《Ascension of the Master Assassin》


 Chapter 1: For Her Sake

    Venn''s eyes snapped wide open as an intense migraine repeatedly assaulted his head, resulting in him abruptly jolting up from his deep slumber.


    Holding his forehead, his back arched forward in response to the stinging discomfort that he was feeling, and it took a while until the pain finally subsided.


    "Brother, are you alright?" A concerned voice sounded from close by while he was catching his breath.


    The instant he heard the voice, his ears perked up and a sense of familiarity gushed over Venn. It had been such a long time since someone had addressed him as a brother, and that took him by surprise.


    Tilting his head to the direction where the voice originated, Venn''s pupils dilated as he saw his younger sister looking at him intently with a worrisome look.


    She was spotting hazel brown hair tied in a ponytail fashion and was clothed in her high school uniform.


    Her angelic face that was bathed in the penetrating sunlight shining through the window was a scene that he thought he was never going to ever witness again.


    Stunned by the absurdity of the sight before him, Venn''s eyes glared at the young beauty that stood beside his bed in complete stupor.


    "Rena, aren''t you¡­ dead?" Venn uttered, his lips trembling slightly, and his mind extremely confused.


    "Dammit! Was all that just a nightmare? But everything seems so real though?" Venn clutched his head with a scowl on his face, painfully in thought.


    He had an awfully vivid nightmare about Rena dying from an illness in the future while he could only watch idly by the side, powerless to help.


    "There, there¡­ Did you have a nightmare? Don''t worry, I''m not going anywhere."


    Rena patted Venn''s head as gently as she could as she tried to gently comfort him.


    She had guessed the possible scenario that might have transpired, particularly from the incomprehensible words that her brother was spewing out immediately after waking up from his sleep.


    She felt a little sorry for her brother that he was having a nightmare when he already had so little time to sleep ¨C a result of him overworking himself in three different part time jobs.


    Soothed by her gentle smile, Venn unconsciously stretched out his arms and embraced her warm body tightly without saying a single word.


    He couldn''t understand what had happened, but the painful experience he had in the dream fuelled an urge to keep her close to his side.


    Their relationship as siblings had always been close ever since their father had passed away due to an accident.


    The only inheritance that was left behind was an awfully cramped apartment that they were currently residing in, and a mountain of debt incurred by their father''s medical bills.


    And since they only had each other to rely on as their mother abandoned them and their heartless relatives denied to provide any sort of help, they were always on the verge of turning homeless.


    As such, it was par for the course that Venn would work himself to the bones in an attempt to struggle for their livelihood.


    Ever since he turned sixteen, Venn dropped out of school, and had worked in low-end jobs such as being a delivery guy, a cashier, and many more.


    And because he had experienced hardship before, he was particularly stubborn on the matter of not letting Rena get a part time job as well, citing that at least one of them has to study hard in school for a better future in order to escape the poverty cycle.


    "Geez, brother! Stop being so mushy!" Although Rena complained about her brother''s sudden affection, she reciprocated by gently running her fingers through his fuzzy hair.


    Looking at her brother''s anxious look, Rena renewed her resolve in getting good grades and enter a top university for the sake of her brother.


    The air of silence filled the room for a while until Rena realised the time and burst out with a panicked look on her face. "Ah! I''m genuinely late. I really need to leave for school, like right now!"


    With that, Rena immediately rushed out of the room in a panic and grabbed her school bag from the dining chair as swiftly as a raccoon, leaving Venn still in a daze.


    "I''ve prepared breakfast, remember to eat them while it''s still warm!" Rena shouted loudly from the living room. "And by the way, there''s a call from the Azure corporation this morning about an interview opportunity this afternoon at three."


    After leaving the message behind, Rena proceeded to be on her way to school, slamming the door close in a hurry.


    Unbeknownst to her, Venn''s heart was about to explode from a meltdown. He was experiencing a deja vu moment when he heard about Rena''s mentioning the Azure corporation.


    "No wonder everything looked so familiar! I''ve experienced this day before!" Venn roared in anger as his pent-up fury consumed him.


    Springing up from his feet, he desperately rushed out of his room as quickly as he could.


    He had to reaffirm his suspicion! He had to verify the truth behind all this!


    And there it was.


    On the dirt-stained wall of their tiny living room, a calendar was hung there, showing the date to be 15 June 2120 ¨C the fateful day that he joined the Azure corporation as an low-rank employee in the game Heaven Descent - the first of its kind virtual reality massive multiplayer game that took the world by storm.


    "I''ve returned back to the past, didn''t I?" Venn mumbled to himself with his head hanging down and his fists clenched. "Back to three years ago before everything went to shit!"


    Rena was going to die soon from a rare genetic disease that was going to cripple her DNA and she would suffer multiple organ failures as a result.


    Unlike in the past, a cure had already been well-developed for this kind of disease, but as her brother, he was unable to earn enough money to fork out sufficient credits no matter how hard he tried.


    He could only watch helplessly as her body gradually weakened day by day, and broke down to pieces. It started from her limbs going limp, and then becoming bedridden.


    Slowly, as time went by, she would lose her ability to speak as well. It was a cruel thing that nobody should ever experience.


    And despite suffering in that condition, Rena would always forcefully squeeze out a smile whenever Venn came by to visit her in the run-down hospital bed until the last moment of her life.


