twenty percent of its Hp in the time needed to clear the entire hall of skeletons. This was mainly thanks to the arrows of Bloom, but this took roughly fifteen minutes. "We should all attack this portal," Jeffrey muttered when he came with the rest of the team. "Yeah, this is going too slow," Nara said. "I have no objection to extra skills," Bloomughed and then all the yers started to use their skills. This elerated the descent of the Hp of the portal. It needed thirty more minutes to reach below the twenty percent of its original Hp. When this happened, Bloom had a sudden clench in his heart. He hurriedly turned around, but he couldn''t find anything there. "What''s wrong?" Nara noticed the change in his face, and before he could say anything, his eyes finally caught a glimpse of what wasing at them. "Damn!" he didn''t have time to say anything while he hurriedly sheathed his swords and took out his bow and instantly released many arrows at once. This attracted the attention of everyone here to turn and nce at the direction of his arrows. "What the hell" many yers eximed in shock as right now many skeletons just appeared in a flooding from the next hall. "Keep screwing this b*tch," Bloom shouted before he turned to all the light daughters and added, "fire everything you have over these skeletons. We need to stop them now." Bloom didn''t know exactly what happened but he had a theory. Each monster had a supreme skill activated when their Hp decreased below the twenty percent threshold. And this portal seemed to have a bizarre skill to call on reinforcements from the next hall, or even from the entire dungeon. "I need to stop them there," he kept releasing his arrows but the bad news was that the previous response of the skeletons towards his bets vanished at this moment. "They are berserk," he muttered before shouting out loud, "all shield bearers form a strong defensive line around the portal, don''t let a single skeleton cross you." "I''lle to help," Jeffrey suddenly shouted. "Stay right there, help me by destroying this damn portal to pieces faster," Bloom hurriedly yelled back while he kept his hands full to turn as many skeletons as possible into pets. Chapter 203: Intense Fight Chapter 203: Intense Fight Things escted fast beyond Bloom''s expectations and control. He tried his best to turn many skeletons into his bets, but this only helped to reduce the pressure, not eliminate it. In front of his eyes, the three lines of defense were crushed in no time under the mighty charge of the skeletons. "Damn, they are really dead fixed on killing us," he gritted his teeth and the next instant he took out many tokens of the fallen agents and started summoning them. "Act as a meat shield, hurry!" he shouted as he pushed them towards the breaking apart walls of defense. He never stopped releasing his arrows while he shouted: "Screw that portal now!" The team members didn''t need his urgent shout to act as they already understood how grave their situation was. despite all their efforts to crush the portal, their damage wasn''t even close to what Bloom single handed did. "Damn it!" he suddenly shouted, before adding, "all with charge skill move to stop those loose skeletons now!" He had to stop the skeletons from reaching his clones. His clones were the only hope they had now to stop this, as they kept the portal stunned and malfunctioning all the time. "I won''t let you reach them," he gritted his teeth before taking out some tokens, those that remained from his old pets as he instantly used them. The next instant ten huge monsters appeared out of nowhere and he hurriedly shouted: "Go and block those skeletons now!" He tried everything but the fact that this came all of sudden had the decisive word in settling things here. Everything he sent in the way of those skeletons had only decreased their momentum a bit, but still many kept escaping through the unorganized line of defense and started toe near his clones. "Screw it, dash!" He threw his bow over his shoulder and then moved fast to hit a skeleton that was about to kill one of his clones. His clones were the most precious thing here. Protecting them came on the price of everyone''s lives if he wanted to stop this chaos. The moment his sword hit the skeleton, the skeleton was stunned and then was sent flying away by the passive effect of his sent to fly skill. "Yes," he shouted in relief as he turned his gaze towards the skeletons running towards the portal and his clones, "it''s time for me to hold the fort then." He moved, while his swords kept hitting right and left using only stab skill. He didn''t aim to kill any skeleton, but only clearing up the way. He was like a tsunami, sending any skeleton that got near him flying backwards. No single monster ever managed to bypass him, as he stood like a fixed rock defending the portal with his clones around it. "Need a hand there?" Jeffrey shouted again, but Bloom hit couple of skeletons by his stab before heading towards two distant skeletons with two dashes while shouting: "Keep hitting that b*tch until she is dead." For him things became less easier when he figured out his passive skill worked here. He only needed to time his dashes properly so not to let a single skeleton pass through. And in less than ten minutes of such a highly intense fight, the portal finally cracked in a loud explosion before sending everyone away, hitting the walls. "on your feet," Bloom wasn''t yet celebrating the victory as he was the first to jump on his feet and started to assess the situation. "Even after dying, a b*tch will always stay a b*tch." He saw all the skeletons here weren''t affected by any of the st. He turned to see his team scattered around the hall, while the only thing standing between these skeletons and them was the early to tame skeletons. "Dash!" The next instant he used his dash to stop a distant skeleton heading directly towards Nara. He sent it flying before grabbing her hand and helped her stand up. "Gather all those with reviving skills and send them all to the back," he hurriedly shouted before turning his sword to hit another distant skeleton with his dash. "Thanks by the way," she sincerely muttered before turning to her team. "All on your feet, those with reviving skills move behind me now!" Her shout came to push adrenaline in all yers still alive, but some weren''t that lucky as her. Bloom tried his best to save those important yers and stop the flood of skeletons from killing more. "At least no more areing our way," he noticed the influx of more skeletons stopped and that helped a lot in stabilizing the situation. They needed five minutes and the loss of thirty more yers to finally exterminate all the skeletons here. Bloom was the one who killed most of the monsters, either by his hand or on the hands of his pets. "This loss" Nara nced all around. From the initial almost one hundred team only twenty remained. "Sigh, I never thought this dungeon was so cursed." "What are these?" Jeffrey suddenly took a handful of ck sand that remained after the death of the skeletons. Everyone standing around noticed this ck sand and they started to be curious. "Never saw something like that before," Nara muttered before turning to Bloom to see him collecting the sand silently without saying a word. "So you know what is this?" she crossed her arms in front of her chest whileing towards him. "Hurry and resurrect everyone," he simply said before adding, "all the sand is mine to take. I have something important to use it for." "Really?" she reached him before adding, "do you think I would be satisfied with this as an answer?" He simply shrugged as he stood straight and went towards another pile of dark sand. "I don''t care," he only said this while taking more sand from the ground. ''Take some and store them forter,'' she simply sent this message to Jeffrey, ''I want to hear an answer soon about the origin of this.'' Bloom knew she wouldn''t sit tight and be satisfied with his cold answer, but he didn''t care. He spent many of the dark points in this simple fight, and he had to replenish slightly what he lost. As if she asked about his usester by the data she would find, he would only say he had a way to sell them in exchange for his arrows. And she wouldn''t have the means to investigate him or couldn''t say he was a dark yer directly. After all, him being able to enter a system vige without being arrested was a point in his favor. He kept collecting the dark sand from the ground while those survivors with reviving skills took a couple of minutes to revive everyone. When the team regrouped once more, Bloom had already finished collecting his own loot. There were some gears on the ground, but he neglected them. "The gears are yours to take," he simply said before turning to Nara and Jeffrey, "we need to set our strategy based on the style of the dungeon." They both nced at him suspiciously before Nara sighed. "You are right. This dungeon it''s really so much different from what I know about dungeons in any game I ever yed." "Me too," Bloom honestly remarked as his info from the past was void of such dungeons and monsters. "So we can depend on your pets then to guard the corridor, right?" Jeffrey asked. "It''s not that simple," Bloom shook his head, "I can only use the bow for limited usages, and I doubt they will be enough to cover our journey inside this dungeon." He was lying but he was preparing for the future excuses he would have to provide to the two. "This" Nara felt how hard clearing this dungeon was, "I just hope that the reward of clearing such a dungeon is worth all this trouble." "We can risk a wipe out a couple of times before clearing the dungeon up," Jeffrey suggested. "I advise against that," Bloom shook his head, "if we were wiped out then all the pets I have will be lost. We need to make sure we clear that dungeon in one go." "This" Jeffrey paused while Nara said: "Then we need to put the first priority is not to lose those with reviving skills," she turned to nce at the group of twenty or something yers who had such skill, "or else we would lose our way to revive everyone." "Also my clones must be well protected," Bloom said, "they can keep the portal stunned and relieve us from a headache." "The main issue is that nasty supreme skill of that portal," Jeffrey sighed, "if we managed to stop the influx of monsters there then everything would be much easier." "I can take care of this," Bloom said before adding, "but you have to destroy the portal faster. You took too longst time." "The portal is a boss monster in its own record," Jeffrey defended, "we didn''t keep our hands and used everything we have." "I know," Bloom smiled as he added, "I only want to save as many yers as possible from falling before reaching the portal." "We can''t reach it without paying the price," Nara shook her head. "I can lead the way there," Bloom volunteered, "but right after that I''ll leave my kids to stun the portal and leave the portal totally for you to destroy." Nara and Jeffrey nodded. "That''s fair enough," Nara said before adding, "we need a couple of minutes to rest and be ready to move." "I need seven minutes," Bloom checked the cooldown of his clone skill, "then we can all move." "What about them?" Jeffrey pointed to the pets, "how long can they stay up with us?" "As much ck sand as I have," Bloom simply replied and said no more. The two exchanged silent nces while Bloom sat on the ground while resting his mind from the intense fight he just finished. Chapter 204: Pushing Through The Dungeon Chapter 204: Pushing Through The Dungeon His short revtion didn''t satisfy the curiosity and doubt of Nara and Jeffrey but at least they had one known usage of the ck sand. Bloom kept resting and waiting until the time was up. He stood and went towards the corridor while Nara and Jeffrey walked behind while gathering everyone with them. Bloom stopped at the entrance where he checked the arrangement. "You are going to use the light daughters from the start?" he noticed the arrangement where the light daughters were just behind the first rows of the shield bearers. "The weapon wilders will be around to help if needed," Nara said before adding, "we have to risk, otherwise we will take more time to clear the portal." "It''s susceptible to purification skills?" he asked as this was the only exnation behind this weird arrangement. "That''s what they said," Jeffrey nced at the two dozen light daughters before adding, "I hope this is true and we can crush that portal in a shorter time." "Alright," Bloom nodded before heading towards the corridor. "Won''t you summon the clones now?" Nara ran to catch up with him. "Shouldn''t you stay behind and guard those light daughters?" "I''m guarding you." "I don''t need any," Bloom shrugged. "What about the clones?" Nara asked again as they got near the next hall. "I don''t need them this early," he muttered before adding, "I''ll clear a path, make sure you won''t be dyed behind." He then ran towards the hall. For him as long as the leveler was there then these monsters were doomed to be lower than his level. His sudden appearance was apanied by loud roars and many bangs. He wasn''t fazed as he used both swords to clear up the way in front of him. Each stab threw one skeleton to the side while hitting a couple more in the way. Bloom used this way to make sure the skeletons would be dispersed, and he used a couple of dash skills to evade some angry skeletons. "Follow him," Jeffrey''s shout came from behind while many purification skills started to rain down the skeletons all around him. Bloom started to aim towards the portal, while thest thing toe here were his pets. He kept them forst as their main role wasn''t to fight the monsters here but to hold that nasty corridor linking the hall with the next one. "Shade doppelganger festival." The moment the team grouped around the portal he summoned his clones. "Keep it stunned all the time," he gave the order to part of the clones before adding, "the rest stay here and guard the team. Don''t let any skeletone near them." His seventeen clones were divided into two groups, one at the portal and the rest started to disperse to surround the team. They used their swords and skills to throw off the skeletons everywhere, while Bloom started to jump using his dash skills to reach the corridor. As for Nara and others, they stayed behind while focusing only over the portal. Endless stream of skillsnded over the portal while they were totally guarded by Bloom''s clones. Bloom didn''t stay there in the corridor doing nothing. He took out his bow and started turning as many skeletons into his pets as possible. "I need to prepare for the worse," he muttered while not caring about the huge amount of dark points he was losing right now. "Rumble!" Just when the portal''s Hp decreased lower than thirty percent it shook and that startled everyone. "Damn," Bloom cursed out loud, "prepare for the impact," he retreated a couple of meters behind the corridor while guiding all his skeletons to go inside the corridor and block it. "If you won''t target my skeletons willingly then I will force you to do that," he sneered when he heard the loud bang of the two waves of skeletons hitting each other inside the corridor. He sent his skeletons halfway through it, and more skeletons were lined to rece those dying inside. "I hope this buys you sometime," he turned to nce at the nearby portal and the few number of skeletons trying to reach the team with no avail. His defensive line of the clones was really effective. Not a single skeleton managed to trespass them. "I hope they could kill these first," he turned his bow towards the remaining skeletons, "or I could turn them into my pets faster." Within the next minutes he kept turning as many skeletons here into pets while the rest were killed by the clones. "Boom!" But at the same time the berserk skeletons were drawing nearer with each second. "Hurry," he finally shouted, e inside and stop them." Ten clones moved at once to reach the about to be breached corridor. They entered it without hesitation and the next thing he heard was a series of bangs as huge bodies hit the walls of the corridor. "Go inside and help them," he shouted at his standing pets, "push them all the way towards the next hall." He waited while watching his pets pressing forward after the steps of his clones. He knew the ten clones inside were enough to halt the steps of the skeleton wave, but he doubted something. "Will this cause a problem?" he knew the mix of his clones and pets would be enough to push the skeletons all the way back to the next hall. This made him doubt if this was something good or bad. "Sigh, I have no way to stop this," he shook his head, hoping nothing bad wille from this. In the next minutes the sound of skeletons fighting against his clones and pets started to draw further away. "Time for me to hasten things here," he turned towards the portal and the next instant he used a dash skill to hit the portal and then he used a myriad of his skills without any reservation. The team didn''t lose any yer so far, and that helped in making the speed of the portal losing Hp be monstrous. "Couple more minutes," he shouted out loud while taking a glimpse back at the corridor, "we are almost there." The portal had less than five percent of its Hp now, and as he expected in less than two minutes it was smashed into pieces. Yet even after this, the sounds of fightinging from the corridor didn''t end. "What''s going on?" Nara came while catching up her breaths, "why the skeletons are still fighting?" Bloom bitterly smiled and exined his theory to her and everyone. When they heard him, the look over their faces changed. "But" Nara paused as she turned her nce around, "we didn''t lose any however most of our skills are on cooldown. The light daughters and staff holders exhausted their magic power already. Not to mention other sses have low stamina now." Bloom nodded in understanding as this was something expected. "Don''t we have potions?" he asked. "We have," Jeffrey said before sighing, "but not to cover our needs in the entire dungeon if we continued doing things this way." "It''s like we are racing time to clear the dungeon fast. We shouldn''t do that," Naramented. "Any better options then?" Bloom didn''t like this whining from them as he added, "this is the only tactic where we won''t lose anyone. If we switched back to the initial strategy then we will lose at least half of our yers with each clearance." "Not to mention the low amount of Xp gained from these skeletons," one of the light daughters expressed her opinion which was the fact. The amount of Xp didn''t only decrease because of the low levels of the skeletons thanks to the leveler, but also because of the addition of more yers to the team. "There is no perfect solution out there," Bloom simply said before turning towards the ck sand around, "spread out the potions and let''s keep pushing forward until we deplete them. Then we can return to use the previous tactic." Nara and Jeffrey exchanged silent nces while he hurriedly gathered the ck sand, leaving the rest of the loot for others to collect. "Are you ready?" he went to the corridor while adding, "follow me and don''t ck, we will have it much easier in the next hall." The team didn''t dy in following him while the sounds of the brutal fighting in the next hall were getting louder with each step. When they reached the next hall they were astonished to see a smaller number of skeletons standing there. "Weird," one of the yers muttered, "didn''t the portal emit skeletons to replenish the fallen?" Just as he said this, the portal shook and the next instant a batch of skeletons appeared in the hall. "Shut up next time, will ya?" Bloom gave that yer a stern nce before turning towards the portal and used a dash directly to seal it. "Follow him," Jeffrey shouted while the remaining clones went to continue sealing the portal. "There is the issue of the clone remaining time," Bloom noticed this problem before sighing, "I do hope their time will be enough for this hall at least." Chapter 205: A Bold Declaration Chapter 205: A Bold Deration As Bloom and his clones stunned the portal, his team started to surround the portal. This time the number of clones wasn''t enough to guard them, so they started to divide upon themselves as part defended them and the other kept attacking the portal. The light daughters yed a major role here as their skills had the most impact on skeletons after Bloom and his clones. As for Bloom, when the other yers got in their positions he simply moved towards the corridor. And waited there while hitting all the skeletons around. His clones had less than five minutes remaining, but he noticed the number of skeletons here wasn''t big to begin with. "I should aim at them for now," he muttered before turning towards all the skeletons around while aiming to kill them. He began to target two at a time, hitting them first with two dashes then cornering them against a wall where he sent them flying by his skills to return again in no time to take another hit from his swords. Each skeleton didn''t take more than twenty seconds in his hands before being killed. Then he would jump towards another two skeletons and repeat the process. In less than five minutes he and others managed to clear the hall from all skeletons. The portal had less than forty percent of Hp remaining before it rumbled all of sudden. "Damn!" he cursed out loud before pointing his sword towards the corridor preparing to shield it alone. "Each hall has a ten percent increase in the threshold of that skill activation. This is just bad!" He waited while he knew his clones would vanish at any moment now. "Be alert, my clones will vanish and you have to use your dash skills to keep it under control," he shouted to make other team members ready as he knew his hands would be full while fighting at the corridor. As he waited, no single monster came from the corridor even after the disappearance of his clones after roughly one minute. "Strange," he muttered before ncing at the portal. "didn''t it just activate its supreme skill?" he then ran towards the corridor where he found no single skeleton even from far. "What''s going on here?" he muttered before shaking off his head, "if they aren''ting then I should focus my effort at the portal." He then turned around and dashed directly towards the portal. "Send a yer to the corridor and keep an eye on it," he shouted and Jeffrey simplypiled by shouting at the leveler. "Tony, move your ass out there and keep an eye over the corridor." "Alright," Tony jumped at once and ran with his shield towards the corridor. Bloom simply nced and shook his head while focusing his swords and skills over the portal. As he kept fighting, he didn''t lower his guard and kept an eye over the corridor. He didn''t know if he could fully entrust Tony with such a big task, but until the portal was smashed, nothing happened at all. "Does this portal follow another rule when we link between two halls?" he thought to himself while thinking of the possible exnation for such a thing. "If so," he smiled, "then we should aim to clear two halls at the same time from now on." He moved his gaze towards the team where they had some losses this time. Only because the number of skeletons was much lower than usual did they only suffer a loss of twenty yers. "Rest," Bloom said to Nara, "next time we will hit two halls at the same time." "This" Jeffrey muttered while Nara sighed. "Are we aiming for a clear record now?" she asked. "It''s not that," Bloom shook his head before adding, "linking two rooms together made us clear them with lesser losses." The two nced at their team members before Nara muttered, "that''s true indeed." "Nara" Jeffrey was speechless before adding, "the potion here won''t satisfy the remaining halls." "Don''t worry about that," Bloom simply smiled, "I''ll get you covered once you are run out of them." "This" Jeffrey paused but Nara pointed to him to stop arguing. "We need Stamina, Hp, and magic potions. Can you provide them in quantities?" "I can do it for Stamina and magic power potions," Bloom said before adding, "but Hp isn''t needed. Those who fell will be resurrected by the revival skills." "But they will lose a portion of their Xp," Nara argued, "and they won''t gain the full benefit of Xp gained from killing those skeletons." "Not my issue," Bloom shrugged before turning to start gathering up the ck sand, "they need to toughen up. We have hard times ahead of us and they need to be used to losing levels and gaining lesser Xp from now on." "But" Jeffrey paused again when Bloom took one gear from the ground and threw it to him. "They should work their asses off to acquire these gears. Things can''t be given freely anymore in this game." Jeffrey took the gold grade staff and sighed. He and Nara knew Bloom was right, as such pieces would be sold in the auction house in thousands of gold coins. And not necessarily they would find it there all the time. Even if some yers lost levels, they wouldn''t mind that as they would get their hands over such rare and extremely valuable gears in return. "It seems you thought of everything very well," Nara muttered. "It''s not me," Bloom simply shrugged, "it''s the game." Bloom then collected his loot from the ground, leaving those worth nothing to him for others to celebrate with. He had many unused gears in his inventory which he would use to turn them into gold coins and materialster on. He finally sat on a corner and suddenly heard Jeffrey shouting from far. "Who the hell is broadcasting at the forums?" Bloom raised one eyebrow and the next instant he opened the forums to find a live broadcast from three members in his team. Strangely the names were changed, which was something he didn''t hear of before but as he opened the forums he rapidly managed to detect their angles and roughly their positions and identities as well. "You you and you" Bloom stood up as he pointed out at the three he instantly positioned, "what the hell do you think you are doing?" Two light daughters and one shield bearers stood with paled faces while they stuttered. "It''s not me" the shield bearer shifted the responsibility away to be met instantly by a dash and then a couple of stabs and slices before falling dead. "Kick him out of the team now," Bloom casually gave the order to his vice, Nara, who executed the order with no further ado. "What about you two? Have anything to say?" The two exchanged silent nces beforeughing. "We already posted everything on the forums and now your mighty n is cracked for all to see," one of the two said in strange hatred and obvious envy while the other oneughed and said nothing in response. "Good," Bloom showed a vicious smile over his face, "anyone who sees himself worthy can try. After all no one has the ability or the guts to do like I do." He simply killed the two yers before opening the forums and started a new thread. "Think yourself worthy? Come and show me your true color." He wrote this thread before issuing a direct and bold challenge against all the game teams and guilds out there to outdo him. "I''ll keep hunting down dungeons and keep smashing monsters in thousands while you are still counting who killed more monsters than others in low numbers of tens and twentieth. Come and show me your true value if you dare, and let me start this thread to enumerate the dungeons I will clear from now on. Status: one dungeon is partially cleared." In fact he wasn''t that enraged by what happened. He already anticipated his news would be delivered all the time by the spies here, but he was slightly stimted by the broadcast that just happened at the forums. And as such he made such a deration while returning simply to sit over the corner and rest again. "I believe there are still spies here," Nara came and said to him while ncing at the new team members while sitting beside him. "That''s a given," he nodded. "Then why go all the way to issue such a bold challenge?" "I should use this chance to boost my fame more," heughed before adding, "even if my way was revealed to the public, no one copy it as there is only one bow of mine out there. It''s not easy to have such a bow or maintain the monstrous expenditure of it." She nced at him for a short period before muttering, "from where did you get your hands over such a bow?" "By luck," he honestly answered but she didn''t believe him. "Y''know," she suddenly said with a long sigh, "every time I think I''ve known you, I became shocked by your deeds and realize I hardly know you." He simply smiled and said nothing back. "You still owe me a date," he teased her while her face blushed slightly before sneering. "You have to deal with this crisis here first." "We are," heughed, "we will be the only team to crush the skeletons and clear their dungeons. We will amass many gears and treasures." "But the team levels will mainly stagnate," she sighed before pointing to her main team, "their levels didn''t increase much sinceing here, and even some lost a level so far in the dungeon." "Not my issue," Bloom simply said, "I''m leading them to glory, and they have to do their best to keep up with me." She didn''t say anything while checking him in silence. She inwardly sighs and admits he was telling the truth. After all this team was the one who came to join him, not the one he sought to lead. "I need to toughen up a bit on them," she slowly muttered. "Indeed," he nodded while adding, "or else the gap between us will growrger in time." "Us?" "You, Jeffrey, and I," he simply said, "the three of us are the only ones who didn''t die even once since the beginning of the dungeon. Let me guess, you are this close from leveling up, right?" She only nodded as her mind was thinking deeper about his words. "You are absolutely right," she sighed, "I need to push them a little harder from now on." Bloom watched her retreating where she met with Jeffrey and exchanged whispers for short period before Jeffrey nodded and went to the old team members. "Decisive," Bloom nodded, "I liked that about you." Chapter 206: The Ancient Skeleton Boss Chapter 206: The Ancient Skeleton Boss Bloom watched in silence while Jeffrey started to address in some nervousness and seriousness the old yers of the team. He simply rested for twenty minutes before checking the forums again. There he found many replies already on the post. Some mocked him, while others insulted his arrogance but most were speaking praises about his bravery and asking even to join his team. "It seems having more yers in my future guild won''t be that hard," he muttered to himself before checking over the other forum posts. He found a couple more threads posted by many game teams and unofficial guilds. He checked them rapidly to see they announced their intention in clearing dungeons. "Be my guest then," he smirked before closing the forums and headed towards the corridor. "Let''s go, we have to clear two halls in one go," he waved his hand to Nara and Jeffrey who started to rally up the team. The next halls were cleared slightly faster and with less losses than the first ones. His team were now more experienced at killing these skeletons, and they weren''t as frightened as before. They cleared two halls in one go, and then rested for twenty to thirty minutes to replenish their lost stamina and magic power. As they got closer to thest hall, Bloom had one question in his mind. "What do you think the boss monster here would be like?" Nara asked this question while they were resting after clearing the seventh hall. "It should be a much higher form of skeleton," he simply muttered before ncing over the ce of the destroyed portal. "This little thing is getting harder to deal with." The seventh portal had its supreme skill activated when Hp decreased by more than eighty percent. "It was lucky the second hall won''t attract monsters," Nara said. "But the next one will be harder," he sighed, "it will instantly activate the supreme skill and we will have to face the skeleton wrath for most of the time." "I doubt this would be a problem for you," Nara winked. "The stamina is a problem." "Not with someone who just gave us a hundred potions," sheughed as she referred to the potions he promised to give and he fulfilled his promise just after clearing up this hall. "Sigh, I told you I have depleted most of my storage on you," he rolled up his eyes. "Sure sure, I''m quite positive of that," she nodded while softly chuckling on his obvious lie. "What do you think about the final reward of these dungeons?" she asked again and like each time he simply answered: "Can''t tell until we clear this one." "Will we have a game announcement?" she asked with a glow in her eyes, "this would be awesome. I heard the announcements of your previous team, and it would be amazing to hear the announcement of my team." He nced silently at her while she cleared up her throat and muttered, "sorry, old habit, your team." "That''s better," heughed before adding, "tell me, when we finish off this dungeon will you go out with me on a date then?" "In your dreams." "But you once agreed." "I told you," she yfullyughed, "I already have two lovers." "But you don''t love any of them, right?" he said like he was sure of his words. "Dare to bet?" she simply said while standing off, "c''mon big lion, let''s go and clear this dungeon first." "Then it''s a date, right?" "Keep dreaming," sheughed while he only nced at her back while inwardly sneering. ''Either here or out there you will be mine in the end,'' he muttered to himself before standing at the corridor linking to the next hall before waiting for other members to assemble. The next hall was as challenging as he imagined. The pressure exerted most on his front as he had to deal with a very long wave of attacksing from the next hall skeletons. Despite that he managed to withstand and hold the corridor until the portal was smashed. His number of pets were hanging up and down, and at the end of hall eight he only had around thirty. "I need to make sure to turn all the skeletons inside into my pets," he said while moving towards the ninth hall, "I don''t guarantee the boss monster will be easily crushed by me." The moment he entered the ninth hall he started using his bow without any reserve. In the end he managed to increase the number of his pets from the initial thirty to one hundred. "I hope these are enough," he muttered before ncing at the portal and his team members were assaulting it. "I''m curious about the next boss," he turned to nce at the corridor while sighing. He wanted to go there and see by himself, but he wasn''t sure if this would cause a chain reaction or something. "Better to wait for things here to be settled first." He wasn''t in the mood to join the fight as he turned to a corner and rested there. The forums were going into uproar as the news of many teams'' wipe out started to be spread around the game. He read many threads speaking about the losses of many teams, and in the end he had only to smile. "I told you," he shortlyughed, ""no one can beat me in this until you find a recement to my bow." He knew the bow wasn''t something unique to him, as he bought it from the auction house before and others could do it. The main problem would be in the shortage of the dark points for those dark yers. This was still so early in the game, and yers'' levels were just low. Not many dark yers would be strong or fool enough to go all out and raid caravans or kill NPCs like he did. "I wonder what quests they got," he thought before shaking off his head. "If they can amass enough points then they can buy a bow or two and start selling them in the dark by astronomical prices," he knew this would take some time and those yers would ask for real life advantages in return for the bows. "That means I have only a short window here," he nced again at the final boss hall, "and that will only depend entirely on the reward of clearing this dungeon." He didn''t have to wait for long before the team finally cracked thest portal and started to rest. "Good thing to sit back and let your girl fight for you, right?" Nara came panting while sitting beside him. "Oh, since when you were my girl?" heughed while pointing to the damaged portal, "it''s chick work so I left it for chicks like you." "Really?" she nced at him while he simply shrugged. "You asked me for a date and now not considering me your girl that''sme." "You never said yes," he winked and she chuckled. "In your dreams." Bothughed before he stood up all of sudden. "Where are you going?" she asked as she saw him turning towards the corridor. "I want to take a glimpse about that mysterious boss." "Wait," she suddenly stood up and went after him, "let me see it with you." "You need rest." "So do you." "I already took mine," he turned to her while they both were inside the corridor, "go back and rest." She didn''t answer as she kept following him which made him shake his head helplessly and continue walking forward. He tried not to cause any sound and when he reached the opening of the final hall, he waited for a minute there while Nara was holding her breaths. ''No sound at all,'' she sent to him privately.'' ''Won''t there be a boss here?'' he sent back while trying to crack a joke. ''Or it might be just sleeping.'' ''I''ll try to take a rapid nce then,'' he moved slowly and tried to see the interior of the hall. Compared with the past halls, this one was at least five folds in size. The halls of these dungeons were all vast, and this one made him feel they were small. ''See anything?'' she sent and he didn''t hurriedly answer until he spotted the monster. "What the hell?" he couldn''t hold his surprise to see such a small skeleton with a tattered grey cap and an ancient looking crown with no single jewel there except one in the middle. And it looked dusty and about to crack and fall. "Let me see," she whispered as she pushed her head inside the hall and took a glimpse over the weak shape of that ancient looking skeleton. "Is that a crown? Is he a king?" Just as he was about to answer her with a shrug, the skeleton sitting on a slightly higher pile of rocks than the ground had its eye sockets shine with green light all of a sudden. "Damn, you woke him up," Bloom cursed before turning around and added, "retreat." "Boom!" But the next response he got was for his body to fly in the air by hidden force and hit the wall massively before falling on the ground with much pain all over his body. "-15000" "Damn, that hurt like hell," he cursed again before hearing another thud and the body of Nara lied just next to him while her eyes turned grey in the next instant. "Damn! Insta kills with one nce! That''s OP!!" he instantly moved from his ce while feeling his leg wasn''t fine. However it wasn''t time for him to check on it, he needed to take cover and assess things here. Chapter 207: A Plan Is Set To Take The Necromancer Down Chapter 207: A n Is Set To Take The Necromancer Down The first thing he did was to run towards a distant rock in the hall. Just as he went there he heard the bone movementing towards him. "That damned skeleton, what level is he?" Bloom raised his head to see the skeleton moving in small steps, casually walking towards him. "What kind of attack he just used now?" that was something Bloom didn''t notice and couldn''t even guess. ''Jeffrey, bring everyone here at once.'' ''What happened?'' Jeffrey instantly sent, ''Holy sh*t! Nara is dead?'' ''Come fast, we need to resurrect her and think of a way to kill that beast here.'' ''What beast?'' ''Just hurry ande, I''ll try to stall for time.'' Bloom then took out all his tokens and instantly summoned a small army of two hundred fallen agents. "Go, disperse all around and try to hit that skeleton," he shouted and the agents only nodded before they moved to different directions in the next instant. "No way!" Just as some moved around the skeleton, he finally showed a short stick with a jewel that was simr to the one in the crown. The jewel shone brightly with the jewel in the crown, and the next instant a shock wave emerged from the skeleton to hit everything around him. "So this is your attack?" Bloom''s face changed as he watched many of his agents fall to the ground after hitting the walls around. "This is bad," he muttered as more than half of what he summoned were insta killed in this simple attack. "But he can''t use it all the time," Bloom noticed the skeleton had to pause for a couple of seconds before he put the stick away. He followed the stick to be amazed to see it was part of the skeleton''s bones. As for the rest of his agents, they managed to survive the attack and went towards the hall to fill each single space there. And the next moment many skills fell over the skeleton from all directions. "Let''s see how much damage you will take," Bloom muttered before noticing the tattered cape on the back of the skeleton to shine all of sudden before most of the attacks had their direction diverted to fall over the cape itself. A big row of zeros appears the next instant making him very surprised and puzzled about this. "How can this monster be this OP? amazing!" He watched a small part of the skills fall over the skeleton causing damage between five and ten thousand points at max. "It''s Hp isn''t that bad," he muttered when he noticed the not so long Hp bar, "but to make him lose it would take much time." He turned his gaze towards the corridor before he heard two noises that made him speechless. The first was the sound of more bones added to the skeletoning out of nowhere. However when he closely observed, he found the skeletons came from the dead bodies of his agents. "He is getting stronger and replenishing its Hp! No f*cking way!" he was shocked to see the skeleton got his just lost Hp replenished and it also got slightly longer. And the second voice came when the skeleton took out his stick again and mumbled something unheard by him before the jewels shone again and this time it wasn''t a shock wave. "He can summon other skeletons from dead bodies" Bloom muttered as he watched the fallen bodies of his agents get a sudden seizure attack before each produced one skeleton from it. "Damn!" Bloom clenched tighter on the handles of his swords before thinking of something. "Let''s see if this can work," he took out his bow and released a couple of arrows towards two skeletons. The next instant the skeletons turned into his pets, like usual, but the skeleton instantlyughed in a strange way while his two bony jaws clicked against each other before he pointed his stick towards the pets. And the next instant they were turned into ash. "Can''t let me have a room here?" Bloom had to bitterly ept the fact his bow and cheat code wouldn''t work here. "But this might be a good way to get rid of his aiders and make him slightly weaker." He noticed that after using such a move the skeleton grew tired and paused for one second. "Let''s see how you can deal with these," he then started to turn every single skeleton around into his pet. And the next moment these pets were crushed into nothing by the stick of the skeleton. "Yeah, he is getting weaker with more skills used by this stick," Bloom muttered before adding, "and he couldn''t use that horrible attack from before like this. Good, at least this can be a strategy." But he knew this would be a very expensive one especially when he would depend entirely on consuming his dark points all the time. ''We are here,'' suddenly Jeffrey sent this message while Bloom saw the first row of yersing from the corridor. ''Disperse, make all yers disperse and leave the light daughters at the back,'' he hurriedly sent to him before he opened his auction and started cing bids over the more expensive fallen agent tokens there. "This won''t do," after cing more than ten bids he noticed the high consumption of these, "I should resurrect those dying instead." He shifted his gaze towards the yers while one moved to Nara and resurrected her. "Damn," she cursed the moment she got up, "this one is really berserk!" "How can we hit it?" Jeffrey hurried to Bloom with her while Bloom nced all around. "I only can make him upied by my cloaked summons," he said before adding, "but I don''t know how to kill such a necromancer." "Necromancer?" Jeffrey was shocked but Nara wasn''t. She was here in soul form and saw everything that happened. "We need to keep him consuming his energy by your agents, and try to hit him with everything we have." "What about his skeleton summons? His supreme skill?" Jeffrey asked before adding, "if he only has one skill." "I hope he has no more than that," Bloom sighed, "I think the first skill he used, that shockwave, is considered one of the supreme skills." "I agree," Nara said before ncing over the others, "we need to try the purification skills over him but losing our yers and turning them into skeletons might not be a good thing." "Will they lose their chance to be resurrected?" Jeffrey asked. "I dunno," Bloom shook his head. "Necromancers in other games are really hard to kill. But I never saw a necromancer doing this to the bodies of the yers before." "This game is different," Bloom sighed, "I won''t be surprised if he can do this." "Me too," Nara nodded while Jeffrey checked the ongoing fight before noticing something. "His Hp it''s not decreasing." Bloom and Nara nced at the skeleton to find him using that Hp replenishing skill again. "That''s quite a headache," Bloom sighed, "every time he uses this skill he would replenish his lost Hp and also expand his current Hp." "Then?" Jeffrey asked. "Can we use purification skills over the dead bodies then?" Nara suggested, "I think this might help." "Let''s give it a try," Bloom shrugged, "if we didn''t keep him upied by our dead bodies, he might return to use his OP skill from before." "And he will have more dead bodies to use," Nara bitterly smiled, "let''s try this then." "What about direct skills?" Jeffrey asked, "can they hurt him?" "Most will be absorbed by his strange cape," Nara sighed, "but at least part will still hit him and keep him under pressure." "Then leave the front to me," Jeffrey then moved. "And I''ll handle that purification part," Nara also moved. "I''ll keep him busy with my summons then," Bloom simply stayed back as he watched the two moving in two different directions. "I hope we can kill it in the end. It''s a shame to lose while being this close." Bloom started to resurrect his fallen agents and kept sending them to frey. He kept his eyes over Nara''s team, as this would determine the end result of this encounter. In front of him she led the team of the light daughters to use their skills over the dead bodies of his agents. "It works," he heaved a long sigh of relief, "this way we can finally fight back." Heughed before he got a notification of the end of the bid he ced before. "New form of agents I wonder how special they are," he muttered while taking out one token and then used it to summon the agents. "One hundred agents per token?" This was the first thing he noticed when used the token. One hundred agents appeared in front of him, but this wasn''t the only change here. "They have other factions that weapon wielders? Interesting." He noticed the presence of staff holders and shade sons as well as some of the shield bearers as well. "It looked as if a small team was ready to wage a war," he smiled before turning his gaze towards the skeleton in the distance who was pretty much upied by defending and trying to summon skeletons out of the dead bodies around. "Go and kill that one," he pointed to the skeleton while watching in interest how well they would fare against him. Chapter 208: The Real Fight Starts Chapter 208: The Real Fight Starts Bloom''s summoned small squad jumped at the necromancer and started fighting it. Bloom was watching in anticipation of their performance. "Damn! They are much stronger than the past fallen agents," he shouted in surprise when he noticed the damage in tens of thousandsing from the head of the necromancer. His usual fallen agents were causing damage in thousands with only the highest he ever saw was fifteen thousand and that was against much weaker monsters. "Great, I should try and get more of these," he turned his gaze towards the dark auction and then he started cing more bids. "Bang!" Just as he was immersed in doing that and after summoning three more teams of the fallen agents to join the fight; this loud explosion suddenly erupted. "What happened?" he raised his head fast to spot the source of this explosion. "Pirs of skulls?" he noticed the sudden appearance of a group of five pirs around the hall. Each pir was around double his length, and was almost as thick as him. The pirs were formed from skulls, and they just had green light flickering inside their empty sockets. "This" he paused for an instant before his mind provided him the answer. "Supreme skill watch out." He didn''t even have the time to continue his warning shout before each pir got separated into five portions, releasing small fog of smoke around them. Then hands and heads started to emerge from these parts. "Skeletons!!" the yer started shouting before more yers noticed and screamed in panic about them. "He can summon skeletons all over the hall impressive," Bloom nced all around as the entire hall started to be covered in the whiteness of bonesing forth from the ground. "We need to find a way to deal with them before it absorbs them and restores its energy." The scale of such skill was impossible for the few number of light daughter yers in his team to cover. He knew he didn''t have much time and so he summoned the next batch of those advanced fallen agents and gave them a simple order. "Go around and kill every single piece of these bones." He had some hands crawling over his boots. "Stab," he didn''t hesitate to use his sword to crush them into useless pieces. "They aren''t that hard to kill," he noticed and then he nced all around. "This skill might have a wider scope of effect but on expense on the personal strength of the summoned skeletons." Even Tony, the leveler of the team, was able to smash these bones using his weak skills. "Try to smash them using your weakest skills," he shouted from behind at everyone, including his summoned agents, "don''t focus on strength but speed. We need to prevent as many of them as possible." Nara and others nodded before they started to follow his instructions. It wasn''t toote before some skeletons managed to escape their area of damage and the next instant the necromancer pointed his stick towards them and absorbed their energy. "Phew Luckily these skeletons aren''t that high and so they didn''t replenish his Hp," Bloom heaved a long sigh of relief before ncing over the five percent of Hp gained by the absorption of around a hundred skeleton. "If this continues then we won''t fail this," Bloom muttered to himself before receiving another batch of the agents. The skeletons didn''t cease to emerge from the ground while his agents started to take better control over the situation. Throughout the next five minutes the number of absorbed skeletons decreased from one hundred to less than thirty. The necromancer couldn''t receive more aid to his Hp, and he continued to lose points until he hit the twenty percent. Bloom was much worried about stepping this threshold and when the necromancer reached it, what Bloom feared happened. "Rumble!" The entire hall shook while the necromancer showed strange changes. First he raised his stick high in the air before the jewel shone brightly and a giant skeleton suddenly started to take shape behind him. It was in the shape of a dragon, with bony wings and tail. The mere sight of this shadow made the others terrified. As for Bloom, he squeezed his eyes while frowning. "This is a high form of summon," he muttered while turning around to find the second change here. All the five pirs from before which broke out and dispersed the grey fog from before starting to coalesce together to form a giant pir that strangely looked like the stick in the hand of the necromancer. And the third change came from the necromancer himself. He suddenly broke into three forms, each held one stick and wore a crown. "Sigh, as I feared," Bloom shook his head, "the real fight will begin now." He was hesitant towards the degree of easiness of this boss so far. He doubted the real boss was still sleeping and might only need such a rumble from before waking up. "The real threat here is" he turned his gaze towards one direction before opening the chat with the team and sent: ''Do anything in your power, but don''t let that shadowe real ever.'' ''The dragon shadow? Isn''t it a decoy?'' one of the yers sent in the chat. ''Everything is a decoy, the real deal is that dragon. If we leave it to be real then we will be doomed.'' ''Kill the necromancer then?'' another yer sent. ''Which necromancer of the three?'' ''Kill the three,'' Jeffrey sent, ''this is the only way to stop this.'' ''I agree, start attacking the necromancers now,'' Nara sent in the team chat and the next instant the entire team moved at once to attack the three versions of the same necromancer. However it wasn''t that easy anymore to eveny a single hit over the necromancer. The three versions suddenly grew much more agile than the initial one. Bloom kept summoning his agents and bidding on more while he waited from far behind to nce at the fight going on at the front with a growing restless feeling. "Something seems off here," he muttered as after long ten minutes of intense fighting between the necromancers and his team, one clone was killed and only two remained. "Shouldn''t at least killing one clone make this dragon shadow weaker?" He noticed that after killing the clone the dragon didn''t grow weak or even slowed down its progress to be corporeal. "Then" Bloom turned towards the giant single pir that was formed and stayed calmly on the side. "Hey, go there and smash that pir to pieces," he said to the newly summoned batch of agents who nodded and went directly towards the pir. "Rumble!" The moment they went near it, the ground shook as stones from the ceiling fell and smashed the team into shreds the next instant. "Damn," Bloom gritted his teeth, "we were yed by that sneakily necromancer." He turned to nce at his team to find they were deeply immersed in the fight. "I can''t risk letting those clones live as well," he sighed before checking the auction. "In one minute I''ll get five more batches, all of them will be sent to you." The next minute he sent the five batches towards the pir one after another. The first three batches were smashed the same way as before, while thest two were hunted down by ferocious skeletons summoned just a couple of meters around the pir. "Damn, you are trying to fortify yourself now?" Bloom cursed before he decided to finally act, "let''s see how you will stand against my des then." He unsheathed his two swords and moved in calm steps towards the front. He gained one more batch of agents who were instantly summoned. "Stay around me," he said, "your goal is to make those five giant bony rhinoceros focus solely on you." They nodded before he muttered, "Shade doppelganger festival." The next moment seventeen clones appeared all around. "You need to use your dash one by one on my mark." The clones nodded before he shouted: "Agents, move and make these bones busy." The one hundred fallen agents all moved to the front with hastened steps and got in direct and intense fight with those five bony rhinoceroses. "Use your dashes now," Bloom shouted when he found the bony guardians were busy with his agents. The next moment his clones started to hit the pir one after another. The first seven or eight clones were smashed into meat by the sudden appearance of bony spikes from the ground just around the pir. "More reason to smash you," Bloom didn''t hesitate to push further while the remaining clones managed to hit the pir and cause a stun to the pir. Even the pir grew a damage on top of its head in tens of thousands of points with each dash. "Hmm then this is where you were hiding and recuperating but what about these three then?" Bloom turned to see the final remaining necromancer clone where he noticed it was getting clumsy and his strange speed decreased. "It was a puppet?" Bloom thought before he watched the clone getting killed under his team''s hands. "Good I found where you are hiding," he then turned his sword towards the necromancer as he sneered, "Dash!" Chapter 209: Sparring Equally With The Undead NPC Chapter 209: Sparring Equally With The Undead NPC The next moment he hit the pir with his sword to hear a muffled bang and the next instant a damage exceeding thirty thousand points appeared on top of the pir. "Strange," he muttered before linking with a slice and a couple of stabs. "The damage is valid but there is no Hp bar apparent is it not the real form of the necromancer?" He didn''t stop his hand from hitting the pir while thinking about this dilemma. The other clone of the necromancer was killed and now all the yers moved their attention to here. "Is it him?" Nara shouted while Jeffrey led the close ranged yers towards the pir. "I think so," Bloom said before he hit the pir with another dash. "There is no Hp bar on top of it," Jeffrey shouted even beforeing this close. "It might be an outer shell," Bloom answered while hitting the pir again, "we need to hurry and crack it open." "Agreed," Nara and Jeffrey said in unison before the yers reached the pir and kept hitting it. Bloom was trying to find a weakness here and after dozens of more hits he finally found a crack in the pir. Deep within he noticed a glimpse of the real skeleton of the necromancer. "Is it dead or sleeping or what?" Bloom muttered before focusing his hit over the crack to widen it. "Rumble!" The moment the crack went wider he heard a muffle tick before a small explosion happened. The pir broke up again into five parts and they flew away, hitting some yers and agents of his in the way. "Kekeke, finally I''ve restored my power," the next moment Bloom saw the bony skull of the necromancerughing in this strange way before the necromancer stepped out of the area the pir was protecting. "Come forth my followers, let''s bath thesends with death and bones once again." He raised a staff, much longer and a bit thicker than the previous stick of it. "Damn, he got leveled up," Bloom instantly recognized the strength and level of this necromancer, "and it''s an NPC now." He turned around as he ordered one thing "Run!" All the team members and agents around were speechless for a moment before they started to run as he ordered. ''What happened? Who is the NPC?'' Nara instantly sent in the team chat. ''This necromancer it''s not a boss monster, it''s an NPC with level at least above thirty.'' ''Impossible,'' Jeffrey sent, ''Howe a boss monster turns into an NPC?'' ''I dunno,'' Nara sent, ''but if that was the case then we should all retreat. This dungeon sigh, we lost much time and many resources and literally didn''t get anything back.'' Bloom watched them running while the necromancerughed in his strange way watching them fleeing like hopeless flies. "Won''t join them and run as well?" the necromancer asked as if he was amused by this game. "Nah," Bloom shook his head before pointing his two swords towards him, "I''ll apany you here." His voice wasn''t that loud but it was heard perfectly by everyone. "Damn, what is he trying to do?" Jeffrey stopped running all of sudden to stand beside Nara who had a bad look over her face. "This isn''t good," Nara muttered, "that necromancer that NPC is a special one I''m pretty sure that dying here won''t be like a normal death in the game." "Does he know that?" one of the nearby yers asked, attracting Nara and Jeffrey''s attention to notice that everyone else stopped running. "I believe he is staying back to defend our retreat," one of the light daughters muttered, "impressive I''m already in love with him!" "Humph," Nara simply harrumphed before turning her gaze towards Bloom. "y with me? Are you delusional of what?`` The necromancerughed in his weird manner before adding, "alright, let''s see how you will die, with one hit or twice with my staff. See? This is just a normal hit from my staff, won''t use any skill and you''ll still die, kekeke." Bloom didn''t answer back while he moved to meet the fast movement of the staff with one sword. "One hand only? C''mon buddy, you aren''t taking me this serio" The words of the necromancer stopped midway while the green mes in his eye sockets flickered for a moment there. "Impossible how did you get such a skill?" He was astonished to see his staff being stopped and Bloom didn''t even budge a single step backward. "It''s my unique skill mate," Bloom sneered as he waved the other sword with a simple stab. The NPC was thrown in the air the next moment to hit the wall under the shocked watchful gazes of everyone else. "C''mon, don''t tell me this is real!" one of the yers muttered in disbelief. "Is he ying another game different than us?" Nara and Jeffrey bitterlyughed alongside everyone of the old team. "It''s a blessing he is on our side," Nara simply stated, "or else I dunno how in the world I could stand against such a monster." Everyone nodded in agreement while watching Bloom press onward on that NPC. The hit just now took roughly twenty thousand points off him, and now his long Hp bar appeared on top of his head. "Shall we help?" one of the light daughters was excited as she asked. "No," Nara instantly answered, "he asked us to leave and we should only watch from the side." "But" "This is a much higher NPC than our current level. I dunno what trick he is using to match him but it''s only his. If he sees any value in our contribution then he wouldn''t have asked us to leave," Jeffrey expressed his agreement with Nara''s point of view. "Let''s retreat to the corridor. There we won''t be easily touched by that NPC and also can move in time to help." They all unwillingly moved to crowd at the entrance while watching Bloom sparring with the NPC like the tables were shifted. "Keep ying, the moment your skill time is gone you will be under my mercy." "Keep dreaming old man," Bloom hit the NPC again before he followed the flying body of his with a dash. "I won''t give you a moment to breath." The necromancer was stunned and couldn''t move a finger now. Bloom suddenly shouted: "Use far ranged skills every time he is stunned." He wanted to try something. If the NPC was under a skill of his for a duration of time like this one, would other yers be able to cause damage to him then? "You heard the man himself," Jeffreyughed, "all with long range skills move to the frontline, let''s start rampaging this NPC." The next instant the theory of Bloom was proven right. The NPC was paused at level sixteen and then his team could easily inflict damage to him. "Thousands of damage is still considered a thing if it came from those thirty or forty yers," he took a fast nce at the back to see around that number of yers using their staffs to hit the NPC. "It''s a shame I can''t use my doppelganger skill yet," he checked his skill and found it still needed over six minutes to be used once more. "I''ll have to work with what I have then." The necromancer was enraged when he was freed from his stun. Bloom didn''t hurry to return him again as he wanted to see if other yers were able to hurt him now or not. "So when I hit him with my sword they will get a small window to harm him. Other than this it''s not effective," he noticed this and thus he had to sigh, "it''s either I keep hitting him all the time and that''s not practical or depend over the stun and that would leave me with periods without using them." He decided to keep two stun skills in reserve while depending only on his dashes. "Rise up my army and crush those ants for me!" The necromancer suddenly grew restless and angrier when his Hp went below seventy percent. The next instant Bloom and others felt the ground shaking massively while a forest of bones appeared all of sudden to block their vision. "All of these" Bloom was surprised to see all this number of skeletons appearing and more were still pushing hard toe up again. "Kill all and leave him to me," he shouted while taking out some of his advanced tokens to summon around a thousand fallen agents. "Defend here and keep killing those skeletons," he said before using another dash to stop the necromancer in track and corner him again. "Where do you think you''re going? Huh?" he was much angrier now at him and he didn''t keep his hands anymore. Even waving the sword without any skill was used to make sure that the necromancer wouldn''t touch the ground ever again with his feet. "Kill him my boys, kill him first," the necromancer suddenly shouted while Bloom noticed that every single skeleton around was now moving towards him. "Damn! You are really ruthless!" Chapter 210: The Necromancer Is Down Chapter 210: The Necromancer Is Down This was sudden and Bloom couldn''t think of anything but a single skill to take him out of here victorious. "Darkness nihility!" The next instant he vanished. For one minute he would be immune and nothing could hit him. Despite he could make that necromancer suffer a little, he didn''t hurry and took out his bow and aimed instead towards the nearby five rhinoceroses made entirely of bones. "Turn into my damn pets," he sent five arrows and the next moment the five stopped moving and turned instantly into his pets. "Go and kill everyone around me," he ordered and then he turned his sword towards the necromancer and hit him with a dash. "You won''t leave here alive, I promise you that." "I''m already dead, kekeke." Bloom didn''t bother with that answer while his sword hit the NPC and sent him flying to hit the wall. He then started hitting the necromancer with all his skills while the area around him kept trembling under the merciless hits of the five rhinoceroses. His agents even got hit in the middle, but he didn''t care. He only focused on killing the necromancer as cutting the head of the snake would render the body useless. "Press forward." Suddenly as he was about to lose the effect of his skill he noticed this loud shout from behind to see Nara leading the team towards the front. ''What are you doing?'' he hurriedly sent to her. ''What should have been done from the start,'' she sent back while adding, ''you can''t take him alone.'' Bloom only sighed as he knew they would all die for this but he didn''tment. He noticed that part of the team who stayed back in the corridor not moving and that made his eyes suddenly shine. "Brilliant," he muttered, "nning to be revived until you take him down I like that spirit." He had more adrenaline in his veins as he turned around and hit the necromancer with a dash followed by a hawk hit before he returned to his stab and slicebo again. "I''ll kill you," the necromancer roared once broke off the shackles of the stun and Bloom was clearly in front of him. "I''ll kill you all!" Bloom didn''t give a care about these threats as he ducked to avoid the hit of that necromancer staff while slicing him and turning around his body. "Screw you," the NPC thought Bloom was void of his dash skills when he turned around and started to run. He wanted to break free from this ce and go directly towards the yers who were now heavily entangled with the skeletons. "Where do you think you''re going? Dash piercer!" The next instant Bloom used another stun skill to throw the NPC towards the nearby wall before he hit him again with a stab, throwing him back to the initial corner he was at a moment ago. "I''m not done through you yet," Bloom started his rain of attacks over the NPC until his Hp got lowered by more than fifty percent. "My special warriors rise from the graves and show these fools the terror you used to have." The next instant the NPC broke free from his stun and used another supreme skill. Bloom didn''t hesitate to use another dash to stun the NPC again before turning his head to the side and spotted the newly added skeletons. "Damn, these are giants!" There were five of them. Five giants with two heads and four pairs of arms, giant bodies that stretched over ten meters and the worst of all was the fact they held huge spears and oval shaped shields. Alongside these tapering on both sides helmets and the thick chest and back armors, they looked like giant killing machines. "Thanks," yet Bloom wasn''t fazed by this and instantly he used his darkness nihility skill to turn into nothing before he took out his bow and in the next moment he turned these five skeletons into his pets. And now he had five more mightier pets under his control. The ground was still vomiting skeletons, but they were weak and fragile, easily smashed by even his team of yers. The only drawback was their number was huge and they reinforced what was killed instantly. "Three go and kill those weaklings and the reste to help me kill this motherf*cker." He then turned his swords and kept hitting the necromancer. Just by the addition of the two giants, his efficiency in depleting the necromancer Hp increased by five folds at the least. And that wasn''t all. "Hi hi invisible lion," Nara managed to cut her way through the forest of bones by the help of the newly joined giant pets. "I like your style in fighting." "Thene with me on a date after this," he joked while hitting the necromancer with another dash. "Let''s get out of here alive," she chuckled before adding, "when do you n on using your clones?" "In less than two minutes from now." "Good," Nara''s gaze turned towards the necromancer while she used her stab and slice skills as well to hack him with Bloom. "I thought he would be more aggressive th" She was midway in her words when she got a sudden hit from the necromancer''s staff. The stun effect just wore off and before Bloom could warn her, she was dead. "Damn, can''t you just keep your mouth shut?" he turned to hit the necromancer again with his stab and slice before linking them with a dash. "Sorry, my negligence," she suddenly rose up at the same ce while pointing her sword to the necromancer, "he is vulnerable only when stunned, right?" Bloom just sneered and said nothing as this was something pretty obvious. "Stay behind one of the giant prettydies, or else you''ll get your hands dirty." "I love being dirty," sheughed while attacking the necromancer with him. "My stun is only ten seconds," he warned. "I noticed," the next moment she jumped triple behind and hid instantly behind one of the giants before the necromancer regained his freedom. "I''ve perfected the timing." "Nice." Bloom didn''t observe her anymore as he kept focusing his skills and swords over that resilient necromancer. "I''m waiting for your next skill, old man," he smirked and the necromancer only red back while he was stunned and his Hp was running low fast like water through fingers. And the twenty percent threshold was just around the corner. "Don''t be sad," Naraughed, "you only have bad luck to meet up with him." Sheughed and Bloom only shook his head helplessly while he kept hacking the necromancer with the two giants. "I''ll show you what it means to be a necromancer," the NPC suddenly broke free from the shackles of the stun effect and rose slightly higher than the ground. The two giants never stopped attacking but he was shielded now by an invisible shield. "My dear death altar answer to my call ande forth to this world once again." The next instant Bloom and others felt the entire dungeon was shaking like it was hit by a violent earthquake. Bloom struggled to keep his feet on the ground before he watched at the center of this hall something growing out of the ground. "It''s an altar" he softly muttered while feeling very bad premonition about this. "Indeed it''s my precious altar," the NPCughed, "as this altar is present here, even I won''t die forever. Killing me will only make my soul shatter and in one month time the altar will regenerate my body once more," the necromancer said before bitterlyughing, "though ites with a bitter price but at least I''ll be a nightmare in your life." "You won''t," Bloom sneered before hitting the necromancer with a dash, "because every time you will resurrect you''ll find me waiting here for you and my level and strength will be much higher each time shade doppelganger." He finally had time to use his skill atst. "You are now a dead necromancer," Naraughed while she went out of her hiding behind the giant skeleton warrior and started to join the fight alongside Bloom. "System alert: congrattions for team Bloom to first clear the dead dungeon in the entire game. A special prize will be given ordingly to the yers with the highest DPS, highest defense, andst strike." "System alert: Congrattions for team Bloom to first clear the dead dungeon in the entire game. The fame of the team has reached far and near, and the undeadnds had already heard about them. The team led by Bloom will have twenty percent bonus in all stats against any undead monster. The team members all gain five hundred prestige points in their vige and one hundred prestige points around the entire game." Bloom heard these two notifications and slightly felt disappointed. Just before he could check his personal alerts, the nearby Nara suddenly screamed in shock: "Holy moly I got myself a necromancer secret ss token!!!" "Oh this is the biggest prize then," Bloomughed while not feeling this dejected. After all he had himself a secret ss and he was quite satisfied with it. Chapter 211: Getting A Necromancer Secret Class Chapter 211: Getting A Necromancer Secret ss "You got what?" Jeffrey hurriedly ran towards her while every single one of the team moved in shocked expressions over their faces towards her. "I got a NECROMANCER SECRET CLASS!!" she shouted in excitement while Bloom moved slowly to stand beside her. He moved his eyes around, waiting for any greedy backstabbing to stop it. He knew there were some traitors here, but the issue was if they preferred to get the price of such precious knowledge by their bosses or didn''t want to wait and preferred to take their prize right here and now. And yet no one was foolish enough to make a single move towards her. "See? This is amazing! AMAZING!" she yelled at him while he only smiled while sending a rapid private message to her. ''Control yourself better and keep that damn token away!'' She nced at him in a weird way before he nced at the rest of the team. She instantly understood his meaning and she suddenly got afraid. She didn''t know why she forgot this and only knew she was much ecstatic regarding the token. ''Sorry, was carried away by it,'' she apologized. ''It''s normal to be this happy,'' he sent to her, ''but you should first select those who you should celebrate in front of.'' ''Oh, like you?'' ''Hehehe, especially me.'' ''You want to see me celebrating? Are you sure?'' she nced at him in a meaningful way and he had to smile nheless. ''C''mon, wrap things here and let''s go somewhere else to celebrate.'' She turned to the team as she stored the token away already before saying: "Let''s collect things here, it''s our victory now boys, and we shall celebrate big on the forums." "Yeah," Jeffrey seemed to receive a message from her as he instantly shouted, ying along her trick. "C''mon, search the dungeon first for any missed treasures." Everyone got dispersed while few had strange looks over their faces before they went with others. "See? Not everyone is your friend," Bloom motioned his head towards those few. "Sigh, I''ve already sent Jeffrey to deal with them." "Ruthless," Bloomughed. "I learnt from the master," she alsoughed before adding, "won''t you ask me for a look over it? won''t you ask for it?" "I might be tempted" he paused before taking a few steps towards her before standing where her breaths fell over his cheeks, "if I would get you." "Me? Or the token with me?" she yfully said while taking half step backward. Yet he was faster to move a step forward and passed his arm behind her back. "You it''s always about you..." "Phew," she took a deep breath to free herself from this awkward moment. "Others are watching," she turned to the direction where everyone was. "You mean Jeffrey?" he turned to check them while not easily letting her be free from his embrace. His level was higher than her and his strength was also higher. "I mean everyone," she tried to resist but she couldn''t break easily. "You mean only you," he loosened his grip over her waste and she managed to slip away. "Don''t be like this, eventually you''ll be mine." "Keep dreaming," sheughed beforeining, "ouch your grip was strong." "I''m much higher and stronger than you." She tucked up her tongue before saying, "stop fooling, don''t you want to see the token?" she paused before adding "also you are the main contributor to this dungeon, if you want" He pointed to her to stop as he didn''t want her to continue this useless talk. "Just tell me if this will turn you into a dark yer or not," he suddenly said and his words made her eyes widened and instantly she opened her inventory and started reading the description of the token. "Or it will turn you into a skeleton," Bloom said before hurriedly adding when she turned her gaze in such an aggressive way to him, "or just a sexy skeleton perhaps?" "Stop it," she hit him with the back of her hand while she took a deep breath while adding, "you made me scared for a second there." He only smiled while she returned towards her inventory and kept reading the token description again. "Damn it," she closed the inventory like she was throwing a rock to the wall. "Will you turn into a sexy skeleton?" Bloom joked and this time the hit he received took one hundred Hp points off him. "It''s not that," she red in anger towards him for a moment before she added, "it will turn me into a dark yer." "Oh, it''s this issue then," Bloom spoke like it was nothing, "don''t bother, as if you''ll enjoy the same treatment as other dark yers." She red at him in a strange and suspicious way. "Howe you know that?" she directly asked him like she was using him of treason. "It''s justmon sense, right?" he joked while she didn''t buy his silly excuse. "I won''t ept such a low excuse," she simply said before crossing her arms, "howe you know something so deep and secret about the game like this? Huh?" "Secret?" Bloom faked ignorance, "who said it was secret?" Before she could squeeze him more he hurriedly said, "I''ve also received my dungeon prize, let me check it first." She red at him while he closed his eyes like he was meditating. "Exploring the alerts doesn''t require closing up your eyes," she simply said. "I''m trying to concentrate and pray." "For what?" "For my luck to be as much good as yours." "Screw you," she turned around in angry steps, "Do whatever you wish but in the end I won''t ept anything but the truth from you eventually." "Sure, sure," he opened his eyes and watched her walking away. "Damn, I have to be fully focused all the time around this chick," he inwardly med himself for such a silly mistake. "Let''s see what I got." He opened the alerts to find he didn''t only get one, but two. "Hmm so the highest DPS and highest defense all belonged to me, and thest him belonged to her interesting." He checked the rewards to find himself getting two things only, one chance to advance his secret ss when reaching level twenty, and the other reward was a portal leading to thends of the undead. "Who is insane enough to go there on his own ord?" he shook his head before finally turning the big shrine standing in the center of the hall. "If that necromancer was telling the truth," Bloom muttered before getting closer to inspect the altar, "then this white fog ball is that NPC''s soul." The altar was made entirely out of white, ck, and green ores. It was three stories high and had stairs leading to the top where a torch with a flickering weak white fog rested there. "Are you worried about him?" Nara came with such an angry face to stand beside him while watching this alter. "I''m worried about you," Bloom turned his gaze to fall upon her. "Me?" she asked before stopping midway in her words, "you mean because of the ss?" "Indeed," he nodded before adding, "have you used it yet?" "No, do you want to use it instead?" she asked again and he directly refused by saying: "Then use it now." "Me?" "What? Are you afraid of a retarded NPC we just killed?" "Humph, as if I do," she hesitated before asking, "can''t we wait until we return to the vige?" "Who said anything about returning?" he asked in a strange tone before adding, "I just got started and this is just the beginning." "But" "The first dungeon reward is a necromancer secret ss. Imagine the first ten dungeon remaining rewards out there. What don''t tell me you aren''t even tempted to get them." She blinked twice before hurriedly saying, "I never thought things in this way, but" she nodded as she pointed to him, "you have a very good point here. Let''s raid these dungeons and take all the rewards for us!" "Great," Bloomughed before adding, "just use the token here before we leave." She nced weirdly at him before asking again: "C''mon, stop acting as if you don''t care about this token. Even Jeffrey asked to sell me everything he had in life to get his hands on this one." "I really am not that interested in it," he shrugged and he was really telling the truth. "No second thoughts?" "C''mon use it and stop wasting time." "As if we are on a race here," sheughed while taking the token out, "after all no one can beat this dungeon except with you in the team." He simply smiled as thest boss seemed a bit too much. It wasn''t a monster but an NPC. Killing this proved to be really hard, even for him. He doubted anyone else would be able to achieve that feat. "I just want not to risk losing any reward," he simply said as he was sure the bow matter must have been discovered by now by his enemies and rivals. "Gimme a minute then," she hurriedly said before he watched her click on the token before it simply vanished. "Good girl," he smiled before adding, "now let''s see if you can sense me now or not." Chapter 212: Meeting Dockrey Chapter 212: Meeting Dockrey "We We need to talk." Bloom stood in front of her while feeling somehow attracted to her presence in strange way. He felt like there was a twin, someone who had part of his soul with him. Or within her. "Not here." He paused before ncing all around. They were still inside the dungeon while everyone were busy checking every rock and dirt around. "Private then," she was dead fixed on speaking with him right now. ''What do you want?'' ''You you are a dark yer, right?'' ''And?'' he calmly answered her while her face showed how much nervous and anxious she was. ''And? It''s you you are the one who stole the quest this morning from Panty.'' ''And?'' '' it''s you you'' she didn''t know what to say or do and he wasn''t that much worried of her figuring out about his ss. After all both were now holders of secret sses and both sses strangely belonged to the dark yers. ''But you can enter the vige and exit it without any problems!'' ''Why should I have problems essing the vige?'' he simply asked while she rolled up her eyes. ''We are dark yers, we can''t live normally.'' ''You''re wrong,'' he simply sent to her before adding, ''we are agents of darkness, not dark yers.'' ''What''s the difference smart kid?'' ''Big,'' he smiled while watching her frustrated and funny face eyeing him in impatience. ''we are not breaking much rules here provided that no one would spot us. We are like spies, how can you punish a spy as long as he or she is undercovered and still undetected?'' ''But'' she paused while ring at him, ''Panty knows for sure it was you. He can report on you.'' ''And?'' ''What do you mean by that? The game will be aware of your deeds.'' ''My deeds?'' heughed while pointing at her while sending in private, ''darling, we are doing all this under the watchful gazes of the game.'' '''' She didn''t know what to say, but she wasn''t totally convinced by his words. ''C''mon, enjoy this special privilege and don''t spoil the trophy you got. This ss will turn your life upside down.'' ''My life is already upside down, no need for a stupid ss to add more chaos to it.'' ''Oh, you can tell me everything babe,'' he moved a step forward while she shook her head while muttering, "you are hopeless!" "What?" He stayed back for a moment before hurrying after her. She seemed a bit angry for something he didn''t know, but she kept moving forward while Jeffrey called everyone to outside following the two of them. "C''mon, what''s wrong?" he finally reached to her outside the dungeon where he managed to block her path and take her to a corner. She nced at him while her eyes showed faint tears there. "Everything is wrong! I I can''t continue living my life like that." "Like what?" "Like a mere puppet!" she yelled and this time her voice chocked of tears. He waited and didn''t speak a word while she spinned back and forth like being on fire. "I you" she stopped suddenly and stuttered while ncing at him. He didn''t know what to do or say but he had some guesses about what she was struggling. ''Silly girl, it''s me who is trying to save you not toplicate things here,'' he thought to himself cursing the stupidity of her or the bitterness of fate. "You don''t need to tell me anything," he had to open his mouth and say something now, "but I want to give you the chance to change your life." "How?" "Well well well I hate to disturb the lovey dovey of you two but mate you have something that belong to me." Bloom turned around towards the direction of this sound. There he found a shade son yer with twin daggers in his hand. "Dark yer," Bloom muttered while Nara muttered, "Dockrey." The eyes of Bloom instantly widened for a mere second before they returned to the normal again. Luckily for him Dockrey wasn''t focusing on him right now but over Nara. "My lo" "Don''t ever say this nick name on me," Nara wasn''t the calm one Bloom once met before in real life, but she was very angry and quite agitated. "Why? Aren''t you my girl?" "No, I''m not, and I won''t be." "That is not true," Dockrey shook his head before turning finally towards Bloom, "but as this is a family issue, outsiders should first leave." "Oh, I was nning to kick your ass but it seems you are quite intelligent yourself." "This little one is funny," Dockrey pointed towards him before he pped as he shouted, "let''s show this funny dude some manners and let him realize how gravely mistaken he is by being here." Bloom just finished a brutal war from the dungeon and now he was facing such threat. Dockrey wasn''t alone as he was surrounded by a hundred yers team. However when he said that, no one of those yers moved a muscle. "Hidden from the start smart" Bloom sneered as if he wasn''t afraid from this trap. "Let me help," Nara shouted but Bloom raised his sword to Dockrey as he said: "This is between me and him. You won''t be touched by any man except me, this is a promise." "Hahaha, he isn''t just funny he is also on drugs. C''mon, never heard there was drugs in the game. Have anyone heard about that before?" Dockrey seemed quite energetic and arrogant, the same spoiled kid he met before at the hotel. Bloom simply ignored him as he checked the surrounding area with vignce. "There you are," he suddenlyughed while pointing his sword towards one red shadow while muttering, "dash." The next instant he flew to hit the yer and sent him flying. He then turned around and spotted another one, and a third. "I won''t be able to use dash on all of them," he muttered before returning to nce at Dockrey to find him quite amused by what was happening. "He came all the way here knowing my strong traits and despite that he didn''t flinch or hesitate to attack what''s your secret move big assh*le?" Bloom kept running from side to side while using his stab skills only. Despite him being so suspsicous he couldn''t pinpoint where his sworn enemy hadid down his deadly trap. "Should I attack him then?" Bloom thought of this but the next instant he didn''t do that. "It''s not wise jumping directly into his trap," Bloom started not to hit the assassins but also seeking to kill them. Each single one he hit he would pursue and kept hitting until he or she die. "Hahaha, he is really good, like the rumors said a fake legends, hahahaha." "Damn," Bloom gritted his teeth before ncing around once more, "why is he so calm while I''m being so restless?" Once he asked himself this question he felt like a cracking sound of ss being smashed on the grounding from everywhere. The next moment he felt himself being hit by an invisible force and the next instant he found himself standing weakily on the ground. He lost half of his Hp of this simple attack and Bloom now realized what was going on. "Nara, return to the dungeon, hurry!" Bloom shouted and he suddenly turned around and started hitting his sword right and left until a spark suddenly appeared and the next moment his other sword flew to hit that invisible enemy and send him flying backwards. "What''s wrong? Who are you fighting? Why are we running?" she asked while Bloom just caught up to her. They both were so close to the dungeon and just as he answered her they both reached the entrance where they both stopped. "A boss?" she asked in extreme shock and doubt while moving her eyes towards Dockrey. "But how?" "I dunno," Bloom shrugged, "it might be a privilege of being a dark yer or he paid for that NPC''s service or this is just a mere quest for him." Bloom narrated all the possible scenarios he had in mind about this and Nara just gasped before he finally added, "but he is nothing to me once I push him out of the stealth." "But won''t he be able to enter the dungeon?" she asked while noticing Dockrey''s face slightly changed while Bloom was simply taunting him with his middle finger. "NPCs can''t enter a dungeon other than theirs. This NPC either came from a dungeon like this, or he is just a dark NPC. Either way he isn''t a skeleton and so he can''t enter here by any mean." "Interesting," she turned towards him before pushing away one hair strand off her face while adding, "and you won''t tell me from where you got all these info, right?" "I got reincarnated from the future," he said the truth but he knew her reaction would look identical like Antoan''s. And he was perfectly right. "Hehehe, alright, if you don''t want to tell then just don''t make up some silly and funny excuse like this." "Sigh," Bloom had to shake his head while inwardly cursing. "I''m telling you the truth by the way." "I know," she winked before breaking out intoughter. "Just what do you n to do now?" "Dockrey and his minions are nothing, the issue is that NPC," Bloom said, "Bloom won''t be able to use him to deal with me." "Then he will stay outside and wait for us to get out, right?" she said before checking her clock, "we can go now to the vige if you want. All we need is to have half a minute without fighting and we will be considered battle free." "Nah, I don''t think he came without locking the area," Bloom nced around before adding, "plus I have a way to make him unable to stand there ande here to kill me." "What way?" Nara asked. "This way," the next moment Bloom held her body in his arms and slightly used his advantage in strength to lean her body over his arm and then he painted a soft kiss over her lips. It all happened fast and for him it seemed like it was spontaneous. As for her, she felt she was yed and thrown in the air before feeling so much hot like thrown into avake. As for Dockrey "Damn you bastard Go and kill him, go now!" Chapter 213: Losing A Level Chapter 213: Losing A Level The kisssted for a couple of seconds but for Nara it looked like a whole lifetime. When Bloom moved gently away off her she had her face flushed with redness and her eyes went dizzy for a second. "You" she muttered while not knowing what to do or say. "What?" he smiled while ncing over the mad Dockrey, "isn''t he the one seeking you? I will make you mine even in front of your seekers." "Silly," she gently punched him while he resisted the urge to kiss her one more time. "Now he is mad," she sighed while turning her gaze towards the nearby Dockrey. "Let him be," Bloomughed before adding, "even if I lost a level here for the kiss I won''t be sad." "Don''t be silly," she punched him again and this time he didn''t feel any pain at all. "Die!" Suddenly a shout came just a few meters behind him interrupting this moment of romance between the two. Bloom felt instantly enraged and the next instant he drew his sword using his talent while muttering: "breaker piercer." The next instant his sword turned to his back and a ng sound appeared as he stopped another sword from hitting him. He turned forcibly to face his opponent, and he wasn''t all alone as there were around ten more yers just behind him. "You are a total fool," Bloom muttered while his body moved with the skill to dash towards the yer and sent him flying backward, while he followed him. "Stab, stab, stab, stab," he didn''t dy and kept using his other sword to hit other yers around, sending them all flying. And the next moment when he reached the ground he hit the yer with a stab and sent him flying more backwards. "Watch out," Nara shouted and Bloom simply used a ground breaker to defend a hiting from a hidden spot on his back. And that hidden NPC was thrown to the back under the effect of his title. "Trying to sneak attack me? Humph," he simply sneered before turning his sword towards a nearby yer from the dungeon and he hit him using a dash. The yer was sent flying away while he just ran a couple of meters until he entered safety again. "You are reckless" Just before she could continue her reprimand, he grabbed her softly to him and painted another kiss, a longer kiss, a more fiery kiss to her sweet lips. And this time he introduced his tongue inside hers to make her words choke in her throat and melt down there along with her body that turned soft instantly. When he let her go, all he heard was not the sound of thepletely enraged Dockrey from behind or the sounds of many skills falling on his head from the rear yers. He only heard the sound of his heart beats and nothing else in the world. "Damn, I really missed this," he sighed while turning his head to face the iing attacks with no care at all. "It''s rude to interfere with a man and his girl," he muttered while he let all the attacks fall over his body with only damages in hundreds and mere thousands appearing on top of his head. This wave of attacks took roughly half of his Hp, but he didn''t care. He softlynded Nara to the side of the entrance while turning to face the crazy enemiesing at him. "It''s best to die, both of you together," Dockrey ruthlessly took out a scroll and smashed it into pieces while watching the effect of it taking shape around the dungeon. "Hehehe, even killing me won''t get your girl back," Bloom knew he was done for this time but he refused to fall without leaving such a sour memory in the mind of his enemy, "and I won''t die alone," he took a Hp potion and gulped its content in one moment before the next he used a dash to hit a far yer. Then he used another dash to move just nearby Dockrey who had a fierce look over his face. "I won''t let" He just didn''t continue speaking when Bloom hit him with another skill of his own, a dash piercer. "Slice," he linked it with a slice to move alongside the flying body of his arch enemy and then rained a barrage of attacks over him, wasting not a single second here. "Rumble!" Yet the scroll effect started to take effect as a massive number of meteorites started to fall from the sky with a long tail of smokeing from their burning bodies. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The world around Bloom turned into an apocalyptic one, but he didn''t even raise his head to nce at the iing burning rocks and kept hacking the flying body of Dockrey with his stabs. In less than five seconds his enemy was killed and the next second a rock justnded on top of his head, smashing his body to pieces. "System alert: you have died." Bloom chose instant resurrection at the vige. "Sigh, that was pretty close one," he smiled before opening his inventory to find himself losing a couple of potions which was something he never cared much about. "But I got the daggers, hehehe," heughed when he saw the twin daggersnding in his inventory. He took them at thest moment before the rock hit him after killing Dockrey. "This Dockrey he needs to be taught a lesson," he shook his head before recalling what just happened and that made himugh. "Stopughing," Nara appeared next with a red face, "that wasn''t funny. I lost a level." "So what?" heughed again, "I recall you gained two levels from the dungeon." "And you smart one gained one level and now lost it," she stood in front of him like a spoiled kidining about her candies. "But it was worth it." "Worth what?" she red at him before threatening, "don''t ever touch me ag" She couldn''t continue her words when he took the initiative and grabbed her again before kissing her. This time hested for a whole minute and when he left her, she was already swaying right and left with rolling eyes and soft body. "Watch out," he held her to his chest and supported her with his arms, "never thought you are so sensitive." She couldn''t muster any strength except in her fists which aimed towards his face butnded on his chest instead. "You bully me," she groaned and he only smiled before noticing that the rest of his team was around, watching them with full rounded eyes like they were watching a miracle. "Ahem," Jeffrey cleared up his throat before adding, "you have brought an apocalypse on yourself my friend." "So what?" Bloom sneered before letting Nara free as she had more energy and strength regained in her body, "What can he do to me?" "A lot," Nara sighed, "he won''t only target you here, but will dig deeply until he finds out your true identity in real life." "Oh, he wants to pay me a visit?" Bloom lightly said as he wasn''t even a bit worried, "let him be, I''m a stingy person and won''t offer him a cup of water." Everyone nced at him like they were watching a mad man. "Do you even realize the depth of the pit you threw yourself in?" Nara exploded at him while she felt quite responsible for what turned out to happen. "He isn''t just a nobody, he is a rich kid of a very powerful family." "And?" Bloom kept his careless attitude which made Nara unable to say a single word. "Just don''t give him a size over his own worth," he casually said before adding, "the best he can do is to master all the yers he could bribe and make theme at me." "You are a lunatic," she muttered with disbelief, "your mind''s made out of what? y?" "No, neurons," he joked but his joke didn''t manage to break the nervous atmosphere around. "Damn," she angrily left while Jeffrey only sighed. "He has issued a kill on spot reward, and even offered scrolls to help in killing you back to zero," he warned before adding, "and he is quite serious about this." "Has he posted the video of killing me yet?" Bloom asked about a totally different thing like he never heard Jeffrey''s words. "Damn, she is right. What''s your brain have? Green soup?" Bloom only smiled before saying, "I''m just curious if he would post the two kisses along with the video of killing me or what." Jeffrey couldn''t help but pause as he was totally stupefied with Bloom''s logic and attitude. "Man, you are a mad man," he only said before moving after Nara. "Just a warning," he suddenly paused before seriously turning to him, "don''t post the kiss or else thedy will be much enraged about you." "Who said I will?" Bloom only smiled and his smile and answer didn''t satisfy Jeffrey. "Don''t say I didn''t warn you," he only said that in a warning tone again before turning around as he shouted, "let''s go boys, there is nothing here to watch." The team moved after him while giving their crazy boss an impressive nce. For them they never thought their leader to be this daring and domineering, even being threatened by death himself and still have the ability to joke around and evenugh. "Sigh, I''m already immersed in this deep pit from the start," he muttered to himself when he became alone, "but now I knew for sure the prize is worth the sacrifice and risk," he cracked a wide smile over his face before adding, "but I need to find a solution for my weaknesses." He thought about how he died, and now he knew how much he needed an invincible skill more than ever. "How can I get my hands on a couple of those?" he thought as he didn''t consider getting only one but more of such skills. Chapter 214: How To Become A Dark Player? Chapter 214: How To Be A Dark yer? ''Do you have a way to crack this nightmare?'' Antoan suddenly sent to him all of sudden while he was contemting what to do. "Sigh, the way I have isn''t suitable for anyone," he muttered before thinking about something. ''I have a bow that can help but it can''t be used except by a dark yer.'' ''We have no dark yers here,'' Antoan said, ''besides I dunno how to be a dark yer.'' "How to be a dark yer?" Bloom muttered while the words Antoan casually threw just now had enlightened his master''s mind with a brilliant idea. ''Just wait there I''ll try to find a way for you all to be a dark yer.'' Bloom hurriedly scanned his memory about anything rted to dark yers, but he couldn''t. "All I know is just info from the Titan Revolut game not from here," he bitterly smiled. The way used back at his past game was so simple, kill a yer and you would turn into a dark yer if not cleared this red status for the entire game day. "I don''t recall any info about this from the forums," he muttered to himself while rubbing his chin, "who could I ask for such info?" The first person that came in his mind was Nara but he hurriedly excluded her. She was pretty angry at him right now and if he asked such a question to her she might explode again in his face. "There is only you my old friend," he couldn''t help but smile while opening his friend list and sent a brief message with one simply question: ''Do you know what it takes for a yer to be a dark yer?'' ''What for?'' "Aggressive like your master," Bloom smiled while answering the way Jeffrey would like to hear. ''I want to know the weaknesses of my enemy and everything rted to him.'' ''And what does this have to do with how he became a dark yer?'' ''I just told you, I want to better understand him. How can I understand someone I dunno how he became the way he is right now?'' '''' Jeffrey went silent for a moment and Bloom didn''t pursue asking him and waited. He knew he was now speaking with Nara, and that might be the indirect and safe way to contact her. ''I have no such knowledge about such a thing,'' he finally replied, ''Only Nara knows.'' "Damn girl, you are really mad," Bloom couldn''t help but shook his head. ''Thanks,'' he insincerely sent back to Jeffrey before closing up the chat. "Should I ask her then?" he thought and he recalled how mad she was and decided to put that on hold for now. "I think Antoan could find a way himself," he then opened the chat with Antoan again and asked him to just go and look for the answer. ''Do you want all of us to be dark yers?'' ''Indeed,'' Bloom said before adding, ''you just find a way to turn ck and I''ll provide the bow and the needed ck points for you.'' ''What ck points?'' ''You''ll know when you get there,'' Bloom simply answered before closing up the chat and returned again to his main task here. "In viges there are only a few ways to get a skill," he thought while walking towards the mostmon ce to get skills here; the auction house. It wasn''t that rare to find skills sold here, but it wasn''t that often. He had to go and try out his luck there as this was the ce with the highest chances of getting skills without losing more levels. "Sigh, the entire auction had no single decent skill so far," he muttered in discontent while moving out of the auction house empty handed. "Then I should see the library." He changed his gaze towards a big building to his north. It had a big circr dome surrounded by many smaller ones. "Going there is easy, but" he hesitated as he recalled what he knew about the library to find small pieces of info that could really help. "The manual" he had this sudden enlightenment before hurriedly opening his character profile and choosing the manual icon from it. "Vige famous NPCs hmm, sounds nice but I should see vige famous buildings first." When he opened it, he found many items inside. "All this data sigh, this would take some time." The library icon opened to show him a very long row of items. Each item had many lines, pages, and even more subtitles under it. "I need to sit at a ce and start studying." He moved his gaze up to the restaurant of the vige which he once ate at. He headed there while he started reading the entire manual about the library. "Damn, how many more should I read to get my little tip?" he was frustrated as after reading for two hours and sitting idle there he found only one small lead about this. "I have to read the famous NPC c''mon! show mercy to me!!" The way he found was through asking some NPCs special quests in return for gaining skill tokens from them. However these NPCs were referred to by the famous NPC in the library page. He kept reading the entire page as he didn''t want to read the other famous NPC page, but eventually he was screwed. "All this damn that''s ruthless," he cursed when he spotted the long list of names in front of him. "And they aren''t evenbeled by their sses or ranks inside the vige" he didn''t know how to curse about that. For him this was a nightmare! "Do you want anything sir?" suddenly the waiter asked him in a very familiar voice that made him instantly turn to spot the speaker. "Nara?" he asked in surprise, "what are you doing here?" "Stalking you," she moved to sit beside him while ring at his eyes, "Jeffrey said you wanted to post our kiss video so I came to persuade you not to." Bloom didn''t buy it. he turned around to see if there were any more surprises with her or not. But she was all alone. "I was joking," he simply said while adding, "I''m not that childish to do that." "Really?" Nara moved suddenly closer to him while her body seemed quite soft all from its own initiative. "And kissing me in front of everyone was a joke too?" She moved nearer that he could even smell her breath, however the next instant he jumped off the chair, turned around and simplynded on the ground of the restaurant with his swords raised in the air. "Who the hell are you?" Suddenly the face of Nara changed to show up a vicious smile and very fierce expression that he never thought such an angel could have. "What blew my cover off?" the fake Nara asked while she took out two identical daggers and moved slowly and leisurely towards him. "C''mon, be a good boy and tell me the answer," she said in a very crisp tone that was totally different from Nara. "Damn, this game is getting stranger every day," he hurriedly retreated a couple of steps to keep the distance between him and the fake Nara. "Why are you retreating? I heard that you can use a skill to negate any NPC''s powers. Is that correct? Hurry and use it on me, let me have the sweet taste of it." "You are a freak," Bloom had an inner warning towards directly fighting this fake Nara as he turned around and started to run. "Wait right there," the fake Nara shouted before moving at extreme speed to stand and block the way in front of Bloom. "This path is blocked and you have to fight me now." "In your dreams," Bloom didn''t even slow down when he jumped over the restaurant and attracted himself to the balcony of the lower level. He could descend all the way down, but he doubted he would survive dying like this. Besides this strange foe was still mysterious to him. He was lucky he managed to detect his w in mimicking Nara''s non-existent sweetness. "I should stall him for the guards toe," this was the only n he had in mind. "Oh, you can jump really fast," just as he stabilized himself in thisyer, the fake Nara appeared just meters away from him. "C''mon, I just came all this way here to taste your skill." "I can''t do that," Bloom didn''t stop there as he jumped again, and this time he decided he wouldn''t stop at any level until he reached the ground, "I can''t hit my girl." "Such a romantic boy," the foe appeared once more just when hended on the ground panting. "But I won''t change this skin, I really like it." "Damn," Bloom turned around and ran towards the closest building he could use as sanctuary. "I told you, you can''t outrun me or escape from me. Just give up and give me what I came here for." "I won''t fight you," Bloom sheathed his swords in a bold move while standing still. "Those good for nothing guards they should have appeared here a long time ago." "You are going to die," the faked Nara jumped the next instant as she ruthlessly stabbed him thrice with her daggers before he fell on the ground. "Wake up you fool." The next moment he heard the sound of Nara shouting angrily at him. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the table of the restaurant, and Nara stood there with Jeffrey and a couple of the entrusted team members; all were ncing weirdly at him. Yet the next instant Bloom took out his two swords and jumped off the seat tond meters away from the group. "Aren''t you tired of these games?" he viciously asked. Chapter 215: A Sudden Update Chapter 215: A Sudden Update "What the hell is wrong with you?" Nara angrily shouted while Jeffrey moved instantly between her and Bloom. "Stay back, he is very dangerous right now." Bloom didn''t move, yet his mind was still trying to make sense of what just happened. In his mind the final image with Nara stabbing him with the two daggers was fresh. "Two daggers," he suddenly muttered while ncing over her to see the usual sword she used to have. "Damn, what the hell is going on?" His words made the group in front of him speechless. "Are you alright?" Nara couldn''t help but ask. "I''m" Bloom didn''t know what to say except he sheathed his two swords and went towards them, "where are you just now?" "I was buying potions," she said while watching him move to sit back on his seat. "Good," he said with a distracted mind. "What is going on with you?" she asked while he only showed a struggle expression on his face. "Can you have a dream inside a game?" he suddenly asked and he waspletely serious about this question. But others just exchanged nces before smiling helplessly. "Bloom, people might say we are already ying in a dream world created by the game," Nara said. "I mean dreaming" he paused as he touched the table with both palms while adding, "in the game itself. Like you sleep here and get a dream." "I never heard of something like that before," Nara honestly replied, "is this what happened to you?" Just before he could answer her, a message came from the game announcing a strange thing. "System alert: the game is going to lock down for twenty four hours to perform an update and maintenance. Please visit the main site of the game to check on the new additions in the update." "Update?" Bloom was speechless for a moment there, "I have not heard of many updates in the past but no one was this soon," he inwardly thought before a countdown timer appeared giving him and other yers only ten seconds to log out. "Wow, this is unexpected," Nara said this before Bloom was kicked alongside everyone else outside the game. "What is going on?" Bloom didn''t even get a grasp over what he just experienced before he was faced with such a strange update. "You were kicked out as well?" Antoan came this moment with a puzzled look over his face, "the game didn''t open for so long and there is already an update is this due to what you caused inside of the darkness era?" "No, I doubt it," Bloom shook his head before narrating what happened to him minutes before the update. "That''s quite suspicious," Antoan said before adding, "we should check the website first and see the official announcement before making any bolder conclusions." Bloom couldn''t agree more on his words and then he opened the screen of his and checked the official announcement of the game. "This update" Bloom kept reading and everything was simply not good. "The unlocking of the yers'' manual skill system? That''s absurd!" He was speechless of such an update, and only his recent dungeon clearance made quite sense for such an update that aimed towards restraining yers at this important stage. "Are there other schemes hidden behind the darkness era?" His mind kept revolving around such thought while he kept reading about useless updates regarding some gears and skills being added to the skill trees of yers until he found something that made his mind stop what he was doing and started to analyze this. "This is suspicious," Antoan muttered while pointing towards number fifteen in the update list while adding, "this is talking about bug fixing and some operation errors." "I noticed," Bloom sighed before he squeezed his temples with both hands, "we need more info." "I''ll contact him," Antoan only said those words and Bloom understood who he was referring to. "Alright, send him a message and tell me of any updates." Antoan nodded and just as he was about to go outside, Bloom stopped him, "send me lunch as well." Antoan nced around to see the clock was getting closer to two P.M. he just nodded and went to do his task. Just before Bloom could finish his meal that was formed of pasta and red velvet steak, Antoan came in with a strange look over his face. "What''s wrong?" Bloom asked, "is the news he said this weird?" "It''s not him," Antoan shook his head before adding, "I received an invitation for you to go and meet miss Natalie." "Natalie interesting," Bloom paused for a moment before cutting another piece of his meat, dipped it inside the bitter and spicy sauce beside it as he slowly chewed it while thinking about this invitation. "Is it official? Coming from the Triflet organizers or what?" "I believe it''sing from her," Antoan said before adding, "the chauffeur who delivered it belongs to Miss Natalie and not her CEOs." "That''s logic indeed," he only said that before continuing to eat his meal, "how about him?" "Still no answer." "Keep waiting," Bloom said as he finished eating, "when will the dinner be? And where?" "It''s in Miss Natalie''s mansion," Antoan said while stretching an opened envelope to him, "as for the time, she didn''t specify." Bloom opened the envelope and started reading the small and neatly designed invitation letter. "A ball dance dinner on the honor of me?" he felt strange about such invitation before turning to Antoan, "was it sealed when you got it?" "Yes, and I was the one to open it after carefully examining the message to see if there is any problem in it." "Hmm" Bloom flipped the paper in his hand more than once before he added, "I don''t like this, was there any mention of such a procedure?" "I do recall something like this," Antoan hurried to open his screen before looking for the Triflet challenge info and started reading it. "Indeed there is such a thing. It''s organized under the name of eachpetitor and the CEOs are the ones to arrange it." "Each one of us has a single chance to meet her on a dancing night, right?" Bloom asked, "no one is allowed to interfere, no one?" "It says here if any of you two trespassed over the other night then the overall assessment will be negatively impacted by this act," Antoan read up to here before raising his head, "as this is considered a dirty act from the twopetitors." Bloom sat on his own seat while immersed in deep thinking about this. "Is there any reference to the date of my invitation? The order?" "No, it''s only written that the organizers will notify you on the day of the dinner." "So we can''t tell if this is real or fake," Bloom took a deep breath before adding, "it''s best not to show up then, I don''t guarantee if this is a true invitation or a dirty scheme from Dockrey." "But master," Antoan returned to read the agreement again before adding, "you can''t skip a single ceremony of the challenge or you''ll be considered defeated by forfeit." "Really?" Bloom helplessly smiled before adding, "then hurry up and check the authenticity of this invitation. I don''t want to fall like a fool in my enemy''s obvious trap." "At once," Antoan turned to leave while Bloom stayed there thinking about this invitation and more importantly about what he just experienced inside the game. "Was it a dream?" he softly muttered while his mind couldn''t give him a concrete answer. "But it felt too real," he was in a dilemma but the facts in front of him all pointed towards the possibility of being inside a dream. "Why do things look this bad for me all of sudden?" he sighed while helplessly waiting for Antoan toe and bring him good results. During his wait he consumed time in reading the game update over and over again. "This is too early as I recall," he once heard about such an update but it was after four years in the game. And it wasn''t the first update at all. "If this one had this limitation to yers, then the next one should unlock the skill creation tool for yers," he smiled as this was the era he was anticipating to rule over the game if he wanted. "Damn," suddenly he realized something, "this game is really good. It even turned me into a slow and steady fan," he bitterlyughed, "wasn''t I supposed to y here to ruin the game? Why then thinking about ruling it?" He could onlyugh while starting to recall his skills and how to perform them. "I''ve got an answer from the CEOs," Antoan said when he finally appeared in front of Bloom. "And?" "They said it''s a legit invitation, but" he paused before adding, "I doubt this is true." Bloom didn''tment as he only motioned to him to continue, "the one who answered me is someone I already know about his undying loyalty for Dockrey''s camp. He can''t give me trusted info and strangely enough every time I try to reach the CEO board he will be the one to answer me." "Dockrey''s supporter, hmm" Bloom pauses while deeply thinking about something. "Is he the man I once met? Or someone that works for him?" "I think it''s mostly a trap," Antoan said it clearly atst, "we shouldn''t go." "I agree with you," Bloom nodded before adding, "but we need to safeguard against this. Dress up, we are going out." Chapter 216: Getting Conflicted About His Old Game Chapter 216: Getting Conflicted About His Old Game Bloom couldn''t tell if the two were the same. What he was pretty much sure about was that this was a trap. "Going or not going, hmm" he felt hesitant for a moment before deciding to be bold. "Call Natalie''s house and let me speak to her face to face." Antoan paused before he sighed, turned around and left. "Will you call her?" Bloom shouted while Antoan didn''t answer. "What''s wrong with him?" Bloom waited for a few minutes before Antoan returned with another screen. "This one should be highly secured," he said before adding, "calling her should be under strict secrecy, right?" Bloom nced at him for a moment with a loss towards his real intentions. "Alright, just bring her on the phone," he said while adjusting his posture on his seat to be morefortable. "Let''s get the bottom of this matter," he muttered while Antoan dialed the number and only a grey screen appeared at the moment. As he waited, a familiar face suddenly appeared in front of him. He smiled helplessly while the fake Natalie was there with a calm look over her face. "Hi Natalie," he greeted, "sorry to disturb you on such a wonderful day." "No problem at all," she chuckled before joking, "do you want to speak with me or with my servant?" Heughed while thinking this Peri is simply teasing him. "How can I look at her and ignore you," he said trying to escape this situation, "and I''m calling to see if this is a real thing or a joke." He showed her the envelope and the invitation inside. "Oh, this is indeed true," she nodded before adding, "I was informed of youring tomorrow night. Do you want to postpone it or something? Because of what happened in the game." His mind didn''t follow herst words as he inwardly sneered. "It says here that the date is tonight," he raised the invitation card to the screen for her to see. "Oh wait a second," she then vanished for a couple of minutes before returning again with a simr card in her hand. "ording to this schedule," she showed it to him, "tonight is Dockrey''s turn and tomorrow is your turn." "You are meeting with that arrogant bastard tonight interesting," Bloom smirked while the face of Peri showed how much she agreed with him on that but she had to say: "Don''t say this on him, he is your rival." "The losing side of a rival, and he is a bastard too. You can''t deny it, right?" Bloomughed and she only showed funny expressions while being unable to say any single word. "In fact I was seriously thinking abouting here tonight and crashing into the party." "This" Peri''s face showed how shocked she was, "this would cause much trouble for you." "I bet," Bloom sneered before adding, "see you tonight." "Wait" He didn''t give her time to say what she had as he simply closed the screen with a sh kiss for her. "Are you seriously thinking of doing that?" Antoan was speechless but Bloom needed something to vent his stress at and he simply chose to do it on Dockrey. "Prepare the car," he said before adding, "we will be half an hour dyed than the hour mentioned here." "But" Antoan was still skeptical but Bloom''s gaze made him sigh. "This is bad," he couldn''t help but say, "don''t say I didn''t warn you." "I know what I''m doing." "I bet," Antoan turned to leave, "it seems good things neverst." "What are you speaking about?" "The resurrection thing of yours," Antoan said while walking outside, "it seems the miraculous effects of it is weaning away." Bloom was speechless while watching Antoan''s back. "I too started to feel like this a while ago," he muttered while his opinion and feeling were a bit different than what Antoan had. He started to notice many deviations from the course of the game in his past life. "Not only the arrangement of the game events, also many new stuff appeared as well. This era of darkness for instance, I caused it but I didn''t even know it would happen this way." He sighed while opening the official forums of the game and started reading theints about what he caused. His mind started to make aparison between the state of the game in his past life and this life. "At least the game poprity will drop. Who is crazy to focus on a game that he can''t y without getting killed?" This was the only thing that made him feel quite content. "Should I stop now or keep damaging it?" he muttered while turning his gaze towards the other game capsule he had in the room. "Should I go inside and pay tribute to my old world?" He thought about it for an entire hour and he even visited the official website and forums of his old game. "This is quite depressing," he sighed as he had to admit the Eternal Glory game still held the advantage over his old game in everything. "These developers they are just a bunch of losers." He read many threads at the forums and spotted many issues regarding his old game. These were things he couldn''t help with, like theck of dungeons and monsters, the absurd high drop rate of gears and materials that made the values of such things there depreciate. "Even the official statements of these developers are lousy," he read a couple of answers over some public suggestions made by veteran yers. The answer was always the same; everything is perfect currently for the game and there was no intention in changing anything soon. "They are just a bunch of losers," he closed the website of his old game and returned to his current one. "In fact this game is much amusing and far better than my old one" he was suddenly conflicted. "Should I keep damaging the game then?" he paused here as he finally reached a conclusion after a couple of hours of deep thinking. "I''ll see how they will adapt to my sudden intervention. If they did great, then I should start caring more for this game." Chapter 217: Im Bloom Chapter 217: I''m Bloom He closed the website and stared for a long time at the ceiling doing nothing and not thinking about anything at all. "I should consider this game serious then," he muttered while his gut feeling kept telling him to do so. "We are ready," finally Antoan returned and the world outside turned dark, "I again have to say this this visit is a very bad move." "Just go along with me and you''ll see," Bloom stood up as he added, "I won''t let that prick have everything the way he wanted." "Sigh, I''m feeling you are already ying in his trap." "Not a chance." The two descended and rode the car towards the shining lights of the city around. Bloom was distracted by his own thoughts while Antoan kept his silence and solemn look while the car roared in the streets of the city. "Do you manage to reach him?" Bloom suddenly asked. "Not for a single time," Antoan shook his head solemnly, "and that disturbs me more. It''s not his habit to stay away from his phone for such a long time." "Maybe he is quite busy with something," Bloom said, trying to have hope. "Or he is having something bad," Antoan said the darkest thought he had in mind, "I fear he might get hurt." "For supporting me?" "Indeed." "We''ll see," Bloom kept his silence and his thoughts to himself as he intended to retaliate fiercer if such a thing happened. And Antoan just kept his silence and didn''t express any of his worries. "We have arrived," Antoan said when the car suddenly decelerated to stop in front of a metallic gate with some guards. "The security here is fine," he added, "slightly off the norm." Bloom took this note and only nodded. "What are you doing here?" one of the guards asked the driver who simply stated the purpose of their visit. "Alright, go ahead then." The gates were opened and the car started moving in again. "This is such a nice mansion," Bloom expressed his impression over the mansion he stood in front of, "I bet in the morning this will be a hell of a scene." "Indeed," Antoan simply answered while whispering again, "it''s not toote to retreat now." "Let''s go up," Bloom answered while moving towards the stairs. "Mr. Terry, it''s quite a surprise to see you here tonight." Just as the two of them entered the giant hall of the pce, they were met by the doubting eyes of the old man, the leader of the CEO board. "May I ask what you are doing here? This is Dockrey''s night, not yours," the old man spoke in a normal tone but his attitude seemed quite strict. And Bloom even felt many eyes fall over him and even the nearby Antoan was getting nervous. "I''m here based on this invitation," he calmly took out the invitation he received before adding, "I came here tonight not for Miss Natalie but for someone else." The gaze of the old man was so deep that he felt he could prate and see through him. He took the invitation and checked it before he returned it to him. "The date is wrongly written here, your time is tomorrow." "I know," Bloom returned the invitation again to the old man before adding, "I came here to ask for an investigation about this mistake. After all if I have no other business here tonight then I would have put myself into a deep sh*t, right?" The old man took the paper and only nodded. "What do you want to do here then?" he asked. "I told you," Bloom cracked a smile, "I''m here to meet someone." "May I ask who he is?" "It''s a she," Bloom corrected, "and she is Miss Peri, Miss Natalie''s assistant." "Servant," Dockrey suddenly approached with a wide smile over his face, an evil one, "strange toe into my party and ask to meet the servant. Isn''t this a bit out of ce?" "None of your business loser," Bloom sneered before totally ignoring him as he turned his gaze and body to the old man, "excuse me, I have a meeting to attend." "Good luck," the old man stood there and didn''t know what to say except that. "I expect to hear news regarding this mistake soon, right?" Bloom didn''t intend to make it easier on Dockrey or his camp. His voice was loud enough to be heard by many, and he then moved towards the front not even waiting for the answer of the old man. He wasn''t requesting, he was ordering and he intended for this intention to be delivered perfectly to everyone. He moved amidst the heavy gazes falling on him as he headed directly towards Natalie and Peri. "You are such a troublemaker," Natalie couldn''t help but chuckle. "It''s not my fault that someone was trying to scheme me," he shrugged, "I hate schemes and I love rebounding them back to the face of those whomitted them." "Interesting," Natalie softlyughed before turning to Peri, "what business do you have with my Peri?" "I told you before," Bloom spoke like it was something obvious, "I wanted to discuss with her our terms of alliance inside the game." Natalie raised her eyebrow while Peri simply chuckled. "You are quite daring, ain''t you?" "Indeed," he smiled before adding, "let''s go somewhere private to continue our little discussion." "First before anything," Peri said before moving, "I won''t agree on any offer from you." It was Bloom''s turn to raise an eyebrow this time. "Why is that?" "I don''t like you, simply given like this." "Believe me," Bloom confidently said, "I''m a loveable person." "Hahaha," Peri and Natalie couldn''t helpughing at hisment. "You are really daring. C''mon, let''s go this way and continue our interesting discussion." "Lead the way ma''am," Bloom moved behind her while Periughed, "I''m not a ma''am, I''m just Peri." "And I''m Bloom." His simple statement while they both were walking inside this lonely corridor made her freeze. She turned around and red at him for long seconds. "What did you just say?" "Hahah, it''s nothing," he shrugged before adding, "will you join me then or what?" "This" the look on her face was really funny, "you are really daring," she only said that while heughed as both went towards a distant empty room before Antoan stood on guard outside leaving the two of them inside. Chapter 218: Im Already A Tycoon In The Game Chapter 218: I''m Already A Tycoon In The Game "So you are Bloom?" Peri sat over a seat in a domineering way while putting one leg over the other. Bloom simply sat in front of her, while casually nodding. "So I suppose you know who I''m, right?" she curiously asked while he also nodded. "Damn, you it''s not a surprise though that Dockrey lost in front of you." Sheughed and he only smiled. He didn''t n to expose himself so early but he didn''t mind telling her now. After all he had