    He was unsure if the nightmare he was having this morning was a premonition or if he was given a second chance to go back in time to correct things. Judging from how he could still clearly remember the events that had transpired in his dream, he had a hunch that it was the latter.


    But regardless which was the actual truth, one thing was clear ¨C he''s going to do whatever it takes to save Rena this time!


    Failure isn''t an option!

 Chapter 2: Library Rat

    Venn was a ''library rat'' in the previous timeline. It was a derogatory term that referred to players whose jobs were to collect useful data and information from in-game books and sell them to rich players in exchange for federal credits.


    Employed by the Azure corporation as a library rat previously, Venn could earn a hefty sum of credits on good times whenever he reported useful information to his higher-ups.


    Instead of being a gold farmer whose main purpose was to earn in-game currency for the corporation, his assigned job in the game was to read up on books in the central library of Rosewell City, the capital city of one of the major human kingdoms in the game.


    Heaven Descent was unlike any other game. It was the fruit of the state-of-the-art, pinnacle technology of a united human front.


    The game was fully run and managed by an almost omnipresent AI technology, and every aspect of the game was carefully calculated and stress tested.


    Once the game was launched, the AI would be solely responsible for managing the game with the developers forever relinquishing their control of the game system, which in turn would allow the game to achieve total fairness.


    That was how much confidence the developers of the game had. They weren''t afraid of anyone exploiting a bug in the game, nor were they afraid of the game ever malfunctioning.


    Furthermore, the game boasted a near 100% sensory virtual reality which many found it impossible to achieve until the game was revealed to the public.


    So, imagine how loud the cheers and the amount of hype from gamers all over the world when they heard about the news of such a ground-breaking game.


    Its NPC and sceneries were hyper realistic and the world of Heaven Descent gave players the impression that the world was truly alive with its unique story lines and lore revolving around the world.


    Coupled with the heart-racing combat experience, Heaven Descent was truly a marvel of its time.


    Rising to the number one spot of the entertainment chart within the first hour of its launch, the craze from the general populace reached an all-time high with never-ending queues lining up for the virtual helmet.


    ***


    On the same day that Venn found out that he had returned to the past, the first action he took was to go outside to purchase a VR helmet using the precious savings that he was able to scrape up from his jobs.


    They were supposed to be used for Rena''s university fees, but what''s the use of it if Rena wasn''t able to attend one?


    Securing the helmet was a pain in the ass as the popularity of the game was spiking after numerous rave reviews from the media and the players alike, bombarded the public since its launch 2 months ago.


    Fortunately, his job as a cashier in the local game shop proved to be useful as he used his position to cancel the order of an unlucky customer by claiming that his reserved helmet was faulty.


    After calling his respective workplaces to resign, Venn''s cold eyes stared at the game helmet back in his cramped bedroom.


    Though tears were seeping out from his eyes due to the expensive purchase cost of 5000 credits incurred, he constantly reminded himself that it was a necessary investment.


    Having spent all his waking moments playing the game back then, he knew no other investment with a quick enough return that could raise sufficient funds for his sister''s inevitable medical treatment except Heaven Descent.


    No one in this world knew just how world-changing the game''s impact was yet.


    Fame, riches, women and power were all within anyone''s reach. With future knowledge of how the game state would be like for the next 3 years, Venn''s heart began pounding rapidly.


    "It would be different this time." Venn assured himself. He had chosen a different route in life with his second chance.


    Instead of attending the interview with Azure corporation, he decided to play as a solo player so that all achievements and gains in the game would solely belong only to him.


    However, he knew fully well that he had a steep mountain to climb.


    The game had already been launched for 2 months currently, and because of the time difference of the game and the real world, half a year had already passed in the game world.


    He needed to catch up with the other players while also earning federal credits as quickly as he could as a side objective to cure Rena.


    Failure wasn''t an option as he had gambled everything to his name.


    Armed with nothing but his knowledge, Venn put on the stylish black helmet with matte finishing securely on his head with a determined resolve.


    Once he was done, he lay on his bed with his eyes closed.


    [Connect to Heaven Descent?]


    [Yes / No]


    Looking at the familiar login screen that popped up, Venn shouted with all his might.


    "Yes!"


    [Scanning iris¡­ Authenticating user¡­]


    [Unregistered player detected¡­]


    [Creating a new account¡­]


    [Welcome to Heaven Descent]


    A mechanized voice penetrated directly into Venn''s mind as his vision darkened, moments after he was connected to Heaven Descent.


    Briefly after, a pure white space was rendered and he found himself alone in the boundless space, just floating in mid-air.


    With no one in Venn''s sight, he heard the mechanized voice start to speak again.


    [Please select a name for your avatar]


    "Night Raid."


    Venn chose a different name to symbolise a new start in his life.


    The name would serve as a reminder to him.


    Instead of letting Heaven snatched Rena away from his side again, he wanted to be the one that would be doing all the taking this time round, even if it meant that he must prise it from the clutches of Heaven.


    He swore that he would climb the apex of Heaven Descent so that he wouldn''t have any regret again for both Rena and himself.


    No matter who they are, if they stand in his way, he would obliterate them.

 Chapter 3: Sage

    [Naming successful. Generating avatar¡­]


    Immediately after the voice ended, an illustration of Venn''s real-life appearance appeared before his eyes.


    [Physical appearance may be adjusted up to 10%. Do you wish to alter your appearance¡ª]


    "Please do so." Venn said without any hesitation, cutting off the AI mid-sentence.


    From his past experience, there were quite a number of cases where people got into trouble in real life for not changing their appearances.


    Other than the occasional e-idols that were actively looking to make a name for themselves in the game, it''s better to be safe than sorry to keep one''s identity anonymous.


    [Your avatar has been created. You can access your stats while playing Heaven Descent]


    [Please choose your birthplace from the three major human kingdoms. Below are the choices tha¡ª]


    "Rosewell Kingdom."


    [Rosewell Kingdom confirmed. Randomizing city¡­ Player will be teleported to Maple Leaf City within the next 3 seconds]


    [Please enjoy the game.]


    With a flash of light, Venn''s sight blurred as he got teleported away.


    What came into view shortly later, was the sight of bustling streets filled with both players and NPCs alike, conducting their daily business. Players could be seen hustling in groups headed to the outskirts and crowds swarming certain NPCs to collect quests.


    Surrounded by buildings that had a similar style to that of an old medieval city, and coupled with the joyous mood and hyper realistic sight that unfolded, Venn''s body couldn''t help but shake with excitement.


    "I''m finally back!" Venn exclaimed.


    However, before Venn could plan his next course of action, a system announcement appeared in the world channel.


    [World Announcement: Congratulations to player Night Raid for becoming the first player to attain the Sage title.]


    [World Announcement: The queen of Rosewell has issued an edict to summon player Night Raid to the imperial palace. (Celestial Quest)]


    The unexpected system announcement was like a bolt out of the blue to every player that was currently playing the game.


    Almost immediately after the announcement was made, a crippling silence shadowed over the town square.


    Everyone had a look of disbelief on their face as all of them halted their actions momentarily as if there was some kind of tacit agreement before exploding into a booming uproar.


    "Who is this Night Raid?"


    "Must be one of the badass top rankers."


    "Shit! Why isn''t it me instead?"


    "Praise the Queen!"


    Deafening chattering began to emerge from the town square with everyone discussing the matter, whereas the nearby NPCs got into a joyous mood and started praising their queen and celebrating the appearance of a Sage in their kingdom.


    It was the first time a player had triggered a world announcement ever since half a year of game time had passed, and it was the first time a player was able to establish a connection with the imperial kingdom.


    Furthermore, what was most jaw-dropping about this incident was that the announcement revealed the existence of a Celestial quest!


    Up until now, no one had heard about the term celestial. The highest rank quest a player had completed was still an elite level quest.


    So, imagine the looks of envy and fury from all the players around Venn.


    While they are still in the beginner city, someone had already surpassed them by such a huge margin!


    Meanwhile in the town square, unlike what most people had pictured, Venn was perfectly blended into the crowd with the same shocking blank look as the people around him.


    He had honestly no idea what the heck was going on, and little did he know that the effect of the world announcement would be so far reaching that it would send astronomical tremors to the real world.


    Within seconds, numerous threads asking about information regarding Night Raid had flooded the forum. Handsome rewards were promised and bounties were issued to find him whether be it dead or alive.


    Large conglomerates were alarmed by the societal effect the game had, and many took the stance of aggressively entering the scene and began their preparation, pouring billions upon billions of credits into the scene.


    Companies like Azure corporation who had foreseen the game''s bright future and entered the game earlier were also feeling the pressure of succeeding before the bigger players in the market came in.


    It was the beginning of the Virtual Era!


    Although it was inevitable that the large conglomerates would enter the scene, the appearance of Venn had accelerated everything. It was something that Venn had failed to account for!


    ***


    Ignoring the commotion of the nearby people, Venn moved away from the town square to find a quieter place to figure things out.


    Fortunately for him, players'' names were normally hidden unless they themselves chose to select the option to reveal their name or when they engage in combat. Thus, not a single person paid any attention to a newbie who just recently spawned in the town square.


    After finding a remote spot, he mumbled to himself. "Stats panel."


    Character: Night Raid (Human)


    Affiliated faction: None


    Title: None


    Fame: 0


    Level: 1


    Health: 100/100


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 4


    Stamina: 10


    Wisdom: 4


    Charisma: 0


    Monster Cores: Not Activated.


    Free Stats Points: 3


    After taking a glance at his stats, Venn scrolled through his game log to find out what exactly happened.


    [Ding]


    [You have read more than 90% of the books that existed in Rosewell Kingdom]


    [Title of Sage has been given]


    [Equipping the Sage title will grant you the following effect: Sage Mode (Experience and Skill Mastery received will be doubled)]


    [Celestial quest received: The appearance of an all-knowing sage entering Roswell city has alarmed the imperial family. It is unclear how they got hold of the information, but given the wealth and information network that the royal family has, it doesn''t surprise anyone.]


    The Queen has summoned you to the imperial palace for unknown reasons. It is up to you to decide whether to attend the banquet that is going to be held in your honor.]