to meet her in the game and he didn''t see any problem in telling her now after meeting Dockrey inside. "You know you are such a lucky bastard," sheughed while her face showed how astonished and shocked she was. "How so?" he said before adding with a confident smile, "I achieved everything with my two hands here." She nced at his raised hands beforeughing, "I didn''t mean that y''know, but the fact that you met me and Peri back in the game before meeting us here damn, every time I think about it I feel so much envious." "Hahaha, this is just destiny," heughed while adding, "I told you, you are going to be mine." "Keep dreaming," she teased him, "Dockrey is still a good horse to bet on." "A losing horse indeed is a bad bet," he sneered before adding, "besides you are already in love with me." "Who said that?" she bellowed instantly while her face showed a tinge of redness. "You lips mydy, they are damn hot, hehehe." This time her face turned all red while her eyes widened for a moment before she took a deep breath and changed the subject: "You came here wanting to make a deal with Peri''s studio, not me." "Hahaha, who said that? I came here to ruin Dockrey''s night," he evillyughed. "So it''s all about you and Dockrey? Humph, quite expected," she attacked instantly when she saw a chance and he had only to smile as he answered: "I''m fighting for you, mydy, not him." "But it''s all about him." "Everything is about you." She stayed silent for a moment before sighing. "The Terry I know and heard much about isn''t one tenth of you howe you deceived everyone for all these years? Huh?" "Like you deceived the world with your fake identity," Bloomughed while pointing out her little scheme here. "May I ask why?" "None of your business." He wanted to press again and ask but her tone and attitude coupled with her facial reactions during her brief response made him hesitate. ''She is hiding a bigger secret then,'' he muttered to himself before saying: "Alright, let''s speak about the studio then." "We aren''t interested," she simply said, "c''mon, go up and leave," she pointed to the door as if she was kicking him out. "Hahaha, it''s not that easy to get rid of me." "Damn, you are not less arrogant here than the game," she cursed out loud, "I told you we don''t have any interest in dealing with any yer for now." "What if I have what you need?" She returned her back to her seat while giving him an interesting look. "Howe you know about what we need? Wait a minute How dide you know about our studio in the first ce? It''s not that famous out there." "I have my own ways," he vaguely said, "after all I''m a reincarnated person." "hahaha, nice trick." He had to shake his head helplessly while muttering to himself, ''why every time I tell the truth no one believes me? That''s quite harsh!'' "Tell me Mr. Prophet, what do we need and you can afford and I don''t know?" He couldn''t help but grin. "Materials," he said. "y another trick," sheughed before adding, "I have all the materials you got and they aren''t even near enough" she suddenly paused before asking, "wait a minute, howe you know we are looking for materials?" "You have an army of lifestyle yers," he said, revealing more of the Cyan studio''s secrets, "and what you have is just nothingpared to what I got." "Really?" "If so then why would I let you all have the materials with no interest?" She had a moment of pause before asking, "how many materials do you have? And what grade and level are they?" "As much as you want," he confidently said. "Wow, a tycoon is talking to me," sheughed while his face didn''t change the serious expression it had. "I''m a tycoon in many things, you just don''t know me quite well," he winked and her face turned slightly red. "Alright," she said, "when the game returns you can show me your rich lion. But at least tell me some of what you have." "I have" he paused beforeughing, "level thirty, forty, and even fifty materials with grades from red up to gold." "What the hell are you saying?" she got instant scare while jumping over her seat in a funny way, "no f*cking way you can have such materials early in the game." "If I say I have, then I have what I said," he simply stated with extreme confidence, "and that''s not just one or two, I''m talking about hundreds here." "Damn!" she cursed in fear, "are you even ying the same game as us anymore?" "Hahaha, you are the best person to judge me than anyone else," heughed at her funny expression before adding, "Now, what do you say about my offer?" "I have to first ascertain its authenticity," she didn''t hurry to give an agreement here, "who knows what dirty tricks your foul lion mind would do." "Who? Me? I''m just an innocent man," heughed. "Yeah, tell me about it," she shook her head before motioning to the door, "go out now, our meeting is done." "This hurry?" he sneered, "I didn''t know I made you this nervous." "Who said?" "You said." "I never said." "Your face said." "Screw you," sheughed while waving her hand again, "go out now, we are done." "I''m not done yet," he muttered before seriously asking, "what is going on inside your gamepany and CEO board?" Chapter 219: Terry Is Assassinated Chapter 219: Terry Is Assassinated "What do you mean?" She had a strange look over her face, "my CEO board doesn''t give me full reports but I know they are working fine and quite fair as well." "I doubt that," Bloom sighed, "I had unpleasant experience inside the game recently." "What happened?" she had a worried look over her face. "I got threatened," he simply said. "By whom?" "One of your CEOs." "No way," she instantly said, "my board had a strong binding to them, they can''t disclose anything to any yer about the game or even interfere." "But this one he forced a quest over me to hinder my sess and said it clearly that Dockrey is the sole winner in the challenge." "Tell me everything you know." He started narrating what happened after finishing his quest. He didn''t speak about his quest, but he said as a dark yer what this quest meant to him. "This" her face changed to show strange ruthlessness, "if I found out about him I promise I won''t let him live." "Wow, never thought you are such a cold hearted CEO," he teased, trying to crack a joke here. But he failed. "Go now, I have a long meeting with my people," she stood up and her tone and attitude told him he couldn''t stay here any longer. "Alright, I''ll entrust you with this," he stood up as well before heading to the outside with her. But she looked angry and quite disturbed that when she entered the corridor with him. "Won''t you give me a dance?" he whispered. "Go now before I kick your as* myself," sheughed while threatening him in cold blood. "Damn girl, you are really ruthless," heughed before leaving the mansion and the ball with Antoan. "Is everything alright?" Antoan asked as he noticed the change in Peri''s face after getting out from the room. "Everything is simply perfect," Bloomughed before turning to him as he added, "I need you to turn into dark yers, can y" Just before he could speak, he heard a muffled explosive sound before the car he was in turned upside down. The entire world seemed to freeze at this moment while everything around looked strange while the car kept rolling one time after another before it finally stopped on the side of the road. Sirens of emergency went loud in the entire ce while Bloom struggled to free himself from the safety belt. He was injured, but not severely as the belt and those safety bubbles that erupted once the ident happened saved his life. He stood there in the middle of this chaos while feeling unstable. The entire world seemed to go on slow motion while taking a single step forward turned the entire world upside down. "Are you alright sir?" He heard this soft voiceing from his side but he felt turning to see the man was like a year''s worth of effort. "Blob." The next instant the man in front of him had his body jolted all of sudden while a hole appeared all of sudden in his skull. "Damn!" Bloom inwardly cursed as his recovering mind gave him one simple answer. "Assassin!" He muttered but to others he screamed before they watched him duck and force his body back to the car. Another shot appeared just inches away from his head, prating the car''s body and creating a hole for the tank inside to expel its own oil outside. "Get out now!" "Run!" "The car it will explode!" Many shouts appeared but Bloom, who didn''t see the shot or even felt it, pushed his body further inside the car. "Master, get out now," this familiar voice came meters away from the car where his loyal butler was trying to help him get out. However before Bloom could make up his mind, another shot urred followed by a massive explosion and only a single body was tossed to the side away from the severely burning car. "Miss we will investigate this act at once," the old man had a disturbed look over his face before adding, "I won''t tolerate any of such things if it was proven right." "I believe they are," the real Natalie sat in front of her CEO board men while the fake Natalie stood politely like a servant behind her. "I promise this won''t pass unpunished." "Knock knock." Suddenly a knocking on the door erupted disturbing the meeting. Instantly the real Natalie stood up and exchanged ce with the fake one while the old man shouted in anger: "What? I said no one is allowed to disturb us." "But sir grave news, it''s very bad news." "Come in," the old man shouted after confirming the act of the two girls was in ce. A guard came in, wearing the usual ck suit as he stood in front of this group of mighty people and bowed his head. "It''s about Mr. Terry" The guard paused while the real Natalie felt bad premonition about that. "What happened to him?" the fake Natalie asked in no concern. "An ident, his car was hit while returning from here," the guard said before adding, "and the newsing from the scene spoke about a car explosion and a sniper." "S" the real Natalie hardly controlled herself while everyone sitting here had a sudden change over their faces. "Assemble everyone now," the fake Natalie didn''t dy in ordering, "we are going to check on the scene of the ident ourselves." "At once mydy," the guard retreated and closed the door while the real Natalie couldn''t help but copse on the ground. "Mydy," everyone screamed in panic while they went to check over her. "Damn, what the hell is going on here?" the old man was very much enraged but his main priority was to awaken hisdy and confirm her safety. "Call a doctor now," the fake Natalie shouted. "No need," the real Natalie finally opened her eyes as she weakly said, "we need to go now and check on him." Everyone gave her a sympathetic look while they all exited the mansion in a hurry. She was escorted with a tight security while further news came in from the sight of the ident. "He no way, he was just with me a moment ago," she couldn''t control her tears the moment she read the news about the car explosion and Terry was inside. "Damn you Dockrey I won''t let this pass unpunished," she suddenly turned ruthless, far more than what Bloom saw before on her face. Chapter 220: I Didnt Kill Terry Chapter 220: I Didn''t Kill Terry "I was all night with you, how can I attack him then?" Dockrey stood like an innocent wolf in front of Natalie and Peri while the faked Natalie did the part of using him in a very convincing way. They were now back at the mansion where the real Natalie was trying her best to control her disturbed emotions right now. ording to thetest forensic reports that came from the scene of the ident, the explosion was abnormally intense that it made the identification of bodies inside impossible. And they couldn''t even tell how many were inside the car when it exploded. Antoan was badly injured and was transferred to the nearest hospital. The real Natalie sent many of her men to check on him and take any useful statement regarding Terry. But all they got was one disappointed answer he was there at the time of the explosion. "He is dead," the faked Natalie exploded while trying to show her anger and grief, "and you killed him." "C''mon, this is a serious usation even against me!" Dockrey had an irritating calm smile over his face, not showing any sign of weakness or hesitation whatsoever. "Liar," all Natalie could say was that. "I''m not," Dockrey sneered, "and by the disposal of my main and only rival, you will be mine." "In your f*cking dreams," the real Natalie couldn''t control herself anymore before she stopped speaking knowing that she slept here. "Shut up," Dockrey arrogantly said, "don''t misjudge your ce you are just a servant and my servants have no right to speak up." "But my servants do," the fake Natalie was instantly and genuinely enraged. "Humph," Dockrey raised his head in arrogance, "everything you have will be mine." "In your dreams," the fake Natalie said, "there are still a couple of excellent yers inside the game." "Bullshit," Dockrey couldn''t control himself anymore, "the challenge rules are clear and obvious, there is only one rival for me." "At a time," the old man stepped in to stand beside hisdy, "the trial can''t be done with only one contender." "Humph we''ll see about that," Dockrey red at the old man in a challenging way before he turned around and added as he left, "you''ll hear from myrge team ofwyers so soon." "Let them meet with my army ofwyers asshole!" The fake Natalie was really enraged as she didn''t forgive the way that bastard just dealt with her master. And just as every outsider went off with Dockrey, the real Natalie couldn''t control herself anymore and copsed to the ground with a tsunami of tears. "Nara" the real Peri couldn''t help but lean beside her as she patted her back softly, "I know it hurts." "He we were just together I just teased him and I just knew his real ID." "What?" the old man and everyone around were shocked to hear that. "What''s his ID?" Peri asked. "He is Bloom," Natalie couldn''t control herself as she jumped inside her friend''s chest and went into a long session of crying. As for the old man and his subordinates, they only exchanged silent nces. They long knew the true identity of Bloom and Terry being the same. "Damn," Peri cursed, "I just thought of bringing him to help us against that bastard." "Sigh," the old man couldn''t help but shake off his head, "both are the same and now we have to look for another one topete with Dockrey." His words didn''t help but to increase the screaming and wailing of Natalie. "This doesn''t help," Peri whispered while she kept hugging her best friend for a long time. "Ahem we''ll take our leave then," the old man said but Natalie suddenly raised her head and red not only at him but at everyone else. "I told you before about something," she said. "I know, I''ll see about it." She ignored his answer as she turned and gave every single one of her CEOs a ring look, "if anyone is proven to support that bastard oh my lord, I can''t even imagine what I will do to him, his friends, and his entire family." Her cold words were soaked with deep hatred that they made everyone here feel a shiver in the back of his spine. "But we are allowed to be supporters for one of the contenders," one of the CEOs spoke up at once while trying to defend his hidden support for Dockrey. "Not anymore," Natalie stood up with the help of Nara, "I swear I won''t let anyone support that jerk anymore. This a final order and whoever feels this doesn''t suit him can leave right now peacefully or else" She didn''t continue as she turned to the old man and ruthlessly added: "From now on everyone is going to be thoroughly investigated. Hire the most professional ones out there, make theme and hack everyone until they find those on rtion with Dockrey." The old man didn''t know what to say. He wanted to object on her but knowing what she was passing through he had only to nod. "I''ll do my best," he said. "You''ll do what I said," she stressed, "or else I''ll find someone who will." The old man couldn''t say anything except nodding. After all she was the rightful owner of thepanies they run and her words were like sacred decrees for them. "C''mon, let''s go up and have some rest," Peri tried to end this discussion before it would head towards a dark turn. She gave the old man a meaningful nce and he only helplessly sighed. This dark night started with some twisted trap and ended with a very big disaster. But it was so early for it to end like this. "May I see an ID please?" A guard stood at the hospital door stopping a stranger who came to visit a patient just delivered now. "Sorry I just hurried from my home with nothing," the stranger said, "I just want to check on my friend, I heard he is badly injured he might he might even die." The youth cried in front of the guard who had only to sigh. "Alright, get in but try not to cause any trouble." "I won''t," the youth passed through the door and then checked the location of the man he came to see. "He just came out from the operation room," a very busy nurse said, "go upstairs and he is on the fourth floor." "Thanks." "You should take your time," the nurse advised, "he is now being investigated by police and will take some time to be free." "Thanks." The youth ascended the stairs while his mind was thinking about the events that happened that night. He reached the fourth floor where he didn''t need to ask anyone about his patient. There was one room that had many policemen and a lot of reporters with shing cameras and many chatting and even some shouts. "It''s better to disguise as one of them," the youth muttered before he took a turn towards a corridor that ended up in a toilet section specialized for hospital visitors. Inside he stood in front of the mirror while he calmly watched his face. "Let''s change it," he only muttered before suddenly his face twisted and small balls started to appear in lines rising up from his neck towards his face. They raced up fast and in no time they coalesced together at his face, changing his features dramatically in a matter of seconds. "It''s perfect," a face of a reporter he saw leaving the hospital when he arrived appeared in front of him. This wasn''t all, even his voice, hair, and body physique changed as well to match an image in his mind. "I hope he isn''t that popr," he sneered before he waited inside for a long time before the ruckus outside died out. "It''s time," he moved and went calmly like a normal visitor towards the door of the patient. The crowded door was now empty with no one standing inside but a doctor and a couple of nurses who were checking the wrapped wounds over the body of the man lying on bed. "Who are you?" the doctor suddenly said. "Just a friend," the youth shrugged while adding, "is he alright?" He tried to be worried, and he really was. "He is going to live," the doctor said. "You are his friend or rtive?" one of the nurses suddenly said in a loud tone, "we tried to contact anyone he knows but couldn''t find any." "I''m" the youth paused as he deeply sighed, "the only family he has for a long time." "Great, you should thene with me and do some files together," the nurse beamed up with a bright smile but the youth wasn''t in the mood to flirt back with her. "Sure, I''ll just stay a while with him beforeing to you," he said before turning to the doctor. "Is he awake?" "He is," the doctor nodded before closing up the file he held in hand, "but try to make this visit short. This man he is just lucky to be alive." "Sure," the youth nodded trying to act obedient. Chapter 221: Book Two: First Chapter: The Blooming Alliance Is Born Chapter 221: Book Two: First Chapter: The Blooming Alliance Is Born Things around the big mansion looked suspicious tonight. It was midnight but from the cars that kepting and the number of youths emerging from each car, it looked like it was midday. No one had a pleasant look over their faces, as if they were forced toe here, dragged from their beds and threatened to enter the cars. "They are here," a soft voice came from behind, "but don''t you see this is too much?" "It''s not," Natalie turned to face her friend, Peri while ruthlessly adding, "he started this war and he had to shoulder the consequences." Peri couldn''t help but sigh while watching the two puffy eyes and paled look over her friend''s face. She knew how bad the past week was, and she only hoped her friend would return to her sanity, ovee her bitterness and agony and cease all these hostile actions against Dockrey. But with each passing day she discovered how deeply mistaken she was. she underestimated the grief and sadness, the anger and determination inside her best friend''s soul. "Wee to my humble ce," Natalie walked behind Peri who still acted like her and did what she told her to do, "I''ve gathered you here so we can start our alliance formally." "We heard you will pay us a good price for joining up," a fifteen old slim youth shouted all of sudden, "is this true?" "Is this why you came here?" Peri said in mockery. Just before she could aggressively and properly discipline this rude one, she felt Natalie''s hand holding her back. If not for the people here all ring at her, she would have turned around and shouted in her face. "Yes, that''s true," Natalie answered when she noticed how nervous Peri was, "only on one condition, to help mydy and kill Dockrey in the game back to the hole of level zero and make sure he never climbs up the surface or sees the light of level one ever again." Her tone showed her hate, but no one here except Peri noticed this. Natalie knew she said enough and so she stepped back and waited for Peri to continue exining the rules. "If you don''t mind, let''s all sign," Peri said as she sat on the head of arge round table brought here especially for this asion. No yer standing here refused this generous offer. These were the leaders of the top twenty guilds Natalie settled on recruiting under her umbre. She wanted revenge, she wanted to torture Dockrey in the game. As signing started she wasn''t much interested in watching anymore, so she moved silently, heading back towards the corridor to enter her most favored room in this huge mansion in the recent days. "Excuse me, may I check ondy''s Natalie from you?" This voice stopped her all of sudden, just before she was about to enter the corridor. She turned around and a familiar face appeared in front of her eyes. "Antoan oh Antoan, it''s" she controlled herself as she thought Antoan didn''t know her true identity. "Mydy is doing fine, at least on the surface she is strong, resilient, and she swore she won''t let the blood of your master spill without a cost a very hefty cost." Antoan smiled softly before he turned to nce at Peri, "you know he once dreamt of forming such alliance with many guilds," he turned to her again as he added, "like what he tried to offer that night" He also paused but he returned to his calm self the next moment. As for Natalie, her eyes went soar and red while some tears raced through their familiar path during the past week. "Tell me," she wiped her tears slowly while adding, "are you alright? Did youe here asking for anything?" "I came answering Lady Natalie''s call," Antoan said before pointing towards the distance, "I''m now serving this young yer over there." Natalie felt astonished by his words but she followed his fingers and found a tall youth, in early twenties, with good physique and tanned skin. "Is he your new master?" she slowly asked in a dejected and disappointed tone that didn''t escape his notice. "He is just a tool," Antoan shrugged, "after my master''s death, the next to inherit everything was him." "He inherited you then," Natalie took a deep breath out of relief for an instant, "but I never heard there were any direct rtives for Terry away from his uncle," she muttered. "He is a distant cousin who was living abroad but came in after the ident," Antoan said before adding, "at least he swore to avenge my master." "I hope it''s not only words." "Me too," Antoan sighed, "but from the face of it I could say he is true to his promises. He formed up a giant force and dered his desire for revenge." Natalie nced over the youth again before muttering, "what''s his name?" "Sir Henry," Antoan answered. "Sir? Is he a Sir?" she asked with a surprised look over her face. "That was also surprising for me as well," Antoan smiled, "I thought his uncle would inherit everything as his guardian, but awyer came with a will the next day and there was this Sir''s name and contact info inside it." "Interesting," Natalie muttered, "how fate ys its dirty tricks, take who are worthy from us and give vague people the opportunity in return." "I agree," Antoan softly said as he nced over his new master. "Which vige is he ying at right now?" she suddenly asked. "He ys in a far empire than us," Antoan said, "but he intends to move in the vige to help mydy in revenge." "The vige" Natalie recalled the ce she couldn''t step in a single time without thinking of him. She entered the game the next day under the persistence of Peri, and in less than five minutes she went to another vige, randomly selected, and even ended up in one of the kingdoms there. "I searched for mydy there but couldn''t find any trace at all. Do you know if she entered the game again or not?" His question distracted her from her thoughts, "I She moved from the vige." "Moved?" Antoan was surprised before he added, "moved where?" "Some ce where she won''t remember him." The answer was short but Antoan could perfectly rte with her. "I was just in the beginner ce when he sigh, I was thinking about going up and joining mydy but it seems I should go and y with him then." "He is your current master now," sheughed before adding, "you can''t go anywhere without his permission." "Sure, that''s why I was thinking about dragging him with me towards yourdy''s vige," Antoanughed and his answer made her stare for a moment beforeughing as well. "It''s a shame," she sighed, "even I don''t know the exact location or even the name of that vige." "Yeah, it''s my loss," Antoan softly muttered before turning around as he added, "it seems they are almost finished. I''m sorry to interrupt you, I just wanted to check on mydy." "It''s nothing," she waved her hand casually before asking, "do you know where Sir Henry of yours ys?" "I currently dunno about that," Antoan embarrassedly said, "it''s I came out of the hospital two days ago and was busy ying there since then. I had little time to check on his ce my level also didn''t allow to do so." "Ah, I see," she nodded before adding, "they are finished. It''s nice to see someone from old friends," she stuttered as she recalled Bloom before she recalled something. "By the way, is Sir Henry here strong?" "In real life?" Antoan asked. "In the game." "Well it depends," Antoan seemed hesitant, "I never saw him ying before. All I know is that he is a sword wielder and he talks a little about his deeds in the game." "His level?" "He told me it''s around twenty," Antoan said beforeughing, "but you can tell he is just bragging and not telling the truth." Sheughed as she agreed with his opinion. "I just hoped he would be strong." Antoan calmly looked at her before saying, "I promise to test him first, if he is half what he brags, then I''lle and tell you in person." "Sigh, I used to wee youing from his mansion carrying his words and thoughts" she couldn''t continue and she knew if she stayed there her tears would betray her. "Excuse me," she moved inside the corridor, vanishing behind the short turn there. "Sigh, I''ll make sure he would know about your feelings," Antoan inwardly sighed before heading back to stand behind his new master while everyone was having a nice chat,ughing and celebrating the establishment of this alliance. And the name of this alliance was simply symbolic... The Blooming Alliance, that was the name Natalie chose to send a direct message to everyone of her enemies. As the list of her enemies wasn''t only limited to Dockrey, but extended to those dirty CEOs the old man discovered during the recent digging and the number is still rising up. Chapter 222: Book Two: Second Chapter: Waiting For The New Master Chapter 222: Book Two: Second Chapter: Waiting For The New Master "Boss the boys are all trusting you and all that but" a shield bearer stood in front of an assassin while hesitating to continue. Yet the assassin nced at the group of hundred around before nodding for the shield bearer to continue. "This our master just got killed not more than a week ago and now we are just changing colors simply like that?" the shield bearer said while his features told the assassin everything he was feeling. "Don''t worry, he isn''t a stranger to us after all," the assassin calmly said in a deep tone, "he is a rtive to our dead master, a man who is more cunning, far ruthless than you think." "But" the shield bearer couldn''t continue. "I know he isn''t our master," the assassin sighed, "we have to deal with facts and not with emotions." "The boys understand that but the issue they are hesitating about is that feeling of betrayal haunting their minds," the shield bearer softly whispered while his eyes conveyed how much serious this was. "Don''t worry, we aren''t betraying our dead master," the assassin said, "our new one pledged not to rest until he takes revenge over those bastards who killed our beloved master." His voice wasn''t loud but everyone around heard him perfectly fine. Their faces showed their deep struggle still alive deep their souls, and Antoan had to inwardly sigh. This was the team he gathered and started the game under the strict orders of Bloom. He knew they had more faith in Bloom than the new master, especially considering the legends their dead master created here in a short time. "Sigh, I hope you are right," the shield bearer said, "it''s just too frustrating. Do you know that they mourned him only for three days? Only three f*cking days! He is Bloom, the mighty Bloom, the one who wrecked this game and thundered everyone here with his deeds." Antoan knew how much enraged his men were. Since the ident and their grief turned into rage, desire for revenge. He didn''t object on this, and frankly he also sympathized with what his men were feeling. The game entered a darkness era and the one who caused it was the same man who showed every single yer here how to ovee it. Now, the dark yers with taming bows were hot cakes, and his revolutionary ns in using a leveler and an mer became a sacred protocol for any team. Despite that Only a few threads in the forums spoke about him and his legends and favors over everyone and there was one week passed since his death. "I know it''s a mind blowing reality, but what can we do about it?" Antoan sighed, "after all our master just passed away and we are the only ones here who still held him high in their hearts. At least we are bold enough to publicly announce our loyalty to him. That jerk who calls himself the king of the game isn''t worth a thing in our eyes." "If you just let us loose on him" the shield bearer''s body trembled, "we can kill him in real life as a retaliation for what hemitted against our boss." "No, this is a suicidal act," Antoan firmly denied. "We don''t fear death," the shield bearer loudly said and everyone else just nodded. "Neither do I, but I don''t believe in foolishness," Antoan said while ncing over everyone as he added, "this solution is only for pussies. The kind of Dockrey and his kin would only lean to this, but us we are far more ruthless than that." "Waiting is just too much for us boss," the shield bearer sighed, "we know your view is correct indeed. The best revenge isn''t to kill that bastard, but to let him live and watch everything he tried so hard to achieve crumble in front of his eyes." "This loss has a far sweeter taste than revenge than just killing him," Antoan nodded. "But the boys need to vent some of their steam we need to do something to quench the burning desire inside us." Antoan nced at the shield bearer as he knew he was totally correct. He too wanted this, and he just hoped today he would have a good news to bring back for the boys for himself. "Let''s wait and see," he only stated, "our master ising soon. Stay sharp and wipe this pathetic look over your faces. I don''t want him to see a group of widows wailing over the loss of their man," he addressed everyone and as he just finished speaking, he spotted someone walking in firm steps towards their direction. "He is here," the shield bearer muttered before he retreated and stood silently while their new master approached them. He was tall, holding two swords over his back and two in his hands. He walked in such confidence that if the entire world tried to stop his steps it would fail. The team watched him approaching them in silence while their eyes were trying to size up this new master of them. They only watched him in the mansion of their old master once. He was strict, rarely spoke, and his eyes looked ruthless. However this was their first time meeting him in the game, and they only cared about his strength here. They had the vision of their legendary master still vivid in their minds, and they thought no one would be able to shake it no matter who he was. "How are the boys handling the death of their old master?" The four sword wielder asked while he stood a distance away from everyone. The team surrounded the ce for a mile around, so they would prevent anyone from preying on this fateful meeting. "They" Antoan hesitated before sighing, "they are really devastated. Angry and impatient that''s how they are." "Expected," the sword wielder nodded, "I hope they use this energy in good use." "They are waiting for the first assignment," Antoan said, "hopefully it won''t be too long to have such one." "They won''t wait for long," the sword wielder said, "do you all turn into dark yers or not yet?" he asked. Chapter 223: Let Round Two Begins Chapter 223: Let Round Two Begins "We all did," Antoan smiled helplessly as he added, "now the entire forum had nothing to speak about but how to turn into a dark yer. Thanks to you they now know of the importance of them," he said while ncing in a meaningful way towards the sword wielder. "Don''t speak like that here," the youth warned, "those shade sons can easily infiltrate our lines and prey on our conversation anywhere." "Don''t worry about that," Antoan smiled in confidence as he took out a scroll before adding, "I just used one like this before you appeared here. It blocks any stealth yer or NPC from getting near us for a hundred meters." He handed the scroll to his master who just checked its information before grinning, "good one," he returned it to Antoan, "from where did you get this precious toy?" "From ck market," he simply said, "keep it, I''ll transfer a dozen more to you to use in the future." "Thanks." "Can you answer my question then?" Antoan nced at the man standing before him before asking in seriousness, "how can someone escape such a deadly car ident without a scratch?!! You were there, I saw you you were inside when the car exploded. This" "What?" Bloom smiled as he added, "are you disappointed in my return to the living?" "I''m just afraid this will be an illusion a mind trick or a dream I might wake up from one day." "You won''t," Bloomughed before adding, "and this isn''t a dream my dear friend it''s a nightmare, especially for Dockrey and his organization." "You didn''t answer my question." "And I don''t have to," Bloom shrugged, "all you need to know is that killing me out there is nearly impossible." Antoan nced in doubt towards his old master while his mind recalled that mind blowing visit he had while he was at the hospital. "When I first saw you there I couldn''t believe myself. I was totally wrecked by your loss, pledging to get better, gather up everyone and go full force over that bastard." "This isn''t wise," Bloom sighed, "you saw it yourself that man is hiding inside a real fortress. You will be long dead with everyone before evenying a nce over him." "I know," Antoan helplessly sighed, "that coward" "Any news on the assassin?" Bloom asked while his face turned serious. "All we know is that he was killed a few blocks away from the location of the ident. Whoever did this wanted to clear all the trails he left behind." "Expected," Bloom nodded, "but you know, in the dark world there is always a footprint here or there." "I know," Antoan said, "I promise I won''t rest until I find it!" "I depend on you for that," Bloom smiled before patting over his butler''s shoulder, "we will have our revenge here in the game and out there in the real world." "Speaking of that," Antoan''s face changed slightly before adding, "she is very devastated by your loss. Shouldn''t you try to approach her and give her some hope?" "No, too risky for me and her," Bloom shook his head. "Even in the game?" "Anywhere is simply dangerous," Bloom sighed, "you saw how things turned out inside her camp. Her trusted subordinates already betrayed her. I don''t know whom we can trust anymore from her side." "Sigh," Antoan bitterly smiled, "we also lost our only trusted man inside." "Yeah that was quite a loss." Before everything crumbled over their heads, they tried to contact their supporter inside Nara''s camp. After Antoan got better and exited the hospital a few dayster he investigated and got the bad news. He was found dead inside his summer mansion on the coast. It looked like Dockrey was trying to punish and get rid of anyone that helped Bloom. Also Bloom believed this was a strict threat to everyone else a simple and direct message for everyone. Either you would stand beside me or be my enemy; that was what Dockrey tried to convey. From the face of things in the past week he seeded in delivering this message and got the best results out of it. "Gather up the boys," he suddenly said before Antoan gave him a meaningful nce, "we are going up to a hunt." "Finally," Antoanughed in excitement, "against Dockrey?" "Nah, that man he is just too deeply hidden for me to easily find him," Bloom sighed, "we are going after his henchmen first. We need to cut down the long arms of this octopus before bringing him out." "Are we going to destroy another quest?" Antoan knew how his master used to work before. "No, this was a thing from the past," Antoan simply shook his head, "from now on it''s personal. We are going after his men, killing them back up to zero." "Oh, that''s more I like it," Antoanughed before adding, "are we going after Panty then? Or that jerk called Derrick? Both created a party after the news of your death was confirmed in the forums." "Both are at the vige of Nara," Bloom shook his head, "we can''t go after them for now. But this fish is something you would love to hunt." "Who is he?" "Gerard," Bloom said in an evil grin, "we are going after his butler himself." "Yeah, I like that," Antoan couldn''t control himself from excitement, "but do you have any lead on him?" "What do you think I was doing the past days?" Bloomughed, "it''s a good thing to have a new identity that no one knows about. As a privilege I could move freely and spot anyone without arousing their suspicion." "But this won''tst for long," Antoanughed, "they will have to watch over their shoulders and safeguard against you from miles away." "They better be," Bloom wasn''t fazed by this, "I like it best when the prey tried to resist and fight back. It gives the hunt a better taste." "Right indeed," Antoan was already in a good mood, "let me convey the message to the boys. Do we need to buy anything from the vige?" "No, I took charge of everything," Bloom said before sending many items to Antoan, "distribute these over the boys." "What the hell?!! Twenty taming bows!!! That''s" "Hahaha, your master wasn''t only stalking Dockrey''s ves. Y''know I''m far better than this." "Hahaha, yeah, I can''t imagine the face of that bastard when he knew what happened to his right hand man inside the game." "Stop ying then," Bloom motioned to him before Antoan hesitated. "What?" "What should I tell the boys?" he asked. "The same thing we agreed upon inside the ward of the hospital," Bloom grinned, "for them I''m their new master, Henry, the one who inherited everything by the mysterious will I sent to thewyer." "Alright." "Antoan no one else should know about my existence," Bloom stressed, "only this way we can have our revenge." "I understand," Antoan nodded after a moment of pause. He wanted to say that he trusted those men, could guarantee them with his neck if needed but he refrained from saying these words. He knew Bloom was dead fixed on keeping his identity hidden from the entire world, even from his beloved one. Bloom watched his back while softly whispering: "Alright Dockrey, let round two between us begin and I swear this one will be my overwhelming victory." Chapter 224: The Low Leveled Team Chapter 224: The Low Leveled Team "This won''t do," Bloom was speechless when he formed the team and invited everyone to it. what startled him was the current levels of the team. After all this time in the game the mainstream yers reached level fifteen and sixteen. Level eighteen and neen were considered pretty good right now. However their levels were only twelve and thirteen. "Boss your level" one of the team members muttered in deep shock. "Level twenty-one? That''s amazing!" "I heard the top yer in the entire game is level twenty-three only." "That''s two levels apart from our boss." "Damn!" Many exmations came when everyone saw Bloom''s current level. Only Bloom and Antoan knew this level was nothing. If not for the early three days problems that urred for him to take over again over his belongings, his level would have been twenty-five now. "Alright, we''ll start leveling you up first," Bloom said before sighing, "at least you will all act as levelers." His words made everyoneugh bitterly while Antoan was embarrassed. "Boss, the boys got distracted by you know, that ident," he tried to give reasons for such low levels of his team. "No problem," Bloom sighed, "now how many bows do we have in the team?" "Twenty-five," Antoan was again embarrassed as this number of bows came mainly from Bloom. "Good, you use them well and try to turn as many monsters as you can into pets," he said before turning around, "this kingdom is invaded by those flying angels. Let''s create our pet army first before anything else." "But" one of the yers hesitated, "we have very few dark points left." "This won''t be an issue anymore," Bloom confidently said, "I don''t need any drops. You can have all the dark points falling from monsters and use them to turn more into pets." This was the strategy he created before and now considered the sole strategy out there to defeat monsters. At the beginning of this darkness era, everything seemed hectic and no one could fight properly against monsters. But this situation didn''tst for more than one day after the secret of Bloom''s clearance of the dungeon was revealed coupled with the sudden emergence of the value of dark yers. Boom led his team towards the nearest group while his mind was thinking about what happened in the game after his disappearance. The yers''munity got absorbed and literally mad about turning into dark yers like never before in any other game. And the way to be dark yers was rapidly unveiled. All you need to do is to have a red mark then go and visit one of the dark sentries scattered along the game map. For Bloom he didn''t need to do that, he was a dark agent of darkness himself. Plus what he gained after that ident, he didn''t bother with such a way. But for his team members things went like other yers. The issue here was how to kill yers with their low level until Bloom gave Antoan a simple practical answer. Kill each other! Doing so made them turn into dark yers into two batches. "Get ready," the moment Bloom reached the nearest group of monsters he said to his team before taking out his other two swords. In front of everyone, he controlled the four swords, each with one hand, to float over his fists while he stood there motionless ncing over therge group of monsters. "Their numbers never cease to amaze me," one of the yers muttered while Bloom only smiled. The monsters walked around the game map inrge numbers, each group contained at least five hundred monsters and there were even records of thousands of monsters walking together. After all this time fighting monsters yers learnt their traits and weaknesses. These monsters had very significant weakness, which was the aggro. Their aggro work over the highest DPS in the team. At first this wasn''t a good news to everyone, but after the introduction of the taming bows this became a very golden rule. As the highest DPS was usually pets themselves, not yers. So yers could rest assured while attacking these monsters with everything they got while their pets took all the toll for them. Despite losing many pets in this way that one studio first revealed in the forums, the dark points gained covered these losses with much interest in return. The next moment Bloom opened his inventory to summon his current pet. He nced briefly at his inventory. Since the ident he did nothing but expand his inventory and amass tokens of pets while he wasn''t much worried over the consumption of dark points. He had a constant flow of massive amounts of these from his automatic quests. Each day he would have ten missions assigned to other dark yers, making him considerable little fortune after this week. "Don''t worry, you just keep using your strongest skills," he simply said before the next moment he started taking out pets until a thousand different types of dark monsters appeared in front of everyone. "This" "It''s like another army of monsters!" "We don''t even need to attack to kill this group anymore!" All started to speak in surprise and shock while Bloom only bitterly smiled. They were right, after all his pets all had high levels of twenty something. And he didn''t summon his entire reserve of pets yet. Inside the dark auction he found many pets sold at reasonable prices. He kept buying those high leveled monsters while ignoring the weaker ones than himself. "Attack and stop chatting," he ordered before muttering, "dash!" The next moment he hit one monster and sent it flying. "This" one of the yers muttered. "Just like our old master," another said and Bloom had only to sigh. He knew even if he changed his name and shape, he needed to change his signature skills. However up till now he didn''t yet find a proper recement of his main skills. "I need to work harder," he softly sighed. Chapter 225: Sword Tornado Skill Chapter 225: Sword Tornado Skill He gained some skills after what happened to him but they were mainly rted to the dual sword talent that was awakened in him. He thought he could fight freely right now using his old tactic, but it seemed he was wrong. The sent to fly skill could be removed by throwing away his gloves, but he didn''t want to do that until he found another better pair for them. "Sword tornado," he didn''t answer in words but in action as the next instant he used a skill he gained after the ident. The next moment the four swords flew high in the air, each pointing to a certain direction of the four main ones with him being in the centre. Then they started to rotate and gain speed before moving fast towards the front. Any monster they met was instantly thrown in the air by their momentum. The techniquested for ten seconds only but the devastation it left behind made everyone speechless. "This" "Even much stronger than our legendary master!" The team members started to view Bloom in a new light while he felt satisfied with their reaction. "Dual stab," he used another skill where the four swords started to move out again just after they returned to his side. The swords went each on its one towards the front, hitting one monster before instantly returning to his side. For others he looked like a real magician, controlling flying swords and sending them everywhere. This skill had two seconds cooldown time, but for Bloom he didn''t feel irritated by using it. after all the time taken for the swords to go and hit the enemies and return almost were two seconds if not more. "Dual stab!" "Dual stab!" "Dual stab!" "Sword Tornado!" He kept using the two skills one after another without pause. Alone he managed to clear at least a hundred of monsters without a single sweat while other yers looked at him like they were looking at a monster. "Stop staring and start fighting," Antoan shouted to awaken everyone from their deep shock while he wasn''t any less shocked himself than them. Bloom simply smiled before continuing his spree of attack over these monsters. During the past days he kept killing these monsters without pause, using the newly learnt skills he had gotten to aid him. Despite ying alone, he was literally a one man army capable of clearing many monsters alone. Suddenly he stopped as most of the monsters were either knocked down everywhere, stunned by his dashes, being attacked by his team, or cornered by the overwhelming pets he had. "Let me check their y then," he turned around and started to observe the team fighting style. "Keep jumping around, being a tank doesn''t mean you stand motionless and take hits." "Use small CD skills first and leave those healing skills with longer CD forter." "Watch out for your magic power consumption rate." "Don''t venture alone in the middle of the monsters and ask others toe to help." "Damn, you died because of your hot headed actions." He kept moving around and throwing pointers and remarks over everyone while he stepped in to help some in difficult situations. "Do we have anyone with reviving skills?" After the fight ended with their victory, more than twenty yers were dead nheless. "We have five," Antoan said. "Not even enough," Bloom sighed, "we need to add a famine touch to this man based group," he joked before recalling something. "Let''s go," he didn''t hurry to speak with Antoan in public as he only sent him a message in private. ''How is the negotiations with the cyan studio going?'' ''Still no progress,'' Antoan sighed, ''your girl and her friend are quite busy amassing an army to go after Dockrey.'' ''She is'' Bloom inwardly sighed, ''Just ask for their services in exchange of materials. If not, then you need to go out there and look for more recruits.'' ''But'' ''Don''t worry,'' Bloom knew what Antoan was fearing of, ''one way or another we won''t continue ying solos like this. This is a gigantic game and to prevail over Dockrey this group can''t be useful.'' ''But getting more yers will make spies infiltrate us.'' ''Let them do,'' Bloom wasn''t much concerned by this, ''we need more yers to fight alongside us. It''s not realistic to just use a group of hundred against thousands of Dockrey''s team.'' ''I got a word he is seeking out to establish his guild,'' Antoan suddenly sent. ''I also heard that at the forums,'' Bloom sighed, ''We also need to start working in that direction.'' Antoan simply nodded before he turned around and continued to fight with others. Bloom didn''t need to participate much as he kept the initial charge for himself while letting other yers get used to killing those monsters. Despite having wings, these monsters never flew high in the air. Only flew a couple of meters above the ground, in a ce reachable for any yer and skills. But Arthur once saw a video that created a sensation in the forums where a very high leveled group of monsters flew like swarms high in the air. This made everyone realize how hard it was after getting to higher levels. But for Bloom he didn''t need to worry over this. "I have my own flying pet egg," he muttered to himself while knowing he should also take care of this egg and seek its hatch. Yet his main priority right now was to prepare his team for the town stage. Getting into towns needed level twenty, but not a single yer was crazy enough to reside himself there yet. After all the levels of the monsters around towns were much higher than here, and the number of yers able to go there was too low at the moment. Going there all alone was considered a suicidal act except for very exceptional yers like Bloom. Yet no one ever went there, even Bloom himself. For him, he didn''t need to go there yet as long as his enemy was still here. Plus he had many unfinished things to handle, at least the Cyan studio matter and the matter of creating his guild at least. Chapter 226: Gathering Intel From Gerards Village Chapter 226: Gathering Intel From Gerard''s Vige As the time passed, the level of the team members started to rise in a fast pattern. Bloom instructed for one of them to be left in the back, five levels apart from everyone to act as their leveler. And when everyone just rose four levels, Bloom finally gained another one to be twenty-four. "Scary." "Boss is mighty." "I wish I could level up fast like him." "Me too." Many whispers spread around that made him speechless for a moment there. "C''mon, y''all gained three to four levels and I just gained one," heined yet they onlyughed. "Boss you are only one level away from the highest yer in the game," Antoan joked with him. "That doesn''t mean I''m leveling faster than you," Bloom sighed, "c''mon, there is still a long way before we can proceed to ns." As they kept hunting down these monsters, dungeons popped up in their faces every now and then. "Can''t we just hit one of those?" Antoan asked while the team was clearing up the loot and those who died were revived. ''The boys heard legends about your dungeon runs from the forums,'' he privately sent to him. ''That won''t do,'' Bloom sent back, ''dungeons take much time and have more variables there. Can''t risk going in one without proper reason.'' ''What about that challenge issued to you for the game ranking?'' ''Bloom is dead,'' Bloom sent while smiling, ''so if I did what they asked I won''t get the recognition I desire.'' '''' Antoan couldn''t refute this logic and thus he returned to lead the team towards the next group of monsters. Bloom kept leading the charge until their levels were high enough to stand the first impact on their own. Also after hunting down monsters for two days straight they finally managed to amass enough dark points to create their own pet army. One hundred dark yers were now upied by twenty-five taming bows. They turned five hundred monsters into their pets already and ording to Antoan they had enough points to keep them for days without problems. Yet Bloom didn''t hurry to move and hit Gerard for now. "Wait here, I''ll go and scout the ce there first," he said to Antoan before adding, "keep them leveling up. I want their levels to cross twenty when I get back." "I will do my best," Antoan knew the higher they climbed thedder of levels the more experience needed to reach the next ones. Bloom simply used a return ticket to a vige where he knew Gerard took as his base of operations. The next moment he appeared inside the big za of this vige, surrounded by many yers whom he knew most would be his enemies for sure. "Time to gather intel," he started roaming aimlessly through the streets of the vige before he decided to go towards the best ce to gather intel at the auction house. The auction house was filled with yers who came either to buy or sell. But those sellers were much more than those buying, and Bloom just meddled in the army of yers there and faked scouting the auction like everyone else. But his full attention was focused over the side talks these yers casually had around him. "Heard thetest news about that shield holder?" one yer came in a hurry and sat alongside a small group of yers. "Gerard?" one of the group asked. "It''s him for sure," the new yer said, "I heard he just reached level twenty-three. Can you imagine that?" "Wow, impressive," the yers eximed in envious tone. "I doubt he is that strong in front of the top yers," another group of yers joined the talk, "at least those high up monsters wouldn''t find any trouble zeroing him out." Bloom inwardly nodded in agreement but he kept himself busy with faking scanning the auction. "I heard he isn''t the boss, there is a sky above the sky," one yer said, "and that boss of his is higher than him in levels." "He can''t be Thomas, right?" another yer said, "Thomas is the highest yer now in the entire game. Heard he just hit level twenty-six a few hours ago." "Damn!" "He is a real monster indeed!" "The leader of the Triumphed Eagles is not a lightweight in this game." "Nah, the leader is someone called Dockrey." "You don''t mean that Dockrey?" "The one who was the first suspect in killing Bloom?" "He is still the primary and lone suspect dude." "Bloom sigh, that yer was just a legend." "Shone early and extinguished his fire fast not smart in my opinion to be honest." "Stop it! you are just jealous of him." "Who? Me? No way! How can I be jealous of a deadman?!" Bloom only inwardly sighed while he heard people argue about him like this. He knew he would be able to crush everyone, but it wasn''t smart to announce his presence to the public. Not so soon at the least. "He is just a jerk," one yer said, "he and his gang of yers are just mere criminals disguised in forms of yers." "Rick, please stop being sour over him zeroing you out in the past week," another yer jokes, "you should never fight with him over that gear." "It was a ck grade shield, how can I let him have it?" Rick said in discontent, "plus I was all alone and managed to snatch this piece of him. In the end he just came at me with a group of two hundred yers of his and started to kill me to get the gear." "And in the end he didn''t get it," one yerughed. "Even after zeroing me out, and that made me quite satisfied with his bitter loss," Rickughed. "Don''t be happy so soon, I heard he got a good quest and the rewards will be rich for it." "A game quest?" "Nah, it''s a shrine quest," the yer corrected, "and I believe it''s rted to a shrine of life I suppose." "These shrines are still operational?" Chapter 227: The Appearance Of Unexpected Group Of Players In The Village Chapter 227: The Appearance Of Unexpected Group Of yers In The Vige "Indeed, they are pressured like us by these dark monsters everywhere but they are still alive and fighting back at least," the yer said before adding, "I heard rumors about this quest. Man, if he did it he would be a real powerhouse, not to be reckoned easily with." "What is this amazing quest about?" "All I know is that he had to steal something," the yer said, "I believe there will be a special thing happening in the vige in the uing days rted to this quest objectives." "Man, that exins the sudden influx of many strong and strange yers here." "Indeed," the yer said in confidence, "he is recruiting anyone higher than level twenty from everywhere. Paying a lot and even in real life contribution points." "Damn! Even I want to join him now," Rickughed. "Not you, at least if he saw you from far he will zero you out again." The two groups of yersughed while Bloom stayed back listening to the rest of their talk. Nothing important was said ever again as they only discussed game matters from tactics to kill monsters to the special gears appearing everywhere right now as loot. And of course they talked about how to be a dark yer and how rich and powerful they became in the game. After a few hours of staying there he moved out. "So you are doing that quest soon," Bloom sneered as he already heard rumors about such a quest from before. He thought he was toote but fortunately he wasn''t. "I should push harder on them," he thought, "they need to all cross level twenty fast." He didn''t hurry to leave the vige as he took a wide tour there before he finally was content with the info he got. He knew more rumors about the quest, and the more he heard the wider his grin was. "It seems I''m fated to crush the shrine quests everytime I try to act," heughed before taking a return ticket to the vige of his team and using it. "What is she doing here?" The moment he reached the vige he spotted Peri along with a group of strong looking yers walking just in front of him. Even Jeffrey was there. "Are they here for Antoan?" he wondered before opening his friend list and sent the question directly to him. ''They are here already?'' Antoan was surprised to hear that, ''they should havee tomorrow not now.'' ''Weird'' Bloom sent, ''why are theying here?'' ''To negotiate the terms about our cooperation with their studio,'' Antoan said before adding, ''I lured them out using the knowledge you told me about. They are really thirsty for materials.'' Bloom watched the group walking far before sending back to Antoan, ''They didn''t question your source of materials?'' ''They did and I lied and said that you stored them with me before your death.'' ''Did they buy it?'' ''They had to, after all they are craving so much for these materials.'' Bloom knew his butler was speaking the truth. He knew how much the Cyan studio was hungry for all kinds of materials, and this was their sole weakness. ''You should meet them here then,'' Bloom said, ''I doubt they are here this early for sightseeing.'' ''You doubt they are here for you?'' ''Probably yes,'' Bloom sent before adding, ''I think they sent someone to track us and they learnt about the presence of an outstanding yer here. I''m sure they are here just for me, not you.'' ''Damn, let mee to the vige then to meet them.'' ''Make yourselfe to buy potions,'' Bloom instructed, ''I''m following them from far behind and they are heading towards the direction of the potion store.'' ''Good.'' Bloom only waited for a couple of minutes before spotting Antoan running fast from the direction of the za. The two only exchanged silent nces before he kept heading towards the potion store direction. Antoan wore the sealing cape which helped to shield him from the eyes of the vige guards. The moment he got near the store he pumped into Peri and her team. Bloom stayed far behind while watching the two sides speaking andughing. He could guess what they were talking about, as Antoan faked his surprise to see them here earlier than their date while Peri and Jeffrey just gave fake reasons about theiring here. And Bloom watched the two sides moving towards the direction of the vige gate. And he also followed. "It seems you still doubt my death perhaps," he inwardly thought to himself while watching the big group of a hundred yers moving towards the direction of the leveling grounds of the vige. "She worked fast to gather up strong yers," he noticed the fight these yers had with a group of monsters which attacked them like usual. "At least level twenty and above impressive." He could judge out of the damage appearing on top of dark monsters plus the number of pets this group had. Having pets now was considered a judging scale for any yer''s strength, and also level. "That''s a really good team," hemented over the team''s overall strength and their familiarity to each other. "Sigh, it''s bad that I couldn''t follow them anymore without exposing myself." It was really foolish if he started fighting all alone against these monsters. A single yer fighting his way all alone using arge number of pets would attract much attention without doubt. "I''ll return to the vige then," as he had nothing else to do he took a return ticket to Gerard''s vige and headed directly there. As for this meeting, he had to be patient and wait until they finished everything. And this took hours to happen. During which he kept roaming the vige and collecting intel from any source he could find. Even from Gerard and his men themselves. "You say your level is twenty-four?" One of Gerard''s yers stood in front of Bloom while thetter only showed a calm and confident smile over his face. "Indeed," he simply answered, "just heard rumors about you paying good prices for high level yers in real life and I decided toe and check things out." The yer didn''t hurry to ept as he said, "wait here, I''ll have to check out with my boss first." "Do as you wish," Bloom shrugged, "I have nothing else to do today." The yer eyed Bloom deeply as he silently judged him before he asked all of sudden, "Join my team to check your level. ept the invite." "Done," Bloom simply epted the invite for a couple of minutes before withdrawing again. "You" the yer muttered in doubt. "You wanted to check my level not adding me to the team permanently, ain''t you?" The face of the yer looked amusing while Bloom only smiled and said no more. Chapter 228: Another Plan To Make Him Cry Chapter 228: Another n To Make Him Cry The yer didn''t take long as in less than ten minutes he returned to Bloom and said: "The boss is very interested in hiring you, however he wonders howe your name isn''t known yet?" Bloom was already ready for such question as he simply smiled and said: "I chose to hide my own levels. Besides I began at a deste vige at one of the weakest kingdoms out there." "Which one?" "Teot kingdom." The yer nodded as he had never heard of such a kingdom before. "Seems a nameless one for me." "Yeah, yers there are such losers," Bloom smiled as he already did his research and chose this kingdom to be his escape goat. "how much is your boss nning to pay?" "For your level it''s one million contribution points per month," the yer said with a smile over his face. Bloom already was aware of the fees paid by Gerard. For his level he should get folds of such amount. He didn''t know if Gerard was stingy with him or that yer was stealing. "This won''t do," Bloom turned around and started to walk without adding one more word. "Wait," the yer shouted, "this is a nice price to make a nice living of your own out there." "I know I am worth more than that," Bloom didn''t even stop, "tell your boss my apologies, his offer is much cheaper than I wanted." "What do you ask for then?" The yer ran and started to walk beside Bloom once reached him. "Our boss isn''t stingy, whatever you ask for he will answer provided that it''s not too much." "Hmm" Bloom stopped in his tracks while acting like he was deeply considering these words. "let''s see at least twenty contribution points on a monthly basis," he said before adding with a shocked expression over the yer''s face, "and that''s on condition the tasks asked for me aren''t that hard and the team isn''t lousy to get me killed. Otherwise I would prefer to y alone and not lose levels with some losers." "You" the face of the yer showed how enraged he was by Bloom''s mockery, "good I''ll pass these words for the boss. If he agrees then I''ll send you a message. I''ve added you as a friend." "Thanks," Bloom epted the add, "I''ll wait for the answer. By the way, what is this mission all about?" "Getting some quest done," the yer said. "Only a quest?" Bloom sneered as he tried to provoke this idiotic yer in saying more. And the yer simply fell into the trap like a helplessmb. "This isn''t just a normal quest It''s a very high level quest. I doubt you even got your hands over such a quest so far." "I don''t ept quests," Bloom ignored the high tone in the yer''s words, "but I''ll be interested in seeing how difficult this quest will be." "Provided that the boss agrees," the yer said, "now leave and wait for the answer in two days. If you are recruited, then prepare yourself to move with us on day three." Bloom''s smile only got wider as he now got an exact answer to the most important question when! Bloom returned to the vige as he roamed around it without any goal in mind. He just was thinking about his next n, how could he attack and detonate this strong powerhouse of Dockrey with the deepest losses for his enemy. "I should not reside only on zeroing him," he muttered, "I should be prepared for Dockrey''s reinforcements as well. Sigh, I doubt I can do it in this short window." He knew once he started targeting Gerard, thetter wouldn''t hesitate to contact his boss and ask for help. Bloom didn''t want this to happen, and his thoughts led him to a total different approach. "There must be a way," he muttered, but the next instant a message from Antoan came that made him postpone thinking about this issue for now. ''They left,'' he simply sent this, ''there is no one in the vige now.'' ''Go back and level up like usual,'' Bloom sent, ''I believe Jeffrey would leave behind some spies for him.'' ''This'' ''Don''t worry, just go back and level up and after a couple of hours I''ll meet you in the vige.'' Bloom closed the chat between him and Antoan then opened the ck auction. There he started navigating all the items sold, but he couldn''t find anything that might be useful. "Sigh, as I feared such items won''t be sold there," he closed the auction after an hour of constantly checking everything inside before he seriously thought about it. "How could I be able to achieve such a feat?" He was puzzled, and then he went to the auction house in the vige and started scanning everything there with no result. "Sigh, it seems it''s a bit harder than I thought," he took out a ticket before sending a message to Antoan to meet him and went to Antoan''s vige. There he headed towards the restaurant and hired a secret room in it. He paid five hundred gold coins to rent this room for the rest of the day, but it was worth the trouble. "Sorry for beingte," Antoan said the moment he entered the room using the password Bloom sent to him, "I left the boys leveling up and faked visiting the potion store." "No problem," Bloom was eating a lobster before adding, "sit, how more levels did the boys gain now?" "Ahem one," Antoan looked embarrassed, "leveling up with you is much faster." "I know, and gaining one level in hours isn''t bad," Bloom said before adding, "but I want them all to be level twenty at least in two days." "This" Antoan showed a struggling expression over his face before adding, "I''ll try my best." "I''ll help you as well," Bloomughed, "don''t worry, I know it''s hard to gain levels fast after level fifteen is reached." "Sigh, it''s really a pain," Antoan nodded, "any news about Gerard?" "He is amassing any yer with level twenty or above," Bloom said and Antoan got the meaning. "He is nning to move out in two days?" "In three," Bloom said before adding, "what our little princess was doing here?" "She gave me some useless excuses, but I''m pretty sure they were here for you." "I know," Bloom nodded, "and the negotiations?" "She seemed interested by the materials you gave me, but" he paused before sighing, "she didn''t agree yet." "Interesting," Bloom muttered, "what is she requiring then? More materials?" "Strong yers," Antoan said, "I believe they were here to scout and recruit you." Bloom couldn''t help butugh while Antoan only helplessly smiled. "Trying to make me join my old team? That''s hrious!" "She asked me of any strong and unique yer I might know of, and she said in a direct way that the condition to join any forces would require adding this yer to their team." "This" Bloom knew this would be an impossible condition to be met, "and what did you tell her?" "I''ll look around," Antoan shrugged, "I didn''t know what to say back then." "Hmm" Bloom thought about this before adding, "she is amassing her forces as well I didn''t think things would reach this far." Antoan knew whom Bloom was referring to. "She didn''t get over your loss." "Hey, I''m still here y''know." "Hahaha, you and I know that, but not her." "What if" Bloom paused while thinking deeper about this, "we adopted her cause?" "We are the front force opposing Dockrey?" Antoan said before nodding, "I can act as the one trying to avenge master, but she might not agree." "Because of me?" "Indeed," Antoan nodded, "she doesn''t know you yet." Bloom thought for a moment before he cracked a smile. "Listen, I need you to send her a short message." "Saying what?" "Wait for our new master''s revenge for Bloom," Bloom grinned while his butler showed a hesitant expression. "I don''t think this is a good idea." "Afraid of spies?" Bloom asked beforeughing, "don''t worry about them. They don''t know whom we are targeting and they won''t know except it''s toote." "But we want to kill that bastard until he hit the bottom," Antoan said, "if we alerted their forces early on then they will send reinforcements soon." "Don''t worry, I''ve a new n under making just for such a scenario," Bloom said before resting his back on thefortable seat he was sitting on, "either way I figured that Gerard wouldn''t hesitate to ask for help." "This" "Rx, I got this," Bloomughed before adding, "go back now and lead them to hit level twenty fast." "What about you?" Antoan asked in a loss, "won''t youe to help?" "Not now," Bloom shook his head, "I need to go out and search for something." "I might help." "Just focus on grinding monsters and that would be enough for now," Bloom said before adding, "go now and wait for my message." Antoan didn''t say anymore as he exited the room, leaving his master inside with a heavy mind. Chapter 229: An Unexpected Visit! Chapter 229: An Unexpected Visit! "How can I find what I want?" Bloom exited the game where he was living now inside his old mansion like before. For others, he was Henry, the heir to the dead Bloom, and all this was thanks to his tattoo on his back. "It still feels itchy," he scratched his back whileining, "now I have to start my search now." The first thing he did was to open a search bar and started to write what he was looking for. "How to make a dark yer be revealed forcibly inside a vige?" That was the question he wrote and what he got was thousands of leads about the answer. "This won''t do," he discarded one speaking about making the dark yer attack any guard. "Who was foolish enough to do that?" he muttered before opening the next ones. Yet he spent hours looking and all what he read seemed unlikely to be in the game or too hard to achieve for now. "Be a marquis rank be an earl all are speaking about ranks inside the game, sigh." He knew it was feasible this way, but for someone who was targeting the merchant caravans and had nothing to help at all in raising his prestige except for some random first clearances of the dungeons, he knew he couldn''t achieve that. "Let''s see this seems good," he finally found what he was looking for a high emergency quest! "But this I either need a rank to do it or to take a big quest and finish it so fast in the time left for me," he hesitated. He had less than two days now to take such a quest and finish it. yet he didn''t give up and continued to search, but he found no more helpful findings anywhere else. "let''s see how we can get such a quest then," he started narrowing his search for answers rted only to the Eternal Glory game. "Oh it requires me to go to the town interesting." The only quests he found were rted to the town and cities. For him, he couldn''t go to the city for now but the town was something he could visit for sure. "It says here the mayor of any town was the one holding such a quest I need to find that mayor and make him give me this quest." He didn''t hurry to return as he continued searching more about how to befriend the mayor. "There are these ranks again," he was helpless before he found something useful after two hours of reading and searching. "So the dark side in the game has such value that''s great!" Bloom still was annoyed by the game quest forced upon him from before. Despite him changing his shape inside the game, his identity was still there. He had to take such a quest considerably seriously, especially the consequences were very big! "I used killing that death elder from before as an excuse to escape the punishment," he sighed as he sent this kill as a quest requirement when the game asked him for proof of questpletion, "but now I have such an opportunity I won''t let it go." He closed his screen before finally returning to the capsule. It was bitch dark at night and the hour was toote, yet he felt as if someone was eyeing him from a corner of the room all of sudden. "Show yourself!" he turned around and took the handser gun Antoan gave to him to keep it with him all the time. "Interesting," suddenly a voice came from the same corner he was gazing at, "to feel my presence you are really something." "Show yourself" Bloom threatened before activating the handser, "or else" "Calm down kid," a sudden giant appeared in front of Bloom at this moment. Bloom had to close and open his eyes more than once when he saw that person or creature. "Surprised, right?" the manughed before adding, "but you shouldn''t be too surprised. After all you invited me here Bloom." "Bloom is dead!" "Sure, for the rest of the world, but not for you, not for me, not for others." Bloom felt a cold hand grasping his heart before he threw off theser gun and the next instant four swords appeared all of sudden around him out of nowhere. "Drop them," the man said in a calm tone while walking towards one of the seats here, "I said I''m not here to harm you." "I don''t believe a single word you said," Bloom coldly said. "Expected," the manughed, "but how can you exin my presence here then?" Bloom hesitated as the man standing in front of him was nothing different than a race he once fought against those winged angles inside the game! "Chill out and sit, we have something to discuss with you." "We?" Bloom noticed the way that angel addressed himself with. "Indeed, as your mind must be telling you now I''m not the only one able toe here in your world from there." He pointed towards the capsule of the game while adding, "but I''m not here for harm, or to take revenge upon what you kill inside. After all this is a mere war and casualties will happen on both sides." Bloom couldn''t help but grab a seat and sat in front of that giant. "What do you want to say? The game isn''t a game?" "It''s a game indeed," the angelughed, "and it''s not." "You" "Don''t be agitated like this. The frank answer is only known to a small number of your kin I believe you call them the CEOs, right?" Bloom didn''t answer as he kept staring at him. "Don''t try to ask them anything, after all they got an oath not to speak about what they learnt of the truth. And I''m not here to teach you about it." "then why are you here? And how can you get out of the game?" "Through the same way you cane out of it," the angelughed as he motioned towards the capsule, "do you think you are the only onesing in and out of that world? C''mon, just think about it." "But" "I have little time to be here to be honest with you," the angel stopped Jim in his tracks, "I can here to warn you of something bad will happen." "What?" Bloom didn''t know if there was anything much worse than seeing one of those monsters he kept killing inside the game speaking to him like a sane person. "I know you are part of the Triflet challenge and I came here to tell you that many forces in the dark are scheming to make the other jerk opponent of yours win." "I know that," Bloom sighed. "No, you know nothing," the angel firmly shook his head, "the next months in the game will be very grateful to all. Frankly my kin has no issue with yours, but others just find killing you is a fun sport or even a privilege kind of food." Bloom''s face darkened while the angel continued, "if you want to save your world, don''t let your opponent win this challenge. A very big game event will start soon, be sure to be there and be ready to fight and win it or else your opponent ranking will sour to the skies and you won''t be able to handle him ever again." The next moment the body of the angel started to fade away. "Sigh, my time here is limited. Try to train your unlocked powers inside this world not there. After all, the future might be darker than you think it is." The angel finally disappeared leaving Bloom behind ncing at the empty seat with disturbed mind. "What the hell just happened here?" he couldn''t help but curse out loud while turning around and saw none there. "Is this some kind of joke? Or this is a bad dream I would wake up soon from?" Bloom kept himself there for a few minutes before he shook his head helplessly and went towards the capsule. "At least I know something big will happen inside the game and if this happened, then" He paused as his heart shuddered from the mere thought of this. The angel he saw was so real, every tiny detail of his was shockingly simr to the ones he killed all time inside the game. "War" Bloom muttered before thinking back to that hidden CEO member who supported Dockrey. "Was him part of us or them?" he seriously asked himself while entering the game with so much worry over his face. "Damn why things are heading towards such bizarre way?" he cursed before appearing inside the game again. "Important things first," he muttered trying to calm himself, "if that angel was real and what he just said was the truth, then destroying that butler of Dockrey has be a much stressing matter now." If he wanted to punish Dockrey for what he did for him and take his revenge through cutting off his strong arms first one by one, he was now thinking of doing it to weaken him even more. After all he didn''t know but what he personally experienced wasn''t normal, and he was just miraculously resurrected inside the real world after losing an entire game level like he was ying inside the game! Chapter 230: Going To The Town Chapter 230: Going To The Town Bloom entered the game with a to do list in his mind. "First the town, then Gerard''s quest, and finally I''ll have to dig deeper about this game." He knew looking for the truth wouldn''t be easy, cheap, or short. Such a task would require much preparations and a lot of patience. "I even doubt she knows a thing about this," he shook his head while heading towards the vige mayor. "Stop right there." Just as he got near the doors of the vige mayor''s building, two strong looking NPCs stopped him while one started to interrogate him for the reason toe here. To go to the town, yers had to first get the recognition of the vige mayor. Luckily Bloom was the first toe here and ask for that, or else the long line would stretch far beyond the vige walls. "Good," the mayor nodded, "which town do you want to go to?" "Any town is fine," Bloom said and he wasn''t lying. For him any town would be good. "Hmm do you want to go to a ce where an old friend of mine resides?" The mayor just said and a system notification popped up instantly in front of Bloom''s eyes. "System alert: Rendog vige mayor is giving you a gift, ept it or not it''s up to you." Bloom felt something was off. ''Why would the game give me such a choice in the first ce?'' he then turned to the mayor as he said: "Sure, that would be my pleasure." "Great," the mayorughed as if he was the one celebrating this, not Bloom, "now I''ll send you this message and I''ll ask you to deliver it to him." "What''s it?" Bloom asked while ncing at the well wrapped and sealed message. "Is it a letter of rmendation?" he asked. "It''s a request for a punishment force," the mayor said while his tone told Bloom how much anger he held deep inside him. "Those filthy dark monsters and yers are everywhere! I want him to send a punitive force to restore order." Bloom''s eyes shone as he suddenly had an idea in his mind. "And take this ticket, it will take you directly to Foon." "Foon town?" Bloom asked in doubt as he never heard such a name before while checking the grand map of this kingdom. "Hahaha, no no, it''s not a name of a town, but a person," the mayorughed before motioning to Bloom, "c''mon use it and go fast. The vige is desperately needing your aid." "System alert: yer epts the mayor''s quest." "The Rendog vige mayor quest: yer has to go to the Sword city and deliver the message to its mayor." "Holy sh*t!!" Bloom eximed in utter shock the moment he read the name of the town he was supposed to go to. "Pardon me?" the mayor turned to him while Bloom didn''t know how to respond to such a trap. "This town ahem, is it the town in the heart of the angel territory? The ce known as" "The death zone," the mayor nodded, "yes it''s there. What? Did you hear about it already? Hahaha, I knew, my old friend can''t only reside in such a worthless town. She must have made a name for herself, hahaha." This time Bloom watched in silence as he didn''t know how to respond to such shamelessness and act. "Do you think she can spare anyone from her side?" he tried to reason with this NPC to drop such a quest off him. "Of course," yet the mayor''s shamelessness had no end, "she won''t hesitate to help," he said before pointing towards the message as he warned, "don''t try to open it or else it will be ruined and the result will be jail time." "System alert: the mayor just added a penalty if you failed to deliver the message perfectly fine in less than one day. Open the quest to check it if you want." "Damn," Bloom didn''t open the quest and he decided to leave. ''Staying here will end my life,'' he bitterly muttered before taking the ticket and used it. The next instant he appeared in another ce where a much wider za appeared with no one there but him. And a system alert came in front of his face: "System alert: Congrattions for yer Hannipal to be the first to reach the town in the entire game. As a reward the yer will have his prestige in the entire game raised by fifty points." "System alert: the general ranking of yers is now open. Anyone can find it through the personal profile or the forums." Bloom sighed. Despite gaining fifty prestige points in one go was something great, but he needed at least five hundred more to be able to reach a rank with authority to call on the emergency procedure in the vige. "Now I have to find this what he called her again?" Bloom forgot the name of the mayor before he turned towards the nearest store as he asked the seller: "Excuse me, where is the building of the mayor?" "Oh a yer? You are a yer! They arrived, yers arrived! Hahaha." Bloom felt weird by the shouts of this NPC. He was the seller, or standing presumably to sell inside a potion store just on the corner of the za. "Yes, I came here" The NPC didn''t give him any time to exin before he hurriedly showed everything he had inside the store. "See this? It''s a perfect potion with the ability to restore half of your Hp lost in the first second. And this it''s I dunno," he tossed a potion behind before grabbing another one. "This one can restore magic points, and the most amazing thing is that it can be used with the Hp restoring potion so you won''t have to waste much time like usual." "Dude," Bloom harshly said to stop this weird NPC, "I''m a weapon wielder, I don''t use magic points." "" "Now, tell me where can I find the mayor''s building or I swear from the entire town''s potion stores I won''t step in her ever again!" Bloom shouted while the NPC felt his rage and hurried to point to a direction, "go there, take right and you''ll see the building. It''s the biggest building there," he said before regretfully ncing at the potions he took out and the one he smashed behind, "won''t you buy anything?" "Not now," he said, "another time perhaps." "Don''t forget about me," the NPC shouted over his back while Bloom only walked away, "weird," he muttered. Bloom took a deep breath while moving fast through the street towards the mayor''s building. As that bizarre NPC said, the building was exceptionally unique enough to spot it from far. "Halt," one of the guards shouted and stopped him in track. Unlike the vige, the number of guards here was in the tens, walking in a big group that looked too intimidating. "State your business, this is the town mayor''s building if you are lost." "I came here to deliver this message," Bloom took out the message and showed the seal on it to the guards before adding, "I want to meet the mayor." "Hrious," one of the guards sneered before adding, "justing here with a letter and thinking you can meet our beloved mayor? Give me this message and leave now," the NPC shouted at Bloom while others only had amusing looks over their faces. And Bloom was hit with this all of sudden. ''Damn, it isn''t easy to meet the mayor! I totally forgot that!'' he eximed in surprise before he hid the message the next instant. "This is a private message no one can deliver it but me." "And I said you won''t step inside," the guard said in a serious and domineering tone, "scram now or else I might arrest you." Bloom didn''t know what to do except to retreat. Just as he was walking away, he heard the jokingughs of the guards behind. "It was a funny kid, why didn''t you let him stay more to entertain us?" "You should have just let him in and waited until the mayor returns from her punitive expedition outside. Like that we would have a much better scene tough at." "He seems ignorant so I wasn''t harsh on him." Bloom recognized the voice of the NPC who spoke to him while he kept moving forward at a fast pace. "So the sexy mayor isn''t here, she is outside pretty courageous girl," he muttered while running towards the gate, "I can''t risk waiting for her to return. I should find her ce outside and meet her amidst the fight this will be easier." He hurried towards the big town gate while keeping check over his stamina. The town was muchrger than the vige, so he needed at least two hours to cross it to the big walls and gates. "What the hell?!" Just as he reached the gates he heard loud war cries and many ruckus of a nearby hot battle. "Is she fighting this nearby?" he hurried towards the gates to spot arge number of flying angels leading some strange looking ground monsters while trying to attack the town. "It''s monster tide! Damn it my bad luck!!" he cursed while knowing he had no option now but to help with all his might. Chapter 231: Thrown Into The Middle Of A Love Affair Without Knowing It Chapter 231: Thrown Into The Middle Of A Love Affair Without Knowing It Bloom watched from his ce for a few minutes until he got a grasp on things here. "This monster tide isn''t a thing I can meddle easily well," he muttered before recalling the purpose of his visit here. "No option then," he took out his four swords while moving towards the front, "it''s great no yers are here yet, or else this might cause enough ruckus at the forums." He moved towards a certain direction where he spotted a very strong female NPC holding a giant broadsword in hand and waving it all around like a berserker. "I didn''t imagine she would be this domineering," he inwardly sighed while watching groups of monsters being sent to the air under the immense strength this beauty had. ''This makes my task to impress you pretty more difficult," he nced around before spotting arge group of monsters bypassing the defensive ring and trying to circle her from behind. "Thanks for the opportunity guys," heughed before taking out his entire storage of tokens and instantly summoned his pets. Despite this being questionable as this was a trait for dark yers, he was pretty much confident he would escape her surveince and wouldn''t be at any risk at all. "Go and secure thedy," he instantly shouted before he pointed his swords towards the flying ones and muttered, "Sword tornado!" The swords moved even faster than his pets to reach therge group of flying monsters and render their steps. "Oh a yer?!" the female NPC finally spotted him thanks to the loud bang his swords created. Bloom noticed the shimmering in her eyes and he inwardly smirked. ''First impressionsts my dear,'' heughed while he kept moving to the front as his pets cornered the monsters. "Keep fighting up ahead, I''ll protect your rear," he shouted without giving her any chance to say anything else. ''Girls like those who protect them, I hope she will be one of those kinds of girls,'' he thought to himself before the swords returned again to his side. "Time to use my own style Dash!" He decided not to use the old skill set of his in front of any yer, but currently there was none to be feared of. He hit one of the monsters and stunned him, but the monster didn''t fly back. "As I guessed," he muttered, "your level is much higher than mine then I have to shift strategy." Around him most of his pets were in difficult situations. He had formed these pets mainly out of the monsters he fought before, and mostly were in their twenties. But he was pretty sure those monsters he was fighting now were at least level forty, if not fifty and higher. "Let''s tame you then," he took out his bow and started turning the monsters into pets. From the side he spotted that female NPC ncing weirdly at him, as she was wondering how could a normal yer use something that belongs to dark yers. But the situation she was currently facing didn''t give her any room to think much while he continued to turn as many as he could into his pets. "Go and help thedy," he shouted when a group of hundred flying pets were ready to follow hismands. The next instant they moved to support the NPC while Bloom started to turn another hundred into his pets. "Two hundred are enough," he muttered, "but those ground monsters look enticing to me." The ground monsters were a strangebination of bulls and rhinoceroses. Their bodies were like that of a bull, with heads of that of a rhinoceros. For him, he was pretty much sure that no one could ever stand against such brutal monsters or take a direct hit from them without being instantly killed. "Let''s build a small army of you," he directed his bow towards them and started turning as many as he could to his pets. When he hit the number three hundred and fifty, a system alert came to notify him of theck of dark points. "Sigh, I thought I could have more," he stored away the bow while returning to use his four swords once again, "sword tornado!" The main group that tried to sneak around were cleared long ago. They either turned into his pet or to dust under the hands of his pets. Then his pets moved to the forefront, attacking wildly without any hesitation the great numbers of enemies. At first his pets seemedcking, but as he turned more to his army the pets started to gain ground. And then his swords joined the fight as he hacked as many monsters as he could. "If just they were weaker than me," he regretted that while watching the nearby berserker sending off monsters to the air like a loose cannon. "Who are you?" As things started to be under their control with his help, she got near to his spot and shouted while moving her sword right and left without pause. "I''m a yer who just arrived here," he shouted back while dashing at a monster before letting his pets finish it. "I''vee to deliver a message entrusted to me by my old vige''s mayor." "What message?" she shouted, "which vige?" she hurriedly asked as if she was already doubting Bloom''s vige. And Bloom was too much immersed in fighting as he didn''t detect the initial signs. "The Rendog vige." "That bastard!" suddenly a very angry shout came from her that startled even the monsters around. Bloom hurriedly turned to her while she had a very angry look over her face. "What that jerk lied and told you about? Huh? What trick is he trying to pull this time?" Bloom suddenly got it, as it hit him stronger than these rhinoceroses and bulls monsters. "Well," he felt awkward before asking, "may I know what he did previously?" "Like you guessed," she harrumphed before sneering, "that jerk it seems thest time beat up didn''t leave any mark on his soul." Bloom swallowed his saliva while feeling bitter in his throat. "Damn! You brought this on yourself sneaky bastard," he muttered. "What did you say?" "Oh, it''s nothing," heughed before hitting a couple more of the monsters before adding, "I''m sorry, he just told me he wanted reinforcements to his vige and sent me with the letter for that. He even" "Forced a quest upon you, right?" shepleted his words before screaming in anger. A group of pitiful monsters ended up as her punching bag. "That''s just typical of him. Give me the letter, you aren''t supposed to be meddled in this matter." Bloom agreed with her but he didn''te here just for the letter. "Once we defend the town we can go back and I''ll give it to you," he shouted before throwing himself in a brave way that seemed rash and started stunning a group of monsters after using his fog of darkness skill. "You" she stayed back for a moment while didn''t know what to say, "this fight isn''t yours to take part in. The monsters are all high levels and it''s not your fault or responsibility to shoulder." "But I''m willing to do so," he shouted from the front, "I can''t see a prettydy fighting those despicable dark monsters and watch on the sides. I hate those damned dark monsters deep to the bone." She nced at him while restraining herself from asking about his tame bow and dark monster pets. After a few moments she was called by her subordinates as the fight at the front was intensified again with the arrival of a new herd. "Alright human, I''ll approve of your help then," she muttered but her voice andment didn''t escape the keen senses of Bloom. "Yes," he inwardly screamed in joy before he took a strong hit from one of those ruthless ground monsters and was sent to the air. "Damn, can''t even celebrate for a second?" hended while nearly two thirds of his Hp was gone by this simple hit. "Luckily I managed to jump to the side at the right time," he gulped an Hp potion before turning his swords towards the rapidly approaching monsters. "Let''s start round two then sword tornado!" His swords moved to stop these monsters while his pets jumped at them and killed them off. "For once I can fight and gain much experience at the same time," heughed when he raised one level after this short fight here. "Now I believe I''m shoulder to shoulder with that Thomas or was he at level twenty-six already?" He paused before shaking off his head andughed wholeheartedly, "Never mind, either way I''ll get out of this town with a level higher than anyone in the entire game." He was already in a perfect mood from the reaction he left at the NPCdy. And now with such priceless experience gained from this tide, he was even in a better mood. "Let''s have more fun, hahaha," heughed before dashing towards another group of monsters and level thirty was on the top of his wish list. Chapter 232: Gaining What He Came Here For Chapter 232: Gaining What He Came Here For "You are a really brave yer." Bloom was standing in front of this stunning beauty while wondering how much looks could be deceiving sometimes. If he passed by her on the street or just met her here without saying how ferocious she was, he would never expect that. "Thanks mydy," he politely answered while inwardly grinning for his little trick to seed. After some time he felt she wasn''t paying attention to him anymore. He had already done a lot and yet she just got used to his strength and timely helping to her and her forces. So before the end of the tide he made sure to end it in a big way losing a level! He intentionally got himself killed and he chose the perfect spot to create such a great impactful end. He jumped over a group of monsters he let them reach the back of her, and there he fought courageously before finally dying in their hands. Despite losing a level there he knew it worth it, especially when he was already at level twenty-nine. He was so short to gain another level, so losing such a level wasn''t too much. After all he doubted any yer in the game would be even equal to his current level now. "Your losses are great," she sighed, "and to think that jerk was the one who threw you into such a mess" Bloom stole a side nce towards the head of guards who was the one he previously met. His face told Bloom how much frustrated he was by this situation, and the memory of his reaction when he saw Bloom walking shoulder to shoulder with his leader was still invokingughter to Bloom. "It''s nothing," Bloom casually said before taking out the letter, "here is the message I''ve to deliver to you." "" She didn''t say anything or rant anymore as she silently took the sealed letter and Bloom got a notification of his quest sess, but no reward worth mentioning except for increase of reputation with the mayor of the Rendog vige. "I" Bloom paused as he didn''te all this way just for that. "Speak up," the mayor sighed, "you did so much and you shouldn''t be this hesitant anymore in front of me." "I want to punish those evil people," Bloom said, "the dark monsters are acting rampage, but there are more threats than them the dark yers." The face of this beauty changed for a moment as her eyes told Bloom all about her doubting him. He was using the taming bow and had many pets under his control; something only dark yers could have. "I specialize at hunting down those arrogant bastards," he said before taking out his bow and added, "I took this as a loot, alongside with these daggers as well," he also took the daggers he once had from the yers Dockrey sent after him inside the dungeon. "Oh," the eyes of the beauty shone brightly before adding, "this exins everything then." She nodded in content while her face showed how much relieved she was. Bloom knew she would ept any reason he would throw at her face, and he just gave her something not easily refutable. "And I have to say your deeds and courageous acts are really admirable," she smiled before adding, "For me, Anna, I can''t admire anyone easily." "That''s an honor," he said in respect before taking away the bow and daggers, "but I can''t do everything on my own. These yers They are so bold that they had some cloaks to hide their aura and started to venture inside the viges and soon will also invade the towns and even cities." The eyes of Anna changed to show her hatred and anger. "Speak," she simply stated, "anything you want, I''ll simply grant." Bloom resisted the urge tough out of his excitement of his little n''s sess. "I''ve done my research and there is something called an emergency quest where I can use it to expose those bastards." "Indeed there''s something like this," she nodded before adding with a soft sigh, "but this requires a higher level than yours." Bloom waited patiently and didn''t speak. He knew this wasn''t the time to say anything and just let what he had done to talk instead for him. "Are you sure you want to have such a quest?" she seriously said before adding, "it''s not a one time quest, rather it''s a permanent one. You''ll be asked to jump from vige to vige and town to town all the time. You''ll have to face many dark forces and that''s just too much for anyone." "For me I''ll dly ept that honor," Bloom calmly said before adding, "if an agent of light is needed in these dark times, then I dly ept such a role." "See Tondel? He is just braver and more honest than you thought." She didn''t answer him but turned to nce at the head of her guards. Bloom saw the man only nod while his face was so dark that even a direct sunlight over his face wouldn''t leave a mark. "You got what you want," she beamed with a smile before adding, "I''ll issue this punitive quest over you, hopefully you''ll keep amazing me." Before she could finish her words, a system notification rang in his ears that made him smile in relief. ''Finally,'' he inwardly shouted in joy, ''Gerard you just wait.'' He then opened the quest page and what he read made him didn''t know if he shouldugh or cry. "System alert: yer just got Swor city punitive quest by its mayor. Does he ept?" "I do." "System alert: you are an agent of light. Dark times are looming ahead, and everywhere the game world is under constant threat of the dark forces. The darkness era descended, and you are the only shining knight in such a pitch ck world. A sun burns on its own to light the path for others. You are asked to start the punitive emergency call over system settlements once per week. Once issues, the entire settlement will be locked, the tickets will be rendered nonfunctional." Chapter 233: The Emergency Call Quest Chapter 233: The Emergency Call Quest "System alert: you are an agent of light. Dark times are looming ahead, and everywhere the game world is under constant threat of the dark forces. The darkness era descended, and you are the only shining knight in such a pitch ck world. A sun burns on its own to light the path for others. You are asked to start the punitive emergency call over system settlements once per week. Once issues, the entire settlement will be locked, the tickets will be rendered nonfunctional. The call willst for one hour. During which any dark yer or NPC will be forced to be revealed. Your task is to roam the settlement and start attacking those. The dark yers and NPCs won''t be seen by the guards until you sh with them, and you are needed to reveal at least sixty percent of them or else the quest is considered a failure. Seeding the quest will give the yer good prestige points, increase the yer''s enmity with the dark camp, and also rich rewards like gold, materials, gears, pets, butlers, servantsetc. the final reward will be determined over the overall performance of the yer during each quest. Failing the quest will cut some prestige points, gears, materials, and ten percent of the inventory of the yer. yer will have to pay ten thousand gold coins per quest if he doesn''t want to activate the quest for one week. Good luck, the entire light camp is depending on your performance." "Can you do it?" Anna noticed the weird look over his face before he smiled in confidence. "I can," he simply answered. He didn''t frown because of the difficulty of the quest, but for the funny fact that he was now the agent of darkness and light at the same time. Two opposing camps and he was the agent of the two this was such a weird and funny situation he didn''t know how he ended up being in. "I''ll take my leave now," he said in respect, "I have many viges to visit." "Oh, you n to start right away?" her eyes shone with surprise, "you know the quest can be done once per week." "I n to activate it once per day if I could, or even more," he smiled before adding, "the situation inside the viges is simply messy at the moment." He wasn''t exaggerating. Right now the trend was to be a dark yer, and walking inside any vige wasn''t safe anymore. For him he didn''t care much about that, but he felt some threat thinking about his enemy. He wasn''t on Dockrey''s radar for now, but soon he would. After what he intended to do with Gerard he was pretty sure Dockrey would send an endless stream of yers after him. And he should be prepared for them. This quest wouldn''t serve in this mission only, but he nned to use it as the mighty sword against the necks of his enemies. "Impressive," she praised, "I''ll wait for your news then." He excused himself and went first to buy tickets to this town before using his ticket to return to the Rendog vige. ''Where are you now?'' he sent this to Antoan while moving towards the gate of the vige. ''We are fighting a group of monsters,'' Atnoan sent before adding, ''don''te. I think there are some strange folks around.'' Bloom halted his steps before asking, ''Nara''s spies?'' ''I don''t think so. I believe it''s your enemy.'' "Dockrey," Bloom clenched his fists before Antoan sent again: ''I think they followed the footsteps of Peri and Jeffrey and saw me.'' ''Expected,'' Bloom sent before opening his list of friends and sent enough tickets to Antoan. ''Use them now and go to that vige.'' ''Alright,'' Antoan knew this was for the best, ''just give us a few minutes to wrap things here.'' ''Np.'' Bloom already used his ticket and moved from the vige. He roamed many ces and bringing his team along wasn''t that much of a deal. Exposing them here was expected, and before he could gather enough yers around he wouldn''t risk a direct sh with Dockrey''s forces. He didn''t wait for long before Antoan and the team appeared. "This ce" Antoan nced all around before weirdly smiling, "it''s quite deste!" "The entire game worlds aren''t that filled with yers yet," Bloom smiled as he selected this vige for that reason. He didn''t want to be in a very bustling ce, as like that anyoneing to spy on them would be easily detected. "What''s now?" a yer asked. "We''ll keep leveling up," Bloom said before adding, "we got roughly a day and half before we move." Bloom led them to fight while he kept his distance back with Antoan. The moment they saw his level everyone got an instant scare, but he didn''t exin. The veneration looks in their eyes were so evident and he was quite satisfied by their reaction. "You know thedy is asking for a meeting," Antoan suddenly came after one day of leveling. The monsters here were skeletons, the first Bloom faced when the darkness era appeared. "When?" he simply asked while watching the boys fighting and taking note of those worthy of his support. And there were many. "Tomorrow," Antoan had a weird look over his face, "she asked strictly for everyone toe, as she had a n she wanted to implement." "Interesting," Bloom smiled, "did she have her own agenda ready? Did she expose the target?" "No," Antoan shook his head, "it seems she is worried of spies in her group." "She should," Bloom nodded, "after all she bought them with money, and those loyal to money can''t be trusted." "She also asked to bring you," Antoan paused. "Did she know about my level?" "I doubt that," Antoan nced over everyone here before adding, "I trust this group and they won''t leak a thing." "I also chose to hide my level," Bloom thought for a moment before adding, "these two must have told her about me." "This is the only possible reason." Chapter 234: Its Time Chapter 234: It''s Time "Sigh, I nned to expose myself to herter but" he didn''t want to fight alongside her for now, especially when he didn''t yet perfect his new skill set. "You can give any excuse and not go," Antoan suggested. "And make her have more doubts? No, I''ll go," Bloom decided, "but let''s do it after we get rid off Gerard." "It works," Antoan said before adding, "when do you n on gathering more yers?" "After getting rid off Gerard," Bloom replied, "after we do that, you''ll simply post the videos on forums and announce our desire to expand our forces." "Me?" Antoan was surprised, "not you?" "In front of the world you''ll be the real leader inside the game," Bloom said before adding, "everything I do will be ounted for. This way I can escape the hype brought by these deeds for now." "Well" Antoan nced over the team in the distance. "Didn''t you say you trust them?" Bloomughed. "I do, but I didn''t mean that," Antoan sighed, "anyone with little mind will know you are the one behind any sess we have. Only a few fights with you and they''ll know." Bloom knew his butler had a good point, "that''s why I won''t appear often," he muttered, "or to be safe I would only work with those you trust not to leak a word out." "This" the face of Antoan showed his hesitation. "I know this isn''t a perfect solution," Bloom reassured him, "but at least we can dy the spread of news." Antoan didn''t say anymore as he stood there alongside his master while the team kept killing one team of monsters after another. ''Where are you?'' Suddenly this message came from the henchman of Gerard. ''Leveling up somewhere,'' Bloom simply answered, ''why are you asking?'' ''It''s time,'' the yer sent. ''What about my fees?'' ''Granted.'' ''Alright, where and when do you want me toe?'' Bloom had an evil grin over his face at this moment. After all he was getting the info he wanted simply from the mouth of Gerard himself. ''Right now, I''ll send you the coordinates,'' the yer sent, ''don''t bete, the boss is in a hurry.'' Bloom revised the coordinates and found them to be outside the vige. "Not a problem," heughed before turning to his team, "boys, it''s time." "Are we going now?" Antoan came to him and asked with a big smile over his face. "Sure, let the boys be ready," Bloom said before ncing over the yers who started to fight faster to kill every single monster in front of them. "It''s now time to start our revenge for Bloom," he shouted in a strong tone while the expressions over the faces of his team told him everything about their feelings right now. They were very thrilled with this. "Distribute these," he took out tickets and gave to Antoan, "I''ll go first then you''ll follow after five minutes." "What''s the n?" one of the yers asked. "Simply killing the team we meet," Bloom casually said, "then you''ll have all to go back to the vige when I give you the order." "But" Antoan was surprised by this. "Trust me," Bloom patted on his shoulder, "we won''t let them escape." "But we can''t attack them in the vige or else" another yer expressed his doubts. "It''s alright," Bloom simplyughed, "I got everything ready just don''t dy in returning when I give you the signal." They all nodded as they received their tickets while watching Bloom vanish from their sights. ''Bring the boys to these coordinates,'' the moment he appeared in the vige he sent this brief message with the coordinates he received to Antoan. ''I''m in the vige,'' he sent to the henchman of Gerard, ''I''ming right away.'' ''Don''t bete,'' the yer sent, ''the boss is anxious to move out.'' ''Don''t worry,'' he sent to the yer while moving outside the vige. ''I''ll keep you posted with my location all the time,'' he sent to Antoan. ''When should we strike?'' Antoan asked. ''The moment you arrive,'' Bloom said before adding, ''I''ll be in the opponent''s team, so make the boys ready for that.'' ''This how the hell did you manage to infiltrate their ranks?'' ''Hahaha, it was simply easy,'' Bloom was amused by his butler''s reaction before adding, ''don''t waste time ande now.'' ''We are already there.'' Bloom didn''t halt his steps as he went forward with great speed. "You arete." When he arrived at the coordinates he found arge group of yers gathered there. Bloom nced all around and noticed strong looking yers everywhere. "Sorry, I came once you said," he shrugged. "Come, the boss is very interested in meeting our ace yer." Bloom followed the yer who had a very proud smile over his face. He was mistaken for Bloom for a great gain, didn''t know he was just bringing cmity over his boss and everyone here. "So you are that strong yer?" Gerard had a huge body. Standing there amongst his elites he looked like a giant. "What level are you at now?" "Twenty-eight," Bloom simply answered and his words made everyone around startled. "Damn man," the yer who brought him heremented, "you were at twenty-five a couple of days ago!" "Hahaha, I''ve just got lucky encounters andpleted some quests," Bloom tried to cover up on his insane speed of leveling up. "But you said you hated quests," Gerard said in doubtful eyes. "I do," Bloom nodded, "but that doesn''t mean I would reject anything good I meet in my way." "Hahaha," Gerard stood silent for a couple of moments before breaking out inughter, "I like this guy, he is simply like me." Bloom only kept a calm smile over his face while watching everyone aroundughing with Gerard. He was ncing over the joy over their faces and picturing the despair they would get after he acted. ''Laugh as much as you like, soon you''ll only cry in regret.'' Chapter 235: A Sudden Development Chapter 235: A Sudden Development "Alright, you''ll work directly under me," Gerard said before shouting, "prepare to leave, our goal is nearby and all we need to do is to attack and crush the caravan within the shortest span of time we had." Bloom watched everyone preparing to move, yet he wanted to dy this lot of yers. "What''s the mission?" he asked. "To hijack a caravan," Gerard said, "don''t worry, it''s not that hard to crack." Bloom nced all around and faked hesitation. "It''s not time to have cold feet man," Gerardughed, "if you are afraid to lose one level then go back, I don''t want pussies here." Just as he said that with a bigugh a loud shout came from the front: "Intruders!" This shout startled everyone while Gerard had a strange look over his face. "Go and see what''s going on," he said to one of his yers who simply moved fast to the front. ''Are you here?'' Bloom sent to Antoan using this brief moment of chaos all around. ''We are on our way,'' Antoan sent, ''just three more minutes top.'' '''' Bloom was surprised to hear that before the yer Gerard sent came running from the front with a dark look over his face. "It''s that crazy princess and her entire group of yers," he shouted. "Nara?" Gerard asked before his face showed a vicious look, "great, it''s time for her to be taught a lesson. Listen up," he turned to everyone around as he shouted, "go and lead your teams. The quest can be dyed for more time but this sweet cake here can''t." "Who is she?" Bloom faked ignorance but Gerard didn''t answer. "She is the boss''s boss''s girlfriend," the yer who brought Bloom here said, "but she is a crazy person," he added once noticed the doubt over Bloom''s face. "Hannipal," Gerard suddenly shouted, e with me, we need to crush those arrogant boys who she called elites." "Right away boss," Bloom faked his excitement while epting the add from Gerard. He hastily checked the team''s levels. Gerard was still twenty-four while his men all were lower than him with one level. ''Piece of cake,'' he simply thought to himself. ''Be prepared, Nara is here with her entire team,'' he hurriedly sent to Antoan. ''Damn! She is really resourceful,'' Antoan sent before adding, ''Do you want us to dy our appearance?'' ''No,'' Bloom shook his head, ''this is better for us.'' ''But you'' Antoan paused before sending again, ''Jeffrey and Peri already know about you. She will see you and know your strength.'' Bloom had to inwardly sigh. ''We have to ept this fate then,'' he simply said, ''I can just evade meeting her in real life.'' ''And make her more doubtful?'' Antoan said before adding, ''I think it''s best if you go. After all you are the new lord and avenging the old one seems to work for your favor.'' Bloom thought a little about this before sending, ''Let''s think it again after all this ends.'' ''This girl,'' he reached the front and spotted Nara leading a grand number of yers who seemed to match the big number on Gerard''s side, ''I have to be more careful then.'' "Little girl, what brought you here today?" Gerard moved to the front while his own fifty team of elite and carefully chosen followed. The two sides were now standing neck to neck while their pets were summoned to add more to this epic scene. "You damn bastard," Nara shouted in absolute rage, "I won''t rest until I kill you and your boss and make you all leave the game." "Humph," Gerard didn''t show any weakness while ncing over the grand number of enemies in front of him, "you sure have your own spies here, interesting," heughed before pointing to his own army of yers and added: "I don''t doubt spies present here, but this is a nice thing to lure you out and kill you here. I hope this would wake you up a little, my face p I mean," heughed as if he cracked a very funny one. And his men justughed along with him. However Bloom was busy with something else. The moment he appeared beside Gerard the faces of Peri and Jeffrey changed. He spotted them ring in shock at him before the two exchanged silent nces. And then the face of Nara changed as she turned to nce directly at him. "I see you gathered some good yers to your side," she sneered while not removing her eyes off Bloom. ''Damn girl, can''t you react better?'' and Bloom inwardly cursed. "If I knew you''d appear today I''d have brought more," yet Gerard didn''t get these changes as heughed, "he isn''t the only strong ones here, so don''t be ashamed to turn around and leave before I decide to kill you." He pointed over to Bloom while sneering. "This is just for boss''s sake, after all it would be bad if he got the news." "I''m sure he would be pissed off," Nara finally moved her eyes away from Bloom as she added, "receiving the news of the death of his butler on my hands hahaha, I can''t even imagine the look over his face without falling on the ground." Sheughed and her army of yersughed as well, but strangely the look over Gerard''s face didn''t change. ''He is overly confident,'' Bloom thought, ''there are spies inside Nara''s team, be a bitte to show up,'' he sent to Atnoan as he decided to change the ns. As if there are traitors, it was best to wait until they show up their true colors. After all they were such a deadly thorn over the neck of Nara and his, and so he needed to deal with them in utmost care. ''Roger that,'' Antoan simply said, ''we are less than one minute run from your ce.'' ''Good, wait for my signal then,'' Bloom sent before Nara raised her two swords to the air before shouting, "For Bloom!" It looked weird seeing his own girl starting such a fight and shout out his name. "Be ready to receive them," Gerard simply said while a confident smile appeared on top of his face. The first sh between the two sides was very intense from the beginning. The first to fight was the pets, then the melee yers hit the shield bearers while those shade sons vanished from both sides and a massacre simply kicked off in such heat from the start. "Make them move," just after the first exchange between the two sides started, Gerard whispered to one of his trusted aides, "I don''t like wasting time of worthless flies." "All of them?" the henchman asked with an interesting look over his face. "Send them all," Gerard answered after a moment of pause, "the boss might go crazy at me but we already have more spies hidden well around her." This news made Bloom sneer inwardly as he received first handed secrets from the mouth of his enemy directly and easily like that. And just the next moment almost one third of the yers on Nara''s side turned around and started hitting those next to them. And chaos erupted then. ''Come now,'' Bloom sent to his butler, ''it''s time to butcher these sheep.'' Chapter 236: Jeffreys Doubts Chapter 236: Jeffrey''s Doubts "Hannipal," suddenly Gerard shouted, "go and kill that bastard." Bloom nced at the yer Gerard pointed at, and he wasn''t much surprised to see Jeffrey. "Leave it to me," Bloom shouted back while moving towards the direction of Jeffrey. Jeffrey was like a shadow, appearing at one spot for a second before vanishing the next. His hits caused critical damage, and not a single yer managed to sustain more than five hits from him before dying. "Finally you came," Jeffrey sighed as if he was waiting for him. "Don''t tell me you did this for me," Bloom sneered before taking out two swords at this time as he added, "let''s fake a good fight." "Buying time?" Jeffrey disappeared to appear the next moment behind Bloom, but thetter was already anticipating this and moved one sword to block the attack using his ground breaker skill. "Reinforcements are on the way," Bloom said before noticing the strange look over Jeffrey''s face, "don''t stop or else you know, hehehe." "Damn," Jeffrey just took a simple hit from Bloom''s other sword before feeling pain all over his body. He vanished but he had lost over two thirds of his Hp just from this mere strike. Bloom had already ditched his gloves beforeing here, recing them with another normal pair of green grade. His attacks wouldn''t send yers flying like before. He missed this feeling of OP, but he didn''t want to expose himself especially to someone knowing him very well. "Single hit and all this damage What the hell are you at?" Jeffrey appeared once more and this time Bloom intentionally slowed his sword to make him evade it at hair breadth. "Twenty-eight," he said while Jeffrey went into shadows again. "You remind me of someone," he suddenly said. "And you too," Bloom decided to y this game with him as well. "I''m serious!" "Me too." "C''mon, you are fighting as brutal and domineering as that dead man," Jeffrey said in extreme doubt, "even that defending skill I never saw anyone using it but him!" Bloom knew he wasn''t yet prepared to y alongside Nara and Jeffrey precisely for that reason. They had too much in-depth knowledge about him and his pattern of fighting. "I just got a skill to defend myself with," he tried to cover up over this, "what''s wrong with that?" "It''s just" "Rumble!" ''Finally!'' Just as he was getting interrogated and cornered with Jeffrey, a loud rumble urred by the sudden appearance of Antoan and his team. They summoned their pets and shed at once towards the main army of Gerard. From the first moment they used their strongest skills and let their pets loose. "Sorry but I have to join them," Bloom disengaged from this fake y with Jeffrey, who was now standing surprised by such a strong sneak attacking from Antoan and his team. "You already knew about this quest," he muttered and Bloom perfectly heard him but didn''tment on his remark. "Just stay out of the vige in the next hours," he warned before meddling in the disturbed swarm of yers who were still shocked by this sudden shift in events. Jeffrey stood there for a moment before hurrying to open his friend list and started rying what happened to hisdy. As for Bloom, everyone just let him through. For them he was their ally; their strongest ally. They nced at him with much hope to bring on a miracle. "Hurry Hannibal," Gerard shouted from the front while trying to stop the unstoppable momentum of Atnoan''s monsters. "We need to stop them here, everyone on me!" "You are really a courageous dude," Bloom suddenly sneered when he reached the side of Gerard. Thetter turned to nce weirdly towards him before seeing four swords all of sudden flying on the side of Bloom. "It''s unfortunate you chose the wrong master sword tornado!" The next instan the four swords flew higher in the air, each pointed to a certain direction of the four main ones with Bloom being in the centre. This all happened in one second, and Gerard''s face told Bloom he already discovered what was going on. "Toote," yet he sneered before the four swords descended upon Gerard and his team as they rotated fast and massively, cleaving and hacking every single yer and monster''s body. In less than a few seconds, Gerard and his elite team were all killed simply like that! From far this attack didn''t escape the eyes of Nara, Peri, and Jeffrey who were extremely shocked to see the gap Bloom''s swords left behind. ''Still thinking it''s him?'' Nara sent while sighing. ''He is strong like him!'' yet Jeffrey was still sticking to his own suspicion. ''No,'' Peri sent in thebined chat room of the three, ''he is far scarier than him.'' ''I agree,'' Nara said before watching Bloom hitting more yers around. Bloom selected those he knew were the main pirs of Gerard''s faction. He didn''t want to kill a snake head to have others rising up instead. He nned to uproot this entire powerhouse and leave none behind. "I''ll leave things here for you," he turned to nce at the far distant Nara as he softly whispered to her. He didn''t know if she could hear him, and he didn''t care. He took out a ticket to return to the vige while shouting, "let''s go boys, it''s time to have a grand feast." Nara noticed his move and felt his distant whispers like they were talking directly to her heart. Just as she was stunned for a second there, she watched him take out a ticket and then vanished the next instant from her sight. ''What the hell is going on?'' she hurriedly sent Jeffrey and Peri while noticing that all the other yers who sneakily attacked Gerard''s army started to follow through. ''Ah I totally forgot,'' Jeffrey med himself for his negligence, ''he told me to stay out of the vige for the next couple of hours.'' ''He told you that and you forgot to tell?'' Peri sent while feeling no less surprise than Nara from Jeffrey''s weird behavior. ''I thought it was nothing to mention,'' he tried to apologize, ''but they all vanished?'' ''They went to the vige,'' Nara turned her head towards the direction of the vige, ''he nned something for sure.'' ''Damn! He gives me the vibe of that Bloom,'' Peri couldn''t help but send to them, ''unpredictable and quite scary.'' ''See? I told you,'' Jeffrey said. ''Shut up,'' Nara was still mad at his negligence of that info, ''I''ll leave you here to take charge of things.'' ''Don''t say you are going after him?'' Peri was sent while feeling shocked by Nara''s decision. She turned to nce at Nara to see her taking out a ticket and started to use it. ''At least he had some conscience and left his pets behind to help,'' she sent before adding, ''I''ll go and watch from far you just keep yourselves busy here.'' ''But'' Jeffrey was hesitant, ''can Ie with you?'' ''Of course not,'' she vanished while sending the rest from inside the vige, ''I can hide well while being alone, but anymore and he''ll notice us. Besides that fight is still a hard one to win.'' ''Not really,'' Jeffrey sent before adding, ''he already took out the main yers in Gerard''s army. Whoever left are only mercenaries and none of them can pose a threat to us.'' ''We have equal levels, more numbers and they are in disarray,'' Peri analyzed, ''let Jeffreye with you y''know, for safekeeping.'' ''Hahaha,'' she sent in the chat as she wasughing already inside a side street near the central za, ''you are afraid I might fall for him or what? C''mon, I''m not that yful widow. I won''t fall for anyone again!'' She dered in strong words and clear intention, but the other two only inwardly sighed and said nothing. "She will fall for him, wanna bet?" Jeffrey said to Peri the moment he reached her ce in this messy battle. "Why betting over a losing one?" she bitterly chuckled, "he is really and strangely simr to Bloom." "He could be him," Jeffrey said and when he saw the stern and serious look over her face he hurriedly added, "you know the CEO and others investigated Bloom''s ID in the game it''s still functioning." "It''s not functioning," she corrected him in a serious tone, "they only can''t delete it." "For me they both are the same." "Don''t spread false rumors or give false hope," she showed a side of herself only few, including him, were aware it was there. Even Nara didn''t know about this side at all. And deep down his soul, Jeffrey felt a cold shiver there. "A- Alright I''ll keep my mouth shut." "And your useless thoughts only to yourself from now on," she red in a threatening way towards him and he only nodded like an obedient kid. "Good," she shifted back to the king and easy going girl she used to be, "let''s get this done fast and go to see what that Hannipal is scheming back there." Chapter 237: Activating The Punitive Quest Chapter 237: Activating The Punitive Quest Bloom reached the vige and then he started to look around. Antoan and his team appeared there as well. "What''s now?" Antoan asked. "Spread everyone into a team of ten and scatter all around the vige," he hurriedly said before going towards the direction of the resurrection point. "And?" Antoan shouted from far. ''Just send me their locations and be ready to aid me in a very big fight,'' he simply sent to him before he spotted the resurrection point from far. The resurrection point was somewhere near the central za but not exactly in it. There was only a small distance of a couple of minutes walk between the two, and if he was running he could cross it in less than a minute. "Let''s see how you''ll deal with this," he smirked before muttering, "Activate the punitive quest." "You got some courage toe here to die," Gerard shouted in extreme rage and hatred, "who the hell are you?" "Someone who will make you leave the game," Bloom simply answered while the system alert started to ring inside his ears. "System alert: The punitive quest of the Swor town mayor is activated." "System alert: you are an agent of light. Dark times are looming ahead, and everywhere the game world is under constant threat of the dark forces. The darkness era descended, and you are the only shining knight in such a pitch ck world. A sun burns on its own to light the path for others. You are asked to start the punitive emergency call over system settlements once per week. Once issues, the entire settlement will be locked, the tickets will be rendered nonfunctional. The call willst for one hour. During which any dark yer or NPC will be forced to be revealed. Your task is to roam the settlement and start attacking those. The dark yers and NPCs won''t be seen by the guards until you sh with them, and you are needed to reveal at least sixty percent of them or else the quest is considered a failure. Seeding the quest will give the yer good prestige points, increase the yer''s enmity with the dark camp, and also rich rewards like gold, materials, gears, pets, butlers, servantsetc. the final reward will be determined over the overall performance of the yer during each quest. Failing the quest will cut some prestige points, gears, materials, and ten percent of the inventory of the yer. yer will have to pay ten thousand gold coins per quest if he doesn''t want to activate the quest for one week. Good luck, the entire light camp is depending on your performance." "System alert: yer can choose when to start the punitive emergency call during the next hour. If the yer didn''t activate it personally the system will automatically initiate it." "Hahaha, you are really a piece of art," Gerard was already surrounded with an increasing number of his yers who were either killed at the hands of Bloom and his team or were still being killed by Nara and her team. "We''ll see about that," Bloom simply sneered while watching those hundreds of yers surrounding his dreadful enemy. "Activate it now!" he shouted and his words were perfectly heard by many, startling all. "System alert: yer Hannpial has initiated an emergency punitive quest at Serendity vige." "System alert: Starting from now the gates and the transportation portals of the vige are sealed for an hour. No one is allowed toe in or leave the vige during that." "System alert: follow the steps of yer Hannipal and help him in expelling the dark yers from the vige. The location of yer Hannipal inside the vige will be constantly refreshed every minute. Dying will only cost any yer one tenth of his experience not an entire level. yers won''t resurrect at the resurrection pond, but will be resurrected instantly at their ces with full Hp and magical power. Any yer aids him in killing any dark yer will receive corresponding rewards and at the end of the quest yers can easily exchange these points for various rewards." "System alert: any dark yer killed will be instantly sent to the prison to be locked there for one year game time. Good luck, valiants, the light camp of the game is depending upon all of your efforts." "System alert: any yer belonging to the vige dominance killed will be held during the hour. If he was a light yer then he will be resurrected normally after the end of the calling. If he was a dark yer then he will face the same fate as those inside. The final count of pointsing from these yers will be equally distributed on everyone inside the vige during the event provided that they had at least one point in their ount when the calling ends." "Impressive," Bloom muttered in surprise when he heard all these system notifications. "Now I''m not fighting alone, hahahaha." He was so excited now. Even dying here wouldn''t cause that much of a loss. "The game is doing its best to make everyone help me hahaha, that''s amazing!" He turned his nce over the dark faces of Gerard and his men before taking out his four swords. The swords hovered over each side of his while his face showed a vicious expression. ''Boss it''s bad,'' Antoan hurriedly sent to him, ''we are all dark yers!'' ''Don''t worry,'' he instantly sent, ''keep them all hidden, as long as I didn''t exchange swords with them then they''ll be fine.'' ''No need for them to aid you then?'' ''Just make them spy on others,'' Bloom thought for a moment, ''any suspicious ones must be reported to me.'' ''Roger that.'' Bloom started to move, step by step, towards his enemies. Each step he took was met by a step backward by everyone. "What are you standing here doing?" Gerard nervously shouted, "goddammit, he is just a single yer and we are hundreds! Just go out there and start killing him." Chapter 238: Exposed! Chapter 238: Exposed! His shouts seeded in driving more sense inside most, but still some were smart enough to know what the real aim of Gerard was. He just wanted cannonfooders, to keep Bloom busy while he started looking for a ce to hide. "Just give it up already," Bloom sneered before adding, "I''ve decided you won''t y this game ever again, and I won''t stop until I achieve that." "Attack go and kill him now!" the words of Bloom made Gerard mad. If this was a simple zero out then he wouldn''t even mind that fate. However being confined in any game prison was the death sentence for any yer. One year without even seeing the light of the game world was such a fate that even a deadly enemy would sympathize with. The shouts from Gerard and his trusted henchmen drove many to move at once towards Bloom. "Sigh, if only I can summon my pets here," he sighed while watching his target run away. "at least I can fight normally now." He paused, removed his two gloves and wore another two. "Time to get serious," he ruthlessly nced over the hundreds moving near him before pointing one sword towards one of them and muttered, "Dash!" The next instant his body moved to hit the marked yer, sending him flying like a cannonball. The yer hit many in his path, and Bloom didn''t stop there. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab" His old routine resurfaced again. All he needed was to hit one yer with his sword, and the next instant that yer would be sent flying, gone from his sight. "Retreat," suddenly one who seemed to get the hopeless point of directly resisting him shouted, "let''s run away!" As he shouted, many were jolted awake from the feverish overwhelming feeling to fight Bloom. "Like it''s easy to walk away from the mouth of the beast," Bloom evillyughed, "sword tornado!" The next instant the four swords moved up high, each pointing to a direction before they started rotating around and moved in fast momentum towards the front. For ten seconds, the four swords caused enough devastation to yers even to those who were already running away. Anyone who got hit was sent flying, hitting a wall or falling on the ground, yet none managed to stand properly for a couple of seconds. And just as the skill ended, Bloom wasn''t merciful enough to let them run or heal. "Die stab, stab, stab, stab" he started his own barrage of attack, killing anyone he could reach. Yet despite that many managed to run away! "Hannipal we are here to help." Just as he watched the almost two hundred yers running away he heard this sudden shouting from multiple directions. "Go after them," he didn''t hesitate to point his swords towards the directions his enemies were running at, "I''ve exposed them. Killing them will get you points. Don''t let them escape!" He hurriedly gave a long series of orders while running with his fastest speed. He didn''t chase after any of them, or even paused to hear the words of thoseing to his aid. His target his only goal was to catch up with that jerk and kill him and his trusted henchmen first. ''Any lead over him?'' After a few minutes of running in the street Gerard ran to he was faced with four roads branching from the one he wasing from. He hurriedly sent to Antoan, and thetter sent back: ''About Gerard? Nothing yet but the boys spotted many yers running and escaping.'' ''Mark their ces and send them to me,'' he sent before adding, ''I''ll go to them after finishing here.'' He stopped in front of the four roads confused. "Which one should I take?" he softly muttered as each road ended up in the front with a turn, blocking his eyesight from scouting further. "I can help," suddenly this familiar feminine sound came just from his back startling him, "I can help you, Bloom." He sharply turned to face Nara. She stood there while her eyes were shimmering with bright light. Her face wasn''t that pale or depressed one, not agonized with pain anymore. "I''m not Bloom," he firmly said before adding, "and what are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be back at the fight outside?" "Oh, that exins why you were using your skills without consideration," she shortlyughed, a very pure one, augh that she took out all the depressed nervousness piled inside and threw it all out. "I told you" "I know," her smile only grew bigger, "I heard you for the first time." The two stood there motionless for a couple seconds. Her eyes told him she already knew, and all he could do now was to hope she could keep the secret safely. "Where did he go?" he asked, turning his gaze to the roads before him. "That way," she leisurely pointed towards a direction before leisurely adding, "I hope you can kill him, Bloom." He turned to her with a stern gaze and a serious warning. "I know I know" she raised both of her palms in the air while shrugging, "you aren''t him, I know." The next moment he sent her a friend request while starting to run towards the direction of Gerard. ''Keep that to yourself only,'' he sent to her without even saying hi, ''this is for your own good sake.'' ''Oh, the mighty Bloom will kill me if I spoke out,'' she sent back and he just felt her steps behind with a loudughing from her mouth. ''It''s for your own safety,'' he sent while ignoring her useless remark, ''those enemies who killed me won''t hesitate to kill you.'' ''Afraid of me?'' she yfullyughed from behind while he was running faster, expanding the gap between the two with the help of the gap already present between their two levels. ''Why shouldn''t I? you are my treasured girl after all.'' '''' Chapter 239: Going After Gerard Chapter 239: Going After Gerard She didn''t speak and he just imagined her face at the moment and couldn''t help for a smile to appear over his face. ''You shouldn''t let me feel that pain,'' she sent ming him, ''you should have inclined to me even with hints.'' ''Too dangerous,'' he simply said, ''besides I keep an eye on you since then, right?'' ''The mysterious Henry,'' she sent while he couldn''t hear herughs anymore as he already left her far behind. ''Thanks'' She only sent that but he wasn''t satisfied. ''Don''t tell anyone, not even those whom you trust in your life.'' ''Even Jeffrey?'' ''Even Peri,'' he sent before adding, ''there are manyplicated things you don''t know about.'' ''Tell me then.'' ''Not now I''m busy.'' ''I can see that,'' she sent and he was sure her pureugh was now ringing across the street. ''You need to fake it well,'' he warned again, ''nothing should change your agony your pain all must be the same.'' ''Don''t worry, I''ll make sure none will suspect me.'' ''Even those close to you, be perfect or else'' ''I know,'' she sent, ''I also won''t stop my revenge crusade for you my love.'' ''Hahaha, you confessed just now, hahaha.'' ''It''s just your hallucinations,'' she sent before adding, ''y''know how true my feelings for you.'' Herst words yed on a deep string inside his heart. "Yes my precious I already saw everything," he softly whispered in a deep tone to himself while shes of her reaction and intense feeling after hearing his death resurfaced inside his mind. "Found you," just as he was feeling this, his eyes picked a distant trail of a group of yers running at the end of the street. They were a small group of twenty or something, and they looked really small from his far ce. "Just wait, I''ll make you regret what you did to me bastard!" He wasn''t addressing them, but that phantom image of his dreadful enemy in his mind. The street they were running at was one of the busiest in the vige, and yet they managed to spot him. He noticed some shouts and screaming rming shouts before the group headed towards the side of the street and nned to diversify themselves into the uing streets. "I hope it works," he was at least over five hundred meters away from them, yet he didn''t lose hope as he pointed his sword to the nearest one and muttered, "Dash!" "System alert: you are too far. The skill can''t be initiated." "Damn it!" he loudly cursed before he had a crazier thought, "Dash!" He pointed his sword towards an NPC walking in peace just a hundred meter away from him. The next instant he hit the NPC and sent him flying away. "Sorry," he said with a big smile over his face while pointing the second sword towards another one and Dash! He jumped again to hit that NPC and sent him to fly. He didn''t use only the dash but followed it with a cloud of fog skill. Just as hended over the second NPC and shouted an apology with a smile, Gerard shouted from the closing up distance with a nervous tone: "Stop him, don''t let him get near me!" Bloom crossed almost half the distance between him and Gerard, so he could now perfectly see his face. "Afraid of me? Hahaha, you should be," heughed while leisurely pointing out his sword to another NPC to get closer to his target. He simply moved without the need to activate the skill again. The cloud of fog gave him five extra times of his dash effect, and he only needed three at most to catch up with that scaredmp. He jumped another distance while over half of Gerard''s dogs were getting nearer to him as well. "Sorry," he smiled as he said to the one he just sent flying, "you are next." He pointed his sword to Gerard but the system notification told him he couldn''t move there. And just this simple move and sentence made the face of Gerard paler. "On our dead bodies," the yers stood in front of him, forming a human wall in two lines, blocking Gerard from his sight. "My pleasure worthless flies," he didn''t point his sword to them but towards a nearby NPC before sending him flying with an apology. "My bad, but I have to hurry," hended again on another NPC, creating a sharp angle and bypassing that useless dummy block. Yet when he bypassed them, he watched Gerard and the remaining seven of his team reaching finally towards a side street. "Damn!" he pointed his sword towards Gerard yet he missed him in a fraction of second. "Sorry," he said afternding over another NPC while his gaze was fixed over the almost in reach Gerard. "Keep runningmp, I''ll butcher you today one way or another," he evillyughed while running with his highest speed towards the side street, entering it like a loose arrow. "Stop him!" Gerard screamed with all the strength he got while starting to feel cold down his bottom, "don''t let him get near me or else I won''t let you live outside!" Hisst threat managed to drive some fear inside the souls of his henchmen. They weren''t following him out of loyalty or love, just for benefit and money. The next moment they turned around sharply, all of them headed towards Bloom who was now cornered between thoseing from the front and back. "Thinking you can stop me? Pathetic!" Bloom kept running straight while the upfront team was so near. "Resisting me is futile, fighting me means despair sword tornado!" He simply used his strongest AOE skill and controlled the path of the swords to circle a big one around him. In less than ten seconds, all the yers Gerard sent were tossed to the side of the street while only nothing stayed between the two. "Who the hell are you? What have I done wrong for you to be this persistent?" Gerard shouted while the tone told Bloom he was about to cry out of despair. "I don''t care to exin anything to a dead man," Bloom ruthlessly said before muttering, "dash!" Chapter 240: So Near... Yet So Far! Chapter 240: So Near... Yet So Far! The moment Bloom used the skill his body moved to hit Gerard and stunning him. The poor Gerard tried to shield himself using his shields but he failed. Bloom was simply faster and calmer. "Let''s see how long you will sustain," he muttered before using his simple swords moves without using any skill at all. Each hit took at least ten thousand Hp of Gerard, depleting his entire Hp in less than seven strikes. "Say hi to Dockrey for me," before he finished he said these words and thest hit sent Gerard on his way to the prison. "Sigh, this was really intense," Bloom muttered before turning to nce at those henchmen who were running at him. "Time to get rid of all the flies then sword tornado." He didn''t hold back his hand and sent his four swords to send all the yers to the air once more. Just as they allnded and the technique was still raging wild at all of them, Bloom simply took out two more swords. "It''s time to cause you some despair," heughed while moving fast, hunting down the yers all around without showing any mercy. As he finished killing them all, he noticed none dropped a single thing. "Strange, does killing yers during the quest won''t give me anything back?" he was doubting this but after a moment he shrugged, "as if I care about those losers'' belongings." He started to think about his next move. Just before he reached the main street again, he was met with the excited face of Nara who seemed not to stop running after him. "Did you manage to get them?" she asked while ncing over his shoulders, "where are they? Why are you so calm?" Bloom took a stamina potion and gulped it. running all this distance and fighting in such an intense way depleted a big chunk of his stamina. "They are dead," he simply stated before adding, "you shouldn''t be here. Go and rest at the restaurant." "I want to be with you," she jumped to say, "I didn''t want to be separated again." "Don''t worry," he patted her shoulders while calmly adding, "when timees, we won''t be ever separated." She didn''t know why but his calm words seemed so trustworthy. Even her heart shivered slightly before nodding. "Will youe after you finish here?" she softly whispered. "Don''t count on that," he sighed, "we need to keep things as it is. I''m Henry the newndlord of Bloom''s belongings and you are the devastated lover who is seeking revenge." "Can''t you be by my side while taking revenge?" "I''m already on your side," he muttered, "but not in the open. Just listen to my arrangements, it''s better that way." "It''s safer, I admit that," she slowly nodded before adding, "but it''s just a pain to live like this, to be not able to see you." "Hahaha, silly girl you are already amassing a force of your own and I''m doing the same." "I can be under you," she knew his meaning and tried to provide a solution, "I can move all my forces to work for you." "You will," he firmly said, "but not now. The time isn''t right, we should keep our distance for now." "What if" she paused as she noticed the serious look over his face, "I wanted to know your news?" "Antoan will deliver everything to you if you just ask him to," he smiled as he stressed again, "we can''t miss lep here, our enemy is really ferocious. After his loss here he would be a wounded beast, the most dangerous of all beasts." "He wants me," she said, "he can''t harm me!" "But he can harm those close to you," Bloom sighed, "you should know he already did it once, and there is nothing to stop him from doing it again." "But you are the one provoking him not me!" "That''s another reason for you to stay away from me," he helplessly smiled, "I know this is too much to ask, but I can handle my own matters as long as I know you are safe and secured away." "I can''t be safe without you." "Be a good girl and don''t make things muchplicated for us," Bloom sighed, "trust me, if the opportunity is avable I won''t hesitate to call you over." She could only watch in silence while watching his back moving far away from her. "So near yet so far" she bitterly said and a long track of tears fell over her cheeks before wiping them out. "At least you are alive," she whispered before making up her mind, "I should work harder." Strange it seemed, but the desire to protect her most treasured person drove more will inside her than the raging desire for avenging him. As for Bloom, he simply prayed she would listen to his words and didn''t do anything foolish. ''Send me the locations of everyone hiding now,'' he sent to Antoan before adding, ''it''s to hunt everyone down.'' ''Do you need any help?'' Antoan sent a very long list of ces which Bloom started to match with his map. ''I can do it on my own,'' he sent, ''just keep the boys alert and update me with the news.'' ''Roger.'' "So you are scattered around nice tactic," as he matched the locations of the map he found that most were separated from each other by one street at least. "But you underestimated me," he evillyughed before heading towards the closest hiding location. And a massacre erupted all over the vige where no one ever managed to stand a chance against the brutal attacks of Bloom and his four swords. "Sorry, it''s not personal," heughed while banging over a group of twenty yers hiding like scared rats inside the basement of a normal looking building. "Stay away, we didn''t cause you any harm," one of the yers shouted while others started to run, aiming to escape using the high window. "I know," he grinned, "but you had bad luck to stay inside the vige this vige at this time sword tornado." He didn''t speak more as heunched his strongest skill over those running away and sent everyone to fly, pulling them back inside the basement. "Die and give me great rewards," heughed while starting his barrage of attacks, killing all of them in less than a minute. Chapter 241: Killing Players Chapter 241: Killing yers Things kept happening like this for almost half an hour before a new development urred. He was jumping off from one ce to another nonstop, following the instructions his scattered teams provided. He killed hundreds of dark yers so far without breaking a sweat. Despite this he held nothing against them, but for sure he needed to score high in this quest for the rich rewards he was promised of. ''There is a new move somewhere,'' suddenly Antoan sent him this brief message after he caught up with running yers and killed them. ''Tell,'' he sent. ''They are gathering up,'' Antoan sent, ''in the forums there is an uproar at the moment about this quest. Some smark dudes suggested they would stick together and fight as one big group.'' "That exins why thest couple hiding ces were abandoned and I had to run amok amongst the vige streets to catch them all," he muttered before asking: ''Coordinates?'' ''Do you n to face them head on?'' Antoan was surprised, ''this their numbers are great y''know.'' ''Don''t worry, I can handle them.'' ''They also decided to use their pets,'' Antoan warned. ''Using pets is like a direct invitation for the guards toe,'' Bloom sent with a sneer, ''let them do that.'' ''But you''ll have to face the first impact of them,'' Antoan warned, ''I suggest wee with you to help.'' ''No, stay where you are,'' Bloom refused, ''I won''t risk letting you be confined in prison for any reason.'' ''Didn''t you say you need to hit someone to expose him?'' ''Yup, but now things are different,'' Bloom sighed, ''the guards wille, and those folks won''t fool around. Simply they would investigate anyone fighting there, and I can''t guarantee your safety like this.'' His logic made Antoan be silent for a few moments before he sent the coordinates and added, ''if you needed our help'' ''Don''t worry, I won''t hesitate to ask,'' Bloom sent beforeughing, "But mate I doubt that." He wasn''t overly overconfident, he knew perfectly well the wide gaps he had with others. First he was already higher than them in matters of levels, and he also had stronger skills to use. His sword tornado was just a killer forrge groups, and his sent to fly passive skill was something to add some fun. "Besides the mental state differs greatly now, I''m the hunter and they are the prey," heughed while running towards the direction Antoan gave him while gulping Hp and stamina potions on the way. "Here you are my sweetmps," as he reached the ce these yers decided to gather, heughed loudly while his remark echoed around. They selected a very interesting ce, just near the town gates. "You are thinking about stalling for time until the quest ends, then run away," he muttered with an evil grin over his face, "sounds interesting but bad for you that your opponent is me." "Be ready," suddenly one of these yers shouted in a frightened tone, "we need to stick for almost fifteen minutes before this nightmare ends." "Use your pets now!" another one shouted, and Bloom just watched many shes of lights before arge number of pets appeared to shield them. The number of this group of yers was already too high, exceeding five hundred or even more. Yet Bloom never doubted his ability to crush them all on his own. As for the pets, an equal number of them appeared and they looked quite low on level. "This is the price of using a leveler and turning monsters into pets," he sneered as he was selective in his own pets. Like this if he summoned his own pets with their higher levels, they wouldn''t face any trouble clearing a path for him even if they were outnumbered by folds like this. But he didn''t intend to do that. If he did, he would bring a cmity over himself, or at least some sort of trouble. "I''m the one who created this quest, but I''m too a dark yer myself," he muttered to himself while watching therge number of monstersing at him. "I can''t risk being investigated, I doubt the system quest would protect me from this," he knew summoning any dark force inside the system settlement was a clear statement of your belonging to the dark side. He was just lucky to fool the mayor of the Swor town, yet she didn''t thoroughly investigate him. "She was a special case after all," he sighed before muttering, "sword tornado." His four swords rose high up before rotating fast and hit the frontal monsters without any mercy. Yet he didn''t wait for the skill to finish and took the two old swords of his and instantly used his favorite skill Dash. He just moved across the gap his swords created while hitting a lucky monster to evade them with his sword. Then he linked with another dash and he passed through the gap again. "Time to just run then," he didn''t intend to exhaust all his dashes or supportive skills on these flies. So he simply started to run after his four swords which were getting closer to cross the herd of monsters in a few more seconds. "Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab" yet his run couldn''t match the speed of his flying swords and the gap made by them was already getting filled with monsters from the side. Still each skill he used, each wave of a sword he did caused a single monster to be sent flying and clearing up the path once more. Just as he was about to get through, arge number of skills started to fall over his head. "-500" "-750" "-1200" "-332" A long row of damage rose up from the top of his head. "Damn, this even doesn''t cause any pain at all," heughed while letting them attack him with their weak skills. "Finally through," he crashed one monster and sent him to the air before finally passing through the area locked by them. "Time for you darlings," heughed while taking one Hp bottle and gulped it to restore the cumtive loss of his Hp so far. "Scrolls" suddenly one yer screamed in panic as Bloom was already pointing his swords to them, "anyone with scrolls use them now!" "But they will kill us!" another yer shouted in doubt. "And kill him," the first yer argued while Bloom didn''t stand by and wait for this debate to end as he moved using his dash skill and hit a yer, sending him flying to the air before linking with stabs and clearing a circle around him. A bomb just exploded and no one could stand against it. "Hurry," another yer shouted, "any scrolls, anyone with scrolls?" he was whining more than shouting at them. "Like these are easy to get man," one yer shouted back, "the only option is to run." "Screw those f*ckers in the forums," a yer screamed while starting to run, "they are just sitting their asses safe out there and give us useless opinions." Bloom didn''t let them all escape like this as he hurriedly sent a message to Antoan to track them all. He kept running as fast as he could and used his skills to send as many as he could reach towards the back. Yet many escaped and only around three hundreds remained behind which was a good number indeed. "Stay away," one yer screamed before Bloom sent him to crash to the nearby high walls. "It''s your fault to stay here to start with." Just as those staying behind turned around and found an escape route to the opposite direction, a new development urred. "The guards," one yer screamed in shock, "they areing, run run faster." Bloom watched many branched out like a group of flies trying to run away from fire. He didn''t need to care anymore about them, as the number of guardsing seemed enough to handle the situation here. "Plus their levels are much higher," he muttered as he turned around and started to run towards a certain direction, "and they already surrounded this zone." The guards flocked the ce from everywhere, making the escape attempts of those here futile. "Hold there," one guard shouted at Bloom who simply shouted back: "I''m the yer who started this quest. Much more are running away as we speak, clear a path now!" His words and tone didn''t let the guard any option but to do what he said after checking the truth of his words. Another yer was nearby and heard his words. "I''m the one who did the quest, make way now," he tried to be smart but he was instantly hit by a spear. "The one whounched the quest hahaha, you are funny," a guard sneered before another onended over this yer and killed him using his sword. "They are efficient," Bloom only watched the nearby fights while running before he ended up in a main street once again. ''Where are they?'' he sent to Antoan who just sent many coordinates to him followed by: ''This is all we managed to spot so far.'' ''Good work,'' Bloom jumped towards the nearest spot while checking on his clock, ''Keep following others and send me any updates.'' There was less than ten minutes left, and during his spree of action here a system alert suddenly popped up. "System alert: the punitive quest time ends here." Chapter 242: You Need To Return Chapter 242: You Need To Return "System alert: yer has managed to kill eighty percent of the total dark yers inside the vige." "System alert: yer managed to cross the baseline of the quest, achieving a gold rank in it." "System alert: yer has the right to take up to eighty percent of the loot inside each yer''s inventory." "System alert: the other twenty percent will be distributed over the other yers who helped." "System alert: all the yers killed inside the jurisdiction of the vige during the event and were found to be dark yers are considered part of the yer''s sess." "System alert: the loot from their inventory will be equally distributed over yers who participated in the event." "System alert: yer has gained ess to the light camp basic auction house." "System alert: yer gained five light agents tokens." "System alert: yer''s inventory is full and can''t take all the loot. yer can either exchange them with gold or materials." "System alert: yer has gained one week period to rest beforeunching the next quest. Launching the quest sooner than that will increase the rest period after." Bloom nced over the long row of notifications with a big smile over his face. "I choose materials," he decided as gold coins held not much significance to him. "System alert: materials are being selected and will be deposited within twenty-four hours based on the total value of the yer''s reward." "Thanks dude," Bloomughed before noticing many shes of light erupted all of sudden from around. "Sigh, they think they escaped this time, but soon I''ll turn into their true nightmare." Bloom didn''t have anything personal about these dark yers, but the rewards he gained despite not being too rich, they were still enticing. "One more way to gain materials," he muttered with a big smile over his face. ''Where are you now?'' ''Still hidden,'' Antoan sent before Nara sent to him: ''Where are you?'' ''I''m going away for now,'' he sent back. ''C''mon I'' she paused while he only sighed. ''How is the fight out there? Have you killed everyone?'' ''It''s over a couple of minutes ago,'' she sent before adding, ''your actions here made Gerard''s forces restless, and except for the battle state my men kept them in, they would have escaped long time ago.'' ''Good, I don''t want Dockrey to have any good fighters left,'' heughed as all the killed were strangled inside the punitive quest extra effect. For him it was much easier to hunt down dark yers outside and let the game imprison them. Despite gaining less in return, he would kill more of those he could kill inside the locked vige. "I also need some normal yers to be with me," he sighed, recalling the intense moment when the guards showed up. "I can''t drag Antoan and the rest during such a quest." ''By the way,'' Nara suddenly sent while he was already taking a ticket to move back to his vige, ''Dockrey won''t tolerate such a move easily.'' ''So what?'' he simply sent while moving using his ticket. ''His butler isn''t stupid, anyone can link you with Bloom,'' she sent before adding, ''not entirely true that you two are the same, but you still use some unique skills and fight the same way like the old you.'' ''It''s still me y''know,'' heughed. ''I didn''t mean that.'' ''I know,'' he sent, ''don''t worry I''m working on it.'' ''What if he tried to kill you y''know out there?'' She seemed concerned about this. ''Don''t worry, I''m not that suspicious yet,'' Bloomughed, ''after all Hannipal is an identity he won''t easily discover its owner.'' ''But you move out with Antoan!'' ''Under his lead, not the opposite,'' he smiled as he added, ''I''m not the one leading Antoan in front of others, but I''m just one of his men.'' ''And he only has a hundred!'' ''This issue will be handled soon, don''t worry.'' ''Do you want some? I have many to give,'' she proposed as she was smart enough to understand his hidden meaning. ''Nah, you are infiltrated by him,'' Bloom directly rejected her offer, ''I''ll seek for others in my own way.'' ''He will also send spies into your group!'' ''It won''t happen fast,'' Bloom sent, ''he has first to handle the shock of what I did.'' Just as Antoan and others appeared around him with a bright smile over their faces, Nara suddenly sent him a message that made him frown. ''You should join the Triflet challenge once again.'' Her words made him pause and think deeply about this. ''I just got myself killed for doing that,'' he joked while not appealing to this idea. ''It''s the best thing to secure your identity,'' she sent before adding, ''any way you use will be cracked by Dockrey. You got money, so he does. You know some people? He knows much more than you. The only way to secure your identity forever is by being part of the Trifletpetition.'' He knew her words made sense but he wasn''t yet that enticed to join thepetition until she added: ''In addition to that I''m obliged to select anotherpetitor tonight. I sent the invitation already to Antoan, he should have told you about it.'' Bloom turned to nce seriously at his butler who felt something was wrong. ''He only said you invited him tonight.'' ''I didn''t state what for of course,'' she sent, ''I originally nned to add myself into thepetition or refuse it entirely and start a big war inside my ownpanies for that. But'' ''I understand,'' he simply sent while sighing, ''What do you need from me?'' ''Just be there,'' she said, ''the moment I select one, another analysis like the one you were subjected to will reur again. Also that bastard will be there as well to be tested again.'' ''Really?'' Bloom evilly smirked, ''this time I hope he won''t shoot me in the head in front of everyone,'' heughed while adding, ''I''ll be there. Wait for me.'' ''I will.'' ''Also'' he paused before adding, ''to not arouse any suspicion, I''ll flirt with Peri not you.'' ''This'' she didn''t speak for a whole long minute before adding, ''don''t love her, alright?'' ''Hahaha, don''t be silly,'' heughed while she sent again: ''Please promise me.'' ''What? Does she have feelings for me too?'' ''You I won''t let you in!'' Heughed while writing to her, ''Don''t worry, you''re the only one inside my heart.'' ''I hope you mean your words,'' she sent and he imagined her beautiful eyes looking at him at this moment. ''Now I''ve to go,'' he closed the chat while ncing over the frowned Antoan, "We have a very important thing to do tonight." "The mysterious invitation?" Antoan wasn''t stupid not to guess his meaning. "I''m going to rejoin the race again." "Hahaha, that''s amazing," Antoan was amused by this, "you shouldn''t let your girl be eyed by any man." "I just wanted to better prepare myself before joining again." "what changed?" "She has to select a recement tonight." "Oh" Antoan paused, "let me go out then and prepare good security then." "Don''t summon the army," Bloom joked. "That seems a nice idea y''know," and Antoanughed before exiting the game leaving him with the rest of his team. And the looks over their faces when they looked at him were filled with deep veneration and worship. He crossed the distance between and stood ten meters in front of his team. "I didn''t like your performance out there," he started his words with this while everyone seemed quite nervous to hear this. "I don''t need people to carry over, I want yers I can count on. Frankly I''m just disappointed with all your performance back there." He was lying, but he wanted to show them who was boss and who were subordinates. He didn''t miss the first reaction they showed when he showed up, and now he was establishing a new way of rtion between them. "Sorry boss," one yer said, "we''ll try our best to impress you." Bloom didn''t like this answer but he simply shrugged as he added, "either way I won''t settle with weak yers like you. If you don''t show real progress soon, I''ll be forced to find others who can." His words were light but they felt greatly challenged. "You won''t be disappointed boss," another yer said while others nodded. "Alright, disperse and go level up," Bloom said as he casually waved his hand to the distance. "What about you, boss?" "I''m going to do what I like, any objections on that?" Bloom aggressively said, making everyone refrain from speaking another word. "Go now, I don''t wish to see you again in such a weak state." He took out a ticket and vanished from their sight. "I hope this is enough to disturb his intel," Bloom thought to himself as his main goal was to show a totally different personality than the old one he was famous with. And his poor yers were the ones to take the toll of his harsh treatment at this time, but he wasn''t regretting it. "I wonder if you''ll try to assassinate me once again," he smirked before turning to the vige he arrived at and started to walk towards the restaurant there. He wanted to check his loot from the past quest and see what these agents of light were. Chapter 243: The Angel Summon Token Chapter 243: The Angel Summon Token "Agents of light: they are summoned from the light camp warriors. They will have the same level as the yer, gain one skill only from him, and need a hundred light points daily to survive. They can be summoned inside any system facility. Leveling with them will give the yer double Xp as a bonus. If a yer is killed, the yer can sacrifice one agent and get a free revival." "Hmm light points" Bloom muttered while sitting inside the restaurant of the vige. He was deeply immersed in checking his light agent tokens while being all alone inside this expensive ce. Yet a couple of yers reached the top level where he stayed and took a corner. "These light points are equal to the dark ones I guess," he closed the token window and stored them before opening his profile page and found a new option there for the light auction. "Let''s see what you got inside." From first nce he found the auction resembling that of the dark side. "It seems they follow the same pattern," he muttered before opening the window where he was asked to ditch some gears to gain light points. "Let''s see this one here is level forty-five and for berserker," he took out a broadsword and threw it casually inside his window, "let''s see how much it will give me." The sword vanished and the next moment a figure appeared in front of his eyes, dazzling him. "One hundred thousand light points incredible," he was surprised before muttering, "I think I never get such a price from the dark auction." He didn''t know why but he thought there was a deeper meaning hidden here that he didn''t get. "Anyway I now have many points to check the auction and buy." He returned to the main page where he found more items than those presented in the dark one. The dark auction focused primarily over the dark agents and fallen agents tokens, plus some special gears. But here "It''s all about materials," he was dazzled by the amount, grade, and rarity of all the ores he found in the first page. "But their prices" he frowned when seeing a group of dozen grade ck level seventy ores to be sold over a hundred thousand points. "Wait a minute" his eyes shone, "I can crack these gears all the time and sell them to gain more points." He was happy to have the Pandora box more than ever. "That box it''s getting more important to me," he decided to safely store it away inside a locked warehouse and not carry it along with him. "Let''s see this token," he found a strange token called the angel summon token. He clicked over it and found its price to be extravagant. "Damn! One million light points! And that''s the base price only!!" He was shocked and hurried to check the details of it. "Angel summon token: unique token that will summon lord grade angel NPC to fight alongside you. The angel will follow you for one hour per day, and you need to provide a hundred thousand light points to use it every time." "This" Bloom didn''t know why but he didn''t feel anything special about this token, "why does it have such an immense price?" He found an option to exin the summoned angel and he simply clicked over it. "Phew" he couldn''t help but suck a cold breath of air when he read the angel description. "Lord grade angel: It''s specialized in AOE skills. Simply using skills to devastate tens of miles in radius isn''t a joke. yers can use her as a flying mount, carry them with her insane speed to travel along the map. Each angel holds the key to the celestial realm, and each time a summoned yer can use a new key to enter a new map there. Warning: the angel is as wise as humans, more arrogant than humans. Getting on the bad side of your angel will make her even refuse to show up. Gaining her favor will give you many benefits ording to the state of rtionship between you two." "I should get myself one of those," Bloomughed while ncing over the sexy real-like image of the angel he could summon, "but one million light points that''s not a joke," he sighed before recalling something. He hurried to open the mission bar and there he found quests issued by light masters with many rewards in return. "Good, at least I can gradually level up myself there and unlock automated quests." He closed the interface while thinking about his dark auction. There he had now at least fifteen missions being issued on a daily basis, giving him almost one million dark points daily. Despite his high consumption rate due to his pets, he still managed to save up to three million dark points so far using the help of these quests. "Who are they?" Finally he spotted the couple sitting at the other corner of the restaurant, eating their meals while enjoying watching him. Something told him they weren''t simple, yet he wasn''t weak either. And once he stared at them, the two smiled and stopped their fake attitude and went directly to him. "Excuse me," the girl said while ying with her long hair, "are you Hannipal?" she asked with a soft smile that made Bloom swear she must be a real beauty in the real world. "Who asks?" yet he collected himself while resisting her domineering feminine aura. "We are simply envoys," the harsh tone of the berserker next to the girl didn''t manage to distract his gazes off the perfect body. "Of whom?" he simply asked and the girlughed a sweet one that made his heart palpitate. "Won''t you invite us to the table at least?" "Sorry sweetie," he retreated his back while waving simply to make the four swords rise up in the air, "I''ve got many enemies to count, so don''t take it personal." "He has some balls," the berserker sneered before adding, "I just saw you take a very fine sword. Having such a sword for you is a sin, you won''t appreciate such a gem. Why not toss it over to me?" Bloom totally ignored him while observing the girl. She didn''t stand still while moving her body right and left as if she was exposing her alluring body to him in a very enticing way. "Sorry man," Bloom smiled, "I just threw it to the trash can." "What?" the berserker was furious instantly but the girl only lifted a finger to stop him. "We didn''te here to make enemies." "Then why are you here?" "To deliver an invitation," she paused while licking her lower lip slowly as she added, "I''m here on behalf of a very strong group, and we want you to join us." "Join you?" Bloom frowned while the berserker sneered. "Don''t get this too much into your head, this is just a test invitation." "Test?" this time Bloom nced over the yer and suddenly he felt something weird inside the left eye of that yer. He wasn''t too much older than him, roughly five years older at most just like the chick next to him. Yet he felt nothing from the girl but her alluring sexual aura, but this man "Why are you ring at my left eye?" the berserker noticed his gazes and despite asking, Bloom didn''t stop ring at it. "What is that test? And what''s that group you are representing?" "You don''t need to know," the berserker rudely answered while turning to nce in another direction. "Yet," the girl hurriedly added, "you''ll know everything in time." "You don''t tell any," Bloom returned to his normal self again before adding, "and I don''t like vague people or mysterious groups." "He refused, let''s go," the berserker turned to leave but the next instant that weak looking sexy chick just grabbed his arm. And that berserker''s body twitched like it was electrified. "Sorry, he is just rude to everyone," she released his arm and Bloom swore he saw smokeing up from the berserker''s head at this moment. "It''s just his nature, a berserker after all." "You are strong," Bloom ignored her words and focused on her actions. "Is that bad?" she leaned to the table while resting her head over her arms, "or very bad?" And Bloom couldn''t help but swallow his saliva while ncing at this stunning scene of her upper body exposed to him from the loose armor she was wearing. "What''s your group?" he asked, trying to change the subject. "It''s a group of some extraordinary yers," she stood straight in a slow motion, "you can consider us the elites amongst elites." "It''s a guild then," Bloom was disappointed. "We aren''t, kid," the berserker returned to his normal attitude yet Bloom ignored him totally. That girl was the boss, and he liked that boss so much. "We don''t interfere with our members'' actions and deeds if that''s what concerns you," she directly answered his hidden questions before adding, "all we ask is to gather once per month and help us do something together." "A quest then?" Bloom tried to reach amon understanding ground with her. "Indeed it''s a quest," she smiled while returning to y with her hair, "but it''s a very special kind of quest." "And the benefits?" "You need first to seed to win your spot," the berserker rudely said, and he got another touch from the girl that turned his body like before. "The test will be conducted in one week, I''ve sent you a friend request and when it''s time I''ll tell you everything," she said before taking out a ticket and the berserker hurriedly took another, "you''ve the choice to either answer the call or refuse to show up. But" She paused before using the ticket as she added, "we only stretch our invitation once per game." She activated the ticket and just before she vanished Bloom calmly said: "It''s a bonus by the way." And sheughed in a very yful way. Chapter 244: Going To The Party In Great Show Chapter 244: Going To The Party In Great Show "It''s time." Bloom was awakened by his butler after hours of ying. He stayed that time inside the game thinking and experimenting about the light auction house. He went to a hotel inside the vige, rented a room there and started to crack down some gears of level fifty and above. He then took these materials and sold them in batches inside the auction. And just before he could get any result, Antoan had extracted him out of the game, making him ring in anger towards his butler. "It''s time for the party," Antoan nced in doubt towards him as he added, "are you alright?" "Damn Antoan," he moved while pushing his butler''s hand away, "I was waiting for something important." "More important than the party?" Antoan was surprised and his words drove some sense back in Bloom''s unsettled spirit. "Sigh, you are right," he muttered, "is the chauffeur ready?" "We are all set," Antoan kept ncing at him before adding, "Are you ok?" "I told you I''m fine," Bloom nervously said, "let''s go, I need to breathe some air." "Follow me," Antoan led the way and Bloom''s mind was just burdened by what he was experiencing at the moment inside the game. And outside it! Just after he got this bizzare visit from a real game monster in the real world, those two suspicious yers came to ask him to join their elite group. "At every game huh," he softly whispered before exiting the mansion''s main door to be faced with a very amazing scene. "Antoan" he helplessly shook his head before ncing over the wide smile of pride over his butler''s face. "If any jerk thought of targeting you again then he should rethink thrice before doing so," Antoan proudly stepped down while pointing towards the small army that he brought to apany him, "after you." "You" Bloom couldn''t help butugh as he walked down the stairs and next instant he heard the sound of a helicopter, a military grade one, flying over his head by less than half a mile. "Is it for me too?" he pointed towards it andughed. Antoan was now walking amongst an army of ck clothed, dangerous looking ex-military guards. "It''s nothing," Antoanughed as he went towards the heavily armored military vehicle that looked a bit like a gigantic mutated tank and added, "I''ve already assigned three military grade satellites to scan the entire zone around us. An ant won''t be able to crawl before we spot, attack, and kill it." Bloom onlyughed as he sat in the vehicle while recalling what happened before when he was heading back from such a party. "You are right, we need to secure ourselves as our enemy does," he softly muttered and Antoan took these as words of praise. "You know this is just to intimidate him," Antoan said while ncing around the thick and heavily fortified anti-missile ss, "if I wanted to truly neutralize the threat, then I''d prefer to go on open war with him." "Not now," Bloom muttered, "everything will have its appropriate time." "I''m desperately waiting for that," Antoan viciously said while Bloom closed his eyes and returned to his world of doubts. ''Who are they?'' that was the question that kept raging havoc inside his mind without a satisfying end. He was pretty much sure now that this game wasn''t simple, and he even doubted what happened to him wasn''t just mere coincidence. "Should I ask her?" he softly muttered while leisurely opening his eyes. "Ask whom?" Antoan asked. "Nothing," Bloom yawned, "are we there yet?" "Almost," the chauffeur spoke in a deep tone that made Bloom realize he wasn''t a normal one. "Are they going to join the game?" Bloom suddenly asked. "This" Antoan hesitated, "I already thought but realized if we moved everyone inside then we''ll be vulnerable," he said before adding, "I don''t guarantee our enemy would go crazy and attack our fort in the middle of the day!" "Hahaha, that would be a hell of a scene," Bloomughed yet he didn''t deny that fact, "alright, let them be here while we deal with him inside." "Are you" Antoan paused as they already reached the outer door of Nara''s mansion. "This is the third time" Bloom muttered before adding, "yet every time Ie here I feel like it was my first," he sighed and Antoan knew he wasn''t speaking about the mansion, but its owner. "By the way," he suddenly turned to Antoan as he seriously added, "I''ll go after Natalie tonight, but don''t flirt with her assistant, got it?" Antoan only nodded and he hardly tried to resist a smile to jump over his face yet he miserably failed. "You idiot, just don''t make mee and reprimand you in front of anyone," Bloom couldn''t help but chuckle and hit him over the head while Antoanughed this time. "Mr. Henry," as they descended from the vehicle, he was weed by one of the CEOs of Nara. "It''s a pleasure for you to be present here with us," the man said before turning his gaze around, "quite a strong protection indeed." "Last time my predecessor was here he got killed," Bloom calmly said, "and I don''t n to join him anytime soon," hisugh carried his voice inside the mansion even, and the man couldn''t help but smile in return. "This way, please," he said in respect while ascending the stairs, "I''m curious, are you here as a guest or a participant?" "Does it matter?" Bloom only said this and kept his silence afterwards. And strangely enough, Natalie and her assistant Peri were standing in the main entrance waiting for him. "Mr. Henry," the fake Natalie said with a warm smile, "it''s my pleasure to have you in my humble party." He took her hand and leaned over her silk glove and painted a faint kiss inch above her fingers, "it''s my honor to be here with such pearl," he softly said while she retrieved her hand while stealing a nervous short nce over her assistant. "My assistant will guide you inside, pardon me I have many guests to attend to," she excused herself and retreated, leaving Peri, or the real Nara, behind. "This way Mr. Henry," Nara said and Bloom simply followed. As of the old man, he only stood there watching this y for a moment before retreating somewhere to tell his superiors about this development. It was obvious Mr. Henry here wasing to join the race, not the party, and Natalie knew. "I just want to ask," as the three moved into a corner where Bloom only sat down with Peri, "does your master know about the purpose of my visit here?" he simply said as if he was asking her for dance. "No," Peri firmly shook her head, "she only guessed it." "Only the visit?" "Indeed." Bloom felt something from the eyes of the fake Natalie and he just wanted to make sure Nara didn''t move astray from his guidance. "Alright, what''s the schedule of the party?" he asked. But before Peri could speak, a big ruckus urred outside the mansion and instantly Antoan moved fast to vanish in mere seconds from the sight of Bloom. "What''s going on?" he asked and exchanged silent nces with Peri who seemed oblivious to what was going on. And before the noises outside could settle, one CEO came to him and said in respect: "Mr. Henry, there is a problem with the guards you brought with." "What problem?" Bloom coldly asked as he was now guessing what was going on outside. "See, Mr. Dockreyined about their presence outside the mansion, surrounding it like they weren''t protecting you but threatening others." Bloom didn''t speak but he motioned with his eyes to the man to continue, "so Mr. Dockrey saw that it was appropriate to send a couple of his men to ask to leave away for enough distance," the man paused when he noticed the colder nces of Bloom, "and... y''know, your men didn''t receive such orders nicely it seems." "My men," Bloom said and didn''t say anymore. "I beg your pardon?" the man didn''t understand his answer. "I said they are my men, and I''m the only one to order them," Bloom said before sneering, "if anyone wants toe near them, then he should be ready." "For what?" "For his funeral," Bloomughed, "as I gave them order to shoot on sight." "But this" the man seemed quite disturbed and turned to nce at a certain direction where Dockrey was sitting there, like a king, surrounded by many of his dogs. "Mr. Dockrey wants" "Tell Mr. Dockrey of yours" Bloom interrupted his words before adjusting his body and leaned towards the man, "to shove himself inside his as*." "What?!!" "Scram now or I''ll make my guards drag you outside now!" Bloom shouted and his aura suddenly changed. The man felt like he was standing on the doorsteps of death, in front of a ferocious primordial beast and instinctively retreated before falling on his back. "Yeah crawl then to your dog master and tell him my answer," Bloom winked while motioning to the scared man to move towards Dockrey while he only watched in amusement. Chapter 245: Wanna Bet? Chapter 245: Wanna Bet? Bloom knew his answer would not quench the fire, instead it would rage it more. For him he didn''t care about any conflict with Dockrey after all thetter moved to kill him before and nearly seeded. "Who does he think he is?" This shout came from the direction of Dockrey''s group where a fat old man was very enraged. Antoan wasn''t here to ask him about this man, but Nara was. "He is his uncle," Nara answered softly, "he is the one ruling over his empire while he ys in the game." "Good duo," Bloom sneered before adding, "I hope hees to me and shouts like he does there." His tone wasn''t conserved and so many heard him perfectly fine. The face of that old man was really funny while his fat cheeks kept rolling up and down like he was misacting them. "Mr. Henry," the old man who was the leader of the CEO group moved to stand before Bloom as he added, "we need to solve this peacefully." "I don''t want to," Bloom shrugged before pointing towards Dockrey and shouting in a loud tone, "he killed my cousin before and wouldn''t hesitate to kill me!" "I don''t have anything to do with you," Dockrey sneered from his ce before adding, "and your cousin''s death has nothing to do with me." "You are wrong," Bloom shook his head before adding, "we already have a blood feud between us." "Humph." Dockrey nced away as if he was disgusted to nce at Bloom while thetter onlyughed and turned to the old man. "I won''t move away from my men, no matter what." "This" The old man seemed in a struggle and difficult position while Bloom nced in puzzlement towards him. ''Sigh, how can time change people,'' he thought to himself as this man was once authoritative and feared by many before. And now he was like a helplessmp! "Boom!" Suddenly this shot sound came from outside and caused an uproar in the mansion. Manydies screamed and many men ran towards the outside, including the old man. And Bloom stayed back doing nothing but smile as he was certain this was nothing but the start. "You should mind your own business," suddenly a young man approached him in the middle of this chaos, "or else" Just as he finished, a dagger moved from the clothes of the man towards Bloom, but thetter only turned around with strange speed, evaded the dagger and held the wrist of that man firmly before turning it against his will. And he hugged him. And that was a very deadly hug. "Sorry I wanted to say something in return but" Bloom paused as he pushed the young man to sit over the chair nearby while his eyes were widely opened out of fear and shock. He was dying by the same dagger he aimed towards Bloom''s kidney. He didn''t n to kill him, but to give him a message so direct not to neglect. However Bloom used inhuman abilities just now and repaid the favor double or even more. And Nara stood silent on the side with a pale face, yet she was doing great in controlling herself. "Sorry," Bloom stood beside her while adding, "are you ok?" She couldn''t speak, or else she would scream. Only nodded and then nced at the nearby Dockrey whose face was now ashen from anger and shock. He saw what happened and couldn''t believe the assassin he sent was nullified simply like that! And Bloom nced at him while smirking "Come and dance with me if you dare," he said in silent lips while following this with a wildugh, a very mockingugh. "Master." Just as he was amused by the face of Dockrey, Antoan returned, "someone tried to be smart and funny, but we taught him a lesson." "Anyone dead?" Bloom simply asked. "None." "You are mistaken," Bloom shook his head before turning towards the about to die assassin and patted on his shoulders. Antoan''s eyes went wide and the next instant he turned sharply towards Dockrey. Yet the firm hand of Bloom stopped him. "Don''t do anything foolish," he whispered, "not now, not here." Antoan nodded without turning his gaze away from Dockrey, and thetter only sneered and said nothing. "Sorry for this inconvenience," the old man returned to the hall before giving Bloom a long and deep nce, "now let''s get this night done. Miss Natalie,e here for a minute please." Peri, who was doing the role of Natalie, moved to stand beside the old man calm and collected. "Now in front of all of the CEOs of yourpanies and the remaining rival of the Triflet challenge, can you say if you found anotherpetitor?" "Him." The answer was simple and the tone wasn''t loud but it rang in the hall like a needle over a marble ground of a deserted pce. Everyone''s gazes followed her finger to spot Bloom, who simply smiled and said: "I dly ept this honor." "I object!" Dockrey shouted in extreme rage and his face told Bloom how enraged he was. "I won''t ept anybody to be my rival!" he bellowed in an explosive tone while pointing towards Bloom. "Who is nobody?" Bloom sneered, "I''m Henry, the heir to thete Bloom, may mercy be upon his soul." Nara nced shortly at his back while marveling his acting abilities. "Yet you are nothing," Dockrey viciously shouted, "the Triflet challenge is a game challenge, not a real life one." "I''m ying the game," Bloom simply stated the obvious. "My three years old nephew is also ying the game, but is he my rival?" Dockreyughed sarcastically before patting his hand over the shoulders of one of his henchmen, whose face seemed very familiar to Bloom. "My butler here got ambushed unfairly in the game and lost everything. He had to join the game as a new yer now, does this make him my match?" Bloom only sneered and resisted the urge to make fun of this. "In short, no street dog cane here and challenge me I won''t ept this!" "Dockrey has a point," one of his supporters inside the board expressed his agreement in public. "Me too!" "He needs to be tested." "Yeah, bring the machine here and let''s see if he is a dog or a rat." Many voices erupted in session while all made fun of Bloom who stayed silent and watched all this without flinching. He was totally sure of his overwhelming victory here, and also the real Natalie standing behind him knew this as well. "What miss says go," the old man said as he nced at the fake Natalie who turned to nce at Bloom in return. "Bring it on," Bloom simply shrugged while he casually agreed to their demands, "let me kick his ass like my dear nephew once did." "Humph," Dockrey sneered before adding, "aside from the top ten yers in the game, no one can beat me," he arrogantly dered, "and I personally know each and single one of them you have no chance kid. Crawl back to the hole you came out from and spare yourself a humiliation." He returned the words Bloom sent to him in such a mocking way, yet Bloom met them with a wide smile over his face. "Wanna bet?" he simply said. "Bet?" Dockrey paused for a moment beforeughing, "kid you have no chance at all. Can''t you even understand simple English?" Bloom didn''t answer and his gaze was strictly falling upon Dockrey''s body. "You are serious then," Dockrey shrugged, "I have nothing to lose. If you want to give up your assets to me for free then I can''t neglect free lunch, hahaha." He was in a good mood, and that made Bloom wait more patiently. The happier he was, the more bitter he would be after losing. And he knew best how bitter this arrogant kid was. "What do you wanna bet on? Your wealth? Yourpanies? Your mansion?" Bloom kept ncing at him before leaning over Antoan and whispered something in his ears before thetter had a sudden change in face before trying hard to control hisughter as he answered the question of his master. "I will bet all my belongings" Bloom said in a very loud tone, "mypanies, my wealth, even my mansion." "Oh, such a generous hand," Dockreyughed before adding, "I didn''t imagine the man who wants to rival me would end up not only losing his chance here but losing everything and end up being a beggar." "So you agree?" "Hahaha, sure kid. Even if your price is all my wealth in return, I won''t reject this," Dockrey hurriedly said before his fat uncle hurriedly grabbed his arm and whispered something in an intense way to him. It seemed he was anxious about the odds of this bet, or feeling suspicious of the overconfidence of Bloom. "Don''t worry," Bloom sneered as he addressed that anxious uncle, "I don''t want anything of yourpanies or money." "Then what do you want?" "Liza." The words fell and not only the face of Dockrey changed, but also the face of that uncle of his as well. "No f*cking way," the old man shouted in rage, "I won''t agree to put my beloved daughter as a bet!" "Oh here seems someone valuing his kid more than the wealth of the world impressive," Bloomughed before adding, "so you won''t ept the bet? What a shame" "Wait!" Dockrey shouted as his eyes were now blinded with greed. He took his uncle to a corner and started a hot debate with him thatsted for an entire ten minutes. And when the two returned, Bloom knew he had what he wanted. Chapter 246: Winning Liza Over Chapter 246: Winning Liza Over "I agree on that condition," Dockrey said while his face showed how confident he was in winning this bet. "Good," Bloom simply said before turning around, "where is my next girl? Why can''t I see her around?" "You" that fat uncle had his entire body vibrated like a giant balloon filled with water. Bloom didn''t restrain his grin, and evenughed. "What? We are in a bet, and I have the right to dream of winning," he purposefully paused while winking, "winning her tonight is going to be a trophy worth celebration." "" The uncle was about to say something when Dockrey held his arm and shook his head to silence him. "She is nearby," Dockrey said, "can we start now?" "No bet until she is here," Bloom sneered as he didn''t select her as a bet for nothing, "or will you renege on your words after losing?" "I won''t lose," Dockrey coldly said before snapping his fingers for Gerard to appear with his giant body and hear the soft words of his master. And Bloom stood there watching him disappear. "She is on the way," Dockrey shrugged as if he didn''t care about bringing her in, "can we start our bet?" "They can set up the machine," Bloom said, addressing the old man who didn''t know why he took things this far. But he had no option here but to nod and start arranging things. In fact he and other CEOs brought the machine with them just in case. And Dockrey knew about this and so he decided to use it as a way to get rid of his new opponent. But he never knew this was something that would backfire at him, just like thest time. The two contenders watched in silence the machine getting moved and assembled. This didn''t take much time before the machine was again installed properly and a team wearing white coats entered once more and started operating the machine. "Now," Dockrey pointed to the machine, "can we start?" "You can go ahead and start first," Bloom shrugged, "I''ll wait for my trophy to arrive first." Bloom said those words directly to the uncle, and yet he was restrained by Dockrey who onlyughed and moved towards the machine, shaking off his head as he stood in front of it and extended his arm. Bloom waited, as he knew thest time this young man screamed like a chick when he was pricked by the machine. "Damn," and he cursed in pain before jumping a couple of times while trying his best to contain his reaction, "it never gets any better." "It''s not that bad," the old man said while gazing in mockery while Dockrey only retreated a couple of steps and turned to wait for the result of the machine. "Very good assessment," this was the result that machine said in soft tone, "almost eighty-nine percent." "Hahaha, I''m getting better," Dockrey was in a great mood before turning to Bloom, "now it''s your turn." And Bloom totally ignored him. "What? Having second thoughts now?" Dockreyughed while ncing over his uncle who started to show easy looks. "He is thinking how to run away, hahaha." Bloom didn''t speak, and his face kept the calm and unconcerned expression while Dockrey kept his mocking attitude and didn''t stop throwing mean words andments about him. Until "Curse you Dockrey!" A sudden shout attracted everyone''s attention while Dockrey was literally choked by the words he was saying. And his face turned instantly pale while ncing at the explosive girl that moved in fast steps to reach him. "Who told you I''m for sale?" she shouted in extreme rage and Dockrey turned from arrogance to humbleness in no time at all. "Baby, it''s not like that," he hurriedly said before pointing to the result appearing on the screen on top of the machine, "see? My performance improved." "Last time you were beaten by much higher performance than that!" she crossed her arms in front of her chest before adding while tapping on the floor with her heels, "what will happen if you lose?" "I won''t," he firmly said, "the one who did that to me is dead." Bloom knew he was about to be killed but Dockrey seemed to control himself at thest minute and didn''t expose himself. "But he is his sessor!" "He isn''t him," Dockreyughed before adding, "he isn''t near him. He is just nobody, and he simply thinks himself worthy topete with me over what''s rightfully mine!" "Tsk," Liza bit her lower lip while giving him a deep nce, "this challenge is taking everything away from you," she said before turning away to nce at Bloom, "even me." "Babe, I won''t lose you, I won''t lose." "You just don''t get it," she sighed before saying to Bloom, "hey, I hope you really win. I''m already off with this jerk here." She suddenly moved and broke free from the grip of the stupefied Dockrey while she went to stand beside the old man. "I like this girl," Bloom couldn''t help but say out loud, "she is simply amazing," heughed and she only nced at him before turning towards the machine. "She is here," Dockrey''s face changed from showing weakness and softness to deep hatred and extreme anger, "C''mon, let''s get this done. This has already taken much more than you deserve." Bloom didn''t move at once towards the machine, as he first leaned over Antoan and whispered a couple of words in his ears before thetter nodded. And then he went to stand beside the old man, securing the big trophy of his master. "Humph, you seem over confident in your win," Liza said while Bloom stood in front of the machine, waiting for the result to appear. "You deserve to be fought hard to get," he simply said and her face didn''t show any expression at all like a cold ice bar. And just as he waited, Dockrey couldn''t help but to send his butler, Gerard, to stand beside her while his gaze was fixed over Antoan. "Tell your hideous Hannibal yer that I''ming after him," he whispered and Antoan only sneered back. He never imagined that Hannipal who tricked and ruined his game profile was the man contending with his master. Or else he wouldn''t restrain himself like this and would instantly aim to fight. "This" the old man was in his own world as he muttered after noticing the long minutes the machine took so far and yet didn''t announce the results. He nced at the back of Bloom while muttering, "it''s much simr, yet the two are totally different." The two butlers along with Liza and Bloom nearby heard his words perfectly but none said a single word. The machine exceeded five minutes and didn''t give any response. "Is it broken or what?" Dockrey said in some worry as this brought such unpleasant memories to his mind. "Or what" Bloom was the one to answer while his face showed a mocking nce, "are you worried? Afraid to lose?" he didn''t let his opponent off the hook as he added, "or perhaps an old memory made you slightly unconfident?" The face of Dockrey showed vicious expression while only ignoring Bloom as he turned to the old man. "Check it out or something," he shouted in nervousness. "Sorry," the old man said in a calm tone, "we already ran many checks before taking it here." "It might have gotten broken while being transferred here!" "It workedpletely fine with you," the old man shook his head, "there is no reason to suspect it." "" Dockrey knew talking with the old man was hopeless so he turned his gaze towards those CEOs who were on his side, willingly or not. And then a debate started around this, while the old man stuck to his opinion and refused anyone to touch the machine no matter who. "Exceptional assessment," the machine''s soft voice suddenly came to silence everyone and stop these useless arguments, "the assessment is over three hundred and twenty-one percent! Impressive!" The screen showed this figure to confirm what everyone here heard. "Hahaha, you are mine" Bloom turned to Liza before pausing as he nced over the ashen white face of Dockrey, "babe." "Stay your hands off!" Dockrey instantly was enraged, as he shouted while waving his hand to Gerard. But before anyone could move, a small army suddenly entered in an organized manner, Bloom''s personal army. "What''s the meaning of this?" one of the CEOs on Dockrey''s side shouted in rage. "It''s to maintain order," Bloom wasn''t the one to speak, but Antoan, "they are here to make sure things won''t get out of control, not to annoy anyone here." The big smile on Antoan''s face told everyone he wasn''t giving information, but dering a threat. "Sorry to make you wait so long, sweet babe," Bloom totally ignored this mess and chaos while moving to put his arms, like he was initially used for that, around the waist of Liza. And thetter only gave him a surprised look while raising her eyebrows. "Now," Antoan''s loud voice coupled with the swift sound of handling the guns professionally in the hands of this small army, "my new master is a participant in the Trifletpetition, right?" he turned to the old man who instantly nodded. "He is joining this under arms!" Dockrey shouted in rage, "I would never forget this! You should live long enough and not die early like your predecessor so I can kick your ass inside the game." "Thanks for the trophy, generous man," Bloom didn''t follow the words of Dockrey and said these in return while holding the stupefied Liza closer to him. "Did you know I was his love?" Liza said in a low tone like she was trying to awaken this drunken youth before it''s toote, "and my father is the main controller of everything EVERYTHING!" She stressed at thest word while giving Bloom a deep gaze, waiting for his answer. "And so what?" Bloomughed, "he ditched you for this worthless challenge, he doesn''t worth you at all. You shouldn''t mourn him." "Mou damn, you totally missed the point," she rolled up her eyes while helplessly saying these words. "I didn''t miss a thing," Bloom grinned before adding, "I just don''t care about him or your father." She nced silently, not knowing if he was a lunatic or something. "Miss Natalie do you ept Mr. Henry to be an official participant of the Triflet challenge?" the old man suddenly spoke, addressing Natalie who was standing nearby with an interesting look over her face. "Of course I do," she answered with a sweetugh, "let the best win, win me and win everything," she added while following these words with a loudugh that rang inside the entire mansion. Chapter 247: Im Here To Establish A Guild Chapter 247: I''m Here To Establish A Guild "I''m still amazed you aimed for me!" Liza sat inside the room assigned to her by Bloom while Bloom stood in front of her with an interesting look over his face. "Don''t dream about things you won''t get," she said while noticing his fixed gazes upon her. "I''m not," he shrugged, "in time I''ll get everything that jerk holds and I just started with you." "So I''m just a property to you?" she said in disappointment. "No, you are much more than that," Bloom shook his head before adding, "you once was his girl, and he ditched you out of his greed. Having you isn''t just having a toy for him, but a start to what I''m going to doter to him." "Still I''m just nothing more than a chair or a car!" she seemed quite annoyed by his words. "Believe me," Bloom said, "I see you much more than that." "Humph, empty wordsing from a mere kid," she crossed her arms in front of her big chest. And her tone and attitude told Bloom she wasn''t content with what she was in. Frankly he just got her on a whim, just wanted to get something dear to Dockrey. That was why he asked Antoan about another lover in Dockrey''s life, and the answer just startled him for a moment there. Dockrey had a girl he loved but as he went after Natalie he decided to let her off. And this just made Bloom want Liza more. "Do you y?" he simply asked, changing the topic. "That stupid game," she sneered before nodding. "What level are you at?" "Twenty-four," she proudly said before recalling the fact that Bloom just beat Dockrey who had a higher level and more achievement than hers. "What''s yours?" she asked. "Not far from your reach," he vaguely answered, "I''ll order Antoan to bring you a cabin." "Can you add me as a friend?" she suddenly said, stopping him from getting out. "I just want to be in touch with you," she said to exin herself when he sternly nced at her. "I''ll let Antoan add you as a friend," he said. "Why? He isn''t my man!" "Neither am I," he said before adding while closing the door, "get some rest and don''t dream about something you won''t get." She nced for a couple of long minutes to the closed door before muttering to herself bitterly, "Foolish Liza even being with a man is a task you''ll never seed." She sighed before throwing off her body over the bed. "But he is cute," she chuckled while imagining what he said and did since she crashed into the party in explosive rage. "I hope Antoan will do what is asked of him properly." Before returning to the game, Bloom assigned a task to his butler. He wanted his game identity to remain hidden and well protected, and so he asked him to go and pay that old man, the leader of the CEO board, a visit. "Now should I go and clean some viges or go out and level up?" He was inside the hotel room and just before he could decide anything, long rows of system alerts popped up sessively. "System alert: The items you put inside the light auction house are sold. yer can check the auction house for more details." "System alert: The items you put inside the light auction house are sold. yer can check the auction house for more details." . . "System alert: The items you put inside the light auction house are sold. yer can check the auction house for more details." "System alert: The items you put inside the light auction house are sold. yer can check the auction house for more details." "Oh I totally forgot that!" Before being awakened he left many high level materials inside the light auction for sale. He hurriedly opened the auction house and what he saw dazzled his eyes. "Shit! They were sold like hot cakes!" The numbers he was seeing were all in hundreds of thousands, making him drool over these. "So it worked," heughed before checking his ount that currently had millions of light points there. "I should start amassing those angels," heughed while checking the auction for these. ''You were really bold!'' Suddenly Nara sent him this brief messagementing over what happened at the party. ''Sorry, had to make him feel a little bitter.'' ''I hope this is all to that,'' she sent before adding, ''after all this Liza is known to be irresistible.'' Heughed as he wrote to her, ''Compare to you she is not worth trying.'' ''Only words,'' she sent and he knew he managed to stir her jealousy. ''Don''t worry, I''m immune to any girl but you.'' ''You flirted with my assistant as well!'' ''I had to make me feel quite different than the old Bloom.'' ''I liked the old Bloom better,'' she sent before asking, ''won''t you tell me how this happened?'' ''What?'' ''C''mon, y''know what I mean!'' ''In time,'' he sent before adding, ''now isn''t the appropriate timing.'' ''I have to warn you, she isn''t easy.'' ''Don''t worry over me,'' he was happy with her reaction that he didn''t calcte and worked for his favor. "Girls are really hard to understand," he closed the chat with her while returning to the auction once again. Yet before he could do anything, he received another message from her. ''Open the forums, that Dockrey is issuing a punitive quest against you.'' "Oh he won''t change," Bloom sneered before ncing over the auction and randomly put an extravagant price of five million over one angel before closing the auction page. And inside the forums he found a thread inside themon forums where Dockrey issued a punitive quest against him using one of his own men''s names to do that. And the price was really high, making Bloom wonder how much he would pay if he yed him a little. After all he asked for any information about his location, trying to kill him with a team, and even zeroing him out. Also he asked for any info regarding his skills and fighting style. "He is trying to gather intel about me," he muttered before noticing another thread that attracted his attention. It was a guild recruitment thread, and the post just spoke about a group that dered their ability to get their hands over a guild establishment token soon. "Interesting," he muttered, "I should start to seriously consider establishing my guild." He knew this wasn''t the only group aiming to establish a guild, yet he was the one who knew how to easily get one. "Hahaha, it has been lying there inside my inventory for a long time now," heughed while taking out the token and investigating it. "Guild establishing token: Gold grade. yer can use it to establish a gold grade guild. For more information, please refer to your local mayor." He acquired this token from the quest he did for the NPC Bloom before they cracked the seal of the lost mines and entered there. "I should go and pay her a visit," he thought of the beautiful Swor town mayor and stored the token again, "I hope it''s not too hard to establish the guild," he muttered before checking the enthusiastic replies over that thread and finally closed the forums. As for the threat of Dockrey''s quest he knew he shouldn''t worry at all especially when he was already so high in level. Who would be a problem were those dark yers, and now he had a perfect way to deal with them. Bloom didn''t dy and took out a ticket to move towards the Swor city. He could simply go towards any other town but for him this one he knew its mayor. And he justpleted one punitive quest and she must have caught the news already. As he arrived in the town, he found some yers in it. "So they got some courage toe and explore here?" he softly muttered before heading directly towards the mayor''s mansion. There he spotted the old head of guards he met before and that NPC also spotted him. "What are you doing here?" the man asked in a harsh tone. "I want to see the mayor." "Do you think the mayor got nothing to do but to meet you?" the man sneered but Bloom kept his calm expression over his face as he said: "I''m here to establish a guild." The face of the guard changed slightly before returning to normal. "To do so you''ll need a token first. Go back and do your businesszy yer, the mayor is busy at the moment and won''t ept any visitors." The cold shoulder of this NPC started to annoy Bloom but he knew if he went to other towns the treatment there wouldn''t be any different. "I''ve got the token." "What? Do you think I''m someone easy to fool?" the NPC was surprised for a moment, "this token won''t fall except at treasure chests in dungeons of level thirty and above. Hell, even the drop rate of them is quite rare!" Chapter 248: A Blueprint For The Guild Headquarter Chapter 248: A Blueprint For The Guild Headquarter "I said I already got it," Bloom stressed over this fact, "will you stop me from meeting the mayor like the roken told me to do?" "Let me see it," the man didn''t buy Bloom''s words but thetter had already had enough of this NPC cold treatment. "I will only show it to the mayor, as the description of it says," Bloom said while adding, "are you the mayor of this town?" The face of the NPC changed slightly before he nodded. "Good, follow me then. But I have to warn you, if you were lying then you''ll be confined in prison for three days hell, let it be a week." "No," Bloom shook his head, "let it be a month." The NPC guard red at him and Bloom only stood there silently not even blinking. "Great, I ept that suggestion dly," the guard viciously said, "follow me then, the mayor is inside waiting for you." "Lead the way," Bloom followed him while he inwardly sneered over this foolish guard. He didn''t know why he was dealing with him in such aggression. "Does he have a crush over that mayor?" he inwardly thought beforeughing at this possibility. But it was the only thing he could think of. "I heard about your deeds impressive." The moment he appeared inside the big hall of this mansion, the mayor spoke in a strong tone. "I never thought you were true to your words those dark yers got a hit and the dark camp is restless as far as I heard." "I only aim for that," Bloom simply said, "but I''m not here to speak about the quest." The eyes of the mayor changed at she nced at her head of guards before saying: "Tondel said you came here with a token to establish a guild is that true?" Bloom nodded. "May I see it please?" Bloom took out the token and gave it to her. The moment he took it out, her face changed slightly while she took the token and started examining it. "Amazing," she muttered, "this little beauty here shouldn''t appear before you exceed level forty how did you get it?" "I was a bit lucky," Bloom said while keeping the details for himself. "Lucky indeed," she smiled and her smile beamed to shine over her pretty face, "y"know how to establish a guild?" "I''m here to listen." "Let''s say everything in this game world has grades, including the guilds. This token enables you to build a gold grade guild, meaning you can im your ownnd and build the guild headquarter upon it. But you need to reach level thirty before you can receive the headquarters, despite your ability to issue the order to build it at any level you are at." "Buy thend here?" Bloom asked as he doubted this was everything to the matter. "It''s inside the territory of the town," she nodded, "but it''s not inside these walls, but outside them." "Outside the walls!" Bloom was startled before hurriedly adding, "is it built inside the leveling grounds?" "It can," she calmly said, "but be smart. You can build it anywhere inside thends of my town. Imagine for example building it over the main trade routesing here won''t that be better?" Bloom''s face changed as he understood her meaning. "I can ask for taxes? Passage fees?" "Darling you can ask for anything," she softly chuckled, "as long as you select the right spot, pay the right price, strengthen it with proper force, then you can do whatever you want." Her words implied how savage building this guild would be. "May I ask about the price?" "It varies," she calmly rxed her body over her throne seat, "if you selected a non-vital location then you''ll pay less than selecting a very privileged piece ofnd." Bloom realized she wasn''t enthusiastic about this token because of its benefits to him, but to her. After all the money he would pay would end up inside her pocket. "When can I start building the guild?" he asked without flinching about the hints she gave about the prices of this. "the moment you pay the money in advance," she said before adding, "as you are my friend and someone who honored me with the punitive quest I can grant you ten percent discount over the overall price." He didn''t show any signs of happiness towards this generous hand of hers, after all he knew the total price seemed to be very big. Such a discount might release him from slight pressure, but for her it was not a loss at all. "Not satisfied?" "I''m only concerned about the location of the guildnd," he simply evaded this battle which he knew he would never emerge victorious from." "Well, you can select thend now if you wanted," she casually waved her hand and a giant map appeared floating in the air the next moment, "just point your sweet finger over the spot you want and I''ll tell you the price." "But he needs a blueprint first," Tondel suddenly said, interrupting this great moment of his mayor. "What blueprint?" Bloom asked in doubt, "won''t you provide these to me?" "We can," the mayor said, "but that''s only limited to those guilds built inside the town." Her words made Bloom frown and she had to exin, "the town design is already predetermined. So building anything here will have to follow this design. However" She paused and Bloom was smart enough to guess the rest. "How can I get such a blueprint?" he asked. "You''ll need someone to make it for you," Tondel spoke again, "you''ll need an architect with great skills to match your quest." "And I doubt I can find such a person here, right?" Bloom had bad premonition from the expression over Tondel''s face. "Indeed," the mayor sighed, "I tried many times to lure one of those talented monsters in the cities, but I always failed." "He can issue a quest to hire someone," Tondel gently said and Bloom doubted his good intention. Chapter 249: His Team Is Under Attack Chapter 249: His Team Is Under Attack "That might work," the mayor said, "but thest time I, Anna, asked for such a quest I had to pay a very hefty price for that." Bloom''s heart fell when he heard that. "How much would this cost me?" he asked while gazing at Tondel who had a big grin over his face. "At least a million gold coins," Anna said after a moment of pause. "A million?!!" even for Bloom this was an extravagant price. "Indeed it''s quite pricey," she warned, "for me it might rival the total price of buying thend and preparing the materials and hiring the workers" She started listing a long list of requirements that would take another million off his pocket. "So you are saying I''ll have to prepare two million gold coins to be able to build the guild?" he asked after she finished. "At least," Tondel viciously said, "so crawl back and drop this dream of yours. If I were you," he said like he was honestly advising him, "I''d offer this token to the auction here and gain decent gold coins back." Bloom noticed the shimmering in Anna''s eyes. "No, thanks," he stretched his hand and took the token back, "I''d prefer to use it and build my guild." "Then see you at level fifty," Tondel said beforeughing, "wait, even at level fifty you won''t be able to gather all this sum make it level hundred then," heughed even happier while Bloom red at him and he decided he wouldn''t dy to gather the necessary coins fast. After all he had the means to gain many high leveled gears and the item to break them down into gold coins and materials. After breaking down ten gears he had in his inventory he had now around five hundred thousand gold coins, and a lot of materials that he put the finest grades in at the auction. And now all he had to do was to go in a spree of caravan snitching quests. "However," he muttered to himself while standing alone inside the central za here, "which vige should I start with? Or a town?" He nced around and decided to not touch this ce. "It''s not wise to be the viin inside your own town," he muttered before heading towards the nearest stall where he could buy tickets from there. "How can I serve you?" the NPC standing inside asked, "Do you want tickets to this town?" "No," Bloom shook his head, "I want tickets to others." "Which one?" the NPC asked, "for each town other than here you''d need to pay a hundred gold coins for one." Bloom sucked in cold air of breath. The cost for a single ticket was standard one gold coin, and when he bought tickets to other viges he only paid ten times this cost. And now he was asked to pay one hundred folds, which was something strange in his opinion. "Alright, gimme a hundred tickets to a hundred towns," Bloom said calmly like he was asking for street cabbage. "This" the NPC''s face shone brighter, "are you sure? This will cost you ten thousand gold coins." "I can cover up such a cost," he shrugged, "now bring me the map and let me select those towns." He didn''t select towns near each other but those situated far from each other. He didn''t want his reputation to be known in certain locations, and nned for this to look like random attacks. "This one, and this one" he kept selecting the towns and when he hit the hundred he stopped as the map vanished. "These are the tickets for the towns you selected," the NPC took out a hundred ticket and put them on the counter, "now please pay." "Here," Bloom paid the price and stored away all the tickets but one. However, before he could use it to go to that town, a distress call came all of sudden from Antoan. "Help," Antoan was running in an open ce that looked like any leveling map, "Dockrey sent a team of ten thousand yers to ambush us and now we are running to escape." Bloom''s eyes changed when he heard this. "What level are you at?" he asked before exining more, "above twenty?" "Indeed," Antoan answered in a strange way. "Wait a minute," he said before turning around and bought a hundred tickets for this town in no time. "I''ve sent you the tickets use them ande here at once." "This" Antoan nced at the ticket before adding, "are you sure? The towns are famous for their brutal leveling grounds and monsters." "Juste," Bloom sighed, "I''ll wait for you now." "Alright," Antoan closed the call while Bloom sighed. "Ten thousand yers I need to hasten my efforts and prepare the money." He went towards the central za and there he found some of his teams shing before appearing one after another. Bloom waited for a couple more minutes before everyone gathered. And their faces told him exactly how dejected they were. "Sorry boss," one of the yers said before Antoan arrived, "we can''t beat this huge number of yers." "No problem," Bloom smiled in confidence, "soon we''ll be able to rival them." "Their boss pays a lot of money to gather those, can we do the same?" another yer asked. "Paying money won''t guarantee loyalty," Antoan said the moment he arrived as he heard his man''s words. "But this won''t be a fair game anymore." "It''s not from the beginning," Bloom calmly said before adding, "let''s go, I''ll level up with you here before heading to do some quests." He didn''t risk sending them off to the leveling grounds simply like this. He knew how fierce the monsters here were, as he fought with them already. "Shouldn''t we focus on attracting more yers?" a yer in the team expressed what others had in mind. "In time," Bloom calmly said before adding, "but the most important thing now is to make you all hit level twenty-five." "For what?" Antoan asked. Chapter 250: You Are A Real Monster! Chapter 250: You Are A Real Monster! "To level up your sses," Bloom calmly answered. "But we are all dark yers now," a yer said while they were walking towards the leveling map here. "Even dark yers can have such a chance, don''t worry," Bloom said while he knew they could hit the test to level up their sses when they reach level twenty. However the sess rate would be low, so he decided to wait and level them above level twenty-five. This way they would have a better chance. "This" Antoan''s face changed when they walked for few minutes, "howe the leveling grounds here are so near to the town walls?" In front of them the line of trees, the safe zone for any yer was just in sight. Back in the vige they needed to walk for at least half an hour or even longer to reach it. "That''s what makes leveling up in towns harder," Bloomughed shortly before adding, "also the monsters here would be fiercer, so prepare yourselves." "Will they be inrge numbers?" a yer asked while he tried to picture how hard this would be. "Not only that," Bloom said, "there is a fixed chance in bringing in a monster tide that''s so fierce to be faced with our little team here." "This" another yer muttered in disbelief. "Then we shouldn''t level up here then," Antoan sighed. "Anywhere inside the viges is dangerous," Bloom firmly said, "besides the monster tide if got near the walls of the town would trigger the mayor and the guards inside to act." "You don''t mean" "Indeed my dear butler, we are going to retreat once there is a monster tide and draw back to the town." "It''s risky," Antoan sighed. "But the gains are really rich," Bloomughed, "after all therger the number of monsters we fight the better our chances would be to level up faster but when drawing the guards and the mayor be sure to go away to fight, or else you''ll cause more trouble for yourselves." "Why is that?" "They can detect your dark aura and might act against you," Bloom warned, "so be sure to fight in a far ce that''s not seen by them." "This" Antoan paused as there were more conditions to level up here than back in the viges. "That''s why a town isn''t a ce suited yet to most yers," Bloom patted on his shoulders, "but this is just perfect for us now." "Sigh," Antoan sighed, "I hope you know what you are doing." "Don''t worry, just follow my lead and do as I say." They reached the tree line and beyond that they spotted many groups of the angel monsters there. Right now many yers had the experience in dealing with all the monsters which spawned after the birth of the dark era. And Bloom''s team wasn''t less than any in such a way. However "Their numbers are too much," one yermented, "they are walking in close proximity to each other. Attacking one group means attacking several at the same time." Bloom knew his men weren''t exaggerating, but he didn''t care about these numbers. "Just summon your pets and everything will be alright," he said before taking out his bow and added, "also try to turn as many as you could from these monsters into pets. Their levels are much higher than your pets and can be a good recement." The team nodded before Bloom led them to face those angels. "At least they don''t have those ground monsters," he muttered as these monsters were very hard to deal with. Despite that he had already a good sum of them as pets and he primarily summoned them and those high leveled flying pets as well. And the fight started hard from the beginning, but he and his team had the upper hand. "Spread the pets to the sides, let them face those new monsters," he shouted as they started fighting with one group, many around started to be attracted here. Per hermand the pets started to spread like two big wings, shielding the main team from any iing monsters. But this affected the front battles where many started to get hit and lose some Hp while the death toll started to increase. "Sword tornado!" He didn''t dy to use his super skill to hit the main bulk of the enemies up front. He wore his old gloves once more and that made each hit throw any enemy high off the ground. Like this he helped in reducing the pressure over his team, while they started to gain ground and gradually dispose of many enemies, either by turning them into pets or killing the rest. "Move to the right," after ten minutes of constant fighting, the main group of monsters were eliminated and now only two bigger groups remained on both sides. He selected the side with the unstable status amongst the two. In minutes their shift towards this side helped in stabilizing it greatly while the pets controlled the offensive charge of the monsters, giving yers time to attack them and reduce their numbers. Bloom didn''t dy to use his bow every now and then. For him dark points were like running watering out from the ground. No matter how many he consumed here, much more would be generated from the quests automatically issued under his name. "Go to the left," he shouted while all yers here gained one to two levels so far from the two waves they killed. As for him, he didn''t gain much experience to level up, yet he was so close from doing so. Just before the third wave was eliminated, he gained another level and with it he was now at level twenty-nine once more. "You are a real monster," Antoan couldn''t help but sigh. "Hahaha, in fact you are the real monsters," Bloomughed before adding, "after all you started the game toote and now you are already on par with the mainstream of the elite yers." "Yet still too far from you." Chapter 251: Monster Tide Chapter 251: Monster Tide "You need to work harder to beat me," Bloomughed while ncing around, "clear the loot and let''s go to another group." Antoan moved his gaze around while muttering, "We lost almost one third of our team this is much higher than what I expected." "At least those living gained two levels so far," Bloom said. "But one third lost a level," Antoan sighed, "if this continued, then a gap would erupt between the team." "Any ideas?" Bloom understood his meaning. "We need to let those recently dying to stay at the back at the next raid," Atnoan thought before adding, "this way we can stabilize things here." "Y''know not all of them will continue in our group in the future," Bloom calmly said while not expressing his decision about Antoan''s suggestion. "I hope they do," Antoan honestly said, "after all I trust them the most." "My dear butler in the future we will have more yers to y with." "But you saw what happened to Nara back there," Atnoan argued, "if not for your presence there, she would have been wiped out with her loyal team." "She was haste in assembling her team to be honest," Bloom sighed, "plus those who can''t keep up with us will have an important role to be our eyes in the ranks of normal yers." "This" "Don''t worry my dear butler, those who can''t be with us here can still y a great role in the main guild force." "You are you really nning to build this guild?" Antoan was still hesitant about such an idea. "I''ve already started," Bloom simply said before sending to Antoan privately, ''I''ve the token to start a guild and now I need to amass money.'' ''We can exchange part of your wealth to get those coins,'' Antoan sent while his gaze was fixed over him. ''Not an option,'' Bloom sighed, ''I don''t want to join such a losing race.'' Bloom saw this approach as a loser''s act. For him, he would prefer to depend entirely on his efforts and strengths here in the game so his gained momentum would be backed up by real achievements. Not only by his wealth. ''This will take longer then,'' Antoan sighed, ''how much do you need anyway?'' ''Two millions.'' Bloom''s answer made Antoan''s two eyes pop out. ''Damn! Even if we bought them you''ll need a great sum of money!'' The exchange rate currently stabilized at one coin equaling one thousand contribution points in the real world. Making the math, Antoan easily realized why his master refrained from doing so. ''It''s a bottomless pit,'' Bloom sent before adding, ''if I don''t secure a stable way of ie then I would end up being bankrupt!'' ''Indeed,'' Antoan nodded, ''Anyway let Dockrey be bitter with this and lose much if he wanted to keep up with us but have you secured a way to do so yet?'' ''I''ve a way,'' Bloom only said before returning to help his team and send arge number of monsters flying in the air. Just as they cleared the third wave, Bloom gained almost twenty percent of his experience needed for the next level while everyone gained a level. By the tenth wave they all gained one more level and Bloom was almost at seventy percent of his experience bar. Yet it was still too far to reach level thirty. "Roar!" All of sudden a strong wave of roar appeareding from a certain direction before it started to spread out like wildfire eating dry grass. "Damn," Bloom shouted, "retreat retreat this isn''t a drill, it''s a monster tide!" He hurriedly turned around without any hesitation while taking back all his pets. Running fast towards the nearby town seemed impractical especially when the ground underneath their legs trembled violently off the monster tideing hot after them. "Send the pets back," Antoan shouted, trying to buy them more time. "Don''t do that," yet Bloom cancelled his shout, "it''s futile to sacrifice them and won''t gain anything in return." "But" Antoan turned back to spot the rapidly closing by monsters, "they are almost upon us!" They already crossed the tree line and were running fast towards the town. "Use the tickets," Bloom suddenly shouted, "we are all battle free now, all use the tickets!" This was the only solution here. While they weren''t in battle mood, they could now use the tickets and teleport back to the town. If not, then in mere minutes they would be stamped to death by those enraged monsters! "I just don''t get it," Antoan said the moment they all appeared in the town za, "these monsters seemed not to run after us, and the tide started roughly a couple of miles to our east!" "Don''t forget," Bloom turned to him, "we aren''t the only yers here." He motioned his head towards arge group of yers scattered in smaller teams all around. They were appearing one after another as if they all had the same inspiration as Bloom. "They did that?" Antoan was surprised for a moment, "doesn''t the tide be caused by the team killing thergest number of monsters?" "I dunno," Bloom shrugged, "this game is quite unpredictable to be honest." He turned his gaze towards the distant walls while hearing the roars of those monsters drawing near, "let''s go, we''ll have to help in defending the town." "And gain more levels," Antoanughed before running after Bloom alongside their team. Bloom didn''t know that his presence here was instantly recorded and went to many ces while some even had greedy looks over their eyes. The rich rewards given off by Dockrey made anyone wanting them for himself. With the presence of such a chaotic situation and the monster tide pressure, many thought their golden chance was present in front of their eyes. And so as Bloom headed towards the walls, many smaller teams followed suit and kept his silhouette in the range of their sight. "She is finally acting," Bloom heaved a deep sigh of relief when he noticed arge and strong looking group of NPCs heading fast towards the walls. Chapter 252: Attacked From Behind Chapter 252: Attacked From Behind He was worried that as long the tide was caused by yers, yers would be asked to shoulder the responsibility of defending the town alone. Yet the game wasn''t so harsh and cold blooded after all. "Go towards a different direction," Bloom instructed, "go to the other end of the town and level up there." He knew the main task force here was focusing at the main gate of the town, leaving the rear empty for anyone to fight freely there. "What about you?" Antoan asked. "I''ve been dealing with this mayor, so don''t mind me," Bloom said before pressing faster to the front, leaving Antoan and his team to return back. This came as great news for the stalking teams, which were mistaken as teamsing to aid in the tide by Antoan and others. If he knew their true intentions, he wouldn''t have left his master all alone facing them. "You areing to aid?" Anna said when she spotted him from far and stopped in front of the town gate until he reached her. "That''s reallyforting to have you around." "Thanks mayor," Bloom simply said in respect while the fiery gazes of Tondel were showering him nonstop. "we need a solution to fix this problem." "The tide you mean?" Anna muttered in surprise, "I never thought of that. Let me think I believe there was some sort of a heavenly treasure that can repel any monsters from the proximity of the town." "A treasure?" Bloom sniffed the scent of a quest and the next moment Anna nodded as she exined: "It''s the remaining horn of a dead dragon. All monsters fear dragons and having such a horn would help in removing these annoying tides away." Bloom grinned while the sound of system notification alerted in his ears the next moment. "System alert: The Swor city mayor is asking you to bring the horn of the dead dragon here and help in repelling the monsters away and removing any future tides. Do you ept?" "It would be my pleasure to deal with this task, if you wish," Bloom answered and his words were taken as approval by the game system. "Great, then I''ll hand this map to you," Anna took out a map and added, "I recall my father said there was once a dragon in nearby the townnds. You can use this old map to find your way to it, but I can''t guarantee things will be the same as it''s written on the map." "System alert: yer has epted the quest." "System alert: yer gained the old map of Anna''s father, a very dear item of Anna and a crucial item to the quest. Please don''t lose or damage it or else your favorability with Anna will decrease a lot." "System alert: The quest of finding the dragon horn is issued sessfully to the yer. Quest grade: Red grade quest. Quest details: Long time ago a dragon terrorized thesends and spread fear in the souls of every living being around. Now after long years of killing it, the dragon will have a chance to spread fear once more, this time inside the souls of the dark era monsters. Use the map given to you by the Swor city mayor and make sure to find the horn before you exceed level thirty. Doing the quest after level thirty will give you rewards halved. Quest time: open. Quest failure: The monster tides from now on will be doubled in severity until you seed. Increasing the strength of the tides will destroy the town in less than one week. Ruining or losing the map will make Anna mad. Quest reward: repelling the tide and making the grounds around regain its former true state. In return any experience gained here will have double the amount, any loot dropped by monsters will be enhanced to drop gears at a much higher rate. Simply put; this town will turn to be the heaven of yers in the times of darkness." "Indeed it is," Bloom couldn''t help butugh when he read the description of that quest. "Everything is alright?" Anna asked. "Sure," he stored away the map, "I''ll make sure to get this done as soon as possible." "I depend on you for that," she said before turning to the iing monsters, "these dark bastards are getting bolder with time." "I''m sure we can handle this wave," Bloom said before Anna nodded to him. "I''ll go now, keep up if you want," she moved fast while Bloom didn''t hurry to chase after her. "My experience needs to be adjusted," he muttered as he knew going to such a ce would require killing a lot of monsters. And that would get him closer to exceed level thirty. "Should I die once then?" he seriously considered this. Strangely how his mind changed in mere minutes from trying his best to reach level thirty and now he didn''t want to. Just as he was lost in thought, many yers suddenly jumped on him from behind. "What the hell?" he was taken by surprise, yet the next moment he used his speed to evade most of the attacks, but not all. "-1000" "-500" "-2500" "-3000" "-1250" Long row of damage appeared on top of his head taking away almost half of his Hp. "Damn! Sneakily attacking me from behind?" he cursed while taking one bottle and gulped it without thinking. "Kill him," one yer shouted. "Don''t let him recover," another used his sword to stab Bloom, yet he was faster to meet it with his sword. "Thinking I''m a pushover or something?" he sneered before he took out all of his four swords. "Sword tornado!" The next moment the four swords rose high in the air and started throwing off all yers they hit all around. In mere moments the area in front of him returned its vacancy and he had time to adjust. "My turn," he didn''t even wait for the four swords to finish their skill as he took out another two and pointed them towards the yers up front. "Dash!" he jumped directly to hit one yer and sent him flying, "Dash," and he linked it with another dash before starting a spree of stabs. Even a single wave of his sword threw any yer off bnce and made the area around him covered literally by flying yers with high damage on top of their heads. "Use your pets," a yer was so scared that he screamed, "don''t let him reach you, fast!" Bloom sneered in return while watching over a hundred pets appearing around. "Is this all you got? Damn! I thought they sent elites but eventually they sent only cannonfodders!" He waved his hand and the next instant hundreds of high level pets appeared and roared in unison. This created a shocking scene for all the yers watching this fight from a distance, as a brutal massacre erupted the next minutes. "Sigh, they don''t even worth me using these potions," Bloom was dejected as the loot he got from these yers was really unworthy to mention. Even the potions falling there were all low grades and the gears were all level twenty and lower. "At least I can salvage some gold coins and materials out of these," he stored everything before turning around and ncing at the distant yers. "Any more? Anyone wants to lose a hard earned level for nothing?" he shouted and he didn''t know this was being broadcasted all over the forums at the moment. And his deration wasn''t only directed towards the yers here, but all the yers watching felt a cold shiver down their spines when they heard his words. A monster that was what all realized when ncing at him, making them all regain the old memory of his old identity lively again in their minds. Chapter 253: Having Suspicions Of Traitors In The Team Chapter 253: Having Suspicions Of Traitors In The Team Bloom just stayed his ce motionless for a couple of minutes before he finally turned around and headed towards the distant monster tide. "Idiots," he simply harrumphed and pointed his four swords towards the front where he used his sword tornado skill over the monsters. His attack came to clear a path around a certain spot, just next to Anna and her elite team. "Wee back," sheughed while killing a monster, "I saw you being backstabbed by some yers." "They are just idiots," he shrugged, "I just hope they won''te here again or else" Sheughed again while he knew the ones he killed wouldn''t be able to easily log in except after a day or two. He was still collecting death souls, and all of them were now ced over one stat strength. He knew the importance of being strong, just one hit and he would kill a monster or yer weaker than him. That was what he aimed for. As the fight proceeded, the number of monsters killed here were getting higher. Bloom could easily gain one level at the least, but he refrained from dealing thest blow every time. So he just had to pass through the entire frontline while helping others in reducing the high Hp of those monsters. Despite that he couldn''t help but kill some monsters from time to time by mistake, yet that wasn''t enough for him to cross the final step towards leve thirty. "It''s over," Tondel said while giving Bloom a hatred nce, "let''s go mydy, hoping someone will be up to his words and finish his quest." Bloom simply sneered while Anna nodded to him before returning to the town. ''How are you doing now?'' he sent to Antoan and his team before thetter sent back: ``We gained a couple of levels here.'' ''Great,e to the main gate then.'' Bloom didn''t wait for long before Antoan appeared with his team. Apparently the news of him being here had spread already around the game as he noticed more yers flooding to this town. "I hope they aren''t just tempted by the jerk''s money," Antoan nced at a couple of big teams who just passed by the gate while giving Bloom a deep nce. "Even if they were, I don''t mind hitting their heads to the ground a couple of times to make them be clear headed again," Bloom shrugged while totally ignoring those yers. "Come." He moved outside the gate and many yers were already eyeing him and his team. "Are we going to continue to level up here?" A yer asked while feeling slightly nervous of those eyes watching them all around. "No," Bloom shook his head, "I''ve something to do and will need your help there." He could venture all alone but that would put him at the risk of leveling up over thirty. So having more with him would decrease the total experience gained by a great chunk. "A quest?" Antoan wasn''t stupid as he already figured it out. "You can say that," Bloom nodded without even turning around. "We are we heading outside the town?" Bloom evaded the path leading to the leveling grounds while taking the route heading towards outside the town. "Just follow and you''ll know," Bloom didn''t like this yer as he kept asking questions all the time. ''Who is he? Is he trusted?'' he hurriedly sent to Antoan who instantly answered. ''He is the son of one of the main assistants to yourte father,'' Antoan said yet his words didn''t help. Bloom wasn''t Willy and he didn''t have any feelings for thatte father. ''Is he trusted?'' he asked as this was all that he cared about. ''I trust him,'' Antoan answered, ''he is just a talkative type.'' ''I already can tell,'' Bloom sighed, ''if he doesn''t shut up his mouth then I might find myself unable to control my sword.'' Bloom didn''t like those who asked a lot without doing anything in return. All of his team was already an extra weight for him, helping them to level up and defending them. And he was already getting tired of this. He took them with him to help, and if they didn''t really do that then he would better seek another elite team to nourish. After all this was a team game, not a solo game. It seemed Antoan reprimanded that youth as he kept his mouth shut until they all reached the outskirts of the town. "Is there anyone following us?" Bloom asked with no care at all while he took out the map he received from Anna to check it out. "So far it''s good," Antoan said as he left behind a couple of shade sons to scout and observe their rear. "Good," Bloom started to examine the map, looking for his current spot and finding a path to link him to his destination. "System alert: yer can choose to merge this map with his own to gain better guidance and permanent ess to it." "This" Bloom was slightly tempted to do so, but what he had in mind about that warning to lose or even damage the map made him choose not to ept such a rich offer. "I decline," he simply said before returning to the map and continued to examine it. The ce of that fallen dragon was tens of miles to the east of here. There was a deep valley with many swamps inside, making the ce filled with many dangers. "Swamps inside valleys wouldn''t they release toxic miasma?" Bloom suddenly got some inspiration before checking the map again. "That''s possible," he paused before knowing he was heading to a death trap if he continued like this. "Send someone to the town," Bloom transferred tens of thousands of gold coins to Antoan in one move, greatly startling him. "This" Antoan nced at this before Bloom said: "Make him find any potions to fight against poisons especially toxic miasma." "Miasma?" Antoan didn''t get what Bloom meant but Bloom just nodded as he said, "send someone to fetch those potions now." "Remon," Antoan turned around but Bloom''s eyes made him pause as this was the youth Bloom spoke with him about from before. "Find Lary and bring him back now." Lary was a shade son, one of those he left behind to secure the way. "Why not sending him a message instead?" Remon grunted and Bloom''s unlikeness to this kid just rose up a couple of degrees. "Good suggestion," Antoan said as Remon didn''t move to execute the order and he was pretty much sure Bloom might do something stupid now. "He ising," Antoan said to Bloom, trying to divert his attention off Remon. Yet Bloom already sat his gaze upon this kid, and if he had more doubt towards him then he wouldn''t hesitate to screw his arrogance with the old rtion with Willy''s dad. "Good," Bloom said before Antoan added, "he is already on the way to the town. How many potions do you seek?" "As much as he can buy," Bloom simply said as he didn''t know what was enough and what wasn''t. "Alright," Antoan paused before ncing around, "are we going to wait here or keep going?" "Wait," Bloom said while fixing his gaze upon Remon without flinching. And that made Antoan slightly worried, after all he vouched for that kid and would hate to lose such a yer he trusted. Lary took roughly half an hour to find the potions. He simply used a ticket to return to the town, sought the auction house first but found nothing worthy there. "Make him go to the potion store," Bloom simply said and Antoan delivered the word to Lary. "The store had some potions," Antoan sighed, "but not as many as you want." "Make him buy everything there and head to another store." Unlike the vige, towns would contain more than one store to sell items. After a tour around the town Lary finally brought many potions and all were delivered to Antoan who shared them with Bloom. "Let''s go," Bloom said while giving Remon a warning nce. "Won''t we wait for him?" Antoan was surprised. "Leave him back at the town," Bloom shrugged, "I need eyes there." "O- Ok," Antoan didn''t know why but the mood of his master seemed a bit off. He nced at Remon before sighing, as it was very clear that Bloom sat Remon as a suspicious target and he couldn''t do anything about it. ''Hopefully you won''t do anything stupid,'' he inwardly prayed, but he underestimated the sin of arrogance and greed. "This way," Bloom led them in circles while sending the orders to Antoan asking about any news from the shade sons they left behind. "No news so far interesting," Bloom softly muttered as despite one hour of walking in circles his scout team didn''t get any sniff of any yer. "That''s simply quite odd." It was logical for his enemy to send some teams to test the waters and scout him, especially when he went in a different direction than other yers. Yet after one hour no yer was spotted. That meant only one of the two options he had in mind, and he had to make sure which one was the case. "Wait for me here," he simply said before walking forward, "I''ll go to scan the area." "Should Ie with you?" Antoan asked but Bloom simply denied. "Keep yourselves here," he loudly said, ''Don''t let anyone leave your sight not even for a second,'' he privately said while knowing that it would very stupid if anyone of them tried to follow him. As for the whole theory of having traitors or not, for him he didn''t find any weirdness in such a theory, but he had to be sure not to casually use people, especially if his suspicion only was based on feelings. Chapter 255: A Maze Chapter 255: A Maze Bloom nced all around while not knowing what to say. He was exactly feeling much doubt towards this ce and the first thing he thought of was one thing Who caused all this? Was he or it alive so far or not? "Boss, are we going in there?" another yer asked while his face told Bloom how much afraid he was. "C''mon, it''s just a game," Bloomughed trying to lessen the pressure, "in the worst case scenario we will lose a level or two." "At this stage losing a level wastes a lot of time," Antoan muttered what others had in mind right now. "And that would only keep increasing with time," Bloom said, "it''s an endless pit, and we need to adapt to this bitter fact." He turned around before muttering, "but first we need to find ourselves a nice path to walk in." "I''ll send some boys to scout," Antoan suggested and after Bloom gave him the nod he selected five weapon holder yers to go to the front and search the area. Bloom kept his ce trying to find a way in. "This is just like a gigantic maze," he sighed as no path he selected extended more than a couple of miles up front. "Do you think this is the trick here?" Antoan said with bright eyes, "you know I love puzzles and mazes let me try to solve it then." "We don''t have an overall view over it," Bloom sighed. He didn''t recall Antoan loved such a thing before from Terry''s memories, but as long as Antoan volunteered to solve this then he wouldn''t disagree. "We can go that way," a yer said, "that hill can provide us a better view." "Sounds good," Bloom led the others towards the hill while Antoan sent messages to those five, telling them about their new location. "There are monsters on the hill," one yer shouted from the front and Bloom couldn''t help but move fast to the forefront. "These monsters they are those dark ones I fought before." They weren''t like the monsters spreading now in the entire game, but like the monsters he fought before inside the lost mines. "Their levels are quite higher than before," he noticed their aura and felt intimidated by them. "We have our leveler," Antoan said in confidence, "I don''t think they can be that troublesome." "Their dashes are," Bloom recalled the hard fight he had with such monsters before, "we need to spread out our pets as shields to negate their dash skills." "Works for us," Antoan said, "boys, bring up the pets and let''s clear this hill." The team moved fast and in no time they sent their pets to attack therge group of a hundred and fifty monsters up front. "Roar!" Just as one pet stepped over the hill ground, the entire herd of monsters roared and the next instant they started to move fast towards the iing pets. "Boss it''s bad," a shield bearer yer at the front shouted in warning, "the leveler isn''t working!" Bloom noticed this at the same time. Just as the first monsters shed with their pets, he realized their levels didn''t show any signs of decrease. Their damage was astronomically high, exceeding twenty thousand at least. As for their attacks, they didn''t cause higher than five thousand damage. Compared to these monsters two hundred thousand Hp it was less than a needle prick to them. "Damn!" Bloom couldn''t help but wave his hand and his four swords took ce, hovering over his hands, "let''s see how strong you are sword tornado." The swords howled in the air beforending over the monsters. First no monster was sent to the air, and this was quite expected. Then the damage that appeared on top of these monsters startled Bloom. "Only eight, nine, and maximum ten thousands?" he muttered in disappointment. He was the highest damage dealer here but against thisrge group of thick blooded monsters he couldn''t make any difference. "Retreat," there was no other option here, "leave some pets and retrieve the rest." He didn''t hurry to leave while waiting for his team to disengage and run. As all ran sessfully, he started to follow them. "Persistent monsters," he cursed when he noticed therge group of monsters left the hill and started to chase them, "or is it the level difference?" The monsters ran fast, even faster than them. "Like this we will be surrounded no matter what," he gritted his teeth, "sword tornado," he hurriedly used his skill before shouting, "use any long range skill, try to dy them as possible." His shout made many yers use their skills. Just as all the attacksnded over these monsters, something strange happened. "The damage it tripled!" Bloom instantly stopped running while watching tens of thousands of damage appearing on top of these monsters. "What is going on?" He didn''t know the reason, yet that didn''t prevent him from cherishing it. "Turn around, let''s kill them all take all the pets, let''s kill them." The yers were already fixated over these monsters and so they all noticed the obvious change in their skill effect over these monsters. So once he shouted at them, they all stopped and took out their pets. "Boss the leveler is working," one yerughed, "it''s working, their levels are now twenty-five." Bloom nodded as he started his rampage over these monsters. This time each sword he waved sent a monster flying in the air, while the pets everyone summoned worked as meat shields, taking all the charges these monsters used against them. "It''s strange," Antoan said while fighting beside Bloom, "but I like it." "Me too," Bloomughed. The fight didn''t take more than ten minutes and then they started to clear the loot. Most were materials and dark sand, with few gears that were all at level twenty-five and silver grade at most. "Distribute the loot over the boys," Bloom casually said as he wasn''t interested in those low leveled gears. As for the dark sand, he already amassed arge number of dark points from his passive quests and didn''t need any extra. After giving them another ten minutes of rest, Bloom led them again to the hill. "Those monsters" yet just when he walked on the hill for a couple of minutes, he faced another group of simr monsters. The first shes with the pets and his swords proved that their levels were at least thirty-five, much higher than his and his team''s abilities. "Retreat," he couldn''t help but signal the retreat once more. The yers were skeptical about this but they followed his orders. After all, staying here meant death for them. As they ran, the monsters followed. Just after a couple of minutes the two groups got close to each other. "Even after leaving the hill these monsters are really stubborn," Bloomined before waving his sword tornado against the nearby monsters. "Turn around," yet as the swords hit the monsters, all touched by them were sent flying in the air, "the leveler effect is active again." yers turned around and summoned their pets, while he stood his ce motionless for a few seconds. "So this is all about this," he suddenly muttered. "What?" Antoan asked. "That hill it negated the effect of our leveler." "But" Antoan was about to