    [Quest reward: Unknown | Time remaining: 89 days, 23 hours, 11 mins]

 Chapter 4: Monster Cores

    Rather than feeling excitement and joy, a spine-chilling cold swept through Venn''s entire body the moment he realised the reason why he had received a title. Apparently, the game had determined that he had almost completed reading the books that were currently in Roswell even though he had only just begun playing the game.


    How was the game able to detect this?


    Could the game be capable of reading his mind?


    Wouldn''t the Human Alliance stop the launching of Heaven Descent and legally steal the technology of the game for their own uses seeing that the applications of a virtual world are limitless?


    Why would the council allow Heaven Descent to operate?


    Just who are the developers of the game in the first place? Their identities were shrouded in secret in the future too.


    Venn couldn''t help but worry as mountains of thoughts piled up in his mind, overclocking his brain to its limit.


    After mulling over the subject for several minutes, Venn abruptly stopped his thoughts and forcefully calmed himself down.


    "It''s no use to ponder about this." He thought internally as he remained in his composure.


    In any case, now was not the time for him to be worried about this. There were more pressing issues at hand.


    Throwing away the useless thoughts that were occupying his mind, Venn began to strategize his future path.


    Unlike other traditional multiplayer online games, jobs and classes do not exist in Heaven Descent.


    What governs the power system of Heaven Descent is the unique game mechanism of monster cores.


    The concept of monster cores was originally implemented by the AI as a way to differentiate players'' differing play style and provide a solution to suit their schedule, catering to both casual players and serious players.


    Once a player''s avatar reaches level 10, the ability slots to absorb monster cores would be activated. At that time, players would be prompted to make a one-time irreversible decision on how many branches of monster cores they wish to activate.


    In the beginning when players had minimal info and were still in the process of exploring the game, it would often lead to tragedies where many of them had to delete their avatar and re-train a new account.


    But now that half a year has passed, newbies entering the game have learnt the lessons from the painful experiences of their predecessors, be it through the forum or from word of mouth.


    There is a maximum of 5 types of cores that a player could unlock. Doing so would enable them to learn a particular branch of monster skills out of the 16 types.


    Having more cores would add versatility and unpredictability to a player skillset, and at any given time, prove to be vital to a player''s success in achieving greatness.


    However, there is a major drawback in unlocking several cores.


    For every additional core that a player chooses to unlock, the experience points needed to level up will increase by twofold.


    In other words, it meant that by unlocking all 5 cores, one had to train 32 times harder than someone who chooses not to activate any elemental core.


    That is not all, even if one unlocks the slots, they have to absorb a monster core as material in order to gain a skill too.


    Unfortunately, the drop rate of a monster core has an extremely low probability of around one in a million, meaning that the price of a monster core is often exorbitant in the market.


    Not everyone could afford to train such a resource-heavy avatar except for those with massive wealth and power.


    Nevertheless, despite all the drawbacks, there are countless individuals choosing the option of unlocking multiple cores in the hope of becoming a God in the game.


    Many of them are hoping for a miracle that they can make it, believing that they are unique and special, but like the case of the stock market, these short-sighted and delusional people would make up the bulk of the cannon folders that the strong devours.


    ***


    Deep in his thought, Venn''s eyebrows furrowed as he stared at his stats panel. In his previous life, he had very little combat experience since most of the time, he was delving deep in the library because of the limiting contract signed with Azure Corporation.


    But that doesn''t mean he is ignorant about the game. On the contrary, because of the nature of his job as a library rat, he currently faces a limitless path of choices on how to progress his avatar.


    Precious knowledge about hunting grounds; monster drops; overpowered skills; money-making opportunities and more that he had accumulated and uncovered in the past, had now turned into competitive advantages that he had over the others.


    Thus, it was not an exaggeration that he believed that he had the capabilities to climb to the apex of Heaven''s Descent seeing that he could be deemed as a literal walking encyclopaedia!


    Finally, after some pondering, Venn''s eyes brightened as he finally thought of the most efficient way of levelling.


    He remembered that there was a repeatable errand quest that he discovered back then during the times when he was working in the library that involved delivering letters to random NPCs.


    Despite the generous rewards given, the quest was rather simple and was honestly kind of boring to do. The entire quest consisted of him going to the library to pick up a letter and tracking down the NPCs in the city before passing them the letter personally onto their hands.


    Other than the strange vibe he got from the NPCs ignoring him or becoming scared of him after receiving the letter, there wasn''t an ounce of fascination about that quest.


    As for the issue with the celestial quest, he decided to do whatever he could to grow stronger before attempting it. Mindlessly attempting a celestial quest without any rate of success will only result in death and a 48 hours'' time-out being imposed on his account.


    With that being said, he would be a fool not to attempt the quest.

 Chapter 5: Mud Wolves

    With a goal set in mind, Venn did a quick warm-up by stretching his body before sprinting to his destination ¨C the south city gate that led to the outskirts of the capital which was located a short distance away from the town square.


    He needed to do a detour to hunt for a particular monster core that would grant the skill [fleet] to the players.


    Fleet is a skill that allows the user to move 50% quicker at maximum mastery without incurring any penalty to the stamina bar, the only downside of the skill is that the effect of the skill will only be activated when the user is out of combat.


    Despite the downside, having the skill would be a great addition in completing the repeatable quest at a much higher efficiency, hence Venn was determined to spend a bit of time hunting the core as doing so would grant a much higher payoff in the future.


    ***


    10 minutes later, Venn was soaked in sweat from running at maximum speed. Despite panting heavily, he persevered on, and pushed himself further without stopping.


    Soon, after depleting all the gas within him, and feeling exhausted like hell, two game notifications appeared in his vision.


    [Stamina increased by 1 point. (+1 STA)]


    [Agility increased by 1 point. (+1 AGI)]


    After sprinting at full speed for a good amount of time, Venn finally heard the good news that he was dying to hear. Immediately, he felt as if his body had become lighter, and his panting had reduced slightly.


    "It still works." Venn uttered without any strength left.


    Many players currently still did not know about a hidden mechanism whereby if one pushed themselves to their limits, it would result in them gaining stats points.


    Smiling gleefully to himself, he exited the grandiose city gate and carried on his way to the mud wolves hunting ground.


    It took an additional half an hour for Venn to finally arrive at the Mud Wolves'' dens that were located in the inner reaches of Maple Leaf woods.


    During his journey there, he had passed by multiple parties consisting of low-level players engaging in battles against monsters like Horned Rabbits and Orange Beetles around the outskirts of the woods.


    However, once he had entered the wolves'' territory, there wasn''t a single soul in sight. He guessed that it could mainly be due to the disproportionate risks and rewards in hunting Mud Wolves that might result in such a sight.


    Mud Wolves in the area were typically around level 3, and despite their low level, they had ridiculously high damage and health points capable of giving a hard time to any players while giving miserable experience points in return when they are slain.


    Furthermore, the loot dropped from the wolves wasn''t particularly great as compared to the other monsters in the area as well. The monster core that the wolves might potentially drop was just a minor speed buff that had little use outside of combat situations. It could be considered a notch lower in grade compared to other more valuable monster cores like regeneration or healing skills.


    As such, players generally avoid the Mud Wolves as they considered hunting them as a waste of their time. They could find better opportunities elsewhere.


    If others saw Venn seriously preparing to fight the wolves, they might even laugh at him for being a noob.


    Nonetheless, Venn couldn''t care less about what others might think of him. In fact, he was rather grateful that no one was present to disrupt his battle, especially considering what he was about to do was fairly risky.


    "Inventory!"


    Finally at the hunting ground, Venn opened his inventory panel, and a window detailing the items in his possession appeared in his sight:


    [Steam buns X 10 (Recover 10 HP per second for a total of 100 HP and 25% Stamina when consumed)]


    [Newbie Weapon Gift Bag (Unlock a beginner weapon of choice)]


    Venn could have reached the hunting ground earlier if he opted to consume the steamed buns that were in his inventory, but he decided against it, and instead chose to recover his stamina gradually by resting on the ground at intervals.


    Unless the situation calls for it, Venn would never waste a single penny. It couldn''t be helped that he had such a stingy nature, especially if his livelihood depends on it.


    Other than the steamed buns which were given to all newly joined players by the game, there was also a newbie weapon gift bag that came along with it.


    Opening the gift bag, a game message appeared and prompted him to make a decision.


    [Please choose a weapon of your choice: Sword & Shield/Dagger/Bow/Gloves/Broadsword]


    Immediately after he was done selecting the dagger as his weapon, the gift bag disintegrated into digitised pixels, leaving a crude looking short dagger behind in its place.


    [Novice Dagger (Common Tier)]


    [Durability: 20/20]


    [Damage: 5 - 15]


    [Requirement: AGI 4+]


    Choosing a dagger as his weapon was something Venn had carefully and thoroughly thought about.


    With his in-game name ''Night Raid'' being practically a household name in the game right now, it was certain that he would be a wanted man by all the players that want a piece of him and the celestial quest that he had access to.


    He needed to have the ability to overpower a hoard of enemies chasing after him, specifically from fellow players and powerful guilds gunning for his throat.


    For this reason, he opted to wield a dagger that had the highest damage output out of all other weapons. Killing someone in the shortest time and making a clean escape before others could react and slow him down was his true goal in mind.

 Chapter 6: First Battle

    Once he was done with his preparations, Venn stealthily approached one of the wolf den with his dagger in hand. After spotting a pack of 5 brown-fur wolves patrolling the woods together, he picked up a rock on the ground and hurled it towards the wolf that was trailing behind the pack.


    Without looking at the outcome of his action, Venn fled instantly the rock left his hand. Considering the speed of the wolves, getting a head start was the least he could do if he wanted to survive the encounter with the pack.


    "Mud Wolf, 280 HP, common modes of attack are its powerful bite and swipes from its front claws. Medium speed, likes to travel in packs, aggro radius of 30 metres. Once successfully aggroed, it will stay with their target for 10 minutes or until the target has fled away from the scene for at least 50 metres."


    After he recited the knowledge that he had learnt in the past in his mind while in the middle of his escape, Venn threw a sideway glance to see if any of the wolves followed.


    Fortunately, his plan had worked.


    Luring the lone wolf that had separated from his pack to a small clearing, Venn took out his dagger and stood in a defensive stance facing the wolf.


    The wolf had a ferocious look with its sharp teeth bared at Venn and its saliva drooping down onto the ground. If one was not trained in battle, they could well be pissing their pants right now.