object but he stopped as he realized what his master was implying, "we need to draw them down the hill, not fight them on it." "Indeed," Bloom nodded beforeughing, "yet it''s still a nice trick I like this game more," heughed before turning around and started his killing spree over these monsters. As he cracked the mechanism behind this ce, he didn''t need to go up and down with the entire team. "Select the fastest yers," he said to Antoan, and he didn''t need to exin more. "I''ll send them off now," Antoan selected ten yers before exining to everyone their next strategy. The tactic was simple, they would send those decoys to lure out the monsters off the hill and the main group would wee them a certain distance off the hill. Like this they started to regain their upper hand over these monsters, and in less than three hours the entire hill was effectively cleaned. "Let''s go up," Bloom ordered before leading the entire team to the highest point of the hill. "This is a perfect spot for you," Bloom said to Antoan as most of this gigantic maze was now clear to them. The maze ran for tens of miles, centered aroundrge trees that were ced together forming small forest. "It''s indeed a maze," Antoan nodded after observing theyout for a few minutes, "but it will need more time to crack." "We won''t move until you finish," Bloom said as he patted on his shoulders, "going there without a proper path is suicidal. Take your time and make sure you decipher everything." "Leave it to me," Antoan nodded before he stood there motionless for hours. The scouts they sent before returned and they didn''t find anything useful except the presence of some monsters they spotted inside some of the paths. ording to their description these monsters were the same like those Bloom and others fought on the hill. "Don''t tell me we need to leave the maze each time we face one group of monsters," Bloom muttered when he heard about these monsters. Chapter 256: The Twisted Game Developers Chapter 256: The Twisted Game Developers "We can''t tell before testing these out," he shook his head before ncing over to the side where Antoan was deeply focused over what he was doing. Just as three hours passed before Antoan finally regained his normal state. "I''ve cracked it," he said before pointing to his mind, "it''s all stored in here." "Great, let''s hit the road then," just as Bloom said this a loud roar suddenly erupted from one direction before others appeared after that. "Damn! I forgot about their respawn time," Bloom could only smile, "let''s run, it''s not wise to fight those up this hill." "Follow me," Antoan shouted and the entire team ran fast heading towards the bottom of the hill. The ascension trip was much slower, but it was far safer. "Watch out," one yer shouted, attracting everyone''s attention to one direction where a group of hundreds of monsters were running fast towards them. "There as well," another pointed to the other side. "Don''t stop, run and let those with resurrection skills be at the forefront," Bloom shouted as he noticed some yers intended to summon their pets and fight back. It was obvious that getting to the bottom of the hill would require much more than luck. "How much we lost?" Bloom was panting while watching the summoned pet army that the remaining yers in his team summoned after getting to the ground. "Around twenty-five." "Not bad," Bloom said, "resurrect them now and let''s get moving." The team didn''t take much time to kill the monsters and resurrect those fallenrades of theirs. After the entire team was reformed again, Bloom led them with the guidance of Antoan. "This maze is really cunning," Antoan had to say, "those who created it made sure not to be crossed easily." "Why is that?" "There are clouds of fog that keep covering up many departments of this maze. If not for waiting for them to move around, I would have been fooled by many dead ends." "Miasma?" Bloom asked. "I believe so," Antoan nodded, "after all these clouds seemed a little bizarre. I never saw clouds moving so low and slow before." "We''ll see," Bloom nced at the drawing near the maze, "where is the entry point?" "Half an hour run to the right," Antoan pointed to a certain direction, "I marked the main points in my map, so when we are nearby I''ll let you know." "Good." They ran as Antoan said for half an hour before they spotted a path like others they met before. "It''s this one," Antoan said in confirmation while Bloom nced at him as he asked: "Sure?" He nodded and Bloom just shouted, "let''s go in I believe the monsters inside would be like those we faced before over the hill. When I order a retreat , don''t ck off or else I might not resurrect you." Bloom''s harsh treatment wasn''t groundless. After all he didn''t trust the judge of his butler anymore and had to end this quest first before he would go through a revolution inside his team and trusted men. Who would betray him here wouldn''t hesitate to do the same out in the real world. Here he could lose a level, but outside he was still at risk even with his growing power. As they entered the path, they spotted a group of simr monsters on the hills. "Strange," one yer muttered, "why aren''t they attacking us?" "Strange indeed," Bloom also noticed that the monsters nced at them briefly before returning to mind their own business. "They might be passive ones, right?" Antoan was optimistic. "I doubt that," Bloom narrowed his eyes before adding, "let''s send a small group of our pets first to attack them." "Will we still attack them?" Antoan was speechless. "Sure," Bloom nodded before turning to the team and gave them a serious nce that made at least half summon their pets and send them off. "Slightly overboard," he muttered, "but not bad." "Shouldn''t we leave them alone?" Antoan whispered in doubt. "Believe me, there is no such kindness in such a game," Bloom said before watching the petsing so near the peaceful monsters before they finally hit them. "Invalid!" "Invalid!" "Invalid!" That was what appeared on top of those monsters. Despite how hard the pets tried, they couldn''t even take a single point off these monsters. "See? I told you some dirty scheme was here," Bloom muttered in low tone, "but why is it invalid?" "Does this mean they aren''t part of the quest?" a yer asked. "No, I hardly believe it," Bloom shook his head before adding, "I think we need to trigger something first." "Like what?" a yer asked. "Dunno, but perhaps a boss monster or something," Bloom shook his head before adding, "now you all will remain here," he said before adding, "don''t let anyone follow me, and keep an eye over the chat." "Be careful," Antoan said, "if you die we can resurrect you," he added. "Don''t be this pessimistic," Bloomughed, "I''m not that easy to kill y''know." He went directly towards the front, where the path started to take right and left twists. "Where is that triggering thing?" he kept asking himself while examining everything around with extreme focus. "Is this?" he paused after walking for over ten minutes already as he finally reached a dead end. "When did I take a wrong turn?" he scratched his head and just as he touched the wall trying to see if there was a sudden mechanism to it, a loud bang erupted all of sudden. "Damn!" he turned sharply around to spot many dormant monsters bing instantly active, "so the triggering here is to fail the maze and end up into a dead end screw you developers," he shouted in rage while running as fast as he could. But slowly the path upfront was getting narrower by the overcrowding monsters. "Screw it Darkness might!" "Darkness might skill: Any monster attacking the yer during the time of the skill will get a fear effect no matter what level or grade it was for thirty seconds. Monsters affected will run havoc, evading the yer with their attack, and might cause some damage to others during these thirty seconds. yer attacks during the thirty second period are valid, while monster attacks against yers aren''t. Duration: ten seconds. Cooldown: one minute." Just as he activated the skill, all the monsters with no exception who were about to hit him turned around, roared in panic, and started to run in havoc all around. That helped to buy him a precious half a minute where he got so near his team. "Just a little more," he urged while stealing a swift nce at the chaos he caused all around, "if I just can use this skill forever, I would be simply invincible." He opened the chat and sent a warning message to Antoan. Yet he found Antoan already sent a long row of messages warning him of what happened to the monsters around them and telling him they retreated already. "Cowards," he cursed, "they couldn''t even stay and wait for their boss toe!" Just as he closed the chat he found the effect of the skill fading away. "No other way then Darkness nihilism." "Darkness nihility skill: yer will be invisible for the duration of the skill. the yer can attack freely without being seen, and if the yer receives an attack, he will only take one tenth of the damage caused by these attacks. Duration: one minute. Cooldown: two minutes." He instantly vanished but he didn''t stop running. He checked his stamina to find it had only lost one tenth of it so far. "At least one piece of good news," he muttered before opening the map and found he was extremely close to the exit of this path. Just before his skill vanished he stopped at the entrance and waited until the effect weaned off and then appeared running from thest turn to appear in front of Antoan and others while being chased by a huge group of monsters. "Don''t stand like that," he shouted, "summon the pet army, prepare for battle." The team thought after getting out of the maze the monsters would stop chasing them. It was true for them as they weren''t the one ending in a dead end there. But for Bloom things seemed different. Once he exited the maze the monsters kept chasing like he was still running inside. This coupled with his shouts from before made everyone hurry to summon their pets and take the fight stance. In less than half a minute he reached them and the fight started intensely from the start. "I told you," Bloom took a deep breath while watching his yers clearing the battlefield off the loot and resurrecting the ones fallen here, "this game isn''t a mere walk in the garden." "I never thought they would be this merciless," Antoan sighed, "dunno who had a twisted mind to do something like this." "Lucky for us you cracked the maze," Bloom hit his arm before adding, "or else we would end up running all day long without getting us anywhere." "At least we can clear those mo" Antoan choked in the middle of his words while Bloom nced at the maze again before sighing. The monsters they just killed were respawned again like nothing happened. "Still having good faith in the developers? They are much more twisted, have a darker mind than I do!" Chapter 257: Breaking Into The Maze Chapter 257: Breaking Into The Maze "Let''s try this n then," Bloom said while letting Antoan lead them through the maze. "Didn''t you say you memorized it?" In less than ten minutes, Antoan led them into a dead end, triggering the monsters around and they had to run for their lives once again. "I didn''t forget anything," Antoan argued, "I cracked it and memorized the right path for hours!" "Then what?!" Bloom shouted while running fast with who remained of his team towards the nearby exit. "I dunno," Antoan honestly said. "Something is suspicious here," Bloom stayed with hands behind his back while watching this maze in front of him. "Should we walk over the walls then?" he turned towards the walls as he thought. The maze was made out of deep grooves and they were trying one of these grooves so far with no sess. "No, we can''t do that," Antoan firmly shook his head, "Each wall had endless holes breaking up their path. We won''t walk for a couple of minutes before stopping in front of an obstacle we can''t pass." "And this one here?" Bloom pointed towards the entrance that made him lose. "How can we pass that? Any brilliant ideas?" "Well," Antoan muttered, "let me go first inside and scout the path." "Like I did? And end up the same way?" "But I have the map in mind," Antoan pointed to his head. "The map which led us to a dead end just now sounds like a terrible n already." "I have to try," Antoan firmly said, "I can''t be wrong, all the paths I had in mind can''t be wrong." "Alright," Bloom waved his hand, "go and try then, hopefully this might work." Antoan moved and in less than five minutes Bloom saw him running fast while an army of monsters were chasing him. "Be ready boys," Bloom shouted, "let''s kill them." The fight ended without any suspense, while Bloom stood with Antoan both were deeply puzzled by this maze. "Should we go back and scan it again?" Antoan referred to the hill. "No, that would only waste time," Bloom said, "trying something twice won''t change the results." "Then should we try and clear the entire maze out of monsters?" "Not possible," Bloom shook his head, "the respawn rate here is just unbelievable." "Then" Antoan paused as he couldn''t find any more ideas to suggest. "Let''s take a stroll," Bloom suddenly decided. "But" "Your map is wrong and staying here felt more wrong. Let''s try other inlets as well." Bloom moved and Antoan could only sigh and led the team to follow the master. The next opening they met wide enough to fit a hit and run tactic was roughly ten minutes away. "Let''s test it then," Bloom said before adding, "I''ll go inside and you keep yourselves here, waiting to kill the monsters I bring." He moved in and started to try out his luck. In less than five minutes he came running fast while arge number of monsters were on his trail. "It''s a failure," he said after trying everything. "Should we" Antoan stopped talking and Bloom just nced at him in upset. "What?" he grunted. "Nothing," Antoan said before hurriedly adding, "I wasn''t even thinking about making you drop this quest or something." Bloom nced silently at him which made Antoan feel weird. "Let''s go and seek another opening," stubbornly Bloom refused to believe such a quest would be this hard to crack for him. Yet he failed again, and again, and kept failing until four hours passed along with seven entrances. But at the eighth one "Interesting," Bloom stood there watching the entrance which looked exactly the same as the others he tested, except for one thing. "Why are they moving this way?" Antoan asked in doubt. "They are acting normal atst!" Bloom was finally ecstatic before turning around to his team, "be ready, we''ll go and kill them all." Antoan wasn''t sure about that, and with time his worries proved to be correct. The first shes with these monsters, they managed to kill them easily. The monsters acted not like the weird dormant state, but they were actively seeking them. The moment they stepped inside the path, these monsters all turned and attacked them. Yet after walking for half an hour, they finally reached a ce where monsters regained their annoying old state. "Why are they back in that state?" Bloom asked while signaling for everyone to stop. "Perhaps we need to go there and be chased a couple of times before they be normal?" "Funny," Bloom said to Antoan before turning around, "there is a secret here let''s retreat then." "Re shouldn''t we stay here and try?" Antoan said. "No, it''s useless," Bloom kept moving, "I''m sure the secret lies outside this maze." "Where?" Antoan ran to catch up with him, while Bloom took out the map he received from Anna and started to carefully examine it. He kept checking it before he realized something. "There is something wrong here," he hurriedly opened the system map and started to do one thing topare. "Is there something wrong?" Antoan asked while they all exited the maze once again. "The two maps" he raised his head suddenly while ncing all around. "This this and that also this" he kept pointing towards distant hills one after another. "Damn! I never thought it would be solved this way!" "You cracked the solution?" Antoan was ecstatic as he already got bored from this dull ce. "It''s the hills," Bloom turned around before adding, "that one we crushed and cleared everything inside which led to deactivating this path in some way." "So we need to go and clear them all?" "Yeah," Bloom took one direction, "bring everyone, let''s get this quest done." "How many hills should we clear?" Antoan moved beside him after clearing two other hills. "Shouldn''t we take a break and scout the path we cleared part of before?" "No," Bloom firmly nodded, "those twenty hills aren''t situated on the system map which had only one exnation." Antoan didn''t speak despite his face showing he wanted to ask. "There aren''t hills." "Then what?" Antoan looked in a weird way towards his master who just sighed. "If the system map doesn''t have it, then they aren''t already part of the map." "And?" "How can I possibly know?" Bloom said, "I can only think of either they are rted to the dragon or the ones who killed it." "But they aren''t dangerous, right?" Antoan suspiciously asked, "you won''t unleash another weird era here." "Hahaha," Bloomughed in fake, "very funny Antoan." "Thanks master," Antoanughed for real as he was enjoying teasing his master. The clearance mission took roughly one entire day before they managed to kill every single monster on the hills. "So we can go back and try that path now?" Antoan asked while feeling already bored and tired of this ce. "Sure, let''s test it now." Bloom led the team back to the path they managed to clear part of it. the monsters they killed before didn''t respawn even after one day. "Let''s kill them boys," Antoan roared, "I want to get some rest after this, so don''t ck and give me everything you got." The yers all summoned their pets first before they pushed behind those huge meat shields and started attacking and killing the monsters. "It''s working," Antoan heaved a deep sigh of relief. He wasn''t the only one feeling so. Since thest incident with their master, the team here agreed to avoid speaking or sharing their opinions with him. After all it wasn''t predictable what his reaction would be. And Antoan supported such an approach as it was the safest until he settled things with his master. "Let''s hope our luck continues," Bloom was happy as well as their fight inside this path was unhindered so far. Yet after roughly one hour, they finally came across an obstacle. "How is this even possible?" Antoan wasn''t the only one to mutter these words, even those yers who decided before to remain silent spoke up involuntarily to what they were seeing in front of them. "I thought" Bloom was also shocked when he saw that giant silhouette lying in the distance while taking one breath in and one breath out. It was far away from them, like ced in the center of this maze where all the paths end. The ce where Bloom thought to be a forest of bones was a reflection from the sun over the shiny scales of the giant body of this monster. And that monster waved its tail slowly and hit the corners of the maze, creating a shockwave that made some parts fall and others rise in the maze. "It''s a dragon!!" Antoan turned to his master while moving his lips without a sound, "It''s a live dragon!!!" Bloom nced at him before turning back to the looking far from being dead dragon. "What the hell is going on here?" he hurriedly opened the quest he received from Anna and checked it once again. Chapter 258: The Dragon Chapter 258: The Dragon "There is something wrong here," he muttered while examining the quest again to find it the same. "System alert: The quest of finding the dragon horn is issued sessfully to the yer. Quest grade: Red grade quest. Quest details: Long time ago a dragon terrorized thesends and spread fear in the souls of every living around. Now after long years of killing it, the dragon will have a chance to spread fear once more, this time inside the souls of the dark era monsters. Use the map given to you by the Swor city mayor and make sure to find the horn before you exceed level thirty. Doing the quest after level thirty will give you halved rewards. Quest time: open. Quest failure: The monster tides from now on will be doubled in severity until you seed. Increasing the strength of the tides will destroy the town in less than one week. Ruining or losing the map will make Anna mad. Quest reward: repelling the tide and making the grounds around regain its former true state. In return any experience gained here will have double the amount, any loot dropped by monsters will be enhanced to drop gears at a much higher rate. Simply put; this town will turn to be the heaven of yers in the times of darkness." "What''s wrong?" Antoan whispered in a very low tone fearing that his voice might awaken the baby sleeping dragon. "It''s said here it''s a dead dragon," Bloom said before pointing to the dragon, "does this look dead to you?" "It''s pretty much alive," Antoan said and everyone around nodded. "I know that!" Bloom was so furious as he shouted while closing the system notification about the quest. His voice rang around before Antoan hurriedly whispered: "We better not to rm that beast." "Why?" Bloom was mad, "I can''tplete the quest now!" "We shouldn''t try to lose levels without proper cause," Antoan said, but he was toote as the next moment the ground trembled while a wave of wind suddenly erupted all around, throwing them all into the air, flying tens of meters before finally falling on the ground. "It''s" one yer stuttered in shock while that sleeping dragon now stood up and nced all around with its frightening eyes. "We need to run," Antoan whispered, "everyone be ready, check if we can use the tickets hurry." Everyone took their tickets out and started to test them. What they faced was a simple rejection from the system. "System alert: yer can''t use the ticket to go back to the town. yer is inside a special game map, and to use the ticket the yer has to withdraw first." "Damn!" one yer cursed, "now what?" They all nced at Bloom who simply stood silently looking at the dragon. The dragon noticed them and started to re at Bloom. This simply turned into a gazing contest where the air was filled with a very heavy pressure. "Kekeke," suddenly the dragonughed like it just heard a joke, "a group of fools are finallying to die Come, let me stretch out some muscles." Bloom wasn''t fazed by these words. In fact his mind was still stirred upon that quest. "Where is the trick here?" that what was in his mind kept asking all the time and tried his best to find an answer. The dragon stood up and started to stretch his wings, causing another wave of wind that moved everyone a couple of meters behind, all except Bloom. "That" Bloom''s eyes shone brightly while he nced at the dragon''s body. "We need to retreat," Antoan hurriedly shouted, "the maze is free of monsters. We can try and lose it there." "It''s just a single level guys," Bloom suddenly turned to his butler and team, "Don''t make it look like it''s the end of the world." "This" Antoan wasn''t the only one to sense the sudden change in his mood. "What did you discover?" he hurriedly asked as this was the only thing he could think of. "The secret behind that quest," Bloom said before pointing to the dragon, "this isn''t our dragon." "There is more?" a yer screamed in panic which caused everyone to nce around in fear. "Where is the other one?" Antoan asked with an anxious look over his face. "It''s I dunno," Bloom honestly said, "but what I know is that it''s dead." "Dead?" all the yers eximed in doubt. "It''s dead, just like the quest says," Bloom said before turning to nce all around, "and it should be here somewhere." "Then" Antoan paused before pointing to the living badass dragon upfront, "what about this one?" Bloom nced at the dragon as the dragon was gazing at them. "Don''t you find it strange it didn''t try to attack us yet?" His words made others wonder the same thing. This dragon stood its ce motionless. It didn''t even try to move a single step from that spot he was sleeping in. The moment the dragon stood up, Bloom could perfectly see its entire body and head. That dragon was with no horns, making it not the dragon he came for. "What do you mean by that boss?" one yer asked. "This dragon is the trap," Bloom said, "the deadly trap the developers nted here for any teaming to get the quest done." "So it won''t attack us?" Antoan asked what others here were having in mind. "This" but Bloom couldn''t answer such a question, "let''s try our luck first," he said before adding, "we need to look for a dead dragon skeleton of a dragon." Everyone nced in a weird way towards him. "C''mon, it''s only one level to lose," he said in a better mood than when he first came here. "But there are no skeletons here," Antoan said. "The ce is big," Bloom said, "we need to scan it slowly and find that skeleton. After all, it might be buried under dirt." Bloom hit the ground while others looked at him in a much weirder way. "Let''s start scanning the ce first," Bloom sighed and when he moved a step forward, the dragon suddenly roared. "Come here you pathetic cowards Come and fight me!" Bloom paused for a moment before moving again. The dragon kept roaring, shouting and cursing but he never gave him any heed. After all that dragon was stuck in ce, unable to move a single finger. "See?" Bloom turned to his team after a minute, "he didn''t move, couldn''t attack all it can do is yell and roar, but do roars kill? I doubt even his curses would harm us." Heughed and everyone gradually smiled before he turned around and continued to walk. "You heard our boss," Antoan shouted in a better mood, "let''s go and search this ce upside down." His shout helped those who were still hesitant to move. The team kept scanning the ce under the annoying music of roars, curses, and threatsing from that dragon. Yet the dragon never moved a finger and they kept moving around him while scanning everything. "Now what?" Antoan stood beside his master who was gazing up at the dragon with a vicious grin over its face. "We searched everywhere and even dug the earth but found nothing." "Only that ce remains," Bloom motioned to the direction of the dragon. "This" Antoan was hesitant. "I don''t think it will be this bad," Bloom turned to him, "or even that easy. I''ll go there and you will be ready." "For what?" Antoan shouted while Bloom moved fast towards the front, "the dragon?!!" "I hope it won''t be it," Bloom simply said while moving fast towards the dragon zone. The dragon kept its annoying smile over its face while it kept its silence while watching himing near it. "Finally got some courage toe," the dragonughed, "c''mon, get closer, let me eat you alive." Bloom harrumphed before standing a hundred meter away from it. "I won''t be this dumb to do that," he simply said while faking observing the area around. "What you came here for is nowhere but here," the dragon suddenly said while moving his long tail from a spot on the ground, revealing whaty there for Bloom. "Those developers" he only cursed them while watching the long horn that had more than half buried under the ground. Even if he used a decoy, his team, to make the dragon busy he would need more time to excavate the ground and take that horn. "If it was only the horn and not attached to the skull," he sighed as he was now considering the worst scenarios as those twisted developers must have used them here. "Now what?" the dragon returned his tail to cover the horn, "what will you do weak yer?" Bloom clenched his fist and started to move. He had toplete the quest. He moved and the dragon''s smile was getting wider until it suddenly froze up its ferocious face. "What?" Bloom sneered as he spotted this change at the moment, "don''t tell me you can''t move from your ce?" Bloom decided to go around and get a closer look over the horn. Yet when he took half a round there, the dragon face changed as it realized his aim. And luckily that came directly to reveal the weak spot of that dragon it couldn''t move around or change its position. "Good," Bloomughed, "I now know these developers aren''t all rotten from the inside as I feared." And the dragon could only answer with an angry roar without being able to do anything to him. Chapter 259: The Long Unused Skill Chapter 259: The Long Unused Skill "Keep roaring like an idiot," Bloom sneered as he mocked the giant dragon, "Let me guess you need us to attack you so you will be able to be freed from the restriction here, right?" The dragon roared and that was enough for Bloom to know he was right. "Let''s see how you will take it," the dragon evillyughed when Bloom reached the other side of his tail, "The horn lied underneath my tail and you can''t reach it except through me." "And?" Bloom didn''t show any signs of being anxious while he remained collected on the surface. "Why not make a deal with me?" the dragon suddenly said. "What kind of a deal?" Bloom casually asked. "You let me loose and I won''t kill you kind of deal." "I have to pass on that," Bloom shrugged, "there is no much benefit for me there to be honest." "Humph, then forget about your precious horn." "I will get it, so don''t think yourself in control of that quest item," Bloom said as he was pretty much sure there was something he could use to get the horn without triggering the protective mechanism around it. "I doubt you know what you are talking about," the dragon sneered and Bloom simply stood there motionless while thinking about this tricky quest again. "The map!" he suddenly recalled the part where the map integrity was mentioned more than once. He hurried to take the map and the moment he did, he felt some vibrations over it. "So it works," heughed while holding the berserk map with both hands and moved towards the dragon. The moment he took that piece out, the tail started to vibrate alongside the map and that meant he could get the horn without much trouble. "I won''t let you touch it," yet that sneaky dragon roared in anger and the next moment arge number of ck shadows appeared around Bloom. "This" he nced at these smaller versions of the dragon taking shape slowly around him. "I can''t be stopped here," he gritted his teeth before waving his hand and hundreds of his pets appeared all of sudden. The dragon moved first but Bloom managed to pull this feat much faster than it. "Damn you! You think those pathetic monsters of yours can stop mine? Kekeke, it''s the funniest thing I''ve ever heard since ancient times." Bloom nced at the about to be formed dragons and knew that the trickery dragon here wasn''t bluffing. These versions of it seemed quite strong and Bloom was sure they must possess simr abilities like this dragon. And he was pretty much sure these copies weren''t bound by anything here. ''Hurry,'' he didn''t hesitate to open his chat and send this distress signal to Antoan, ''Come and bring everyone.'' ''What?'' Antoan sent back while Bloom noticed him starting to move with the entire group. They were far from his distance, so they couldn''t spot the recent development that urred around him. Bloom didn''t need to answer as when the team moved closer to him, they found the clones and realized everything. "Make sure not to hit that dragon," he shouted while keeping the paper in hand and moving forward, "Not a single skill shall fall over it, understand?" He stressed over this again and they all realized how important this warning was. "Don''t worry boss, we won''t hit it," Antoan shouted, "just make it quick, alright?" Bloom only nodded and kept moving forward while Antoan and his team summoned their pets and started a fight against those dragon clones. Bloom was surrounded in hemisphere by manyyers of his pets, while the main fight was raged by the team''s pets. "Damn you yer," the dragon seemed slightly stressed, "you are cheating!" "Using my team yers isn''t cheating," Bloom sneered while not stopping advancing at all. The more he got near the dragon tail, the stronger the resistance he felting from his map. At first it was only vibrating, but now it felt like he was holding a giant rock and climbing a rough mountain. It was getting harder to step forward, yet he never stopped moving. Using all his power he kept pushing his body until he finally reached below the tail. The tail was now pushed up, roughly ten meters above his head. If he left the map for a single second, the tail would drop over his head and kill him without a doubt. He wasn''t worrying about losing one level, but much more worried over losing this map. "Kekeke, you won''t be able to unearth that horn now," the dragon seemed amused, "the horn is stuck to the skull of the dragon. To take it you need to dig deeper and take the dragon skull first. A task not a single yer can do." Bloom turned back while gazing up at his team. He was considering something and the dragon misunderstood his meaning. "You can''t bring any yer here, only the holder of the key can approach only you, kekeke." ''Antoan,'' Bloom hurriedly opened the chat and sent this to his butler, ''lead everyone to the side where they won''t be able to see me.'' ''And the dragon clones?'' ''Attract them as well,'' he sent, ''make sure everyone understands that this is for me to retreat without any hindrance.'' ''Leave it to me.'' Bloom wasn''t thinking at all of summoning his team here. He doubted they would be able to approach without the map, yet he had another n in mind. One that required no other yer would spot him doing it. He waited, and in less than a couple of minutes Antoan led his team members further away from his sight. He waited for more minutes just to be sure no one would spot him and the dragon kept its silence while feeling more puzzled about this. Then Bloom acted. "Shade doppelganger festival!" This skill was once his ace and main one but after that incident he stopped using it. He was forced not to use such skill in front of any yer, as this was considered a trademark of Bloom identity. Chapter 260: Negotiations With A Sly Dragon Chapter 260: Negotiations With A Sly Dragon Despite that he never thought of recing it. He knew that there would be times like this where he would need it. Also he was waiting for more yers to be able to use doppelganger skills, which would be real after level thirty, or that what he hoped. The next moment twenty-nine clones of his appeared around, making the ce crowded. "Dig the ground and take everything out," he instantly ordered. "What do you mean by everything?" the dragon was shocked to be forced to ask in amazement. "Humph," and Bloom only sneered and said nothing. As he was here, why be content with just one skull while he could get the entire dragon skeleton as well? That was his n. And that made the dragon more furious as it started roaring and forced its tail to move towards his head. "Stop resisting you stupid snake," Bloom gritted his teeth and felt like the rock he was holding was doubled in weight all of sudden. He even felt his knees trembling under this immense pressure. Yet he never let this piece of paper go out of his hand, or let the tail move more than a meter before stopping forcibly under the force of the map. "Screw you!" The dragon was deeply infuriated when the clones managed to clear a big part of the dragon skeleton. The dragon skeleton was asrge as the living dragon here, but it didn''t have its huge body that was full of muscles and scales. "Take everything," Bloom said while gritting his teeth, "don''t let a single scale off!" "Damn you yer! I curse you, you are the most hideous being I have ever met in my entire life!" "Humph!" Bloom kept his stand while letting his clones dug the ground. He didn''t forget to stress over Antoan to keep him safe from any prying eyes of his team. And Antoan promised not to let a single one escape his vision, despite doubting anyone could have the time to break free from this brutal fight. "I''ll kill you," the dragon roared when the entire skeleton appeared and the clones started to take one bone at a time and gave it to Bloom to store it away. "I swear not to rest until I kill you and swallow your soul wholly!" Bloom ignored these empty threats as he was sure the quest to release such a dragon wouldn''t be avable to yers before level fifty or even seventy-five. "This is my town," Bloom sneered, "and I won''t allow anyone toe near here ever. So rot here as long as you love filthy dragon, I won''t let you loose." Bloom turned to his clones as he ordered, "bring me those scales, don''t leave even the dirt around it to be wasted. Bring it all!" "Damn you stingy yer!" The dragon kept roaring and Bloom totally ignored it. He watched his clones taking out the crystallized scales and collecting the dirt as he ordered. "I hope thesee in useter," he stored them all, epting everything and not rejecting any until his inventory was almost full. "Stay here," he gave his final order to his clones while starting to retreat. Advancing was hard, yet retreating seemed like a walk in the park inparison. With each step he felt the pressure exerted over his body relieved by arge chunk. "Good, barely in time," he muttered as he nced at his stamina during this brief confrontation with the dragon''s tail. His stamina was the only thing being rapidly depleted here, and just as he left the dragon tail zone and stored away the map, he only had less than fifteen points inside his stamina. "Boom!" The next instant the huge tail of the dragon fell over his clones and smashed them all without exception. Bloom watched in cold blood this little sacrifice here while gulping a potion to replenish his stamina. "Damn you! I won''t rest until I kill you and feast on your soul!" the dragon kept threatening yet Bloom didn''t hurry to leave. "Stop this bullshit and let''s talk about real business," his words seeded in silencing the dragon who asked with a loss: "What do you mean, rude yer?" "First don''t give me names that I don''t like," Bloom said, stating his superiority here. "Or what?" "Or you''ll lose your sole chance of freedom," Bloom casually said, "I''m the next lord of this town. Not a single yer here won''t follow my orders. If I announced this ce as a yer off zone, believe me not a single ant woulde here to help you out." Bloom moved to see the face of the dragon clearer. "Simply put I''m your only chance of getting free, and you should show some appreciation first." "Release me and I won''t kill you!" "Again spilling out bullshit," Bloom sighed in disappointment, "if you''ll keep this loser''s attitude then I better get going and find myself a monster to kill." He turned around and was about to move away. "Stop," the dragon shouted and stopped him, "What do you want in return?" it finally asked. "What can you offer to me?" Bloom grinned while stopping his fake retreat, "and beware, if you spoke nonsense again I''ll leave and won''t listen to any pleading from you." The dragon kept his silence while sizing up Bloom. It knew he wasn''t toying with him and that made him quite hesitant. "I can tell you secrets about this game," the dragon suddenly said, "things you won''t know or imagine." "Like bringing the abilities here to the real world?" Bloom said, "like this ce isn''t just a normal game but might be a real world?" The reaction the dragon expressed when he heard his words made him confirm his own guesses from before. "How do you know this?" the dragon couldn''t help but ask. "I just was lucky to know these secrets," Bloom acted like he was already aware of these secrets beforehand. "If you only can give me this then I have to say I''m very disappointed." Chapter 261: Agreeing On The Price Chapter 261: Agreeing On The Price "Wait," the dragon seemed quite anxious and worried Bloom would leave and not return, "if you already know these then you know how important it is to have strong friends." "Friend? With you?" Bloomughed, "c''mon, you can''t be trusted." "Who said that?" "I said." "That''s a very wrong conclusion," the dragon defensively said, "I''m a very honest person. Someone who honors his words and will carry on his promises." "I don''t trust anything you say," Bloom said, "as long as you aren''t bound by the force in this game I won''t be able to sleep well at night." The dragon red at him with surprise but Bloom only shrugged, "c''mon, give me something too valuable to ignore." "What about a path where a special game map is situated?" "What''s the benefit then?" Bloom sighed, "I''m too weak to get there and survive." "How can you tell without trying?" "It''s a special game map, and from your tone it''s very exclusive. I can already imagine how deadly it is for someone like me." "What if I told you this would help to grow your personal power? I mean the real personal power in your pathetic world?" Bloom paused as he was already interested in this offer. "I can''t risk this, I''m far too weak," he kept repeating this and the dragon was finally impatient. "I can help with that," the dragon said, "I can leave a follower of mine to help you. He isn''t that strong or mature yet, and you''ll need to nourish him but I doubt this will be a problem for someone like you." "A dragon?" "A wyvern," the dragon said, "it''s still in its baby phase and requires a lot of nourishment but it is quite strong at least far stronger than you." Bloom thought about this and found this wasn''t a bad thing. "What does he eat?" he casually asked. "Anything with energy gold coins, light points, dark points, even materials and gears. Anything with energy from this world just brings it on and he will eat it," the dragon said, "but the higher the food the faster he will grow." "Is it a pet?" Bloom tried to understand the kind of rtion with that wyvern. "You can call him that," the dragon said, "but I have to warn you, he can fly but only once per month. Even if you fed him up, he won''t be able to cross this limitation forever." "Forever?!" Bloom was skeptical about this, "are you sure? He is part of your kin after all." "He was born with some deformity," the dragon said, "he can''t fly except once per month." "This decreases a lot of his value to me," Bloom honestly said, "can you add anything more to this so I can ept this deal?" "He is quite valuable," the dragon tried to bargain, "you can''t imagine how valuable he is with his other innate talent." "" "He can work as a perfect tanker for you, absorbing any damage the master receives for a fixed time. It''s a real blessing, you can''t ask for more." The dragon seemed like a merchant trying to sell his goods here, but Bloom didn''t agree despite being slightly tempted by this ability. "I need more." "" "He is good, I can give you that, however he isn''t that unique. I need something else to make this deal worth the trouble." "I promise I won''t kill you," the dragon returned to his old offer. "It seems you aren''t sincere about this. Fine then," Bloom turned and this time he walked meters while the dragon kept shouting at him, trying to make him stop. "Damn it! Why is it so hard to deal with you?" the dragon shouted in rage from behind, "it''s not like I have riches and hold them off you! I''ve been confined here for ages already, stripped away from any riches and have no wealth to offer." "Think of other things to add you are a dragon goddammit!" Bloom shouted without even stopping or turning to the dragon. "Alright," just as Bloom was about to reach his team on the distance the dragon shouted, "I can give you something valuable in addition to the wyvern. What say you?" Bloom stopped, turned around and nced in a serious way towards this cunning dragon. ''I knew you have more to offer,'' he inwardly sneered before returning to the dragon. "I swear if you yed any tricks this time I won''t stay even if you offered me the throne of this world," he said and the dragon only nced at him in a calm way. "I''m confident this will please you," he said. "Say it then," Bloom waited until he stood in front of the dragon and demanded to know the details. "I can bestow part of my energy upon you," the dragon slowly said, "it''s something very rare and I won''t even consider it if not for this humiliating situation." "Power?" Bloom muttered, "the power of the dragons What is its power?" "In its epitome you''ll be able to turn into one of us," the dragon said in disdain, "despite this would result in a weaker form of me but you''ll be strong in your own terms." Bloom didn''t fall for the far fetched promise this cunning dragon offered. "What''s its initial effect?" "You''ll have a power to scare monsters on the same level or weaker than you," the dragon exined, "also if you manage to cross the first levels then you can have more abilities." "Like flying?" Bloom sensed the urgency in the dragon exnation for fear he would refuse. "This can be achieved but in higher levels," the dragon said, "but you''ll have awesome abilities, like to stun your enemies with your roars, having scales to cover your entire body to obtain outstanding defense they are cool stuff, you don''t want them?" Bloom inwardly sighed, as this dragon was a real master in bargain. "Alright, you''ll have to give me this wyvern and bestow me the power then I''ll release you," he said. Chapter 262: Dropping The Contract Chapter 262: Dropping The Contract "What guarantee you won''t escape once you get these?" the dragon suspiciously said. "C''mon, have more trust in me." "" "I''m a yer, not a dragon like you," Bloom said. "We are more honest than you," the dragon said in more suspicion, "I suggest we have a contract." "Game contract?" "Indeed," the dragon said, "it''s the only thing I can depend on to hold you to your words." Bloom paused for a moment before deciding to ept. "Give it to me then," he said and the next moment the dragon took out a long parchment and threw it to him. "This all of these conditions?" Bloom was amazed when he read the contract. It had at least twenty conditions, and that alone made him doubt that dragon''s intentions. "They are the basic conditions in any game contract," the dragon casually said, "most of them are." Bloom didn''t take his words for granted and started reading. Slowly he started to see the problem here. "You need to change these conditions," he said while pointing to three conditions in particr, "I didn''t agree on just epting the location of the wyvern," he said. "I only know its location," the dragon shrugged. "You offered something you don''t have?" Bloom was speechless of that dragon''s shamelessness. "Hey I know him, and he won''t refuse a request for me," the dragon defensively said. "That''s not eptable at all," Bloom said, "and that condition as well I need to go to a special game zone and undergo a test to have that proimed dragon power." "What about it?" The dragon acted innocent as if he didn''t know what was wrong here. "You said you''ll bestow this power to me!" "Do you think it''s a small thing to do?" the dragon said in faked amazement, "you need to be tested first to prove your worth." "Then what''s the value of you?" Bloom couldn''t help but sneer, "If I can get that power from a quest, then why should I ept this as an offer from you?" "Because I''m the only one who can give you this quest," the dragon said but Bloom couldn''t trust anything it said anymore. "Sorry," Bloom let the contract down, "I won''t ept this bye." "Wait let''s have more talk about this" Bloom didn''t even walk as he simply took out a ticket and activated it. After fulfilling his quest, the special map effect vanished and now he and others could use their tickets. "Damn you! I give you treasures and you throw them in the mud!! Screw you yer! I hope for your dirty soul to rot in hell!" Bloom heard these threats and curses before everything vanished from his sight and the town''s calm central za appeared next. "Sigh, that dragon" he couldn''t help but regret not making this deal but he wouldn''t ept the conditions that stingy dragon offered. "That dragon looked mad," Antoan said after appearing next with his team. They were far in the distance so they couldn''t hear most of his talk with the dragon. "He is simply a cmity," Bloom said, "we shouldn''t let anyone release it loose or else we will have a very hard time in the game." "Who can oppose such strength?" a yer sighed, "it''s best if we looked for a way to kill it or send it away." "I hope a thing like this exists," Bloom nodded, "now go back and do what I said before," he said to Antoan and referred to the punishment to those traitors. "Alright," Antoan''s face stiffened when he recalled his own mistake. "I''ll make sure nothing like this will happen again," he tried to act cool but Bloom didn''t believe him. He had a fault in selecting his own people, and that was something Bloom couldn''t overlook. "Once finished, return and level up the boys," Bloom said before moving forward, "I won''t be avable here for quite some time." "Ok." Bloom intended to go and chase his own steal caravan quests from now on until he amassed the needed money for his guild. With each step he took in the game he started to realize the importance of having arge army of yers on your side. "ying alone is cool, but it won''t get me anywhere near my goals," he muttered to himself while heading towards the mansion of Anna. "What are you doing here?" As he reached there he was weed with that angry Tondel, the head of Anna''s guards. "I''vee to report to the mayor," Bloom calmly said without giving that man the satisfaction he needed. "Humph, you are getting more used toing here than ying," Tondel said, yet he cleared the road for him, "just a reminder, she doesn''t like men." "What a regret," Bloom said with a very irritating smug smile over his face that made Tondel change his face for a second. But he didn''t say or do anything while watching Bloom entering the mansion from behind. "This Tondel sigh," Bloom shook his head while he was away from Tondel''s gazes. He didn''t like the fact someone like him existed in his future base, but he could also rte to his feelings. He was in love with Anna, he could clearly see that. That made Tondel a very anxious man, and also very dangerous and unpredictable as well. "Oh, you came too fast." As he walked in the main hall he heard Anna''s voice the next moment and that was enough to distract him from his useless thoughts. "I was lucky to find what you asked for," he said while ncing at the couple of merchants standing in front of her. "May Ie another time then?" he said while not asking to leave, but asking them so. "No need," she said as her gaze turned to those merchants, "we are done here already." "Thanks mydy," one of the merchants bowed to her slightly before moving out. He didn''t forget to give Bloom a mocking nce, as if he was eyeing someone unworthy of being here. "Humph," Bloom just sneered and ignored him. Chapter 263: The Chain Quest Chapter 263: The Chain Quest "How does it go?" Anna asked with curiosity. "It was weird," Bloom crossed the distance between the two before standing in front of her as he whispered, "did you know there was a real dragon there?" Her silence and shimmering eyes told him she knew. "Then why didn''t you warn me?" "The quest conditions," she simply said and he just gave her a deep nce. "But nothing bad happened, right? You are here and it seems youpleted the quest sessfully." "Indeed," he nodded before adding, "but that dragon it''s troublemaker." "Don''t bother with him," she casually said, "it''s sealed by deep spells and can''t be released except if someone was crazy enough to release him." "Crazy?" Bloom raised one eyebrow before she exined without suspecting his reaction. "He is very cunning in fact all dragons are all like that. They are masters of manipting others, and are very proud of fraud." "Fraud?" Bloom was getting one shock after another. "Indeed," she nodded, "they are the best at mimicking a game contract. They are very famous for offering false contracts to get their goals." She suddenly paused before seriously asking: "You didn''t sign anything with that filthy lizard, right?" "I didn''t do anything with it," Bloom hurriedly said while feeling gratitude for that dragon''s stinginess or else he would be a victim of fraud inside the game. Which was something really hrious if it urred. "Great," she heaved a short sigh of relief, "That dragon had a death feud with me and my family. If it went free then I''ll be dead and this town will be destroyed." The more she spoke the more he was thankful for him letting down that risky offer. ''It was close, phew,'' he inwardly sighed before saying what he came here for. "You need to dere that zone a forbidden zone then," he suggested and she only sighed. "I don''t have the authority yet to do it." He got her hidden meaning. So he dropped the topic for now before saying, "I got what you desired and even more." "More?" she asked with a sudden pause on her face, "what do you mean?" "Like this," he calmly waved his hand and the next instant a giant head of a dragon skull appeared with two horns over it. One was small and looked broken while the other one was long andplete. The skull was so big that it took up most of this spacious hall. Yet when it appeared, Anna couldn''t control her body to stand while slightly shaking. "You" she muttered and Bloom couldn''t tell if she was angry or too excited to speak. "Well that dragon there was really dangerous," he started to give reasons, "so I couldn''t wait to cleave the horn off the skull. I took it and brought it to you, I thought this would be better." He wasn''t telling but asking, trying to get to know her true feelings. She turned to gaze upon him before the next moment she threw herself upon him, resting inside his arms. "Thanks," she honestly muttered while leaning softly inside his embrace. He stood there,pletely frozen, not knowing what just happened or what he should do or say to her. "Don''t overthink this," she moved away after long moments, "but you deserved this." "For what?" he softly muttered. "This skull" she turned to nce with much hatred, "it reaped the life of my beloved grandfather. That filthy dragon kept guarding it for ages and no one managed to retrieve it. Now I can put it in the center of the town, I can create a statue out of it. it''s time for the entire world to hear the bitter roars of the in dragon, it''s time for the name of my family to be known all over the game." Bloom listened to her words and felt there was much more than what she just said. Yet he didn''t dare to ask, as it seemed this was somehow a personal thing. Something that mattered greatly to her, like the map he got. "Here," he took out the map, "I believe this belongs to you." "Oh," her eyes shimmered in joy when she saw the map, "you kept it intact thanks." Before he could say anything a system notification came at once announcing his sess in fulfilling the quest. "System alert: Congrattions to the yer forpleting the quest to find the dragon horn." "System alert: yer managed to overdo the quest and brought the dragon skull, an item that the Swor town mayor deeply cherished. yer gained extra reward and his evaluation became outstanding." "System alert: yer managed toplete the quest before exceeding level thirty so he will get the full reward." "System alert: yer gains one hundred thousand gold coins." "System alert: yer gains the dragon soul stone." "System alert: yer gains one hundred level thirty grade red unique dragon materials." "System alert: Swor town now has a deterrence effect against the monster tides. yers can now level up here without invoking any monster tide. The town became a heaven ce for yers all over the game." "System alert: the fees to teleport to the town have increased to reach one thousand gold coins per ticket. yer has the privilege to invite all members of his teams here free of charge." "System alert: yer has fulfilled the conditions to unlock a chain quest. Does the yer agree to ept this?" Bloom nced at the long rows of rewards with a big smile of content over his face. Despite the mary reward being something he didn''t care about, the sudden increase in the ticket price for this town made him evenugh. "Like this no one will be able toe here and bother me inrge numbers," he marveled at this reward as it strangely supported his main n. He wanted to build a base here, and the issue of securing it was something noisy to him. But now he could sleep in peace at night knowing his enemies wouldn''t dare toe here inrge numbers to attack his guild base. As for the chain quest; he didn''t hesitate to ept it. "System alert: yer has epted the chain quest of the Swor town mayor." "System alert: the quest is to achieve the long awaited dream of the Swor town mayor''s family to achieve greatness in the world." "System alert: Quest one of this chain quest is unlocked for the yer. Please return to the quest menu and see the quest details for yourself." He hurriedly opened the quest menu from his profile page. He started to read and when he finished he couldn''t help butugh. "It''s such an easy quest," he shook his head while Anna nced at him. "I can''t express my gratitude for your help. Thanks, and I hope you can help me with another thing." "Just name it my princess and I will make sure to fulfill it." "My towncks any strong base for yers. In such troubled times and with the immense help you provided by this horn, the monsters won''t bother us anymore. Now it''s time to get this feature to our benefit, and to do so I need a guild to be present in the town." "I''ve already nned to do so," he simply said. "I know," she nodded, "but I wanted to make sure you can take this matter more seriously. I dream of turning this forsaken town into a mighty city, a crown jewel in the entire kingdom." He smiled as this seemed the game setting for him epting the quest. "I promise to do whatever I can to fulfill this task." "I depend on you," she calmly said before adding, "if you manage to seed before the next full moon then I can bestow you a title as the lord of yers in my town." "System alert: yer has gained the favor of the Swor town mayor. yer''s quest has been upgraded and an extra reward is added there." Bloom couldn''t help but grin. "Don''t worry, I won''t take such a long time to achieve this." "The next moon is less than two weeks from now." "" "Hahaha, I wish you could see your face right now," sheughed at his instant reaction while he could only smile. As he left her mansion, his mind started to spin fast. He needed to amass two million gold coins in less than two weeks, a task that seemed quite impossible for ordinary yers. But he wasn''t ever an ordinary yer to begin with. Chapter 264: The King Of The Regatos Town Chapter 264: The King Of The Regatos Town "I should change my ns." Bloom stood in front of the central za where a store that sold the tickets stood in the opposite street. "That increase in the ticket prices" he paused as he already amassed one hundred tickets to different towns before. "I should aim for the wealthiest ces." As he realized just now the more advanced the town was the higher the cost to move to it. And as he was aiming to amass the gold coins in the shortest time possible he needed to start considering his options here. After all he had to search for distant ces, far away from here and away from each other so a pattern wouldn''t be noticed. "Wee again," the NPC who he met before was standing there. "How can I serve you today?" "I want to purchase the highest priced tickets," he said while adding, "do you have a list for that?" "Sure," the NPC took out ten tickets where hended them on the counter, "each one is considered a golden ticket in the market. Their towns are very prosperous and bustling with much activitypared to here," the NPC said as if he was acting as a propaganda man for these towns. "How much?" Bloom asked. "For which one?" "All," Bloom said. "Rich clients indeed are the best," the NPCughed while Bloom exited his store. "Five thousand gold coins for these ten tickets with the highest is equally the same as here," he muttered before adding, "I''m curious what makes this one on par with here." He stored all but kept one in his hand. The name of the town, the Regotas town, was written on one side of it. "But I need to think about something first." He turned around and found this wasn''t the right ce to consider this matter so he headed directly towards the main hotel in the town. And as he suspected, he was closely followed. "Strange," he softly muttered, "or they were sent just before the sudden rise in the ticket prices?" he couldn''t tell and he never cared. He rented a room and when he entered it he started to touch a special ce on his body. "My goodluck tattoo I should put you in use again," he muttered while thinking so deeply about whom he should turn into. He couldn''t use his initial identity for now, and the old Sunny was also obsolete by the punishments he got from the curses. He was pretty much sure he would meet a shrine caravan or couple of them during his uing assaults. So he didn''t need to use an identity that could raise red gs to anyone. "Should I use his identity?" he suddenly thought of Dockrey and the thought itself made himugh. "That would be fun, but I will add more to his fame and that''s not good in the long run." Despite it being really fun, he ditched the idea and started to consider other people he once saw and met. "Why not use my true identity but on a fake one?" he suddenly thought beforeughing, "that would be more interesting. Having a yer with the same look as Bloom to do these attacks that would be much more hrious." Yet he finally chose a character of a middle aged man. He didn''t think too much about it as he chose one that held some significance to him and others as well. It was the CEO who supported him and was killed during thest assisanation. At least he thought this would be a stance showing his gratitude to him, and he hoped his soul would be content with his decision. "Let''s go then," after changing the shape of the man he used the ticket and the next moment he left the town and appeared in the za of another one. Yet the moment he appeared he was attracted by many shining statues that were scattered all over the giant za. "Damn! Is this a za or a pce throne hall?" He stood there motionless while gazing at those golden statues. No one looked cheap and he was pretty sure that a single one of these pieces of art would be sold and solve his entire problem. "Should I steal one then?" He seriously considered this as the temptation of these statues was really irresistible. "Wee to Regatos town." This sudden voice greatly startled him as he turned fast to spot an NPC wearing a shining outfit and looked strangely like a clown in these unmatched colors of his clothes. "I''m Andy, you can consider me the main one responsible for weing our guests," the NPC said before turning around, "pretty much amazing, right?" Bloom didn''t know if this NPC heard his thoughts before or not. "They are," he simply said. "Our mayor is someone with great taste," the NPC said, "he loves to collect arts and antiques from everywhere. Pretty much obsessed with gathering anything rare and unique, but he also is famous for one more thing." Bloom nced in question and the man added: "He doesn''t tolerate any thief," the man said with a shortugh, "it''s not a secret that to show up these beauties here he is too confident in his own security guards." Bloom''s heart fell in his feet as he was sure now this annoying NPC with that smug smile over his face already heard him from before. "Now, you are warmly weed as a friend. I hope you won''t cross your line and try to touch any of our rare items of our mayor or else" The NPC turned to point to arge group of a hundred heavily armed NPCs walking in patrol around the za. "I''ll make sure not to cause any trouble at all," Bloom lied with a very innocent smile that would rival those of kids. "but I want to ask about something you just mentioned." "What is it?" The NPC seemed not to believe Bloom''s words while answering in a tone that showed how suspicious he was of him. "You said your mayor loves rare items." "Indeed, that''s a given fact," Andy said like it was a known fact. "Then what about things like this?" Bloom waved his hand and took out a scale of what he got from thest quest. "This" the eyes of Andy narrowed in doubt before asking, "may I ask what a dirty piece of stone and dead meat is?" "It''s not stone and dead meat," Bloom calmly shook his head before storing the scale in his inventory, "it''s a dragon scale, one that was killed long years ago." The eyes of Andy widened as he controlled his excitement, "are you sure?" he said before hurriedly pausing as he recalled what he heard Bloom muttering softly from before, "y''know our mayor doesn''t tolerate scammers." "I''m telling the truth," Bloom simply shrugged, "but if you don''t believe me then I have to go on my way and look for another one to value my scales." "S- Scales?!!" Andy muttered in shock, "you have more like this scale?" "All is avable," Bloom cracked a wide smile, "but you need to show respect and appreciation first." "My foolish eyes failed to recognize such a mighty and prestigious master the moment he stepped into our town I''m a damned man for not recognizing you lord." The tone and attitude of Andy changed drastically but that didn''t fool Bloom. "I mean money gold coins and treasures," Bloom coldly said with a sneer. "Oh," the tone and attitude of Andy changed slightly, "then you have toe with me. We need to see our mayor." "Lead the way." Bloom simply followed the man to a big mansion that was literally on a size of four pces together. "This is at least ten fold in size of Anna''s mansion," he softly muttered and Andy ignored his remark. During their walk here Bloom saw many statues and even paintings that looked fascinating. He didn''t n on doing anything with the rest of the dragon skeleton he had now but if he could gain a decent price for the scales then he wouldn''t hesitate to sell some. After all he had around a hundred of those scales stacked uselessly inside his inventory and only taking two slots there. "We are here to see the king," Andy said when they reached the outer guard circle of the big mansion. Bloom noticed how this NPC called the mayor and he took note of it. "He is quite busy," a guard harshly said, "what do you want him for? I''ll deliver the message." "I''m a potential seller of a great thing," Andy said in strange excitement. "Really?" the guard shifted his eyes to Bloom, "this jerk?" the guard sneered and Bloom was enraged but he didn''t speak or show it over his face. "He" Andy felt disturbed instantly by this rude remark. "Chill out buddy, he is a yer," the guard said as if he was speaking about a beggar, "the higher the could bring is a piece of sh*t thinking it''s a rare treasure." The guards aroundughed with him while Andy turned to nce with worried expression towards Bloom. "Just give this thing to your mayor," Bloom decided to act, in the same way as he was treated, "if he wants more then he have toe and look for me," he turned to leave before adding, "he has toe alone, and not send anyone else or I would leave here and he will miss this opportunity forever." Chapter 265: The Mayor Chapter 265: The Mayor Bloom went towards a very luxurious looking restaurant. He wasn''t angry anymore as he knew that piece of scale he left for that arrogant mayor would make him hooked toe. "What do you need to eat, sir?" He didn''t hesitate to go towards the top floor of the restaurant where there were only five tables in the entire ce; all were filled with NPCs eating and discussing things except for one. "I want the special dish today," Bloom said before adding, "make it two please." "Two?" the waiter was hesitant, "each dish cost ten thousand gold coins are you sure you want two?" Bloom already knew the price and he was curious to see why such a dish was priced like this. "Yeah, make it two," he said before adding, "I''m waiting for someone a very special one. When hees please guide him here." "Sure, I''ll notify the guards down below," the waiter said in respect, "may I know the name of that person?" "I dunno it too," Bloom shrugged, "but he goes by the nickname of a king." "A king?" the waiter raised an eyebrow before he dismissed the thought that that person would be the mayor of the town. "Sure, I''ll deliver the message below." "Thanks." The man just vanished when he suddenly got a message from Nara. ''Where are you?'' ''Somewhere far,'' he said, ''why? Did something happen?'' ''Do I need a reason to contact you now?'' He smiled and felt a little ease, ''No, I just wanted to make sure you are alright.'' ''I''m doing good, but I wanted to check on you,'' she said before adding, ''I heard a rumor that a town near your ce turned into a safe haven for yers. it''s called Swor town, do you know anything about it?'' He couldn''t help butugh. ''Why not ask me directly instead?'' he teased her. ''So it was you.'' ''Indeed, who else in the game could do something like this?'' ''I thought so as well,'' she sent before pausing for a moment, ''but I heard the price tag for the tickets skyrocketed. The official price is one thousand gold coins and there are many tickets being sold in the ck market with one to two hundred gold coins less.'' ''Less?'' he was surprised to hear that. ''Some yers were already there and managed to buy a lot of tickets before you did what you did,'' she sent, ''and now they are selling these tickets enmasse, gathering a lot of wealth already.'' "This is interesting," he muttered, ''are there many buying these tickets?'' ''Like hot gears,'' she said, ''no one is foolish enough to let this opportunity pass.'' ''I see,'' he replied and kept his silence afterwards. ''Do you have any extra tickets?'' she finally said what she came to ask about, ''I n to buy gold coins but recently the prices of exchange soared to double what it was previously.'' ''Why is that?'' ''Someone is extensively exchanging contribution points with gold coins,'' she answered. ''Dockrey?'' ''I doubt it''s him,'' she said, ''I guess someone else is trying to get a huge sum of gold coins. Frankly I dunno why.'' "But I do" Bloom softly muttered, "someone is already trying to establish a guild is he like me? Level thirty and having a token to establish a guild?" He didn''t know the answer. ''Do you know who is currently the highest yer in the game?'' he suddenly asked. ''Why do you ask and you already know him?'' ''It''s not me,'' he simply stated, ''I''m stuck at level twenty-nine already.'' ''Damn! Last time you weren''t near that level yet!'' Heughed, ''I just got lucky.'' ''Your luck is turning into a living myth my love.'' ''At least this is good for you too,'' he teased her, ''I''m your man and it''s not bad for your man to be strong, right?'' ''Humph, my man is cold hearted,'' sheined, ''he doesn''t want to help his girl with some tickets.'' ''Forget about them for now, I can secure as much as you want easily with a snap of a finger.'' ''Oh, are you telling the truth here?'' ''I''m,'' he sent, ''but I''m more concerned about this mysterious yer who is buying gold in great amounts.'' ''My heart tells me you know what he is doing, right?'' ''You can say that,'' he smiled, ''but I won''t spoil the surprise I''m preparing for you.'' ''Surprise or another secret of yours?'' ''It''s a surprise,'' he said, ''a secret that will be revealed so soon isn''t a secret at all.'' ''Humph, we''ll see about that,'' she sent, ''what do you want to know?'' ''His identity.'' ''I believe it''s not just one yer though,'' she sent, ''at least from what I can tell they are a group of ten at the least.'' ''Ten?!!'' he was more shocked by that, ''are you sure?'' ''I''m very certain of this,'' she sent, ''so I can''t figure out all of their identities.'' ''Forget it,'' he sighed, ''we''ll all know them so soon.'' ''Why are you sure about that?'' ''They are seeking the same goal as me,'' he simply sent, ''anyway, I''m in a sort of quest now and after that I''ll provide tickets for you. Just select those you truly trust.'' She went into a break before sending to him, ''I''ve already filtered a lot of suspicious yers. Besides, thest fight revealed many traitors.'' He knew what she was referring to, but he stressed again, ''many were revealed, but there are more still hidden inside your ranks.'' ''I''ve already cut a lot of decayed roots.'' ''Do another check up for me,'' he said, ''I don''t want to help my enemies to get there easily without paying a considerable price for that.'' ''I''ll see what I can do,'' she sent before adding after a brief pause, ''when can I see you?'' ''After I finish my quest,'' he said as if it was a known fact. ''I mean in real life y''know there are a lot of things I need to discuss with you face to face.'' ''You can ask anything you want to know here,'' he wasn''t ready yet to be entangled closely with her in the real world. ''But you are already part of the Triflet challenge.'' ''It''s too risky,'' he said, ''I have found many untrustworthy people in my close circle. Can you imagine how much we arepromised?'' he sighed as he knew she was dead fixed on meeting him. ''Let me promise you this, after I finish my quest and show you my gift, I''ll work over my own people and then we can meet.'' ''That sounds too far in the future.'' He could sense her bitterness and disappointment in the mere words she sent. ''Time flies fast, don''t be hasty as our enemy is really cunning and merciless.'' ''Ok.'' He was sure she wasn''t convinced at all with his words, yet he wasn''t ready yet to endanger her or put himself again in the same threat he faced before. Despite him having a way out he didn''t want to risk something he could easily avoid. "You are too bold!" Just as he was eating the first forks of the special meat presented in front of him, Bloom heard this harsh toneing from his back. "For what?" Bloom shrugged while spotting this robust man with a giant body and a very shining armor covering nearly all his body like a gown made entirely of golden and silver ores. "You ordered the most pricey dish," the man moved to sit in front of him, "not only for yourself but also for me. Weren''t you worried I won''te?" "Hahaha, didn''t even doubt your visit," Bloomughed while continuing to eat this deliciousrge piece of meat. "Do you like this dish?" "who doesn''t?" the manughed, "after all I''m the one who asked for it to be made in the restaurant and asked them to make it the formal dish everyday here." Bloom nced at this mayor with long hair that was collected with a golden hairpin. "You are a man of elegance and taste," he simply said. "Thank you," the mayor said, "I''m more interested in that thing you sent to me." "The scales?" Bloom casually said, "I''m d you liked it." "I gave that guard a very intense word before I came here," the mayor said, "it wasn''t polite to say such mean words to such an honorable man like you." "Thanks," Bloom smiled as he continued to eat, "what is this meat made of? It''s so delicious!" "It''s made of a very rare animal I love to hunt," the mayor cracked a smile while batting his chest, "I''m a fight lover, always going on and trying to challenge many dangers." "Weird," Bloom couldn''t help butment. "Because I gather antiques and rare items?" the mayor asked as if he had heard thisment many times already. "I didn''t mean that," Bloom shook his head, "I didn''t think there were any real dangers around here." The mayor nced silently for a couple of minutes without saying a word while Bloom kept eating. "I won''t take your words seriously," the mayor said, "after all you are new here and didn''t meet the real monsters lurking everywhere here." "Real monsters? Like what?" "Like the horned bulls you are eating their meat now," the mayor said in a pride tone, "this one is really a monster that would give birth to eternal nightmares to you." "Don''t judge me without knowing me well." "I know yers." "I''m not like them at all." The two kept staring for brief moments before the mayorughed. "I like you kid," he said amidst hisughs, "alright, let''s do business How much do you want for this scale? And how many others do you have?" "Let''s speak first about the price," Bloom said before raising one finger soaked with the oiling from the meat he was eating. "One thousand gold coins?" the mayor asked, yet Bloom shook his head. "Ten thousand gold coins? That''s an extravagant price for a piece of scale!" Yet Bloom also shook his head. "Damn kid, don''t tell me you want one hundred thousand gold coins for one scale! That''s a daylight steal!!!" Chapter 266: A Sly Bloom Chapter 266: A Sly Bloom "Compared to the value and rarity of my products this price seems reasonable." Bloom wasn''t fazed by the shout of the mayor who nced at him in vignce like eyeing a deadly enemy. "I can''t ept this price," the mayor said, "even ten thousand gold coins are considered too much for such an ancient piece of rock and dirt." "Then leave," Bloom returned to eat his meal as if the mayor wasn''t sitting opposite to him, "I can''t lower my price to this low level. My goods are all high quality and extremely rare." "Scales in themselves are useless," the mayor said as he added, "but if you added some bones then I wouldn''t reject this price." Bloom realized the real reason this antique addicted mayor came to see him. He had all of the dragon skeleton, or at least most of it. "Bones are even rarer," he didn''t hurry to show off his goods. "Don''t tell me you got scales without getting the skeleton," the mayor''s eyes shone brighter, "having a dragon skeleton inside my town would make it look more beautiful." "And more secure," Bloom took another bite of the meat while getting through the real benefits of having a dragon skeleton in any town, "and it will make the tickets to here skyrocket even more." The mayor nced in suspicion towards him. "It reached my ears some weird news," he said and Bloom didn''t even stop eating or give any heed to his saying, "a town, a weak and forsaken town in some nameless kingdom managed to get their hands over a dragon skull and horn. Do you know anything about it?" Bloom realized the news of the Swor city new acquisition spread faster than he even imagined. "What about it?" Bloom shrugged, "I can''t see any relevance to our deal here." "C''mon, a town had a dragon skull and all of sudden a yer showed up in front of me trying to sell me dragon scales at the same time the two are rted!" "I''m not talking about that town," Bloom continued to eat while adding, "I''m talking about its relevance to our little deal here." "Well" the mayor paused, "I don''t want to get into trouble with that town''s mayor. He might tarnish my reputation saying I stole these from him!" "It''s a she," Bloom said. "Sorry, didn''t get what you mean," the mayor seemed puzzled. "It''s a she, the mayor of that town is ady not a dude." "What''s that rted to what I just said? Both are the same to me!" "Exactly the same as your saying to our deal here." The mayor kept ncing at Bloom while thetter continued his meal with cold nerves. "So you already were there," the mayor said, "or were you the one who gave her that skull?" Bloom didn''t speak and kept eating. "Why aren''t you saying anything?" "You make me disappointed," Bloom raised his eyes to the mayor, "I came here to make a deal about scales, not to sell free information." "Free information?" the mayor looked funny, "c''mon, it''s very crucial information to this deal. Without it how can I even sleep at night while suspecting the scales I acquired?" "If this will make you feel better, then she bought the skull from me," Bloom lied yet he didn''t flinch while doing that. "And from where did you get that skull and scales?" "From a dragon grave of course." "" The mayor was speechless for a moment before sighing. "Why is it so hard to deal with you?" "Because you ask irrelevant questions," Bloom said before stopping his meal and nced deeply to the mayor, "and expecting to get free answers in return." "Then can I pay for these answers then?" "You can only pay for the scales." "" The mayor took a deep breath while his body trembled faintly, "alright, I''ll pay only fifty thousand per scale. That''s too much for these useless dirt and ores," he said in his final offer before adding, "on one condition." "Tell," Bloom leaned back to his seat while calcting the total sum of the coins he would get from this deal if he sold the entire stock he had of scales. "I want the skeleton as well." "I can''t give you what I don''t have," Bloom shook his head, "or what you can''t afford." The mayor''s corner of the eyes twitched. "I can afford anything kid, don''t belittle me." "It''s apparent that you can afford this," Bloom smirked, "even one hundred thousand as a price was too much for you." "It''s too much for the scales! They are useless." "C''mon, take a look around," Bloom waved both hands before pointing towards one statue that was over the top of the adjacent building, "don''t tell me decorating such ugly statues with my amazing scales won''t add more life and elegance to your town." "Yet they are useless," the mayor didn''t change his stance, "unless you give me a skeleton then they can be used to decorate it." "And then I will stop my business? That''s not a yes for me," Bloom calmly shook his head before leaning forward as if he was about to say something so serious, "can you imagine how many towns out there are willing to pay everything they have inside their precious vaults just toy their hands over a single dragon bone?" "I said I can afford it," the mayor''s face was really funny. "Pay with coins for all the bones?" Bloom faked augh, "c''mon, the skeleton contains hundreds of bones it can''t be possible for a single town to monopolize these priceless relics." "Don''t y these games with me," the mayor said in a domineering tone, "name your price and I''ll match it for all the bones you have." "Let''s see what you can do for a single bone then," Bloom sneered before raising a single finger in the face of the agitated mayor. "One hundred thousand gold coins for one bone? That''s nothing for me," the mayor sneered back but Bloom shook his head. "One million that''s too expensive." Yet Bloom shook his head again and the mayor nced at him with a gloomy look, "don''t tell me you want ten million gold coins for one bone!" "Indeed that''s the right price for a single bone," Bloom returned to his meal, "after all that girl didn''t hesitate to pay this price without even bargaining about it." "Do youpare me, the mighty Roan king, to some nameless town mayor? And ady as well?" "At least she had the courage to take this step," Bloom smiled, "and now her town is heading towards prosperity Can you even imagine how much resources were wasted over the subsequent monster tides? How much will she garnish from the tickets alone?" "Humph, my town was the pricest in the entire world and I didn''t get much out of it," the mayor sneered. "Indeed that''s true for now," Bloom said before casually adding, "but what about six months from now? Can you be this sure about such oue even after the mainstream of yers exceed level fifty and even a hundred? Do you even know how many yers are there ying and leveling like crazy?" "That doesn''t exin the extravagant price for just one bone," the mayor said, "especially when I dunno if this bone could really scare the monsters away or not." "This one will do," Bloom confidently said and his tone made the mayor curious. "What bone is it?" "It''s a very long and majestic piece of bone," Bloom mysteriously said, "and that bone I nned to sell for double that price but for you I can make an exception." "How generous of you," the mayor sarcastically said, "may I know the reason for this humble act of you?" "I liked your town," Bloom calmly said, "and I loved your meat much more." He returned to eat while the mayor nced at him with doubt and disbelief. "At least tell me what that piece is," he said, "or else how can I ept a trade I know nothing about?" "Quite a fair request indeed," Bloom muttered before pausing for long minutes. "And?" "Let me enjoy this meal first," Bloom calmly said, "I''m not in a hurry to sell this precious bone to you." "" Bloom kept eating with extreme calmness while the mayor was on the edge sitting opposite to him while watching him finish his meal. "This is without doubt the best meal I''ve ever eaten," he said in admiration. "Now tell me what this bone is?" The mayor was already impatient. "Can''t you guess it?" Bloom kept toying with him and the mayor nced deeply at him while trying to control his temper. "Just say it is it so hard for you to spill out information?" "It''s" Bloom paused, "the tail." The eyes of the mayor widened for a moment before he regained his control over his joy and shock. "Don''t tell me a tail is formed of a single bone," the mayor said, trying to get more info about these goods. "A dragon can''t have one bone in its tail," Bloomughed, "but the bones of the tail are special. I can''t dissect or separate them or else the total value of the tail will be spoiled." "Then how long is it?" "Enough." "Like how many meters?" the mayor was already deeply hooked, "or is it only one meter?" he paused while ncing in doubt towards the sly yer sitting in front of him. "It''s quite tall," Bloom recalled the scene where he took the tail, "at least twenty to thirty meters tall." "This" the mayor couldn''t control himself to stand, "I can put it in many ces in town wait, I can build a tower at the main gate and put it there." The eyes of the mayor were shimmering with many dreams and ns he got for this tail and that made Bloom wholeheartedlyugh. He knew he seeded in hunting this fat cat, and now all he needed to do was to squeeze it dry off its wealth. Chapter 267: Thomas and Liz Chapter 267: Thomas and Liz "C''mon, can''t you lower the price a little?" The negotiations hit a dead end after long hours of debate and two more meals of that meat. Bloom didn''t budge a penny from his price and despite all the efforts the mayor did he didn''t ept anything at all. "What about I pay half in gears and materials then?" The mayor finally started to give other solutions. "Y''know how stingy person you are!" Bloom was already annoyed with this mayor''s endless efforts to cut the price even by a hundred thousand coins. "Someone like you shouldn''t hassle about any price. It''s a dragon tail aplete and majestic dragon tail! Where else would you find such a treasure with a low price? I''m sure if I auctioned it I would get at least ten times that price without a sweat!" "Please, please consider taking half of the price in materials and gears," yet the mayor seemed not to listen to any word he just said. "Alright," Bloom gave him hope and made his face shine before saying what turned that mayor''s face upside down. "but I''ll need a twenty percent increase in return." "That''s stealing!" "I''m done here," Bloom stood up for the million times already before the mayor hurriedly pinned him to his seat as he did all the times before. "Please be more patient and merciful." "I''m already generous to let you have the entire tail with such a low price hmph I should have listened to her advice and sold it in the capital auction." The corners of the mayor''s eyes twitched before he asked, "do you mean that penny town''s mayor?" "At least she has the balls to buy without ying any tricks!" "She alright, I can ept that price," the mayor said before adding, "but I''ll have to pay it on two no, on five times all over the year." Bloom knew another level of shamelessness while dealing with this mayor. "I won''t ept that," he said before standing and again the mayor pinned him to the seat. "Don''t hurry to reject, please think about it. you won''t need all that money at once, right?" "What do you have with my money?" Bloom angrily said, "it''s my money, I''m free to do whatever I want with it." "Then what about I increase the interest to twenty-one percent? Cool, right?" "" Bloom controlled his emotions that were already off the roof after all these hours dealing with such a stingy NPC. "I can ept on condition you pay fifty percent extra," he paused while the face of the mayor got even darker, "and that''s based on aplex ratio, not just a simple math." "That''s" "I''m leaving," Bloom didn''t even wait for him to say his already familiar word of how this being a daylight steal. "Can''t you lower the price? It''s too high," the mayor said after pinning him to his seat once more. "Not a single penny would be missing," Bloom said before adding, "and this would be only for half a year, not an entire year." "It''s" "I''m leaving!" Again he was pinned to his seat while the mayor took a deep breath. "Alright, take it out and let me see what this very expensive piece of old bones and ores is." "Not before signing a contract and finalizing the deal," Bloom shook his head while the mayor kept ring at him. "A tiny piece then." "Not even its shadow!" "Then how can I know it''s not a fake? Or you might have exaggerated its value or length?" "You can put a condition to safeguard against fraud," Bloom shrugged, "after all I want this one to safeguard me from your dirty tricks." "I never do any dirty tricks." "Yeah, I can tell," Bloom sneered, "write the contract now and let''s finish this exhausting deal already." The mayor took longer than he expected to write down the contract. "Here, please sign it," the mayor gave him the contract and Bloom didn''t do as he asked for. He started to slowly and thoroughly read it. "What? Don''t you trust me?" the mayor suddenly sneered yet Bloom ignored him. "Item four, seven, twelve, and twenty-four are needed to be omitted," Bloom said after he finished reading this long andplicated contract. "This why?" the mayor feigned ignorance and surprise while Bloom only kept ncing at him without saying a word. "Sigh, alright I was just keeping those for extra security," the mayor sighed while taking the contract off his hand. "Asking not to pay the first payment until a month passes is a safety for what?" "For the integrity of the tail of course," the mayor was really shameless, "what would be the case if you gave me a fake item?" "There is a point specially for that purpose," Bloom kept his stern look over his face while the mayor only smiled and kept editing the points he asked to be removed. "I said omit, not edit," Bloom calmly said. "Oh, sorry misheard you." "" Finally the contract was over and ready. "Here is my signature," the mayor signed after Bloom, "to be honest you are one of the hardest guys I ever dealt with. Now can I see my trophy?" Bloom checked and saw the contract active inside his profile page before turning around. "Here?" "What''s wrong about here?" the mayor said with a doubt. "The ce can''t fit," Bloom shrugged, "unless you are willing to pay for the losses here." "We should see it here," the mayor insisted after a moment of hesitation, "I can''t risk you running away." "I''m bound by the contract," Bloom said, "and I didn''t yet take anything from you." "Just bring it out." "As you wish," Bloom didn''t hesitate to take the tail out. The moment it came forth, the entire roof of that restaurant was totally covered with that tail and even parts of it went beyond the edges of the building. "Boom!" and the tail crashed over the rooftop and caused a wave of panic to everyone here, including the mayor. "Damn! It''s much bigger and a lot heavier than I thought," he hurriedly moved to take it back but Bloom was faster and stored it away. "What have you done?" the mayor angrily shouted with his domineering aura, yet Bloom kept his calm. "I want my money first," Bloom stated, "ording to the contract this isn''t a fraud item. I believe you didn''t even need the system verification for that, but now I need my money." "This" the mayor tried to control his excitement, "I might need a couple of days to prepare the money." "" Bloom was speechless for a moment, "if you don''t pay then I''ll leave." "Wait," the mayor hurriedly shouted, "I can collect the first payment tomorrow morning at most. It''s not too far, and you can stay the night in a hotel or go back to your human world," the mayor tried to convince him with that. "This" yet Bloom feigned hesitance. "It''s this simple request of me, don''t let me down on this please." "Sigh," Bloom nodded, "I''ll wait then, but don''t take longer than that." "I won''t," the mayor said in excitement before moving fast and disappearing from Bloom''s sight. "Despite it was a pain in the as* dealing with him, I can''t say I''m not satisfied with this result," he returned to the nearly empty restaurant before pping his hand, "waiter, please bring me another dish and put it on the ount of the mayor." In the meantime there was something else going on strangely near his ce but he didn''t know about it yet. Inside a dark and gloomy looking ce a group of yers walked while their faces showed how serious they were about being here. The ce was like a deserted ce of an ancient vige. Parts of the old buildings were still present while being covered with thick sharp dark blue thorns that looked quite sharp. "Careful," one yer said, "it''s poisonous." "Thanks Thomas," the shield bearer yer said in gratitude while retreating about to fall on the ground feet and could finally see one hidden thorn among the bushes. "This ce looks quite dangerous," one yer said, "and it needs a level much higher than ours." "The scroll said we can get here after reaching level thirty," Thomas said before adding, "and I brought ten yers as mentioned there. It''s here, I can already sniff it." The small team of yers whose levels were thirty at the least turned around and nced at this gloomy relic site. "I''m sure it''s here," a shaded son yer said, "but the question is can we get it?" "We must," Thomas had a weird shimmering in his eyes before greedily adding, "the holy grail will be mine!" "Ours," a light daughter tall and slender girl said with a strong tone, "I can''t forget the insult I got from these two assholes." "Calm down my pretty Liz," Thomas caressed her soft cheeks with his thick fingers, "what I got does always belong to the Triumphed eagles guild." "Humph, I just want it to be used first by me," the girl pushed his hand away in a sharp move, "I want to make these two taste how bitter it is to fool with me!" And from her tone and the silence of everyone here, Thomas had to sigh as he knew he would face fierce resistance from her after getting the relic he was seeking for. "Let''s first find the item and then fight over it," he said and she nodded in agreement as this was the unwritten rule of the triumphed eagles group. Chapter 268: A Boxing Game Chapter 268: A Boxing Game Bloom went to the nearest hotel and then logged out. "It''s already night," he muttered before stretching out his body, "I need to take care of my body condition better." He recalled a room where many equipment were there to use. He moved in wide steps towards the direction of the room that wasn''t popr in the times of the old Terry. "I should start with my arms and legs first," he checked the thin body he currently had before sighing, "that Terry he seemed quite careless towards his body." Bloom wasn''t satisfied by the current body condition and started to select some programs with the help of the local AI of the mansion. Despite he changed the outer appearance of Terry''s body he still held the old physique traits of it. "So I need to spend ten minutes on this machine before resting for five and then go to this one" he read the instructions provided over the main screen in the room. Then he started training for a couple of hours straight before stopping. "I need to take it easy over this body," he was panting. "I never thought the famous Henry was a training colic." Suddenly he heard this voice before turning to face the speaker with a soaked shirt that was glued over his body. "I thought you were ying," he said to Liza who walked in with a dejected look over her face. "I hate that game to the bone," she muttered in a way that made Bloom realize there was more to what she said. "Wanting to rant out?" he suggested while feeling a little regret of bringing her away from her home. He just wanted to score a point over Dockrey and humiliate him yet he didn''t have anything in particr against the girl. "Sigh," she shook her head before heading to sit on one piece of equipment beside him, "you won''t understand." "Try me," he tried to be kind to her. "Why would you even care?" she suddenly said in an aggressive tone, "after all you got what you desire, even won me in a stupid game test which gave me one more reason to hate it." Bloom went into silence for a moment before saying, "do you want to go home?" "Acting magnanimous all of sudden? What''s the reason of this generosity my lord?" He nced at her with a loss over his face. "You are really hard to deal with," he muttered. "Humph, it''s just the way of the life I lived." "It seems you weren''t living at all," Bloom sighed, "alright I''ll leave you alone. After all, I finished all my training here." "Tell me something," she suddenly stopped him, "would you kill someone if you got the chance?" He paused and felt weird about this question. "Killing can vent some anger but won''t solve problems," he thought before answering. "Wise slightly unexpected," she muttered, "What about we spar a little?" She motioned towards a boxing arena that was in the corner. It was big enough to rival the big boxing arenas of the pros but Bloom never thought of using it before. After all, it needed two to y there and he didn''t have the time to do that. "You know how to box?" he asked in interest. "I know how to hit a strong punch," she smiled for the first time, "do you love boxing?" "First time for me," he shrugged and was honestly answering her. "Having such a big arena without using it is a sin let''s spar, at least I can test something." "What?" Bloom followed her and opened a side locker where he found the suited gloves that could be used for more than two plus head guards and other gears. He gave her enough before he wore his. "It''s something I just got," she vaguely said, "and I need to see if it''s good or just useless." Bloom nced deeply at her before passing under the belts, "you look quite troubled for a youngdy," he said trying to lighten the suddenly tense atmosphere. "It''s like you said, I never lived my life before," yet she simply answered him in a more serious tone, "let''s start, but heads up I might get rough on you." "Don''t worry," he hit the two gloves together, "I can handle a girl like you." Sheughed like he just said a joke, "I promise I won''t kill you." Heughed as he took her words way too light. "Here Ie," he started to move around while feeling some limitation due to his already exhausted body. Yet sparring with this little chick here seemed more appealing to him than going to rest alone or even take a cold shower. "C''mon, don''t you know how to punch?" she sneered and her face looked really funny inside the soft cushion like helmet she was wearing. "Ladies first," he tried to not embarrass her but she onlyughed, "you take me so lightly," she said, "if I were you then I would be more careful while dealing with me." "I know that cats can meow loudly and scratch wildly," he said with a shortugh. And something he said seemed to get on her nerves, or might be hisugh as the next moment her face changed and she moved towards him. At first she took a normal step and he took one back to maintain the gap between the two, yet the next moment she suddenly moved fast, faster than any normal human could do. She even turned blurry and all he could see was an after image of her body making his eyes wide. "Boom!" And the next moment he went flying outside the ring and fell heavily over the ground. "Sorry," she hurriedly said, "I didn''t mean to kill you." Her tone was so low as she nced at the motionless body of Bloom lying on the ground. She knew she just used her newly acquired strength and that hit seemed enough to damage a truck not just kill a human. "Who are you calling dead?" Yet all of sudden Bloom arched his body before jumping shortly and stood erect afterwards. She red at him with an extremely shocked expression over her face while even her body trembled faintly. "Why are you ring at me like that?" heughed while entering the ring again, "let''s continue, I loved that strong hit of yours." She raised her glove that just hit his face and clenched her fist before rxing it. "What''s going on?" she couldn''t help but mutter before ncing over the jumping from side to side Bloom, "you look alive." "Why are you acting weird?" Bloom sneered, "you asked for a spar and I''ll give you one that you won''t forget. Let''s continue." She hesitated before thinking she misjudged her punch this time as this was the second time to use this force. "Let''s test it again," she smiled and epted the logic her mind provided. "Watch out," Bloom didn''t let her advance as he took the initiative and moved. He wasn''t moving at a speedparable to her yet he was faster than any normal human. But she couldn''t see that as she started to move faster than him, evaded his charge and appeared just beside him before a strong punch was delivered to his exposed kidney. Yet strangely enough her punch hit nothing but thin air. In a fraction of second Bloom adjusted his body and let her punch move a few millimeters away from his kidney before turning around as if he was dancing and then he hit her exposed head with his punch. "Boom!" This time it was her turn to be thrown to the air like a feather in a storm before falling heavily on the ground and rolling a few meters there before finally stopping in front of an equipment. "Are you alright?" he asked despite knowing she wasn''t much affected by his punch. And he was right as she stood up from the ground looking harmless from the outside. Yet she was eyeing him with a shocked expression over her face and never moved an inch after standing. "What?" he asked while feeling puzzled, "have you got enough from the spar?" "Who are you?" she suddenly asked. "I guess you know who I am," he simply said as he stopped jumping and moving his aching body while feeling there was something else he missed here. "What do you know about that game?" He nced in doubt at her before smiling, "I know it''s a very interesting game, not that hideous and distasteful as you might think." "That wasn''t my question," she shook her head. "Then ask directly," he shrugged, "I don''t get what you want to know." She nced in doubt towards him for long minutes before sighing, turning around and took off her gears while leaving the ce. "What''s the hell wrong with her?" He nced at her back before she vanished behind the door leaving him alone. "Yet that strength in her punch" he felt his face while removing his gears to show off a small rounded blue mark on his cheeks, "it seemed it doesn''t belong to any human category." He started to revise everything again before kneeling to check the ring and the ces where he and she fell. "Indeed something looks suspicious here," he couldn''t reach a definite conclusion yet he was sure she showed superhuman strength just now. "What happened to you in the game?" he softly muttered while restraining the urge to go and ask her about that. After all that tattoo of his was his secret, no one should ever learn a thing about it. "Time to get a shower then," he sighed before dropping the gears down like she did and went outside towards the sauna room. Chapter 269: Gaining More Than He Bargained Chapter 269: Gaining More Than He Bargained "That man I wanna kill him!" Bloom just logged back in the game after taking a shower. Despite what happened with Liza and the questions he had in his mind he didn''t bother a lot with that. If he had something to be sure of then this game held much more secrets the deeper he delved inside it. Yet the moment he appeared inside the hotel room once more he heard the sound of system notification alerting him about the arrival of his money. And when he saw the number, the corner of his eyes twitched. "That stingy mayor gave me half of my share gears and materials," he clenched his fists before suddenly loosening them. "At least I have a way to turn all those gears into money," he tried to reassure himself before the next thing happened was the system notification regarding fulfilling his part of the bargain. "Alright, take it and give this tail to the stingy mayor," he just pressed over the tail icon before it vanished from his inventory. He was sure the system would deliver it correctly ording to the contract he had with the mayor. "Now it''s time for my sweet Pandora box," he rubbed both hands before ncing again at the one million and half golden coins received from the mayor. "At least I''mcking five hundred thousand gold coins a figure I can get without doubt." He took the box out before starting to take one gear at a time and let it be crumbled to pieces by the box. The first gear he put was level hundred sword, something he would never use so soon or even in the near future. "Let''s see what you''ll give me," he muttered before the box started to buzz and the next instant a gush of gold coins and materials came out of it to drown the entire room in a few moments. "Damn!" he hurriedly stored what the box vomited in his face, "all these coins and materials? Sorry mayor, you aren''t stingy at all but so generous!" In fact he didn''t know how the box calcted the gold coinsing out of it till now. All he knew was the material rule, as the materials exited from the box would be equal to the level of the gear and lower with each jump of ten levels at a time. "Stilling?!" He was pleasantly surprised by the oue of the box even after a few minutes. He kept storing coins and materials without having the time to nce at them. "Finally it''s over," after five minutes the box stopped throwing anything, "let''s check what I got then." He hurriedly opened his gold coin count. "Holy moly! I gained one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins from that gear alone!!" He was deeply shocked and touched by this relevance. "What about the materials then?" he opened his inventory next and what he saw inside made himugh. "One hundred level hundred materials, and each level after will double the number or even triple," heughed before picturing Nara''s face when she heard about this. "That Cyan studio is really lucky to have me as backing," he couldn''t wipe out the smile over his face while checking the number of gears he had in his inventory. "one hundred level hundred gears that''s a fortune in itself," his eyes sparkled with greed, "that stingy mayor if he knew what I got from this deal he surely would have a heart attack." Heughed joyfully before taking another gear out and continued to dismantle it. "And I didn''t get only these level hundred gears," he grinned while gazing upon the other gears he got with levels ranging from ny-five down to fifty. "But that mayor he already knew my level and it seemed he purposely gave me items I couldn''t use right away." It was apparent that the mayor was pulling a dirty trick over him, yet with his pandora''s box he was quite sure to flip the tables and emerge the biggest winner here. "If my calctions are right then I will gain at least five million gold coins from these gears," he muttered while moving both hands to store all the coins and materialsing forth from the box, "plus the materials I''ve hit the jackpot here yeah indeed I did." He didn''t stop crushing gears until he got slightly over one million gold coins that what he initially needed. After gazing at that astonishing figure for a couple of minutes he closed his profile page yet couldn''t wipe out that big grin over his face. "It''s time to go and start building that guild," he muttered before taking one ticket and using it to move back to the Swor town. He was now well aware that he wasn''t the only yer seeking after establishing the first guild in the game. Yet he was too certain to be the first to achieve that goal. "Who canpete with me over this?" heughed while walking like a king in the streets of the Swor town. "Why do I have the feeling you think of the mayor as your girlfriend?" The moment he arrived at the mayor''s mansion he was weed with the gloomy face of Tornel. He knew he couldn''t stop him from entering especially when the mayor herself left strict orders to highly treat him as a VIP guest all the time. "I might invite her for dinner tonight," Bloomughed as he enjoyed that helpless look over that rude guard''s face. "Watch out kid," Tornel opened the gate and cleared a path for Bloom, "life is quite tricky and today you are a king tomorrow you might be a ve." "Humph," Bloom only harrumphed and didn''t let that envious guard''s words tarnish his happiest day. When he entered the mansion he spotted Anna talking to a group of old men with some serious frown over her face. He went towards her and waved his hands but strangely she gave him a stern look while the other men around turned to re with some kind of hate towards him. "What happened?" he couldn''t help but ask as the atmosphere here seemed a bit colder than before. "Did you sell a piece of the dragon to another mayor?" This question didn''te from Anna but from one of the old men around her. "And who the hell are you?" he asked without showing any signs of weakness. "He is my uncle," Anna said with a depressed tone, "and he is here to warn me from that mayor''s actions and yours." Chapter 270: The Evil Family Chapter 270: The Evil Family The words of Anna looked weird for Bloom yet he didn''t jump to any conclusion as he calmly asked: "What that stingy mayor did to you?" "How can you sell a family heritage to an unknown person?" another man shouted in rage that instantly made Bloom furious. "What the heck are you talking about?" Bloom sneered, "if you had any dignity then you should have gone there and fought that dragon yourself instead of cowering yourself in a corner anding to bark as a dog!" "You are asking for death, kid!" another man shouted in extreme rage as Bloom''s words tugged over a sensitive issue inside their hearts it seemed. "Consider me a suicidal," yet Bloom wasn''t fazed by their burning gazes or explosive words and threats, "I''m the one who faces that dragon and anything I got from there is rightfully mine." "It''s the family heritage!" "Screw you and your family," Bloom was already furious, "if you have an ounce of strength then you should have exhausted it over that dragon not me or over her." Things were clear now to him as these hungry wolves had no dignity at all toe here and reprimand their daughter for what she didn''t do. "At least she had the guts to go for her own heritage and retrieve it," Bloom sneered before adding, "what have you all done? Instead of fighting that dragon you decided toe and fight the lone girl who seeded in retrieving what was yours dirty hypocrites are really shameless and with no honor at all!" "You you are asking for death!`` One man couldn''t help but move. The next moment a very strong aura descended over the ce alongside the loud angry shouting from Anna "Stop!" And that man stopped what he was nning to do while all eyes fell over the body of Anna as she stood up from her seat and added in a strong tone, a tone that was totally different to what she spoke with moments ago. "He did what I asked him for and it''s not his fault or crime to get much more than I initially thought impossible," she said defending Bloom before adding, "he also gave me more than I asked for, that skull is now the symbol of my town and I won''t tolerate any harm to befall over him." The men nced with wide eyes to each other before returning to her as one of them said with a sneer: "Big talking from a weak girl let''s see how you can survive in the wilderness by yourself. Let''s go brothers, our little brother has given birth to a bitch." Bloom felt strangely humiliated by these words because the warning gaze he got from Anna made him pause and not do or say anything. He watched them leave while Anna returned with a weak aura and dark face to sit over her seat. "Don''t mind them," she weakly whispered, "they were always like this." "In what way did they support you?" Bloom asked as he felt from their words the hidden threat they issued towards her. "They were responsible for providing me with extra money to run the town," she sighed, "it''s always bad to run a town without proper business or merchantsing here. Sigh, it''s a really hard inheritance that looked like a heavy load I got from my dear father." Bloom understood her meaning and her dilemma. "Do they also have towns?" "Only two more had towns nearby," she said, "and they are doing much better than me in that regard." "Not anymore," Bloom cracked a wide smile all of sudden which seemed strangely out of ce to her. "Why do you look this happy?" she couldn''t help but ask. "Guess what?" he winked as he added in a cheerful tone that wasn''t suited to what just happened, "I''ve got the money to build the guild headquarter outside your town." "W- What?!!!" she couldn''t help but stand up out of deep shock, even her beautiful body trembled faintly when she heard his words. "Are you telling the truth or joking around? Y''know things like these can''t be treated lightly at all." "Hahaha," he couldn''t help butugh, "I''m speaking seriously here, but saying this reminded me of something," he paused and feigned thinking deeply about a problem. "What?" she asked with some ominous feeling inside her heart. "I''m thinking of inviting you to a dinner to celebrate this," he said with a wide smile over her face, "I know of a restaurant that provides meat that I bet you never tasted alike ever in your life." "Where is that restaurant?" she hesitantly asked, "is it inside my town?" "No, it''s there at that stingy man''s town," Bloomughed, "after all he and I are now best friends and he owes me a lot already." "" Shended on her seat again with a gaped mouth while not knowing what to say. "First let''s settle this deal," Bloom said before adding to himself, ''and then I''ll make sure to let all those arrogant bastards regret the ill treatment they did to me and you.'' "But" she seemed quite hesitant about the dinner issue. "C''mon, I believe you don''t have a man that would jump at our table there and kill me for going out with you," heughed and her face went rosy the next moment as she struggled to answer. "Don''t reject, it''s a very important moment for you," he said, "after all after building the guild I''ll get as many yers as I can to join it. your town will truly turn out to be a safe haven for all yers and you will be bathed with endless wealth out of the rich trade my guild will run." "Trade wealth" she muttered softly as if these two words were alien to her. "How can this be and my town is located in the most deserted ces ever?" "Leave this task to me," Bloom evilly said, "after all I have many ways to bring good and stable trade routes to the town and my guild." Chapter 271: The Bloom Guild Headquarter Chapter 271: The Bloom Guild Headquarter "Let''s firstmence the deal then." Anna looked hesitant as a look of doubt appeared on top of her face. Bloom smiled and said nothing as his n was only meant to be secretive, especially for her. "Do you want me to take out the coins here?" Bloom casually asked as if taking out two million gold coins was such a simple task for him. "Oh, please wait," she had a strange look over her face before suddenly asking, "do you prefer to wait to pay for that architect from the capital forter? I don''t want to make you run thin on money here." "Just send me the full contract," Bloom smiled as he added like a rich tycoon, "and please add all the additional things like defensive towers, strong walls, check points, and anything else that might boost my headquarter defenses." "This" her face froze for a moment, "wait a sec then," she hurriedly took a map out, and the map appeared in front of Bloom''s eyes. It was the previous map. "You wanted this piece, right?" she asked and he checked before nodding. "This can''t have many spaces inside to do what you ask for," she sighed. "Then I''ll buy this one as well," he pointed towards another piece adjacent to the first one. "But this will add around five hundred thousand gold coins," she nced weirdly at him. "Is that so?" he asked with a grin, "then add this piece as well," he selected another one that was opposite to the two and was stretched to form an arch. "Are you sure?" she asked just to make sure he wasn''t trying to show off with what he didn''t have. "This will cost around two million gold coins including the resources needed to construct the headquarters. We aren''t talking yet about the fees to hire that architect." "I want the best," Bloom suddenly said. "Pardon me." "I want the best architect out there," he said with strange confidence, "can you do that for me?" "This" she paused before seriously asking, "what''s wrong with you today? Yesterday you were so troubled about paying two million and now you act like paying five isn''t a problem for you." "Hahaha, I just got some lucky encounters that''s all," heughed without saying much about his main source of ie. For him paying five million now wasn''t a big deal at all. "Are you sure?" she asked again, "once I send you the contract I won''t be able to edit it. each contract will use one token to be issued and once you fail it you''ll lose the token it''s a big thing and I rmend you reconsider your choices." "Just send it to me," he took out his token, "use it and mark these three pieces. Like this I''m sandwiching the main route to here and I can start my n ordingly." She took the token and waited for a couple of minutes without saying anything. "What?" he asked. "I''m just giving you time to reconsider." "Just do it," he shrugged, "I''ve nothing to lose." "Sigh, yers you are really unfathomable to me," she sighed before using the token and wrote some words over it before it burnt in thin air and the next that appeared was a new parchment. And she started to fill some ces there before ncing again at him. "Do it," he firmly said and she could only sigh. He watched her filling the contract before it suddenly vanished. The next was a system notification and that piece of paper appeared again in front of him. "System alert: Swor town mayor issued you a guild establishment contract. The contract used the guild establishment token that you''ve provided." "System alert: please make sure that the contract is final and if you agreed then there is no way to turn your back over it. if you fail then the contract will be omitted and you''ll lose your token." "System alert: please seriously and carefully consider this." "Even you" Bloom couldn''t help but smile, "alright let me see the contract then." "Contract to establish a guild for yer Hannipal. Contract issued by Swor town mayor. Contract used the token provided by the yer to start the guild. The guild location will be at coordination 45686*96321 - 45685*96321 - 45684*96323. Themission includes the prices of thesends, the prices of the primary resources, and the prices to provide the architect and workers to build the guild. The price for the threend pieces = 1.5 million gold coins including the fees of the town plus the privilege discount the yer got from the mayor. The price for the resources = 250 thousand gold coins. The price for the workers = 100 thousand gold coins. The price for the architect is still not specified. The architect will be hired by the Swor town mayor. So one million gold coins are needed as a deposit before finalizing the price to hire the architect. Duration: One month at most and the guild headquarter will be delivered to the yer." "It''s all fine," he said before giving her a deep nce, "thanks for the discount." "You deserve it," she sighed, "after all you are paying what''s considered an enormous deal of money even for a mayor of a town like myself." He smiled and then agreed over the contract. The next instant the gold coins were deducted by the system and he received a system alert the next moment. "System alert: Two million and eighty-five thousand gold coins are deducted from the yer." "System alert: please name the guild so the contract can be finalized." "The name" he muttered before suddenly thinking about something. "Let it be Bloom guild," he said and then the system asked for confirmation and he agreed. "System alert: Congrattions for yer Hannipal to sessfully strike a deal with the Swor town mayor to establish a guild. yer can now issue invites to other yers and ept any yers joining the guild." "System alert: Congrattions for the yer to be the first in the entire game to start building the guild. Big prizes await whomever finishes the guild faster, yet as being the first to start building the guild you''ll have a special prize at the end." "System alert: do you wish for the system to announce this to all yers?" "No thanks," Bloom rejected, "keep it as secret as it should be for now." "You really have wealth," Anna seemed to be notified by the sess of the guild contract, "I''m really amazed. Was that deal with that mayor so profitable?" "It helps," he said without delving into any details, "now as you have your fees you can start negotiations about hiring an architect for me." "May I know your limit then?" She was still amazed by his big hand here. And he rose three fingers in front of her. "Holy moly! Are you crazy? Have you stumbled upon a dragon treasure trove back there or what?!!" He couldn''t help butugh. "Don''t forget our date tonight," he waved his hand while moving outside the mansion. "It''s dinner," she shouted at him but he simplyughed and said nothing. "Where are you?" As he exited the mayor''s mansion he instantly called Antoan in a video call. Antoan appeared to be leveling up in some adjacent ce "We are trying to level up here," Antoan said with such an excited tone, "you can''t believe it! the number of monsters decreased a lot and now we can only kill one group at a time even if we met another one in the middle." "Amazing," Bloom smiled, "send me the coordinates." "Are youing over?" Antoan was more excited, "this is very great news." "Not now," he shook his head, "I''ve something else to do first beforeing over to you." "Then what for these coordinates then?" Antoan was puzzled by his words. "Nara ising," Bloom said with a helpless smile, "I''ll send her and her team straight to your ce to level up together." "This are you sure this is a good idea?" "Don''t worry about that," Bloom sneered, "after all we have a big meeting up ahead regarding our trusted circle of yers." "As you say boss," Antoan said before asking, "what do you want me to tell her then?" "Don''t bother," Bloom sighed, "she already knows." "What?!!" Antoan was shocked but Bloom didn''t delve deeper into any details. "Just don''t open the matter with her and act oblivious even if she directly asked you." "As you wish," Antoan said with a deep sigh. "I''ll send them here first," Bloom closed the call with him before opening the chat with Nara and sent two short messages to her. ''How many will you bring with you here?'' ''These are the coordinates of my team to join them and level up.'' Then he went to the shop to buy tickets from there while waiting for her answer to know how much money he would spend for that. Chapter 272: The Secret Mission Chapter 272: The Secret Mission ''A thousand?!!'' Yet when he read her message he couldn''t help but ask to make sure she didn''t exaggerate the number. ''Feel blessed I cut my forces to half already,'' she sent and he couldn''t help butugh. ''Alright, I''ll send the tickets to you now,'' he didn''t want to disappoint her and after all he was wealthy now to afford such a price. And above all he needed to adapt himself for that, as many yers who would want to join his guild wouldn''t be able to afford that pricey ticket. "I want a thousand tickets to the town." "Wow, one minute sir," the NPC was slightly taken aback by that great number and went to search in some boxes beforeing and emptying their content over the counter. "This will cost you one hundred thousand gold coins," the NPC said, "are you sure you want them?" "Just a piece of cake for me," Bloom acted like a rich tycoon and the next moment he took mountains of gold coins and let them gather over the ground. "This" the NPC was frozen for a couple of seconds before running fast and gathering the coins, "thanks sir, thanks a lot." "No problem," Arthur then paused after getting his tickets and sent them to Nara, "by the way I heard our beloved mayor isn''t the only mayor in her family." "Yeah, that''s true," the NPC was intoxicated with this gain and didn''t notice the sly tone in Bloom''s words, "there are three towns out there." "Three?" Arthur was surprised before he controlled his expression, "may I have their tickets please?" "Anything you want sir," the NPC took out three tickets to three different towns, "you want one each, right?" the NPC said, "each will cost two hundred gold coins." "Oh, slightly more expensive than the initial price here," Bloom muttered. "Indeed, they are very bustling townspared to us," the NPC said and Bloom inwardly sneered, ''not anymore,'' he evilly smirked. "Give me ten then for each town." "Right away sir," the NPC was dealing with him like a VIP customer. Bloom left the store and stored the tickets before taking one out. "The Lion town very strong name for a coward," he didn''t hesitate to use the ticket and leave the town. The moment he appeared at the next town he found the scene very different. "It''s indeed a prosperous town," he sighed while watching all those NPCs moving with rich clothes and even hiring bodyguards as entourage. "This is like a city, not a town," he couldn''t help but feel the injustice between this town and Anna''s town. "And they had the nerve toe and reprimand her humph, I bet they heard a glimpse of the price that stingy mayor paid and were justing to ask for money." He had to admit this town wasn''t on par with that stingy mayor''s town, but it wasn''t as bad as Anna''s town either. "Anna had a long shot to take before achieving such prosperity," he admitted to himself, "but at least I''ll make sure she will be the only safe ce in the area." He didn''t hurry to act as first he got a wide tour around the town and started to gather intel. There was even a merchant guild there, a thing that was only ced in big towns and all cities. "So each caravan moves out with a securing unit of fifty NPCs," he muttered to himself while eating a meal in one of the restaurants near the town gate, "and there is a group of a hundred guards stationed all the time near the gates I believe they will act to intercept any attempt of theft." He finished his meal before exiting the town and totally ignored the leveling areas. "But it''s strange," he nced around as he was walking in the main trading route, "I was here for a long time already and not a single monster tide loomed in the area." He didn''t hesitate to open the local forums of the town to find it empty like a desert in the middle of a scorching sunny day. "So no yers yet toe and so no monster tides to happen?" He suddenly decided to shift his mission here and extend it to another level, "to do that I''ll need the help of Antoan and the team," he thought before refraining from doing that right away. "First let me do it myself," he didn''t hurry to go to the leveling areas before finishing his scout. "I found nothing new," he sighed, "but the iing caravans have a lower number of guards, the problem is the number of caravans already is too much." He passed by ten caravans during the past hours; four were heading to the town and six were exiting it. "Anyway I have to do this fast and cause as much damage as possible beforeying low here and jump to another town," the n started to take more shape in his mind, "but first I need to see how they will act against a monster tide." He wasn''t too worried about any NPC. After all, his title provided him absolute control over any fight with them. Yet he also didn''t belittle the advantage of their great numbers over him. He could use the doppelganger skill and form an army but he needed time to hijack any caravan. "The distance between the gates and the end of the route is roughly four hours," he checked his map and started to calcte things, "also there are three road branching points and many intersecting routes in between hmm I need to n things out more properly then." Despite the need to crush them and spread terror here, he wasn''t in a hurry at all. As he returned to the leveling map, he found the ce deserted by any yer. "Time to cause a bang," he muttered before hurriedly activating his disguise skill. "Disguise skill: yer can select to change his shape, either randomly or by selecting the specified criteria. Can change gender with double cooldown time. the yer''s disguise can''t be detected by anyone or anything. Duration: until the yer reverses it. Cooldown time: twelve hours. yer can pay gold coins to reduce the duration of the cooldown by spending ten gold coins for one hour." As he was all alone he turned his shape into one that resembled Dockrey''s butler and named himself Gerard the fool. "Shade doppelganger festival!" the next moment he summoned his twenty-nine clones before pointing towards the distance: "Go, cause as much ruckus as you can and try to kill as much as you can take these with you to help," he also took out two hundred pets to cause more impact. And then he canceled his transformation and paid the corresponding money for it. Right now paying a couple of hundred gold coins was nothing at allpared to his wealth and the brilliant effect this trick would have. As he did that he was relieved to see his clones maintain their external appearance. "It''s time to go back and enjoy the show," he headed towards the town and left his clones wreaking havoc everywhere. As he sat over the restaurant near the town gates once again, he noticed a strange movement of many heavily armored NPCs who came running from the depth of the town towards the gates. "So it started already," he sneered while waiting for his meal to be made and delivered to eat and enjoy the show. "This" yet when he spotted the iing monster tide he felt weird. "Howe their numbers are so small?" He previously faced two monster tides at the Swor town, and none of them looked as weak and pathetic as this tide in front of him. "Something looks fishy," he muttered and as he was thinking about that, a sudden system alert came, rming him. "System alert: Congrattions for the yer who met the conditions to activate a special quest." "Special quest?!" he muttered in a loss, "what conditions?" he was puzzled yet the next system alerts exined everything to him. "System alert: yer has activated the mainline game quest: The traitors!" "System alert: the entire game world is being invaded by dark forces already. The dark era presented itself strongly yet the mightiest threates from within the light ranks. Traitors appeared, and these folks are like invisible poison, not easily detected and have a very lethal effect on the light camp." "System alert: yer is already an agent of the light camp, and managed to spot a very paradoxical situation herepared with other towns. yer has found a suspicious case of a traitor, and the yer is asked to investigate further and bring forth the truth to the daylight." "System alert: your quest is to look for more evidence for any dealings between the mayor of this town and the dark forces and shrines. yer has to know this is a secret mission, so if you get caught the game won''t interfere to help and you''ll be punished ording to the standard game rules." "What the heck is that damned quest?!!!" Chapter 273: The Crusade Against The Traitors Quest Chapter 273: The Crusade Against The Traitors Quest Bloom was shocked when he heard these alerts, yet more kepting. "System alert: yer has to ept the quest first to view it''s details." "Strange," he muttered, "the first time the game kept the secrecy of the quests before yers alright, I ept." "System alert: yer epted the quest. yer is eligible to view the quest details." "System alert: Crusade against the traitors quest is issued for the yer." Quest type: Game mainline major quest. Quest details: The war between the light and dark camps is getting to an intense stage now. The two sides are trying to do whatever they can to win this war. As such traitors are presented in each camp, and your mission is to seek for those traitors in the system settlements. yer has to first detect a paradoxical situation before he triggers the quest suspicion rm. After that yer is asked to gather more info and find evidence on the involvement of any NPC in the town with the dark side. yer has only to provide proof, or point out suspicious NPCs. If a yer managed to gain solid evidence over one NPC or exposed more than one NPC then his rewards would be elevated. Quest time: until the war ends. Quest reward: yer will gain corresponding rewards ording to his performance." "This quest is really funny," Bloom couldn''t help butugh, "so I''m now responsible for investigating the light camp while using my dark camp secret ss to do that very funny indeed." Bloom didn''t reject the quest. In fact this quest came to match his ongoing ns to destroy the towns around Swor town. "So I have to find out the traitor here," he muttered while ncing over the distant low density monsters attacking here, "first I''ll need to find evidence about the absence of any item or gear to repel the monsters and then I can push the suspicion over the mayor and his main men here." For him he was pleased with this simple quest, yet he greatly underestimated the game. "System alert: Warning: yer has to provide proof or a strong circumstance of doubt towards a certain NPC before charging him or else the quest will be considered a failure." "Damn!" Bloom couldn''t help but loudly curse, "now I have to find something real sigh, this is getting troublesome." He paused before starting to exit the restaurant. "I have to gain intel first," he didn''t hesitate to move towards the most appropriate ce to do so the auction house. "Wee yer, how can I serve you today?" Bloom nced at this fat and short NPC and couldn''t help but smile. "I came to sell some things to the house," Bloom said before adding, "but I want my identity to be kept hidden." "Mr. can rest assured," the NPC smiled, "no one is going to know your identity but me but what do you want to sell here? Let me warn you in advance, our house has a reputation to keep and we don''t auction low grade items." "What about this?" Bloom took out a level hundred greatsword and left it bound on the ground, "is this good enough for your house?" The moment he took the sword, the NPC stood from hisrge seat and his face started to turn pink from excitement. "Sir you are most wee to auction this item and other things if you want," and the NPC changed his attitude at once. "I just want to see how you''ll deal with this little toy of mine," yet Bloom shrugged as he added, "how much can you get for me for this sword?" "Let me check it first," the NPC moved his big body and started to check the sword for a couple of minutes. "This is a real masterpiece, only found in the big cities or even the capital," he praised before adding, "for this sword level one hundred and grade ck I can get you half a million gold coins at least in the auction." "Oh, this much?" Bloom was taken aback by this price. The price he imagined for such a sword was one hundred thousand gold coins at most. "Sure sir," the NPC politely answered, "this is a very fine and extremely rare piece of gear. Despite it being sold at much lower prices in the big cities, going there and finding a sword like this one will be quite challenging to many." "Great," Bloom nodded, "alright I''ll trust this one for your house then ah, how about your fees?" "It''s the standard set of five percent of any process dealt directly by us," the man said with greedy eyes. "Only this?" Bloom didn''t show the reaction that NPC expected, "I''ll give you five percent then, you alone, if you manage to get me a higher price than six hundred thousand." "This" the face of the NPC showed how deeply shocked he was, "esteemed lord, you are really generous leave this piece to me, Godar, and I''ll make sure you''ll get the highest price possible." "Fine by me," Bloom smiled faintly as the first step of his n seeded, "when shall I expect it to be sold?" "Tonight," the NPC hurriedly said, "there is a big gathering of really wealthy and authoritative lords like yourself. If you want toe as well then here is a ticket to attend the privilege auction tonight." "Thanks," Bloom received the ticket and stored it simply without even ncing over it. "By the way, I noticed a monster tide when I came here is it safe to level up here or I would be faced with monster tides every now and then?" "My esteemed lord can rest assured to y as you desire our little town here has a very secure leveling ground, with a limited number of monster tides that would be easily controlled by our mighty guards." "Oh, howe?" Bloom asked in real curiosity. "This is a secret of our town," the NPC said before whispering, "but for you my esteemed lord no secret shall be kept. Our higher ups had a deal with the leaders of those monsters, limiting their activity around our town and making the number of monsters in each tide very minimal to avoid any losses." Chapter 274: The Plan Is Ready Chapter 274: The n Is Ready "Damn," Bloom eximed in fake shock, "this is really a blessing! If I can get myself such a deal, I might pay whatever you want." "Hahaha, I''d love to have such a deal but it''s really impossible, at least for me," Godar shook his head in regret, "the main item responsible for this is locked away in the deepest vault under the mayor''s mansion. No one can get a piece of it, or eveny an eye over it." "That''s a real regret," Bloom controlled his emotions perfectly before adding, "I''ll entrust you with this little one here. If you gave me a good price then I''d auction more like it next time." "I won''t disappoint your trust, rest assured my esteemed lord." Bloom wasn''t bluffing as the price he would get from here exceeded the total value of any gear he got from that stingy mayor by folds. Even his Pandora box paled in front of such a good price. "So the evidence is locked in the vault," once he exited the auction house he gazed upon the distant mayor''s mansion. "But the question is how to get in there?" He started to take a walk around the mansion, slowly studying it. "The security here is so tight," he sighed as he found at least two hundred stationed guards at all times inside the big garden of the mansion coupled with many smaller groups of patrols around the pce. "I need just the right excuse to enter," he took out the ticket he received as he thought to go there and befriend some high ups. "Oh," yet when he read the content of this invitation his eyes shimmered with bright light. "This is much better indeed," he found that this privilege auction would be held in the mansion of the mayor. Even the auction itself was sponsored by the mayor, making Bloom sneer. "So I''lle to you tonight, and that item will be mine." He turned around and went towards the nearest hotel before changing his outer form to another shape. The one he took was the shape of Dockrey himself, and named himself Dockrey the fool. Bloom then didn''t rush to go out to the mansion. The time of the auction was set at night, precisely at nine o''clock. "I need to see if I can find anything that can help." It was such a long time for him to explore the auction house of the light and dark camp. The light camp auction didn''t bring anything out of value in reality. "Most of these items are directed to limit the power of any dark monster, yer, or NPC hmm with my title what''s there to be afraid of?" He closed the auction interface before opening that of the dark camp. "This is more interesting," he muttered the moment he spotted some really useful and sinister items being sold there. "Powder of illusion: special dark item. Needs one hundred thousand dark points to be used. an invisible powder that can be released silently by a single click and will prevail over a limited area. The maximum area to cover can''t exceed the level of the yer using the powder multiplied by ten. Anyone inside this ce with a level not exceeding ten levels of yer will be subjected to an illusion. Duration: Ten minutes. yer using this powder is immune to the effect of it but can''t control or dispel it." "Horn of deafness: special dark item. Needs one hundred thousand dark points to be activated. The horn has to be blown by the yer and each horn blow will create a deafening roar that even exceeds dragon roars. Anyone hearing the roar will be stunned for one minute. Can affect anyone with level difference with yer no more than twenty level." "Carpet of gravity: special item. Needs one hundred thousand dark points or five hundred gold coins to be activated. The yer can preside over the carpet and activate it with a single click. Everything in the radius of yer level multiplied by ten will have a reversed gravity effect. The carpet can fly with the yer and at most an equal number to the yer''s level with speed that''s half his normal speed. Anywhere the yer moves to will be affected by this effect. There is no limit to the level of yers, NPCs, or monsters to be affected by this gear, yet it''s only active indoors and not outdoors. Duration: each five minutes will consume one hundred thousand dark points or five hundred thousand gold coins to be keep it running." "Amazing indeed amazing," Bloom was too much excited by these three gears and wasn''t even fazed by their astronomical prices. "The powder of illusion is auctioned for five million dark points, the horn of deafness is auctioned at four million, and the carpet of gravity is auctioned at seven million not too shady for such rare and very handy items." He hurriedly checked his dark points. Until now he didn''t consume much of these points, and during that time he kept gaining passive points from his quests. "Fifty million hahaha, I''m really a tycoon," he couldn''t help butugh, "who said money isn''t power? C''mon, let me spank and p you for that," heughed for a couple of minutes before starting to bid. "Ten million for each reasonable bid," he didn''t y with cold feet here and instantly raised the price to hit the wall of ten million dark points each. He knew he could get an item or even two with a slightly lower price, but he didn''t care. All he wanted was to gain them and then be reassured about his next mission. "Got them!" he jumped in the air while cheering for his luck, "damn those dark auction house quests they are making me unstoppable, hahaha." He nced at the three items and was itching to try them. "Not now," yet he stored them away, "I didn''t want to cause anything that might attract unneeded suspicion." Chapter 275: Selecting Secret Class Quests Once Again Chapter 275: Selecting Secret ss Quests Once Again "Now it''s time for me to select a quest," he opened his profile page and checked his dark quests. It had been a long time since he issued a quest there, and he now wanted to issue one that he never issued before. "Sabotage the system vige quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select a ce inside a system vige, and sabotage it. You can start a fire, steal something, break a thing, cut the water supply off it, or even dig a hole in the garden of any residence and destroy the terrain of the garden there! You can do anything to sabotage the buildings inside the system vige. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "Trick the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one NPC, and trick him. the trick must be in something the NPC wants, owns, or wants to know. The NPC must be part of the vige. the NPC must be convinced by your deeds and reward you falsely and not discover your trick. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "Kill the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "Stealing the shrines quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one shrine and steal something from its NPCs. The shrine NPC must be in the vige, and the thing stolen mustn''t be retrieved in a day. You can steal more, the more you steal, the more rewards you gain. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "Kill the shrine NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC belonging to any shrine in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the vige. You can kill the NPC inside the vige, on condition that you won''t be discovered. The higher the rank of the NPC the better the final rewards are. Beware, doing so will make you the enemy of the shrine, even might gain a curse from it. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." He checked these quests with the first one being the one he was first to activate. "It''s time to activate such a quest," he sneered before choosing these quests at once. He even selected two shrine quests as he didn''t think such an important auction wouldn''t have a couple of the shrines in it. "Let the old Bloom who terrorized you before resurface again, but this time it will be in the form of the fool, Dockrey the fool, hahaha." He was getting amused by this game the more he yed. He hurriedly agreed over each quest and the next he got notifications regarding these quests. Just as he selected these quests, the system sent an alert at once. "System alert: yer has a long record in his Bloom and Sunny identity. Shall yer use any of these identities instead? Or keep the quests linked to this identity then?" "Keep it for this identity," he didn''t hesitate to select what was appropriate for his aim. After all the two other identities had red gs with some shrines already and he didn''t want to rm anyone by his presence. "System alert: then all quests will be linked to Dockrey the fool identity." "System alert: yer can choose one quest at a time. Is the yer sure to select five quests at the same time?" Bloom nodded as he simply said: "Yes, I do." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen the sabotage the system vige quest." "System alert: yer is now in a town, does the yer want to activate the quest on this town or at another vige or town?" "This town," Bloom simply said. "System alert: the quest has been specified to be only limited to the Lion town." "System alert: yer is asked to specify the ce he wanted to sabotage." "The mayor''s mansion." "System alert: yer has selected a very special ce to sabotage. That ce is tightly secured and going in is considered a suicide. Is the yer sure to select this ce?" "Yes, I''ll break into it and steal what''s inside the vault," Bloom shrugged. "System alert: the yer quest grade has been lifted to the gold grade. yer''s rewards will be much higher in quality than before. yer will be given a hand from the system in advance, one time instant revival chance." "Wow! I liked that one," Bloom''s eyes shone brightly before heughed, ''c''mon, do you think I''ll face such a bad situation like before or what?" Chapter 276: Many Traitors Are In Town Chapter 276: Many Traitors Are In Town "System Alert: yer has twenty four hours to finish this quest, failing will reveal yer''s identity to the mayor and he will be hunted down like street dogs." "Damn! You really have a temper!!" Bloom frowned the moment he heard this message, "were you offended by my words or what?" "System alert: Sabotage the Lion town quest: Grade gold quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to destroy one property that belonged to the mayor''s mansion. The higher the importance of what you destroyed and the more things you ruined, the more rewards you''ll gain. You must destroy property, gears, items, or even set fire in the entire mansion. nts, trees, and even the outer wall aren''t considered part of the mansion. The guards stationed around and inside are considered part of the quest as well. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "System alert: It''s the mayor mansion baby, so prepare your guts and have balls to ruin it or else fuck the hell off." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to kill the NPC quest. Kill the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the town. You can kill the NPC inside the town, on condition that you won''t be discovered. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "System alert: yer can kill NPCs as long as they are inside the vicinity of the town. Don''t be polite and kill a bunch, not one." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to steal the shrines quest. Stealing the shrines quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to select one shrine and steal something from its NPCs. The shrine NPC must be in the town, and the thing stolen mustn''t be retrieved in a day. You can steal more, the more you steal, the more rewards you gain. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." "System alert: yer will receive notifications for any shrine NPC in the vicinity of the town once per hour. yer has to select anything and steal it by any means without getting caught by the town guards. Killing the NPC and taking everything from him is considered the most honorable steal ever. Be rude and go show these arrogant bastards what a dark agent terror is." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to kill the shrine NPC quest. Kill the shrine NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to kill at least one NPC belonging to any shrine in a day. You must kill an NPC belonging to the town. You can kill the NPC inside the town, on condition that you won''t be discovered. The higher the rank of the NPC the better the final rewards are. Beware, doing so will make you the enemy of the shrine, even might gain a curse from it. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viin." System alert: yer will receive notifications for any shrine NPC in the vicinity of his town once per hour. Don''t be shy and go and say hi." "System alert: yer has chosen one quest from his secret ss quests." "System alert: yer has chosen to Trick the NPC quest. Trick the NPC quest: Grade green quest. Quest description: You are an agent to the dark forces in a world of light. You are asked to fool an NPC and take something that belonged to him by conning him. You are the agent of the dark forces, and you need money! Earning money legally isn''t our code of dishonor, so work hard and steal the money from others, be a good darkd. The NPCs are the wealthiest in the entire game, and they don''t only have money in their pockets. Be smart, make them hand their belongings to you and reign supreme over those rich fools by being smart. After that, you are free to do whatever you want from them. Doing any of these deeds will grant you quest sess, and ording to your evaluation, you will be rewarded. Quest condition: don''t get caught, don''t get seen, be silent, be hidden, be sneaky and viinous." "System alert: Tricking an NPC requires courage before anything. Don''t be a coward, and show these fools how badass yers are." Long rows of alerts and exnations about the quests he selected jumped in front of his eyes. "Again all these motivating words" he couldn''t help butugh while reading these alerts. Yet other system alerts kicked in, one after another. "System alert: yer has chosen five secret quests at the same time. If a yer manages toplete these five quests in less than one day, the yer will have the chance to upgrade his prestige and rank in the dark world." "System alert: There are NPCs from the shrine of angels, shrine of demons, shrine of wealth, and shrine of death in the town. yer has to select one shrine, or both, to steal and kill." Chapter 277: Alright Alright, Back To Business Chapter 277: Alright Alright, Back To Business "Wow! It seems the traitors aren''t only in the town NPC ranks," Bloom couldn''t help butugh, "system, why can''t you take your own words as a proof and let me have my quest done?" Yet the system of the game totally ignored him as he received other alerts. "System alert: yer has to select at least one shrine to screw!" "I''ll select all of them." "System alerts: all of the shrines present inside the town are selected. yer''s quest will be considered sessful if he killed or stole any NPC belonging to one shrine, yet doing this to all will give the yer the full rewards without any cut." "Damn! Are you trying to pull a trick on me here?" Bloom couldn''t stand still, "you should give me more rewards not cut some off!" Yet the system totally ignored hisints like he said nothing. "Now it''s time to go to that auction," he evillyughed before exiting the room and started to wander first around the town while revising the n in his mind. The biggest obstacle he had was his ignorance about theyout of the town''s mayor building. "Should I go and ask her then?" he thought about Anna, yet the next moment he dropped this idea totally. "I can''t arouse her suspicions about me," he sighed, "she is just a nice girl in a very brutal time I should keep her away and let her know nothing about my deeds." He didn''t know where to look for this info. He even stopped a couple of times opposite the mansion and tried to guess the location of that vault. "should I kidnap a guard and torture him for info?" he nced over a small group of guards moving out of the mansion, "this isn''t a good idea though," he rapidly dropped this as well. "Let me check the auction again," he still had an hour or more before the time of the auction. He returned to the restaurant supervising over the walls and gates of the town and started to calmly explore the auction. "Sigh, nothing of value here," he searched thoroughly many pages and found nothing. "Would the search help?" He didn''t exclude the possibility of missing such a map in therge number of auctioned items here. "Map for town mayor''s mansion," he wrote this in the search bar and found nothing. "What is this mark?" he found a glowing question mark beside no result phrase. He pressed it and the next instant a video screen opened in front of his face. "Wee dark agent," a very beautifuldy appeared in front of him, "this is Sheral, I''m your helper for whatever you need to buy." "Impressive," he couldn''t help but remark. "Is it for me or my service?" she yfully asked with a sweetugh that made his heart palpitate. "It''s for both, but mainly it''s for you." "Thanks sweet agent of darkness," she felt ttered before leaning to the back of her seat and showing part of her upper and exposed chest from her tight dress that seemed to reveal more than it was hidden. "Do you have a question for me baby?" "Are you free tonight?" he couldn''t help but ask and this question suddenly struck him with lightning. ''Damn! I totally forgot my date with Anna!'' he muttered in deep shock while his expression was mistaken by Sheral for being totally crushed by her beauty. "Sorry darling, despite feeling honored by the offer." "Sigh, another time then," he softly said while trying to think of a solution to his current problem. "Anytime my dear," she winked and he didn''t get her message, "now can you inform your big sis about your needs? Anything you need I will fulfill," she paused when she noticed his lost eyes over her body, "but not that one, hahaha." Her loudugh distracted him from his thoughts. "I''m looking for ayout of any town mayor''s mansion building." "Oh you got some courage in your little one," her eyes sparkled the moment she heard his words. "Mine isn''t a little sexydy," he returned to his nature and winked at her, making herugh even louder. "Alright alright, let''s stop here before Ie to your ce and put you under test." "I''m not the one who is backing off," heughed before leaning back to his seat, "I''m always open to any test my dear." "Alright, back to business," she cleared her throat before adding, "may I ask what exactly do you seek?" "Does it matter?" "If you want a simpleyout then it''s easy. I have it right here right now, but" she paused while putting a serious business look over her face, "if you are seeking treasures hidden deep inside the mansion''s vault, then this is another story." "A higher price then? I don''t mind paying more to get what I need," he casually said, acting like a true tycoon that partially aimed to impress her. "No darling, it''s not about money," she winked as she got his message, "but someday I might ept such an invitation from a wealthy agent like you one day perhaps." "I told you my dear I''m always open for any kind of test," and he winked back while she lewdlyughed. "Alright alright, back to business then" she again cleared her throat and wore a serious working look, "the issue here is that each mayor will have his own preference to hide the vault inside his big mansion." "Damn!" he couldn''t help but curse and sheughed in joy while pointing at him: "I guessed it right? Admit it, just admit I was right." "Indeed right," he sighed, "and I''m happy you are enjoying this but I haven''t got what I want this way." "I didn''t say it''s impossible to get such a blueprint," she suddenly said, "I said it will be another case to speak about." Bloom''s eyes shone brightly as he got her hidden meaning. "Tell me more then, and I promise to give you something good if everything goes ok for me." "I''ll hold you to this promise," she chuckled while looking amused. "I''ll always wait for your calls sweetie." "Alright alright, back to business," she cleared her throat once more, "to find this vault hidden location I''ll need the name of the town you are in." "I''m just curious," he couldn''t help but say, "how can you know such secretive info?" "It happens I know the right people," she arrogantly said while raising her chin high, "and you should know finding such info isn''t cheap or easy. My people are so expensive, and I get ten percent fees out of all trades." "I''ll give you double and meet you on a date tomorrow," he joked with her and sheughed as she got his meaning. "Another time bad boy," she lewdlyughed while he faked his disappointment. "Alright alright, let''s go back to business," and again she cleared her throat, "what''s the name of your precious town?" Chapter 278: Buying A Tuxedo Chapter 278: Buying A Tuxedo "Lion town," Bloom said while watching closely her reaction, yet her face didn''t change as she started to nce at another screen perhaps. "Oh, that town mayor is really cunning," she said suddenly, "he has two vaults, not one." "What?!!" Bloom was shocked. "One is true and the other is false that''s my guess," she returned to gaze at him while chuckling in amusement, "you selected yourself a very hard target bad boy." "Sigh, I''ll have to check the two vaults then." "You should, if I were him , I''ll make sure to swap the contents of the two vaults with each passing day." Bloom suddenly realized why there were teams of guards getting out of the mansion when he was taking a stroll around. "If he would do that," he thought loudly, "then he would need a lot of time and effort, right?" "Indeed," she grinned as she read his thoughts, "and that means he is using something to help him in movingrge objects between the two vaults." She said that and paused, and that made Bloom doubt she knew something. "How much will this cost me?" "The two vaults location?" "Not that, I mean the other info." His words made herugh a very sweet one, "you are really making my day, bad boy. Alright, It''s a blessing to work with smart people for you I''ll give you this info for three million dark points, and the ce of each vault will cost you one million." "The second info costs much more than the two vaults together?!" Bloom was surprised by this offer. "Indeed, after all you won''t be able to steal the two vaults without this info In my opinion it should be worth more. Are you broke darling?" "I can add double if you woulde and stay by my side," he winked with a lewd reaction on his face that made herugh. "C''mon, you are such a high bidder! Jumping straight from inviting me to dinner to totally having me by your side," she said amidst her sweetughs, "let''s see how you will do first in this hard nut you have." "I have two strong nuts that won''t crack with anything." "Hahaha, enough big boy," sheughed, "alright alright, let''s go back to business Do you agree on this price?" "Sure," Bloom nodded, "and also your fees and tip." "Thanks a lot, generous boy," her eyes sparkled before adding, "I''ll send you a contract to sign before preparing this info for you ah, I forgot to tell you that preparing this info will take at least two hours." "That suits me," Bloom smiled as he already had a date to attend, "how can I contact you?" "Through the contract of course." "And after that?" Sheughed before shaking her head in a fake helpless way and then she closed the call while saying, "I''ll be the one calling you, big boy." "I bet you''ll call soon then," he smiled and he could only see her big smile before closing up the call and the screen went ck. "Check please," he didn''t have time to waste here anymore. As everything was settled, he had to wait for her to give him the news. Just as he waited for the check, he received a system notification of the contract. "Let''s see hmm she even included extra backup service and an emergency escape n in the contract as extras for more fees she is good." He found more items he didn''t select before and before each one a swiping button to choose them or not. He didn''t hesitate to choose all the help he could get. After all, he was quite sure that the mayor must have installed a warning device in the vaults to rm everyone if someone broke into. And so having an escape n, a back up team, and also a distraction n and even a decoy seemed quite helpful. "So the total price is ten million dark points not bad," he signed the contract and the next moment it vanished and he got a ring question mark on the side of his vision. "So this is how I can contact you," he softly muttered before paying his check and then went down the restaurant where he froze in front of two stores. One was meant for beautiful male clothing and the other was for gifts. "I can''t go like this," he nced at himself before smiling, "I''m now rich, why not act like one?" He didn''t hesitate to enter the cloth store first. "Wee sir to our humble store," an old NPC met him with a warm smile, "how may I help sir?" "I have a very special asion tonight and I need a good suit for it." "That''s great, sir," the man warmly said, "you can follow me upstairs to select the chosen one." Bloom followed him and started to test many suits until one with a shiny ck coat caught his attention. "I want this one," he checked his image on the mirror while the man was widely smiling from the side. "Excellent choice, sir. This is our top quality suit in the entire store. No less elegant than any suit from the big names at the capital, provided by hidden pockets, an indestructible coat that absorbs any hit directed to you for twenty seconds, and ites with these amazing pairs of shoes with extra buff for speed." The man turned to take out a small red pin and added, "and our little one here has an extra charm effect that works on anyone. Whatever you say they will consider it as a mere truth and will be seen as a shining star in the middle of a dark gxy." "I''ll take it," Bloom smiled in content, "how much will this cost?" "One hundred thousand for the suit alone, and if sir wants extra buffs and even skills then the price would rise ordingly." Bloom watched this experienced seller and grinned. "Alright, give me the best suit with everything." "This" the face of the old man changed for a second beforeughing, "it will be great to sell such an esteemed lord but I have to tell you beforehand that the price is going off the roof." "How much?" Bloom shrugged as if he didn''t care much about money. "One million in price paid in coins or with equivalent items in the same value," the NPC said, "but paying through other means will add ten percent fees for the store." "I''ll take it," Bloom didn''t even flinch while picturing himself against that mirror with the beautiful Anna next to him. "One moment sir, I''ll wrap one for you to take away." "No need," Bloom shook his head while simply grabbing the suit and it was instantly taken off, shrunk in size to be as small as a suit for a baby, "I''ll dress it after you get it ready." "Alright, sir can give me ten minutes to prepare everything, but you''ll have to pay in advance." Bloom didn''t hesitate to take out two hundred thousand gold coins from his ount plus a few materials and gears. "I suppose this will cover the cost, right?" The eyes of that NPC shone brightly while moving around to collect everything. "Yes sir, it''s really very generous of you to pay such a price for our suit. But I believe there will be extra." "prepare them in coins then," he shrugged before heading downstairs, "I''ll buy something from the next store beforeing to get the suit." "You''lle and find it ready for your special night," the seller excitedly promised before running before Bloom and even knelt while opening the door for him, "I wish you all the luck for this night." Bloom smiled as he really needed luck to seed in his tough theft tonight. The next store has only one level but is very spacious from the inside. The moment he entered it a very fragrant scent was caught by his nose. "This is such a nice smell," he couldn''t help but feel a slight move deep down his body, "and it''s very effective against me, hahaha." "Wee sir," a very beautiful youngdy appeared with a short skirt and a ribbon around her hair, "how may I help you?" "I want a gift," he said while smiling, "I want a very special gift to a very special one." "Anything in mind, sir?" The girl smiled while feeling ttered for a man toe to buy something for a girl, even if she wasn''t the one to receive the gift. "Not really," he shook his head, "but I want something that will impress my girl." "May I know about her character then?" the girl asked, "there are a lot of good items here." "She" Bloom paused beforeughing, "sorry, but if I told you about her main characters you''ll guide me to the weapon shop or the armory of the town." The girlughed and this was followed by a strange melody that looked very enchanting to his ears. "What is that?" he instantly asked while feeling something moving, and this time it was his heart. It was as if this music reached directly to his heart and talked to his soul. "It''s our top special item sir," the girl''s smile was so wide that it extended from one hair line to another, "fine taste sir, but this one is expensive, really really expensive." And when he heard her double warning his eyes shone brighter as he instantly ordered, "led me to it, I want to check it before deciding to buy." Chapter 279: Anna Isnt In Town Chapter 279: Anna Isn''t In Town She led him towards the middle section of the store where she took out a small box that was decorated with bright red and ck color. "It''ll be triggered if the ownerughed, releasing a sweet melody that would make anyone mesmerized," she said before pushing a hidden button to the side and the cover was opened slowly showing what was inside. "This What is that fog?" Bloom saw a cloud of fog floating inside the box. "This is the memory fog," she exined, "it restores the owner''s best status and makes sure he or she will always be in that state anytime the owner wants." "Hmm does it ever look beautiful?" "Not only that," she shook her head, "even if the owner was on the verge of dying, this little one here can help to bring him back instantly to the top shape and health, leaving not a single scratch over him." The eyes of Bloom shone brightly when he heard that. "How does it work? Should I put gold coins or materials inside?" "No, it works in a simpler way," the girl chuckled, "all the owner needs to do is justugh happily for five times and the box would be recharged on its own. It''s called the joyful life box for this." "Amazing," Bloom realized how special this little item was, "how much for it please?" "Two million gold coins," the girl said. "and if I''ll pay with materials and gears?" "Add one million then," the girl smiled, "I told you it''s pricey." "But it''s worth every penny," Bloom nodded before taking out a pile of materials, "I believe this will cover the cost, right?" "Let me check," the girl took the materials to the nearby counter where she used a scale device to measure the value of each material. After five minutes she stopped midway as she said with a big smile: "These will do, and the rest are extras. You can have them back, sir." "Thanks," Bloom stored the materials before adding, "so the box is mine now?" "One moment, I''ll wrap it for you." "Thanks." The girl then wrapped the box in a pink red matrix with many roses over it before she gave it to him. "Thanks for your precious visit," the girl apanied him even to the door and Bloom just nodded to her before returning to take his suit. "It''s ready sir," the old man said in excitement, "you can dress it now." "Thanks," Bloom just took the miniature version of the tuxedo and touched it over his body. The next moment he wore the suit and was ready to move. "I''ll go to the restaurant directly and wait for her there," he didn''t hesitate to open his chat with Antoan and asked him to go to the mayor''s mansion and leave a message for Anna there regarding the date. ''You are aiming for the mayor?!!'' Yet Antoan was slightly taken aback with his words. ''Just go,'' Bloomughed before taking the ticket and using it and then he appeared in the grand za filled with statues. ''I''ll go, but if Nara knew god knows how you can escape her wrath.'' ''Hahaha, you just say anything and she won''t know for now,'' Bloomughed while walking towards the restaurant. "That man he is really fast." Just as he sat in the restaurant''s top section, he could see the entire town. Just near the gate a grand tower was being built and next to it arge project was undergoing as well on the ground. "What is he nning to do now?" Bloom thought as he didn''t think that the covered project on the ground was only covering the grand tail. At least from the size of it Bloom knew it was three or even four times bigger than the tail. "Good evening sir," a waiter came before asking, "what do you want to order tonight?" "I''m waiting for a special person, her name is Anna," Bloom said, "when shees just guide her to here please and then we''ll order." "I understand, I''ll leave a word down below then." The waiter excused himself and Bloom just nced at his reflection in the mirror nearby. He returned to Hannipal''s identity just when he arrived here. Despite paying extra gold coins for that, he didn''t mind that considering he was now filthy rich. "What took her so long?" Just after half an hour Bloom started to feel restless. He had other ns for the night, and her dy was something suspicious. ''Have you gone there yet?'' he sent a message to his butler to make sure she received the message. ''I''m trying to enter but there''s a jerk standing there saying she isn''t here,'' Antoan sent and instantly Bloom guessed the identity of that guard. ''Tondel?'' he asked, ''what does he say about her location?'' ''It''s him, do you know such a bad NPC?'' Antoan seemed a little surprised before adding, ''he is stressing over her not being home or in the entire town at all. He says she is at her uncle''s town, to take part in some sort of an auction or a show or something like that.'' "Damn!" Bloom''s face changed slightly when he heard that, "she went there?!!" he was surprised by this and didn''t even think about her presence there. "Thisplicates things a little bit," he couldn''t help but sigh, "but I''ll have to go now." He sent a message to his butler asking him to go back and level up. After paying tips to the waiter and apologizing for not being able to stay, he hurriedly went to the nearest hotel where he changed his shape to Dockrey''s. "Let''s hope this night will pass without any moreplications," he muttered to himself before taking a ticket and used to move to the Lion town central za. Wearing such an expensive tuxedo and walking in the streets of the town, he instantly attracted much attention. "Luckily there are few yers in this town," he muttered before finally reaching the mayor''s mansion. "Sir are you a yer?" the head guard stopped him with a weird look over his face. Chapter 280: Entering The Privileged Auction Hall Chapter 280: Entering The Privileged Auction Hall "I''ve an invitation to attend the auction," Bloom didn''t hesitate to take out the invitation he received from before and handed it over to the NPC in front of him. "Oh, then sir can enter for sure," the guard respectively said, yet his face showed his doubt and surprise nheless. Bloom didn''t care about that while he entered the mansion in calm steps. The night was already thick and the area around the big pce in front of him was calm. "Should I contact her now?" he thought about contacting Sheral now but he refrained from doing so. "I''ll need her aid in escape mainly, but let''s not stir up things before I check out inside." He entered through a big door where he found a group of well dressed servants weing him. "May I know sir''s name please?" one of them asked while holding a piece of paper in his hand. "Dockrey," Bloom simply said and the man wrote his name before asking, "and the invitation please?" "Here," Bloom gave it to the servant who just threw it over the paper and then it vanished. And that rmed Bloom slightly. "May I know what happened to my invitation?" he asked, trying not to look suspicious. "It''s a normal thing as this invitation is one time limited invitation for this auction only," the servant answered in in face like this wasn''t the first time to be asked such a question. "This is to prevent me froming here again?" Yet Bloom kept stressing over the subject. "Sir must be aware that each party has its own circumstances," the servant seemed quite talented to deal with angry masters without further enraging them, "it''s just a routine procedure and it has nothing to do with sir. All the tickets once touched the parchment would burn to ash and thus far no one can use it again after this time." "Aha, I see," Bloom nodded before pointing to the paper and joked, "so you aren''t storing them here and nning to sell them in the auctionter for the next party, right?" "Sir is really smart and can provide such priceless ideas to us," the servant smiled, "but this isn''t the case here. The tickets are all burnt to ash and no one can retrieve them to sell." "You can take that suggestion into consideration for next parties then," Bloomughed before walking towards the inside, "at least this way you''ll gain more money from mere papers." "Good point sir," the servant calmly said while watching his back as he vanished inside. Bloom was now relieved that no one would attach this ticket to him, or even trace its origin so it wouldn''t lead eventually to his deal with that man in the auction house. "It''s such a big auction," the moment he entered the main hall under the guidance of one servant he was surprised to see many people there. "And all are wearing formal uniforms it''s good I brought my own then." Ladies wearing bright dresses and men wearing dark suits, yet none could bepared with his fancy tuxedo tonight. The moment he entered the hall, all the eyes fell upon him and he just ignored all. "It''s better this way," he mumbled, "at least no one would miss one or two from such a big crowd." Despite being doubtful towards thisrge number regarding the fact this was supposed to be a privilege auction party, yet it served his purpose quite well. "The only problem now is this tuxedo," he sighed as despite causing a strong impression to all, he knew this wasn''t something good. After all he attracted attention now and that wouldn''t be in his favor. "Should I go and change my identity and uniform as well?" he thought before he finallyid his eyes over Anna. Her beautiful face wasn''t beaming like he used to see her, instead she looked quite gloomy and sad to be here. "At least she misses me," he couldn''t help but smile. He resisted the urge to go and stand with her now. "I shouldn''t attract more attention," he turned around and selected an empty spot and headed directly there. It was the end row where no one really wanted to sit there, yet for him he found this was a perfect ce to be. "The doors there must lead outside this hall," he glimpsed at the nearby pair of doors situated on the right and left to his row. "That door will lead me to the servants, so I suppose this one would lead me to an empty ce or I would pump into guards it''s hard to say." The possibility of facing guards here was so high that he couldn''t decide what to do. Just as he was in the middle of his dilemma, that question mark shone brightly while a screen shed in front of him. "Hi again bad boy," Sharel said before her eyes fixated over his suit. "Wow impressive suit rich boy." Bloom was in the middle of the auction now and couldn''t just speak with her in front of everyone. Yet he found this a good chance to check that mysterious door to his left. "One second," he said before moving towards the door and entering through. "I''m just in a special auction now," he said without even ncing at her for a second. He was attracted to what lies behind the door. ''Another hall interesting.'' It was another big hall that resembled the one he was just in. "Alright, it seems you are quite busy in your special auction, hehehe," sheughed amusingly before adding, "I''ve got what you need and now I''ll send them to you. If you need any backup, just tell me now so I can prepare the team for you." "Send them for sure," Bloom didn''t hesitate to say that while seeing one guard appearing from another door opposite to the one he just came from and started to walk directly towards him. "Alright, do you need an escape team as well?" Chapter 281: The Guard Chapter 281: The Guard "Sure, send everything and make sure they are ready for me," he said in an audible tone while faking being a superior ordering his subordinates. "Alright big shot, I''ll just send a message to you now with the map and the item needed to detect the transportation history inside the pce. This item is special and it can detect the movement in the past week and pinpoint with extreme uracy the ces where things were moved to and from." "Sounds interesting," Bloom honestly said while the guard stood a couple of meters away as Bloom just moved his hand to stop him. "But I have to warn you, this item can''t be obtained yet loaned to you." "How can this be?!!" Bloom faked his anger and shouted in extreme rage to her. And before she could say anymore, he just turned around and she could see his background and the guards standing not far from him. "Alright I got it, you are already marked by the guards which isn''t a good way though," she sighed, "I''m sorry if this was caused by me let''s continue talking in chat, shall we?" "I won''t ept that!" Bloom shouted before adding, "go back now and inform your boss that I won''t pay more than fifty million in this item or else the deal can be off." He closed the call as if he was mming a door. "Sir, I''m sorry but this is a restricted area for guests," the guard showed a change in his stern expression when he heard Bloom''sst words. "I had to get this call, who do they think I am? Asking for seventy million for an item that costs fifty? It''s a theft! A daylight theft!" Bloom seemed not to care about the guard''s words as he kept ranting about these fake issues. "Sorry for your bad day sir," the guard showed more respect and tried to act with extreme caution with him, "but I have to ask you to enter inside." "Oh, sorry for that," Bloom was about to turn before he paused and pointed to the guard toe closer. "Can you help someone like me in knowing some details in advance about some items here? Y''know I always heavily reward anyone who is kind to me." The face of the guard changed again before a wide smile appeared on his face. "What sir wants, Entory will satisfy." "Goodd," Bloom patted his shoulder, "I want to know if there is something special y''know something that might be worth paying fifty million in it." The guard''s smile became wider before he said: "There is an item being auctioned here that is estimated to be sold for ten million." "That" Bloom showed a faint look of disappointment, "I thought the house of Lion town would have something so precious to obtain." "Hahaha, my master has such a priceless item but he would prefer to sell his soul than it," the guardughed and Bloom knew what he was talking about. "I might be interested in having it," the guard shook his head and then Bloom added, "or even see or know what it is so I can go and look for other things like it out there." Bloom then took out a nice shield that wasn''t any less in value than the sword he put to auction before. "I see you are a shield bearer, and having such a shield would be something good, right?" The eyes of the guard shone brighter when he saw this shield. Bloom kept ying with the shield in his hand while the eyes of that guard kept following. "This piece of gear Esteemed sir has a really fine taste without doubt," the guard literally was drooling over the shield and Bloom kept toying with him for a bit before saying: "I just told you, be kind and share some of your info with me and I promise you won''t be disappointed," then he stored the shield away and turned to leave like he wasn''t speaking with the guard just now. "S- Sir esteemed sir, please hold for a second." The guard''s voice was so low as if he was afraid to be heard. "What are you afraid of?" Bloom smiled, "we are all alone here and no one can eavesdrop over us, right?" "No one can know who might enter through these doors at any moment," the guard kept turning around before adding, "these doors beyond this hall are all linked to special items that would create a maze and let everyone move from east to west with just a single door opening." "Amazing," Bloom said while his heart dropped to his knees, "I never thought there was such a gear in this world. Come, tell me more and that fancy shield will be yours." Just mentioning the shield made the guard dispel any hesitation or doubt and started to say: "I know of an item, so special that was given to my lord and not bought or acquired through any fight," the guard said before adding after couple of turning right and left, "this item can expel the monsters away, make the drop of them double, and even some says it creates strange ck liquid out of the dead souls of monsters." "ck liquid?" Bloom asked while his mind was thinking about another dilemma. "It''s said to grant special powers to whoever drinks it," the guard said, "honestly I didn''t see a ck liquid or spotted any special powers, but I saw the item with my two eyes." This time Bloom was attracted to his words before the guard added, "it''s some sort of ancient monster skull, like a giant bull with jaws that move slightly every now and then." "It looks scary," Bloom said, trying to squeeze more info from this guard. "It is, I recall the first time I held it and was about to pee over myself," the guard embarrassedly said. "Holding it? your lord is quite generous to let you toy with his precious belongings." Chapter 282: The Special Item... Its Gone! Chapter 282: The Special Item... It''s Gone! "No, no, it''s not that kind at all," the guard''s face changed slightly as if he was agitated with anger, "it''s just he is a little paranoid and keeps moving it right and left all the time. Just hours ago I helped in moving it towards its current location." "Oh," Bloom said while thanking his luck to find this talkative guard, "it looks heavy indeed." "Not at all, it''s so light like holding a feather," the guard shook his head, "but there is always a stationed group of ten elites on guard around it all the time." "Aha," Bloom said before adding in true regret, "I really envy your lord now. Being able to have such a rare treasure is a real blessing. I wish I could obtain one for myself." "Hahaha, he is indeed a bastard but a lucky bastard," the guard said before adding, "and for you my esteemed lord I can tell you the name of the person you should seek to get such an item if you want but" Bloom nodded and he took out two shields from his inventory, "say it and these two babies here will be yours." The guard was distracted again by the shields in Bloom''s hands and didn''t even realize what he was saying just to take these two priceless gears for him. "It''s Morden, the local leader of the dark forces in this zone. You should go and say you areing from my lord''s end and he will meet you. I only know that he was the one to grant my lord such a priceless treasure." "Thanks," Bloom let the two shields off and the guard hurriedly ran to grab them. "Thanks a lot esteemed lord, thanks for your extreme generosity," the guard said while holding the two gears like he was holding his girl, "if you ever needed anything just look for me and I''ll make sure to satisfy your needs anytime." Bloom waved casually to him before returning to the hall again and this time his mind was heavily burdened with what he just learnt. Yet just before he reached his seat, a system alert kicked in, startling him. "System alert: A valuable info was revealed to the yer, yet it''s not verified." "System alert: yer can now choose to go and find Morden and verify the info or continue his mission here." "I''ll continue here," Bloom wasn''t even tempted by that offer, "I''ve already spent a lot on this mission and can''t retreat now." He sat on his seat and the next thing he did was to check his own messages. A message was there on top from Sharel and when he opened it he was surprised to see her sending him messages like any yer. ''Are you a yer perhaps?'' He epted the map and while opening it he sent it to her. ''Hahaha, do you think you are the only ones with the ability to send and receive messages here?'' she instantly replied before sending again, ''focus on the mission in hand or else you''ll fail your chance to have a date with me.'' ''Didn''t think you would change your mind so soon.'' ''I can''t resist that sexy suit you have there,'' she sent before adding, ''make sure not to spoil it, I want to meet you while wearing it.'' ''Don''t worry, I care about it more than you think,'' he smiled before ncing at the map he got in hand. There he found a detailed drawing of the mansion and when he just tried to magnify it, a system alert came. "System alert: yer can choose to merge this map with the system, so he would get more detailed real time updates about the map." "I agree," he didn''t hesitate to do that. Previously at his mission to screw Gerard''s mission he did something like that and it helped him greatly. The next moment the map vanished and then he opened his system map and found the ce he was sitting in highly detailed. "In three dimensions as well interesting," just as he touched the map to see a whole view of the pce, he found the ability to change his perspective and the map would be in three dimensional view. "Hmm so the blue dots are those neutral to me, and those ck dots are the guards perhaps?" he noticed the hall he was in being filled with blue dots while dark dots were scattered around the entire mansion. "Where are you, my precious vault?" he kept searching until he found an underground passage heading down the ground. "This one" his eyes sparkled while he followed the underground tunnel until he finally found a room with a marked dot there. "It''s here but it''s only one vault though," he thought to himself before checking the distance again. "Sigh, ten levels under the ground with no other way to escape How can someone be so suspicious and cautious? Damn!" He didn''t hurry to judge before he searched for the other one. He found another tunnel simr to the first one and there he found his second vault. "So the two are kept underground for ten levels and with no escape route except the one I woulde from this is getting tougher," he sighed before returning to the chat with Sharel. ''Where is that item?'' ''Why do you seem annoyed?'' He paused for a moment before writing to her. ''I found the vaults, heavily secured under the ground for ten levels with no way to escape but the path linking them to the surface.'' ''Seems hard indeed,'' she sent before adding, ''let me return to the emergency escape team and see what we can do for you then.'' ''The item?'' ''It''s already embedded in the map, didn''t you notice it?'' Bloom was speechless there for a second. ''What? What''s wrong?'' as he took longer than expected to write back to her she grew suspicious. ''I just integrated the map into the system map.'' '''' She didn''t answer him for long minutes before returning to write. ''The things you''ll steal we''ll have half of the entire loot.'' Chapter 283: A Dangerous Situation Chapter 283: A Dangerous Situation ''Agreed,'' he didn''t hesitate to agree. After all she didn''t know the real purpose of him being here and he also didn''t seek the item, but he wanted to reveal the connection and prove the usation. ''Great, I''ll send you a contract then,'' she hurriedly sent a contract that stated the new terms of their deal. And he simply signed it. ''You didn''t want to know what''s inside the vaults?'' he couldn''t help but ask, ''after all I didn''t tell you anything.'' ''You don''t need to do so darling, after all such tight security means only one thing.'' He understood his point as this meant there must be real treasures in these vaults. ''But I don''t really guarantee to find precious things inside.'' ''We will take our chances here,'' she said in a tone that told him this wasn''t her own decision but her superior. ''Alright then,'' he said, ''how can I find that item?'' ''Just open the map and click over any ce three times in a row. If that ce saw a transportation of any valuable goods it will show you the track instantly and the time of its happening.'' ''Interesting, let me check it then.'' He returned to his opened map and looked for the second vault. "I hope it works," he clicked over it three times and then nothing happened. He clicked over it again and yet nothing happened. "What? Is it broken?" he was puzzled before returning to ask Sharel. ''The item isn''t broken and it can''t be affected by the system,'' she sent to him before adding, ''if it shows nothing in the next ten seconds after you clicked thrice over it then it means there is no valuable exchange happening there.'' "This" Bloom was speechless before returning to the map and found the first vault. "It''s the same damn! The two are just decoys!" This sudden realization hit him without even expecting it. "That damned mayor he is too cunning than me!" he couldn''t help but shake his head before returning to Sharel. ''Both are decoys,'' he sent to her. ''What? Are you sure?'' she seemed quite shocked, ''but he only has these two vaults.'' ''Then he must have the precious items stored elsewhere,'' Bloom sent, ''anyway that''s much better for me. I didn''t know how I would escape from that underground ce.'' ''This man I''m now more positive about the value of items you''ll find,'' she sent before pausing for a couple of moments, ''let me run a thorough check over his background.'' ''This'' Bloom hesitated. ''Don''t worry big boy, my boss is interested in this person now and he will do this as a gift.'' ''Thank him for me,'' Bloom said before adding, ''and tell him not to be sour when I go out on a date with you.'' ''Hahaha, he''s a silly silly boy.'' And Bloom couldn''t help but grin when he read that. "Now where are you?" he was totally absorbed in looking for the hidden ce of that item and didn''t notice the person getting near him at the moment. "I should try to look manually then," he couldn''t help but sigh. "You look very busy." All of sudden he heard this sound that gave him a scare. "Oh, sorry didn''t intend to interrupt you," Anna moved to sit beside him without invitation before adding, "it''s just I don''t seem fit here and you are the only one that looked alike." "It''s my honor to have someone like you to be with me," Bloom couldn''t help but say this while trying to control the heart attack he just had. "Hahaha, thanks for thepliment," she said before ncing at him in doubt, "why do I feel some familiarity from you?" Bloom''s heart bound fiercely while he tried to maintain hisposure. "I''m just a mere yer, perhaps we met before." "Perhaps" she muttered, "but I only met one yer so far." "Only one?" he asked before smiling, "he seems like a lucky one to me." "You are funny," she chuckled before saying, "I''m Anna, the mayor of the Sword town." "I''m Dockrey," he was about to say Hannibal yet he managed to evade the disaster thest minute, "and I''m just a yer." "Don''t act humble," sheughed sweetly, "as long as you are here that means you aren''t just nobody. My uncle" she turned to gaze towards a certain direction where Bloom spotted another familiar face, "he doesn''t invite anyone here." "It''s just my luck to be here tonight," Bloom said, "just to meet you." "Stop it," Anna couldn''t help butugh, "if my man heard your words I''m sure he woulde to your neck." "You have a man? What a lucky man he is!" Bloom''s heart was about to bounce off his chest at this moment. He already guessed the identity of her man, and luckily he was that man. "He is someone special," she muttered while lost in thoughts, "he is the yer I told you about do you want to know his name?" "Sure, tell me about him and I''ll see if I know him or not." "He is called Bloom." The moment she said these words his face changed involuntarily while his eyes widened. His entire blood froze inside his veins while sheughed at his reaction. "Yeah, I know he is famous. I already asked many other yers and his name caused the same reaction." He took a deep breath and tried to calm his chaotic thoughts. "But I heard he was killed in real life I mean," he said. "Not to me," sheughed, "I dunno what he did but what I''m sure about is that he is alive, living and kicking without doubt." ''This is bad!'' he couldn''t help but turn around in a hurry, ''does that mean she has some kind of tool to detect my true identity? Does that mean others could detect it as well wait does that mean she knows my identity now?'' A lot of thoughts rushed in his mind and he had zero answer for them. "Don''t mind me, I''ve distracted you already from your business. I''ll go back to my dear uncle and his amusing group see youter... Dockrey." Her tone, her attitude, and herstugh while moving away told him she already knew his identity and came here just to tell him she did. ''Does she want to warn me? Or just ying a game with me?'' he couldn''t tell yet for his insurance he had to assume it was the first. ''I have a thing to ask,'' he didn''t hesitate to go for Sharel and sent to her, ''is there a way for NPCs here to check anyone''s identity and tell if it''s true or false?'' She was the only one he could ask for such aid. "Sigh, such a simple task turned into such a disaster," he couldn''t help but shake his head and waited for the answer from Sharel. Chapter 284: The Neturaliez Master Chapter 284: The Neturaliez Master He didn''t have to wait for long before Sharel answered. ''In normal way? Of course not, but there are gears for everything here,'' she said before adding, ''Don''t tell me you have a way to obscure your identity.'' ''I have and it''s not working,'' he said. ''Oh, sorry to hear this dear,'' she paused for a moment before adding, ''I''ve just tried to investigate your identity using the mostmon way your ID is Dockrey the fool now?'' He couldn''t help but smile. ''See the man I''m after isn''t simple. You saw it yourself, he has a very meticulous mind and a suspicious nature. For me I won''t be bothered by this anymore after your words. But I''m asking if we are speaking about that man, the same one who made two vaults as a decoy and hid his treasures somewhere else I don''t know of yet, would that man use the normal gears? Would he discover my identity and screw the operation?'' ''This'' Sharel stopped there for a few seconds, ''gimme a minute, my boss will try to investigate you using one of his supreme gears.'' ''Thanks.'' Bloom waited, and to be honest he was very nervous like a thief was about to get caught literally he was that thief during these couple of minutes. ''My boss says your ID is well hidden,'' Sharel sent, ''even his gears can''t detect yours except for Dockrey the fool. He is even curious about your gear or way to hide your ID and is willing to pay whatever you want for that info.'' ''Say thanks to her,'' Bloom smiled, ''and tell her I can''t show this gear to anyone I hope she can understand.'' ''Oh is it in a private ce then?'' Sharel sent and Bloom hardly managed to contain hisughter. ''Alright, now as you know you are totally safe she asks again about the silly reason you thought someone would expose such excellent gear of yours.'' ''It''splicated,'' he sent while didn''t know what to say, ''but a girl I''m dating with another ID just walked straight to me and spoke about my other identity as if she already knew.'' ''A yboy and a bad boy then? That''s an interesting mix,'' Sharel sent and he bet she was nowughing sweetly like before. ''My boss tells you that it isn''t a gear, but a special ability some people have.'' ''Ability?'' Bloom asked in doubt, ''do you mean people with certain skills can discover my identity?'' ''Not skills, it''s abilities,'' Sharel sent, ''It''s like someone being born with a blessed eye that can see through anything.'' ''You mean my girl has this ability?'' ''Definitely,'' Sharel instantly answered, ''it''s the only exnation here, and even my boss agreed with me.'' ''This is bad!'' ''Why? Don''t tell me you n to hide your identity from her for so long.'' ''It''s not that,'' Bloom sighed, ''it''s because the man I''m after is her direct uncle.'' ''Oh boy'' Sharel sent before pausing for a long minute, ''gimme more time and don''t do anything until I give you the go.'' ''What are you going to do?'' ''My boss is already investigating that man of yours and now she is more curious about him. So she is asking you to wait until she confirms everything about him first.'' ''Confirm?'' Bloom was surprised by this word. ''She has her own ways to do that.'' Bloom could only wait and do nothing while all others around him kept chatting with each other and getting to know each other. Some were already familiar with each other, and some were even friends. Yet there were some groups who totally avoided any contact with each other and that attracted Bloom''s attention in no time. ''They are enemies,'' he thought, ''there are only known enemies to me that whenever they go they would jump at each other''s necks the shrines.'' His eyes shone brightly before he recalled the system alerts he totally ignored during the past half an hour. And when he checked them, he couldn''t help but bitterly smile. "System alert: There are twenty-three members of the shrine of death in your vicinity." "System alert: There are Thirty-two members of the shrine of life in your vicinity." "System alert: There are fifty-eight members of the shrine of angels in your vicinity." "System alert: There are thirteen members of the shrine of wealth in your vicinity." "System alert: yer has four shrine members around, if he managed toplete the quests regarding shrines against two or more then he would have more rewards." "System alert: yer has the eyes of the Neturaliez focused over him right now. If yer managed to pull such a grand performance here then he would gain more rewards from the Neturaliez." "It''s her!" Bloom couldn''t help but feel his heart palpitate. Despite meeting her only once, yet he was very desperate to meet her again. He once met her when he was trying to screw Gerard''s quest. There she showed him the four flying swords skill that he currently uses. Since that mysterious incident he had before and that skill suddenly was implemented inside his mind. He could use it even in the real world and up till this moment he didn''t have a way to get in touch with her. "Damn! This quest is getting more weight than it should be!!" he couldn''t help but shake his head, "I can''t retreat now even if that man can discover my identity then I have to continue no matter what." This sudden realization changed the rules of the game entirely. He knew he couldn''t let this chance slip off his hands especially when he didn''t know if he would gain such a rare chance once again. Bloom started to shift his gaze towards that uncle and he was feeling more challenged at the moment by this quest. "I''ll crush you bastard just wait there," he clenched his fists before opening his chat with Sharel. ''I want something to augment the effect of my disguise gear.'' Chapter 285: A Battlefield Stronghold Chapter 285: A Battlefield Stronghold ''Are you going through the n even if he can read you?'' Sharel was smart enough to understand his hidden aim. ''I have to do this quest no matter what!'' ''Oh, is it a blood feud then? Or wait a minute, does he stand between you and that nephew of his? Oh so romantic!'' Bloom didn''t know if she was mocking him or speaking seriously here, so he decided to just ignore her remark and asked: ''Can you provide me with this gear? I can pay anything in return.'' ''I can''t,'' she replied, ''but my boss can.'' And Bloom realized what she would say next. ''What''s the price?'' despite knowing he asked. ''Why ask about something you already know?'' ''Consider me dumb.'' ''Oh sweetie we both know you aren''t.'' '''' '''' The two refused to speak as the one to speak first would be the one who would pay the highest bid here. ''I won''t need it then,'' Bloom suddenly sent. ''Will you retreat?'' ''I will do a suicidal mission,'' Bloom said, ''after all I''m a yer and I can''t lose much.'' ''True'' Sharel sent before holding back for a couple of minutes. "C''mon, you won''t let this golden chance run away this easily, aren''t you?" In fact he didn''t n to do that at all, but he was ying with the two on the other side of this chat. He knew the boss was very curious about his gear and despite not knowing her he could tell she was someone who wouldn''t stop at anything to satisfy her curiosity. And that is what he decided to bet everything upon. And he betted it right. ''My dear, my boss has an offer to you.'' "Yes," he almost cheered and managed to control himself at thest moment. ''What offer? What for?'' ''For your gear, dummie,'' she sent before adding, ''she would give you a booster gear that could augment your gear abilities against any special ability. It''s not one hundred percent effective but from every five times the person would investigate you, four will fail.'' ''It suits me,'' Bloom said, ''but it''s not enough.'' ''She offers two million dark points extra.'' ''Very far from enough.'' ''Three million then.'' ''I don''t want money,'' Bloom sent. ''Then what do you want?'' ''A ce,'' Bloom suddenly sent, ''a stronghold at the battlefield.'' ''This'' even Sharel was taken aback by his great appetite, ''you are really greedy,'' she sent, trying to make him hesitate. ''It''s the base price that I won''t budge from,'' Bloom sent and waited for the answer. ''My boss says she would agree, but on one condition she wants to own half of the stronghold shares with you.'' "Oh, so there is much ie from these forts," Bloom was surprised as he just selected that on a whim. He didn''t think that owning a stronghold there would be beneficial, at least not now. He still didn''t know much about the battlefield part of the game, and he thought to use this chance to gain a foot there to start familiarizing himself with that ce. "It seems I underestimated the game sigh, I know nothing then about the battlefield at all." ''What do you say?'' Sharel found his silence quite disturbing. ''Twenty-five percent,'' Bloom said, ''and the administration will fall in my hands.'' ''Forty percent and she will have a saying in anything inside the fort.'' ''Twenty-five and she can have a saying, but it''s not conditional that I''ll take her opinion every time she expresses it.'' ''This'' Sharel was speechless as he didn''t raise the bid as it was supposed to happen, ''you are stingy, y''know that?'' ''Only with those I dunno,'' he sent, ''and those I''m doing business well.'' ''That means you are a stingy person!'' ''I''m so generous to my girls.'' ''I doubt that!'' ''One day you''ll see,'' he sent, ''provided that you be my girl.'' ''Keep dreaming,'' she sent and he only smiled. ''So is it a go?'' he asked. ''My boss will send you a contract now,'' Sharel wrote, ''sign it and it''s a go.'' ''Great,'' Bloom''s grin was from ear to ear, ''what about the backup teams and rescue team?'' ''The backup team is on the way to you. As for the escape team he is already in the town.'' ''Does the backup team n to enter the mansion?'' Bloom suddenly realized something. ''Indeed, or how else do you think they are supposed to help?'' ''Who are they?'' ''It''s not wise to let you know, after all my boss believes you are tagged and marked by that man.'' He stole a swift nce towards the mayor who was busy speaking with those around him. Since Bloom entered here he didn''t nce at him even once, and that was enough to make him agree with that boss''s view. ''I understand.'' He realized what she meant by that. He was already tagged and it would be best to have someone here to support without rming the mayor. This way he wouldn''t bring any suspicion to them, as he didn''t know who they were. "Alright, it''s time then to wait for that contract and then look for the hidden vaults." He was quite sure the mayor wouldn''t leave his precious belongings wide open like that. Since he was such a meticulous person then he would have to make sure his precious items would be well stored and safe even if someone discovered his trick. "System alert: yer got a contract from NPC Jan." Bloom received a notification from the system and he hurriedly checked the contract before signing it. ''Tell your Jan my thanks,'' he sent, ''and I''m waiting for that special item.'' ''I''ll send it to you right away.'' The next moment Bloom found a strange coat in the chat between him and her. He took it out and then a miniature version of it appeared next in his hands. "This is interesting," he muttered before trying to investigate it to receive a system message the next moment. "System alert: yer can''t spy on this item, it''s a spy proof coat." Chapter 286: It Wasnt The Mayor! Chapter 286: It Wasn''t The Mayor! "That''s good as a start," he didn''t hesitate to touch it over his body and the next moment a wool ck coat appeared next covering his suit and adding a fine touch of elegance to his outfit. "At least she has a nice taste," he muttered before returning to the most important task. How could he steal something he didn''t know where it was hidden? "So all I have to do is to touch any spot here and I''ll receive a registry of its history of transportation," he muttered to himself while starting to touch one spot as a test. In ten seconds nothing appeared there and then he selected another hall, and then a corridor, then he started checking all the rooms and corridors inside this mansion without gaining any useful info except for some random and useless things rted to today''s event and an auction one week ago. "System alert: this ce has witnessed a precious item transportation one week ago. It moved from this hall to that hall. The ce of start is marked in green and the end is marked in gold. yer can check it as he likes now for the next ten minutes." "System alert: this ce has witnessed a precious item transportation four hours ago. It moved from this hall to that hall. The ce of start is marked in green and the end is marked in gold. yer can check it as he likes now for the next ten minutes." "System alert: this ce has witnessed a precious item transportation four hours ago. It moved from this hall to that hall. The ce of start is marked in green and the end is marked in gold. yer can check it as he likes now for the next ten minutes." "System alert: this ce has witnessed a precious item transportation one week ago. It moved from this hall to that hall. The ce of start is marked in green and the end is marked in gold. yer can check it as he likes now for the next ten minutes." "It''s all useless!" he couldn''t help but sigh before more people started toe and the seats around began to be full. "I have to think like him what would you do if you were him?" he started to ask himself this question while ncing over the building and then moved his gaze to a certain spot. It was a small barn building next to the big pce. It looked old and tattered from the outside as he could recall from his morning scout. "Let''s see this ce then," despite there being another fancy building much bigger than this barn next to the pce, he didn''t select it first. The moment he magnified that building and started to see it in three dimensional view, his eyes widened out of surprise. "I got you" he found many guards stationed inside that building with at least one hundred were there at the moment. And just below the ground he saw a tunnel that ended up in a wide room that was located five stories below the ground. And the more suspicious thing was the presence of a tunnel that connected this room with another lying under the other building he didn''t scout yet. "So this is the ce of the first vault," he muttered before moving to the second building and there he found an equal number of guards and a simr tunnel that ended up with a room. "Yet I need to be sure," he didn''t jump to any conclusion as there was still a barrack for the guards to sleep in and some small buildings used as a rest ce for them as well. After ten minutes of deep search he found that there was nowhere else to have his item but the two he recently discovered. "Moment of truth," he held his breath while clicking over the room under the barn. "System alert: this ce has witnessed a precious item transportation four hours ago. It moved from this room to that room. The ce of start is marked in green and the end is marked in gold. yer can check it as he likes now for the next ten minutes." "Bingo got you!" he couldn''t help but sneer while watching one room marked in green and the other in golden color. They were the two rooms he just suspected and now he had to put a n to steal the item. "They aren''t connected with here," he couldn''t help but sigh, "so it''s all out war then." He knew it was a hard challenge but he would be up to it. in fact he didn''t prefer for things to escte to such heights, but he had to be well prepared. ''I''ve found the vault,'' he sent to Sharel, ''but it''s not in the pce, it''s somewhere else.'' ''Away from the mansion?'' Sharel was surprised to hear that. ''It''s inside the mansionnds, but not directly connected to this building I''m in now.'' ''Oh thatplicates things then,'' she sent, ''and I assume there are a lot of guards there, right?'' ''There are one hundred at least directly protecting the vault entrance,'' he sent, ''and it''s situated deep underground. Any ideas?'' ''Well let me return to my boss and tell you her thoughts.'' Bloom shrugged before returning to sit with extremeziness over his seat. His mind was now cleared of any doubts, worries, and thoughts. Only the mission and the mission alone took over his mind at the moment. "If it''s a war then I don''t mind having it," he muttered before rubbing his temples and trying to squeeze away the stress welled up there. "At least I got what I wanted and only Ick the means to truly make it mine." Just as he was sitting there he noticed an old man leaned over the mayor and muttered some words to him. The next moment the mayor turned his gaze towards him for the first time since the evening started. "Oh it''s not you then," Bloom''s eyes shone brightly before understanding everything right away. Chapter 287: Who Is This Mysterious Friend? Chapter 287: Who Is This Mysterious Friend? The mayor didn''t have this ability, but it was the butler. And that butler just realized Bloom had used a way to block his ability and just rmed the mayor. "Too heat for me," he sighed while watching the mayor excuse himself from hispany and started to walk directly towards him with his butler. "If you want war, then war is what I''ll dly give you." And he kept a mocking expression over his face, like he was saying to the mayor: "C''mon bring it on I''m not afraid of you." "Wee to my humble party," the mayor stood in front of Bloom who stood to salute him and be ready to block any attacking from him or his butler. "Thanks, it''s my honor to be here," Bloom simply answered. "I was busy all night with my guests, so I hope you can understand." "It''s alright." "May I ask about your name please?" the mayor said before his eyes turned slightly colder, "and I''m curious how you got my invitation?" "I got it from a mutual friend," Bloom met the coldness with another. "A friend?" the mayor''s face showed his doubt in his words, "who is this mysterious friend? I''m dying to know his identity." "I can''t tell in the open," Bloom said as he turned around as if he was afraid someone would eavesdrop over their conversation. "Oh, then follow me I also need to speak privately with you." The mayor agreed and moved towards the same door Bloom entered through for the first time. ''So he is taking me outside? That''s better,'' he inwardly sneered before hurriedly typing to Sharel. ''Get ready, I''ll start my attack soon.'' ''Where? When?'' she simply sent in a very practical fashion. ''I''m going out now, I guess I''m heading to the smaller building next to the big pce where a hundred guards are lying there waiting,'' he sent. ''I''ll inform the decoy and support teams now,'' Sharel sent before hurriedly adding, ''do you n to fight all of them alone?'' ''What? Afraid of me?'' ''No, but this has very low odds of sess.'' ''Not if I managed to kill the head of the snake first, right?'' Bloom sent while adding, ''and I want the teams to do something for me.'' ''anything.'' `It is a dark night, so it''s not easy to see through here. That building is slightly away from the lights and the eyes of the guards stationed outside.'' ''That''s true.'' ''Then I want them to surround the building and kill anyone getting out,'' he said, ''if they have some sort of silencing gear then it would be much better.'' ''I''ll see what I can do,'' she sent, ''sigh, why men are always addicted to screwing up any good n.'' ''There was no n in the first ce!'' ''I was about to send you one now.'' ''Not my choice then, the mayor came and asked me to walk with him should I stay back and not let him lead me to the building?'' ''Sigh still you are very hard to deal with.'' ''It''s just women who are harder than us,'' Bloom smiled while walking behind the mayor and the eyes of the butler were fixated upon him. "Anything funny?" the butler aggressively asked while they were exiting the mansion and started to take the direction of the same ce Bloom guessed. "It''s such a good night to walk in," Bloom said in a way that made the eyes of that butler change slightly. "Mortale, please don''t annoy our precious guest," the mayor suddenly said in a calm tone, "after all me and him will have a long chat together tonight." The butler didn''t change his expression or move away his threatening gaze and Bloom simply ignored him. Bloom kept ncing at the ce around as if he was really enjoying the night. And that made that butler more nervous and restless. "We are almost there," the mayor said, "can you tell me who my friend is now?" "We can still be heard here," Bloom shrugged and refused to tell. "Don''t worry my dear guest," the mayor said with augh, "one way or another I''ll get everything from you tonight." Bloom threw off this threat as if he didn''t hear it in the first ce. As they arrived at the building, two guards stationed there saluted the mayor. "Don''t let anyone get near here," the mayor strictly said, "or even my dear nephew," he said this and paused a little before saying the nephew''s words. He was ncing at Bloom in a calm way, a way of a predator feeling confident of seizing his own prey. "Please, get in," the mayor said in a warm tone that didn''t match the situation at all, "we''ll have all our talks in private inside." Bloom simply ignored the obvious remark that the mayor gave about him knowing the rtion between him and his nephew. Bloom moved inside and when he entered he saw therge number of guards sitting on rounded tables and gambling. "Don''t bother with us," the mayor said, "we''ll talk in that corner," he pointed to the central ce of the main hall where arger table was there with ten guards ying over it. The next moment they took away everything and cleared the table. "Please, sit and feel free to talk." "With them around?" Bloom asked with a calm look with no hint of fear or doubt at all. "Don''t mind them, they are my trusted subordinates whom I trust with my life," the mayor shrugged before motioning with his head and the butler suddenly pushed Bloom in a violent way to move forward. Bloom only nced in a mocking way towards the butler while rubbing his hand which he blocked with the butler''s rough move. "Why be so aggressive to a friend to your benefactor?" he simply said while moving leisurely towards the table like he worried about nothing. ''The teams are in ce,'' and as he was buying more time here, he received this simple message from Sharel. The message he waited for. Chapter 288: The Fight Breaks Out Chapter 288: The Fight Breaks Out "What is this mysterious friend then?" the mayor asked with a sneer, "or is it just an imaginary person yer Bloom?" "Answer the mayor or else I''ll beat every single bone and break your body to pieces," the butler shouted in a threatening tone while he took out a thick stick that seemed like those used for baseball games. "Oh, you are acting all mighty despite you all being just a bunch of cowards," Bloom sneered, "do you want to know who sent me? Fine, it''s your master, the one who gave you everything you have now it''s Mordon." The eyes of the mayor shed for a moment before the butler turned to him as he said: "He is lying, I can already tell." "Are you sure?" the mayor slowly asked in a different tone than before. "Well how can a yer get to know such a master?" the butler tried to reason with the mayor. "How can a yer know such a name in the first ce?" the mayor answered with his own question, "but unlucky for you I have a way to contact with Mordon. Keep him confined here before I check his words." He was about to turn and leave before he paused and added in a threatening tone, "this building is special, I paid a hefty price for it to be obtained by me. It''s not a building, but a rare treasure where I can control those annoying undying souls of yers like you," he said before turning to nce at Bloom as he added: "Anyone I kill here won''t lose a level, but will lose his real soul and die a true death. I call it the yer''s nemesis, and my dear Mortale loves to call it the yer''s hell." Bloom kept that annoying smug smile over his face while the mayor shouted all of a sudden: "If he moves, kill him without hesitation." "Aye aye sir," and all of sudden the hundred men in the room left everything in their hands and stood rapidly up and kicked the ground with their boots in salute. Bloom calmly nced at this scene without flinching. "Such a grand scene indeed quite impressive," he said and his words made even the mayor be irritated. "By the way, I didn''te here to just join your pathetic party I came here to show you something interesting." His words stopped the mayor in his tracks instantly and made him hesitate. "What is it then? Come, show it to me," he said like he was ordering a beggar to step aside off the street. "Right here?" Bloom didn''t hurry to show what he just talked about, "in front of all of them?" "Sure, they are my men after all," the mayor shrugged and during this moment Bloom was waiting for the final signal from Sharel to move. ''The silence skill is in ce, you can start the moment you want.'' He asked her about this in particr as if he started fighting here, the sound of the fight was enough to attract much attention. "It''s this," he took out an item from his inventory before the mayor asked in doubt: "What is this? A carpet?" Bloom sneered before he threw the carpet in the air before saying, "don''t belittle my master''stest creation, or else this would make him very angry." These words managed to startle the mayor and his butler for enough seconds for the carpet to fly a couple of inches over the ground. And then Bloom stepped over it. The next moment the entire world changed for those inside the building. Anyone standing inside the building was instantly subjected to reverse gravity, and they all mmed heavily to the roof while Bloom took out his four swords next. "It''s a mistake for you to try and kill me," Bloom ruthlessly said, "it was such a grave mistake bastard." "Kill him," the mayor struggled to adjust his body before hurriedly shouting, "everyone use long ranged attacks and kill him." The guards faced the same difficulty to stand up and try to stabilize their bodies. It wasn''t their fault but it was deeply rooted in every living soul to walk straight on a normal ground. Not to stand on the ceiling and face such reversed gravity. "Hurry," the mayor turned to his butler, "send for reinforcement, call everyone here!" The butler was just about to stand over the ceiling when a gust of wind hit his face the moment the mayor said those words. "Do you think a pathetic yer like you can fight me?" the butler roared yet the next moment his face froze and even the blood escaped from his face. "I I Impossible!!!" he could only mutter these words while the hurricane caused by Bloom''s swords hit his body and shed him in every possible ce they could reach. The mayor nced with panic and extreme horror to the butler who had his body hacked by swords and gushed arge fountain of blood. "Mortale!" The mayor screamed in fear while the butler only turned to him and couldn''t even say a single farewell. "Don''t worry too much," Bloom suddenlyughed while the swords moved from that butler''s dead body and started to move near the mayor, "you will join him soon, I promise you that." "F*ck you!" the mayor screamed in rage as the moment of his death approaching so near awakened all his desire to survive. "I won''t die, you damned bastard will!!" A scroll appeared in the next moment in his hand and that made Bloom change his face at once. "Trying to ce nasty then?" he couldn''t help butugh before taking out a dark blue horn and the next moment he blew it. It was the horn of deafness he got before and this simple blow caused a mighty roar that hit everyone in no time. "You damned brat!" The mayor wasn''t much affected by this as he gritted his teeth as if he was fighting against a tsunami, "I won''t be stunned by this useless horn!" Chapter 289: More Surprises Chapter 289: More Surprises "Oh, your level is higher than mine?" Bloom smiled before he nced at his swords. They were now wreaking havoc to the hundred guards, and anyone they touched was instantly affected by the roar and stunned for a minute. "Then let me try this trick then," Bloomughed without any worry at all before he stepped down the carpet all of sudden, heading towards the direction of that mayor. The eyes of the mayor shone in extreme fear as he realized what Bloom intended to do. The scroll in hand would take a few more seconds to be activated, but like this he was forced to stop the process without his will. As the next instant the gravity returned to its normal state, mming everyone mercilessly to the marble ground. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The hit alone took away roughly half of everyone''s Hp plus causing severe injuries to all. The mayor was still holding the paper strongly, refusing to let it go. "Dash!" Yet the next moment Bloom moved, using the sword he took from his inventory and mmed hard towards the mayor. "ng!" Yet the mayor already had a giant axe in hand and managed to block Bloom''s dash barely in time. "Screw you bastard I can''t be stunned in this way!" the mayor roared before he pushed Bloom''s body backward using his level advantage and nned to keep attacking him. Yet his push did nothing but make him retreat a couple of steps and with them he had a very shocked expression over his face. "Roar!" Bloom wasn''t shocked by this result as he aimed to do it from the start. While the mayor was pushed back and paralyzed out of deep shock, Bloom used the horn in his other hand and blew it directly on the mayor''s face. And the mayor who was many levels apart was now one level lower than him thanks to his title. The roar this time was effective and the mayor was stunned with wide eyes while his hand was still holding the precious scroll desperately. "Oh you can resist this as well?" Bloom was surprised to see the body of the mayor tremble under the stun effect as if he was covered underyers of ice and he was cracking them into pieces. "Alright," Bloomughed while grabbing the scroll from the mayor''s hand, "let me take this dangerous toy first or else you might hurt yourself." The mayor didn''t let the scroll off and he was so persistent in grabbing it that Bloom cut it into two pieces while retreating a couple of meters backwards. "What a loss," he shook his head while returning in casual steps towards his carpet, "You shouldn''t be this bitter over your losses after all you had zero chance of winning me from the beginning." Bloom stepped over the carpet and the next moment the effect of it was reactivated again, mming everyone''s bodies to the ceiling. "This is a small reward for what you did to your nephew," Bloom said in a cold tone before descending once again off the carpet. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" They all hit the ground once again, losing almost their blood. "And this for you trying to kill me," Bloom slowly stepped over the carpet, "and so I''m going to kill you all in return." The next hit they all had against the ceiling was enough to clear out their blood. Bloom calmly checked each one after he descended off his carpet and let them m again on the ground. "All dead," he said with a grin, "I hope this didn''t rm anyone." ''How is everything outside?'' he hurriedly sent to Sharel while starting to gather up his loot. After all, each guard here was tens of levels higher than him. ''Calm,'' she sent, ''how about you? Have you started yet? Do you need their help now?'' ''I''m done,'' Bloom simply sent, ''I killed them all.'' ''This is fast!!!'' she was extremely shocked, ''even the mayor?'' ''Everyone,'' Bloom said before adding, ''but now the main purpose of our little visit here isn''t yet done.'' ''Alright,'' she got his meaning, ''what do you need now?'' He paused beforeughing and sent it to her. ''I believe it''s time for you to devise a n for me a n a male like me can follow.'' ''Hahaha, very funny naughty boy,'' she sent and he was pretty sure she wasughing right now. ''Do you want them to cancel the silence skill?'' ''ording to your boss,'' he kept joking with her. ''Alright, I will make them lift it now,'' she said and then added, ''I''ll tell you the best n now.'' ''I''m all ears,'' he was still midway in removing the gears off the bodies of these dead NPCs and left the mayor for thest. "The big prize should remain until the end," heughed while feeling rich in all these gears. One hundred heavy armored NPCs'' gears were worth a fortune to him. ''This is the n,'' Sharel sent, ''you''ll use your gear to disguise yourself like one of the guards, enter the barn building and then the teams outside will assist you with the silence skills until you kill them all.'' ''This won''t do,'' Bloom wasn''t convinced with this n. ''Why is that?'' ''Because I need to have this current identity till the end.'' '''' ''I have a better one,'' Bloom sneered. ''If you already have one, then why did you ask me to devise one for you?'' she seemed a bit angry at him before sending, ''I told you, you men are very hard to deal with regarding ns.'' ''We are just a little creative.'' ''Annoyance.'' ''Revolutionists.'' ''Boring.'' ''Daring.'' ''Reckless.'' ''C''mon, we can y this game for the entire night but we have a vault to steal here,'' he sent to her whileughing as what he gained from that mayor was worth much more than what he gained from all the guardsbined. "It''s this armor that blocked my stun effect then," he held one of the three armors that the mayor was wearing, "damn, I can''t wear it until I reach level hundred what a regret." He found another item that instantly made his face change. ''Sharel we have limited time here.'' ''What for?'' ''That mayor he will be resurrected in less than one hour,'' he bitterly smiled. ''R Resurrected? Are you sure? NPCs can''t resurrect!'' ''He can,'' Bloom sighed, ''he had a gear that would grant him one life as a yer,'' he threw a ring in the air before catching it, ''and now he will be alive once again in less than one hour.'' ''This'' ''Don''t worry, just listen to my n and make sure everyone will stick to the letter,'' he sent before adding, ''and Sharel make sure we have more than one rescue team here.'' ''What for?'' He was holding another ring while bitterlyughing, ''that bastard activated a ban over teleportation and scrolls being used inside the town for two hours we need more people to help in leaving here.'' '''' Bloom could rte to what she was feeling right now and Sharel was feeling more shocked by all these weird and extremely special gears. Chapter 290: The Judgement Of The Game Chapter 290: The Judgement Of The Game Bloom held the two rings in hand and yed a little with them. "You are such a worthy foe," he muttered, "yet this won''t stop me!" he clenched his fist tightly before storing away the rings. The two required level hundred to be used, and more preferably to a staff holder faction yer not a yer like him. ''Listen, I''ll start now and make sure everyone sticks to the n,'' he sent to Sharel before adding, ''how about the escape teams?'' ''I''m trying to gather up everyone I can,'' she sent, ''after all it''s not an escape through teleportation but it will be a bitter and long chase war.'' ''I know,'' Bloom nodded before heading deep inside the building, using the map of the system as a guide, ''but we have no alternative.'' ''Alright, fifty-three minutes then, right?'' ''Yeah, keep tracking the time and make sure to notify me before it ends,'' he thought before taking a deep breath while standing in front of a door, ''also send some to the mayor of the Swor town, her name is Anna.'' ''Your girl?'' He evaded her tricky question as he added, ''tell her she needs to escape as well.'' ''Worried over your girl? So romantic and truly manly,'' she sent and he was sure she was nowughing, ''isn''t it better for her to escape with us then? I doubt she even brought her men with her.'' ''No,'' Bloom firmly shook his head while ncing over the room he was in now, ''our escape will be hectic and risky. Let her leave now and alone.'' ''I will be a romantic boy.'' He didn''t care about her next teasing words as he nced at the simple room he was in. It was a normal and simple study room, with two desks, arge library and one table and few chairs around. "It''s under there," he didn''t find any difficulty in determining the ce he was seeking for. The next moment he simply threw the table away with the chairs, removed the carpet off the ground and took one sword out before hitting the floor with it. "Tick!" "Tick!" "Crack!" As he kept hitting the ground, muffled voices came before a loud one erupted with a crack in the ground. Even his sword prated the floor to the hilt before he slowly lifted it along with the wooden cover, unveiling the tunnel he was looking for. "So Long stairs," heined while running as fast as he could descending these spiral stairs. Descending in such fashion made him quite unsettled but in less than two minutes he finally reached the ce he sought. "It''s there," he didn''t hesitate to kick the door, but it was stronger than he thought. "Won''t open? Huh!" he didn''t hesitate to take his four swords out and the next moment he mumbled, "sword tornado!" The four swords swirled around themselves before mming hard to the door causing a loud bang. In less than five seconds the door was hacked to pieces and the swords entered the room and shed with another thing inside. "The vault," once entered he spotted that big vault, like a big dressing closet in its own regard. It was made out of sturdy metal yet he didn''t think it was indestructible. "Dash!" "Dash!" "Hawk!" "Sky piercer!" "Stab!" "Slice!" He tried all his skills, yet none worked. "Acting tough on me? Let''s see how you''ll act with that" He waited patiently for his sword tornado skill to be reactivated again before he muttered: "Death point convert sword tornado!" He was already umting arge number of death points from all the monsters he killed so far. Having one thousand death points was such an easy thing to achieve these days, considering therge number of dark monsters he faced and killed and the use of this brutal sword tornado skill. The next moment his swords moved and shed with the vault. This time the vault couldn''t stop them and they kept peeling its body off like a knife peeling an onion oneyer at a time. "Crack!" In less than five seconds the four swords managed to cut deeply inside the vault and broke it open. He waited until his skill ended before retrieving his swords and went ahead to see the vault. "This he only moved that item alone?!!!" In front of him wasn''t a simple vault but like it was another world. The space inside was very spacious, not limited to the size of the vault but it looked like it was equal to a big hall. Gears, potions, even skill tokens were there. He didn''t hesitate to move fast and take anything he could reach. Yet a system alert came to startle him for a bit. "System alert: yer is bound by a contract to share the loot with others. The system will store everything the yer takes ording to the contract and would give the yer his share once the contract ispleted." "This sigh, it seems I can''t take that item after all for myself." He regretted not being able to keep that item and things here. He nned to choose what wasn''t useful to him and give these to Sharel and her boss. But now he had to ept the judgement of the game ''How are you doing?'' amidst his spree of collecting these treasures, Sharel sent. ''Just cracked the vault and now I''m collecting the loot.'' ''Damn! That moment is the best! Can I call you and see the scene?'' ''Toote, I''m almost over.'' He wasn''t epting this and preferred not to let her feel more greedy or have a second opinion about their deal. After all, he needed her and her boss to make him run away, a chip they could easily use to pressure him for more benefits. ''At least describe the scene to me.'' ''No time,'' Bloom finally took thest gold coin from the ground, leaving nothing but bare cold floor behind, ''I''m now heading to the next vault.'' Chapter 291: The Unexpected Turn Of Events Chapter 291: The Unexpected Turn Of Events His n was simple. He would use the sameyout that mayor provided as security and hit this vault before using the tunnel to reach the second vault. The only thing he hesitated about so far was to return to the building or go up to the barn. "If I had time then it''s better to go and kill them," he muttered while running fast in the dimly lit tunnel, "at least I''ll decrease the number of my enemies by a great chunk and will have more gains as well." The memory of having all those gears from the hundred guards he killed was still fresh in his mind. He also wanted to decrease the number of his pursuers, as he was quite sure things wouldn''t be this easy while running away. "Almost there," he checked the map for the millionth time before he found two dots descending towards the vault at this moment. "Damn! Out of all time they decided toe down now!" he gritted his teeth and continued running fast. He arrived first but had toy in ambush for the two guards who were about to reach the vault. The second room here was simply like the one he came from, and the vault was also simr. "Dash!" "Dash!" He first stunned them just to make sure they wouldn''t rm anyone before he finished them off. "Time for you baby," he turned to the vault after clearing all the loot. The loot went directly to his inventory and that made him more convinced about going up there and clearing everyone. "Death point convert sword tornado!" Like the other vault he unleashed his strongest skills towards the vault, yet this time a new thing happened. "Beep!" "Beep!" "Beep!" All of sudden when his swords started eating the vault away, red lights started to sh and siren rms echoed all over the ce. Before he could realize what happened, Sharel hurriedly sent: ''What have you done? The sounds of sirens are spreading all over the town now!'' ''I just attacked the vault to open it,'' he didn''t know what else to say. ''Damn that bastard! He installed a warning gear at this vault to protect his stuff what exactly are you trying to steal?'' ''Nothing fancy.'' ''I bet,'' she knew it wasn''t time to chat, ''now our time here is limited. I believe all the guards up above will move now to your location, plus all the guards in the town will converge here.'' He nced at the vault that was about to crack before checking the map of the barn above and her words were right. ''And?'' he calmly asked. ''I''ll return to my boss and see what we can do now,'' she sent before going into silence. "They will either ditch me and run, or prefer to gamble for the big reward lying at the end of the tunnel," he slowly muttered to himself before the swords finally cracked the vault open. He didn''t hesitate to dash inside even before his swords finished their skill. He started to gather up everything his two hands could touch while he was searching for his item. "It''s you" he finally found arge skull lying in the center of the vault with nothing else around. "So suspicious let me test it first." He took out a gear from the side and threw it towards the skull. "Boom!" The next instant a pir of red fire appeared from the ground and engulfed the gear in no time. And it burnt it into nothing. "Damn! Even leaving behind such a scary protective trap!!" Bloom was speechless and shocked before he clenched his fists. "I won''t leave you behind, I came all this way only for you." His mind started to work fast and the next moment he had a n. He returned to collect everything while watching the map. "They areing here faster than I thought," he mumbled before he found arge number of guards already not more than half a minute away. "And more areing from outside." In front of him many red dots started to appear in the barning from the outside. That meant that the entire garrison around the mansion was now converging fast at him. "Then it''s going to be hard except" he suddenly paused beforeughing. "I should not run, but warmly wee them then." He didn''t stop collecting his loot while he sent a message to Sharel ''What your boss said about the n?'' ''She will help,'' Sharel replied, ''but she wants all the loot.'' "Oh," the eyes of Bloom shone brightly, "so she is aiming for the loot impressive move." He grinned before writing his simple answer to her. ''Let her retreat, I''ll escape on my own and our deal is off. I''ll cancel it now.'' He didn''t do it and in fact he didn''t intend to. ''Wait, let me return to her. Don''t do anything rash for now,'' she hurriedly sent as his answer startled her and came out of the blue. And he didn''t even answer back to her on purpose. "I''ll leave you hanging there for now," he closed the chat and ignored the other negotiating messages she sent. He knew dealing with the two would be tricky, yet he wasn''t a simple man after all. And he was totally prepared for anything, even for escaping from here on his own ount. "He must be inside!" Just as he cleared almost two thirds of the vault content, a loud shout came from behind the door of the room. "Hurry, open this damned door before he runs away!" "Toote my friends," Bloom sneered before he went directly towards the tunnel. "Click!" The door opened and the next moment arge group of guards flooded the entire room. "Search for the thieves," one shouted, "look inside the vault." Few went to the vault to check the inside while the rest searched all over the room. "Captain," one suddenly shouted, "the vault is already stolen." Chapter 292: Getting The Skull Chapter 292: Getting The Skull "Damn! We were slightlyte," the guard who kept shouting from the beginning roared, "look for those bastards, they can''t be too far away!" "Captain hurry here at the tunnel," another shout came from one of his guards and instantly the captain ran towards the tunnel. "They came from the other room?" the face of the captain darkened at once, "damn! We are all screwed! If our lord figured it out we would all be killed! We and our families" his body trembled while his hand was clenching tightly over a gear. "Go, don''t stand here like idiots," the captain roared again in infinite anger, "and send someone up there, let thosezy asses move around the town and for a tight blockade there. Not a single fly would escape from here unless I say so!" The guards all moved in unison without saying a word while a couple climbed up to deliver the orders to thoseing from above. "They were in a hurry," the captain put the gear over his cheeks, "still warm not so far away then." He turned to the guards as he roared again, "let''s go boys, they aren''t far off our grasp. I swear to kill them and their families till thest one those damned thieves will get me and my entire family wiped out! And yours as well! Move don''t stand like fools there move!!" The sound of the captain and hisrge team of guards started to fade away. The entire room looked strangely calm, like the calm before the storm. "They all left good," yet after less than one minute, a silhouette appeared inside the vault. It was no one but Bloom as his stealth skill time ended. He was standing a few inches away from the deadly trap around the item, and that was the only ce no one of the guards would dare to touch. "And they are moving away from here," he checked the map and followed those berserk red dots moving away from this room. "Good, now I can figure out how to get you." He nced at the skull lying in peace over the ground. It was so big, no less than the skull of the dragon he once gave to Anna. Yet it had no horns at all, but long and sharp scissor-like teeth. "What monster did ite from?" he muttered before shaking off his head, "not time to worry about this now." He had a n but he didn''t hurry to test before he found all the guards with their captain leaving the second room in a hurry and ascending towards the surface. "They took the bait excellent," he evenughed, "now let''s get you my precious one." Bloom knew he had only one shot and he decided to take all the risk to seize this item. The next moment he pointed his sword towards the skull before muttering: "Dash!" "Boom!" The next moment the pir of fire appeared once again and barbecued him. Yet he tried to keep himself conscious and not distracted by the immense and inhuman pain he was feeling right now. For his luck moving out was forced by the skill and so even if his body was melting away he was able to touch the skull. "Get the f*ck in!" he roared before pointing to the other hand with the sword who was also getting barbecued at the moment. "D- a- s- sh!" With extreme difficulty he mumbled the skill and the next moment everything went dark for him for a moment. Then he spotted the world around in a ghost view. He was dead yet he saw his body mming outside the fire and hit the nearby box filled with gold coins hard. "System alert: yer has died." "System alert: yer has an instant revival chance granted to him by the quest." "System alert: yer can be resurrected during the next hour." "System alert: yer can select the moment to resurrect by saying: Resurrect." "System alert: if one hour passed and the yer didn''t select to resurrect then the system will resurrect him forcibly." "Resurrect!" Yet Bloom didn''t hesitate to return to life now. He had little time left and still the vault wasn''t cleared. "Damn! That was really a thing I don''t want ever to experience again!!" the moment he returned to life he shouted in deep pain like he was still being on fire. He took a couple of minutes to cool off, and luckily no one was around to attack him during this period. "Let''s see where are you now," he opened the map first thing and checked the status of his enemies. "Running around like aimless bugs hahaha, keep looking for me idiots. I''m here just under your noses." He closed the map after he found everyone was already moving in the big pce and its surroundings to look for him. "Sigh, can''t even see what it was," he opened his inventory but found no skull there. "I hope it won''t be something I would regret not having," he closed the inventory before ncing over the remaining third of the huge loot here. "It''s a waste to leave you here to be honeste, alle to papa." He started gathering up all the loot before he left the vault over the cold ground with no speck of dust behind. "It''s a shame I can''t take that protective thing with me," he shook his head while giving that deadly fire trap ast nce. Then he went directly to the surface with calm and steady steps like he was walking in his backyard garden. "You are panicking now, I bet," heughed while opening the chat between him and Sharel. As expected she was panicking, even reaching the degree of pleading with him not to cancel the contract. ''Come out with me on a date,'' he sent before pausing for a moment, ''you and your boss yeah the two of you are worthy to be my girls.'' Chapter 293: The Shocked Sharel Chapter 293: The Shocked Sharel ''Screw you evil boy!'' yet she only sent this curse to him in reply, ''I''ll do anything but don''t cancel that contract. We already invested many resources to help and you can''t repay our kindness with such rudeness!'' ''It was you who wanted to ditch me here,'' Bloom''s smile was already from ear to ear, ''so will you go out with me?'' ''I will be a crazy boy!'' ''And you boss?'' ''This'' she paused, ''she already has a boyfriend.'' ''I doubt that,'' Bloomughed before writing again, ''I bet she even hates men.'' ''H- How do you know that?'' ''She is your boss,'' he shrugged before sending again, ''all bosses are supposed to be scary with devious personnel.'' ''You just threw it without even having a clue about anything?'' She seemed surprised by this. ''You can consider me just lucky.'' ''I bet you are a fierce gambler,'' she sent, ''she hates men and only dating girls for now.'' ''Oh, you are her girlfriend then?'' ''If I said yes, would you drop that date of yours?'' ''No way,'' heughed, ''I know you are totally a man.'' ''Screw you.'' ''Hahaha.'' ''Alright alright, back to business now you won''t cancel the contract, right?'' ''As long as you two wille out with me then it''s a go.'' ''I told you already she isn''t with men.'' ''It''s just for dinner,'' he said while enjoying this funny situation, ''I won''t ask you to sleep with me.'' ''Screw you.'' ''Hahaha.'' He was already almost at the surface. ''How about things at your end?'' she suddenly asked, ''those guards are now searching crazily for you in the entire town like a monster tide.'' ''I love monster tide so much,'' he kept joking and she seemed to be already on the edge of her seat. ''Can''t you just drop this bizarre sense of humor of yours now and talk a bit more seriously here?'' ''Alright, tell me what you want to know.'' ''Where are you? Have you gotten the second vault content or not? Do you have any enemies around?'' He turned around while getting out of the tunnel opening. ''I''m safe, no enemies around.'' ''And WHERE ARE YOU NOW?!!!'' Heughed over her capitalized words before saying: ''Guess.'' ''F*ck you!'' ''Just guess!'' ''I''m not ying this game with you,'' she sent, ''BASTARD WE ARE NOT IN THE TIME TO PLAY GAMES NOW!!!'' Heughed again before closing the tunnel opening and ncing around the small study room that was strangely identical to the one in the other building. ''I''m in the barn.'' ''B- Barn! What do you take me for? A fool!!!'' ''I''m really there right now,'' he calmly sent. ''How can this even be possible? The ce was turned upside down with hundreds of guards minutes ago before they left and started to look everywhere else.'' ''I''m just quite resourceful,'' he didn''t say anymore about how he did it, ''now how will you help me to run away? We have little time left for that bastard to be revived again and hunt us down.'' ''This sigh, let me go and check with my boss then.'' He closed the chat and knew her boss must have been on her wits end during the past minutes. "They deserved this after all they tried to take advantage of me," he shook his head while feeling zero regret over what they just experienced. He didn''t depend on them to help him escape as he opened his map and started checking the grand scene of the town. "Sigh, it''s just bad that the map can''t show me the ces of these guards outside the mansion." The pce and the space around was now void of any red dot at all. That meant they were now searching for him like mad dogs all over the town. Yet he couldn''t see them. "Should I ask for a map from her then?" he thought before adding, "it would be great to y the game with such a highly detailed map." Bloom didn''t hurry to leave. At least he wasn''t too sure to be seen by someone here. "Hold on a second," he suddenly paused in his track of thoughts, "why not turn again into someone else?" His eyes shone brighter as his expression turned evil. "That would be best as they were looking for my face. Besides" He paused as the mayor was the one to be resurrected but not his annoying butler. That made himugh while using the lizard tattoo disguise skill once again after cancelling his current disguise. "Let it be Gerard the fool," he selected the name of his new character before getting out of the barn, walking calmly and confidently out of the mansion''s main gate. There was no one there as all the guards were fervently looking for him. He calmly walked and headed towards the main gate directly without any hesitation. "I''ve less than fifteen minutes and that jerk would be revived," he nced at the clock again while he was following the path on the map to the main gate. "I''m curious what he would do when he turned the entire town upside down and couldn''t find me." This thought made Bloomugh while getting nearer to the main gate. "Stop right there!" Yet before he could finish hisughs, a loud shout came from his back while a group of armed guards were running after him. He calmly stopped while waiting for them to arrive. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" one of the guards asked in a harsh tone. "I''m Gerard," Bloom calmly said, "and I''m here to y," he said in a weird tone while ncing at that guard as if he was looking at a dumb person. "You are a yer, right?" the guard asked again. "Indeed, what''s wrong about being one?" "All yers are ordered to be detained," another guard said in a vicious tone after exchanging nces with other guards around, "it''s your bad luck to be here at this moment." Chapter 294: A Fight In The Alley Chapter 294: A Fight In The Alley Just as he said that this small group of ten moved to surround Bloom. "Are you sure you want to break the rules of the game?" Bloom wasn''t fazed while taking out his sword as he added, "if you insist then I have no choice but to y with you." "Are you dumb?" one of the guards asked in doubt, "do you think you have a chance against us?" Bloom shrugged before turning around and started to run. He didn''t run towards the direction of the gate but towards the nearby ally. And the guards just ran after him as if they were having a game. "Just drop it," one of the guards shouted, "all yers won''t be allowed to walk freely inside the town, hell everyone isn''t allowed to walk here." "Just stay away from me," Bloom faked his fear while running ording to the path he selected on the map. This was a blocked side street and it seemed those guards already knew that. Bloom kept running until he finally ended up against the wall. "Give up boy," one of the guards said, "it''s your fault toe to this town in the first ce." "Let''s teach him some lesson first," another guard suddenly said, "I''m still so mad at what happened here." "We can''t let him die though," a third one said, "or else we won''t be able to deliver him to the captain at the gate." Bloom turned to face them while taking out another sword of his inventory. "Last time to let me off," he warned and he wasn''t anyway sincere about that. And the guards all took their weapons out while watching him in mockery. "Dash!" "Dash!" Bloom didn''t hesitate to stun two and send them flying backward with his dashes. The two had big numbers of damage rising up their faces, and what just happened startled everyone else. "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" Bloom didn''t stop or wait for them to regain their senses before sending another four flying and hitting the walls around. "I warned you," Bloom evillyughed, "you are just dumb, that''s all Stab!" He continued his spree of attacks and in less than a minute everyone here was killed without a chance to fight back. Bloom made sure to hit everyone first to demote their levels and thus the fight turned to be simple training for him. "At least I got some valuable info," he muttered before returning to the chat with Sharel. "Sigh, she didn''t give me the answer about that map or even a n to escape." ''Where are you, big boy?'' Just as he was about to close the chat, she sent it to him. ''Talking a walk outside.'' ''Hahaha, I like your amazing sense of humor,'' she sent to him before adding, ''I''m serious. The rescue team is waiting for you near the mansion. You just have to step outside and walk to her.'' ''I''m away from that ce now,'' Bloom sent, ''I wasn''t joking by the way.'' ''Damn! You got out without anyone seeing you?'' ''I just changed my color, that''s all.'' ''Very funny,'' she sent, ''where are you now?'' ''I''ll send you the coordinates,'' he sent her the current location of his before adding, ''by the way, what is the escape n?'' ''They wille and take you out, that''s all I know for now.'' Bloom felt weird from her answer, yet he didn''t ask again and started to think about her words. "It''s better for me to hide than standing here," he muttered before walking out the alley and entering the opposite street. In less than two minutes and while he was standing two to three hundred meters away from the main street, he spotted arge group of guards running from the direction of the gate. And they were heading straight to the alley he was supposed to be hiding in. "Damn! She sold me out," he didn''t hesitate to run fast before they could spot him. He took a rapid nce once again and he spotted someone leading therge guards and pointing towards the alley as if he was giving them orders. "It''s the captain!" Bloom knew this captain from the room and that made him realize something. "The gate it''s not that well secured." He didn''t hesitate to run faster towards the gate while he heard a fart noiseing from the direction of the alley. "They used a scroll right away?" he muttered before sighing as it seemed they got more info regarding him. "At least I can cancel the contract now," he didn''t hurry to test that as he was already too near the gate at this moment. Just as he approached it he noticed a group of fifty NPCs standing in wait, blocking the gate. "He still kept some behind interesting." He didn''t decrease his running speed though "Hold on right there!" Just as he exited the street and was only less than a hundred meters off the way to his freedom, one of the fifty guards shouted and attracted the attention of others. Yet Bloom didn''t n to reason with him, not at this delicate moment. "Shade doppelganger festival!" The next instant twenty-nine clones appeared all of sudden creating some sort of bnce with those fifty guards. "He is the thief!" "Stop him!" "Alert the captain!" "Kill them!" "Don''t let him off!" Suddenly many shouts erupted between the guards and that created some sort of chaos. "Attack and don''t let anyone stop me," Bloom didn''t hesitate to issue the order to his clones before adding, "use the dash skill now!" "Dash!" "Dash!" "Dash!" . . . "Dash!" "Dash!" "Dash!" All of sudden the entire world was filled with the dash word before the clones used the skill twice, stunning everyone before they could do anything. "Kill them," Bloom shouted while bypassing the stunned guards falling on the ground, "and bring me their gears." His wordsmenced at once while the guards couldn''t help but be massacred in this humiliating way. Chapter 295: Treason! Chapter 295: Treason! Bloom''s clones shared the same set of skills, titles, and gears with him with fifty percent effect. Yet that didn''t prevent them from demoting the guards to a level equal to them and that made them all be affected by their skills like any normal yer. Yet Bloom didn''t hold back and didn''t even nce for once at the massacre at the back. He only ran towards one direction, the main route that would lead outside the town territory. "That damn ban affects the entire area under the control of the town," he was already furious about this backstabbing, yet he knew this came for his favor. "So she took her time to negotiate with the captain and made a deal with him?" Bloom thought beforeughing, "yet she ended up losing everything That''s the price of being too greedy." Just as he entered the road, he didn''t hurry to execute his perfect escape n yet. He kept running before his clones all caught up with him and gave him the gears they salvaged off their enemies. "Go back, scatter at town gate and block anyone trying to leave it," he gave them his final order before selecting something from his inventory. And the next moment a dark monster appeared just next to him. "Kneel," he gave the order before climbing over his back. It was nothing else but a flying angel dark monster. "Go forward, never stop for anything." The monster roared before starting to run fast while pping his wings to increase his speed to the max. It was his pet, controlled by the bow. Despite being a dark monster, he was his pet and he could do anything he wanted him to do. And the most amazing fact was that his level was thirty-five, one of those rare highest pets he ever caught during leveling up solo. His speed was much higher than Bloom and he could even rival the speed of horses. As Bloom was very sure that his enemy woulde running at him on horses. "If I assumed her treason was just recent," Bloom muttered while being on the back of the monster, "then I suppose she ran away safely, right?" He couldn''t know the answer and didn''t have a means to contact Anna directly. So he opened the chat with Antoan and sent a new task for him. ''Do it in less than ten minutes,'' he ordered before adding, ''and be ready, we might have a war soon.'' ''War?'' Antoan sent, ''with monster tide?'' he asked. ''No,'' Bloom didn''t give him any more data, ''tell Nara to start amassing yers here. Any yer fees will be held by me when I return.'' ''When do you n to return?'' ''Just gimme an answer and I can return after.'' Bloom closed the chat and kept thinking about his next move. As his enemy was alive and after losing his precious gear, a war was a logical answer then. "If you think I can be beaten this easily in my home then you are gravely mistaken," Bloom changed his face to show a ruthless expression, "if you are an NPC then I''m a yer, and our numbers are much greater than yours. If you think you have connections and enough wealth to hire others then I''ll match this with much more wealth then and arge army of yers." Bloom took this quest to another level, and he wasn''t exaggerating as this would be the logical path his enemy would take. "Provided that she managed to escape," he sighed before thinking again at the timeline of events. "If that damned boss did what I asked for once I told Sharel, then she must have reached the town by now." He waited patiently for the answer of Antoan, and before five minutes passed he got what he wanted. ''She isn''t here yet.'' This answer made Bloom hesitant. "Is she still in town? On the road? Or" he paused before sighing. "I hope she is on the road or else this war would be an offensive not defensive one." He knew he didn''t have the ability yet to attack a system town. Yet while he was lost on thoughts, he found someone running fast on the far horizon. "It''s her!" he couldn''t help but shout the next moment, "Anna, stop it''s me." His shouts reached her yet she didn''t stop for a second. He realized his voice was different and that was the reason why she didn''t recognize him. "It''s me, Bloom," he shouted again and this time she stopped, turned around and nced strangely at him. "I had to do that to escape," he simply gave her this reason and the next moment she heaved a deep sigh of relief. "I was" she paused and didn''t continue while recalling what she said to him at the party. And her face showed a tinge of redness that wasn''t even suited with the situation they had just now. "Worried about me?" he couldn''t help butugh. He was happy to see her safe, e, I''ll lend you one of mine," he said and the next moment another pet appeared and he ordered him to kneel. Yet she was a little hesitant. "There is no time," he urged her, "he is my pet and will follow all my orders." She sighed before climbing over the pet''s back. "Who exactly are you?" she couldn''t help but ask. "An agent to the light camp," he simply said before resuming the escape again with her on his side. "An agent of the light who can tame and control dark monsters?!" she didn''t buy his reason, "and what was an agent of the light doing in my uncle''s mansion? What was your purpose there?" He nced at her with obvious hesitation. Yet he knew she was already involved and he had to tell her something. "Your uncle was a traitor," he simply said that in a very serious tone. "T... you said was?" she paused before noticing the way he described her uncle. Chapter 296: War Is Coming Chapter 296: War Is Coming "I killed him," he said while closely watching her reaction. And she simply nced at him with extreme shock. "He is level hundred mayor!" she couldn''t help but exim in shock. "and I killed him," he casually said as if he was talking about killing level one NPC here, "at least temporarily." "Temporarily?!!" Her shock was even bigger this time. "What the hell is this supposed to mean?" "He had a gear that can grant him an extra life like yers," Bloom exined, "so around this time he would be resurrected in the town and woulde fast at us with all his might." "This" she was shocked to say anything before collecting herself in a few minutes, "what did you do exactly to him?" "I took something so precious to him," Bloom said, "an item, an item that''s so important to him." "And why did you even do that?" "It''s my own business," he simply said, "but I need you to consider something else." His tone made her refrain from asking more. "Consider what?" she asked with a helpless look over her face. "War," he said, and his words changed her face the next moment as she realized what he was hinting at. "I doubt my town can sustain such a war," she bitterly said and didn''t continue. "Do you think he woulde alone?" "He would go to my two other uncles and I believe with some money and promises of good gears they would join him." "Hmm" Bloom thought for a moment there before saying, "then I''ll need you to send messages to them if the wealth is what they wanted, then I''ll dly give them more than your uncle will promise." "This" she seemed not to be convinced by his words, "he will promise them my seat, can you offer them more?" Her words managed to shut him up and kill all the ns he had regarding these two uncles. "They are after your seat?" he couldn''t help but ask, while he was feeling sympathy towards her. "They even tried to force me to marry one of their sons one time," she bitterly said, "and if they would gain what they long desired by war then they would dly join their entire forces." Bloom could only shake his head in sympathy. "Then we need intel about their forces." "This I can easily get," she said, "but at least they will bring a thousand NPC army to my gates. Can we defend the town then?" He smiled and only said, "Leave this war to me, all I want from you is logistic support." She nced in doubt while he only smiled. He wasn''t overconfident as he knew a thousand army of level fifty and above NPCs was something no yer could face at this time. Yet he still held great hopes over the system quest he was now about to finish. "Also I need to know their levels, main gears and also their factions and sses if possible." "I will try to do my best," she didn''t promise to get him these answers and he understood how difficult it was to get such answers at this short time. "When do you think they will attack us?" "Soon," Bloom said, "I believe they won''t take more than a couple of days beforeing to us. By the way, how long is the marching distance to the Swor town?" "March?" she noticed the word he selected. "Of course we won''t allow them to enter the town by teleportation, right?" heughed as this was pretty obvious. "Well I think perhaps a day at least or even two," she hesitated, "but one of my uncle''s towns lies even closer to me. I believe they will move there and march to my town." "How long?" "A day at most." "Then we have a day to prepare then," Bloom nodded before he noticed the end of the road was at the horizon. "You go back and start your work there," he suddenly said. "What about you?" "I have something to do here," Bloom changed his eyes before adding, "start blocking the teleportation to anyone belonging to their three towns. Also one of my trusted subordinates wille to your mansion and ask for tickets. Give him as much as he asks and I''ll pay you once I return." She watched him in doubt before her doubts turned into amazement. "You don''t intend to amass yer there?" "That''s the only way to face such an army." "But" "Just don''t worry about that, I told you this war will be handled by me," he firmly said, "just leave a message to Tondel about my butler his name is Antoan and he wille to see you soon." "Antoan alright, I will make sure to prepare enough tickets then," she paused before adding, "how many can you gather in less than a day?" "If I used my old identity then I can amass a grand army," he bitterlyughed, "but I can''t use my real name for now. So I hope we can get enough to stop this army at your walls and gate." She didn''t say anything until they exited the range of the town and the tickets regained their function again. "Don''t do anything stupid," she warned. "Don''t worry about me," he smiled, "I''m not that easy to be killed." "I can see that," she only nced deeply at him for a long minute before she used her ticket and left the ce returning to her town. "Now it''s time to see what the system will give me in return to this quest," he turned to move towards a nearby forest before hiding there and lied in wait. He wanted to see with his two eyes what that bastard would do. He didn''t hear any system alerts since running away from the town, and that made him quite restless. As he lied in wait he started to check his system notifications, waiting for the alert announcing his clearance of the quest. Yet there was no such one yet. Chapter 297: New Quests Chapter 297: New Quests "What''s wrong?" he couldn''t help but wonder, "didn''t the quest finish by me taking the skull away?" He suddenly thought of the contract. "Damn! I have to cancel it first," he turned to his profile page and there he found the contracts he had with Sharel and her boss. "How can I cancel it?" he muttered before opening one contract and then he started to seek a way to cancel it. "Report a vition? It should be this one," he found a small icon at the end of the contract and he didn''t hesitate to press it. And then a window opened in front of him with one question in it. "What happened to call the contract off?" he read the question beforeughing, "they backstabbed me, she and her bitch boss," he said and the next moment his words were written instantly in the box before a confirmation option shed in front of his eyes. "Submit," he chose it without hesitation and then he closed the contract, opened another and did the same. After he finished he kept waiting without knowing what should happen next. "I should get a system notification then," he muttered yet before he could receive it, arge group of guards gushed out the road into the open wilderness around. "They are here this fast?" he was startled and then he felt grateful for him toe up with this pet idea or else he would have been caught a long time ago. The guards looked restless as they started to scatter around and checked everything. He had to duck his head, hiding under the thick group of trees he was now lying under and watch a group of ten guards moving outside the jungle, looking for him. "Not a trace?" Suddenly this angry shout came from the direction of the roar, roaring all over the open and peaceful world. "You will all pay, I won''t let this pass by without proper punishment," the mayor appeared next while threatening everyone around. "Why don''t they just move out and kill him?" Bloom muttered while feeling those guards were all weak and deserved to be treated this way. If he was one of them, he wouldn''t hesitate to cut that dirty mayor''s head off and let it roll on the ground. The guards kept checking for a long time before they all gathered up again around the mayor. "I''ll bring a war to your damned town then," the mayor roared in anger towards the open space as if his words would be heard by Anna and Bloom. "And you Bloom yer, I''ll put a rich bounty over your handsome head." He roared again and Bloom couldn''t help but sneer when he saw that. He resisted the temptation to step out and start fighting that mayor. After all, the number of guards around was no less than a thousand. And even if he had such a title he couldn''t believe he would kill all of them without dying. "Should I do it?" he was still tempted while the mayor was about to leave. Yet at this moment system notifications came in, one after another. "System alert: yer''s petition has been epted. The contract is called off and all the responsibilities over the yer are cancelled." "System alert: yer''s petition has been epted. The contract is called off and all the responsibilities over the yer are cancelled." "System alert: yer has gained the skull of the Dorfomis monster, a very ancient dark and hideous monster that once spread terror in the entire game world." "System alert: yer has evidence of the involvement of the mayor with the dark forces. yer is asked to capture the soul of the mayor and represent it to the leaders of the light camp to be judged by the light camp." "System alert: the mayor has already known your identity and figured the ce you have as a base of your actions. He is nning to gather arge army ande to kill you and take the town off the Swor town mayor''s hand. Another quest is issued and the yer has to finish it to redeem his full rewards." "System alert: stay alive quest is issued." "System alert: Save the Swor town quest is issued." "System alert: Capture the souls of the mayors of the lion town, the tiger town, the snake town and represent their souls to the light camp leaders to be judged by the light camp." "System alert: yer can check these quests after epting them in his profile page." "I ept!" Bloom didn''t hesitate to ept these branched quests even without reading them. After all their names and purposes were guessed by him, and they all matched his nature." "System alert: yer has epted a very dangerous set of quests. Your bravery caught the attention of a mysterious being and you gained the chance to call out for that person''s help at the dire times." "System alert: yer gained reputation in the light camp as being ferocious and relentless. A title is under making now specifically for you. Just finish the quests to acquire it." "I will get a title?" Bloom was surprised to hear that and instantly he got pumped up. "So should I go and kill that bastard and cut the head of the snake or not?" He was hesitant yet the next moment he decided to drop this and start viewing the quests. "After all I got a quest to stay alive, and that means I can''t get killed until the war is over," he muttered before opening his profile page and explored the quests there. "Oh... It would be quite challenging then," as he started reading the quests, he found how hard it was to finish them all. "That stay alive one... I never thought I would have to deal with yers as a game quest." The quest was rted to thest words of that mayor and his loud threats to him. In fact the three quests were rted to the mayor being alive, one way or another. "I should have dealt with him back in the town then," Bloom regretted not lying in ambush at the resurrection point and kill that mayor once he revived. That might have put him under more pressure, but at least he would have a greater chance of killing the mayor instead of having all these quests. "Next time I should be more daring and not care about being killed or detained," he said to himself in a try to make him learn from this lesson. Then he returned to read the three quests again while squeezing his mind to find the best way to achieve sess in each quest. Chapter 298: Extremely Hard Quests Chapter 298: Extremely Hard Quests "System alert: Stay alive quest: Grade red quest. Quest details: Your identity and life are in danger! The Lion town mayor is now dead fixed on killing you. During the next few days he will issue a grand prize for your head. Don''t let that jerk get what he wants, stay alive, stay alive dude! Quest requirements: yer has to stay alive for the end of the war. No matter what yer can''t be killed. Quest failure: yer will lose his right to the secret ss. Quest sess: yer will gain an upgrade to his secret ss plus fifty skill points and fifty talent points. Warning: the quest has more depth to it than it seems it''s a red grade quest baby, and you have to be ready for all possibilities." "System alert: Save the Swor town quest: Grade red quest. Quest details: You have really enraged the Lion town mayor by your deeds. As he knew your real identity and you already selected the Swor town to establish your guild at, he decided toe to your home and kill you. The mayor will do many preparations and start a grand war with you and Swor town. This war isn''t simple, and you''ve to be well prepared for everything. Quest requirements: don''t let the Swor town token be obtained. Don''t let the mayor''s mansion be destroyed. Don''t let Anna die. And of course win the war dummy! Quest failure: yer will lose his right to establish a guild for his entire life in the game. yer will lose the right to join any guild for his entire life in the game. These punishments are applied over all identities of the yer in the game. Quest sess: yer will gain a token to establish a vige. yer''s guild will be upgraded one rank and get all the buildings upgraded for free. yer''s guild can have one subsidiary guild under it. yer''s guild yers will have one hundred percent buff for one month inside the vicinity of the Swor town. Warning: this is a war not a dungeon run, so sharpen your sword and get ready." "System alert: Capture the souls of the mayors of the lion town, the tiger town, the snake town and represent their souls to the light camp leaders to be judged by the light camp quest: Grade gold red quest. Quest details: Congrattions! You''ve gotten yourself a sworn enemy worthy of praise! You''ve outdone yourself this time and made the Lion town mayor mad! The Lion town mayor will do everything in his hand to burn you alive! You''ve only one way out of this; kill him and kill the other traitors he will bring with him and lock their souls inside soul stones. Those traitors have ways to remain alive after getting killed. You''ve seen it, no matter what you do they''ll remain alive. You''ll find a soul prison token in your inventory. From this moment onward any NPC, yer, and monster you kill you''ll store away his soul inside. Don''t underestimate this task, after all you are asked to kill the leader of a grand army, sworn enemy, and dirty traitors. Quest requirements: kill and imprison the three leaders'' souls and represent them alongside the skull you have to the light camp to be judged. Quest failure: yer will lose his rank as a light agent. yer will be deprived of all his gears, skills, and levels back to level zero. yer won''t be allowed to enter any game settlement no matter what they tried enter and you''ll be killed instantly by lightning! Quest sess: yer''s fame will soar in the light camp. yer will get the right to assign personal guards out of elite NPCs. yer will acquire a secret ss belonging to the light camp. yer will get the ability to summon up to ten followers to the real world at any time he wishes. Warning: Traitors will never stop at any lengths to get their goals achieved. Consider this as a gentle warning from the game to a virgin yer like yourself." Bloom couldn''t help but shake his head while ncing at a small clock in each quest which pointed to infinity. "So the quests don''t have a time limit yet that means the system is waiting for that bastard to finalize his preparations." His mind was restless from what he just read. These quests weren''t easy, and he had the feeling this war would be much harder than he initially thought. "At least I''ll get fancy rewards in return, right?" He tried to cheer himself up before taking a deep breath. And a new light shone brightly in his two eyes. "As he is making everything to achieve his goals, I shouldn''t be polite and use everything as well." He took out a ticket and used it at once to vanish from his current location and go to the town. Just after he teleported, a shadow appeared all of sudden not too far from the location he was at. "So you are stirring the trouble I dreamt of slowly and gradually I wasn''t mistaken to bestow my powers to you then." A feminine voice appeared from the thick cape covering this body before the next moment the body vanished with a sweetughter that echoed in this ce for a long time. The moment Bloom arrived at the central za he didn''t hesitate to find his way directly towards the mayor''s mansion. "Stay there," a guard stopped him before adding, "what business do you have to do here? Are you lost, kid?" Bloom couldn''t help but helplessly smile as in his hurry he came here using the wrong identity. "I want to pass a message to the mayor," he hurriedly reacted and added, "yer Hannipal will wait for him at the restaurant in half an hour. Make sure he won''t bete." The face of the guard changed slightly when he heard the name of Bloom''s other identity. "At least ask with some respect," the guard returned fast to his old nature and harrumphed while reprimanding Bloom as if he was talking to a kid. Chapter 299: Im The Mayor, Not Your Mistress!! Chapter 299: I''m The Mayor, Not Your Mistress!! And Bloom just ignored his remark as he turned around to leave. "Make sure you deliver the message in time or else my master will make sure your head will roll on the ground next," he said in a cold tone before vanishing from the stupefied guard''s sight. He went fast to a hotel where he changed his identity back to Hannipal and then he went to the restaurant. "The regr order please," he said to the waiter who had be ustomed to seeing him here. "Nice suit by the way." Just before the waiter could respond, a strong voice came that startled him from his back. "M.. Mayor," the waiter stuttered before stepping aside, "would you like our special dish?" "As usual," the mayor waved his hand before sitting in front of Bloom. "What business do you have toe all the way here and annoy me?" he said, yet his tone didn''t seem that annoyed at all, instead amused. "You didn''t get the news?" Bloom said. "Are you at a party? Or crashing into one for a girl perhaps?" the mayorughed as he was joking and having fun. "The news of a war," yet Bloom said while ncing at this stingy mayor whom he sold the tail before to. And the mayor got his face changed for a moment beforeughing, "as long it''s not rted to my town, then why should I bother?" Bloom knew such an influential man wouldn''t miss such an important piece of news. "I''m here for business," he said and before he could continue the mayor stopped him. "If you thought my love for old things outweighs my duties to preserve the safety of my town folks then I should stop you here and end this talk before it starts." Bloom wasn''t moved by these words as he already was prepared for the shamelessness and greed of this mayor beforeing here. "Just listen to what I have to say first," Bloom calmly said, "before hurrying to reject a very precious chance to gain something great." "If you think you can bribe me with some old bones to send my dear boys out there to turn into bones then you are mistaken," the mayor said with the same attitude and tone. "I won''t send your boys to their deaths," Bloom said, "and don''t tell me you won''t ept rich rewards that can bring you double or triple their total numbers and not only the losses." Bloom''s words made the face of the mayor slightly rx before a sly smile appeared over his face. "How much are you willing to pay?" he said before pointing his index finger towards Bloom''s face, "but be aware that I only ept gold coins." "I won''t pay for gold coins only," Bloom shook his head. "I won''t ept gears!" "And I won''t pay that." "Then what do you n to pay?" the mayor seemed interested before adding, "don''t tell me the old and useless bones of that dragon I won''t ept it!" "Why are you rash? Are you in a hurry or something?" Bloom sneered and his words made the mayor realize his restlessness was detected by the yer in front of him. "Then speak up," the mayor returned to his seat and crossed his arms to prevent himself from overreacting anymore, "I''m all ears." "A part of a fort in the battlefield," Bloom simply said and his words made the eyes of the mayor widened instantly. "You have a fort in the outer battlefield?!!" the mayor turned suspicious the next moment, "I can''t believe that!" "Currently I have nothing," Bloom nodded, "but I have a way to get one." "How?" "This is my business," Bloom said, "and you only should care about your part of the deal." The mayor remained silent and from his instant expression from before Bloom realized he would agree. "How much is my percentage?" the mayor asked, "I won''t ept less than fifty percent!" "Sure, go and get your army and your friends'' army and I''ll sit here eating the meal while you burn the three towns to the ground and get me their tokens," Bloom casually said as if he was asking him to take a walk. "Stop being silly," the mayor couldn''t help but say. "And you too stop being silly," Bloom''s face and tone changed to be serious, "the highest you can get is only ten percent, no more." "Forty percent!" "Fifteen, and one more word and I''ll look for another mayor to help." The mayor nced at Bloom for a long time before he smiled. "Fifteen is fine to me, but I ask to have a say in the final call there." "For fifteen percent? No way!" Bloom suddenly got attracted to this point. This was the same thing Sharel''s boss asked before. ''It seems having a saying in the final call there is something great,'' he thought while the mayor was hesitant. "I can''t ept fifteen percent without a seat in the upper circle of the fort!" The mayor finally announced his decision. "A seat" Bloom paused purposely, "is totally epted by me." "Good, but you first have to own a fort there," the mayor said, "I won''t sign a contract with you without seeing proof of that." "We can sign the contract on the sole condition of me having the fort before the war," Bloom said, "but how much can you bring with you?" "Me? Who said I''ll attend the war?" The mayor''s face was funny at the moment. "I said," Bloom simply said, "if you don''t show up, how can I sleep peacefully at night?" "I''m the mayor , not your mistress!!" "But you can send me your worthless fighters and I get nothing in return for this deal," Bloom shrugged, "besides the deal should contain a condition that I must win this war or else it would be called off." "This" the mayor seemed to be more hesitant than ever, "how in the hell can I guarantee something like that?" Chapter 300: His True Goal Chapter 300: His True Goal "It''s simple," Bloom finally reached the point he came all here for, "you will help me to kill those three mayors of the army and that will be included in the contract as a main condition." "" The mayor couldn''t agree or refuse, and Bloom kept his silence as well. The two kept ring at each other while none said a word. "Your dishes gentlemen," the waiter returned with the many tes over a tray before distributing the dishes between the two. "Bon appetit," he politely said before calmly retreating. "I can''t take such responsibility alone," the mayor shook his head and finally expressed his thoughts. "Who said you would shoulder this alone?" it was time for Bloom to go for his next goal, "as I just agreed with you, I want you to invite two more mayors here to join our deal." "Two What about that chick from your town? She can attend the meeting and sign the contract," the mayor said, referring to Anna. "She has another task to do for now," Bloom calmly refused. After all, one of the goals of his long list of quests was to keep her life secured. "You are worried about her? And decided toe here and endanger my and my friends'' lives instead?" the mayor seemed to read through his thoughts as he rudely said. "With my wealth I can do anything I want," Bloom said in strong domineer, "after all I''m the one having the fort not you." "Yet," the mayor added, "you own nothing now." "But soon I will." "What about you selling me your way and we can call it a deal?" the mayor tried to act smart, yet Bloom cut this road on him. "This way is only limited to me," he said, "even if I told you about it, you won''t be able to do it. if you want to know and ept this as a deal then it''s fine, but don''t me meter, alright?" The mayor hesitated for a second before sighing, "why is it so hard to deal with you each time we meet?" he couldn''t help but say and Bloom only kept gazing at him, waiting for the answer he wanted. "What will they get in return?" he asked. "Ten percent of the fort," Bloom said. "That''s it?" the mayor was surprised, "not fifteen? No seat?" "That''s only for you in return for your efforts to bring more to my aid," Bloom exined, "as for the seat they can work under you as a faction, but you''ll only get one seat for that." "" Bloom acted strictly with this matter despite knowing nothing about it. He didn''t hurry to promiserge percentages or give away more seats as he didn''t yet know the true value of these promises. "I''ll see what I can do," the mayor said before hurriedly adding, "can we sign the contract now?" "As long as it contains a condition for you to bring two more then it''s ok to sign," Bloom said, "if you are hesitant then we can postpone it for a couple of days. I''m not in a hurry after all." "You''ve got a war knocking on your doorstep buddy." "I''m not worried about that," Bloom said, "and we have enough time till the war reaches my doorsteps. Just don''t take a long time to act, or else I''ll find myself obliged to look for more serious partners." "I''m serious about this deal!" the mayor shouted and his voice attracted the attention of everyone here. "Then show this to me," Bloom only smiled in return, "will we sign the contract now or in two days?" "Now!" The mayor didn''t hesitate to decide, "I''ll write it and send you a copy to sign." "Great," Bloom then turned to his meal, "I''ll eat while you write it then." "" And the mayor didn''t know if he had to hit him in the face or not at this moment. "It''s ready," the mayor said, "I''ll sign it and send it to you now." "Alright," Bloom said while continuing to eat. "It''s ready," the mayor said, then the next moment the contract appeared in front of Bloom''s eyes. Yet he kept eating while reading it. "Eat, or else your meal will get cold," he said in a way that got on the nerves of the mayor. Yet the mayor kept his strong words to himself before starting to eat and watching the irritating Bloom sitting in front of him. After finishing his meal with cold blood, Bloom finally signed the contract. "It''s all set," he said before taking a ticket, "I hope you stick to your promises." "The same goes for you as well," the mayor hardly controlled himself from cursing out loud. And Bloom simply used the ticket while saying, "see you in two days then, make sure you''ll be ready with two other mayors." Then he vanished and left the mayor all alone while feeling extremely happy from this deal. "Finally I got myself a ce in that damned ce," he clenched his fists as if he just won a war, "wait, my old scar isn''t healed yet, bastards!" Then he ordered another meal to eat in celebration for achieving his long dream. Bloom knew nothing about that, and the next moment he appeared in the central za of the Swor town. "Time to get the first task done," he didn''t hesitate to walk towards the mayor''s mansion direction while opening his profile page. Just when he was checking his quests from before, he noticed the icon of the contracts shing in bright red light. He didn''t consider it at first before he checked it while heading to the hotel. And he was instantly surprised by what he saw there. "So there''s a dispute about the contracts," he finally had time to thoroughly think about this. "I can issuepensation from the other party of the contract or even challenge them in a personal duel or a challenge of some kind to get the full benefits of the contract interesting." Chapter 301: Meeting Anna Again Chapter 301: Meeting Anna Again He read these in a hurry before and now he had time to consider what to do. If not for that option here he wouldn''t dare to put that fort right on the table with that mayor. He selected to issue a dispute over the canceled contracts and then a window suddenly popped up in front of his eyes next. "Say what retribution you ask for and all the conditions for morepensation or even issue a challenge to the other party," he muttered what was written in front of his eyes before evilly sneering. "I want to get the ownership of a big fort in the outer battlefield," he said and his words were recorded at once in the window, "this is apensation for the damage I received, plus I want two other fort ownership as an extrapensation and that can be done via direct fight between me and the owner of the contracts." He then chose to send and then waited. He didn''t know the full process of these disputes yet he was pretty sure the other party had a saying in that. Yet he was instantly taken aback when the response came in the form of a series of system notifications. "System alert: yer''s dispute over the cancelled contracts are approved by the system." "System alert: The right of Regalis fort has been deprived of its owner and given aspensation to the yer." "System alert: yer can''t have morepensation in the form of other forts as the other party doesn''t own anyplete fort so far." "System alert: yer can either issue another dispute and ask for newpensation in exchange for a challenge, issue a challenge over the other party''s right in other forts, or drop the dispute as a whole." "System alert: yer has to decide during the next hour or else the system would randomly select items of equal value and decide the corresponding challenge for them." "System alert: the Regalis fort is now under attack. The game has put it under neutralized condition but the yer has to send forces as soon as possible during one day or else the fort would be lost after the protection period expires." ''What the hell have you done!'' Just as he was reading these messages, a message suddenly appeareding from Rashel. ''What?'' he simply said while ncing calmly over the long rows of messages she kept sending to him during the past hours. ''You know what you''ve done!'' ''Sorry, I did many things recently and I can''t decide which one you refer to,'' he kept toying with her while weighing the decision he should take about getting morepensation for a challenge or not. ''You took Regalis fort off us!!!'' ''That''s fair,'' Bloom sent, ''at least from my view and the game''s view.'' ''That means war!'' ''Don''t threaten me,'' Bloom calmly wrote, ''when you already betrayed me back there.'' ''But you managed to get out alive.'' ''This is all thanks to me, not to traitors like you.'' ''You shouldn''t be that dumb and create more enemies at this moment,'' she didn''t stop threatening him, ''you are in a very bad situation boy, and we won''t hesitate to crush you.'' ''I don''t say no to any challenge,'' Bloom replied, ''just send whoever you want and I''ll kill them all.'' ''Arrogancees with a bitter price always!'' ''I don''t mind being arrogant with my enemies,'' he sent before adding, ''sorry I have to go. Have fun backstabbing your clients.'' Bloom closed the chat and his mind had decided what he should do with the extrapensation. "I want to change thepensation," he said in the window of the dispute he just opened, "I want to own all the dark forces under the other party''s control. All the agents and even the secretaries I want the entire organization to be owned by me." His words were recorded and he chose to confirm his decision before closing the entire profile page and kept walking towards the mansion. "Finally you decided to show up." Just as he reached the mansion, Tondel hurriedly said with an angry look over his face. "The real instigator is here, make way for the one who will bring down our town and burn everything we held dear." "One more word and I''ll make sure you won''t say another," Bloom didn''t ept his mockery with anything but direct threatening words. And Tondel stared in silence and obvious hesitation towards him. Tondel already heard the story from Anna, and he knew Bloom entered a hostile town full of many strong high leveled NPCs and managed to kill their level hundred mayor, stole something precious from him, and finally ran away without a single scratch over him. And that alone was enough to tell how dangerous this seemingly weak and vulnerable yer was. "Humph, at least you have a little brain in your big skull," Bloom harrumphed before walking inside the mansion under the burning gazes of Tondel and his men. When he entered the mansion, he found Anna sitting there on her throne all alone. He imagined her to be now meeting up with the leaders of her army, the top NPCs in her town, and many friends who would stand up at times of need like this one. Yet her face was so dark and dejected that made his heart break. "What happened?" he asked the moment he got closer to her, while she kept ncing at him with red tears and a face filled with long trails of dried up tears. "Nothing," she wiped what couldn''t be removed off her face by her sleeve, "how are you now?" she asked. "Just say it," he grabbed a seat and sat on it, "what happened? Where is everyone?" "Everyone?" His words made her bitterlyugh. He saw a few tears welling up her eyes before she wiped them and added, "no one is willing to fight with me some even said I should sacrifice myself and you for the sake of the town." Chapter 302: Annas Rule In The Plan Chapter 302: Anna''s Rule In The n She paused while gazing at the opposite wall. "Giving small sacrifices for the greater good, that was what they said." "All of them?" Bloom was speechless before asking again, "no one agreed to fight?" "My small army agreed to fight of course," she bitterly said, "but all the rich NPCs, merchants and store owners and even most of my friends decided to abandon me." Bloom didn''t speak for a few minutes while giving her time to collect herself. After all, despite her words and shock, the loss wasn''t that great at all. What matters at war was to fight it with enough and well prepared army, not by money and store owners. "Don''t be like this," he finally said, "they aren''t worth a tear of yours." She smiled despite her face being stiffened out of deep sadness. "How will we fight a war without the proper funds? We need gears, hire mercenaries, even call out for friends to help." He heard all herints and only smiled warmly in return. "Leave these for me," he said and she gave him a deep nce that was full of doubt, "I want you to do another thing for me." "What?" she sarcastically said, "do you want me to run? Abandon the town which their most attractive people abandoned?" "No, I need another thing from you," Bloom shook his head, "we''ll stand our ground and fight. I promise you victory but in return I need something from you." "My wealth is under your control if you wanted," she said before bitterlyughing, "but don''t put big hopes over it, after all my town is poor and I don''t have much to offer." "I don''t need that either," he shook his head and his answer made her puzzled. "Then what?" "I want you to hurry in building my guild headquarter," he suddenly said, "I want what would take a month to be built in a few days." "This" and his words startled her as she never expected him to ask her about this. "May I ask why?" she couldn''t help but ask. "They wille from the main road," he simply said, "and that road just happens to run in between my headquarter." "You n to face them off the town?!!" she couldn''t help but shout in deep shock. "That''s a good n," he said. "A very risky n!" yet she shouted in disapproval, "the walls here are strong and can defend against such an army with ease. Why take the trouble of doing something so costly like this?" "I don''t care about money," Bloom said in confidence, "just do as I ask, please." She kept gazing at him for long minutes while shaking her head from time to time. "What''s your n to stop them then?" "You mentioned mercenaries, right?" he asked and she understood his meaning. "This would cost a fortune, not to mention the request of yours will cost another fortune." "I''ll handle anything," he simply said, "as long as it''s money then I can handle it." She couldn''t help but sigh. "Let me tell you that shortening the time for one week will cost you the same amount of gold coins you paid for the entire building process," she said before hurriedly adding, "this isn''t under my control, it''s the rules." Bloom nodded in understanding, "so to hasten the building process for three and half weeks I''ll have to pay three and half more gold, right?" "In advance," she added another condition again, "and if you want to receive it the next morning then you''ll have to pay four folds." "Hmm sounds reasonable," he muttered. "Sounds pricey, very pricey for me," she couldn''t help but sigh, "and the value it adds? I doubt it would make any difference at all!" "Have faith," Bloomughed, "after all this is the first headquarter to be built and it won''t be disappointing in regard to the money paid for it." "" She couldn''t say anything in return while he asked, "how much does a mercenary cost?" "This at least ten thousand gold coins for a decent one." "What do you mean by decent?" "Level fifty or higher, good gears, enough fighting experience things like these," she exined. "And level hundred?" he asked, "our enemies would have many level hundred guards with them," he warned as all the guards he previously killed at the Lion town were all level hundred. "Enemies?" yet she noticed something else in his words, "won''t we face only the Lion town?" His silence told her there was more bad news she knew nothing about. "Sigh, you don''t get the news yet, ain''t you?" he couldn''t help but shake his head while feeling more guilt and slightly ufortable to be the one to deliver her this news. Yet he didn''t need to say anything as she was a big girl with a bright mind and she got it all herself. "He is going to hire my uncles, right?" she said with a tone that didn''t tell him anything about her feelings. All he could see was her two fists being closed up before rxing. "Then hiring level one hundred mercenaries will cost around one hundred thousand gold coins each," she said and he felt something inside her had changed at this moment. Something broke, and that damage helped her to feel more at ease and free. "Well, I will do my best to gather the money," he said, avoiding touching that topic for now, "and you''ll have to make the deals for everything else." "Any siege tools as well?" she said, "like defensive towers, ballistae and massive crossbows perhaps?" "I would never say no to such things for sure," he bitterly smiled, "but I don''t know if the money I''ll gather will be enough or not." "I''m curious, how would you gather such an astronomical number in so little time?" she said with bright eyes, "if it was me, I doubt I can even gather a tenth of it in a year!" Chapter 303: The Battlefield Forts Chapter 303: The Battlefield Forts "I have my own ways to do that," he could only tell her that, "now I''ll have to go. I depend on you to prepare the town for the war." "I''ll do my best," she said before adding, "by the way I liked your suit." He paused and his mind froze as he recalled the gift he bought for her. "Y''know after this war ends and we emerge victorious I''ll give you something to remember that moment forever," he vaguely said before taking his leave. And she only watched his back before it vanished, yet she didn''t move away from her gaze except after a long time. "Sigh, if you appeared a couple of years earlier things would have been much different now," she muttered before rxing her body over the throne. "Will I be able to keep it for you, my dear father?" she whispered softly while touching the throne like it was thest time for her to be sitting over it. Bloom once moved outside he didn''t dy to send a summon message to Antoan and Nara. He asked the two to meet him up at the restaurant of the town. He moved there first and left a word about the two for the waiter before closing up his eyes and his mind starting working with all his might. "The simplest way to gain money is through my Pandora box, but I need to hijack many caravans this way," he muttered to himself while thinking about going to their towns and starting spreading terror there. Yet he didn''t feel this would be a good thing, as his aim wasn''t to cause trouble but to gain money. "Going there would only dy me," he only sighed before recalling the tickets he already had for over a hundred towns. "And that fort too it''s troublesome not to act there and secure it before war," he knew that fort was something precious for all that ruckus that caused so far. "Let''s see what does a fort even mean," he didn''t dy and opened the dark auction interface where there were some forts being sold there. These forts were all being sold at very high prices. The cheapest he found ever was being auctioned by twenty million dark points and now he saw even fifty million dark points bids over a couple of them. He opened the information regarding one of them and started to read and learn. "Basic fort at the outer region of the battlefield: Grade green basic fort that covers the area of half mile radius. The fort is equipped with two defensive towers, basic wooden wall, some traps around, and three catapults for defense. A sentry post is situated in the front of it, connected to the fort with a paved road with mud that can support the move of small caravans and horses. The fort has one armory, one barrack, and two merchant stores. The fort can amodate one thousand men at most. It only supports dark forces. Fort speciality: one hundred and fifty miles far from the dark forest, its location is considered one of the rare specialities ever in the entire market." He read this description over and over again before opening another fort and read its content. "Basic fort at the outer region of the battlefield: Grade green basic fort that covers the area of half mile radius. The fort is equipped with three defensive towers, basic wooden wall, some traps around, and five catapults for defense. A sentry post is situated in the front of it, connected to the fort with a paved road with mud that can support the move of small caravans and horses. The fort has one armory, one barrack, and one merchant store. The fort can amodate one thousand men at most. It only supports dark forces. Fort speciality: two hundred miles far from the dark forest, its location is considered one of the rare specialities ever in the entire market." "Hmm" he was lost in thoughts even though he didn''t notice the two sitting in front of him, "So these are the forts then" he softly muttered but his voice was heard by these two. "What is the fort?" suddenly Nara asked, "is it something that can help in the war?" Her voice startled him before he smiled when he saw her face and Antoan sitting in front of him, eyeing him with curiosity. "It''s something I''ll tell you aboutter," he closed the market interface before adding, "but now I want to ask about the yers we gathered so far." "I''ve got so many tickets," Antoan said in a tone that told Bloom things weren''t going the way they were supposed to be. "And?" he asked for more. "Only few answered our call so far," Nara said, "it seems our proposal wasn''t enticing enough." "Really?" he was surprised to hear that, "how can this be possible?" "It''s because of that jerk," Nara exined, "he issued a ban quest, giving rewards for anyone who would drop our call and not show up." "Dockrey," Bloom''s eyes were ignited with fierceness, "so he wanted to y this game with me what are the rewards he issued then?" "He promised those yers at least one thousand gold coins and an elite ce in his guild," Antoan said. "He has a guild?" Bloom couldn''t help butugh, "or yet toe guild?" "He is seeking to have one like us," Nara said as she was the one who was more intel about him, "he is now working hard to obtain a token to establish a guild like yours." "Mine is special," Bloom couldn''t help butugh again, "alright, let''s raise the bid then for every yer thates we''ll give him one thousand gold coins plus a membership in the elite team." "H- How can this be raising the bid?!" Nara couldn''t help but ask in doubt. "Because our guild will bepleted in less than a week," Bloom simply said, "and I want you to announce this to the entire world." Chapter 304: You Dare To Keep Those Babies Off Me?!! Chapter 304: You Dare To Keep Those Babies Off Me?!! "One week?!!" the two eximed in shock while Bloom only nodded. "How? You said it would take a month!" Antoan couldn''t help but say. "I have to rush things up for the war," Bloom simply said. "You seem quite interested in that chick," and Nara finally touched the sour topic, "are the rumors true then?" "What rumors?" Bloom calmly asked. "You are in love with her," she said those heavy words that any girl would find offensive. "I only see her as a close friend," Bloom lied, "I have only you in my heart." "I don''t believe you!" she said in doubt, "you are waging a war for her!" "Out of a game quest," he honestly said, "I did all that for quests that''s all." "I don''t believe that!" "That''s the truth," he shrugged, "I have a long and deep series of hard quests toplete. And one of them requires me to keep her safe." "Is this a game or a dating site?" Nara sneered and her words made himugh. "I frankly don''t know," he couldn''t help but say, "all I know is that these quests are very important, not only to me but to everyone." "Humph, next time you''ll have a quest to marry her and even have kids!" And this time even Antoan couldn''t help butugh with him, and she only harrumphed again and kept her angry look over her face. "Alright, let''s hope it won''t reach such a stage," he couldn''t help butugh. "First you go after my assistant and now you are even going after the NPCs next time I won''t be surprised to find you dating a female monster," she kept ranting about it and he could only smile. "Alright, enough to this for now," he could only change the topic for his safety, "we need to gather as many yers as possible." "These rewards won''t be enough to allure them," Antoan said, secretly giving his master a hand here. "No one woulde to join a womanizer like yourself," and Nara said. "We need yers," Bloom said, "what can we offer for them to join us?" "Benefits of course," Nara finally returned to her old self, "without more benefits they won''t think of joining us." "Give me some suggestions then," his mind was already preupied by many things and he didn''t want to add one more to his overcrowded to-do list. "The most enticing thing for any yer is gears," she said, "then ces to level up, and finally money." "Hmm won''t they ept fame and glory?" he asked. "Like what?" "Like the title of being members of the first guild in the game," he said. "Well it might work," she said after a moment of hesitation, "and might not." "Sigh, then we need gears," he couldn''t help but think of his n to hijack caravans, "but all I can provide is high end gears." "H- High end?" her face changed before she hurriedly said, "like what? C''mon, show me one." Bloom was surprised by her reaction before he took out a level fifty grade gold sword and gave it to her. And the moment she saw this long shining de of the sword with a ruby gem embedded nicely in its hilt and she instantly fell in love with it. "Damn! You have such a baby and refused to give it to me? I hate you already," she said and he finally understood to what degree yers would crave for gears. And he couldn''t help butugh. "Alright, it''s yours then," he said and she hugged it like she was hugging a precious thing. "Who said I nned to return it to you in the first ce?" she even pointed her tongue to him in a teasing way. And he could only shake his head. "Give it to me and I''ll give you a nicer one," he suddenly said as he enjoyed this game. "Nicer?" he face beamed with greed, "no, give me that nice one in addition to this little baby here." "Hahaha, c''mon, you will have two treasures like these?" "I''m your girl, or should I name myself Anna for you to take care of me?" she aggressively attacked as she decided not to leave without getting the two gears away from him. "Hahaha, alright, I''ll give you another one but try to remain calm, deal?" "I''m already calm," she said and even Antoan didn''t believe her. The next moment he took out another sword. It was the sword he took off the body of the mayor of the Lion town after killing him. It was a level one hundred, grade red sword. When he took it out the air around it vibrated while its de shifted between silver to red color before returning silver again. "Oh my gosh!!!" and the next instant she couldn''t help but stand and jump at once to snatch it from his hand, yet he moved his hand away and made her miss. "Give it to me," she shouted like a little girl asking for candy. "Hahaha, be such a nice girl and return to your seat first." "I''m not in a school here," she jumped again to snatch the sword and this time he let her have it. "Damn! Da- a- a- a- amn!" she suddenly shouted before jumping around like celebrating something, "it''s such a su- u- u- u- u- uper cool sword! Screw you, you had such a baby and kept it away from me? I hate you," she hugged the two swords like holding the most precious thing in the world. "Alright, let''s use this as a reward for anyone joining," Bloom said, yet she turned to him and red in a reprimanding way. "That''s not right," she returned to her seat, "these babies can''t be given to anyone!" "Didn''t you say yers would be crazy about these?" he couldn''t help but ask with a puzzled look. She nced at her swords before saying, "they will go nuts if they knew about such babies," she said and her words added more puzzlement to him and even Atnoan. "Then why not give them away?" Bloom asked to understand her conflicting words. "They are too precious to be given away simply and freely like that," she paused as she was thinking so seriously about this, "but we can announce them as final rewards, items being offered in our guild''s store to purchase." "Guild store?" Bloom muttered. "Any guild will have a private store in it," she exined, "and yers need to make contributions to get points, and use these points to buy items there." He finally understood her meaning, and so he nodded. "Sounds fine to me. We can use them to lure arge number of yers out." "Forget about normal yers, even those hidden masters will show up and be fighting to join our guild," she confidently said, "but I''ll need more of these. After all these two swords only satisfy the sword wielder yers." He understood her meaning before finally saying, "I''ll take screenshots and send them to you to use." "Sounds great," she said before suddenly turning to him, "do you have higher levels than this? C''mon, give me your best." He couldn''t help butugh when he heard her words and saw her greedy smile over her face. "What do you think I''m? Santa us? the owner of the game?" "Even the owner of the game can''t pull such gears out of my pockets," she said in envy, "how did you even get those?" "I was just lucky, that''s all," and heughed and said nothing about his secrets. Chapter 305: Regalis Fort Chapter 305: Regalis Fort She seemed not to buy his reason and he kept his in smile over his face. "Forget it, you''re already full of mysteries," she helplessly said. "I''m a reincarnated person after all," Bloomughed while saying the truth again. Yet again the two in front of him just shook their heads and didn''t believe him. "No problem Mr. big shot, at least you are on my side," Nara said, "and you''re my man," and she added in a tone that told him she didn''t get over Anna''s matter yet. "I''ve sent you the photos already," he said after taking screenshots of the information card of the gears he randomly selected in his inventory. "I''ll start now," she said before turning around, "won''t you invite me to lunch or something?" "Hahaha, sure." He called the waiter and the three started to eat their meals. They then got separated as the two left while he remained there. "I need to check that fort then," he opened his profile page and found a small icon there called yer owned territories. "It should be it," he selected it and found two things there. The fort and the guild. "So the guild progress bar says I have less than one month to build it," he muttered, "it seemed Anna still not moved to elerate it yet." He didn''t find any date there other than the remaining time for the building process to end. "As for the fort" he opened the fort page and then a very long page appeared next in front of his eyes. "Regalis fort: advanced fort at the outer border of the inner region of the battlefield: Grade gold advanced fort that covers the area of twenty miles radius. The fort is equipped with fifty defensive towers, thirty magic towers, advanced outer high stone wall with thirty meters height, intermediate middle stone wall with twenty meters height, basic inner stone wall with ten meters height. The ground around the fort is nted with dense traps for ground troops, and intermediate grade balloons for aerial defenses. There is a defensive river around the fort with four main gates and four dropped bridges. There are over a hundred catapults over the outer wall, fifty at the middle wall, and twenty at the inner wall. The outer zone contains twenty-five trabecaults, and the inner zone contains ten trabechaults. The fort lies at the intersection point of five main roads connecting the outer battlefield with the inner battlefield. Each road has three intermediate grade sentry posts as checkpoints, and there are three advanced sentry posts overseeing these in the end. The fort contains five big armories, twelve intermediate armories, and twenty-three small armories to serve the grand army inside. The fort contains many buildings including the following: Barracks: Ten advanced barracks, twenty-five intermediate barracks, and fifty small barracks. Market: Two advanced grade markets inside the fort and five basic grade markets at each main road. cksmith: Ten advanced cksmith stores, twenty intermediate cksmith stores, and forty basic cksmith stores. Gear stores: Twenty stores of various grades are there. Potion stores: Thirty stores of various grades are there. Scroll stores: five stores of various grades are there. Defense stores: Ten various stores of various grades are there. Attack stores: Twelve various stores of various grades are there. Fortress: One central basic grade fortress is situated on the top of the five main roads, connected with the fort by a broad segment of tenyered thick and high advanced walls. Leader''s mansion: situated at the inner zone of the fort. Civilian houses: the outer zone contains at least five thousand houses to amodate for the fort inhabitants. Mercenary guild: situated in the inner zone of the fort. Guild headquarter: has a ce in the outer zone of the fort but is still inactivated. Needs a yer with an official guild headquarter to be activated. yers affairs guild: one building in the inner zone of the fort. Arena: one massive building at the outer zone of the fort. Merchant guild: one building in the inner zone of the fort. Auction house: two houses are present there, one in each zone of the fort. Recruitment hall: five buildings at the head of each road. Fort specialty: Twenty percent boost in stats for defensive forces in a radius of ten miles around the fort. Fifteen percent boost in stats for attacking forces getting out from the fort. The forces need to spend at least an entire day inside the fort to gain the bonus. Thirty percent reduction in all stats for any enemy attacking the fort. Fifty percent increase in any gains of fight after victory. Twenty percent reduction in any losses for any troops belonging to the fort after death. Twenty percent instantpensation of any losses during any fight after the fight ends. Thirty percent increase in the spawning rate of instant dungeons in one hundred miles around the fort. Twenty-five boost to all stats to any team attacking any dungeon around the fort. Fifty percent increase in any crop yield in fifty miles around the fort belonging to the fort. Fifty percent increase in any ore extracted from one hundred miles around the fort. Ten percent boost in the number of caravans passing through the fort. Twenty percent boost in the number of NPCs asking to join the fort. Fifty percent increase in the number of goods offered in any store inside the fort. Twenty percent reduction in the cost for any building inside the fort. Thirty percent reduction of any building time inside the fort. One hundred percent increase in the number of avable to hire mercenaries at the mercenary guild. One day protective period is granted to the fort each week and can be triggered anytime from the central mansion or from the fort control panel. Please note: the fort ownership has been shifted to the yer recently and so the yer was granted one day of protection. There is still one day of protection left for yer to use during this week. Please note: this is an advanced fort and can ept dark and normal yers and NPCs. Please note: in case the yer is busy and can''t be stationed at the fort, the yer can appoint a yer or NPC to act as the fort chief inmand. Also this position can be granted to any yer or NPC to rule over the fortress." Chapter 306: Fighting At Two Fronts Is Really Hard Chapter 306: Fighting At Two Fronts Is Really Hard Bloom read this long list over and over again while feeling amazed by all this. "I now understand the reason for Sharel and her boss panic," he muttered before finding an option to check the current number of forces stationed in the fort by now. "Regalis fort military stats: number of total forces currently are five thousand armed men. The total capacity of the inner zone is twenty thousand men, and the total capacity of the outer zone is fifty thousand men. The total capacity of the fortress is ten thousand men, and the total capacity of the area around the fort and surrounded by the sentry posts is two hundred thousand men." "Damn!" he couldn''t help but suck cold air of breath, "how can I get such forces!" Yet this rmed him of another dilemma, the army that woulde at him wouldn''t be simple. "Such a fort must have been protected by a grand army," he thought before starting to explore more options. "Fort ie: the fort main ie is from two sources: the taxes over the passing goods and the goods sold inside and outside the fort through stores. The stores are all rented and they pay monthly rent directly to the fort plus twenty percent of the total ie of each store as taxes. The current wealth inside the fort: one hundred million dark points. Daily ie equals one million dark points, and the monthly rent equals one hundred dark points." "Fort expenses: the total expenses are calcted on a monthly basis. If the end of the month came and there wasn''t enough money there for the fort, the fort owner would gain five days'' allowance to pay the expenses or else the fort grade would be demoted one grade. The current expenses: seventy million dark points each month. To see the full expenses report please choose the corresponding icon." "Oh, they left this wealth behind," the eyes of Bloom shone before he realized the reason, "they never expected me toe for the fort, hahaha." He checked and there was still half of the month remaining. "If I can''t protect the fort then no need to care about the expenses," he started to check the mercenary guild for the prices of the dark forces he could hire. "This" he stopped in front of therge numbers in front of him, "is this a steal or what?" "Level fifty one thousand dark NPCs legion: costs one hundred thousand dark points each day." "Level sixty one thousand dark NPCs legion: costs one hundred and fifty thousand dark points each day." . . "Level one hundred one thousand dark NPCs legion: costs five hundred thousand dark points each day." "Damn! So to hire a thousand level hundred dark NPCs for a month then I''ll have to pay fifteen million dark points? Ten thousand will cost one hundred and fifty million dark points?!!" He was shocked by this simple math and suddenly he felt himself too poor. It''s a regret that I can''t take my fallen agents to the fort," he shook his head while recalling the very cheap price of these forces. "That exins why there are only five thousand men inside the fort at the moment," he realized the reason behind such a low number despite therge capacity of the fort itself. "I can''t let the fort be left unprotected like this what is this count down?" Suddenly he noticed a ck clock with a countdown for two days. "Is it for the war?" he chose it and instantly froze when he read the content. "Time left for the monthly monster tide is: one day, twenty-three hours, and fifty-two minutes." "Monthly monster tide?" he was amazed by this phrase and when he said the name a new window popped up in front of his face. "Monster tides: each fort in the battlefield will have to be challenged on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Each monster tide will bring different sizes of monster armies to the doorsteps of any fort. Prepare yourself big boy, as monsters don''t have a mind to reason with except with fists." "Monster tide one day after the fight with her that''s simply ridiculous!" Bloom was deeply shocked while thinking about what to do. "Monster tide on such a scale would be impossible to fight after such a brutal war," he thought before suddenly a solution popped up in front of him. "She doesn''t know about the monster tide at all," he didn''t notice the presence of that dark clock until minutes ago, "and that means I can trick her, right?" He hurriedly returned to the option of the protection granted for the fort and selected to activate it. "System alert: Regalis fort is already under one day protection. Does the yer mean to extend the duration for another day?" "Hahaha, sure, do it now," Bloom couldn''t help butugh before receiving the next system notification. "System alert: yer has less than two days for the monster tide. The protection period will just expire one hour before the start of the monster tide." "Hahaha, it''s simply perfect," he couldn''t help butugh when he read this alert. "Like this I cany out the perfect trap." He stillcked a lot to know about the fort and the real state of the battlefield. "Should I ask him then?" he thought of that stingy mayor before dropping the thought. "He would ask for more if I asked him to defend the fort with me." Bloom suddenly felt overwhelmed with all these tasks. "First thing first," he muttered to himself, "I''ll hire the mercenaries tomorrow just before the fight and now I should start amassing the gold coins for the war here." Having to fight on two fronts wasn''t something pleasant yet he felt blessed for being backstabbed by Sharel''s boss. Her greed helped to serve such a gold mine to him. "I have many ways to get ie from that fort," he thought about that crop bonus and ore bonus, "but first I have to make the fort in my possession for now." Chapter 307: Monster Tide Chapter 307: Monster Tide "I''ll first see the other towns," he took out a ticket to the tiger town, yet the next moment he received a system alert that made him bitterly smile. "System alert: yer is prevented from entering the tiger town by the orders of the mayor." "He is fast," Bloom couldn''t help but shake his head and then took out a random ticket to a town he never heard of its name before. "The white blossom town I hope it''s not filled with girls out there." The next moment he appeared in a wide za which was filled with many flowers and beautiful colored nts. He nced around and managed to see some yers moving around. "So yers got themselves here," he muttered before heading directly towards the front gate. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" All of sudden he heard these series of roarsing from the far front. "Damn! Bad timing then," he couldn''t help but shake his head and kept running towards the gate. When he arrived there he was weed with a grand scene of monster tide. "So they are skeletons," he muttered while noticing therge number of skeletons filling the entire horizon. "Even the main road is flooded with them," he hoped to get past them and enter the main road to start his n, yet his path now was blocked. "No option then but to crush this tide," the next moment he took a step outside the town gate. Other yers were shielding themselves inside the town, and he was the only yer standing outside. And that attracted the attention of many. "Step back yer," suddenly a giant NPC ran from the gate over a giant horse matching his body, "this isn''t a simple monster tide, it''s a punitive forceing from the monsters to hit here." "Punitive force?!!" Bloom was instantly shocked and his interest was piqued by these words, "what for?" he simply asked without decreasing his running speed at all. "They want to clear this town of mine," the NPC said and Bloom understood who he was. "They asked me to join them, but who has such a corrupted soul to follow their words?" Bloom felt somehow hesitant now after hearing those words. This mayor was on the opposite side of the Lion town mayor and his brothers. "I''ll help you then," Bloom said. "No need," the mayor said before pointing to the town walls where a giant crystal was brought there while they were speaking, "this is going to turn all of them weakened and my army can kill them without problems." Bloom nced at the crystal and couldn''t help but wonder in amazement: "Can it deter the monsters?" "Not that much," the mayor bitterly said, "after all it only can turn the monsters weaker through spreading the shining light all over the ce. This way the monsters won''t show their usual ferociousness and any kill will give gold coins and good gears in return to their dirty dark sand." The more this mayor spoke, the former Bloom joined the fight. "The more reasons for me to fight then," Bloom couldn''t help butugh. "Do as you wish then," the mayor then picked up speed and a grand army of NPCs numbered in thousands followed himing out of the town gates attracting Bloom''s attention. "He has a grand army," he couldn''t help but marvel at this army, "and they are all horsemen and looking strong." "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" Yet the next moment a mighty series of roars erupted from the monster''s side and Bloom noticed giant shaped skeletonsing fast from the horizon. "They also had such grand forces Damn! I want to turn them into my pets all of them!" Bloom didn''t hesitate anymore and started to elerate as well. The first sh was for the mayor and his mighty cavalry who managed to clear the frontal lines of the skeletons with much ease. Yet Bloom followed from behind and waited until the light of that crystal started to shine over the words. "It''s so warm," he couldn''t help but smile, "I love this crystal." The next thing he did was to take out his grand army of pets before raising his four swords and muttering: "Sword tornado!" The swords roared towards the skeletons and when they hit them, arge bang appeared and many skeletons started to be thrown off into the air like useless bags of sh*t. And such entrance of Bloom into the fight instantly attracted the attention of the mayor. "He is using dark monsters to fight dark monsters?!!" he couldn''t help but exim in surprise before sighing, "yers they are really the uing prodigy of our world." The mayor then turned to his men and started shouting at them, trying to push them further to crush more enemies. As for Bloom, he noticed the brief gaze from the mayor yet he wasn''t worried about him. "After all I''m here to help, and I believe you would need every help you need." As he expected, the mayor only kept ncing at him from time to time without doing anything to stop him. Just after the initial sh with the frontal skeletons, the charge speed of the cavalry was reduced too much by the dense numbers of the enemies they had to face. And gradually Bloom started toe closer to the ce of the mayor and his elite forces at the front. "These look much stronger than others," Bloom noticed that his swords started to be opposed greatly by the skeletons the deeper he marched. "Even their levels are getting higher," he shook his head as his swords stopped throwing monsters in the air a few minutes ago. "It''s time to amass more pets then," the next moment he threw his swords in the form of his tornado skill before taking out his bow and then sent many arrows all of sudden to those strong looking skeletons than others. And in no time many monsters paused after getting hit, turned around before roaring at their oldrades. And a massacre erupted. Chapter 308: Desperate Battle Chapter 308: Desperate Battle "He can turn them into his pets amazing yer!" the mayor couldn''t help but say. "He seems like those dark yers," one of the elites around the mayor said, "we should get rid of him." "Are you stupid?" the mayor shouted at once, "he is using the dark forces against each other. If he was one of them then he wouldn''t be killing them and saving our necks!" "But" the NPC looked hesitant, "he is still a dark yer!" "Dark or light yer who cares," the mayorughed, "as long as he puts his sword under my service then I''ll dly ept him." The mayor''s words were met by absolute silence while Bloom noticed the gazesing from the mayor''s group direction. "Are they thinking about hitting me or what?" he sneered, "anyway if they didn''t behave well then I won''t be polite either." As he went deeper and was now surrounded by far stronger monsters, he wasn''t worried about using one of his most lethal skills. "Shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment twenty-nine clones appeared around him, all were holding swords and the bow. "Go, grab yourselves pets and let''s go towards the distant fat meal." Bloom sat his gaze upon those gigantic skeletons moving still towards him. He wanted to turn as many of them into his pets as possible. "Let''s see so they don''t consume anything from my dark points amazing." He kept tracking his dark points wealth while his clones kept turning hundreds of monsters into their pets in no time. "But that means I won''t be able to hold these after they vanish," he understood the price he had to pay for that. "Alright, I should keep my boys behind theirs, after all their pets would eventually vanish alongside them," he started to order his pets to retreat slightly while his clones'' pets kept taking the pressure from the front. "He is strong," the mayor couldn''t help butugh, "he alone can face this army and crush them." The mayor''s words weren''t met by any agreement from his main warriors. After all they all despised anything rted to dark camp, yers or monsters alike. As for Bloom, he started to get deeper than the mayor and his forces. He was as the mayor described, one man army who couldn''t be stopped at all. He was surrounded with denseyers of pets which kept killing any skeletoning near them. "Go and grab any loot," he didn''t forget to order his clones to collect gold coins, gears, materials, and anything that would fall from these skeletons. And from what he could see, the amount of the loot falling off these monsters was simply huge. "Anything won''t be wasted," heughed while thinking of the huge money he wanted to amass, "at least I won''t lose much while not attacking any caravan in this town." He decided not to hijack any caravan here. He admired this town and he had other ns for it and its forces. In half an hour, Bloom finally got so close to these gigantic skeletons and could now see them clearly. They had thick ck bones with green luster around their bones. They were like gigantic Gms, with nothing else but brutal strength and very high defense as their main traits. Their heads were so big that they could crush the town gate alone if they pumped it into the gate directly. And they had a dozen thick and short legs that made their moves look strange to Bloom. "You are mine," Bloom didn''t even wait for these monsters to arrive as he started to reuse his bow once again. The first monsters he hit weren''t affected much, which startled him. "Damn! Bigger monsters need more arrows then? More dark points?" he didn''t stop releasing his arrows while counting the ones falling on each monster. "It''s ten then," after hitting each monster with ten arrows, it started to turn into his pet. "And each took twenty thousand dark points to turn not bad," he noticed how much these monsters took from his dark points wealth. "Let''s turn all into pets, all!" he didn''t hold back anymore and started to rain those close to the monsters with his arrows. Those turned into pets started to attack others around, stopping many from advancing. Yet some managed to bypass him and shed with his clones'' pets. "Damn! They are ferocious!" Bloom wasn''t worried or sad by this sh, instead he was excited. "Like this the fight at the fort would turn easier now," he couldn''t help butugh as he nned to use all these gigantic skeletons in the uing war of his fort. "Fan out your pets," he shouted as his clones, "don''t let a single gigantic skeleton bypass me!" Despite his strong movement, he was limited by the small area covered with his pets. These gigantic Gms were all over the battlefield, and that meant he would miss a lot of them if he didn''t stop them all. His bow worked like a machine gun, yet he was limited by the fact each monster needed ten arrows to be turned into a pet. Per his orders, therge army of pets started to spread fast, crushing many weak skeletons and getting crushed by those gigantic ones. Yet this move helped in stopping many in their tracks, and Bloom didn''t dy to send his arrows to turn them into his pets. "I need to run along the battlefield then," he noticed his arrows would take some time to crossrge distances and even many lost their momentum and couldn''t hit their marks. But when he nced around he knew such a task was slightly impossible now. He was literally in the heart of this grand army, surrounded by an endless stream of weak skeletons. "I can''t move freely then, what a regret," he shook his head while epting this result, "I hope I can get enough after this fight." As he stopped moving and focused on turning as many Gms into pets, the army of skeletons finally regained their momentum and shed with the far to the back mayor and his forces, and even started to attack the town walls. "Even with this crystal, fighting thisrge army seems hard," Bloom noticed the town walls getting some damage and even the gate seemed to be cracked under the relentless attacks of the skeletons. The town walls were filled with mostly NPCs and few yers. Despite all their efforts to kill the monsters, they couldn''t ovee therge numbering at the walls. "I hope you have another trick up your sleeve," Bloom turned towards the mayor who was very absorbed in killing everything around. He was courageous yet his courage alongside his elite cavalry seemed not enough at all. Chapter 309: Giving An Offer To The Mayors Chapter 309: Giving An Offer To The Mayors Just as Bloom was wondering about this, a loud shout came all of sudden from one direction that attracted his attention at once. "Reinforcements impressive," he muttered when he saw therge number of foot NPCs army that appeared from the main road of the town. "So they even cleared the rest of the monsters back there interesting." He knew that the road was now flooded with monsters and the arrival of that army meant only it wasrge and strong. "I like this mayor even more," he couldn''t help butugh. He turned towards the area of his own pets activity and started to move faster and in more enthusiasm. After all there was no worry at all of getting overwhelmed by these monsters and the town was safe. The fight kept raging wild for the entire four hours straight, during which Bloom kept consuming stamina potions like he was eating candies. And his forces kept grinding the monsters around relentlessly while the mayor''s forces kept killing those who reached the town walls. As for the reinforcements, as Bloom guessed they had a veryrge number exceeding ten thousand NPCs, and all seemed elite. They kept killing monsters from the front, and like this the three forces kept eating up anything thrown on their faces with zero risk on the main town. "Don''t leave a single thing behind," Bloom kept giving instructions for his clones to gather up everything. After the fight ended he stood in the middle of hisrge army surrounded with nothing but emptiness. And arge number of loot was still thrown on the ground and his clones were still working their asses to gather everything. "Sigh, if not for the time needed for this skill to be reused again, I would have gained all by now," he couldn''t help but mutter while ncing at the mayor who was nowing fast towards him. And he wasn''t alone, five more were running alongside him. "Make way for the mayor," he shouted and his pets instantly obeyed. "Impressive performance yer," the mayor suddenly said, "my Blossom town is indebted to you and your forces," he couldn''t help to nce at the dark pets all around before another mayor asked: "How can you get such monsters and be on our side?" "I''ve always hated the dark side," Bloom simply said in response, "and one has to adapt. At times of darkness it''s best to use their own weapons against them, right?" The other mayors exchanged nces in silence and no one said anything. They weren''t all eptable like the Blossom''s town mayor, and Bloom just needed this man to be on his side. "May I propose something?" he suddenly said and the eyes of the mayors nced at him while the Blossom town mayor said: "Anything, after all you are one of today''s heroes." "I can''t help but admire the grand army here," Bloom openly said without coating his words, "and I have a business proposal for all of you." "Business proposal?" one of the five mayors sneered, "you are speaking like someone who is about to go to war." "Indeed I''m," Bloom nodded, "and this war is very important. After all, I''ll fight against the dark side in their ownnds." The mayors exchanged nces filled with doubt and questions. "Can you borate further then?" the Blossom town mayor said, "don''t be afraid of anyone here, as you can see they all share the same goal as you, the same hatred towards the dark side." "Good, then I can speak freely," Bloom said as if he wasn''t doing that in the first ce, "I''ve got myself a fort in the battlefield, and I''ve got a big fighting up in two days." "F- Forte?!!" one of the mayors couldn''t help but exim in shock, "how can a yer like you obtain a fort at the outer battlefield so soon?" "No you are mistaken," Bloom shook his head, "it''s in the inner zone." "" "" "" All of them nced at him like they were eying a deadly monster. "This" the Blossom mayor didn''t hurry to respond while moving his nce over the other five, "it''s going to be a massive war, and we will lose a lot." One of the five mayors picked up the end of the line from him as he added, "and we have to know what''s there for us to participate." "Twenty percent of the fort," Bloom suddenly said, "for all of you, plus one seat in the main council of the forte representing your force." This time their shock was much deeper than before and even Bloom could see their agreement before even their tongues expressed it. "That''s truly a generous offer indeed," the Blossom mayor said but Bloom suddenly stopped him. "There''s another condition you need to know," he said, "I don''t want you to be lured and assume I tricked you." "What?" one of the mayors said, "I don''t care about anything as long as you stick to your words and sign a contract with us." "There is another war," Bloom suddenly said, "and this one is against one of the traitors." "Traitors?" the Blossom mayor asked in doubt. "Don''t tell me you think all the mayors here are on our side," Bloom said before adding, "I''ve caught a group of traitors and they are now arranging a big war against me in one week''s time." "Kid... Don''t think yourself the god of this world to judge others without clues," one of the mayors harshly said, before adding, "we all follow the sacred rules of the game, and you should do that as well." "And it''s the same system that asked me to do that," Bloom shrugged, "and I''m not charging others without evidence, I''ve already the needed evidence to convict them." "Then why didn''t you give it to the game and let our god punish them?" another mayor sneered. "The game asked me to fight them and win," Bloom sighed, "it all started with finding evidence and now I was asked to defend it and ended up having this big war." Chapter 310: Very Bad News Chapter 310: Very Bad News The mayors exchanged nces that told Bloom they didn''t believe him. "I can sign a contract with you with the condition that what I said is correct. If not, then you aren''t obliged to help." "Sounds fair," the Blossom mayor said while ncing at his friends who also nodded. "Let''s sign the contract then, I believe none has any objection." "He has to put the names of those mayors and let the system be the judge," one of the mayors stressed before his face turned savage the next moment, "if what you say is true then I swear all my forces wille to that war and kill everything in their way!" "I won''t tolerate any traitors," another mayor said, "or liars as well." Bloom didn''t take any offense while calmly watching them express all of their thoughts out loud. "Alright, you can devise a contract now and let''s sign it." "Here?" the mayor asked in surprise and much doubt. "As you can see, I''m a little busy man," Bloom couldn''t help butugh and the others smiled over his words. The mayor, whose name was revealedter in the contract to be Tony, made a contract and sent it to Bloom to sign. Bloom simply read it carefully before signing his real name on it. "Bloom?" All of sudden the look over the mayors'' faces changed yet the next moment their faces turned more funny. "He wasn''t lying," one mayor sighed, "but that means" he nced at them and they all nodded in agreement with slightly dark faces. "What''s wrong?" Bloom decided on a whim to use his real name here, but it seems these mayors had already heard his name before. "It''s just the situation is far worse than you might think," Tony couldn''t help but shake his head, "and as our god confirmed the truth of your words and the contract became active, that means the list of traitors is much longer than you think." "List of traitors wait a second, does that bastard issue a call to all the NPCs here or what?!" Bloom wasn''t stupid and he understood what they were talking about. "He did," Tony nodded, "and to be frank he doesn''t have that much of a capital to summon anyone, but one of our big names here stood up and held the g to fight you man, you have attracted the attention of a main city magistrate in your kingdom." Bloom''s face turned instantly unsightly when he heard that. "Damn!" he even cursed aloud, "that game does it want to f*ck me or something?!!" "Hahaha, you look like you stirred a ho nest my interesting friend," Tony couldn''t help butugh, "but don''t be so dejected, we still have a way to bnce things out." "Like what?" Bloom inly said, "you just said it, a main system army ising and that means higher levels and much stronger elites. Hell I won''t exclude bringing out main siege weapons and everything they could use to demolish my town to the ground!" "Hahaha, yeah I bet you are right," Tony was in another level of mood than Bloom, which annoyed thetter for a moment, "but for your knowledge, he isn''t the only one with connections to the main cities here." His words made Bloom pause while noticing the confident smiles over the faces of the other mayors. Yet as his hopes were revived, they were instantly mmed to the deepest abyss when he realized something. "How much?" he couldn''t help but ask. "Y''know, calling off such people would cost a little fortune without doubt," Tonyughed more when he saw the funny look over Bloom''s face. "How much then?" Yet Bloom repeated his question, despite knowing the answer. "That will cost you some shares of your little fort," Tony said, "even I doubt this would excite anyone of those monsters to move ande to your aid," he added when he noticed the discontent look over Bloom''s face. "Then what can move them?" "Something to add to their powers and prestige," Tony thought for a moment before adding, "do you have such a thing?" "Hmm" Bloom didn''t think much before adding, "I have something that might get them interested." "What is it?" "The head of dark forces leader," Bloom said, "alongside their of that dirty local leader of the dark forces around my kingdom and a couple others None other than Mordon." His words made the faces of the mayors change once more. "Damn kid, how many secrets do you keep in that little mind of yours?!" Tony couldn''t help but exim in shock, "how in hell have you known about that man in the first ce?" "Is he that famous?" Bloom cracked a wide smile that instantly froze everyone''s faces. "You don''t know who he is?" one of the mayors said in deep shock, "how can you offer his head if you don''t know about him?" Bloomughed as he had already a simple n to use. "I have a way to lure this dirty man out of hisir." "You Do you know whom we are speaking about here? It''s Mordon! One of the four lords of the dark forces, the entire dark forces!!" Tony even shouted while saying these words. "And what if he was one of the lords?" Bloom sneered despite admitting to himself his shock about how high that Mordon seemed in this world, "the mightier he is the better for my n." "" The mayors all gave him silent nces and not knowing what they should say. "I need more concrete proof for what you say," Tony couldn''t help but jump over his shock and express his doubts, "even I am too suspicious about your bragging words." Bloom nced at them while knowing they had a point here. "I have an item," he said, "I suppose it''s something he held dear to his heart." "What item?" Tony wasn''t impressed, "I need more info, or else I won''t be able to convince a mere NPC in the cities to help." "Have you ever heard about Dorfomis monster?" Bloom calmly said while using hisst chip to save everything. "Sure, who doesn''t," one of the mayors said, "It was such a deadly dark monster that took an entire coalition of kingdoms and two empires to crush it atst after losing so much." "It''s a very known terrifying tale we used to hear when we were kids," Tony nodded in agreement. "But what''s that have to do with our cause?" "I have part of its skeleton," Bloom said before throwing the next bomb, "and this part came from no one but Mordon." And they all nced at him like they were eyeing a monster. "I need to see it," Tony said in hesitation. "I can''t," Bloom shook his head, "after all this little treasure of mine would bring more harm to your town and to me." "Mordon doesn''t know you have it?" one of the mayors asked. "I bet he does, after all he gave it to that dirty mayor." "That exins everything then" Tony muttered while others whispered, "but I have to get real evidence for such an unbelievable piece of info or else I wouldn''t seed in my task." Bloom simply thought before asking, "can you message me?" "You mean like yers do to each other?" Tony said, "in fact this is a blessing you only have." "I mean like using the contract to get contact with each other," Bloom recalled how he was able to chat with Sharel, "can we do this through our current contract?" "In theory" Tony nced at the other mayors around, "it might work but we never tested it before." "Then try it now," Bloom shrugged, "I know it can work. I''ve already tested it." At this point the mayors didn''t show any signs of being amazed by anything he would say or do. After all, he already proved how extraordinary a yer he was from before. Chapter 311: Hijacking Caravans Chapter 311: Hijacking Caravans "It worked!" Just as Tony tried, the message was sent to Bloom who smiled and said: "I told you, now I''ll send you the screenshot of that piece," he didn''t dy and took a screenshot of the skull and sent it to Tony. And the next thing was for his face to change, alongside the faces of other mayors as well. It seemed he passed the image and they all got deep shock from what they saw. "You are good," Tony couldn''t help but shake his head, "I''ll pass the words then. Hopefully some would be interested in such an offer." "I bet some will," Bloom firmly said, "now I''ll leave here. Our next meeting will be in less than two days for the fort war." "We''ll be ready," Tony said, "and I''ll keep you posted about any news regarding the other fight." "Thanks," Bloom used a random ticket before vanishing from the ce, leaving the stupefied mayors behind. "This yer isn''t simple at all," one mayor sighed. "At least he is on our side," Tony took a deep breath, "in the uing turbulent times we''ll be blessed to have more yers like him." Bloom appeared in a new town. "The dreatos town hmm" he muttered while ncing around. The town had more yers than the Blossom town, and that made him quite hesitant to go out. Yet after an hour of walking in the town, he didn''t find anything suspicious except for the news regarding the weak tides attacking this town. "Sigh, traitors are everywhere here," he couldn''t help but sigh before heading towards the main road of the town. "Let me check the quests I finished before." He had seeded in some of his quests but not all, which made him miss the grand prize given by the system. "At least I got more dark points and agents," he said to himself after reading all the alerts regarding the previous sessful missions. "Sigh, I missed two quests from before thanks to that bastard," he closed the quest page after assigning a hijacking quest to himself, "if everything went ording to the n, then I would have seeded in all." The interruption of the mayor to his ns cost him losing the shrine quests. There were shrine elders inside that mansion, but he was cornered by the sudden actions of the mayor back then. "At least I got what I wanted in the end," he tried to cheer up, "and now I have to gather more coins from these caravans." As he nced at the map he found ten caravans going to and fro from the town. "No time to waste, I''ll hit thoseing here before hunting down those leaving." He moved fast towards the nearest caravan. Each caravan here had one hundred NPCs, but for him he knew this was nothing to worry about. "Dash!" "Sword tornado!" "Dash!" "Stab!" "Slice!" As he attacked the first caravan, he started to use his skills first before hitting everyone. "Come forth," he hurriedly summoned his grand army of pets. And facing those high leveled pets against the forcibly lowered NPCs levels made the battle turning into a massacre. "Hit those stunned and those I''m fighting only," he warned his pets as his title effect was only limited by these conditions. In less than three minutes he managed to kill everyone. "At least I got good horses," he nced at the tokens residing in his inventory, "I hope to find a way to extend them for more than one day." He knew how different having horses would make in any fight. He knew he would have some ready to use at that uing war, but he was still slightly dejected when he thought about their short expiration period. "All cleared," he didn''t hesitate to clear everything, even leaving all the dead NPCs naked. "They are reacting slower than expected." He nced at the map and found the town guards still confined inside the town. "Or they don''t care about the hijacking here?" He didn''t think much about the reasons. After all, the more they dy the better. "Last time I left in a hurry, but not this time," he muttered after opening thest chest and taking everything inside his inventory. "I''ll kill anyone sent to stop me." Last time he didn''t have a high level or such arge number of clones and pets. So he decided no matter who would be sent after him, none would return alive. "The chests in the town stage are very rich in coins and materials," he said after attacking the third caravan. Each chest he opened gave him fifty thousand coins at least with many materials that reached in hundreds. "Finally they moved," he noticed the appearance of red dots moving out from the town, "around two hundred they are underestimating me." He didn''t hesitate to jump over his horse and let it gallop the distance between him and the next caravan. "After this all that remains is those leaving the town I hope they will give me more gears than coins." Despite hisints his inventory was now about to get filled with level fifty to seventy-five gears. He just wanted more, as gears were more profitable to him than coins or materials. His attack was usually fast. He never aimed to kill, but he kept any NPC under the constant effect of his title as long as possible. With therge number of pets he had, the killing speed was simply inhuman. But that didn''t go off without some losses from the pets or even from him. "Gallop those staff holders are the nastiest faction here in the game," he bitterly said while watching his HP rising fast after taking that Hp potion. "I''ll need to restock before going to that battle no, I should restock after clearing this ce." He used five potions so far, as those spells used by staff holders always were the hardest to evade and caused many damage to him and his forces. "They''re all almost here," just as he cleared the fifth caravan, he found the red dots were almost upon him. "Time to y seriously then," he stopped clearing the loot around and moved his horse to the direction of the town. "Stop right there!" "Arrest him!" "He is just a single man, don''t let him escape!" "Leave the dark monsters and aim for their master." As he moved calmly to the front with therge number of pets, two hundred riders appeared with many shouts from far. "Comee closer my sweet fat sheep," Bloom said in a very calm domineer, and even his eyes shed with greed, e and give me more gears and wealth shade doppelganger festival!" Finally the skill he saved all this time for them was used. The next moment twenty-nine clones appeared and the next moment he took out enough horses for their numbers. "Attack whoever we all hit," he shouted at the pet army behind, "leave none alive!" And the next moment a brutal fight erupted between the two sides. Chapter 312: A Ban Is Issued Against Bloom Chapter 312: A Ban Is Issued Against Bloom "Dash!" "Dash!" The first skill he used and other clones was dash. This helped in eliminating almost half of the entire uing forces out of the game in no time. Those sent to fly with this charge were instantly hunted down by the pets. In the short seconds of the stun effect, those NPCs were killed and removed from the entire battle. "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" And like hungry wolves the rest were hit by his stabs and his clones followed suit. To those watching this strange fight they would be instantly shocked to see Bloom leading his forces and simply swapping across all the iing NPCs and killing them in less than a minute. "Clear everything and make sure not to leave a single scrap of gear behind." As he returned to his horse, he started to give orders. His clones had less than ten minutes of time left and he intended to swap everything here before leaving. His clones moved and cleared everything fast, sending everything they got to him. As he stored the gears inside, cleared all the boxes and loot from the caravan, he turned his steed towards the direction of the next caravan. "Charge!" He shouted in excitement while watching the town closely through the map. Nothing showed off until he crushed three more caravans using the great advantage of horses and the effect of his clones. The three caravans he hit were luckily clustered close to each other, heading slowly outside the town. Yet now the remaining three were much farther from him while the forces of the town seemed to grow angry and this time a great force of almost five hundred horsemen rode out from the town. "It''s time to retreat then," he didn''t follow his greed and took every single pet away before taking a ticket and using it. As he appeared in a new town za, he didn''t hesitate to move fast towards the nearest hotel. "My inventory is full, damn I left over thirty good pieces back there lying on the ground." This time he was very pained by this loss and decided not to act again until he cleared most of his inventory and turned all the gears inside into his wealth. "A room please," as he reached the hotel, he hurriedly ordered a room there. "Mr. Dockrey the fool I''m sorry but your name is tagged red in my system." Suddenly this NPC said in a way that startled him. "What does this even mean?" he couldn''t help but ask in doubt. "That means an order of ban is issued from our mayor to you," the NPC helplessly said, "I can''t reserve a room for you, and you need to leave the town fast before the mayor hears about your presence and issues an order of arrest." Bloom was speechless before leaving. "How can this happen?" he opened the great map of the game world and suddenly got the answer instantly there. "So all the towns inside this dirty kingdom will follow the orders of that jerk?" he couldn''t help but sneer, "then I''ll make sure that every single town here is treated properly by my generosity," heughed while walking directly towards the main road taking him out of the town. This town lies in the same kingdom as the town of Anna''s uncle. That exined why his identity had such a ban, and he was lucky it wasn''t an order of arrest. "Yet I need to be ready for such a thing as well," he thought and decided not to move to any town without having his trump cards ready to use. Even if the entire town decided to attack him, he would crush that town''s forces and escape unscathed. "And now let''s take care of the gears first." As he went to a spot far from the town, with no one around to spy or interrupt him, he took a hide behind arge rock and started to demolish gears one by one. "Fifty thousand coins one hundred thousand coins five hundred thousand coins two million coins" his wealth kept swelling up and he kept tracking it. And his face showed how excited he was right now. "This" he nced in deep shock at his current wealth that exceeded six million gold coins, "but not enough," he shook his head as he nned to amass at least twenty million coins. "System alert: the Forgade town mayor has issued a warrant of arrest. If you are spotted anywhere near the town territory you''ll be hunted down by the forces of the town and detained inside the prison." "System alert: the warrant of arrest is issued against all of the yer''s identities. A suspicious act from such a neutral mayor, but without any hard evidence the game can''t step in and punish him." Suddenly he received these two strange notifications that made him puzzled for a moment. He hurriedly opened his map and found many red dots leaving the town in a hurry, all were heading towards his current direction. "So you want to y dirty," he hesitated before deciding to bring the fight to their doorsteps. "But first let me crush those flies first." He counted almost two hundred riders and three hundred footmening out of the town. "It''s arge army meant to defend the town but they aren''t that big to stop me." He closed the map before taking out his horse and instantly darted to the opposite direction of the town. He didn''t n to run away, but to fake it so they would grow restless and be separated apart. "Divide and conquer that''s what wars should be all about," he stopped at the end of the road where the open world was lying behind. "Come forth," he didn''t hesitate to take out all his pets, even the dark agents he rarely used recently were taken out. "Listen up," he shouted before adding in a strong tone, "we''ll fight a hard one now. Thoseing are much stronger and far higher in level than yours, so make sure to attack those sent to fly by my swords." Chapter 313: Attacking The Forgade Town Chapter 313: Attacking The Forgade Town He opened the map and checked the status of his enemies. "As I thought, they grew restless there," he couldn''t help but sneer as he noticed the initial five hundred men force got segmented into ten waves, each containing around fifty NPCs. And they were running so close to each other and him. "That''s for the best, I should move and sweep all of them on one full charge," heughed while closely calcting the time. "Come forth my valiant killers shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment twenty-nine clones appeared. He prepared enough horses for them and even for his dark agents and dolls as well beforehand. His inventory had hundreds of such horses now, and in no time he had a cavalry force that could rival any army in any town. "Charge!" he simply pointed his sword to the front while a small dust cloud was approaching him fast. "Make sure not to fall behind," he said to his pets and they simply roared. Then he moved. "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" "Stab!" He only used his stab skill when he hit the iing seventy riders. They were instantly sent to fly under the effect of his skill, and then the massacre started. Despite the limitation of his title to his and his clones skills only, those NPCs didn''t have any chance at all as every time they tried to stand up, they were sent to fly again and mercilessly hunted down by hungry pets. "Next," as this wave was killed swiftly in less than a minute, and after taking all the gears off them he pushed forward towards the close by force. "Next." "Next." "Charge forward!" "Don''t let them escape!" "Press harder!" He kept crushing one wave after another. The nasty horsemen were killed first and by their loss, the town lost its greatest weapon against him. And then what remained were those footmen and they weren''t that threatening like the riders. "System alert: the Forgade town mayor is furious with the news of his losses. He sent for reinforcements and if the yer didn''t directly attack town in the next five minutes, the town would be swarmed with arge number of NPCs." "System alert: the Forgade town mayor has activated a local ban over the town. No one can use a ticket to get out of the town during the next hour." "Oh so it''s a hit or run then," Bloom muttered before taking out a ticket whileughing, "Boys, clear up the ce and let''s attack the big shot next." He watched his clones clearing everything before he received the loot and his pets. He knew he would be alone inside the town if he went now, but his clones still had less than two minutes of time left. "Move towards the town and hit it," he ordered before activating the ticket and saw a sh of light appearing next. After clearing all the enemies who came out of the town, he knew the town was now defenseless. "So it worked," heughed when he appeared in the town za before a series of system notifications came in his face. "System alert: yer has entered a hostile town. The mayor has been rmed by your arrival and he is notifying the guards to capture and kill you." "System alert: yer is branded as the enemy of the Forgade town by its mayor. So the yer is free to use any forces under his possession without restraints." "System alert: One kill here will make the yer revive inside the prison, so the yer must be sure not to die." "System alert: Killing the mayor will turn the town headless and the yer will gain ess to the main vault of the town mayor mansion and all the vaults of the stores inside the town." "System alert: the Forgade town mayor just asked for reinforcements. Time for reinforcements arrival is four minutes and forty seconds. yer can deactivate this order by attacking anything in the town during that time." "Thanks generous system," Bloomughed before waving his hand and the next moment his pets appeared. "Attack everything around," he simply ordered while walking leisurely towards the direction of the town mayor. In the system map, every single guard was marked in red, while the mayor was marked in ck. "So there are less than one hundred guards in the entire town? That''s amazing!" Just as he walked a couple of meters, one of his pets attacked one building in the za, instigating a system alert to arrive next. "System alert: yer has attacked the Forgade town officially. A lock down is issued over the entire town. Other than guards, no NPC is allowed to attack the yer. No one is allowed to leave the town until this war is over. The only way for any reinforcements to arrive is through the town gate." "System alert: the Forgade town mayor has opened the gates of the town and is praying for the arrival of the reinforcements fast." "Hahaha, keep dreaming bastard," Bloomughed while walking through one of the main streets here. "No one ising through these doors except for my boys." In the map he saw twenty-nine green dots approaching the main gate fast from the main road. They were his clones and they wereing so close to the town using the speed of their horses. "It''s a loss that their time is limited," he shook his head while walking in the town like a king. "Dash!" The next moment he moved to hit one guard who wasing alone from the direction of the mayor''s mansion. That poor NPC didn''tst long in his hands, and just as he cleared his gears off, another system notification appeared. "System alert: reinforcements arrived! They belonged to the attacking yer and not the defending mayor. Those reinforcements will remain alive until the end of the war, the kill of the mayor or the yer, or the death of any of them." "Yeah!" Bloom yelled in celebration, "I love you, I really love this game, hahaha." Chapter 314: The Fight Over The House Chapter 314: The Fight Over The House This alert made Bloom more confident in his ability to crush this town. He knew if he gave this mayor time then he would bring an enormous army he couldn''t stand against. Yet his timely arrival here and sealing the entire town helped him greatly. "Dash!" he moved to send one guard flying before killing him. "Hahaha, this is a very interesting situation," heughed while hitting another guard and killing him. Every single guard he killed was stripped naked off his gears. "The mansion is less than five minutes away what the f*ck!" Just as he was doing fine and he was pretty much sure his clones were doing the same, arge circle suddenly appeared on top of the entire town. "Damn! Such a grand skill this must be a scroll or something!" He felt threatened and suddenly his previous confidence mmed to the bottom of the ground and was smashed into tiny pieces. "I need to hurry," he started to run, evading all the NPCsing at his path as much as he could. "This won''t work," just as the ck circle above intensified in color, he started to realize how impossible it was to move towards the mansion in time. "What is that?" as the color of that circle deepened, he suddenly noticed many void ces inside it. "Are these the buildings here?" He spotted simr shapes of the buildings around on that far circle up above. "So they can''t attack the buildings here," this realization made him dart at once towards the nearest building and close the door behind. It was a normal house for residents here. As he entered, he found threedies standing in doubt in one corner while they held swords in their shaky hands. "Stay out you filthy intruder!" one of them shouted and instantly he received a system message. "System alert: yer has been expelled outside the house. yer has less than a minute to either make those owners ept his presence or take control of the house before being expelled outside." Bloom moved his gaze fast and spotted a fraction of that threatening circle above the town. "It''s about to hit in a minute or two," he muttered and realized there was no time to go outside and search for more kind and weing hosts. "Sorry," he honestly said before pointing his sword and using his dash skill to send one of thedies off the ground, hitting the distant wall and mming heavily on the ground. "Slice, stab, stab, stab, slice," as for the other two, he started his own barrage of attacks. He knew they weren''t a match for him and they also realized this fact. Yet he had no other choice here and they forced his hands. In less than half a minute he killed the three of them before a system notification came. "System alert: yer gained control over the house and now he became the owner of it." Just before he could heave a sigh of relief, another notification kicked in. "System alert: yer''s actions here have been reported to the mayor. The mayor is sending a punitive force to retrieve the house now. Be ready!" Just as he read this alert, the door of the house mmed open and three guards stepped in. "No problem then," Bloom sneered before weing those three shield bearers with his swords and sent them flying off. Yet just as he hit them, more started to enter the house, and the ce started to look crowded. "Damn it! sword tornado!" He didn''t hesitate to use his strongest skill to clear the entire ce off the guards. They either were sent to fly to the walls or even went outside the house through the door. And he didn''t wait for his swords to return back as he took two more and kept stabbing and slicing his fallen enemies. "Rumble!" All of sudden and while he was busy dealing with those seemingly endless guards, the entire world around rumbled and the lights even faded away. And then it looked like an apocalypse befell this town, mming heavily on the entire town with a dominant ck thunder thick tongues that kept dancing and thundering all over the streets. All the guards were hit and suddenly their actions seemed to be decreased. The numbering through the door went down, but they never stopped appearing there. "So it can affect them slightly, but won''t kill them," he muttered, "not bad." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." . . "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by lightning and killed." Twenty-nine alerts raced in front of his face, making him grit his teeth in frustration. "I didn''t even enjoy ten minutes of their aid yet damn!" He wanted to summon more and form a grand army of his clones. Per the system alert from before, his clones weren''t limited by any time during the fight here. But now he was forced to lose his biggest aiders from the beginning. As for his pets, he hurriedly recalled them before entering the house. "It''s good that I recalled them," he muttered while knowing now the reason behind all thisrge gush of NPCs towards the house. "Let it be a ughter house for all of you then," he ruthlessly said before waving his swords towards the uing enemies and waiting for his main skills to cool down. "Dash!" "Dash!" "Sword tornado!" As time passed, the entire world kept dimming while the shes of his skills kept the ce enlightened. Strangely the skill used here kept wreaking havoc for five minutes straight before finally the light shone again on this town. "Finally it''s over," Bloom took a deep breath before checking on the house around. He killed almost half of the entire guards in the town during these minutes, and now there was no oneing at him. Chapter 315: The Lunatic Group Of NPCs Chapter 315: The Lunatic Group Of NPCs Yet just when he was taking off all the gears and loot, a system notification kicked in, giving him an instant scare. "System alert: yer''s actions have enraged the mayor and turned him mad! The mayor is using a forbidden dark scroll to destroy everything in the town. yer has less than five minutes to act or else the scroll will be activated and the town would be destroyed." "Damn!" he hurriedly moved outside and nced at the sky of the town. There he foundyer uponyer of dense circles taking form slowly. "That man does he lose his mind or what?" Bloom didn''t know what to do except to summon his clones. The moment they appeared he pointed to the dead bodies around as he shouted: "Clear the ce and hurry after me." He literally jumped out of the door and started to run as fast as he could. "They all are gathering up at the mansion I''ming you bastard," he cursed out loud while recalling all his pets once more. As he kept summoning his army, the final encounter drew near while he kept racing time to reach the mansion. In less than two minutes he got himself to the mansion. The ce wasn''t looking neat and nice like any other mansion he saw before, but it was covered with dense numbers of guards and even some siege weapons were there. "Ballistae damn!" he cursed the moment he spotted the three small towers hastily built behind the wall of the mansion with three big ballistae stationed on top of them. "I shouldn''t waste more time then," he moved his nce and finally found his target. That mayor stood in the middle of a dense group of strong looking NPCs, while holding arge scroll in his hands and reading in extreme concentration and utmost devotion. "He is going to kill everyone," Bloom shouted from afar, "he is going to destroy the entire town with its people!" He tried to instigate the doubt between the ranks of the guards, yet the next moment strong bolts of arrows answered him. The guards released the ballistae and hit the frontal monsters galloping fast towards the mansion. The arrows roared before mming heavily in their bodies, fixing them to the ground motionless in a sudden impact. "Damn you all this town is full of lunatics!" Bloom screamed in rage before moving his eyes around. "No other way then," he knew he had only one chance to use it. The time left was less than three minutes, and that crazy mayor and lunatic guards were thest thing standing between him and his win. If he lost he would lose everything, this precious chance and his previous quest of staying alive. "Loss isn''t an option," he muttered before shouting all of sudden, "form a giant meat shield up front, let''s m heavily over that bastard''s ce." The pets roared and moved to follow his orders, yet the deadly arrows kept raining fast and cleaving more of their lives. Bloom pained to see many of his hard earned pets fall, but he had a precious trophy waiting up ahead for him. And he sat his gaze and fixed it over this trophy. "Just wait you bastard I''ll show you how foolish it was to force my hand." The pets kept pushing forward, and despite the fall under the deadly ballistae arrows, they finally managed to reach the wall. There was a tight group of guards standing between them and the wall. Bloom knew if left alone, his monsters wouldn''t be able to rival the monsters for so long. "Go and help them," he shouted at his clones. The clones moved without fear of any death while mming directly onto the thickyer of the guards using their dashes. "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by an arrow and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by an arrow and killed." "System alert: yer''s clone has been hit by an arrow and killed." Just as they were doing their best, the ballistae kept harvesting their lives. "I won''t let this continue forever," Bloom suddenly started to elerate before shouting all of sudden, "duck!" The group of monsters lying in front of him all bowed their bodies and ducked. The next moment he jumped over one of their bodies before jumping off to another and another. The nearby wall was getting closed while he kept jumping right and left, evading some of the deadly arrows barely in time. "Sky piercer!" Just as he reached the end of his pets, he didn''t dy to use his movable skill and jump so high in the air. His body flew for three meters directly crossing over the wall. "Swoosh!" Yet the moment he reached the wall he didn''t hesitate to push his leg hard against it, jumping a few meters in the air and timely evading three darting bolts of arrowsing from the three towers. Then hended and started to run fast! "Hawk skill!" Just as hended and started running, he didn''t forget to activate his second movable skill. His body jumped two times in the air, changing his trajectory with each jump, evading the arrows thrown on his face. "Dash!" And finally as he got so near one of the towers, he didn''t hesitate to use his final trump card andnded heavily like thunder on top of the three guards standing on top of the tower. "Stab, stab, stab," he didn''t hesitate to use his sword to hit everyone there and sent them flying, falling heavily off the tower. "My turn Sword tornado!" He shouted in viciousness before sending off his four swords flying directly towards the mayor. Yet the NPCs around jumped like maniacs to shield the mayor off the swords, taking the entire toll off their crazy mayor. "And it''s your turn bastards," Bloom didn''t nce for a single second over the mayor''s direction and totally trusted his swords to keep them busy. He grabbed the handle of thatrge ballista and pointed it fast towards the other two towers. Then he pressed the trigger. Chapter 316: Killing All To Gain Town Wealth Chapter 316: Killing All To Gain Town Wealth The arrows howled towards the two towers without warning while the NPCs there were shocked by this. They thought Bloom would just jump off the tower after clearing it ande after them. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Despite concentrating their fires over him, the surprise attack paralyzed their minds and made them unable to adapt. The next moment the two towers were badly hit and all the NPCs over them were deeply hurt before falling off the towers. Then the two towers got their upper parts smashed into smaller pieces and crashed from all this distance down the ground. "Your turn now," Boom didn''t celebrate as he knew his main target was still alive. That was thanks to the sacrifices of his men. But now Bloom added one more lethal weapon to the mix. "Die you bastard!" Bloom pressed the trigger while shouting in rage. The arrowsnded from such close distance and high up position upon the head of the mayor and his men. And in no time therge number of NPCs got smashed into shreds, being fixed to the ground unable to move a muscle anymore. "Damn you!" the mayor cursed yet the arrows came faster than his activation of the scroll. Alongside the roaring swords of his skill, the body of the mayor turned into a honeb. "System alert: yer managed to dispel the scroll." "System alert: yer killed the mayor." "System alert: the mayor has a revival token and will be revived in one hour." "System alert: as long as a single force belonging to the mayor is still standing, the town won''t be crushed." Bloom listened to these alerts while feeling a faint anger and no surprise. He already suspected the mayor''s association with the dark side. The abnormal monster tide from before and his strange reaction to his attacks over the caravans raised many doubts inside his mind. Yet hecked any evidence to condemn the mayor and gain one more soul to increase his rewards. "Time to clear the town then," he threw all that behind his back and started to point the ballista towards the ground guards and then fired. The guards went helpless in front of this dual assault. They first tried to regroup and retreat away but Bloom never let them do what they wanted. "Press forward," he shouted, "use everything to stop them!" He shouted at his clones and they just used the same tactic he used before to bypass the walls. Then they dashed over their targets and caused enough ruckus to the guard ranks. "Jump over!" he shouted and his pets started to ignore the gate and the walls before mimicking him and his clones. Then the fight turned into a simple massacre. With him high in the air, and with such a brutal weapon in his hand no single guard managed to escape this ughterhouse alive. "Good," he nodded before opening his map and started to scan the entire town for any remaining hostiles. "Five at the northern gate ten running at that street" he started to count the remaining forces. They were scattered and he knew they wouldn''t regroup. After all, as long as one person was still standing off the guards, he wouldn''t gain full control over the town. "Take a hundred monsters and go in that direction," he started to shout at the remaining clones alive. He sent them into five different directions to kill the remaining fifty or something guards around the town. "I can''t leave you baby behind," he finally had time to pay over the big ballista. "I will store you inside," he tried to move it inside his inventory yet he received a system message. "System alert: yer can''t store full size ballista in his inventory." "System alert: yer has to disassemble it to store it." "Hmm let''s see," he wasn''t well aware of how ballistae were assembled in this game but he simply followed any movable part and broke it apart fast. Then he put each part inside his inventory and he finally seeded. "Now it''s only the problem of arrows," he nced at the small tubes around and found a few arrows left there to be used in the ballista. The ballista he got had a ce to put these cylindrical tubes inside andunch arrows fast towards any target. He saw how lethal these arrows were, and having such a weapon with not enough arrows was a dilemma to him. "The other ballistae," his eyes suddenly shone before hurrying to climb down the wooden tower. Then he jumped off towards the ce of the damaged towers. "Sigh, they got broken," he first examined the two ballistae and found many pieces smashed, yet others were intact. "Not a waste," he stored them at once before checking what he initially came here for. "That''s better," he grinned while storing away all the tubes he found. The tubes were made of special ore and they luckily didn''t get damaged. "And you as well," he also took the empty tubes with no arrows inside. "I would see someone putting arrows in there." As he finished clearing the ce, he opened the map again and found three out of five hostile dots being wiped out. "Only two remained," he sighed, yet kept checking the map. He could move personally to kill them but that would consume more time. Plus he was quite sure the main vault of this town was located in the mayor''s mansion. "Should I stay and kill him then?" he wondered but he knew after gaining the vault and the treasures from this town, there was no other reason for him to stay. "C''mon, only one left to kill." After ten minutes, the entire guards were killed and only one group of twelve remained. This group was situated at the far end of the town, and he knew his men would take a longer time to reach there. Yet in another fifteen minutes his forces managed to wipe them out. "Yeah," he screamed in joy before a series of long notifications came next. "System alert: yer has killed all the loyal guards of the mayor." "System alert: yer gained full ess to the town, and now he could simply select either to take the riches off the vault and store now or wait forter." Chapter 317: Running Away Chapter 317: Running Away "System alert: the mayor has thirty-two minutes left to resurrect. Once resurrected he could bring one third of his initial forces back from death using one of his rings." "System alert: if the mayor or one of his forces is revived, the yer will lose his control over the town and the yer has to kill everyone again." Bloomughed before saying, "give me all, empty everything and bring all the riches to me." "System alert: yer has chosen to empty the town vault and his share of the town stores now." "System alert: Does the yer want to withdraw goods or their equivalent gold values from the stores?" "Hmm let it be the goods," Jim muttered before the next moment he watched all his inventory slots were filled. "System alert: yer''s inventory can''t take anymore. The rest of the goods are turned into gold coins." "System alert: the vault is full of many goods, does the yer want to turn them all into coins or decide to carry the vault away with him?" Bloom paused for a moment before regretting the decision of filling his inventory with potions, scrolls, and materials. He nced at the time and found that five minutes had already passed and the mayor would be revived soon. "Screw it, I won''t let my big trophy turn into worthless gold," he knew that the vault must have valuable items, things money couldn''t buy easily in the game. "Bring me the vault, I''ll take it with me," he said before taking out one ticket. Yet another system smashed into his face, making him startled while a giant vault made out of special ore appeared floating a couple of meters above the ground. "System alert: the ban on the town is still effective. yer can''t leave here using any ticket. yer has to go out on foot or wait here until the ban ends. The remaining time of the ban is three hours and forty minutes." "Damn!" Bloom was shocked by this realization and next he turned to the vault and another realization hit him. "Hurry, go find me a cart now!" he shouted at the clones and pointed towards the big barn in the mansion. He was sure such a barn must contain onerge cart with strong horses to pull. The clones went inside the barn which brought some memories to Bloom before returning in no time with a big cart drawn by a group of three strong looking dark horses. "Stop it here," he said before touching the vault and it moved smoothly before finallynding on the cart. Then he heard a faint crack and he had a bad premonition about this. "Move," he shouted at the clones, "lead them outside." The clones jumped over the cart and started to whip the horses, but the cart didn''t move. "That''s what I was afraid of," Bloom sighed before an idea popped up in his mind. The mayor seemed to fill his vault to the brim. The weight of the vault made even the sturdy looking caravan creak under its weight. And it was no surprise for him that the horses couldn''t even move it for an inch. "Loosen them," he hurriedly said, "and you you... youe and drag this cart," he selected three giant pets to rece the horses. "Pull!" The moment they reced the horses, he shouted and saw the monsters bulge all their muscles and squeeze their strength. "It finally moved," and then the cart started to move, slow at first before it started to keep up speed. He took out one horse before shouting, "all clones will stay here and cover my retreat. Other monsterse, follow me outside. Don''t stop at anything, we''ll leave this ce fast." He didn''t dy and followed his fast racing caravan with a grand army of monsters of his own. The path towards the town gate took roughly twenty minutes before he darted towards the direction of the main road. He knew the ban would only stop at the border of the town. "Keep pulling with all your might," he pushed his pets forward while ncing at the map and the time. "Not much left," he was worried as the speed of the caravan wasn''t that high and that was mainly because of therge weight of it. "If so then I promise you a big fight till the bitter end," he clenched his swords and started to scan the rest of the map. The road was branched at many points, but the shortest one was filled with many twists where the caravan wouldn''t be able to run fast through. "But if I can''t outrun him, then I have to ambush him," he evilly sneered before deciding to go through this road despite knowing it would take slightly longer than others. "System alert: the mayor has revived." "System alert: yer lost his control over the town." "System alert: the mayor learnt of what the yer did and he summoned one third of his falled forces. The entire forces are moving fast, heading directly towards the yer." Bloom didn''t need all these alerts as the moment the mayor revived himself and his forces, arge number of red dots appeared at once in the center of the town. "They have at least half an hour to catch up," he thought before ncing at what was left of the road, "and I need at least one hour to cross that road that means I have less than half an hour before getting away." He wasn''t worried yet he knew dealing with this mad mayor would cost him a lot. Bloom kept running as fast as the caravan could, while hisrge army of monsters kept surrounding him. "He is stopped at the gate," yet while he was watching the movement of the red dots, he noticed their momentarily stop at the town gate. "My clones" he muttered before he heard a thundering rumbleing from the direction of the town. "They are gone!" he didn''t need the subsequent system alert to tell him that. The next moment of the end of that short thunder sound, the red dots resumed their movement again. "So he had some scrolls left in his pocket," Bloom muttered, "nothing ever easy sigh," he turned to nce at the rest of the road before shouting, "stay here, the caravan keeps moving forward." The pets drawing the caravan kept their marching speed while the other pets remained. "Spread out," he ordered while staying on the back of his horse, watching the map in silence. The distance between him and the town gate was crossed in less than twenty minutes. During this he kept tracking his caravan, calcting the time of his retreat. "I''ll kill you bastard," the shouts of the angry mayor came to his ears from far away, even before the mayor himself appeared. Bloom was hiding his forces behind a road turn, so acute that would prevent anyoneing to spot anything at front. "Shadow doppelganger festival," just before the arrival of the mayor, Bloom summoned his clones and took out enough horses for his twenty-nine clones. "Go, kill everything that stands in your way," he calmly gave the order while watching the turn in cold blood. The hooves of the cavalry echoed in the entire road, long before their arrival. The moment they appeared, they led the charge in a big move, while Bloom''s forces lied in wait and ambush. One side had momentum, the other side had surprise, and the two shed violently without any warning or mercy. Chapter 318: Fight With Scrolls Chapter 318: Fight With Scrolls Bloom wasn''t sure of the mayor''s possession of any deadly scrolls so he stayed at the back, overlooking the ongoing fight happening up front. The charge was led by the clones on horses, while the pets of his kept running fast after them. The first sh seemed so reassuring to him, as no one ever could stand a hit from his clones. Yet he knew this was going to be temporary, as the mayor would arrive soon. And he did. The moment the mayor appeared, his red face got much redder as he watched his forces getting crushed by the clones. "I''ll kill you bastard," he roared the moment he spotted Bloom standing far at the back. The next moment he didn''t charge forward but took out a scroll of his pocket. "Screw scrolls!" Bloom cursed before shouting, "retreat, retreat with your fastest speed." He didn''t stop in ce as he turned around with his horse and started galloping the ground. The clones and pets tried to retreat fast but many got entangled with therge number of NPCs on the mayor''s side. "Rumble!" The next moment the sky dimmed over the narrow road and started to rain. The rain was limited to an area that Bloom crossed, but it caught many of his forces in it. "A paralyzing water," he was surprised to see his forces pause all of sudden, turning into living statues with no ability to move a muscle. "Go and kill them," the mayor shouted and Bloom seemed to be about to lose many of his forces. "Not this easy bastard," Bloom searched fast inside his inventory. He did get some items from the town and he was pretty sure he got some scrolls. "The storm of lightning scroll: Common type scroll that affects a radius of three hundred meters around the yer. Once used the area will be covered with dense clouds and lightning will strike down. Anyone on the yer side won''t get hurt, but anyone else would get ten thousand damage points per second." "Lightning loves water," Bloom evilly muttered beforeughing, "activate!" The next moment the scroll turned into white dots in his hand before arge group of dark clouds loomed over the area around. "Small scrolls won''t save your ass pretty boy," the mayorughed, but Bloom had another opinion. He calmly stood before arge number of lightning rained down the ground around. Most of it went astray off the targets up front, but somended over some NPCs and started to give them damage. And yet this wasn''t the scary part about this scroll. Bloom found a fire scroll, wind scroll, and even water scroll as well inside his inventory, but this one was the one his eyes shone when he spotted it. And the moment the lightning touched that paralyzing water, a sudden twist urred that even Bloom didn''t count for. Bloom thought the lightning would travel across the water and attack everyone away from the area limited by the effect of the scroll. And that happened, besides another amazing effect. The lightning purified the paralysis effect of the mayor''s scroll and set his men and monsters free. "Turn around," he shouted as his freed clones and pets continued to run towards him in retreat as if they weren''t stopped for long seconds at all. "Go and kill them!" He pointed his sword towards the already severely damaged NPCs all around. Even the mayor got hit as he was in the middle of his scroll effect, making him try to resist by taking out a strange umbre that shielded most of the lightning and water away. And yet he got some damage every now and then. "Kill them all," Bloom shouted and this time his forces were in a much better position than their enemies. A massacre erupted and Bloom stood silently for the next twenty seconds before the effect of the two scrolls ended with two seconds difference. But the mayor lost at least one half of his forces in these short seconds. "Damn you," the mayor roared, "I''ll kill you in the most painful way you can''t imagine." Bloom didn''t care about these threats, turned around and shouted: "Retreat!" His forces had the upper hand thanks to the scroll, but now with the removal of the element of surprise and the end of the special surprise of the two interacting scrolls, Bloom had to retreat and try to find another opportunity to strike. "After him," and the mayor shouted in return while sending off the remaining NPCs after Bloom and his hastily retreating forces. Bloom kept running while keeping in mind the distance his caravan crossed. "Stop them," he turned around all of sudden and shouted, directing some of his clones and pets to attack those hunting them relentlessly down. "I''ll kill you here foolish kid," the mayor''s angry voice reverberated from near while Bloom spotted anotherrge circle appearing on top of the entire ce. "Another scroll damn it! How many ones does this old man have?" He didn''t stay there and retreated fast while letting his forces deal with those riders at the rear. The fight was always in his favor, yet the next moment of the scroll activation arge storm of fire appeared, raging wildly in the form of a deadly giant tornado. "As if I would let you have it this easily," Bloom took out another scroll and used it at once. It was a water based scroll that flooded the entire passage with water. "Sizzle!" "Sizzle!" "Sizzle!" The two scrolls this time collided together and antagonized each other. Bloom waited until the effect of the two scrolls vanished and shouted: "Retreat!" He lost almost half of his clones and many pets in these few seconds, but his opponent''s losses were much greater than him. "You have now less than fifty riders," Bloom counted while running fast, "I don''t think you''ll act this rash ever again." As Bloom expected, the mayor kept the forces so close to himself while he started to use many scrolls like he was throwing off useless rocks. Chapter 319: The Angel Is Summoned Chapter 319: The Angel Is Summoned As Bloom kept running and evading the mayor''s fierce retaliation, he totally neglected the map for quite some time. "Damn! When did they appear?!!" Yet after ten minutes of this relentless run, Bloom finally managed to create enough secure distance between him and the mayor''s remaining few forces. Since the mayor lost most of his forces, he started to act with more caution. This gave Bloom the opportunity to breath and check on the status of the caravan and the remaining part of the road. But when he did so he noticed the sudden appearance of many white dots that were gathering inrge numbers on the end of the road. The road led to a very wide space before a giant forest appeared there. His caravan was almost about to get there and he was only five minutes apart. "Are they reinforcements?" he couldn''t help but turn his gaze towards the mayor and there he found a very irritating smile over his face. "Screw you!" he cursed, turning his steed around as he shouted, "retreat, all retreat at full speed!" There was no time to be entangled with the mayor anymore. He even doubted he got the chance to get to his caravan in time. "Damn! So you were acting as a decoy," Bloom turned to nce at the persistently pursuing mayor while hearing his enemy''sughs echoing all around the ce. "I was fooled," he bitterly admitted to himself how nave he was. "As you are using your full force then I find myself obliged to do so." Bloom was already about to lose everything and at this moment he found himself in front of one bumpy road and nothing else. Instantly he opened his inventory and nced at all the items he had. He also opened his profile and checked in a hurry every single thing he could use. "The auctions," he didn''t hesitate to open the two auction interfaces at the same time. Like a madman that was betting everything over a single number he started to ce bids over anything he faced in his way. Dark agent tokens, light agent tokens, even special items anything that could help him to conquer this ordeal he didn''t hesitate in bidding and amassing inside his inventory. "Come forth!" And as he started to get near the end of the road and his own caravan he started to finally summon everything. "Master!" "Master!" "Master!" Beautiful girls stood alongside many agents covered in dark and white coats. There was no time for such greetings and the next moment he took out all the horses he stored so far. "Got on," he ordered, "and all without steed can start running now." He had hundreds of dark and fallen agents, plus a hundred light agents gathered all around. His horses weren''t enough for them, but at least some of the beautiful girls jumped over the horses. He noticed the doubtful looks every side gave to each one but he didn''t care. "Keep up, we have a fierce fight up ahead,"he said before returning to examine the map. "At least five thousand are there," he narrowed his eyes and felt he was cornered in a ce with no return. "Damn! Even if it costs me everything I won''t leave here without that damned vault." He closed the map as the end of the road was already looking from far ahead. He spotted his caravan stopping at the end of the road, while many dark silhouettes appeared far further. "They are waiting," he noticed that despite his unsecured caravan reaching them, the forces there didn''t attack. "Are they waiting for me? Or for the mayor?" He turned to the back where the mayor was trying to catch up like crazy. He clenched his fists and made a rash decision. "Cut the head of the general and the soldiers will be powerless." The mayor never stopped running even once. Despite having only less than twenty NPCs now guarding him he wasn''t a bit less worried. His enemy was finally cornered and despite having no power to kill that thief he was confident in his allies. "Go and secure the caravan," Bloom ordered before suddenly turning his horse and started to run towards the iing mayor and little guards beside him. "Hahaha, are you going to die?" the mayorughed before a scroll appeared once again in his hand. Bloom felt threatened but he never thought of turning back. This was a do or die situation for him. "I''ll kill you here," Bloom promised while opening his inventory and hurriedly took something out. "Angel summon token: unique token that will summon lord grade angel NPC to fight alongside you. The angel will follow you for one hour per day, and you need to provide a hundred thousand light points to use it every time "Ding! Are you sure you want to summon the angel?" "Hell yeah!" he shouted before crazily yelling, e forth my beloved angel!" The next moment a very intimidating summoning circle appeared to his right where it flew ten meters off the ground. It was made of twelve circles interlinking together. Red, golden, and silver white circles hovered on top of the ground for a couple of moments while following Bloom in his run. "Rumble!" The next moment a light pir descended on the ground shimmering in golden, red, and silver white light. Then a very stunning piece of beauty appeared in front of Bloom''s eyes, hovering few meters above the ground. She was ten meters in height, with an hourss body that seemed to be curved so professionally with a passionate sculptor. She wore a soft armor made of silver white tiny metallic circles. Her golden cape was so long that it even extended for meters beyond her on the ground, creating a very eye catchy contrast with her silver wings Her silver golden hair kept waving in the air without the presence of any wing, but Bloom felt like a storm was there at her side. Chapter 320: Meeting An Unexpected Enemy Chapter 320: Meeting An Unexpected Enemy It kept raging wild and covering most of the red shoulder guards that had a small angel statue over their surface. And he felt an intense storm inside him as he watched her descent before he checked her info. "Lord grade angel Mora: A lord grade angel who is specialized in AOE skills. Simply using skills to devastate tens of miles in radius isn''t a hard thing for her. yer can use her as a flying mount, carrying them with her insane speed to travel along the map. Angel Mora holds the key to the celestial realm, and each time she is summoned a yer can use a new key to enter a new map there. Warning: the angel Mora is as wise as humans, more arrogant than them. Getting on the bad side of your angel will make her even refuse to show up. Gaining her favor will give you many benefits ording to the state of rtionship between you two." "Are you the one who summoned me?"'' An angelic voice came from her while her eyes that looked like gxies looked at him. "Y- Yup," Bloom stuttered before recalling thest warning he got from the game. "Sorry to bother my goddess but I need your help." "Humph, acting humble while you aren''t," she turned her face towards the small group of guards surrounding the mayor, "are they your enemies? It would be very embarrassing if you summoned me to deal with these flies." "N- No," Bloom hurriedly shook his head, "my real ones are standing out there," he pointed towards the direction of the caravan and therge armies beyond. "Hmm... that looked interesting," she seemed quite satisfied, "don''t ever summon me to deal with weaklings or a small number of enemies. I hate moving my muscles to crush some cockroaches." Bloom nodded in understanding while watching the mayor''s face change the moment the angel appeared. "Retreat!" he hurriedly screamed while taking more scrolls and activated them all at once. "He is quite energetic," Moraughed in a very sweet way like she just heard ttering words, "leave this to me and you go there to fight some of them before I catch up." Bloom couldn''t refuse her offer. After all he had nothing in his hand to deal with one scroll, imagine a bunch of them. "By the way," she suddenly stopped him, "I can already smell the stench odor of those dark agents of you. I will look away this time on this but next time... never summon me alongside those filthy beings or else..." She snapped her fingers and suddenly arge circle appeared on top of the distant caravan. Bloom could see spears made out of silver light falling like rain over part of his army. And the next thing he heard was the wails of his agents while they were crushed like nothing. "I... I got it," he swallowed his saliva with much difficulty before turning around and Mora only gave him a silent deep nce while he retreated. "Damn that was close," he cursed in low tone while hurrying towards his caravan''s direction. "The game never warned me of her temper," heined, yet he knew he had nothing in his hands to do about that. The moment he got near the caravan he was weed with the devastation caused by the spears she released just now. An area of fifty meters radius was totally destroyed. Even the ground itself created a shallow crater there. "It''s like a giant punch hit this ce," he shook his head and got over the losses he got here. "At least thirty dark agents were killed in this attack... quite scary!" He recalled how she did that and before he could reach the caravan, another explosive sound came from the ce he left behind. "She is so serious... i like that," he saw another circle back there with many red spearsnding over the ground. At the same time many circles appeared covering the area back there. "Will she be alright?" He was worried about losing his only straw of hope like this. "If she fell then I should retreat back to the town and fortify myself there." He knew by killing the mayor the town would be ownerless and defenseless. He stopped beside his caravan while watching the grand army standing hundreds of meters away, blocking every route of retreat for him. "This..." he was shocked when he saw the identity of the enemy, "all are dark monsters and dark agents... who ising this time? It''s impossible to be another town mayor." He moved his eyes around before finally noticing a group of strong looking cloaked NPCs on their horses. "It''s the leaders I assume," he muttered before the group noticed his presence and suddenly they advanced. A group of ten riders moved alone in front of their great army before stopping one hundred meters away from him. "They don''t seem to fear me," he noticed their bold move and realized they never put him or his little forces in the eye. "Can youe forth and speak with our leader, human?" One of the dark cloaked riders spoke in a harsh tone. "Who is daring to stop my path and ask me toe?" Bloom didn''t move a muscle before shouting in a strong tone. "A thief is daring to speak this way to the owner of the skull he stole... that''s interesting." Another rider spoke and from his tone and attitude Bloom realized he was the leader. He also got something else from his words; the shocking identity of that rider. "Mrodon!" he softly muttered but strangely his voice was heard perfectly by the leader. "At least you got some intelligence in your little mind," Mordon said before adding, "it''s a shame though... someone with your talent and bravery, foolishness and determination shouldn''t be standing opposite to me. C''mon, we both belong to the dark world, right?" Bloom watched that dark caped man without seeing any of his face for brief moments. "Wrong!" Chapter 321: Escaping Chapter 321: Escaping This answer didn''te from Bloom but from a silhouette that appeared next to him swiftly. "Mora... I never expected you to be here," Bloom couldn''t see Mordon face but from his tone he could tell he was surprised to see Mora. "Howe you be here?" "He summoned me," Mora simply pointed to Bloom before winking to him, "I like you more now sweet human boy. Mordon never moves outside hisir except for big things. It''s a rare chance to see my old friend and foe like this in the open. What a luck!" "It''s luck indeed," Mordon slowly said, "but good or bad this will be apparent after this fight is over." "I promise you it will be a golden luck for me," Mora leisurelyughed while Bloom couldn''t tell if she was bluffing or not. "Can you step aside? I have a business deal with that human first." "I''m not standing in your way," Bloom saw her face beam with a vicious smile before she snapped her fingers, "but you won''t mind me ying a little while you do your business, right?" The next moment a grand circle that extended for half a mile appeared on top of part of Mordon army. Before anyone could say anything, golden spears rained down and anyone standing below the circles were killed without doubt. "Stand your dirty hands off my army bitch," Mordon seemed quit eneraged while Moraughed. "What? I didn''t stand in your way to do your business. C''mon... snap! Do your business while I''m doing mine." The next moment another circle hovered over the army before taking away more monsters and dark agents like before. "You..." Mordon''s roar made Bloom''s heart shiver and the next moment he felt deep gazes of hatred focusing on him. "I won''t forget what you did today. Keep your eyes open all the time, as no one steals something from Mordon and live to enjoy it." "Snap!" "Snap!" "Hahaha, why are you in a hurry to leave? I''ve just arrived and we should have a friendly talk between old enemies." The next moment Bloom watched Mordon wave his cloak before vanishing off the ce amidst ck fog. And next every single one of his grand army started to vanish in the same way, however Mora kept snapping her fingers and summoning her deadly AOE attacks all over the ce. "We''ll have another time to y together, I promise you that," Mordon''s words echoed while Bloom felt something wasing fast towards him from the sky. "Snap!" Yet the next moment a grand circle appeared just meters above his and his group''s head. "Rumble!" A fierce wave of cylindrical, giant worm-like creatures appeared the moment they hit the shield. Bloom watched those angry and crazy mouths shing like mad dogs over the shield and felt blood frozen deep inside his veins. "The soul eaters," Mora distatesfully said, "A fierce weapon aimed to eat away your soul." "M- My soul?!!" Bloom was frightened like never before while his cold sweat covered his entire body at this moment. "If they got you... forget about the game and being a yer, you''ll die," she calmly said before taking out a long spear and pointing it towards them. "Their weakness lies in the light, so anything that creates light can defend you and kill them." The tip of the spear shone brightly in rays of red light. "Sizzle!" "Sizzle!" "Sizzle!" Bloom watched these hideous beings get scorched the moment the rays of light hit them. In less than a few moments, nothing of this nightmare remained. "For Mordon to do that... he must be truly pissed off," she gazed at him in doubt while sizing him up. "What did you steal of him?" "Nothing that might interest you." "I hardly believe that," Mora said before ncing over, "they are gone. There is nothing here to be killed... what a shame." Bloom felt her true regret before he suddenly recalled something. He would have to fight a very grand war with dark forces in less than two days. "Don''t be upset, in two days I''ll meet him again," he jumped to this conclusion while watching her face closely. And there he saw a glimpse of surprise over her face for a brief moment. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Mordon neveres out frequently like you believe." "I... got something he desperately wanted," Bloom slowly said, "and in two days I''m having a big war inside the battlefield." "Battlefield war... that seems boring." "It''s a fight inside the inneryer region of the battlefield," Bloom said, "I took a fort of strong forces there and they are really pissed off." She didn''t speak for a while as she kept gazing at him. "The inner battlefield fort?" she calmly asked, "how can a weakling like you have something dangerous like that?" "Consider it... luck," Bloom simply said. "I like that luck of yours," she smiled in a warm way, "enlist me in then." He watched her turn into specks of light. "Where are you going? The hour didn''t end yet," he hurriedly tried to stop her but he failed. "There is nothing for me to do here, and if you have any ns for me then I shall give you a piece of advice... drop it! I''m not someone that was born to warm someone else''s bed." "I... didn''t mean that." "I''ll save this precious time for the next fight. I want you to summon me tomorrow too to save another hour." He understood her n and nodded while watching her vanish from the entire ce. "Mora... I''ll remember your name," he muttered. "You better do that," her sweetugh came out of nowhere startling him. He turned around but found no trace of her, and she never spoke again. "Sigh, that was... so intense," he turned his gaze towards the vault before remembering something. "Wait here and guard it with your lives," he ordered before hurrying back on his horse towards the road again. "The mayor lies there waiting for me," he greedily muttered while recalling therge number of scrolls that the mayor once had. "Everything you own will belong to me, bastard." And he went directly towards the ce where that mayor wasst seen. Chapter 322: Unexpected Meeting Chapter 322: Unexpected Meeting Bloom was fixed on not letting his trophy be missed by his fear or urgent desire to escape. "The town is currently not under any protection," he muttered while his greedy nature escted to a new level. "However" he was worried about other mayors that the mayor summoned. "It''s better not to get dyed here anymore." As he reached the ce of that fallen mayor, his scalp went numb for a few moments. "She is very brutal," he muttered while watching in deep shock the deep crater caused unnaturally by the skill of the angel. "I shouldn''t get on her bad side," he vowed to remember such a thing. "Now, let''s see what you have, rich boy." He leaned over the burnt down corpse that looked simr to the mayor''s. he stripped it away of any gear. "They are slightly damaged," he checked them before putting them all inside his inventory. "Now the biggest trophy," he finally took the ring he came here for. And then he checked it. "Ring of resurrection: special grade ring. For NPCs only. The NPC wearing this ring will gain a chance to revive as a yer. The NPC will be in a state of weakness for an entire hour. Can be used three times a day." "Not for me?" Bloom was disappointed for a second, "but it can work best for her," he stored it while knowing who will be most suited to use it. "There is another ring what is it?" He grabbed the second ring in the burnt hand of the mayor and checked it. "Ring of summon: allows the user to summon one third of his lost forces during the past day. The summoned forces will be one level weaker than before and won''t be able to use all of their skills. Can be used once per day." "It didn''t say it''s forbidden for yers," Bloom grinned before putting the ring in his finger. "this is the gadget that bastard used to summon all those NPCs back then," he muttered while examining thepletely dark ring. "I believe it''s also partially damaged," he muttered, "I should find someone to fix it for me soon." He then turned around. "It''s a waste to leave all these fine gears lying here in the wilderness." Then he stripped every single NPC off his gear. After he finished he turned around and went directly towards the caravan. "Let''s go boys," he took back every single pet he had before putting his hand over his biggest trophy and took a ticket to Anna''s town. Then he vanished in a sh of light before appearing in Anna''s town. "Things look quite gloomy here." As he appeared with his caravan, he got the attention of some NPCs. However he noticed their lost looks and found the atmosphere around them quite depressing. "The fight hadn''t yet started and they were already acting like they were getting their ass kicked," he shook his head before heading with his trophy towards Anna''s mansion. He had no other secure ce to be but there. "What will she do when she sees this?" heughed while heading straight towards the mansion like a normal merchant; sitting on the front of the caravan and letting some horses he summoned drag it. "You alwayse in the right moment, how can you do that?" Just as he stopped in front of the gate of Anna''s mansion, Tondel stood there while gazing at him in a strange way. "Are you now working as a merchant? Good for you, letting ourdy down is something not strange for a yer like you." "Just shut up and do your job," Bloom sneered, "open the door gatekeeper." The eyes of Tondel narrowed but he said nothing as he waved to his men to open the gate. And Bloom noticed how weird Tondel was gazing up at him at this moment. As he went inside he felt a strange presence, something he didn''t feel right. "Anna" he stopped the great vault in front of the mansion''s main door before hurrying inside. "You" As he reached inside he found someone he was already familiar with. "And our annoying pathetic yer has arrived as well," a sinisterugh came while the man standing all alone thereughed when seeing Bloom. "What are you doing here Mordon?" "Last time I checked it was Anna, not you, the mayor of this town," Mordon sneered, e, I''ve something interesting to share with you." Bloom moved in strong steps until he stopped beside the ashen white Anna. "Speak," Bloom said, "or do you want me to summon her to kick your ass again?" The smile on Mordon''s face froze when he heard his words. "yers arrogant and good for nothing but causing trouble to those living in this world," yet he shook his head, acting like a wise man standing in front of a child. "Just tell what you came here to say," Bloom crossed his arms and waited. "I''m just here to notify my sweet little Anna about my promise" "And?" "In the next war all the dark forces in the entire region will join hands to bring down this town to the ground That''s my promise," Mordon viciously said but Bloom didn''t feel anything from his empty threats. "That''s nothing new," Bloom simply said, "I didn''t expect the coward Mordon who used to hide in his filthy hole toe out and tell me what''s obvious." Anna turned to him and saw how calm and collected he was. She had a feeling that he was faking it, but he wasn''t. "Acting strong without any backing interesting yer," Mordonughed, "I''m here to order Anna to leave the throne and abandon town. She has three days to consider, and if my armies came here and found her standing on the walls of the town then I won''t stop at anything to kill her." "I dare you do it," Bloom sneered back while taking out a unique token, "I know someone who is dying to meet you again. She will thank me for meeting you twice in a day." "" Chapter 323: Opening The Vault Chapter 323: Opening The Vault Mordon''s face changed before he watched Bloom holding the token tighter as if he was about to summon Mora. "Stupid yer, do you think she will be there everytime you summon her?" Mordon said in a strong tone yet the next moment he vanished in a veil of smoke. "Humph, for you she seems ready to cross the entirend to fight," Bloom calmly said while watching the smoke vanish into nothing. "This is getting a bit out of control," Anna next crushed on her seat and tears started to swell over her beautiful little eyes. "Don''t worry too much about that," yet he calmly said, e, I have a present for you." "What? A gold mine?" Sheughed in mockery while he grabbed her hand and led her out of her throne room. "You really have some foretelling abilities, don''t you?" heughed and as the two exited the mansion, the scene of the giant vault blocked the two''s vision. "This" she was stupefied in ce while watching the caravan and the giant vault on it. "How?" she couldn''t say more than this word and he simplyughed. "Go," he patted on her back, "I didn''t open it yet." "Do you have the key to open it?" she asked while descending the stairs and ncing all around. "Let me crush it open for you," he offered. "No need, I can do it," she took out a sword and started to attack the vault. Her attacks even caused the caravan itself to crack before smashing in a very loud noise. And the guards were attracted to her the next instant, fearing something bad happened in that strange meeting. "It''s alright," she shouted while keeping cutting the hard ore of this vault off, "this vault is made out of special ore." "I can tell," Bloom nodded, "is it special?" "It is," she said, "from where did you get it?" "From a traitor," Bloom simply said and she paused to nce deeply at him. "Acting as a vignte right now aren''t you?" sheughed and he felt she was amused by his doing and not offended by it in any way. And the dark weight of her meeting with Mordon just now vanished when the vault finally opened and exposed its content. "Oh my god all of this" she even retreated a couple of steps while the light of the massive amount of gold, pearls, treasures, special ores, and even gears blinded her eyes. She turned to him with a gaped mouth that made him smile. "This isn''t the present I meant," he mysteriously said before taking out a ring, "this is the present." "A ring?" she skeptically nced at him in a weird way, "don''t tell me you are trying to propose to me, right? You can''t be serious!" He suddenly realized the hidden meaning behind this move, a thing he totally missed. "Oh, that doesn''t sound too bad when you say it," heughed, "but this ring is special. Wear it and you''ll know." She hesitated before epting it. "You know you came from a totally different world than mine, right?" she stressed on that point again, making him unable to push away the idea of having her as his. "The two are different, I admit that," he calmly said, "but the rules are the same. The one holding the biggest stick got the girl, right?" "Whatever," she didn''t get his point before her eyes went instantly wide as she nced at him in deep shock. And he nodded. "This can''t be true!" she couldn''t help but mutter before suddenly jumping off and hugging him in an expected move. "Thank you," she honestly said in deep gratitude. "Now can you be my girl?" he tried to crack a joke but he got a punch in the back as a reward without her breaking the hug. "If you managed to defend my town then you can have me as your fiance," she said and that shocked him for a moment. "I''ll make sure to hold you to this promise," he smiled as he crossed his arms around her body, finding to his surprise how soft she was. And from far he could see the ring hatred brimming from Tondel, but he didn''t care about it at all. "Now," he gently pushed her away to see the tears flooding from her eyes. "Why are you crying?" he couldn''t help but ask. "It''s the tears of joy, moron," she punched him again in the chest and he felt he would get punched a lot in the near future for doing good and bad. "Take all the gold," he said, "other things are mine to take." "Even the gears? My army needs some," she puffed her lips like a small kidining, and that just made her more adorable in his eyes. "Alright," he couldn''t refuse her request while asking in such a way, "take some and also take some treasures as well." "I dunno what these are for," she stood in front of some treasures without a clue. "they all need someone to appraise them." "Don''t we have an architect from the city working already here?" he asked. "He is still on his way," she said, "plus he won''t be able to appraise them. We need someone more proficient in this." "Doesn''t your town have any?" "All in the city." "Alright," he shook his head, "take all the treasures then and hire someone in the capital or any city," he said, "make sure to know what they are used for. I''ve a hunch these will aid us a lot in the next war." "Then I won''t take gears," she found herself taking a lot of what he worked so hard to get. "Fine by me," and he wasn''t polite and epted her decision. "By the way do you have any caravan here?" "For what?" she nced weirdly at him. "I have my inventory so filled at the moment," he embarrassedly said. "How many slots do you have?" she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "don''t tell me you have the basic fifty slots." "I have much more than that," he said. "And all are filled?" "All." "Damn," sheughed, "take this then," she gave him a strange ring, "this can help in storing things in it." The ring she took off ring some bells inside his mind. "What is this ring used for?" he asked while taking and examining it closely. ''They are the same!'' he was shocked to find the simrity between it and two rings he got from the two mayors he killed from before. "I just said it, wasn''t you listening," she said in helplessness, "it''s used to store things inside. Consider it like external inventory. However it can be robbed, fall after you die, so don''t put many things inside." "Anyone can take it and use it after I die?" he asked, and she mistook his words for something else. "They''ll just need a stone of illumination to open it," she said, "but such a thing is easily acquired in this world. Look, even I have some of such stones." And she took out a group of small rounded milky white beads-like stones and yed with them in her hand. "Can I have some?" he couldn''t help but ask. Chapter 324: Take Me With You Chapter 324: Take Me With You "What for?" she asked in a yful way. "For this of course," he said, while hiding his real intentions. "This little one here would only be opened by one of these stones of mine," she said before adding, "they are expensive." "You said they can be acquired easily in this world." "I did, but that doesn''t mean it''s a normal cabbage." "C''mon, I need only a few of them." "nning for more raids?" she asked with anticipation, "I''d love to attend one of these with you." "Can''t agree to that," he said while feeling grateful she provided him with a suitable lie to use, "give me some, I have a bunch of traitors waiting to be ughtered." "On one little condition." "I''ll take you out to dinner." "Howe this is in my favor and not yours?" she strangely said with a chuckle, "no, I meant something else." "What?" "The fort that bastard mentioned I wanna attend this war." "Out of question," he didn''t even flinch before adding, "that''s way too dangerous." "I got this ring," she showed off her hand with the ring he gave to her. "Still impossible," he shook his head. "Then you won''t get any of these," she threw the stones up in the air like a little kid ying with rocks. "C''mon, don''t be this stubborn." "It''s you who is!" "I''m worried about you." "I have this ring," she showed off the ring once more, "it''s a gift from a boy." "Tell me about him," he slightly enjoyed her little game here. "He is handsome," she said while nodding, "a little impulsive but it''s ok. The only thing I hate about him is his worrying all day over me like I''m a ten years old girl and he isn''t a mere yer in the game." "That''s quite harsh," he bitterly smiled. "It''s the truth," she casually shrugged as if she didn''t care about his feelings. "But I like it," he sneered, "give me the stones then." "Not without your word." "C''mon, it''s too risky," he said before pointing out to her, "and you know it. Look me in the eye and say it''s not." "Why would I care about that?" she puffed her lips, "I got my knight defending my life at every corner." "You are going to give that knight a heart attack." "No, he is invincible," sheughed, "''just tell him to trust me more." "No other way around then?" "Give me your word and these stones are yours to take." He nced at the group of almost ten stones and decided to ept her terms. "On one condition," he said, "you will follow all my orders to the letter." "Right boss," she stood straight while saying in a fake serious tone. "I''m not joking here," he stressed again on his condition, "no matter what. If I told you to run, you run like nothing in the world is safe for you to stay. If I asked you to leave and abandon me then you''llply, got it?" "Right boss, I won''t disobey any order like an obedient ten years old girl." He nced in doubt at her but he cared more at the stones in her hand. "Give them to me," he said. "If you ever nned to trick me," she extended her hand before retracting it fast, "I swear you won''t have a guild base whening back." "I''m a man of my words," he simply said before taking the stones and the ring off her hand. The next moment he let one stone over the ring after wearing it. "It needs your blood smart one," she said after noticing the weird nce over his face. When he tried to put the stone over the ring, the ring absorbed it but he couldn''t ess it. But when he let a drop of blood fall over the ring, the ring shone in a strange way all of sudden while the red light left a nice reflection over his face. And she just kept examining his features under that bright light for a few moments before the light vanished. "This It has a huge space inside! Like a little vige!" Once the light was gone, he gained ess to the ring at the next moment. There he found arge space, like a hall of a throne. And that hall stretched for miles right and left while the walls and ceiling were covered in a smoothyer of strange bronze ore. "It''s only a bronze grade ring," she said like it was trash, "if you have a golden grade ring you''ll have even levels to store things inside. But that thing is much more pricey than you think." "I should get one then," he said with much anticipation on his face. "Bring me one as well, or wait bring me a ton of it," she mockinglyughed but he never took her words to heart. "I''ll go now," he took all the things that belonged to him. "I believe there are close to a couple of million gold coins in here." "Not enough," she shook her head. "It''s a start," he simply said, "everything should have a start somewhere, right?" She nodded and watched him leave before sighing. "I dunno if you can get me through to the end of this," she muttered to herself while his back kept getting further away behind the gates of her mansion, "but I''m not regretting having these moments with you." What he didn''t know was that her earlier request was for her to be with him for the longest period of time. As for him, he kept moving towards one direction only while his soul couldn''t stay still from excitement. "Damn! I almost missed this golden chance!" He had acquired two rings before and thought they were useless or damaged. But now he realized how important these rings were. "It''s a good thing to not throw anything away as a habit," he said to himself before getting closer to the hotel in this town. ''Where are you, boss?'' Chapter 325: The Evolved Dark Bow Chapter 325: The Evolved Dark Bow Yet all of sudden his brave butler sent him a message. ''Busy doing many things,'' he replied. ''Heard some rumors of your presence in the town.'' ''And?'' ''Nara she seems quite agitated.'' ''Something bad happened?'' he paused in his tracks while waiting for his butler''s answer. ''It''s you that happened,'' Antoan sent before adding, ''and that hot mayor as well.'' ''Oh that''s it then,'' he heaved a sigh of relief before continuing his walk. ''Believe me,'' he said, ''she is quite mad at you right now.'' ''I''ll find a way to handle herter,'' Bloom closed the chat while cursing the envious nature of women. As he rented a room in the hotel and finally was alone and secured inside, he took the two rings from his inventory. "Let''s see what you two sweet babies hold for me as a surprise." His eyes were greedily shining while holding the two rings and flipping them through his fingers. He left his blood over the two before using two of the illumination stones. Then he started to check the rings. "Damn!" he couldn''t help but suck a cold air of breath when he just checked the first ring he got from Anna''s uncle. "He was filthy rich that bastard!" First the ring was silver grade with a spacious area inside. The entire ce was littered in gears and gold coins stretched on the ground, making a very nice and alluring gold carpet. "What are those?" He took out a strange dark fruit-like thing and tried to feel it in his hands. "It''s soft," he felt the tender texture of it and when he slightly used some force a dark green juice came out of it. "Gross," he muttered before checking it. "The heart of the ck tree:mon grade dark fruit. Can be found on the battlefield. Eating one fruit would give the yer ten thousand dark points. A necessary material used to upgrade any dark item, gear, or scroll." "Wow! All these points!!" he was shocked the moment he read the simple description of the fruit. "Wait a moment I have some things I can use these fruits over." The next moment he took out his dark bow and nced for a moment at it. "Let''s hope this works," he didn''t hesitate in putting the fruit over the bow, but nothing happened. "What''s wrong?" he examined the fruit again and reread the description. "Is it broken? Is it because I squeezed its juice out?" He didn''t hesitate to take a couple more and this time he delicately put them over the bow. "Still not working, huh?" he was enraged by this and held the fruits in his hand with more force. And that dark blue juice popped out the next moment, even staining his armor. "Buzz!" Yet the next moment the bow, which was covered with the most of the juice, trembled in hand. And despite this was a very faint reaction but it never escaped his senses. "So the secret lies in the juice, interesting," he didn''t hesitate to squeeze the fruits till thest drops before examining the bow again. "No change yet," he muttered, "perhaps it needs much more." He then took out arge number of the fruits and started squeezing them out. He had a veryrge amount of such fruits inside the ring and that made him take out as many as the bow needed without any reservation. "Buzz!" "Buzz!" "Buzz!" Suddenly the bow broke free of his hand, flew in the air for a few minutes while being engulfed in dark blue light. He held his breath while waiting for the bow to finish its evolution. "Tuck!" The bow then fell to the ground while losing all the dark blue aura that engulfed it from before. "I hope you got good enhancements," he prayed while holding the bow and felt how cold it became. "Dark monster taming bow: enables the owner to shoot an arrow and have a chance to temporarily tame the dark monster. Only works on dark monsters and dark NPCs. The tamed monster will remain tamed until it dies out of hunger or fight. The tamed NPCs must not exceed the level of the yer with twenty levels and willst for one day. Need to consume one thousand dark points each time an arrow is unleashed. Each tamed monster eats away one thousand dark points on a daily basis. Tamed monsters can be consolidated into tokens and stored into the inventory to be usedter. Storing monsters won''t affect the consumption. Each tamed NPC will take ten thousand dark points. NPCs after being freed of the taming will have a fear effect from the yer for one hour." "I can now tame NPCs?" he shockingly muttered, "but that level difference wait, can I widen it?" His mind suddenly was lightened up with a brilliant idea and the next moment he took out hundreds of those fruits and kept squeezing their juice out till thest drop. After ten minutes of doing so the bow evolved once again. "Dark monster taming bow: enables the owner to shoot an arrow and have a chance to temporarily tame the dark monster. Only works on dark monsters and dark NPCs. The tamed monster will remain tamed until it dies out of hunger or fight. The tamed NPCs must not exceed the level of the yer with forty levels and willst for one day. Need to consume one thousand dark points each time an arrow is unleashed. Each tamed monster eats away one thousand dark points on a daily basis. Tamed monsters can be consolidated into tokens and stored into the inventory to be usedter. Storing monsters won''t affect the consumption. Each tamed NPC will take ten thousand dark points. NPCs after being freed of the taming will have a fear effect from the yer for one hour." "It worked," he shouted in triumph, "but the consumption rate is increasing at a terrifying rate I should level it up for one more time before going to level that fire scroll as well." He started taking outrge batches of fruits and this time it took him more than half an hour and almost five thousands of such fruits to level up the bow again. "Dark monster taming bow: enables the owner to shoot an arrow and have a chance to temporarily tame the dark monster. Only works on dark monsters and dark NPCs. The tamed monster will remain tamed until it dies out of hunger or fight. The tamed NPCs must not exceed the level of the yer with sixty levels and willst for one day. Need to consume one thousand dark points each time an arrow is unleashed. Each tamed monster eats away one thousand dark points on a daily basis. Tamed monsters can be consolidated into tokens and stored into the inventory to be usedter. Storing monsters won''t affect the consumption. Each tamed NPC will take ten thousand dark points. NPCs after being freed of the taming will have a fear effect from the yer for one hour." "That''s enough," he nodded in content, "sixty level difference is safe. If I need more then I shall level it up during the fight." He knew he was dreaming as during the next war he wouldn''t be free to do such a thing. Even his enemies wouldn''t allow him to do so. However he was content with that result. Now he could turn NPCs in levels ny or lower to fight for his own side. "If used properly," he thought, "then this would turn out to be a weapon to change the entire course of the war." He patted in a warm way upon the bow like he was dealing with something precious. "I''m now having my hopes high for the scroll," he stored the bow before taking his fire scroll out. "Let me see how far you can go my little darling." He never forgot how this little piece of paper saved his life before, and he wasn''t doubting its great role in saving his again. Chapter 326: The Enhanced Purgatory Scroll Chapter 326: The Enhanced Purgatory Scroll He took out the scroll and kept ncing shortly at it. "You once saved my life, so I hope this will be good repayment for you," he muttered before taking out arge number of the fruits and started squeezing them non-stop. He didn''t stop when the scroll broke free once and flew in the air. He even didn''t check its status and continued to squeeze as many fruits as he could. It wasn''t until the scroll flew off for the fourth time that he stopped. The bow was something he used regrly and helped him in boosting his strength. However for such a life saving scroll he didn''t hesitate to push it further to the next level and consumed even twenty-thousand fruits to make it evolve for the fourth time. "I hope you got great enhancements," he muttered while checking the info of the scroll with much anticipation. "Purgatory fire scroll: dark scroll cursed by many and desired by most. Extremely rare item. Can be used infinitely. Each time will cost the user fifty thousand points to be used. When used, a purgatory fire will assault any hostile being around the yer in a five mile radius. Can be used for an unlimited number of times. The purgatory fire will eat away one hundred thousand Hp from the targets per second for thirty seconds. After it ends, the targets will have an additional burning effect, losing twenty thousand Hp each second for the next sixty seconds. Targets killed from it will grant the yer directly one tenth of the total damage they received from the scroll in the form of dark points." "Damn!" Bloom couldn''t help but suck a cold air of breath when he read the info of that scroll. "The consumption of its activation didn''t change, but the other changes were worth much more than fifty thousand dark points per use." The scroll got many advancements in regard to the duration, the damage effect, and even the burning effect. However the greatest addition he had was the extra dark point addition. "It''s not an exaggeration to say this scroll had turned now to be a gold mine for me," he held it close to his chest and even caressed it like it was the most precious thing in the world. "Go and rest inside for now," he sent it to his inventory, "I''m sure in the uing fight you''ll y a pivotal role in my victory." He then turned his attention towards another task. "Time to see the second ring then." He took the second ring out with much anticipation and unlocked it the same way. However, to his disappointment, it was only filled with scrolls, gold coins, gears, and nothing else. "At least I now know how that bastard kept taking out scrolls like candy," he muttered while taking out all the gears inside. "Time to milk out all the gold coins from these gears." He was slightly dejected at finding nothing worthy inside the ring. However he wasn''t that depressed about this result. After all, he was in desperate need of a gold coin at this stage. "Time to work hard then," he took out his pandora box and started to dismantle all the gears he had acquired so far. The number of the gears he had was now astronomical. He doubted he would need to go out and hijack any caravan at this point. He kept tossing all the gears he had inside the box. Each gear took roughly a minute to be dismantled. After that he would gain a lot of gold coins and many materials. "I''ll store you inside the storage ring," he didn''t put the materials inside the inventory and decided to store them up in the useless storage ring. "I should hire a warehouse here," he muttered when he noticed his ring was slowly getting filled withrge amounts of precious materials. "I bet Nara would go mad after these materials," he grinned while putting another gear in the box and collecting the materials inside his ring. As for the gold coins, he simply added them to his ount while watching the number rapidly growing in time. He also emptied the two rings off their gold coins and stored them. From the two rings alone he gained slightly over four million gold coins. That made so much near his target, almost five million gold coins or slightly more were needed right now. And after destroying a hundred gears, he got around two million. "I''m almost there," he said to himself while checking therge number of gears he had in both rings. "I got all these without even touching any gear in my inventory." He roughly calcted his current wealth based on the results he had so far from the box. "I would get almost fifty million gold coins if I dismantled all of these gears," he said with a big smile over his face. "No need to go out once again," he deeply muttered while feeling more secure this way. "I shouldy low," he said while waiting for the box to do its magic and give him gold coins and materials, "the caravans at towns are much harder to attack than those at the viges." He also knew the main problemy in the presence of many traitors in the towns. He didn''t know if this was only his bad luck or that was the state of the world, but he was pretty worried about going to any town to find himself surrounded by dark forces. "I attracted more heat towards myself," he muttered, "I shouldy low after all this is over. It''s not wise to be the public enemy of the entire dark camp. Also I need to start organizing my forces and" He was about to continue expressing his thoughts before he felt something weird. "System alert: there is something wrong with your capsule. The yer will be ejected in less than two minutes." "System alert: the system detected a life threatening malfunction at the capsule. The yer should exit the game now!" Bloom''s eyes widened for a second when he realized what was going on. "Screw you Dockrey," he cursed out loud before hurriedly selecting to exit the game at once. The next moment he opened his eyes and saw a thick cloud of smoke filling his entire capsule. And without any hesitation he kicked the capsule lid off, damaging it before he jumped off the capsule and stood in the middle of his room. But he wasn''t alone there. Chapter 327: A Brutal Fight Inside The Mansion Chapter 327: A Brutal Fight Inside The Mansion The moment he went off the capsule he spotted at least five strangers inside his room. The door was slightly opened and the entire room ushered in deep darkness but he could vaguely make out their shapes. And from their dark uniforms and masks he could tell they were assassins. "Kill him!" It was one shout that was followed by a rain of bullets. Each one of them took out a machine gun and started hitting him with all the bullets they got. "Damn it!" but he didn''t stand there motionless, waiting for their bullets to arrive. The moment he went out and nced at them, he started to run. Fast, running with all the speed he got from the game that made him sh all over the ce. "Click!" "Click!" "Click!" Their guns finally ran out of bullets after they created many holes in the wall of the room. That wall turned now to be like a honeb, and all that firing attracted more to the room. However it was his time to act. "My turn," he angrily said while taking out four of his swords before muttering, "sword tornado." The terrifying attack from the game appeared in the real world. He couldn''t see their faces behind the masks. Even when the four swords danced in the air and created a wave of light that illuminated everything, he couldn''t tell anything from their thick ck masks. But he was pretty sure they were now stupefied, making him quite satisfied with such a kill. "Kill him," another wave of new assassins came through the door while one of them shouted in panic. Bloom could wait for his swords to crush everyone, but he had many questions in mind and doubts as well. "If they are here, that means they are now killing Antoan and Liza. So he took out two swords and used his speed to appear in the middle of his attackers. His sudden appearance was coupled with frantic shooting but none of these random bullets managed to hit their mark. In return his two swords always hit their target, leaving behind a long trail of blood and dead corpses along the corridor leading to his room. "He ising," as he reached Antoan''s room he saw him opening the lid of his capsule at this moment. And a group of five assassins were surrounding him while ten more stood between the two. "Screw it, dash," as his sword attack ended a few seconds ago, he regained his four swords. So he reced the two in hand with his two precious swords and started using their unique dash skill. "Boom!'''' The next moment he appeared just at the group surrounding Antoan''s capsule while killing that assassin with his simple dash. "Stay low," he shouted at Antoan before dancing around using his high speed. Each wave of his sword imed one soul of the assassins, and in less than a minute all of themy dead at his feet. "This" Antoan stood up with a shocked expression on his face. "I''ll have a word with youter," Bloom firmly said before vanishing off the room. "Stay here and don''t get out." "That''s insane!" It was the first time Antoan really saw Bloom using his game skills and gears in real life. He was always puzzled about the way he skipped death from before, and now he got the answer he wanted. And that made himugh, with him standing in the middle of the dead corpses and rivers of blood running around making him look very bloody. "She stays at the rooms in the other part of the mansion," Bloom reminded himself of Liza''s location while creating his path with his swords. "I doubt she would be in danger." He knew she had the power to use the game skills in real life as him. However he wanted to be sure she was safe. He wasn''t in love with her, but he saw her as a potential ally. Someone he randomly picked and turned out to be a hidden gem. Someone he should keep at his side to stay stronger. "Stop him!" Just as he reached the main lobby separating the two big parts of the mansion aside, he found arge group of assassins forming many lines of defense and waiting for him. Bloom narrowed his eyes when he saw them. He wasn''t worried about their bullets. After all, he was now moving faster than any bullet. And he doubted anything could catch up to him at this moment. But what made him have such a change in face was the recognition of three individuals holding a sword, bow, and a staff. "They can use game skills like me and her," he reached this conclusion in a fraction of a second before realizing something else. "They aren''t the only ones here with such power." He had a bad premonition about that. His earlier assumption about Liza''s safety changed drastically at this moment. "She I hope she can fend them off until I arrive." As he kept running forward, the entire ce was filled with the sounds of guns releasing bullets at him like dropping rain. And as he was avoiding these bullets, the other three at the back finally acted. The swordsman moved with high speed and arrived just next to him. "Die!" that man said with a sneer before a sword was aimed at his neck. It wasn''t such a strong attack but the arrow that the bowman released made it hard to deal with that sword. Each ce he could move to was blocked with arrows and bullets, while that swordsman kept pushing at him with his sword. "Sword trap," suddenly that man used a skill that seemed alien to Bloom. Just as he was stabilizing his body after evading a stab, he found the ground changed to be formed of swords. All of them were pointing at him and he could see what wasing. "Wind Howl!" Chapter 328: They Can Revive! Chapter 328: They Can Revive! Just as he was about to jump and evade, the staff holder used a skill all of sudden. The entire world changed and wind came out of nowhere, damaging all the ss windows and creating a terrifying scene. And the wind howled all around him while the swords moved fast from below to above, aiming all at his body. "Swoosh!" and that bowman released a myriad of arrows at him at this moment. "Die you bastard," the swordsman said with an angry voice while everything came at Bloom at this moment. But amidst all this, Bloom was the calmest one standing in this lobby at this moment. Despite all these attacks he had such a calm smile that turned into an evil grin the next moment. "Dash!" He pointed his sword towards a direction and instantly vanished. All attacksnded on nothing by empty air while all were dazzled by his actions. "Dash!" Another dash rang in the entire lobby while Bloom''s body shed from one direction to another. "Stop him!" the swordsman screamed in panic while watching the other two falling under the two dashes. Bloom first aimed at the annoying staff holder before turning his de towards the bowman. And as the two fell to the ground, he took out his four swords and released his sword tornado at nothing but the entire group of gun assassins. "I will kill you," the swordsman ran fast to stop him, but his sword was blocked by Bloom''s sword that he took at thest moment. "It''s not that easy to kill me Ground breaker!" Bloom used another skill swiftly and his body turned around to face his enemy while the two swords shed at each other. "Die!" Bloom hit the swordsman with a simple stab from the second sword and that man fell on the ground motionless. "Sigh, it''s hard to kill those with game powers," despite no one was alive at this moment, he didn''t move. He stood calmly in between the corpses as if he was waiting for something. Then a sh of light appeared next. It was pure white light that came through the ceiling like it wasn''t initially there. And it lightened up the body of the staff holder before that dead body started to move again. "You will regret this," the staff holder said with deep hatred while standing off the ground. "Dash!" but Bloom didn''t answer with anything but his dash skill, and that staff holder fell on the ground again cold dead. "I''ve been there before," Bloom sneered, "so don''t expect me to fall into such a trap like a fool Dash!" As the second man was revived by the same sh of light, Bloom moved to hit him with his dash and kill him. "Stab!" Thest swordsman was easily killed by him while standing again in wait. "What levels are they at?" as he waited patiently for them to revive he asked himself this. "I believe they are at twenty-five, perhaps twenty-six levels hmm that would take about ten minutes then Dash!" He kept using his dashes and stabs to kill the three over and over again. From his past experience of his death and revival, he knew thews of the game were applied to this world. Killing one with game powers in the real world was like killing him inside the game they would only lose one level at each kill. And that made killing anyone with game powers very annoying even for him. "Thest kill I hope," he stood in the middle of the three corpses. Just a while ago he moved them to be around him, so he would easily kill them using his stabs. "Yup, that was theirst level," as that pure white light didn''t appear again after half a minute he was sure they were good as dead this time. "Now" he turned his gaze towards the other part of the mansion. Just as he was fighting here he heard many explosive soundsing from the other part. "I''ming," he shed fast while crushing any door standing in his way. If anyone saw him at this moment they would be amazed by what he was doing. Like a rocket crushing everything in its path, that was him. In less than a minute he reached the ce where Liza was desperately fighting a group of ten individuals with arge number of assassins raining down their bullets at her. Many corpses littered the entire ground and the damage to the walls and doors made it clear how brutal this fight was. Not a single furniture remained intact in the wide room she was fighting in. and Bloom knew the rooms here weren''t that spacious at all. "She is doing good in renovating the house," he joked while shouting, "thanks for making my mansion look new." The room she was fighting in was initially formed of five other rooms. However with the loss of walls and everything in between the five merged together to form a brand new one. "You arete," she said while panting for breath, "they have powers from the game." "I know," he didn''t wait and started his barrage of attacks using his dashs, stabs, and slices. No matter who stood in his face, he managed to in them all without any hurdle. "I''ll take off the gunners," she shouted before letting him deal with those game skilled assassins and she dealt with the normal gunners. She seemed a bit exhausted and he knew she just wanted to catch some breaths. "We''ll kill you!" thest one said in determination before falling under his dash. "Watch out," she shouted, "they can revive!" "I know," he turned around and ran fast towards the one who was now bathed under the light. "Kill the weaklings ande to help me out," he stabbed that shield bearer once before turning around and starting another sprint. "Why do they keep reviving?" She was shocked when they killed them for the tenth round and they kepting. "It''s the game powers," he simply said before dashing towards a distant one, "they will keep reviving until we zero them out." "This sucks!" Chapter 329: What Did You Steal? Chapter 329: What Did You Steal? "Tell me about it," he sighed, "grab their bodies and make them closer, I''ll keep sending the revived ones back to the grave." "Alright," she ditched the help in killing while starting to adjust their bodies to be closer to Bloom. "Die!" she stabbed the one she was dragging the moment he was about to revive. "Damn! This is really beyond myprehension," she stood in between the corpses and nced at the other shing lights in shocked expression and denial. "No time for that," Bloom kept killing, "we don''t know if there are moreing at us or not. Let''s kill the ones here fast before running a check at the entire mansion." "" She didn''t speak while her face showed some struggle. She kept helping in silence while the ten game skilled assassins kept losing levels one each ten seconds. "Damn! They are all at twenty-nine levels," after he finally killed them for the twenty-nine times he couldn''t help but curse. "They are one of the elite forces of the game world," she slowly said and Bloom suddenly stopped. "What do you know?" he asked while having the feeling that she was hiding something off him. "Sigh," she shook her head before moving to one of them and removed his mask. "This is Mark, one of the strongest shield bearers I ever met in my life." She then stood up and moved to another corpse and started removing their masks one by one. She kept identifying them and introducing their identity, famed deeds, and what they used to do in the game. "Are they your friends?" he asked while feeling more vignt towards all this. "They used to serve under mymand," she took a deep breath while her eyes turned slightly red and soaked with tears. "I know all their families some some even have kids and girls they love" She couldn''t hold herself back anymore before her body trembled and fell faintly on the ground. Bloom stood in his ce watching her sob and cry without saying a thing for a long time. After she got slight control over herself and stood up again he finally said: "They were here for you, right?" She nodded. "What did you take?" he wasn''t stupid and realized this wasn''t about him but about what she did to him. Nothing would entice such a group of wolves except if something precious was taken off them. "I took a key," she slowly said while wiping off her tears. "A key for what?" Bloom pressured for more answers. "Don''t you think it''s a bit suspicious for us to wield the powers of the game in the real world?" "I got visited by a monster from the game before," he shrugged, "so don''t expect me not to believe the weird stuff you wanna say." She nced weirdly at him and he only added, "It''s a bitplicated." "I bet it is," she wiped her face again despite there were no tears there anymore, "do you know that the game world isn''t really a game world?" "I know," Bloom already reached such a conclusion a long time ago. "And the NPCs, viges, towns, and cities they are all real did you know that?" He nodded while his patience started to run thin. "Then you''ll get it when I tell you this is a barrier between the two worlds, right?" "Like the game we are ying?" he asked, trying to understand her meaning. "The game acts like a medium between the two worlds," she nodded, "the barrier prevents anything from that world to cross to our world. Only through the capsules can we move there and return." "But I got a visit from one of them before," Bloom slowly said, "besides we got our powers from the game to work here." "That''s because the barrier never meant for it tost forever," she said, "or that was the whole theory we had back when we looked for that key." "Go on" he nodded as he knew there were others who had more knowledge about the game, much deeper than what he thought he knew. "There is a ce deeply hidden inside the game. Some call it a secluded realm and others simply think it''s just another map inside the game." "What about it?" "There is a relic there, something that controls the entire barrier." He understood what she wanted to say at this moment. "And that key controls it, right?" She nodded, "it can augment or weaken the barrier, or even totally cancel it." "Then" he stopped and gave her a meaningful nce. "We tried to seek it to preserve humanity and save the world stopping the apocalypse, that was what that man once said to all of us." Her face told Bloom she was recalling bad memories. "Who is he?" "He is was my boss," she said it in a way like she was speaking about a lost lover. "It seems he meant more to you than just a boss," Bloom said casually but the look he got from her made him raise both hands in an innocent way, "''I didn''t mean anything." "He is a jerk, a liar and a bastard that only deserves to be killed," she shouted in strange bitterness. "Did he try to fool you? Y''know" Bloom tried to mimic what lovers would do at bed together with his hands and body. "We already slept together many times," she waved her hand in a casual way, "this isn''t the issue." "Oh, what''s it then?" "The key," she said in frustration, "he said he wanted to make the barrier stronger but I idently stumbled over a conversation he had with someone" Bloom started to link all the dots together. "A monster?" he asked. "I dunno," she shook her head while starting to move around, "I couldn''t see his face but I could clearly hear their words." "And?" "He was working as an agent for whatever power the other person belonged to. They promised him a seat of a king over the world after he crushes the barrier." "So you stole the key" Bloom turned around and looked at all the damaged furniture and walls, "is it here?" Chapter 330: The Real Goal Behind The Attack Chapter 330: The Real Goal Behind The Attack "No," she sharply said, "I couldn''t risk bringing it back, or even know of a way to do it in the first ce." "It''s in the game then," Bloom could only heave a sigh of relief, "Is it well hidden?" "Without me they won''t be able to get a glimpse of it." He suddenly recalled something. "Those bastards Don''t tell me you are hiding it inside a game warehouse!" The look over her face told him she did. "What''s wrong? Warehouses are the most secure ces in any game." "Not here," Bloom took a deep breath beforeing closer to her, "listen to me there are many things going on in the game that you don''t know about." "Really?" she said in a mocking way while crossing her arms around, "like what genius?" "Like the fact that many town mayors are now betraying the game and working for the dark camp," he said before holding her arm firmly as he added, "nothing is safe inside a town ruled by a filthy mayor. And even if it''s a good man, the town won''t be safe if it gets attacked by dark camp forces." "Stop daydreaming," she shook his hand off her arm, "what were you taking? Drugs?" she shook her head in denial, "nothing can touch a town, not monsters, not a dark force or even those wielding strong powers in the game." "I conquered a town just hours ago," he pointed to the direction of his room and capsule, "and I did that alone!" The shake over her face was priceless. "I did it and got hold of all the belongings in the town. Any warehouse, any merchant store Hell, even anything inside anyone''s inventory belonged to me. I got the mayor''s safe and got away with it" "H- W- How did you even do that?!!!" she still kept the same priceless look while trying to wrap her mind over what he said. "Not the time to discuss this right now," he said, "tell me which town are you hiding that thing at." She turned around before saying, "seriously? Can''t you doubt that someone might be hearing our little talk here?" He nced around and realized he was carried out with adrenaline. "Alright, add me to the game and let''s speak there." "Speaking of which" she suddenly stopped him. "Don''t mind about these corpses, I''ll let my butler handle them." "I''m not talking about that," she shook her head before pointing to the rearrest ce in her new room, "my capsule is damaged." "What?" he turned fast to nce at the direction she pointed at. There he saw a capsule, or remnants of a capsule with many pieces thrown everywhere around. "Sh*the curse when he saw this, "I''ll make Antoan bring you a new one. But I''ll have to go." "Wait!" she stopped him, "they attacked you using that gas bomb, right?" He nced in question at her before she sighed. "Idiot, this gas isn''t only meant to kill us, but to damage our capsules as well." "What?!!" this time he was totally shocked before realizing the tight schedule he had. He had many war preparationsing on and only less than a day before grouping with his allies and moving to his fort. "Don''t tell me" he turned his gaze around, "this was all intentional to stop me" "What do you mean?" it was her turn to be intrigued by his words but he raised his hand and stopped her. "Antoan" he hurriedly moved, running so fast and crossing the entire mansion in less than a minute. "Wait," she kept shouting at him until the two finally reached the room of Antoan. She was panting for breath, clearly not having any stamina points inside her stats. "You need to add more points to your stamina," he said before watching Antoan moving from a corner in the room. "Are they all dead?" he asked in a dark face and frustrated tone. "That''s not the point now," Bloom said before hurriedly asking, "I asked you to buy capsules for our own forces before Tell me you''ve got them." "Well" the look over Antoan''s face changed slightly while not knowing what was that even rted to what happened here, "I''ve ordered them but y''know having a capsule these days requires long time." "Sh*t!" Bloom even hit the wall with his fist out of anger, causing a slight tremor in the entire mansion. "What''s wrong?" it wasn''t only Antoan asking this but also Liza. Both nced at him while he weakily said: "We are doomed," he only said this before suddenly a sh of light appeared in his eyes. "Nara she can help," he darted without warning outside and even hit Liza''s shoulder while getting out. "Is he was he injured?" Antoan pointed to the ce Bloom was at just now while asking. And Liza could only shrug without a clue to what was going on. As for Bloom, he hurriedly searched for any working device he could use to contact Nara. "Sh*He threw down a damaged device which was filled with bullet holes. "They were here to stop me," he clenched his fists before ncing fast at the watch in his hand. "There is time I just need to go and find her fast." Just as he was about to leave, Antoan and Liza appeared and stopped him. "What are you doing?" Liza asked with a loss look over her face. "Are you alright?" Antoan was worried about his health. "There is no time to exin," Bloom pushed through the two. "It''s dangerous to get out alone at this time," Antoan tried to stop him. "Take me with you, I can help," Liza firmly said. "No, you two stay here," Bloom firmly said before adding, "try to find a way to contact the CEO board. Get that old man by any means possible." "For what?" Antoan didn''t know what was going on. "For a capsule for god sake!" Bloom shouted in impatience while darting as fast as he could towards the outside. The two he left behind were standing there in daze while the look of doubt was over their faces. "Damn it! Even the cars as well!!" Just as he went to the garage he was met with the dead bodies of his own personal guards and servants. The cars were ruined, their engines were filled with bullet holes." "This is bad," he nced at the direction of the bustling city in the distance, "but this won''t stop me!" He didn''t stop there for a single moment and started to run. He knew this would deplete his stamina but he had no other option. At least until he got himself to the main road, he could then hijack one vehicle and go to Nara''s ce. He had only one thought in mind, one clock ticking, and one goal to achieve. "Screw you bastards! I swear if I had even to burn this city to thest brick I would!" he said in fierce determination while running all the way in between long empty roads at thiste hour of the night. He decided that fort war would be won, and he wouldn''t even stop at just one fort. Chapter 331: The Cops Chapter 331: The Cops "Stop or I''ll shoot!" As he finally reached a main road he jumped in front of the first car he spotted. A sword in hand and a shout that rang all around, he stood there trying to stop the car. However the driver wasn''t that drunk to answer for a sword. "So be it," and Bloom wasn''t in the mood to fool around or show any mercy. The moment the car driver showed his intent of not slowing down he jumped. As he passed to the side he timed the skill he would use. "Just let the engine be ok, slice!" His sword hit the side of that car, cutting deeply inside it and sliced whoever was inside into two parts. Then he retreated his sword back and held the car with one hand. A rush moved from him but he was desperate. The car grabbed him while it started spinning, brining back bitter memories of past assassination that failed. "I said Stop!" He gritted his teeth and used all the power he had to pin his body on the road. The car momentum was already decreasing, and yet when he pulled this he felt like being tormented by a tornado. However he endured. "Damn it!" he cursed while feeling the damage he got as his head showed a number. "Ten thousand damage points for stopping one racing car That''s crazy! What''s happening to the world today?" He went on, opened the car cover by force and dragged the dead body of the driver outside. The car was empty from anyone but the driver. "Let''s see how you can stop me, bastards!" He didn''t hesitate to sit on the bloodied seat of the driver and started running the car. The car automatic control was busted during his earlier unique way of stopping cars. "I will crawl even to reach you," he started pressing on some buttons here and there while the car started jumping, retreating backwards, and even flying. "Phew, flying is the easiest option here," he preferred the fly route where he wouldn''t be pinned to anything on the road. Or stopped by any traffic. However "Stop the vehicle ande out raising up your hands now!" Just as he entered the city, started to fly passing through the towering buildings there he heard this strange voice ranging all around like a speaker was on. "Oh, the police are very handy to show up when a car is stolen," he sneered before totally ignoring them, "but when my mansion got ambushed by all those bastards Damn, how much I hate those hypocrites!" "Pull over or we''ll shoot you in the air!" "Sorry honey, I''m just used toing back from the world of the dead," heughed while starting to fly around buildings while more cop cars started to converge at his ce. "Where are you?" he kept scanning the area all around looking for Nara''s mansion. "Tuck!" "Tuck!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" Just as he was flying and looking, the cops were determined to take him down. They pressed forward on their earlier threats and he started to get overwhelmed with many bullets. And his car started to be ruined bit by bit. "Here you are," yet he wasn''t interested in anything rted to this car. The moment he spotted the familiar mansion of Nara, he felt excited and at the same time deeply rmed. "Damn! Even here as well?!!" he noticed some shing lights, lights that were only activated using skills. "But it seems they had to improvise That''s great news for me." He noticed the location of such shes of lights was still at the outer perimeter of the mansion. "So I had to push you over your borders and let you try to adapt Fantastic!" he evenughed before taking a direct path towards the mansion while the car was heading down to the ground. "Last warning! You are trespassing on a private property Lean over to the side andnd on the ground or we''ll take you down!" "What''s the hell these people''s minds are made of? Ham Jelly?" he shook his head, "There is a war going on down there damn fools and all you care about is me? Screw you!" From the rear mirror of the car he could see something flying with a long tail of red smoke at him. It was moving like a snake, getting closer to him with every second. "They are a bunch of retarded," he kicked the cover of the car to let it fly in the air before he jumped to sit on the rim of the car body. "Boom!" Yet this simple move brough unexpected fruits. The car cover he just released crossed with the path of the rocket, and the two exploded in a very loud bang. "Thanks for the ride," he even waved to the dozen cars that kept shing with blue and red lights behind. "Please keep stalking me and try to stop this war," He shouted before sneering in low tone, "as if you have the balls to follow me down there." And then he jumped while another rocket wasunched targeting the midair car. "Bye!" The distance between the car and the mansion''s main building wasn''t that big. In less than ten seconds and with the aid of the gravitational force hended fiercely on the ceiling. And his body just passed through that hard ceiling like it was nothing. "Boom!" Then the car exploded high in the air, adding more to the scene of his descent all through the different levels of the mansion. "Boom!" And he reached the bottom with a bang that attracted everyone''s attention and brought their scariness. But that was nothingpared to when he stood up from such a deadly fall, with body covered in blood while the top of his head showed another figure in red color. "Twenty thousand points? C''mon, give me a break here!" he cursed like it was some sort of a game to him while everyone standing around gazed in shock towards him. "It''s you!" and at this moment the familiar soft and deeply shocked voice of Nara came from his back, showing her unparalleled emotions right now. "Thank god you are safe," he turned to see her. She was standing in the middle of her own guards, even carrying a weapon in her hand. "What How You!" she couldn''t even gather up her thoughts to ask one simple question. "There is no time for that," he moved towards her but the next moment many guards raised their weapons at his face. And they moved in a professional way to block his path not to Nara but to the fake Natalie they took as a master. "Stand down!" Natalie had to step in after she got a firm nod from her real master. "''He is a friend." "Are you alright?" he ignored the stupefied guards as he went directly to Nara and asked. "I''m This" she pointed at him beforeughing in a sarcastic way. "What''s going on?" It wasn''t Nara but Peri who asked this. She seemed more collected than her master, and also the most experienced one to deal with Bloom since the early hours of the game. And she knew how this man loved to break all the bonds of logic and do the impossible all the time. Chapter 332: You Arent The Only Ones Who Can Summon Monsters Chapter 332: You Aren''t The Only Ones Who Can Summon Monsters The points rising over Bloom''s head was something normal if it happened somewhere else. However in the real world no one could move around with points rising on top of their heads. And the moment that happened Nara and Peri got what did that mean. Nara was too shocked to even ept it while Peri simply got over this as she asked: "What''s happening? Are they after me?" she said while giving the stupefied Nara a side nce. "They are after me," Bloom said while gazing around, "sorry to drag you into this." "But You don''t live here," Nara slowly said while her face told Bloom she didn''t get past what she just learnt yet. "They attacked my ce," he said while suddenly four swords came out and were suspended in the air. "Whoa! From where did thate from?!" Nara even retreated a couple of steps while pointing out at the swords. "No time to exin everything," Bloom knew he had limited time, "I want you to stand back and let me handle them." "My guards can help" Peri was about to offer the help of the guards here but Bloom simply stopped her by a single look. "They are like me," he said, and that was enough to tell the two girls how much danger they were facing right now. "The most they can do is to try and keep you two safe." "Boom!" Just as he was about to finish, the front door was smashed with a sh of a sword that was covered in fire. "Hurry, stand back," he walked in calm steps while adding, "order them to retreat with you or else" He turned to Nara and added, "they will all die!" "Just talk about yourself, skinny kid," the leader of the guards seemed to be enraged before shouting, "fire!" The next moment the gates of hell opened as his men furiously emptied their clips in the bodies of thoseing from the door. In front of everyone, dozens of ck cloaked men fell one by one and it happened fast. "See? That''s the difference between professionals and amateurs What the f*ck?!!!" Just as the leader was about to boast about what his men just did, all those who fell down stood up again just like nothing happened moments ago. "Sword tornado!" Yet the next moment Bloom activated his skill without any moment of hesitation. The four swords roared as they started to fly fiercely towards their opponents. And the next moment another massacre happened. "Tell them to retreat," Bloom firmly said and this time his words weren''t without any weight like before. Everyone from the guards nced at this mind blowing battle they never imagined could happen outside the game world. "Where will we meet?" Peri was much more collected than all as she asked. "Go to the ce where you keep your capsules," Bloom said while taking two more swords out, "I''ll finish them and get fast to you there Dash!" His body moved fast to hit a new wave of assassins. This time they were all normal dudes with no special powers or abilities of any kind. "Don''t bete," finally Nara got the courage to speak up, "I won''t forgive you if you did." "and he simply sneered while his two swords started cutting through flesh like it was nothing. "Trying to lure me out fools!" Just as he kept zeroing out the first group, more started to appear. However they kept themselves around the mansion and didn''t step to face him. He stood there in the middle of the broken limbs and bloodied floor watching them standing still. They were waiting. "Wait for eternity then assholes," he turned around and started walking deeply inside the mansion. The goals of these attackers were the same as him, and so fighting them outside meant nothing if he lost the capsules. "Like hell I would ept that." He kept walking before the assassins outside grew restless. "Attack!" this shout came to drive a smile over his face. He knew there must be hidden teams trying to get to the capsules right now, and so wasting any more time here would be pointless. "Catch me if you can," he evenughed while elerating all of sudden. His high speed started to show off as he crossed many corridors and headed directly towards the third floor of this mansion. "Bang!" And just as he arrived there, many assassins broke in from the ss ceiling of the mansion. They seemed to fall off from high altitude with nothing at all. A free fall and their descent caused ten thousand damage points to rise on top of their heads. "Just in time bastards," he didn''t give them the time to even stand up from the fall and let his four swords do the job here. "Shadow doppelganger festival!" Yet more wereing down from the broken ceiling. "Go and zero them out," he simply ordered while leisurely walking like a general amidst his soldiers, "leave none alive." The dark clones all bowed their heads in unison before another massacre erupted. They couldn''t even handle one of him, and now there were thirty of him. "Thirty Hmm, interesting," he noticed he got himself one more clone. "Did I just level up?" that was the only possible thing he could think of right now. And it didn''t matter. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" More kept falling off the ceiling that he even doubted there would be an end for them. At the distance he spotted the frightened guards opening up fire while Nara and Peri entered through one door. "Just hang in there for a bit more," he threw his swords again over the fallen bodies of his enemies, "I won''t be thatte." "Roar!" Yet just as he was about to get close to that door, a mighty roar forced him to stop. "Damn!" he turned towards the direction that the roar came from. It was from outside the building. He spotted a giant shadow moving towards the rear side of the building targeting the same room the girls just went in. "You gotta be kidding me!" as he heard another roar and spotted one more shadow appearing he understood what was going on. "Well, if you can do it then why the hell can''t I?" an evil smile appeared on his face before he turned to the room, "open the door, do it fast!" Then he started to run with the fastest speed he got. He was already totally covered with red blood, a thing that added more viciousness to his appearance to others. And when he started to run fast, the four swords just flew on his sides like reapers of death. They kept hacking anyone in the way like they had their own will. "We''ll guard it with our lives," the leader of the guards wasn''t any hostile now towards him. He respectively said while he was passing through them with his high speed. "I count on you for that," he simply muttered before entering a vast hall where many capsules were stationed there. And two girls stood there in the middle, one with a frightened trembling body and the other seemed more collected with a pale face. "Wha" Nara muttered but Bloom didn''t even give her a second to say what she got. As he passed through the room in less than one second, he didn''t hesitate to jump. His body was forced through the window, crashing its ss and causing a faint bang around. Then he was thrown midair, on a high level that was almost twenty meters off the ground. However that wasn''t what preupied his attention at the moment, but the ten giant monsters converging here, aiming towards that room he just jumped off. "Stay the f*ck off! Sword tornado! Come forth!" He didn''t even wait for his body to start free falling before using his deadliest attack and summoned his army of monsters. "Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!" And the entire world around was filled with different shaped and sized monsters while he stood on top of one of them. The earlier ten monsters were now facing around fifty monsters who weren''t any less fierce than them. "You brought your own army, and I just summoned part of mine," he smirked before taking two swords out and pointing with one of them towards all the hostile monsters and assassins around. "Go berserk, kill anyone standing here. Don''t worry about eating anything, I''ll get this covered on my ount boys so it''s a free meal for you tonight." "Roar!" And his army of monsters all roared in unison like they already understood his words. Then they jumped at their enemies, mercilessly ying them. "Get me back," he told the monster he was riding, "and keep this area secured with five more." "Roar!" the monster faintly roared before turning around and delivered him like a king towards the broken window. And he simply stood inside the vast hall with a calm smile on his face. Chapter 333: We Dont Have Time For This! Chapter 333: We Don''t Have Time For This! "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Just as he entered the hall again, the sounds of explosions erupted all over the ce. The world outside seemed to witness a rare moment of an apocalypse. Yet he was calm and very collected. "What''s happening out there?" Nara asked with a shocked expression over her face. She looked terrified and she had all the right to feel so. "They summoned some monsters and so I summoned some of mine," Bloom shrugged as he casually answered. "But" Nara paused as she didn''t know what to say. "About that As you can see, I and some others can use their game powers in the real world," he slowly walked to her while Peri stood silently on the side, watching the door. "But How?!!" Nara was still shocked and Bloom could only take a deep breath and sigh. "That''s something I don''t have an answer for," he touched her arms while ncing at her eyes, "but as long as I''m here then you are safe." She seemed to panic at any moment but she managed to control her unsettled emotions. She took repetitive breaths and exhaled them while trying to ept what she just witnessed. "My father Mypany" She didn''t know where she should start. "I believe there are many things we dunno," Bloom rubbed her arms gently, "but one thing is a fact your old man already knew about this and so he arranged the challenge." "The Triflet challenge That can''t be?!!" she was still shocked and he nodded. "If not then why would he give away his daughter based on the strength of a yer in one of his games? It doesn''t make any sense, right?" "We havepany," just before Nara could wrap up her mind about this, Peri shouted from the side and attracted their attention. "Damn! They are quite persistent to destroy the capsules," Bloom took out his four swords and turned to face the door. "Get behind me Peri," he said as he knew the next fight would be slightly tense. "Why are they after the capsules?" Nara asked while trying to understand the current situation better. "They wanted to prevent me from entering the game," Bloom slowly exined, "they came to my house and ruined every single capsule I have." "Then" "They came here as they already are aware of the connection between the two of us," Bloom slowly said, "they knew I woulde to ask for your help." "But that doesn''t make any sense," Peri said yet the next moment the door was breached as many ck silhouettes appeared next. "Sword tornado!" Bloom didn''t keep his hand as he sent his strongest skill out. "They are normal people then," as the swords killed the group of six who just passed through the door, they didn''t resurrect and were cold dead on the ground. "They can resurrect like the game!" Peri muttered in deep shock when another batch arrived and this one had two yers in the middle of them. "Stay here Dash!" Bloom instantly reacted by using his dash skill, linking it with another dash. His two swords hit the two yers and instantly killed them. He didn''t know why but in this world he could kill anyone with just a single wave of his sword. He didn''t know if that was the rule here, and he wasn''t willing to try this theory out over himself either. "Watch out!" Just as he was busy killing those yers and keeping a vignt eye towards the corridor outside, Nara''s scream distracted him. He turned to nce at her direction to see her pointing towards another one the direction of the window. "Damn!" he didn''t hesitate to link another dash and move fast to intercept the sneaking three yers through the window. He was slightlyte to react, and when he killed them they managed to ruin five capsules entirely with their skills and swords. "Don''t worry," Nara shouted, "there are fifty capsules alone in this hall and I have ess to a huge number of capsules stored at the main warehouse of thepany." Despite her words seeming reassuring, Bloom wasn''t. He had a feeling that whoever was behind this attack knew so much about him and Nara. So it would be foolish for him to not aim towards such a warehouse and destroy any capsule Bloom couldy hands on. For him, the current forty-five capsules here were the only thing he could rely on. And he only needed five of them for him, his butler, his love, her maid, and the girl in his mansion. "Stay back," he shouted the moment another team came from the corridor. "They are trying to exhaust me," he read through their tactic and couldn''t help but sneer. "Come forth!" The next moment a group of twenty very beautiful girls appeared around. They were his dark agents and the moment they appeared they knelt on the ground to salute him. "Learn my skills and kill anyone trespassing here," he instantly shouted while starting to use his basic skills and his advanced sword tornado one. Then in the next few minutes, the entire hall was filled with many shes of lights and a lot of skills simr to his. And by their sudden appearance, he was relieved of the pressure he was currently facing and returned to the girls to check on them. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern. "Who are those girls?" yet Nara was busy with another matter. "My agents," Bloom slowly answered while his disaster radar was catching up to a new one approaching fast at his face. "And since when can yers summon such beauties?" Nara crossed her arms and her tone told Bloom she was ready to fight him at this moment. If he had the choice then he would curse her bad timing and swinging mood, but he decided to be soft with her. "They are my agents, data made up by the game to help me in there." "They look quite lively to me," Nara said before turning to her maid, "what do you think Peri?" And Peri stood there feeling awkward about her master''s question and weird attitude. "There is no time for that," Bloom was already impatient, "more wille and staying here won''t be safe anymore." Nara raised her eyebrow and didn''t move a muscle. "How long do you have them?" she asked before hesitating, "have you y''know" "What?" he decided to act ignorant here. "Don''t y dumb with me!" "I don''t know what you are talking about," Bloom even turned his back to her as he scanned the battles going on here. "How many do you have of them?" Nara suddenly asked. "As many as I want," Bloom''s answer made her eyes turn red however he didn''t notice that. He was currently busy assessing the current situation. And he was right to feel doubt and insecure towards his enemy. Chapter 334: Activate The Beacon Chapter 334: Activate The Beacon "You should pay more attention to some details." As he stood in the middle of this fight, Peri came and pinched his arm making him feel some pain. "What was that for?" he hurriedly asked with no clue about why this happened. "That''s for that," she motioned her head towards her master while ring at his eyes. "Oh" he finally noticed the red eyes and silent tears of Nara. Seeing her like this pained him a lot and without knowing he moved to her side before hugging her. And at this moment she exploded in crying without saying a word. "Silly girl," he slowly said while patting her back and passing his fingers in her hair, "I''m doing all this to protect you and you care about some agents of mine?" "You are such a yboy," she said it amidst her crying which made her look a bit funny to him. He resisted the urge tough at her while trying to find the appropriate answer. "They are just my followers," he pushed her slightly away while gazing up at her puffy eyes, "I have no one inside my heart but you." "Liar," she said while sniffing like a small girl, "I saw how you treat that mayor of the town." He realized whom she was talking about. "You must be joking, right? She is just an NPC of the game." "A game that can provide you with ess to its power in the real world? That doesn''t look like any game I know." She crossed her arms after wiping her tears off. He knew he was lying just now but he had to stick to that lie if he wanted to avoid stirring the ho nest in front of him. "I''m seeing everything there as part of a game," he said, "don''t put yourself inparison with them. I''ll always choose you in any situation." She seemed to have a hard time believing him before she slowly asked: "Promised?" "It''s a life time promise for me," he smiled while trying to make his lie more perfect, "I won''t let any girl take your position in my heart." "I will never allow that to happen," she sniffed again before wiping some tears that remained on her beautiful cheeks. "I''m warning you, if I find any girl you like I''ll kill her." "I can''t argue with that," he shrugged, hoping for her rage to calm down. "And I might kill you as well." "C''mon, killing me won''t help you either," he couldn''t help but smile helplessly while not knowing what else he should say. "Boom!" Yet the next wave of loud explosions helped him to escape this unpleasant confrontation with her. He turned his eyes to spot more monstersing from the front. "Reinforcements?" he narrowed his eyes before checking the situation around. "So they retreated and regrouped to attack again it''s not safe to leave this mansion unprotected." "What will you do?" Nara asked in concern while her earlier storm of rage calmed down now. "Go and scan the entire mansion," he loudly shouted at his girls, "flood out any hidden dangers and make sure to kill anyone you find suspicious." "What about my men?" Nara hurriedly asked, "they can''t harm them." "They are either dead or they are traitors not worthy of caring for," Bloom firmly said before turning towards his girls, "leave one tenth of your number here to safeguard yourdy." He pointed at her and this small gesture he didn''t intend was received with a big smile over Nara''s face. "What about you?" she asked when she noticed him walking towards the gap in the wall. "I''ll have to fight them," he slowly said, "just be sure not to leave this ce. Also can you contact my mansion?" "Your ce? Why?" she was startled by his unpredicted question. "I want to call for my reinforcements too," he smiled and said while bypassing the hole and jumping in the air, "I''m not the only one with abilities." She saw him fall over the back of a giant monster, one she already was familiar with from the game as a dark angel. "So you have more frightening abilities? I can''t believe I missed this," she shook her head before turning to Peri. "Do you have the urgentmunication beacon?" "This" the face of Peri changed. "What? I should have used it in the first ce when the attack started," Nara said in a firm tone, "those bastards from the CEO board didn''t give me any hint at all about such a thing. Activate the beacon now and let theme to my aid." Peri gave her a weird look as she moved her head around. "I''m not calling them for help," Nara said with a faint anger in her tone, "I''m calling to give them a good speech about theirck of cooperation." "Oh," Peri got what Nara wanted, "I''ll activate it now." Since day one of losing her father, Nara was provided with an emergency beacon. It was supposed to be connected with the CEO board for twenty-four seven. This was something done as a failsafe measure towards any risks. She didn''t understand the reason behind such a thing and frankly she didn''t even consider using it at all. So giving Peri such a thing to be implemented in her neck. All Peri needed to do was to press hard and continuously for one whole minute before a muffled beep was heard even by Nara. "Is it activated?" Nara hurriedly asked. "I frankly dunno," Peri seemed hesitant, "but you heard that beep, right?" Nara came to check the side of her neck and there she noticed the redness caused around the beacon. "I think it worked," Nara said without mentioning anything about the redness. "All we have to do now is just wait." Peri nodded before moving her eyes towards the outside. The fight out there seemed very intense especially with the addition of Bloom. "Is he going to be alright?" Peri asked, "I noticed you two are intimate with each other." Nara gave her a deep nce before hitting her on the shoulder, "don''t y this dumb trick with me. You already suspect his identity, don''t you?" "Alright, I give in," Peri sumbed when Nara started to tickle her, "I suspected it the moment I saw him, but today I became certain." "Naughty girl," yet Nara didn''t stop tickling her and that made Peri run. Chapter 335: A Bait Chapter 335: A Bait Bloom didn''t face any trouble outside against all those monsters. As far he was concerned, these people were trying just to stall and waste his time. They didn''t attack fiercely or even gathered themselves up. They just kept pouring out a steady stream of monsters that made him at some point quite annoyed. "Fine, you want to y an attrition war to waste my time here then be it," he suddenly summoned more than two hundred monsters who instantly took every empty spot in the garden around. The garden that once was a thriving one turned into a stretch of ruins. The fight this time went on a much wider scale, even though it included some chasing at some point. "Keep killing them," Bloom stood on the back of one dark angel while overseeing all this. "Aim for the humans summoning them. Kill anyone that stands in your way." Despite the fact that the scope of this war extended beyond the walls of Nara''s huge mansion, he didn''t hesitate to follow through. He knew no matter how many monsters he killed, more would just pour in and rece them. The only solution for a swift end was through cutting the heads of the assassins, and this had to be done fast and neat. However in the next ten minutes all that happened was a useless chase battle that made him far angrier. "Fine, you wanna y cowards then let me force your hands," he ordered the monster underneath him to turn around before he jumped inside the vast room again. "Is there something?" Nara was the first to run to him while Peri was the first to speak. "I want you to enter one of the capsules now," he pointed towards a random one. "Now?" Nara seemed surprised while Peri pointed to herself, "you mean me?" "Yeah, just log in and enter the game," he nervously said. "What about" Peri seemed more hesitant and skeptical than ever. "We have no time," Bloom gritted his teeth, "just leave everything here to me. I want you to go back now." Peri exchanged anxious nces with Nara. "And What exactly?" Peri asked while she started to move towards the rearrest one from the walls. She selected one in the center of this room where she felt she would be safe there. "Nothing," Bloom shrugged before pping with his hands, "go now. I''ll keep things here under control." Peri didn''t enter the capsule until Nara gestured for her to go. Once cover was closed and Peri entered the game world, Nara turned to face him while crossing her arms. "I know you are desperate but I never imagined doing things without proper reasons." "Who said anything about desperation here?" Bloom smiled and turned towards the hole in the wall. "I''m just throwing my bait to the sharks, hopefully they will be foolish enough to swallow it." "You are using her as bait?" Nara managed to connect the dots in no time while her face turned upside down. "Don''t give me that look," Bloom sighed, "she is fine and won''t be in any danger. In fact we are the ones who will take the heat here for her." "But" "Just stay here and don''t move," Bloom turned to the hole before shouting with all his might: Come back, we are holding this point till the bitter end." The next moment a lot of roars erupted all over the world before many giant silhouettes appeared from far. "This is your n? To stay back and defend?" Nara seemed a bit taken by what he was doing. "We need to make this look like the real deal," Bloom smiled in a very calm way, "or else if we sent just one of our people in without proper protection from us here, they might suspect anything." "They You" Nara seemed confused and unable to make her thoughts straight. "Just trust me on this, alright?" he held her arms with his while giving her a very warm look. And she nodded back with tears in her eyes. "Now the question is whether they will take the bait or not." Bloom didn''t need to wait long to know the answer to his question. In the next few minutes all of his forces were gathered all around, turning the entire mansion and the garden around into a military fortress. Yet the next thing happened was for more monsters to appear from the near distance. "Here theye," Bloom stood on the back of one of his monsters while watching all these giant creatures drawing fast towards him. "At least this looks more exciting than fighting them in the game." He tried to keep his mind clear. Before the fight restarted again he gave Nara aforting nce. She was now left in the good care of his agents, and he doubted anyone would be able to best them. "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The next moment loud explosions erupted while many monsters entered into a life and death fight. "Finally you brought forth all your cavalry I can deal with that." Bloom watched hundreds of giant monsters moving relentlessly towards him. Just after a few minutes of the first shes he spotted many dark and small shadows moving in between the wrestling monsters without fear. "And heree the bad ones," he sneered while pointing like a warlord towards their direction, "go and get me their corpses." He was surrounded by a hundred of his best monsters here. He gave the order to a small regimen of them, not exceeding twenty. The next minute they did their best to kill yers and assassins however he knew they would just be resurrected. "Keep killing them," he shouted without any speck of worry. "So this is the distraction That means your real attack wille from here or there," he turned his head to nce over the mansion itself before finally realizing this might not be the direction his enemies here would take. This attack seemed a bit blunt. In fact he felt desperationing from them more than scheming. Chapter 336: Taking An Oath Chapter 336: Taking An Oath If he knew himself and his abilities best, then he knew for sure he didn''t push his enemies hard enough to make them desperate. They were just feigning their desperation in such an attack to make him distracted. "And getting to the room from the mansion is literally impossible," he said to himself while trying to unveil the mystery here. "So it''s either from the sky or the ground." He moved his eyes fast all over the sky and couldn''t see anything clearly in the middle of the night. However he was pretty sure to feel or hear anything flying in the air, especially if they were flying near the mansion to crash into it. That left him with only a viable conclusion the ground. "So you brought something to dig the ground How can I evenpete with that?" he couldn''t help but sigh. He knew that getting Nara and Peri out of the room safely wasn''t an issue. However, trying to protect the capsules was another thing. Each capsule was so heavy that a group of ten men were required to carry it away. "A group of strong men Or one single strong monster," his eyes suddenly shone brightly when he reached this conclusion. "Listen up," he suddenly shouted at the eighty monster around, "see those things? Each will grab one and put it carefully on his back. No matter what, keep them safe." The monsters roared in obedience before they started to execute his desperate n. "What are you doing?" Nara screamed at him when monsters started to grab the capsules and put them on their backs. The moment Peri''s capsule was taken she couldn''t help but scream out in panic. "Jump," yet he didn''t answer except with a shout of his own, "jump here now!" She gave him a shocking nce before all of sudden the entire mansion started shaking. It was like an earthquake was assaulting the area. However Bloom knew for sure this was only confined to the mansion alone. "No time, jump or die!" he didn''t have enough time to jump inside and grab her out himself. So he tried to stir out her panic more in an attempt to make her jump. And that did really work. The next moment she started to move. The ground underneath her was now acting like soft jelly. Walls started to dent and crack, leaning over her while thick tongues of dust started to heavily fall from the ceiling. "Come back," Bloom didn''t hesitate to call all of his agents back. Losing them under the mansion wasn''t a viable n. "Jump!" The next instant he shouted at Nara who was now desperately trying to reach the hole in the broken wall. Yet just before she could reach it, the ground suddenly leaned to one side, forcing her body to glide all the way towards the other wall. And just as she was about to disappear from his eyesight, he spotted the remaining twenty or something capsules move as well towards the same direction. And a bloody scene instantly inserted itself in his mind, forcing him to finally act. "Move," he hit the monster on the back like he was riding a horse with his legs. The monster roared before crossing all the distance to the other wall in no time. "Break it," he didn''t have time for caution anymore. He gave the monster the order to hit the wall with its fist while he used his four swords and used his sword tornado skill. The walls of the mansion were already under great pressure from the growing and unending quakesing from the ground. With thebined actions of Bloom and the monster, the wall turned into pieces in the next moment. "Wait for me," he finally jumped off the monster while shouting this for the monster and Nara. Nara''s body appeared in front of his eyes as she was heading directly towards the emptiness outside the broken wall. And many capsules were ruthlessly hunting her. Bloom had to jump in the air, precisely aiming for her body. "Catch us," even before reaching her he shouted at his monster. It all happened in one second as he hit her body, held her in between his arms before anotherrge hand held the two of them. And the sound of the loud smashing of the capsules over the hand of his monster were heard like thunder explosions in his ears. Yet the monster''s grasp was strong enough to protect the two of them before they finally were taken back over the monster''s back. "Phew, that was close," as he finally stood on the back of the monster he couldn''t help but heave a deep sigh of relief. "W What just happened?" Nara on the other hand was totally shocked. She seemed to see her own death with her two eyes just now. Her ashen white face alongside her trembling body was an obvious evidence for that. "You are safe," Bloom turned towards the mansion who started to crash down on itself, "sorry about your ce." Nara gave him a stupefied nce while her eyes were wide open. She turned to see the mansion. Once a grandiose and very luxurious home of hers turned into such a pile of rubble and dust forming a big hill of nothing but ruins. "Peri" she was still shocked from what happened and even her tone seemed shaken. "She is alright," Bloom nced around, "capsules work on inside the battery and are linked to the satellites. She is safe for now." She gave him a horrified look as her troubled mind only knew what it meant. "I''m sorry, but we can''t stay here any longer," he turned around, "at least you and Peri can''t." "No No, I won''t ept that," she even retreated out of panic and refusal of what he was proposing. "I have to kill them all," Bloom helplessly shook his head, "if we let them alive then they will just follow us no matter where we go. This isn''t a n and what they wanted will juste true." "''What do they want?" she screamed in a very loud tone while her face turned instantly red. Her veins bulged out of frustration and anger and her eyes welled up with running tears. "They want to stop me from entering the game," Bloom slowly said, "at least for the next twenty-four hours." "Why?!" she couldn''t believe what he was saying, yet he came near her and held her in his arms. "Don''t worry about that. I''m a survivor and a fighter. No one can force me to do anything or make me lose." He pushed her body slightly away from his embrace while watching her teary eyes. He couldn''t resist himself and leaned over her. A soft kiss that tasted like nothing before happened between the two. "Just stay sound and safe, that''s all I''m asking." "I''m worried," she couldn''t stop crying, "worried on you idiot," she even hit his chest with her weak punches. He let her vent her rage silently while imprinting this moment deeply in his mind. He vowed at this precise moment vowed deeply to himself not to let him or the ones he loved to face such fate ever again. He also promised to bring back skies over the ones who did this to him, and he would start immediately with screwing all their ns and get into the game. That fort battle that town battle he swore he would win both of them no matter the cost. Chapter 337: Winning The War Chapter 337: Winning The War "Go," Bloom shouted at the monsters carrying capsules on their back, "you are ordered to run all the way directly to my mansion." "Your mansion?" Nara was not a bit supporting this n from the start. "How? All your people areing here!" "Just trust me," Bloom turned to her before jumping over the back of a new monster he summoned. It wasn''t the only one, however there were arge group of fifty new monsters appearing in this world. "Take everything and leave now," Bloom shouted as he motioned to the new monsters he just summoned, "protect them. Don''t let anyonee near my mansion at all cost." "Wait!" Nara screamed, yet her scream vanished in the air. The monster she was riding upon moved fast alongside others. "Make sure to store the capsules safely and secure the mansion," Bloom shouted before turning his head to the ruined mansion. "Now it''s my turn." The next moment he took out a scroll. At first he doubted he could bring something as scary as that to this world, however apparently he was. "Let''s see in the game I would just open it and it would be activated," he opened the scroll yet nothing happened. "As I expected," yet he was calm despite all the explosions urring all around. The ground of the mansion started to bulge up and down like a boiling volcano about to erupt. He knew whatever caused such destruction was surely there, and he was the next target to hit. "Let''s try this" he started reading strange words that held no meaning at all. The scroll had long lines written with these words and he always wondered to himself about the use of them. He once tried to incite these words and the moment he did so nothing happened back at the game. "''I hope this works," he finally finished reading the long lines with bizarre words before shouting, "I call upon the mighty earth to answer my call. Rage and rebel against all your chains, let me see your majestic power one more time." This was thest line that was separated alone from others. The moment he shouted these words, the entire world changed all around. The first thing that happened was for a strange wave of wind to appear out of nowhere. It looked like this piece of the world turned into the heart of a storm, and yet that was just the beginning. "Rumble!" The next moment the earth shone brightly in a strange green light that came out of nowhere. Bloom stood there watching the lines forming around the destroyed mansion, rapidly expanding like someone was holding a brush and painting that region. "It''s happening," Bloom couldn''t help butugh, "it''s working Amazing!" He had a lot of very strong and effective scrolls that he salvaged from the rings he got before. Using scrolls was nothing to him, as he got so many to spare. "One is activated, it''s time to augment it with another," yet he didn''t stop his hands from reaching out and calling forth another scroll. And this one it was a lightning scroll. "I call upon the mighty forces of lightning. Come and show me your might one more time," he shouted, ending the scroll activation and starting a very weird phenomenon in this region. The sky up above changed with a gust of wind that seemed howling out of its wrath. Even the giant monsters around seemed a bit affected with what he just called. And this was just the beginning. "Rumble!" "Boom!" The two scrolls coupled together to cause an unforgettable scene in front of his eyes. At first he considered evacuating the ce, yet he knew he had no time to do so. So, he bet everything on the fact that the rules of the game might apply to the scrolls he just used; the user and his allies won''t get in the way of the scrolls. And he was damn right about it. "Rumble!" "Boom!" The earth twitched like it was a giant snake while the sky echoed with thundering explosions caused by the enraged lightning. Bloom stood in the middle of all that while the lightning thick arcs up in the sky lit up the entire world around like it was midday. And he wasn''t afraid at all or a bit intimidated by it. He wasn''t that brave or reckless, however the hatred and anger swelling up inside him were like a cancer taking over his emotions. He felt dull, nothing at all towards what was happening around. The ground started to crack, sending outrge amounts of thick tongues ofva that formed fists and nailed the hostile forces in their ces. As for the lightning up above, it started to rain the ground and incinerate anything in its way. "That''s a hell of a scene," Bloomughed like he had already lost his mind amidst all this. "Burn, burn until nothing is left out there to identify." He knew what happened tonight woulde as first lines in the morning papers and tonight''s news website. He never gives a thought about the reaction this world might have towards such a thing. Whatever happened here he wouldn''t be sorry or regret towards that. Those dark forces inside the game started to y dirty first, and he was just retaliating. How the world would react to such a disaster was something unknown to him. He didn''t even consider thinking about any of the possibilities that might happen. All he knew and focused upon was to get rid of all the enemies here in this world before returning to the game world and dealing with the enemies there. As for the rest, he figured to face problems one at a time. The screams of pain before dying echoed from all over the ce. All the monsters belonging to him were intact while standing in the middle of all this destruction like standing on scattered inds in raging ocean waves. And in less than a minute, the scroll effects ended leaving behind charcoaled corpses of monsters and assassins alike. "It''s not over," he knew that fact about yers. "Go, kill any person reviving," he gave this order in cold blood, vowing not to let anyone leave this ce alive except for him. And the next moment his monsters roared and jumped all around, covering the entire region that stretched to cover at least ten more mansions like Nara''s in no time. And the killing started without warning while any yer standing up again was instantly smashed by the monsters around. "It''s finally done," as he oversaw everything and made sure there were no more survivors, he took back all the monsters while letting only a group of ten to work as his own bodyguard. "Looking for guards? Human guards my ass! From now on I''ll only depend on the monsters and my agents to keep me safe," he decided the moment the fight was over. "Let''s go back now," he ordered his monsters before noticing a few silhouettes drawing close towards here fast in their fancy cars. "Wait," he shouted to stop his own guards from intervening with them, "from now on you are tasked to protect, defend and not attack." Chapter 338: Returning To The Broken Mansion Chapter 338: Returning To The Broken Mansion The monsters seemed more at ease in doing his orderspared with Antoan and his men. The moment Antoan reached the outer perimeter of Nara''s home, he easily spotted his master surrounded with giant and very familiar faces of monsters. And that scared the sh*t out of him. "What''s that all about?" Antoan jumped out of his car and shouted in panic. "Calm down," Bloom couldn''t help but smile, "they are with me." "You can now summon them here?" Antoan pointed at him with shaky fingers. "You saw people using game abilities here and you were shocked by some monsters?" Bloom shook his head, "c''mon, this is nothingpared to the war that happened here." "What war?" "You just missed it," Bloom pointed to the road they came from, "but it''s not safe here anymore. We need to go back to my ce." "But" "I already sent Nara there," Bloom said with some urgency, "I have no time to waste here. Many things need my attention here and back there." Antoan gave him a suspicious look before waving his arm, "let''s go back then," he said, "but you owe me an exnation." "No I don''t," Bloom sneered and then gave the order to his group of monsters to move. The monsters'' speed wasn''t any inferior to a racing car, making Antoan and others feel ashamed of being behind. The journey back to his home had to cross many streets. It was a dark night, but it wasn''t that hard to spot those giant monsters and the man riding on top of one of them. Bloom even noticed the shes of cameras taking photos. He knew this wouldn''t be covered no matter what, so he decided to go out in public. "If this is going to be known worldwide, then I need to establish my power before anyone else does," he said to himself while watching more shesing from everywhere around. He even heard many police sirens, but no one stopped him. He was quite sure whoever was on the other side watching what was happening right now in the police and authorities would be wise enough not to intervene in this. Who would be sane enough to stand against such a giant formation of alien monsters? Especially when they followed the instructions of one man to the letter. It didn''t take him long to reach his house. The big mansion at the outskirts of the city was now lying in ruins in some parts. Fire still rose from some ces while he saw the army of monsters he sent here securing the area. "That''s a scene to behold," he told himself, trying to see the silver lining in all this. He knew he lost a lot, and what he lost most was precious time to be prepared. But he got things in return. He now knew he had a mark on his back. Those dark forces inside the game already started ying dirty here in the real world. They started to pull some strings and create their factions. "If they can do it, why can''t I?" he tried to encourage himself by saying this. If they wanted to fight him then he would give them hell in return. "You made it," Nara ran from the other end of the broken mansion before throwing herself into his arms. She was stressed and distressed by what happened and she got all the right to feel so. Yet what touched his heart was that she found peace in his arms, something he could share with her while holding her and feeling the warmth of her body. "You are safe now," he slowly said to her while passing his fingers through her hair, "I won''t let anything bad happen to you." She moved slightly away from him, letting him see her running tears over her cheeks. He moved his fingers to clear these tears away before smiling. And she smiled back. At this moment it seemed the world was entirely revolving around the two of them. It was like there was no one else out there but them. "What about Peri," she sniffed while wiping more tears from her eyes. "She is safe," he said while taking a wide tour around, "but this it''s a total mess." "I know," she chuckled while gazing deeply at him, "what do you n to do?" "Well They managed to get me twice so far and I hate being hit like that," he gave her a meaningful nce that slightly worried her. "You n on resisting them?" "That''s what I do best," he grinned, "find any obstacle in the road and smash it with my own fists." "But" "It''s risky, I know," he touched her arms trying to calm her down, "but I promise they won''t get to me before I get to them." She could only pray he was right. As for him, he never doubted this was his destiny from the start. He was someone who wasn''t supposed to be here. At this moment he even doubted that his bizarre choice to take revenge on this game was also destined to happen. But for someone who was on the other side of the screen ying as a hopeless NPC despite having soul and thoughts, he knew exactly how to deal with those bastards while he yed the role of a yer. And a human. "What are your orders now?" Antoan approached him while he noticed someone hesitating to approach him. "What happened to her?" Bloom motioned to Liza. "She got a call from her dad," Antoan slowly said, "this hit it didn''t only happen to us." "What?!!" Bloom and Nara were shocked to hear that. "Some other ces got hit as well," Antoan said before turning to Liza, "and from what I felt from her, every single ce hit she already knew about." "Damn!" Bloom could only say that while feeling hesitant to go to her. "Don''t," yet as he was about to move to her, Nara held his arm and stopped him, "let her deal with it first before talking." Bloom saw a serious nce over Nara''s face, like someone knowing how to deal with such situations. "Alright," Bloom decided to follow her lead, "gather every single yer we can get." "yer?!" Antoan was taken aback, "aren''t we supposed to summon an army or something?" Bloom turned around, "this is our new army, this is how the new world looks like." And his answer didn''t give Antoan any sense of satisfaction. Chapter 339: A Fortress Chapter 339: A Fortress The look over Antoan''s face told Bloom how much he was against this idea. Yet Bloom didn''t take his opinion to the heart. He knew that since that night everything in the real world would change Life as all humans knew before would take a sharp turn. And he didn''t know where this would end, but he was determined to establish his ce in that new world with all his might. "Where will we find yers..." Antoan paused, "like you I mean." This point was something Bloom never thought of before. Yet he already had an answer to that. He stole a short nce towards the distressed Liza before saying to his butler: "We will renovate this mansion," he took a wide nce around, "while buying all the mansions and area around." "What?!" Antoan didn''t see thising. "We can afford such a thing, right?" Bloom calmly smiled before adding, "I want the entire area to be mine by tomorrow morning. Then I want you to hire a specialist... I want this entire ground around the mansion to be leveled and a grand building will be there instead." The more he talked, the more anxious and shocked Antoan was. He wasn''t the only one feeling this, as Nara also felt the same. "What building?" Nara asked while her mind started to have wild imaginations. "A fortress," yet Bloom''s next answer made the two re at him with widened eyes, "I need this mansion to be surrounded with widends covered with defenses and tech from our time to suit our needs." The two exchanged