    Even though many players tried to convince themselves that the monsters and NPC aren''t exactly real, many failed to overcome the psychological aspect of it.


    When being stared down by a hyper realistic monster at close range, how many could remain calm?


    Hence, the player base skewed heavily towards the recreational side of the game that focuses more on trade-orientated skills while only a portion of the others fighting the monsters in the game.


    If Venn wants to achieve greatness, he has to overcome this hurdle that many had given up when faced with it.


    There was no other way around it!


    Gripping hard on the dagger in his right hand with the wolf circling around him, Venn stepped forward to seize the momentum of the battle!


    In the exact moment Venn stepped forward, the Mud Wolf lunged at him as well with its mouth opened wide.


    -33


    During the initial clash, Venn clashed his dagger with the wolf, but he was the only one that suffered damage.


    At the last split second, he admittedly got scared by the menacing aura that the wolf emitted and tried to dodge instead of following through with his attack. And that resulted in the wolf grazing at his shoulder while he had hit nothing.


    Feeling angry at himself, Venn increased the pain receptors in the game setting to the maximum at 100%.


    This meant that any attack that Venn suffered would realistically be as painful as if he had suffered the damage in real life except that it would last only for a split second.


    Venn was not masochist who derives sexual gratification from their own pain, of course.


    Pain was the only way a human can learn fast.


    By doing so, Venn was forcing himself back to a corner. He had no other way to escape, and he had no plans of doing so. If a player''s HP dropped below 10%, then he could only bleed to death if not attended to. The battle would result in his loss if he suffered just 2 more blows from the wolf.


    If he is not cruel to himself now, then others will be cruel to him later. This was the hard truth that he had learnt in life.


    Keeping a cool head this time, he began to analyse the wolf''s movement instead of blindly charging forward. After all, there''s always a difference between the knowledge in the books and a real fight.


    The wolf restarted its attack by lunging at Venn once again. However, Venn was mentally prepared this time. Tumbling to the sideway at the last possible second, he narrowly avoided the wolf''s gaping mouth.


    [Ding]


    [Narrow escape: Agility increased by 1 point. (+1 AGI)]


    A game notification sounded while in the midst of the battle. It seemed that by pushing himself to the limit, Venn gained an additional stats point again in battle.


    Now that he had figured out the wolf''s attacking pattern, Venn repeated the dodging action once more and rolled to the side before flanking the wolf at the back and plunged the dagger deep into the wolf''s back.


    It was a clean hit!


    -15


    [Backstab Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Deal 30% additional damage to enemies when striking from behind.]


    [Dagger Mastery Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Equipping a dagger increases damage by 12%.]


    Gaining skill and combat experience had always been his goal ever since he entered the game. He needed to improve his battle sense and arsenal of skills fast.


    The skills that Venn was trying to gain and level up were simple skills that were shared in the forum.


    Aside from monster skills, players could create their own skills as well if the AI judges the players'' action to be worthy of being called a skill. Though these were skills that had limited power, it was still better than nothing.

 Chapter 7: Encounter with Silverfox

    Now that the wolf''s attacking pattern had been thoroughly figured out by Venn, it was now akin to a practice dummy.


    After dodging yet another strike from the wolf, Venn dealt a quick successive blow to the wolf.


    -15, -32


    [Double Stab Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Stabbing the target twice in quick succession will deal 110% and 120% damage to the target.]


    [Critical Hit Learned. Striking the same vulnerable spot will have a chance to deal critical damage of 200%.]


    [Low Kick Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Kicking the target''s vulnerable spot as a counterattack will inflict a dazed status to the target lasting 0.2 second.]


    The battle continued on for a while in such a state until the wolf''s HP bar reached one-tenth of its original. When the wolf determined that it wasn''t going to defeat Venn, it ran away with its tail between its legs without hesitation.


    Unwilling to see his first battle to end in such a way, Venn gave chase and threw the dagger in his hand, striking the wolf in its abdomen.


    "Ueew¡­"


    With a last powerless howl, the wolf dropped to the ground and disintegrated into the air, leaving nothing behind as loot.


    [Knife Throwing Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Deal 25% damage when throwing a knife/dagger in hand.]


    [Exp Gained: 60 x 2, Copper Coins Gained: 6]


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    After allocating all his free stats points that he gained to agility after leveling up, he proceeded back to his strategy of luring lone wolf again.


    Though the training speed was much slower compared to the others that were forming parties, he didn''t mind it. His sage mode had made up for it by doubling the experience points gained, essentially doubling his training speed.


    After slaughtering a dozen wolves using the same method, he began to challenge fighting three wolves simultaneously at the same time to push himself further.


    Although the level of difficulty increased greatly as the mud wolves lunged at him from all directions with their fangs bared, he still managed to defeat them by systematically avoiding their attacks and counter attacking at the perfect time.


    By the end of an 8 hour killing spree, he had leveled up to level 6, with 33 wolves pelts, 86 wolves fangs and 132 copper coins.


    ***


    "Whew." Venn wiped away the buckets of sweat accumulated on his forehead shortly after he dealt the finishing blow to the mud wolf that he was currently battling.


    At the same time in doing so, his knees buckled and he fell to the solid ground facing-up, thoroughly exhausted.