silent nces before reaching the same conclusion. "Did you hurt your head during the fight?" Antoan hurriedly asked. "My CEOs areing here soon. I can ask them to bring a doctor if you need." Bloom looked at them without saying anything for a while. He knew they didn''t grasp the gravity of the current situation yet. He wouldn''t stop at any lengths to crush those dark forces standing against them. Which meant one simple fact, this night wouldn''t be an exception. So he had to work earlier than anyone else would. "Just do as I say," he simply said in a tone that gave no room for negotiations for the two in front of him. "But" Antoan was scared as he found out his master was dead set on doing this. "Just do it now," Bloom knew he had limited time, "I will leave those monsters here to defend the ce. Bring me every single one of our men to meet the monsters. Thest thing I want is my monsters killing my people without any reason." Antona''s face twitched yet the stern look from Bloom made him leave. "Are you alright?" Nara couldn''t help but ask, "I think you should see a doctor." "Just y with me," Bloom said in a tired tone, "what will you do now?" "Me?" she pointed at her with doubt, "I... dunno." "You should remain here from now on," Bloom decisively said, "it''s not safe outside this ce. I''m the only one who can help you now." She gave him a deep nce before sighing. "I don''t have any mansion ready for me to stay at," she said, "alright, it''s a deal then. But when I find anything else I will move to it." "Deal," Bloom extended his hand to shake hers with a confident smile over his face. He knew once the news would spread out, the entire world would be shaken by these news. He and she would be the spotlight of everything. After all, everything that happened now began at their mansions. Plus he showed his true power to the world, and that was something not to be taken lightly. "I''ve spread the word," Antoan returned in a few minutes with Liza, "she wants to tell you something important." "Anything," Bloom calmly said despite having a clue about what she was about to say. "I... want to leave here," she said and that made the faces of Antoan and Nara change. "I... have my own reasons." "Denied," yet the swift and calm answer of Bloom came to refuse her request. "Why?" she seemed a bit aggressive, "you don''t own me." Bloom gave her a deep nce, "walk with me," he said before turning to Antoan, "move all the capsules inside the mansion first and make sure they are connected to power." "Alright," Antoan hesitated before adding, "what about the construction people?" "Make theme now," Bloom urgently said. "I understand," Antoan nodded. "No you don''t," Bloom stopped before taking a deep breath, "don''t let them touch the mansion for now. I want them to start demolishing the area around and start digging the foundations." "This..." Antoan seemed quite shocked before adding, "they need time to arrange such things." Nara was very sure of her earlier guess; Bloom had a hit in the head and he didn''t know what he was asking for or talking about. "What about they start with the mansion?" she suggested, "during which they will devise the blueprints of what you want." "Nope," Bloom was stubborn about this matter, "they need to do what I asked them to do." "A fortress?!!" Nara just asked to make sure she got his point right. "I want something simr to a blueprint in my mind," Bloom wasn''t speaking nonsense. He already had something ready in his mind, "I''ll draw everything up to them tomorrow after exiting the game. For now let them focus of unearthing the ground deeply and you..." He turned towards Antoan before seriously adding, "start the negotiations now. The more space we got the better." "You are seriously considering it," Nara softly muttered. "I need to do it," Bloom firmly said, "and I need it to be done fast." "Won''t you take a day off the game?" Liza asked in concern, "what you experienced tonight isn''t easy." "Let''s take a walk," Bloom said without answering her question. He knew what he had to do, and he was the only one considering the whole disaster they were in. "Stay here and defend the mansion," yet before walking with Liza he shouted at his monsters, "don''t let any outsidere without my permission. And in return the monsters roared. Chapter 340: I Wanna Leave Chapter 340: I Wanna Leave Liza walked side to side with Bloom in silence. Her face showed how much she struggled. It seemed it wasn''t easy for her to take that decision of walking away. "Why do you want to leave?" Bloom asked. "Why do you want to keep me here?" she asked back before the two of them stopped. They were now slightly far off from anyone else, so they could speak freely now. "I want anyone with game abilities to stay by my side," Bloom simply shrugged, "and you are the only one I know with such abilities so far." "This..." she seemed surprised by his words, "only for that?" He nodded. After all, he didn''t feel anything towards her. "What if I told you a secret," she paused before adding, "about how to turn any yer into someone like me." "Oh... I''m listening," he crossed his arms while gazing in interest towards her. "There are a special type of dungeons in the game," she slowly said, "they are mainly well hidden and hard to clear. However, with the right numbers and suitable preparations, anyone can end up having such abilities." "What kind of dungeons?" Bloom didn''t celebrate before knowing further about this. "Dark based ones," she slowly said, "such dungeons are usually granted as a reward for extremely hard quests. We need to look for one and then we can send as many yers in as we want and they will all gain game abilities in the real world." Bloom''s eyes shone brightly all of sudden. He recalled the dungeon he got ess to. He never thought that dungeon was that special. He only saw it as a source of dark sand. "You... know how to get one, don''t you?" she didn''t miss the change on his face and instantly asked. Despite her calm she felt impressed by him. She knew what price her team paid before in return for that artifact. In the end she had to ditch that one in return for her life, yet she still knew how hard it was to find one. "I have a way to such dungeons," Bloom slowly said, "but I''ll need your help to lead them there." "So you know about them... that''s how you got your game abilities?" she asked before waving her hand, "forget it. If I helped a group of your elites to clear it, would you let me go?" Bloom didn''t have a hasty answer. He only kept looking at her while thinking about her reasons for doing that. "Not before you give me a good reason to leave my side," he slowly said. "As if you care about me in the first ce," she sneered, "c''mon, I was only a trophy you took from your rival to make him feel bitter, right? Don''t deny it, I already know how much I''m worth anyway." Bloom could only take a deep breath. "Without telling me why, I can''t let you leave." "I''m not your prisoner!" she said in anger, yet he met it with a calm smile on his face. "No one can walk away from here now with my monsters guarding this mansion," he slowly said. "I also have monsters," she stubbornly said. "Mine are stronger and more numerous than yours," he smiled in a confident way, "don''t y this game with me or else you''ll end up losing. Just be a good girl and tell me everything." "Why?" She seemed hesitant to speak and instead she tried to buy some time to think of a proper answer. "If there is anything I can help with, then I won''t hesitate to do that," he simply said, "c''mon, you already know how strong I am." "Not against those," she finally said something that mattered, "no one can oppose those people, not even you." "Try me," he wasn''t fazed by what she said, "I can deal with anything, trust me." "With my life? With the lives of my family and close friends? Sorry but I can only trust myself." "So your n is to go and face them off? Brilliant, considering that you don''t have faith even in me," Bloom sarcastically said, trying to instigate her to speak more about her n and dire situation. "I won''t fight them..." she paused for a moment as she realized she said too much. She took a deep breath before calmly saying, "listen, those people want something from me and the only way to protect everyone, including you, is to go and give them what they need." Bloom wasn''t stupid as he instantly figured out what they wanted. "You''ll join their team... interesting," he said, "turning me down for them... That really hurts." "Sorry for that, but this is the only way out for all of us," she depressingly said, "you can''t fight those people... They are literally... everywhere!" Bloom started to form theories about these people, yet he didn''t express any of them out loud. "Just stay and try me out," he said, "if I failed to protect you then you have all the right to leave." "Humph, don''t take it personally but you are miles off those people." "I like to try my chances," Bloom shrugged, extending his hand to her, "do we have a deal then?" Just before she could make up her mind, a sudden explosion erupted so nearby that attracted the attention of the two, of everyone. "What the hell...?!" Bloom gazed up at the direction where that explosion came from. A huge cloud of dust erupted from just one mile away from his mansion. And in the middle of that cloud, and under the illumination of the streetmps around, he spotted arge silhouette of a gigantic monster. A monster he never saw before. "What is that?" he couldn''t help but ask. "So they came after all..." on his side, Liza took a cold breath of air before turning to him, "see? This is their power... Do you think you can face them?" And her tone told him she knew what that monster was. Chapter 341: An Intense Clash With A Giant! Chapter 341: An Intense sh With A Giant! Bloom turned to her before returning to that cloud of dust. He knew that part of his monsters were roaming the area around the mansion, securing its perimeter. And it seemed just now some of his fights were off with that gigantic monster. "So they are the ones you spoke about, right?" Bloom didn''t move his eyes off that gigantic shadow which stood erect in the middle of the dust without moving a muscle. "Yes, afraid now?" she said in a low tone. "Intimidated indeed," Bloom said before taking the first step towards the front, "but that doesn''t mean I won''t kill it." "Wait..." his answer paralyzed her for a few seconds before she hurriedly shouted. "You can''t fight them... They have had control over those giant things for a long time now." Yet no matter what she said, Bloom kept walking towards the front. "First they send assassins to ruin my home and now they send this weird monster to his doorsteps. Bloom calmly walked under the shocked and frightened gazes of everyone around. He wasn''t seeking suicide, or overstimating himself. On the contrary, he knew exactly his strength and how fierce he was. In fact he only used part of his strength so far, and he wasn''t hesitating to use all of his strength to bring that monster down if he wanted. And there was another reason behind his actions... He wanted Liza to stay voluntarily with him. He didn''t need her to tell him that, but he already figured out how special she was when he first dueled with her at the gym in his mansion before. And today he became quite sure that she knew many secrets about the game he didn''t. He already had ess to that dark dungeon for quite a while now, yet he never knew what she just told him. That was just the tip of the iceberg, he was positive at that. "C''mon, get your ass out of that dust and let me see you," Bloom stopped a couple hundred meters away and shouted in a strong tone. He took his four swords out and let them hover around him. He was already ready to fight, and if he started then he wouldn''t stop until he killed that foe. "Oh, you are far more arrogant than the reports said," a deep and very loud voice appeared from that monster. What surprised Bloom was the fact this sound seemed as if it came from speakers. "Just drag your fat ass here," Bloom even took out two more swords and held them in his hand, "I have no time to fool around with the likes of you." "Bang!" His words seemed to enrage the monster or whoever was riding it. The next moment the monster took a step forward, came into the light for everyone to take a clear nce at it. "What?! It''s not a monster!" Bloom couldn''t help but mumble in shock. That gigantic thing wasn''t a monster, instead it was a giant metallic mecha that wasyered in strange blue leather. It was at least five stories high. Seeing it this near made Bloom think about those extinct dinosaurs. And in front of it he felt like an ant. "Are you afraid now?" that metallic sound came out again and this time Bloom spotted the source. The mecha was made entirely of thick metals with square shaped ugly heads and around fifty rounded red circles like eyes. And in the middle of its forehead, a cone shaped speaker was there and it was the source of that weird sound. "Afraid? Hahaha, just feeling the challenge here," Bloom didn''t show any sign of weakness, "c''mon, fight or flight, don''t waste my time on talking." "Ignorant and arrogant... We will add this to your gravestone after killing you," the voice came again before that gigantic mecha left its leg slowly high in the air. Bloom watched the left leg rise up before a very frightening shadow loomed over his head. Despite that he wasn''t fazed or even thought of running away. "Let me show you the power of my swords," he suddenly darted to the front while holding his swords in hand and other four hovering around him. And as he started moving, the four swords began to rotate fiercely around. He used his best skill right from the start, and just before that leg pause in the air in preparation to tten him, his swords moved. But they didn''t aim towards the raised leg. Instead they went towards the other one. As for Bloom, he simply used his skills in a row to cross the tens of meters distance between him and that left leg suspended midair. "Sky piercer... Dash... Cloud of fog... Dash... Hawk!" After linking all these movable skills, the seemingly long distance was crossed in no time at all. He jumped higher than that leg before his four swords finally hit the other one. And at that moment, a very loud bang erupted from the other leg on the ground. As hended over the left leg, he felt the intense tremors running through that mecha. Then the mecha started to lose bnce as a result. "Fall!" Bloom didn''t stop there and started climbing towards the head of that mecha. At a point of time the mecha was already falling on the ground, making him run instead of climb. That made him reach the chest region of that mecha just before it hit the ground. "Sky piercer!" One second before that mecha hit the ground, he jumped high in the air for three meters while dashing forward. He evaded on hair breadth the violent fall, and when hended he found the mecha lying calmly there without moving. Yet he didn''t even stop to nce or check anything around. His aim from the start was that head, making him move fast towards it without considering anything else. Whoever was controlling the mecha must have been inside that ugly head of it. Attacking there would make sure to paralyze the mecha for good, and relieve him from any threatter on. Plus he would show Liza his true power, not just as someone with game abilities, but as a veteran who could handle anything no matter what. He wasn''t just enjoying the game abilities like others, he literally lived in one before he moved to this body. Chapter 342: A Fight With A Mecha Chapter 342: A Fight With A Mecha However things weren''t even that close from over! The moment that giant mecha fell on the ground, it moved both hands, fanned out its fingers before mming heavily over Bloom. "As if I would let you tten me like a fly," Bloom sneered before the next moment he linked a couple of dashes and managed to barely evade the falling hands. "Boom!" "Boom!" Two massive explosive sounds erupted as a result of that attack. Hended over the shoulder of that giant machine while gazing up at the two giant hands. The mecha seemed not to be much affected with the fall, not to mention the two ps that felt like nothing to it. "So you can handle such force... impressive," he said with augh before arching his body to the front, "now let''s see how well you do against my speed." If the mecha used its giant arms to forcibly kill him or force him off it, then he wouldn''t fight it with force. It would seem foolish of him if he did that. The only advantage he had beside his small body size was his speed. The next moment he started to run fast, while the two giant hands started to fall. Seeing them from such close distance felt like the entire sky was falling over him. It was very intimidating, but he didn''t lose his cool at this moment. As they came closer to him, trying to match his speed, he started to run left and right. His sudden moves came when the arms were almost over his head, and that prevented whoever was controlling this thing to adjust these arms in time. "Boom!" "Boom!" Like before, they missed him while leaving behind two explosive sounds. This time Bloom was already on his way to the head of that mecha, aiming to kill whoever was controlling this thing. He didn''t know if those inside had malicious intent towards him or not, but considering the current situation there was only meaning to their presence here. They wanted to take Liza back with them, and for him that was enough reason to kill them where they were standing. He didn''t like the idea of others forcing a gifted yer like Liza. He needed her to provide him with much information hecked. The gaps he had about this game were so vast. Without Liza''s help he would waste precious time trying to figure things out on his own. And he wouldn''t tolerate such a thing. "Rumble!" Just as he evaded the third attack of the big arms, a new change ured. Those controlling the mecha seemed to drop the thought of killing him like that. Instead they let the two hands hit the ground with closed fists before pushing with all their might. And the next thing happened was for that gigantic machine to tremble violently while being lifted off the ground. "I''m growing tired of those arms of yours," Bloom turned his gaze towards the two giant arms before he pointed his four swords towards one of them. "Let''s see how you will do against my sword storm skill... Sword storm!" His swords moved at once and started to rotate fast around him. He aimed towards the nearest arm and then the swords darted without any warning towards that one. "Cling!" The next moment a loud clunking sound echoed while the arm felt to have some damage. It leaned to the side, forcing the body of the mecha to lean towards that side. "You should give up," suddenly the metallic loud voice appeared once again, "you can''t win against us!" "We''ll see about that," Bloom didn''t take what that voice said to the heart before he slowly muttered: "Shade doppelganger festival!" The next moment his clones appeared around. "Go, use your sword storm skills and make sure to cut those arms into pieces," he mercilessly gave the order while pointing with both swords in hand towards the two arms. The next moment the clones moved. "Woosh!" Just as they did, the chest of that gigantic mecha started to shine. A ray of light forced its path towards the sky while shining over parts of the mecha body. "Poof!" "Poof!" "Poof!" Just as that light appeared, some of his clones were vapourized when they touched it. "Such a lethal light... It''s not from this world," Bloom gave a short nce towards that light before turning his back towards it, "it''s a bad move to aim at my clones and leave me untouched." He didn''t use his clones for the aim of cutting those arms. In fact he used them as decoys, and it seemed his on the whim n brought its unexpected fruits. Before anyone realized it, Bloom finallynded over the ugly head of that mecha. He gazed upon those red circles while taking out one scroll out of his storage ring. "I always heard that metals are great conductors to electricity..." he sneered before finally opening the scroll and reciting it. Just as those controlling the mecha realized there was something wrong, the scroll was activated. "Bye bye foolish idiots," he took his swords away while waving at those inside the ugly mecha with both hands. "You won''t kill us!" the sound roared from the speakers yet Bloom only smirked and said nothing. The next moment thick tongues of lightning fell over the mecha body. At first the mecha seemed not harmed, but after a few seconds, the entire body started to crack open while many explosions urred. Bloom stood there on top of the ugly head. Crossing his arms, having a very annoying calm smile over his face, he looked like a demon at this moment to anyone watching. And what was really terrifying was the fact that all the lightning falling over the mecha didn''t dissipate. The metallic nature of that machine coupled with its enormous body enabled it to store lightning. So even after the lightning was over, arcs of lightning kept dancing for long minutes all over the mecha body. And from his position he could hear screams of agony as the lightning kept tormenting those inside it. They were yers, Bloom knew that from the beginning. But in front of this continuous torment no one could ever survive. They didn''t even have any control over the mecha. In addition to that the mecha itself kept destroying under the constant bath of the lightning stored in its parts. It was like a gigantic prison, where everything around was designed to torment and kill them over and over again. In less than five minutes, Bloom couldn''t hear any more soundsing from the head of the mecha. "Time to make sure you are all gone," despite the dancing arcs of lightning around, he didn''t hesitate to take his swords out andunch another barrage of his sword storm attack towards the head. The once thick and sturdy metallic shell of that mecha turned into scraps now. With the slightest force the head was cracked open like a watermelon hitting a wall. Chapter 343: [Bonus Chapter] I Dont Want To Kill You! Chapter 343: [Bonus Chapter] I Don''t Want To Kill You! "So you were trying to act smart," Bloom sneered while watching the few survivors inside the head. He didn''t need to do anything anymore as hisst attack cracked the head open, andunched a new barrage of lightning inside. All he could see was tormented faces. All he could hear was screams of pain and despair. Yet he stood there motionless watching all this without feeling anything. Not even a speck of guilt towards them. He knew if he didn''t act this way, he would be the one getting tormented and might even lose his life at the end. This was the simple cruel fact of this world, this new world he was now on its doorsteps. "It was foolish toe at me like that," he finally turned around and jumped off the giant head to the ground. Once there he moved in calm steps towards the shocking faces inside his mansion. Dealing with yers then monsters was something, and defeating this gigantic mecha was another. He noticed the awe in the eyes of many, fear and doubt in all. Even his butler gave him a scared look, a look that he would give to a real monster. And Bloom didn''t mind that look actually. "So," he reached Liza, who was more terrified and shocked than others, "do you trust my words now?" Liza tried to open her mouth and say something, yet the next moment she stood there with a gaped mouth and empty words. She couldn''t express what she was feeling at the moment. It wasn''t easy to see this, or ept the fact of him defeating this supposedly lethal mecha. "Do you know who they were?" he asked, trying to jump over the shock. And all she could do was to nod in confession. "They were the ones you were afraid of, right?" Again she nodded. "Then you should stay with me," he said, "I have something important to do in the game in the next few hours. During this you''ll help others here to secure the area and oversee the construction going on." "Are you... alright?" At this moment Nara, who stood away paralyzed by what she just saw, finally came over her fear and shock and ran towards him. The moment she got near, she jumped to his arms while asking that. She was feeling numb all over her body out of shock. Yet she knew one thing for sure; inside his arms she was safe. Nothing would harm her no matter how deadly it was as long as she kept herself by his side, inside his heart. "I''m fine," he simply hugged her and patted her head softly. "Nothing can harm me in this world, or the other one." "Can you please be more careful next time?" she moved slightly away while raising her teary eyes to meet his. "I didn''t get any injury at all," he confidently smiled, "so don''t worry about me." "Can you promise me that... please?" she pleaded and he had nothing else to do but toply. "I promise," he said before taking a deep breath. "I have to go back now... there are many things that I need to do there." "At the game?" Nara was surprised by his words, "can''t you let this for the morning?" "It would be toote by then," Bloom touched her soft face while adding with a warm smile, "don''t worry about me. If they could beat me in their game, they wouldn''t have taken all this risk to attack me at my game." Nara didn''t understand his meaning fully, yet next to them Liza understood it perfectly well. "I believe you two should discuss a lot before I return," he turned to Liza before adding, "I would be greatly disappointed if I returned and found you gone." In a warning motion he turned to gaze at the dead mecha outside the mansion as he added, "it would be a great regret if I stumbled one day over one of those mechas and killed everyone inside to find you one of them." Her face changed when he said those words. Even her body faintly trembled, yet he and Nara noticed this reaction instantly. And he could only smile in triumph. He already cleared up his point here and all he needed to do was to retreat and wait. No sane person would put himself in such a situation against him, not when she saw him crush that terrifying machine like it was nothing. "Antoan," Bloom then shouted at his butler who came in a hurry. At this moment Antoan wasn''t only loyal to his young master, but also quite terrified. "I''ll go inside the game now. Take your orders from Nara and Liza," Bloom said while moving his head between the two of them. "When Ie back, I want to see this entire area being renovated the way I wanted. Or else..." Bloom didn''t need to continue. His threatening words were clear enough to make Antoan shiver. Bloom didn''t like dealing this way with his butler. However he was quite sure his butler wasn''t feeling threatened from their enemies quite enough. He didn''t want toe back to this world and find nothing happened. He was sure that his uing fights inside the game would end up in his victory. That would get his enemies more enraged and desperate. People in desperate moments would choose to do things that would seem reckless and risky. So he had to take advantage of any chance of peace he got from now on. He gave his butler a long look before giving his two girls a goodbye look. Then he turned around and headed inside the partially destroyed mansion of his. Inside he found many capsules lined up in many rows. They were now getting power from the main power source of the mansion. So he didn''t need to worry over their integrated batteries for now. He randomly selected one capsule before jumping inside. He closed the lid and his eyes while muttering: "I''ming to you now... Bastards!" Then he entered the world of the game once more. Chapter 344: [Bonus Chapter] Gathering The Allies For The War Chapter 344: [Bonus Chapter] Gathering The Allies For The War ***Special Note: Thanks for [[[[ CABAL_Nod]]]] for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. Also great thanks for [[[[ DragonFire1359]]]] for his great support by gifting Golden Tickets to the novel. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. This chapter is dedicated for the two of them*** The next moment Bloom reappeared inside the room he reserved before. The gears he took from before were scattered all around, making him feel some regret to not fulfill what he intended to do here. "There is no time left," he checked the clock of his quest to find there was only three hours left for the war to start. "It''s time to gather everyone." He hurriedly gathered everything including his Pandora box before finally checking out from the hotel. He didn''t need to waste anymore time before he took out a ticket for the Regatos town as he intended to pay its king a visit first. Then he would head towards the Blossom town next before leading all towards the fort. "Wow, this mayor knows how to show off!" The moment he appeared in the grand za of the Regatos town, he found arge number of strong looking NPCs standing all over the ce. They were neatly organized, dressed in a single uniform that was made entirely of golden and silver gears. They looked very eye-catching and they cleared the ce from anyone. So his appearance here attracted their attention instantly. "This town is limited for selected personnel only," one of the NPCs walked slowly towards him, "may I presume you are Mr. Hannipal?" Bloom raised an eyebrow for his surprise. He didn''t imagine that the town mayor would lock up his town and limit its ess only to him. "Where is... the king?" he was about to ask casually about that mayor yet he paused before saying the name others say about him around here. "I''m here," a strong voice came from one corner of the za. Bloom watched the mayor walking towards him with his long hair dancing right and left on the sides of his shoulders. And he wasn''t alone. "Seven... Impressive!" As the mayor walked towards him, Bloom counted seven strong looking and very domineering men walking by his side. "I thought to bring more aid to this quest," the mayor said with a sly smile that made Bloom doubt everything he said. However Bloom wasn''t in position to turn down such an offer. "I won''t pay more than we agreed upon," Bloom said it clearly so that the mayor wouldn''t have any funny thoughts. "Don''t worry," the mayor stood in front of him while gazing around his mayors, "they are helping me for the same percent we agreed upon." Bloom smiled faintly before he drove the next piece of news to them all. "The fort... it isn''t in the outer region," he said. "What?'''' The mayors all seemed surprised before a wave of whispers emerged between them. "We agreed upon a fort in the outer region," the Regatos town mayor said in a cold tone. "I know," Bloom shrugged as if he wasn''t fazed by their reactions, "it''s in the inner zone." "..." This time the shocked expressions all over their faces were so funny to watch. Bloom couldn''t help but grin while enjoying this brief moment with them. "In... Inner zone?" the Regatos mayor seemed not to believe it, "are you sure?" And Bloom only nodded. "I can understand if you all have second thoughts here... This war isn''t going to be an easy one." The mayors all exchanged silent nces with the one who summoned them before they all nodded. "How long before this war starts?" one of the mayors asked. "Why?" Bloom didn''t give the answer at once. "We... need to call up more arms," the Regatos mayor slowly said, "we can''t fend off such an attack over the inner stronghold alone." Bloom thought to tell them about the presence of allies, but he refrained from doing so. He wouldn''t say no to more helpers. "As long as I won''t pay extra for this," Bloom nodded, "you got yourselves one hour." "One hour?!!" the mayors all eximed in surprise before the Regatos mayor nodded in understanding. "We will be ready for you in one hour." "Good," Bloom took a ticket to the Blossom town before adding, "send everyone to the Swor town. We all are going to regroup there." "We?" the Regatos mayor wasn''t stupid to not notice the way Bloom spoke about this. "Yeah, you, me and other mayors you are bringing," yet Bloom didn''t say anymore to him before he vanished from his eyesight. "Damn this kid! He always gets on my nerves!" the mayor couldn''t help but exim in frustration. And other mayors around onlyughed and said nothing. As Bloom appeared in the next za, he found the reception there no much different than the one he saw at the other town. This time, NPCs were all dressed in red uniforms. All gears looked red like they were covered entirely with blood. And Tony was standing there alongside five of his own fellow town mayors waiting for him. "You sealed the teleportation here?" Bloom couldn''t help but ask. "We can''t risk anyone preying on what we are going to do, right?" Tony said with a smile before he warmly weed him, e, we have many things to discuss." "We have no time for that," Bloom shook his head before gazing around. The town seemed to be empty except for those armed NPCs who were ready for war. "You need toe with me to the fort." Bloom decided to take them in first and leave things out there for them to handle until he brought back the others. Tony seemed to be surprised a little before he asked: "What about the battle n?" "We can''t have any without inspecting the fort, right?" Bloom said before opening his game interface. There he found the small icon of the yer''s territories before entering the long page of the fort. He didn''t hesitate to select the open portal icon there before a ck ball appeared. At first it was small in the size of a human head before it started to expand with blue and ck electric arcs dancing around. When it stabilized, it was big enough to allow one of the dark monsters to enter. Chapter 345: [Bonus Chapter] War On Their Doorsteps Chapter 345: [Bonus Chapter] War On Their Doorsteps ***Special Note: Thanks for [[[[ CABAL_Nod]]]] for his exceptional support to the novel by gifting Golden Tickets to it. Also great thanks for [[[[ DragonFire1359]]]] for his great support by gifting Golden Tickets to the novel. I''m really excited to write more chapters now. This chapter is dedicated for the two of them*** "Follow me," this was the first time he stepped into his own fort. In fact he was so excited about it, and also feeling a bit selfish. He didn''t want anyone else but him toy the first look over his fort. Bloom didn''t give Tony or anyone a chance to argue as he instantly stepped inside the portal. The moment he did, his body was consumed by the darkness inside, feeling a bit cold in there. Then a sh of light appeared before he found himself standing in the middle of a grand fort. He stood on top of a giant wall, overseeing part of the fort that seemed to extend for miles around. Towers rose up high in the air while many trabechaults were scattered over the grand wall. "So this is the outer wall," he muttered to himself before turning his gaze to the inside. A strong gale of wind hit his body and made his body disheveled, making him look like a great lord of old fairy tales. The inside of the fort looked vast. Two smaller walls appeared there with defensive and magical towers as well. And in the center of all that, he spotted arge castle that seemed to be built over a hill of its own. On one side he spotted a grand extension of broad walls that extended towards a nearby fortress. It wasn''t as majestic as the one topping the hill but it looked quite scary. And there he noticed the five main roadsing through five main gates of this fortress. "A basic grade fortress... yet it looks like a beast of its own," he marveled at the scene before shes of light erupted and many NPCs appeared. Tony was in the lead with the other mayors. The look of this fort seemed to paralyze their thoughts. They stood there in daze looking like children exploring a new world for the first time. Bloom could only smile in contempt before he finally spoke after half an hour. This was enough for the grand army they brought appeared in this fort, dying the walls in red. "This is the Regalis fort," Bloom said in a strong tone, "it supervises over five main roads here linking the inner battlefield with the outer one. You take a tour fast and get ustomed to the war machines and defenses here. The fight willmence in two hours." "What about you?" Tony seemed not to know what to say for a while before he finally spoke. "I have others to invite," Bloom walked towards the big ck ball hanging in the air above the walls. "You have to familiarize yourself fast and prepare a fast n for war. I will return in less than one hour." He didn''t give them any chance to speak as he extended his hand up to the ball before getting absorbed into it. The next moment he appeared in a totally vacant town except for a few patrolling forces who remained behind to keep it secured. "I should go to the Regatos town at once," he took out a ticket, "they don''t need to go to the Swor town anymore." He thought of gathering everyone up before moving them together, yet the presence of the portal solved this issue for him. However as he was about to use the ticket he paused. He noticed that the portal was still functioning and didn''t vanish. "Should I... Close you manually then?" he opened his profile before finding a green button shing next to the fort name. Just as he selected it, the green color vanished and with it the portal vanished as well. "Good," it was all set for him so he didn''t hesitate to vanish and teleport to the Regales town. The scene there seemed more chaotic than before. The moment he appeared there, he heard a loud bang that seemed unusual. "What''s going on?" as he saw the ruckus and running NPCs all around he couldn''t help but stop one and ask. "It''s you," the NPC recognized him, e, our king is looking for you already." Bloom ran after him passing through one street as he asked again: "What happened?" "We are under attack," the NPC said, "we don''t know what happened but all of sudden an army appeared outside our walls and is now preparing a siege." This newsnded upon Bloom like thunder. He didn''t imagine this to happen. "Damn!" He clenched his fists while finally reaching the king of this town with more mayors than before. Their number increased to reach fifteen. And they all looked quite angry. "Oh, you came," the king said as he finally spotted Bloom, "I thought you won''te until an hourter." Bloom stopped in front of them while seeing the hesitation, anger, and even some fear over their faces. "What happened?" he asked the question for the third time in a row. The king didn''t hurriedly answer as he gave a meaningful nce to the NPC who led Bloom here. The NPC nodded and left before the king spoke: "When we spread the word to our friends... It turned out that not all of them are." Bloom raised one eyebrow as he realized what happened. "So they drove their armies here? Or they brought the dark forces as well?" "No, only their forces," the king said. "So they are preserving the dark forces for the fort," Bloom nodded in understanding, "now we need to move." "They threatened to hit other towns if we moved," one of the mayors said in pain, "this is all your fault... we shouldn''t have listened to you." Bloom knew he had part of this, but he wasn''t the only one to be med here. "Wanna me someone? Why not me yourselves for a change?" he strongly said without showing a speck of fear to them. He knew losing such aid would cause disastrous results in the entire fort war. This was a very brilliant move from his enemies, he had to admit that, but that didn''t mean he would ept defeat. "Can you go easy on them?" the king tried to act as a middleman to make peace between the two sides. Yet Bloom stopped him with a signal of his hand before stepping forward and became in front of all the mayors. "You are the ones who invited untrustworthy allies here. What did you think? They will be tempted by the wealth and power like you?" he harrumphed before adding: "You even selected your friends wrong, and you have the audacity to me me for that? I''m the only one able to save all of your pathetic lives, so instead of ming me, why not thank me in exchange?" The mayors seemed on the verge of exploding at him yet the king jumped to stand between the two as he hurriedly asked: "How can you help them?" "By winning the war of course," Bloom said and in return all he heard were sneers and even some low tone insults. "You are too stupid to be mayors, do you know that?" Bloom wasn''t stopped even by the firm grip of the king on his shoulder. "You are terrified of this army? Pft, you should wait and see the grand army of the dark forces descending on your towns like a hurricane!" Chapter 346: [Bonus Chapter] Forcing Their Hands Chapter 346: [Bonus Chapter] Forcing Their Hands Bloom said what he needed to say to them and stood his ce motionless for a few moments. Yet this silence didn''tst long before one of the mayor said in rude way: "You don''t expect us to follow you after this useless speech. Our towns are in danger! We won''t help, we will retreat." "Good," Bloom didn''t seem to be surprised by that scared mayor''s words, "but I have to warn you... Warn you all... After Ie back from this war, and believe me when I say I will return victorious, I will reward my allies and punish my enemies." "What does that even supposed to mean?" one mayor asked in a burst of rage. "Are you threatening us? A mere useless yer like you thinks himself high and mighty!" "You won''t be the first town mayor I kill in this game," yet Bloom didn''t show any sign of weakness or even retreat. He advanced a couple of steps to stand just in front of that mayor, "and you won''t be thest." The mayor had a change in face all of sudden. The unbelievable words of Bloom and his sudden advance towards him gave him a scare. He turned his eyes to the king who simply nodded, acknowledging the words of Bloom just now. "What did you all think?" it was the turn of the king to step in and wrap things up, "I will ally myself with a yer? Any yer? Humph, you are indeed naive if you thought that low of me." He put his hand over Bloom''s shoulder and gently pushed him to the side. "I never ally myself with losers. We all were close friends before, enjoyed happy parties and good meals. Why should we part ways like that? And for what?" The faces of the mayors around changed and whispers started to spread among them. "This is our towns we are speaking about here," the mayor who was the center of the focus said to the king directly in his face. "C''mon, it''s not like the first time we all faced such a dilemma, right?" the king smiled before he retreated a couple of steps away from that troubled mayor and started to take small steps around the others. "In fact what I can see is that my own town is the only one under siege, while yours are perfectly safe." "Not for long," another mayor had the courage to speak up, "they... threatened toe and raise my town to the ground if I helped you." "And if you don''t..." the king took a dagger out of his belt and started to admire it, "then when Ie back victorious with my friend here, we will make sure that no one of those who deserted us live to see another day. Their towns will be ransacked and their treasures will be plundered. Their people will be brought here and work for me for eternity..." The king had a fake expression of realization while his eyes shone slightly as he added, "in fact... I believe this would be for the best. I want you all to leave me and let me fight this war alone. At least I won''t say no to such a big meal." As he said these words, all the mayors without exception took a step back. Their faces told Bloom how frightened they were from these simple words of the king. Even they didn''t show the same fear when they spoke about the earlier threats, or when they spoke with him. He stole a side nce towards the king who was standing calmly there ying with his dagger like he said nothing. He admired such a man, and wanted to be as intimidating and domineering as him. "I''ll leave enough troops here to defend the town," the king finally turned his back before suddenly turning on himself and throwing the dagger. The dagger flew fast in between the mayor group before it was pinned in the wall of a nearby building. This simple move made the mayors'' bodies tremble involuntarily before he took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands of what seemed to be blood there. "Go and bring me my dagger," he said without care towards one of his guards, "and inform Agnus to stay back and defend the town until I return. Tell others to get ready, we are going to war." "Wait!" Just as he was about to leave with Bloom, one of the mayors screamed in a low pitched tone. He was so frightened that even his sound seemed ridiculous when he spoke. "Anything?" the king turned to that mayor and asked as if he didn''t care about what this mayor was about to say. "I... I..." "What?" the king urged him to say, "I don''t have much time to waste... here." Bloom watched the face of that mayor twitch in hesitation. Yet the king was ruthless enough to turn his back to him and walk. "Wait, I... I want to join as well," the mayor shouted yet the king didn''t even pause. "I mean it, I''ll bring all my warriors with me." "Leave one tenth to defend your town," the king slowly said, "and lead the others to the za now. In half an hour we will be gone. Anyone whoester than this won''t catch up... He will be considered a traitor in my eyes." Bloom inwardly smiled while walking side by side with the king. In the next few minutes, a lot of people came running from all directions after them. And Bloom was quite sure they weren''t all the king''s men. "You were right back there," the king faintly smiled as they both entered the za. "Were you testing me back there?" Bloom wasn''t stupid and knew why the mayor acted in such decent way at first. "I alone can make them yield," the king said, "but I wanted to be sure I didn''t select my future partner wrongly." Bloom smiled and said nothing before they appeared at the za. The vast ce who looked chaotic when Bloom came here for the second time started to show order. "Let''s go to the Swor town," the king said but Bloom stopped him. "Change of ns," he said, "we will go directly to the fort from here." The king mistook this for the unexpected dy from before. He nodded and then started to ry his orders. In the next few minutes, many mayors came to join them as well. The king didn''t take the burden to introduce them to Bloom, and thetter wasn''t interested in knowing such weak legged mayors at all. "Some didn''t show up yet," as a quarter of an hour passed, the entire za was filled with armed warriors with unified gears. The streets on all sides were filled with the same looking warriors, giving Bloom the confidence in crushing any army drawing towards his fort. Chapter 347: Getting Shocked By The Fort Chapter 347: Getting Shocked By The Fort Bloom nced at the king''s face. He seemed not to be surprised of some to ditch the fight and escape. "You knew it all along, right?" Bloom couldn''t help but ask. Yet the king gave him a long nce that Bloom felt it was a warning to him. That moment he turned to check the many mayors around. ''Some are traitors!!'' he couldn''t believe how the king knew that and remained all silent about it. If it was up to him then he wouldn''t hesitate to expose and kill them. "Let''s go now," the king didn''t flinch when he asked to go to the fort. If there were no other forces at the fort then Bloom wouldn''t dare to invite traitors to his fort. But he had an army already stationed there. So he easily opened the portal towards the fort before saying: "Follow me inside." He moved through the portal before the scenery changed. The fort appeared again as he stood on top of one of the walls of it. The grand scene of the fort weed his eyes once more. "This is a scene no one can grow tired of," he smiled in content while moving his eyes in wide scope, scanning everything around. The forces he left here before leaving had already got ustomed to many war tools here. He even saw some pointing at the great trachebults as if they couldn''t believe their eyes of their sizes and numbers. "Oh," the next moment the king arrived and he seemed shocked to see others standing here in the fort, "I never saw thising." "Disappointed?" Bloom calmly asked and the king kept his long face for a few moments beforeughing. "Howe? It''s going to make things much more interesting for us." The forces behind kept pouring in batches. The mayors once appeared started to examine the fort with widened eyes. However Bloom stood beside the king while the two kept scanning the faces of those mayors. It seemed the king himself didn''t know who was the traitor among them and who was a loyalist. That exined to Bloom why he didn''t dare to say anything about traitors being in his forces before. "You came." From far a silhouette appeared leading a small group of strong looking NPCs. "Who is he?" the king leaned over Bloom as he asked in interest. "He is Tony, Blossom town''s mayor," Bloom simply said, "he is our ally." "Oh," the face of the king changed slightly when he heard the name. "Do you know of him?" Bloom couldn''t keep his curiosity and asked. "Who doesn''t?" the king shrugged before without warning he hit Bloom on the back with his thick arm, "I never expected for you to know such a VIP figure." "VIP... how? Cough!" The hit was so strong that it made Bloom cough in the middle of his words. Yet before the king could answer him, Tony arrived and he seemed a bit surprised to see the king here. "Wow, you even invited the arrogant Regatos king here... that''s quite unexpected!" Bloom stood silently moving his eyes between the two. He didn''t know what history the two had, yet he was sure it wasn''t a big deal. After all, the king didn''t know Tony until he introduced him earlier. "I''m also surprised to see an old friend here," the king grinned that he even showed off his white teeth. "Oh, since when were we friends?" Tony said in an amusing way while crossing his arms over his chest. "I guess no one would refuse to befriend me," the king slowly said, "or you." "Arrogant as your reputation," Tony couldn''t help but shake off his head, "but I''m fine with that." "And you are too modest for your reputation, fierce tiger," the king said this nickname and without any warning the eyes of Tony shed in cold light. "Don''t say that name again," one of the mayors standing on the side of Tony said in an aggressive and warning tone. "Please," yet before Bloom could intercept and stop any friction from going on, Tony calmly said to the king, "please keep that name only to yourself if you can." "Sure," the king shrugged as if he didn''t intend to say that. Yet Bloom felt he definitely intended mentioning that nickname just now. "What do you think of the fort then?" the king shifted his attention towards the fort. "What do your eyes see?" Tony moved slowly to stand beside the king while Bloom also moved to stand in between the two. He also stood a couple of steps in the front, giving the clear impression he was the leader here. "I see my twenty-five percent shares thriving to no end," the king said with a grin. He seemed quite excited about this fort and its future potential. "Oh," Tony seemed surprised before turning to Bloom, "I only gained twenty-percent." Bloom gave the king a ming look. "At least you two have equal seats in the fort," Bloom tried to evade any demands for increasing the shares. "He has one seat as well?" the king seemed not to see thising, "really worthy to praise as your reputation goes." Tony wasn''t feeling any content about getting fewer sharespared to the king. Yet he hastily overcame his dissatisfaction before saying: "This fort is really something," he said before pointing to the castle outside the fort, "it oversees five main roads linking the inner and outer battlefield together." "F- Five!!!" the king eximed in deep shock while Bloom couldn''t see why he reacted this way. "Hey, from whom did you take this fort?" he instantly turned to Bloom as he asked in a serious tone. "I was also curious about the answer to such a question," Tony also turned to Bloom who felt being eyed by two ferocious beasts at the moment. "Oh, it''s no one," Bloom tried to evade the answer yet the king pressed on by asking in more serious tone: "A fort controlling five main roads isn''t nothing! This must have belonged to some powerhouse in the dark camp. And you must know his or her name, right?" Chapter 348: How To Stop Mordon Chapter 348: How To Stop Mordon "What difference will it make?" Bloom didn''t answer the question and simply shrugged as if he didn''t care about the identity of the previous owner. "It matters!" Tony was calmly watching the king shouting at Bloom in an anxious tone, "we need to know his or her identity so we can anticipate how hard this fight will be." "And also we can know a clue or two about their habits in fighting," Tony calmly added, "and that will greatly help in setting our defensive ns." Bloom gave them a skeptical gaze before he resigned to their persistent demands. "It''s Mordon," he slowly said while watching every speck of their features, "do you know him?" "Woosh!" The king took in a cold air of breath, "Damn! I should have known that from the beginning!" "Who doesn''t know such a monster," yet Tony''s reaction was much calmer than the king, "but that means we have to watch out for his death legion." "And the death traps he loves!" the king said while shaking off his head, "that''s... just a bad piece of news to know in such a small time we have." Bloom watched the two while feeling strange. "I met him before but he isn''t that deadly or dangerous," he slowly said, "I even fought him and was about to kill him." "..." Tony opened his mouth and shut it down without saying anything. "You gotta be kidding me!'''' Yet the king''s loud tone was more than enough to make Bloom feel weird. "That man... no one can easily kill him! Not even me or our valiant hero here!" Bloom gave Tony a side nce as he was now having more nicknames. Tony seemed to be fine with such a nickname and didn''t make any fuss about it. "I really fought him," Bloom stressed over this as a fact. "It''s still impressive you fought him and managed to slip away by your life," Tony calmly said before sighing, "this man... he is a toxin. You can''t kill him with ourbined forces. You can hardly beat him here, believe me." "Yeah, we have slim chances of winning now," the king seemed to be furious as he waved both hands in the air while his face seemed dejected. Bloom didn''t get why they were all pumped up like this. "Can you slowly exin to me then?" he tried to get to know the reason behind their weird reactions. "That man can simply control a legion of flying monsters," Tony slowly exined, "plus a myriad of strange dark monsters. Some are giants who can simply lean over your walls and destroy them. Others can dig tunnels underneath your walls and link the outside with the inside." "Even the protective scrolls won''t do anything good," the king jumped in the talk with his loud tone, "he is unpredictable. We can''t know which weapon he will use against us and all of them are deadly." "But..." Tony paused before slowly adding, "I studied his fighting style a lot. And there is one weakness to his tactics... a w we can exploit." "Really?" the king asked in doubt. "Yeah, I had to study him hard as he was, after all, the leader of all dark forces around my town." "I didn''t mean that," the king seemed to slightly settle down, "I mean what is his w? I didn''t notice anything like that before, no one ever did." Tony paused for a moment before he took out a scroll. The next instant a small shield appeared around the three. "Just in case," Tony said. "You are right to be cautious," and the king nodded while Bloom only stood on the side not knowing who the leader was. "There are traitors in your forces as well?" Bloom couldn''t help but ask in surprise. "There are traitors everywhere," Tony seemed cool with such an answer, "why do you seem surprised?" "Even your yer forces have many traitors in their ranks," the king sneered, "you shouldn''t feel that shocked from that." Bloom was about to argue yet he recalled the brutal fight he had before getting in here. He simply stayed silent while the king returned to focus over the thing he cared most about right now. "What''s his weakness?" "It''s not literally a weakness," Tony''s smile widened. "What do you even mean by that?" the king seemed a bit startled before adding in a loud tone like usual, "it''s either a weakness or not!" "No, a weakness isn''t something fixed," Tony slowly said with his calm tone, "for some it might be a strength but to me it''s a weakness. An obvious one if you wanted to know my opinion about it." "You are doing this on purpose," the king gritted his teeth before adding in warning, "just say what the hell it is!" Tony smiled in his calm way that started to grow irritating. The king couldn''t feel himself until he held the cor of Tony''s armor and even lifted him a few centimeters off the ground. "Is this a kind of joke for you?" the king red at Tony while saying this in a low, yet very intimidating tone. Even Bloom felt dangerous from hearing this tone. Yet before he would open his mouth and ask the king to grow calm, Tony spoke first: "You need to be calm to know the answer." "Screw you!" the king roared furiously yet he didn''t let Tony down or did anything to him. "Just say it!" "It''s his habit to end wars," Tony said, "can you tell me as a fellow warrior who studied him what is themon thing in all his wars?" The king at first seemed not affected by Tony''s words. Yet the more the second passed, the face of the king changed before he slowly let Tony return on his feet again. Bloom watched specks of sweat appear over his face before he slowly muttered, "You don''t think of sacrificing me to get him, right?" Then the attitude of the king changed dramatically to be like a wounded beast. "I won''t let you do that! I won''t take such a risk even for such a fort, even for his head!" Chapter 349: The Betting Challenge Chapter 349: The Betting Challenge "Who said it was you he is after?" Tony sneered before turning towards Bloom as he slowly added while motioning with his head, "he is after our dear leader here." And Bloom''s mind blew off at this moment as he instantly realized what Tony was referring to from the beginning. And instantly he felt deeply frightened and greatly excited by the challenge. "I will do it," he slowly said before his face turned vicious, "if this will be enough to bring him down, then I''m in." And his unexpected excited answer surprised even Tony. The two stood in silence ncing towards Bloom without even saying a single word for a long minute. "Do you understand what we are asking from you?" Tony asked just to make sure Bloom didn''t get it wrong. "I know," Bloom firmly nodded, making the two exchange silent nces between each other. "May I know why?" the king seemed not to believe Bloom would throw his life just on impulse. "Well, you know this won''t be the first time to be coupled with him as enemies," Bloom slowly said. "What do you mean?" Tony slowly asked. "Don''t tell me..." the king paused before suddenlyughing, "oh my gosh, you are really something!" Tony gave him a weird nce before he finally realized what the two were speaking about. "The Swor town war?" Tony asked in much doubt, "he will be there as well?" "He just said it himself," Bloom shrugged, "if I don''t back off my fort, then he won''t stop at this fight." Tony nodded in understanding while the king said in excitement: "So you n to get rid of him here... I love the fighting spirit you have, really." Bloom turned around before saying, "we have no time for that, what will be the n?" "In the middle of each battle he wille forward and issue a challenge against the leader of the other forces," Tony slowly exined, "and that means you." "And I have to ept it, right?" "No," Tony shook his head, "you have to y him a little or else he will suspect that." Bloom stayed silent for a second before he sighed. "There is one problem though." "What problem?" the king asked before instantly adding, "just tell me and I''ll solve it right away." Bloom didn''t know what to say for a few moments. "I think... he fears me." "..." "..." The two didn''t expect him to say that before they exploded intoughter. Even the calm Tony couldn''t help butugh. "I''m not joking," Bloom said in a helpless way, "I have met him twice now. The first time he acted the way you described. He tried to challenge and kill me to get rid off the problem in hand. But he failed." "That doesn''t mean he is afraid of you," the king said amidst hisughter. "Then I met him once more, and that time he tried to y diplomacy with me," Bloom didn''t mind theirughs, "he gave me that feeling... like he was wary of me." The words he said forced Tony to stopughing while thinking about what he just said. As for the king, he keptughing hysterically like before. "And why would he be scared of you?" Tony asked, trying to understand. "I... have something that he fears," Bloom slowly said before adding, "don''t ask me about it. Let it be a surprise for the two of you." "Don''t tell me you are nning to punish us forughing... c''mon!" Tony tried to joke around and give the king a hint to stopughing. Yet thetter was already absorbed in Bloom''s words and couldn''t stopughing or even understand such a hint. So Tony had to hit him in the side with his fist to make him stop. "What?" the king shouted in a strange way while Tony gave him a long face. "You are hopeless, y''know that?" Tony could only sigh, "then you won''t tell us about that weapon of yours?" he turned his attention back on Bloom, and Bloom nodded. "But I can assure you he is afraid like hell from it," Bloom said, "so he might not follow that tactic of his." "Then let''s force him," the king said as if it was such a simple thing to do. "Like doing what?" Tony crossed his arms in interest to hear what the thick headed king would say. "Humph, I told you before," the king sneered before proudly patting on his chest, "I know a lot about his personality as well. Believe me, he has something that we can exploit." "Like what?" Tony didn''t change the interesting look over his face or unfolded his arms. "He is addicted to betting," the king said in a serious tone. "Addicted to betting?" Tony muttered, "never noticed something like that before!" "That''s because youck any taste when ites to bets," the king said before raising his chin slightly in the air, "but for someone like me, I can totally confidently say that Mordon is even more addicted to betting than me." Tony rose an eyebrow while Bloom didn''t know what he should say except asking: "And how can we force him to fight me by using bets?" he paused before it was his turn tough, "don''t tell me we''ll bet him to fight me!" The king shook his head as he took this matter so seriously, "we will ask him for a higher stake bet," he said, "and I just know the perfect way to do that." Bloom seemed not to know what he was talking about, but Tony gave him a weird look before saying: "Don''t tell me you want to use the betting spars!" And the king nodded before excitedly saying, "our army isn''t that weak, so don''t worry." "I''ve to worry," Tony didn''t agree or feel the same excitement like the king. "What is this betting spar?" Bloom didn''t like standing on the side and not knowing what these two were talking about. Chapter 350: Follow Me! Chapter 350: Follow Me! "It''s an ancient tradition of war," the king said, "where every army will send one hero to fight against the other heroes of the other army." "It''s the fight to death between the best of both armies," Tony said, "but in your case that hideous man will ask for an entire fight between his army and ours." "No, he won''t," the king didn''t agree with Tony. "The only time he used this way was against a muchrger and far stronger army than his," Tony said in bitter tone, "and he used this way to make sure he would exhaust the other army heroes and then send his own to finish them off." "The prime fort battle... I also heard a lot about this war," the king said, "but that doesn''t mean we will agree to his demands." "Once a challenge is issued by one side, the other has to decide the terms," Tony said, "so we can''t be the ones to ask, and we can''t wait for him to think about it." "But..." Bloom suddenly stepped in to stop this useless debate between the two, "what if we forced his hand to do that?" "How?" Tony asked, "don''t tell me you''ll use your weapon to exterminate his army." Bloom''s eyes shone brightly as he said, "That''s exactly my intentions." "Sigh," Tony had to admit it was so hard speaking with two war lovers like the two in front of him instead of using their minds and tactics to win the wars. "without saying anything to me, I can tell such a weapon has many limitations, like duration of stay or the number of you using it in one day... right?" Bloom was surprised for Tony to guess this far on his own. "Impressive," he couldn''t help butmend, "that''s exactly true." "Then what prevents him from running away and hiding until your weapon vanishes?" "Because we will be the ones who force him to stay," the king finally realized his n, and surprisingly that happened even before Tony could get it. "You n to reverse our roles and we act as bait." "It''s not like this," Bloom shrugged, "you just have to make him busy to leave." Tony finally realized what he was aiming for. "So to be clear, the hardest moment will be the beginning of the fight, right?" "No genius," the king sneered as he hit Tony on the back, "it''s when we are supposed to stop him from running away." Tony gave the king a silent nce before returning to Bloom. Thetter knew what Tony meant and he nodded in agreement to his words. The hardest and most risky moment of this war would be the opening exchanges between the two armies. "Alright then," Tony sucked in the cold air of breath, "what do you n as an opening move?" And Bloom had to evilly smile. "Come," he turned and started to descend the stairs to the ground, "we have a deal to strike." "What deal?" The king was more excited when he heard this word while Tony could only sigh while following the two from behind. "You''ll see," Bloom didn''t spill out the beans while moving fast towards the intermediate wall. The ground looked quite empty especially when there were not enough troops to fill it. The two armies he brought here were barely enough to cover the walls and the outer fortress. He didn''t know where the main fight would erupt, here or at the five road watching fortress. However he knew no matter how he looked at it, the current numbers of his army wascking. He needed more, and he simply had a way to get that. "I hope they won''t charge me a lot," he stood in front of five buildings which were surrounded with one unified medium height wall reaching ten meters. In his eyes this building could be considered a small watching post of its own ord. "The mercenary guild?" Tony stood by his side while giving him a doubtful nce, "they are strong indeed, but not that cheap to hire." "This guild is a treasure trove," the king greedily said, "why not raid it instead?" "This is our guild," Bloom couldn''t help but shake his head in disappointment, "how can we raid what we own? Plus they are the only ones able to solve our current problem fast." "What problem?" the king asked in a loss. "The low number of our army problem you smart," Tony sneered before he watched Bloom knock over the closed gate. "Who''s there?" a harsh voice came from behind the closed doors, "go away, we aren''t opening for now." "I''m the owner of the fort," Bloom didn''t hesitate to shout in a strong tone, "open up or I''ll be forced to open it with force." He considered such a possibility before. The game might force such buildings to be closed temporarily during any war. However he also knew this wasn''t any simple game; this was a real world in its own ord. So as in his real world, everything was negotiable. "Creak!" The gates slowly opened to let one mane out from it. He wore full armor while wielding a long spear that ended up with a rounded thick tip like it was a giant stick. "What business does the lord of the fort need from our humble house?" The man slightly bowed his head but Bloom felt his sinister intentions from his tone not words. He gave him the impression of dealing with a sly man, using sweet words to cover up his ill intentions. "I''m here to make a business with your house," Bloom didn''t even wait for the man to respond or even stand straight before he walked directly towards the gate. Just as the man tried to extend his hand and stop him, the king jumped and pushed the hand away. "Keep your dirty hands off my lord! Do you want me to call the army and topple this ce to the ground?" Chapter 351: [Bonus Chapter] The Mercenary Guild Chapter 351: [Bonus Chapter] The Mercenary Guild The king''s tone was vicious and made the NPC feel he really meant what he said. Bloom heard that and only smiled before reaching the gate and passed through it. "Come," his voice came from behind the gates, "let''s go inside and talk." Tony followed him with a calm look over his face while the king stood by the man''s side while emitting a dangerous aura. "Let''s go," the king said while pointing to the slightly opened gates, "my lord hates waiting. And so do I!" The man gave him a deep nce without saying anything. As Bloom expected, this was a real world with real people living in it. Everything was negotiable as long as you held the biggest weapon. The man had no choice but to enter while the king kept his distance from him as he walked at the rear. The inside of the ce was really vast. Despite the presence of the five great buildings, each exceeding four stories high, the ce looked quite spacious. "Oh, you''ve got a garden here," Bloom tried to soothe the atmosphere as he pointed to a central garden appearing in the middle of all the buildings. "It''s the meditating garden," the NPC was very annoyed by their presence, yet he couldn''t object loudly at it. "It''s the garden where the top executives of the guild are," Tony calmly said and Bloom caught the end of the line he just exposed. "Alright, let''s go and say hello then," Bloom moved yet before he could cross a few meters, that NPC hurriedly ran to stand in front of him, blocking his path. "Please wait," he said, "this is an off zone for anyone." Bloom didn''t show any change on his face yet he pushed the NPC to the side while saying, "I''m not anybody." "Please wait!" the NPC knew he couldn''t fight him here, but he also was quite sure he shouldn''t let Bloom go in there. "If you don''t shut up your mouth," the king moved at this moment while taking out a strange golden horn, "I''ll just blow it and all the army stationed here will decide to take this lovely ce as their barrack." The man''s face turned pale while Tony stepped in, trying to act as the calm one of the three. "Why not go and call one of your superiors then?" Tony said, "If you bring someone who can decide any kind of deal then my lord won''t move in there and disturb your masters." The man''s face turned even paler when he heard that. He stuttered as he tried to think of any answer he could say to stop these three maniacs from trespassing on the meditation garden. If he didn''t do that, then the price he would pay would be severe. "Dealer one," all of sudden this soft voice came from the direction of the garden, "retreat now... you are no longer needed here." There was no shadow of anyone at all from their position, yet that NPC recognized the owner of the voice. And it seemed the owner was a frighteningdy as his body trembled involuntarily when he heard her voice. "Per your orders my esteemeddy," he hurriedly turned and bowed while hastily retreating. For Bloom this scene seemed a bit funny but he didn''tugh or even smile. He kept his long face while waiting for the owner of that soft voice to show herself up. And he didn''t need to wait for so long. A very beautiful girl appeared walking leisurely from the garden''s direction. She was like a piece of jade, a very stunning beauty with light brown skin and dark ck long and silk hair. Her hair was so long that it stretched over the ground behind her while she calmly walked. She put both hands against each other, making them disappear inside the spacious sleeves of her long pink-white gown, decorated with faint red and purple flowers. Her ck eyes seemed normal, but whenever Bloom nced deeply at them he felt like he was getting absorbed deeply inside them. "Watch out from her," Tony leaned over him and whispered in low tone, "she is dangerous." "I know," Bloom got this feeling when he saw her eyes. He was surprised to see such a dangerous figure living in such a deste ce. After all, the entire battlefield was a deste location in his opinion,pared with the lively vast world of the game. Thedy moved without making a sound, and she arrived in front of them like floating over the earth. "What honor brought the fort lord to our humble house?" she asked in a soft tone and respectful words. Yet Bloom knew she wouldn''t cooperate easily with him. "Won''t you tell me first your name and ce here?" Bloom didn''t show any sign of weakness and directly wanted to establish his superiority over her. "I''m Anne," thedy said with a calm smile, "and I''m the vice president of our humble house." "Where is your president then?" Bloom didn''t show any friendly sign, "shouldn''t hee and greet me instead?" "If he is here then he would have personally weed you from the gates, my lord," Anne word made her evade this trap of his. "I canply and please any of your requests, if you may." "Alright then," Bloom decided to throw the ball in her turf once more, "I want to hire all the mercenaries you can provide." "Sure sure," Anne nodded inpliance, "once my lord selects and pays for their fees, they will travel fast and join my lord in one day time." "One day is too long,dy," the king decided to speak up, "the war will be over by then." Anne didn''t seem to be offended by the king''s words, as she calmly exined: "We are prohibited by the gamews from interfering with any conflicts going on here." "Nonsense," Bloom said in strong domineer, "I know like you know this isn''t a game It''s a world. Nows apply for anyone here." "That''s not true," Anne didn''t show any sign of anxiety or anger at all, "despite us living in a true world, we are all bound by thews of the game." "Then the game should have punished all the dark camp people instead of hiring me to do it," Bloom sneered before his face suddenly changed and his tone grew cold, "I want my warriors, and I want them now." "I''m sor" "If you don''tply, then I won''t find any use for such a building here," Bloom turned his eyes around as if he was marvelling the scenery. "The game won''t allow you to do that!" Anne finally showed part of her true colors. "Wanna bet on that?" Bloom evilly smirked before sping his hands over the hilts of his two swords that just appeared out of nowhere, "do you wanna test this pathetic silly theory of yours right now?" The next moment the king took out his grand sword and Tony unsheathed his long sword in a swift move that didn''t bring any noise at all. The three of them were ready to fight, and Bloom was quite sure of his ability to handle any NPC no matter who he or she was. Chapter 352: Your Guild Mr. Bloom Chapter 352: Your Guild Mr. Bloom Things were heading towards a power show off. The moment Bloom and his two allies unsheathed their swords, sounds of many swords being unsheathed appeared from all over the ce. "Please," Anne tried to act courteously to thest minute, "we don''t want any trouble." Bloom wasn''t fazed by this little threat of hers. Instead he turned his back to her and said to Tony: "Go and assemble my army," he then gave Anne a side nce with a sneer, "let''s crush this ce and raise it to the ground." Anne''s eyes widened as if she didn''t expect Bloom to go for all these lengths. "Right away," Tony yed his role perfectly fine as he nodded, turned around and started to run fast towards the exit. "Wait!" Anne couldn''t help but shout to stop him, "why go to such lengths with us? We didn''t do anything wrong!" Bloom didn''t even nce at Tony as he simply answered: "I don''t trust you," he paused, took a deep breath and wasted more seconds as if he didn''t want this situation to be resolved, or didn''t care. "This was a dark camp fort before and you were dealing with them for a long time." "And?" Anne became a bit restless while moving her eyes towards Tony who was about to cross the gate. "Can you stop him?" "Why should I?" but Bloom only cracked a wide smile, "I came here in peace but it seems all you want is war." "I... We..." Anne seemed perplexed by this sudden esction, "alright, alright," she nervously shouted. "What?" yet Bloom acted like he didn''t get her point. "We''ll deal with you," she said with puffy eyes and slightly red face and eyes. She was pushed to her limits to agree, and apparently she had many things to lose by agreeing on his demand. "Good," Bloom turned to the king who nodded, arched his back and screamed: "Come back!" And strangely Tony stopped just before crossing the gates of the guild. "Now," Bloom said with a wide smile, "can we start our business then?" Anne''s face showed how bitter she was feeling right now. "I have to warn you," she slowly said, "we can''t give you a lot of warriors." "Why is that?" Bloom didn''t unsheathe his sword as he said in a very amusing tone. And despite Anne not feelingfortable at all to deal with him, she had to tell the truth. "Our numbers here are only a thousand. Other than this we have to ask from headquarters." "And?" Bloom still couldn''t see what was the problem here. "Don''t tell me you''ll need time to teleport them," the king sneered, "I''ve bought many mercenaries before from the headquarters and they arrived in no time." "It''s not my point," Anne nervously said, "the headquarters won''t agree to help you in times of war." "Who said that?" Tony just returned, "they are bound by the rules of the game to sell to anyone asking and offering the corresponding price." Anne''s face showed her struggle. "they won''t disagree openly," she slowly said, "but using another way." "What way?" Bloom asked, "be direct please." Anne took a deep breath and even turned around as if she was watching at the moment. "They will give you an astronomical price for hiring their warriors." "Oh," Bloom felt surprised at first before he evilly smirked, "don''t worry, I can handle a bunch of opportunistic and greedy wolves." "Let''s close this deal here first," Tony said, "and then we can see what the headquarters might offer." Anne helplessly sighed before she took out a contract and gave it to Bloom. "This is the basic contract of the guild branch here. Select what you want and decide the type of currency you want to pay with before signing," she said while Bloom started to examine the list of warriors mentioned in the contract. As she stated, there were only one thousand mercenaries avable in this ce. However they were grouped in batches, each having one hundred members in it. And they were arranged from level thirty up to level eighty, with each batch five level difference in between each other. "Only one hundred level eighty?" the king said in dissatisfaction, "we need more, much more than that!" "I''ll buy them all," Bloom didn''t bat an eye when he selected all and selected the gold coins to use in payment. There were many ways to pay, even including ores, scrolls, and even gears. Even light points were avable as well as the dark points to be used in purchase. "They will cost around... five hundred thousand gold coins," Anne said as she raised her head and examined Bloom''s reaction for that. However Bloom didn''t flinch as he signed the contract and instantly it became active. "I''ve a lot of coins in my possession," the king said. "Mine too," Tony said. "Keep them for now," Bloom calmly refused, "I''m not that short on money myself." He amassed arge number of gold coins already, however he nned to use these for his guild establishment process. But if things reached this far, he wouldn''t hesitate to hire everyone he could for all the coins he had. "Good," Anne nodded, "this contract is for one month period. After that there will be a narrow window to renew the contract or we''ll need to go over all this from the beginning." Bloom nodded in understanding. "How can we connect to the headquarters then?" he didn''t want to waste any time. "What about your mercenaries here?" Anne asked in curiosity, "wouldn''t you take them now?" Bloom shrugged as he said, "no, just leave them for now," he then showed a confident smile, "I''ll wait until all my mercenaries are gathered before I lead them outside." "Suit yourself then," Anne sighed before giving him another scroll, "here, you can contact the headquarters via this." The moment he took it in his hands it turned into specks of light and vanished. Bloom''s surprise didn''tst for long before he heard a system alert that exined everything to him. "System alert: yer has gained a privileged connection with the mercenary guild higher ups." "System alert: yer can now chat with them anytime he wants through his profile page." "So this is how it works," Bloom hurriedly opened his profile page and there he found a new icon with letters MG engraved on it. The moment he pressed it a screen appeared next in front of his eyes. And the face of an old man appeared there. "Mr. Hannipal," the old man said, "or should I say Mr. Bloom?" Bloom wasn''t surprised by the old man knowing his identity. After hisst meeting with Mordon and Anna''s uncle and others, he came to the realization that his little trick from before was already seen through. "I''m here for business," he calmly said. "Of course you are," the old man smiled, "but you must be aware of your current situation, right? You can''t me us for being... greedy here." "Name your price," Bloom said. "There are two ways to do this," the old man didn''t y around and cut directly to the point, "the first is to pay for each thousand mercenaries with two million gold coins. And that''s limited to level fifty." "I want higher," Bloom wasn''t content with that, "I want level one hundred." "Then that price will be five million," the old man said with a bright smile, "how much do you want to order?" Bloom hesitated for a brief second. "How about other ways to pay?" "We only ept gold coins," the old man said, "the only currency that youck most, right guild master?" This time Bloom couldn''t help but raise his eyebrow in surprise. That old man seemed to know everything about him, even his astronomica need for gold coins to establish his guild. "What about the other way?" Bloom wasn''t stupid. He could already tell the old man sat all this up to force him to ept the other condition. "We are very interested in you," the old man paused a little before he continued, "you are doing great things without any name or backup. That''s admirable." "You want a piece of this cake then?" Bloom couldn''t help but smirk while waving both hands around. He realized the old man''s goal. He was after his fort. "Not only that," the old manughed, "we also want part of your bigger cake." "I don''t understand," Bloom seemed puzzled, "what cake do you refer to?" He was honestly surprised and puzzled by the old man''s words. For him this fort was his only asset, his biggest asset, his richest cake. Yet the old man seemed to set his gaze upon another prize, something he didn''t count for before. "Your guild Mr. Bloom," the old man said with sparkling eyes, "we want to invest in your uing guild." "My guild?!" This time he was astonished and was about tough but he controlled himself at thest second. After all, if this old man saw his guild to be a tasty cake to bargain upon, he shouldn''t convince him otherwise. More chips in hands was much better than one chip in any bargain. Chapter 353: Shocking News Chapter 353: Shocking News Bloom wanted tough but he didn''t. He knew that establishing his guild was quite a feat for him, for yers''munity. However he never thought for the original dwellers of this world to be also interested in his guild. "How much exactly are we talking about here?" Bloom calmly asked. "If it was up to me then I would ask for fifty-one percent," the old man said with a sly smile, "but let''s be practical. Forty-nine percent is enough for us." "Ten percent," Bloom firmly said. "That''s... too low, don''t you think?" Bloom felt this bargain would take much longer than he initially felt. Besides, he never thought that the old man''s appetite was this big. What was special about having a guild in this world anyway? "No, considering the fact that you won''t pay a penny for me then it''s quite an eptable price," Bloom calmly said before adding, "but if you want more, you''ll have to pay for it." The old man''s eyes narrowed as he never expected Bloom to be such hard rock to crack in this deal. He initially had the impression that Bloom was just a lucky yer, a yer who had luck beside him anywhere he went to. However right now he had this vague feeling, a mysterious vibe that Bloom wasn''t simple, wasn''t simple at all. "So you want us to pay in gold?" the old man asked, "running short on the fees to establish the guild headquarters?" "You know about that too," Bloom was surprised a little, "but I have to disappoint you then. I''m not interested in such currency." "Then ck points? Light points? Gears? Or what?" the old man presented a long list of currencies he was willing to use in paying this extra fee, "and how much percent are we talking about here?" Bloom smiled calmly while saying, "I need nothing of those. I have plenty and can get anything I want," he paused to add more mystery to himself, "and about how much you will get, that depends on the currency we will settle upon and how much you can provide." "And what currency do you have in mind then?" The old man seemed interested in Bloom''s thoughts. "Men," Bloom calmly said, "I want mercenaries to work under mymand." "Oh," the old man''s face paused for a moment before a warm smile appeared on his face, "if you meant this then I can say I can pay tons over tons of them." "But you forgot to mention one thing," Bloom raised one finger in the old man''s face, "I don''t just need any mercenaries, I want those who are able to get into my world." "This..." the old man''s face froze when he heard that. "It''s such a hard request to answer to be honest." "Yet it''s not impossible," Bloom smiled as he added, "as we agreed upon the currency then I can say the price range here. For one extra percent of my guild shares you''ll have to pay five thousand mercenaries with at least one thousand high end mercenaries above level a hundred. Out of them you have to provide at least a hundred of those who can get into my world." "Who said your guild is worth that much?" the old man couldn''t help himself to explode in Bloom''s face. "This is a daylight steal!" "You are the one interested in my guild," Bloom wasn''t shaken by this fake storm of rage. He felt quite sure that this old man was faking it, trying to bluff and trick him to lower the price by much. "Well... we can pay up to a quarter of that price," the old man seemed to struggle and even paused for a long minute. During which Bloom kept his calm facade despiteughing hysterically from the inside. From such a reaction he was sure to get what he wanted, and even more. "One half," Bloom slowly said, "and if you don''t ept or try to bargain again then this deal is off." "As if you can win this war by yourself," the old man sneered. "I know my odds aren''t that great," Bloom nodded, "but as I told you, gold coins aren''t a problem for someone like me. I''ll buy whoever I want now and win this war." He suddenly paused before his face turned serious, "but you also must have heard about my deeds. Any ce that I can reach with such a guild branch of yours will be destroyed by my own hands, whether I won or lost this war." The old man''s face turned serious as well while his silence felt so heavy. Bloom''s eyes kept staring fixedly over the old man''s face while not showing any sign of hesitation or weakness. This was a power show off between the two. Bloom knew the old man wouldn''t risk losing this trade, yet Bloom wanted to establish the sense of power between the two. Yes he needed them, but that didn''t mean he would perish without their help. He wanted to make sure the old man and whoever stood behind him understood this point quite well. He wasn''t that weak or a push over. "Give me five minutes," the old man suddenly said, "I''ll get in touch with you with the final answer." "Take your time," Bloom turned his back as if he was leaving the guild, "after all our deal will be off the moment this war kicks off." And then he was the one to close the call, not the old man. This conversation was heard from everyone around. Anne''s face showed her shocked expression as she seemed to know who that old man was. "You... are really daring," she couldn''t help but say, "he isn''t someone you should trifle with." "Neither do I," Bloom put both hands behind his back, "now we''ll have to wait. Whether hees back with an answer or the war starts, I''m fine with any of these ends." Bloom wasn''t sure if he was being watched right now by the old man or if Anne was in direct contact with him at the moment. So he decided to put out such a fake act to make sure the old man and whoever was behind him wouldn''t take him as a fool. Or question his resolve. "When is the war going to happen?" Tony asked while his face beamed with a shiny smile. He wasn''t the only one with such expression, even the king kept patting on Bloom''s shoulders from time to time out of his excitement. And he evenughed as he couldn''t control his excitement. Striking a deal with the main mercenary guild in this area was something. This didn''t only affect this war, but it also affected their future without doubt. "I believe it will start in a few minutes," Bloom calmly said as he checked the clock in his profile page and saw there was less than three minutes left for the protective period to end. "No, it won''t start right away," but Anne suddenly dropped such a bomb that attracted all of their attention. "What do you mean by that?" Bloom seemed skeptical towards her deration, "the shield will be lifted in a few minutes." Anne seemed to enjoy this sense of power, knowing something the three men in front of her didn''t. "Losing the protective shield is a thing," she slowly said, "and attacking the fort is another." "But..." Bloom was about to argue but Tony interrupted him as he hurriedly asked: "Do you have any confidential information regarding this?" For a moment Anne seemed to go silent. The two beside Bloom thought she was hesitating to tell, however Bloom had another opinion. She was in direct contact with her superiors, the old man in specific, and she was just waiting for his further instructions. Bloom saw her reactions before when he mentioned war. She never showed any confidence or calmness like what she was showing right now. That meant she didn''t know anything regarding such tips before. And only now did she get such valuable info, an info the old man threw out to her to be used as leverage. Or a way to buy them sometime. "I can tell," Anne slowly said, "but in exchange for something in return." "What thing?" Bloom calmly asked while his mind provided many spections about the condition she would propose. "As this war won''t start soon, why not wait for the answer of my guild for a bit longer?" Bloom''s eyes shone brightly before he nodded. "How much longer?" he asked. "Five days," and her answer made him greatly startled. "You gotta be kidding me!" he couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath of air. And his reaction made Anne''s face beam with an interesting smile. She seemed to know how he would react beforehand, however she seemed not to buy it until it happened. "You are clever, more clever than others think. Do you know that?" she couldn''t help but say. Bloom wasn''t in the mood to speak right now. His mind was dead fixed on something else. "What''s wrong?" Tony seemed to get the change in his air the moment he heard about such news. "Isn''t it better to have more time to adapt to this war?" "I agree with Tony," the king said, "like this we can both go and recruit more armies to aid." Bloom couldn''t help but take a deep breath and nod. "You are right," he said, "but there is a catch to this." The two nced weirdly at him but he didn''t speak to them right away. "But I want a contract to be signed between the two of us," Bloom said before slowly adding, "me and that old man." "About what?" Anne''s face didn''t change or show any surprise to hear his words. She was slightly taken aback by his realization of her contacting the old man right now. But she already put him in high regard, so it didn''t startle her for long. "If the enemy moves to strike, I wanna know about that before they arrive at my walls." "We can dispatch eyes around here for that," Tony said, "this is a main trade route with many merchantsing and going. We can gather tons of info about this easily." "You don''t get his point, what a shame," Anne couldn''t help but say in a sly tone, "he wants to know where the enemy will hit, here or there." "There?" the king''s face changed drastically just like Tony. The two missed this point at first, but now they already grasped what was going on. "That''s..." Tony''s face changed as he paused in his words. "I know," Bloom nodded, "so I want that contract to be signed off right away." "I''ll tell him that," Anne still faked not being in touch with the old man right now, "give me ten minutes." And Bloom nodded while watching her leave inside the central za once again. Chapter 354: [Bonus Chapter] The Contract Chapter 354: [Bonus Chapter] The Contract "This..." The king seemed a bit startled by such change in events. He wasn''t alone, Tony also felt the same. "So are they after here or... there?" "In my opinion..." Bloom sucked in a deep breath, "they are after both." "Both?" The king was still surprised by this. However from the reaction over Tony''s face Bloom could tell he saw thising. "I believe they will target beyond that," Bloom''s eyes narrowed as his mind started to think of the worst case scenario... His real world! Down here he was immortal. He couldn''t die. But up there he could. His human body could be easily killed while ying the game. "They tried it once, so why not try this again?" he muttered to himself in low tone but the two next to him were attentively listening to him. "What do you mean by that?" Tony felt doubtful but Bloom couldn''t say anything to him. Not yet. Not now. He first had to strike this deal with that sly old fox. Then he would leave things here to the two of them before returning to Anna. Then he would start thinking about how to properly defend and strengthen his homend, Earth. He started already in doing so beforeing here. But he knew this would take some time, especially when people supervising on such things didn''t fully grasp the full situation. The only options he had were to just discard one ce or two and defend one, escape the fight here and focus on protecting his life on Earth, or... try to be greedy and crazy and aim for all. ording to his nature, he wanted everything! He wasn''t greedy to begin with, but he loved challenges. Such a challenge posed by the dark forces in this game stirred up his soul. "Listen, I''ll leave you here to guard the fort," he said before adding, "as for the fight of the guild and town, I''ll handle that." The king seemed startled again, but Tony could read bits of Bloom''s mind. "Will you leave this war entirely to us?" he asked just to make sure he got Bloom''s thoughts correctly. "Not entirely for sure," Bloom evilly smiled, "if my enemy thought of himself to be this clever, then I shall rise up to the challenge, right?" "I... Don''t understand anything," the king was feeling more odd the more he listened to these two. But Tony got Bloom''s words just fine and understood what he meant just now. As they had to wait, the king kept pestering Tony until thetter got tired of it and started to tell him what was going on here. The enemy of Bloom was cunnier than he initially thought. Any normal enemy would rise up to the challenge ande as fast as he could to crush this fort. Giving Bloom more time meant he would be more prepared. But that wasn''t the true case here. After all this dark enemy aimed to target three ces at the same time! Doing so meant Bloom might be taken by surprise and lose a lot, even his life was at stake here. If not for his interaction with the mercenary guild, he would never have known of the n to target the town. If he didn''t hear about that, the thought of attacking his human body on Earth wouldn''t have crossed his mind. Even the mercenary guild with all their resources couldn''t know about the full scope of the enemy''s ns. The five minutes ended faster than he initially thought as he got a contract in less than three minutes. "System alert: You''ve got a contract. Please revise it and sign it ordingly." "This fast?" Bloom was surprised by this rapid arrival of the contract before he grinned. "They are more restless than me." As he opened the contract, he was more surprised to see the entire terms he discussed and agreed upon with the old man there. "So he wrote it himself... his name is... Peter?" This was the first time I knew the name of the old man. Under his name his status was mentioned. And that not only surprised Bloom, but greatly shocked him. "The deputy head of the entire mercenary guild in the game!!!" he couldn''t help but blurt out before feeling the steps of Anne. She allegedly went inside to speak with the old man. But now as the contract arrived, she came out to see the overwhelming shock over Bloom''s face. "Hahaha, I never expected you to be so surprised about his identity," she said before adding in a yful tone, "putting that in mind, can you lower the terms of the deal for his sake?" "What will I get in return? Nothing, humph," Bloom didn''t fall to her tricks before he signed the contract. "You... could have gotten me," Anne tried to y with anything to make Bloom lower his conditions. But Bloom ignored her before signing the contract then he looked at her and said: "I can have you sweetie anytime I want." "Keep dreaming," sheughed to hide her nervousness and embarrassment. She never thought of him to be so daring and confident, not when he was cornered by his enemies. If she knew the full truth about the enemy''s ns, she would be more shocked indeed. But Bloom wasn''t joking. If he wanted her, he could easily devise ns to make this happen. But he already was overwhelmed handling two girls. And he nevercked any beauties to begin with. "You now have our full support," Anne said before adding, "my name was mentioned in the contract as the one in contact with you." "What about my forces?" Bloom didn''t care about that for now. As he already sold twenty-five percent of his guild shares, he had enough army to fight on many fronts already. But the only front he was worried and not sure about was the most dangerous of all; his homend. "Quite impatient aren''t you?" Anneughed shortly while trying to put on an act to buy sometime. Bloom knew she didn''t get the answer from Peter yet. So he remained all silent and kept waiting. The contract implied that ten percent of his guild shares were in return for the full cooperation with the mercenary guild. The terms didn''t say clearly this cooperation onlysted for this battle or even this war. As for the extra fifteen percent, Bloom got a good deal out of it. Each one percent extra meant he got himself two thousand mercenaries, five hundred of them were high end NPCs with levels above hundred. But what he cared most about was the fifty mercenaries who could go into his world. He still didn''t have the way to let NPCs of this world go to Earth. For such a secret, he was ready to pay anything to get it. But he was sure no powerhouse here would be willing to share such treasured information with him. So he had to figure things out on his own! Chapter 355: Blooms Craziness Chapter 355: Bloom''s Craziness Bloom''s mind was now quite busy thinking about many problems. First he had the issue of this battle over the fort. He knew it would take time for the enemies toe here. And he knew all these arrangements were meant to force his hands and make him lose his control over the fort. But thinking about this goal of the enemy made him more stubborn about defending here. But to do so he had to prepare for the full out assault he was going to witness during the next few days. The game world wasn''t that troublesome for him. He could handle anything here even if a few losses would be eptable. But the real world was the main issue. He didn''t know the scale of his enemy forces up there. He didn''t know if his fortress would be ready by then or not. Getting attacked in the real world with the threat of losing his life made him quite restless. There was another problem too. If he stayed there to defend the real world, then his enemy would time his attack to be simultaneous. ''So he wille at me from all directions at the same time,'' Bloom muttered to himself, ''what would I do if I was in his shoes. But knowing that means good news to me in return.'' He knew the enemy wouldn''t attack anywhere else until he attacked here. So he had a sudden sh of an idea that would help in buying him more time. But he needed to hear the answer of the mercenary guild first. Anne didn''t take long before she opened her mouth and said: "We can provide them with one percent worth of NPCs per day," she paused before adding with an alluring smile, "and we can add the rest on thest day of battle. Where do you want them to be distributed?" "I want all of them to be stationed here," contrary to everyone''s expectations, Bloom made such a weird decision. "Here? Only here?" Anne asked again just to make sure she heard him right at the first time. "Yes," Bloom nodded, "I want everyone to be stationed in the fort," he then turned to point at the distant walls before adding, "make them stand in lines over there. Make them fill the entire walls and take control of the defenses." "..." This time everyone was shocked to silence by his words. He didn''t only ask them to stand here, but he also asked to be arranged in such a way. "But..." even the all brawls and no brain king couldn''t help but feel how wrong this arrangement was. "Just do as I say," Bloom didn''t give him a chance to continue before adding in firm tone, "as for those able to move to my world, send them to my guild location." "Got it," despite not agreeing or understanding the arrangement of Bloom, Anne didn''t object or refuse. After all she had a deal with him, not to take responsibility for what would happen to the forces handed to Bloom. "Let''s go," Bloom turned around while the other two exchanged silent gazes with each other. The two felt greatly puzzled by what Bloom arranged and hoped he was just bluffing. As the three marched away from the guild, Anne couldn''t help but show her true face. She seemed wiser and more dangerous than before. "He is quite... interesting," she muttered before the old man appeared on a screen next to her. "He has a n in his mind," the old man said. "It''s obvious he does," Anne nodded, "but even I can''t get a glimpse of his n." "But he can be fooling around, grandmaster," the old man bowed his head and spoke in veneration. Anne wasn''t a normal person in the entire mercenary guild. In fact she was the leading grandmaster of the guild. She came all the way here to see by her eyes the person who had many rumors circting around inside their world. Despite the objections of many, she realized she made the right choice by doing so. She had first hand experience in dealing with Bloom. Now she realized that all the rumors aren''t exaggerating. Bloom gave her the vibe of someone able to shake her entire world. Someone she should ally herself with, not stand against him as an enemy! "He has a n," Anne said in confidence, "just keep our eyes around him. I''m so much interested to see what he wants to do and how he will win this." "Win... He can''t win such an open war!" the old man seemed to struggle to see what his grandmaster was seeing. "Just do as I say," Anne grinned, "I''m sure he will stand against all the odds and win them all!" As Anne had such faith in Bloom and ced such high expectations over him, the two walking by his side didn''t share anything like that with her. They thought Bloom was just putting a show in front of the mercenary guild and he had another n in mind. "Tell me you were just joking," Tony said while the king couldn''t control himself anymore. "This is stupid! How can we sacrifice such a card and make our enemies see our growing forces? They''ll match our forces and try to be ready for them!" Tony looked at the calm face of Bloom while inwardly wondering about what was going on inside Bloom''s head. "War is all about deception," Tony said before adding, "we should hide our new forces and let our enemy be fooled by our weak strength and unreadiness." "Just do as I say and trust me on this," but Bloom didn''t exin anything to them, "I know what I''m doing. That''s all I can say for now." He reached the central part of his fort. Gazing up at the vastndscape his fort upied made him feel more desire to keep it. "Also," he pointed at the walls before adding, "at night make sure you switch the forces on all walls. I want the enemies to see new faces each day." "..." "..." The more he spoke, the more puzzled Tony and the king became. But before any of them could ask anything, Bloom took a ticket and added: "I''ll entrust you here. If anything happened, just message me. I''ll be at my guild headquarters. See youter." "Wait..." but the king was toote as Bloom already used the ticket and vanished. "Damn! He is acting like a crazy person now!" The king even kicked the rocks on the ground out of his frustration. "He... is acting weird, not crazy," at this moment Tony started to have the same mysterious feeling like Anne. "Don''t act crazy like him," the king said in warning, "we need to mobilize lots of forces and make them stationed in hiding inside the fort. Damn! I shouldn''t do as he said and keep everything well hidden." "No, we should do as he asked," but Tony stopped him before adding, "but we must bring as many forces as we can. This fort is priceless for me." "And for me as well," this time the king grinned in greediness, "I even will buy more forces and open my treasury. This fort won''t fall in anyone''s hands but mine." "Ours," Tonyughed while correcting the king''s words, "it''s ours and not yours alone." "Oh... yeah, if you say so," the king looked a bit embarrassed before adding, "I''ll send my men to fetch more forces here. We have ten days to prepare." "Yeah, we have time to better prepare," Tony agreed before looking at the distant sky, "but how far will he be prepared for this war?" The king didn''t get his meaning but Tony was wondering about Bloom. He wanted to see what this human was able to do, or was nning to do. Chapter 356: Planning For The Upcoming Epic Battles Chapter 356: nning For The Uing Epic Battles Bloom returned to the Swor town while burdened with many thoughts. "I need to book a room at the hotel," he decided not to meet anyone or speak even with his butler for now. He knew his enemy was much more prepared and terrifying than what he initially thought. A fight for a fort in an area he never cared much about turned everything around like this. Even his life was threatened at this moment. And he didn''t pass all these troubles and survive all these hardships to fall on the hand of someone like Mordon. As he was a regr, Bloom booked a room easily and closed the door behind. He sat over afy seat while starting to think aloud. "I have three battlegrounds to think about," he said to himself before adding, "the fort, this town, and my home. The three aren''t situated close to each other. Losing any of them isn''t an option for me. So how should I do it?" It was the big question he had in mind. The most logical way of thinking would be by counting his forces, but he started with the opposite. "My main enemies are Mordon with the grand army of the ck camp on his side, Anna''s uncles and their dirty mayors helping them, plus Dockrey and his filthy group of bastards..." In theory his enemies could be grouped in three big camps. However facing each camp would be an exhausting task even for him. Dockrey wasn''t someone in the picture at all. However Bloom was sure his enemies would reach out to him. Such a dirty enemy wouldn''t hesitate to take advantage of such a bad situation. So Bloom decided to add him in his big list of enemies he had to deal with. "My home is... a mess right now," he started thinking about his own territories. He took a deep breath before thinking about the fort he asked to be built. "It won''t do," he knew he was asking for the impossible! Building such an antique thing in such a modern world was a fantasy, especially if one asked for it to be done in less than ten days. "As for here... The guild headquarter needed more time to be built," he knew his enemies would target the weak spot first in Swor town. Ironically speaking, it was his guild headquarter. If he knew that, he wouldn''t have built it so far away from the town itself. But the town wasn''t even that secure. "The only ce I can trust here is my Regalis fort," he reached this conclusion. "And my enemy should know that as well. So, if I were him..." He paused while trying his hardest to read the mind of his enemy. For the first time since this sh started, he realized his enemy was like a mystery to him. All the things he knew, which were scarce to begin with, were mere sayings from the people around him. But he couldn''t say exactly how that man was. He didn''t even know his weaknesses. "I... need to gather more intel about him," he muttered to himself before thinking about the other foes he had. "Dockrey is the easiest one," he sneered when he thought about that impulsive spoiled kid. "All I need to do is just set up traps for him to lose his people around my mansion. He will take the bait and Antoan can take this part efficiently." As one enemy could be taken care of, he started to think about thest one, Anna''s uncles. "Given these circumstances, I need to change my tactic towards them." At first he nned to fortify himself here and defend against the iing invasion. However at this moment he decided to do two things with top priority for him. "First I need to decrease the power of my enemies, or eliminate them if possible," he said in a firm tone, "and secondly I have to find a way to make these ten daysst as long as I can." He already started acting upon his second n since he was at the fort. The order, the weird order to any sane man, by showing off his growing strength was nothing but a clear message to his enemies. He was getting ready as they were! Getting this fort would require far greater force than what they currently held. This was his first thought about elongating this period. However as he sat now inside the secluded and quiet room of the hotel, more ideas started to pop up. "Divide and conquer," he muttered when he thought about a way to make his main enemy camp weaker. To elongate the limited time he had, he should work hard towards depriving his enemy from his strongest allies. "Thinking that Anna''s uncles and Dockrey are Mordon''s main allies is a mistake," he said to himself while deeply considering this matter. In his opinion, Mordon only saw them as his ves. Weapons Mordon could use to threaten Bloom. Even if he lost them, Mordon wouldn''t stop trying to hit him at the three battlefields. So Bloom started to think about the main ally he knew and he could reach. "Ashley!" he said in a firm tone. This sly witch and those behind her were the main allies of Mordon. However, contacting her directly wasn''t wise. "Plus I don''t know what I should offer her," he felt helpless here, "even if I offered a piece of the cake, they wouldn''t ept. They will mistake my stance as being weak." This wasn''t what he wanted to show. He wanted to tell everyone that he was strong, freakingly strong to contend with. As he had no clue about this issue, he had to put it aside for now. "Now let''s talk about my points of strength," his tone seemed like a dead man just got revived. After all, thinking about his enemies was too stressful to begin with. Yet he had to be absolutely honest with himself regarding his enemies. Bloom wasn''t a kid who wouldmit such a naive and grave mistake of belittling his enemies. In fact he paid his respect to his enemies by thinking truly and honestly about their power. Despite how dejectful this was to him, he did a great job in that regard. Chapter 357: The Long List of His Advantage! Chapter 357: The Long List of His Advantage! Bloom''s points of strength were really numerous to count on a single hand! He never thought he had such assets before this moment. And the moment he started counting them, he felt much pride and more confidence in himself. He came to this game with the intention of toppling it upside down. Wrecking the game that turned his old game into ruins. However after experiencing the game for himself, he realized things weren''t as simple as he expected. This game was well designed, not to mention it was a totally different world than Earth. As someone who hailed from one lousy and loser game, he appreciated this game now. Honestly speaking he turned from its biggest hater to its biggest supporter. Plus turning his life into such a human made him realize how precious were the things he currently had to lose. Like before, being just a mere NPC in a game, he wouldn''t think twice about giving up his life to attain his goals. But now he knew there were many benefits to being human. At least it was much fun, more fun than what he ever felt during his past life as an NPC, even amidst his glorious moments. The second aspect that changed his opinion was his ability to win over others in this game or world. The desire to be the best was deeply engraved in his soul. And he would never flinch from such a position by his own will! Even in his past life, he weed all the hardships forced upon him and tried to seed and crush them all. His life before made him realize the value of challenging others and creating his own path with his own strength. Right now he had strength, knowledge, and the courage to go beyond what others would dream of. "I have the advantage of homnd," the first point of strength he thought of was unlikely to be thought of. If anyone saw such a scenario now he would feel pity for Bloom. He was cornered and getting attacked from all his enemies at three different ces. But when giving the matter much thought, anyone would feel surprised to see the three ces were considered a homnd for him. "They are my turfs," he said in a decisive tone, "the Regalis fort, the Swor town, and even Earth every single one of them lies under my control and dominion. I have the home advantage and I have to y ordingly based on that." Seeing things from such a perspective changed a lot of his negative feelings towards the uing battles. After all, he knew the rules and terrain of each ce, and held the advantage of being in control over these areas. "Plus the defense advantage," he added to himself like he was lecturing it, "Neither in the three battles I have to attack. All I have to do is to hold the three ces with an iron fist and make sure no single enemy would trespass over them." Despite saying it in such a big tone, he knew saying it wouldn''t make it easier. He had to fight, and fight a big one this time to prove his right to control the three ces. However when seeded, he would rise above anyone else with three cornerstones that could be best described as: Unshakable! "As for other things I have Let''s see" he started to check everything he had gathered so far. "I have Pandora box, the dark monster taming bow, the purgatory fire scroll, ring of resurrection, ring of summon, angel summoning token of Mora, powder of illusion, horn of deafness, carpet of gravity, orb of truth, the horn of the fallen legion, the portable hidden dark fallen mines dungeon orb, light agent summoning tokens, dark agents summoning tokens plus my Luna''s squad and my squad of beauties and my pets" He discovered that he had a lot of things, so much that he missed some of them. He even opened many windows to review some items'' details and realize their worth. "So put it straight Ick a lot of dark points here" He wasn''tcking in fact. His wealth of the dark points were umting massively by each passing day. His passive quests garnished him a lot of dark point ie. But he knew in such a grand epic war, his looking rich dark point wealth would vaporize in no time and would leave him empty handed midway there. "I need to secure more points but wait a second" His mind suddenly realized something. "I''ve sent Luna for a long time already to fight for me on the battlefield. I believe she can y a good role in the uing fight, isn''t she?" He suddenly thought of using her against his enemies. After all, the enemy needed more time to amass his forces. "What if I unleashed her against those reinforcements? I hardly believe the enemy would gather up his troops inrge numbers up ahead. They must call over many mercenaries and many scattered troops on the battlefield this looks Interesting!" His eyes shone brightly and in a matter of a few minutes, he had already devised a n. "So aside from sending more towards the battlefield and causing such a stir there I need to count my list of allies." He already counted his list of enemies. However when he thought about his allies, he was surprised to see the list going much longer than its opposite. "I have Anna and her men, the king and Tony and their mayors I also have the mercenary guild. I have Antoan, Natalie, Nara, and Liza in the real world plus the Cyan studio yers Wait a minute" As he just thought about this point, his eyes shone brighter about another brilliant idea. "How can I miss that?" he even patted his forehead out of his surprise to not see this option. "I''m now a human, a yer. As my enemies are calling up all their forces and friends in this world, why can''t I summon yer forces to join my side as well?" Before this moment, he saw the yermunity as non-existent. Even when he thought about establishing his guild, he never put yers in his eyes. But now he found out that he was mistaken to think that way. He simply missed a broad spectrum of strong and trustworthy allies, who wouldn''t hesitate to help him in his quest. "But yers need to be dealt with in utmost care," he muttered to himself, "they are always filled with doubts, just like any human. I need to find something to lure them to my side and let them even volunteer to fight for my cause without stirring up their suspicious nature How should I do that then?" Chapter 358: Calling Luna Back Chapter 358: Calling Luna Back The question about how to attract and control the yers made Bloom think about a few solutions. First he thought about using his name. After all, the name ''Bloom'' already had its weight in themunity of yers these days. Plus he could use the temptation of his new guild to lure more yers to join him. However he was sure that the news about the uing epic conflict would spread around the world and be known by all yers soon. So relying solely on this card wouldn''t bring the results he desired. "Also I have the cyan studio," he muttered while thinking about the card he kept by his side all this time and didn''t use even once. "Natalie and Nara had to give me a hand here," he decided before thinking about the strategy he had to use from now on. As he calcted the points of strength in his enemy and for himself, he had now to think about what to do to defend and conquer those three armiesing at him in ten days. "The fort battle is going to be the easiest on the surface," he muttered while thinking that the main n of his enemy was to push him and most of his forces away from Regalist fort. After all, scattering troops on three fronts was nothing like focusing defense at one ce. "But as I can see I can raise uprge armies as well," he considered the dark forces he gained and the immensemunity of yers. "As for the real world, I can hire guards there to deal with that jerk Dockery." The easiest battle was his against Dockrey. Thetter was human and acted on humanws. So dealing with him was much easier and it wouldn''t require much fire power like the other two battles. "As for Anna''s uncles I''ll have to hit them first," he thought while thinking about hitting them first would be the best or hitting Dockrey. "But I currentlyck enough troops for that." This was the bitter fact he had. Despite having arge army of pets and dark forces under hismand, relying solely on them to attack towns was a joke. After all, hitting towns in the game was such a hard task to aplish. Despite him wrecking havoc at many towns already, he knew this was all thanks to his hit and run tactic. Plus he didn''t actually get control over any town yet. All he did was to do a surgical strike against the mayors or the merchant caravans to lure the main forces out. But he couldn''t win against such forces at a siege battle. And if he tried to drag the battle on like he did before, lure the troops out and hunt them down, he would face another problem; reinforcements! He tasted how dangerous it was when he was almost cornered by reinforcements. He didn''t want to have such a fate again. Plus this attack must be decisive. If he failed, he would end up alerting the enemy about his intentions. That would be a great loss for him. "Then I have to start working in two directions from now," he took a deep breath while reaching this conclusion after a long hour of deep thinking. He had to start amassing yers, and send his dark forces into the battlefield and that hidden dark dungeon he had ess to. After all he needed tons upon tons of dark points. If he depended only on his daily quests, he would end up in a bitter situation in the end. As he reached such a decision, he took out the medallion of the dark agent Luna. "Come back," he thought before all of sudden the small room got a sudden visitor. Luna was such a beauty, not any lesser than any beautiful dark angel he had before. However this Luna looked different than the one he sent to the battlefield. Her vibe was brutal and bloody. The air around her seemed to be polluted by a dense aura of bloodlust. She also had new gears, lots of new gears that looked quite special and strong. And her eyes emitted such a confident look, like she cared about nothing in the world. As if the entire world was under her feet. "Master," however, the moment she realized she was in the presence of Bloom, she instantly dropped any arrogance and knelt on the ground with a deeply bowed head. "I missed you, master." Bloom was surprised to hear these words from her, especially when they came in such deep affection and honest feeling. If it was another time, Bloom might have considered his desire to pin this sexy body of hers to the bed and explore its delights with passion. However he perfectly knew that Luna and others weren''t just NPCs. They were real. They were like humans, and he couldn''t toy with her or others based on this belief. Also he had his mind busy and burdened with the uing fights. "I summoned you to speak about something," he cleared his throat and started to tell what he had in mind. When he finished, Luna, who moved to sit on hisp like a spoiled girl, touched his face and said in low tone: "Master didn''t forget about me, I''m so d about this." "Ahem," Bloom felt something moving in his pants before he cleared his throat again. "I never forgot you. You are my precious pearl," he said before trying to look away from the deep and clearly visible cleavage of her chest. "I wasn''t fooling around there," she said with a soft tone while moving her face to get close to his. "I have grown my force ten fold so far and controlled a few areas on the outer battlefield. But getting in the inner zone was an impossible task for me. I can''t imagine my master is such a domineering man Ah, I can''t wait to let you conquer me as well." This time Bloom couldn''t control himself and the next instant he carried her all the way to the small bed on the corner and pinned her arms to it. "You''ll regret asking for this," he said in a promising tone and Luna''s face showed only a look of pleasure and pure lust. Chapter 359: A Crisis! Chapter 359: A Crisis! Bloom was already stressed out for the uing battles and now he had a chance to release some of his steam. He didn''t show any mercy to the loli he had within his arms and kept hammering her body hard until she knocked out. "I told you," Bloom sat beside her on the bed while watching her helpless and powerless sweaty body, "you''ll regret it." She was in another world now and couldn''t even move a finger. Bloom stood up and took a shower before he returned to think again about his n. "I have to start working with yers," he muttered before gazing up at Luna. "She''ll sleep for the rest of the day," he showed an evil expression with satisfaction before choosing to log out. As he came outside in the real world, the sounds of chaos rmed him. "Are they still attacking us?" he hurriedly moved away from his capsule to see a spectacr scene. Large number of workers were now digging the ground and using big machines toy down the foundations. He spotted many machines, even giant levers, to help and facilitate the building process around his destroyed mansion. But at this moment his mansion didn''t look that bad at all. The sun rose high in the sky now and told him it was midday already. At the distance he saw many big vehiclesing in and out, movingrge amounts of materials needed toy down the foundations and start the building process. The scale of this operation seemed to be much bigger than he initially thought. At least he could estimate that it stretched out for a distance of twenty miles square at least. And that was a big area without doubt! "Antoan did a great job here," Bloom walked out from his half damaged hall and found his butler standing in the middle of Nara, Natalie, and Liza with many workers who wore a small stic yellow helmets over their heads. "They are discussing the blueprints," he noticed many white papers stretched over small tables around while they were discussing something on one of them. He moved towards them and when he arrived, everyone noticed his presence. "You are finally here," Natalie said before taking a few papers and showing them to him, "is this what you have in mind or what?" He took the papers and there he sawrge drawings of the general view of what the buildings here would look like after it gotpleted. The ce turned into what he had in mind and even much better. The entirend wasn''t covering twenty square miles, but thirty. The building would be over twenty only, in the form of a broad hill-like elevation from the ground by twenty meters. It would be like a ground elevated than the rest of the world around. Then this ce would be lined with mighty looking walls that had many defenses and towers watching over each corner of it. Inside there would be another elevation in the middle which covered only five square miles. There it would contain the main residence buildings of his forces and also the capsules to enter the game. "This is pretty much great," he said before adding in praise, "well done! I never thought you''d be able toe up with such an idea." "It wasn''t me," Natalie said in an annoyed tone. "Antoan then?" "It was me," at this moment, Liza came closer. It looked like something happened between the two girls, something Bloom didn''t know or notice till now. An obvious tension and friction urred between the two without proper exnation. However Bloom didn''t think too much about this. After all he would hear everythingter from his butler. "Anyway we have to discuss more important things," Bloom said before looking around. His mansion was getting repaired now. The effects of the brutal fighting from yesterday night were getting amended fast. But he wanted a secluded ce to speak in. and he couldn''t find anything secured except for one. "What do you want to discuss?" Natalie said before adding, "is it one more crazy idea of yours? Will we build another fort or what?" "Not here," Bloom firmly said before turning to Liza and the nearby Nara, "you two shoulde as well." "Why?" Natalie asked in an aggressive tone. "You''ll understand everything inside," Bloom mysteriously said while walking back to his mansion. "Where?" Nara asked while holding the arm of her friend. Nara knew Bloom had no hand in the sh that happened between her and Liza earlier. "In the game of course," Bloom simply said, "let''s go inside and have a grand meeting together." "Alright," Liza said while just speaking made Natalie go on her nerves. Bloom noticed the friction here but he chose to ignore it. After all he needed all the help he could from the three of them. He wasn''t a human after all and didn''t know how yers think or how to gather them around a single banner. All he knew about yers was that they were chaotic and repulsive. Their rebelling nature worked against fighting under one g. But he also heard a lot of stories about strong and mighty alliances in the game world. He never saw such a thing with his own eyes, but he was quite sure one of the three girls behind could help in this regard. "Where are you now?" As the four of them reached the area of capsules, Nara asked. "Inside Swor town," Bloom said, ``at a hotel right now." "Cool, we also are at the town," Natalie hurriedly added, "we''lle to the hotel and meet together. "What?!!" Bloom was shocked to hear that. After all he left the devastated Luna inside his room and she wasn''t able to move a finger. Also the room looked like a war just erupted inside! If he recalled Luna back inside the token, he would still have to exin what went wrong with the room. "I also have a ticket to go there," Liza said, "I''lle and meet you all in the hotel." ''Dammit!'' Bloom was feeling more pressured now that his worry about the uing battle. Forget about the war, he was having an imminent disaster that he had to deal with fast! The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!