    420 wolves was his record after a 10 hours non-stop marathon training session at the mud wolves dens. Although he was both mentally and physically exhausted as evident from his heavy panting, the arc of the corner of his mouth couldn''t help but curve upwards when he thought about the progress that he was making.


    "Everything''s going smoothly." Venn smiled.


    He was now level 7 with all of his stats points allocated to agility. Agility is linked to attack speed, movement speed and reaction speed. The higher the agility is, the easier it is to dodge an enemy attack and more likely you are to hit the enemy, and when any basic stats reaches 20 points, players would reach a new heightened stage where they can control their body better.


    As such, the training speed of his hunting session had been progressing even faster. To his knowledge, if he was to compare to his peers that started the game at the same time as him, he estimated that they would take at least 3 days of non-stop training to reach his level.


    While Venn was taking a short break to recover his stamina however, a shadowy figure abruptly emerged from the woods into the clearing at a blinding speed.


    Based on the direction that the figure was charging forward at, Venn was no doubt the target.


    Startled by the sudden intrusion of someone, Venn remained calm and in one swift motion, got up from his feet with his arms crossed in a defensive attempt.


    Their figures soon collided in a flash, and after the clanging sounds of metals colliding, damages of -40, -54, -3 appeared above Venn''s head.


    It was a close call for Venn.


    In the span of a short time, Venn''s life had fallen below 40%.


    During the short exchange of blows, the shadowy figure that attacked him out of nowhere had struck him twice at the abdomen and his right arm while Venn was unable to find an opportunity to retaliate. Suffering damage, he winces in pain but still holds on and with a twist of his hand, he manages to stop his opponent''s third strike.


    If Venn failed to parry the third strike from the figure''s dagger, he would be ejected from Heaven Descent and remove his virtual helmet angrily by now.


    Nonetheless, although Venn managed to survive the initial clash, the current situation he was in didn''t get any better. Bullets of cold sweats were profusely flowing down his back as he got a good look at the person that sneaked up on him.


    With their daggers interlocked, the tall and slender figure of a young lady stood in close proximity to Venn, their faces only inches apart.


    The lady was covered in a tight-fitting black suit from head to toe, wearing a fox mask over her face, concealing her identity. But even so, her prominent shoulder-length bob silver hair was enough information for Venn to know who she was.


    "Silverfox!" Venn exclaimed in surprise. He lamented his luck that a future top ten assassin lord of the game was targeting his life.

 Chapter 8: First PVP

    [Level 19. Silverfox]


    [HP: 470/470]


    The status information that was hovering above Silverfox''s avatar affirmed Venn''s guess. As players enter combat or trade actions, their statuses will appear and be visible slightly above their avatars'' heads.


    Venn had never seen or came across Silverfox in his 3 years of gaming journey, having been stuck in the capital library for most of the time reading mountains upon mountains of books. However, that does not mean he was unfamiliar with her.


    In the previous timeline, Silverfox was an extremely famous top ranker and the vice guild leader of the guild - Ivy league.


    Ivy league was a household name for anyone that had played Heaven Descent. The reason behind it was that it was a top ten guild in the server that only consisted of female players in its ranks.


    But what makes the guild famous was not because of such a simple and shallow reason.


    Instead, it was Silverfox and the guild leader that elevated the reputation of Ivy League among the general public with their overpowering strength and capability to stand toe to toe with the other guilds.


    Both of them single handedly stopped the ridiculous notion that females can''t be good at games, and became the role models for female players all over the globe. Likewise, it could be said that a lot of male players were charmed by them as well.


    And when she and the guild leader were still active in the limelight during the first year that Heaven Descent was launched, they had set numerous records that were impossible to beat, even after two years later.


    Their trajectory to success was set in stone until one day, they suddenly vanished completely without a trace.


    No one knew what happened to the two of them. There were many speculations about their whereabouts but none was verified to be true. Like cherry blossoms, their brilliance shone momentarily before dying out.


    Despite knowing all the information from rumors and hearsays only, there was one truth among them that Venn was certain about.


    And that is the woman standing in front of him is scarily strong!


    Known for her technique for assassination, videos of her fights were often the highest viewed in the forum! Those videos even contributed a small part as to why he chose to wield a dagger as his weapon. In the past, he often followed her in-game whereabouts as news on the forum as well.


    But why is she targeting him? Is his secret of being Night Raid compromised?


    Other than that, Venn could not think of any other reasons why Silverfox would randomly attack someone.


    Unless¡­


    "Wait! Hear me out!" Venn shouted in an attempt to establish communication with Silverfox.


    But without giving him any chance to confirm his suspicion, Silverfox pressed on with her attack.


    A tiny ball of flame was ignited from thin air with the snap of her alternative hand.


    Then, with the flick of her wrist and the snap of her fingers again, the ball of flame flew upwards in a rapid speed and curved its trajectory ninety degrees before exploding right in Venn''s face bringing about intense heat and smokes upon impact.


    The flashbang was just the initial sequence of Silverfox''s combo.


    Normally, after blinding her opponent with an unexpected flashbang, she would follow up by enveloping her opponent and herself with a thick green fog of poisonous mist.


    Thereafter, striking from within the fog with accurate knowledge of her opponent''s location with the [thermal vision] that she gained from the monster core of the crown serpent that she had hunted, and concealing her figure inside the fog, her opponent would be forced to make a choice between fight or flight.


    If they choose to flee from the fog, they would have to stay on guard from her sneak attack while fleeing, which would be impossible to maneuver; or be slowly poisoned to their death by getting stuck inside the fog in which Silverfox would simply stay hidden, biding her time.


    It was truly an unguardable move. Be it fight or flight, her opponents would simply be like a meat on the chopping block no matter which choice they choose.


    Up until this very moment, Silverfox had slain numerous others that are much higher level than her with this set of moves that she had come up with by herself. No one was even remotely successful in escaping from her fog as well. It was this move that made her confident in her skills, she was certain that the fight was already over.


    And that was what she did this time as well!


    However, what she didn''t account for was that it was Venn that she was currently fighting with.


    The same Venn that had seen and analysed her videos several times over and over again in the past!

 Chapter 9: Behind the Mask

    In the split second that Venn saw the flashbang, he recognised it and reacted in an instant. He tilted his head away at the nick of time, and avoided being blinded by the intense bright light generated from the mini explosion.


    Then, channelling all his strength to his legs, producing an insane burst of speed from his feet, he turned his body around and charged blindly as fast as he could towards the opposite direction that he was facing, through the poisonous fog that was just in its initial forming phase.


    It was as if he knew Silverfox had a tendency to hide 10 feet behind her opponent away from their sight after creating the poisonous mist.


    And he was absolutely right, it was the right gamble to make.


    "Goddamnit, woman! Didn''t I ask you to wait?" Venn roared angrily.


    Breaking through the layers of mist, Venn''s figure emerged in a flash from the poisonous fog with traces of the green gases still trailing from behind him. He was left with a single digit health remaining by now.


    Within seconds, his sight locked on to the clearly stunned Silverfox who never would have imagined that Venn would find her location so easily.


    Facing the unprepared and shocked Silverfox who was still in the midst of her channelling spell, Venn immediately launched his counterattack with a chain of strikes specifically aimed at Silverfox''s vulnerable head.


    Vicious slashes after slashes were made, and the damages were piling up for Silverfox. Slowly, Venn could see the gradual decrease in Silverfox''s health bar that was hovering above her.


    -8, -16, -16, -10, - 19...


    Although his damage was severely lacking, Venn persevered on and continued with his swings without giving Silverfox any breather to recover herself. If he stopped now, the huge level difference between him and Silverfox would spell his doom!


    If it wasn''t for his critical damage being triggered, his damage would pale even further!


    Fortunately, every single time when it would seem that Silverfox might gain her foothold back, Venn would cunningly interrupt her with a low kick or a well-placed knockback that would stun her momentarily just at the perfect time.


    This made Silverfox even more flustered as she began to realise that she was getting beaten up by someone whose skills far surpassed her seeing that her HP bar kept diminishing but she had no way of stopping the onslaught.


    "Just who is this guy? I¡­ I can''t win against him. Wait, Is he eating steamed buns while in the midst of fighting me?!" Silverfox couldn''t help but feel a sense of hopelessness and dread dawning over her. It was something she had never experienced before.


    She had pride in her combat skills. Even if she wasn''t the best, but to be humiliated like this by a level 7 player...


    Finally, with the last silver of health remaining, the attack ceased all of a sudden, and she found a dagger pointed at her neck at close proximity. Soon after, it was followed by her fox mask splitting apart into two and dropping to the ground as the durability of the item reached zero due to the barrage of strikes aimed at her.


    As the mask cracked, a tiny face belonging to an oriental heritage revealed itself to Venn. Behind the mask was a young girl that looked to be around the age similar to Rena, pouting her mouth with a complicated expression on the verge of tears.


    Despite making such an unglamorous facial expression, her beauty still stood out to Venn, making him lose focus for a brief moment.


    Her small face was as if it was personally shaped and carved out by a goddess with meticulous care throughout the whole carving process.


    Furthermore, her thin, long, and slightly curved eyebrows, and her sharp small nose were like masterful works of art tugging at Venn''s heartstrings.


    Unique to only her, her peach blossom eyes were strikingly charming as if it was containing the entire universe inside her eyes. Venn could swear that he could see the vast cosmos through her eyes, alluring his soul closer and closer to her with each passing moment.


    Even if this was a game, Silverfox''s real appearance outside of the game would still be extremely close to her in-game appearance considering the fact that looks can only be modified to around 10% in Heaven''s Descent.


    Fortunately, Venn was not the same young and inexperienced library rat as he was before. Shaking his head, he managed to ignore and put aside the temporary feeling of his heart racing like an unstoppable freight train.


    He had more important things to accomplish, and chasing after skirts was not one of them. Aftercall, with Silverfox''s life as a bargaining chip, it was a crucial opportunity that could advance his plan faster.


    "Now, can we talk?" Venn spoke. Following Silverfox''s silence, he calmly continued.


    "I want in. I can help with the wild boss."

 Chapter 10: A Deal That Cant Be Refused

    Wild bosses are one-of-a-kind unique bosses that are spawned specifically in the wilderness, where the location of which are hidden from common sight and are next to impossible for a player to randomly chance upon given the insanely vast map of Heaven Descent.


    Differing from a dungeon boss that every player can gain access to, the scarcity of a wild boss meant that only a selected few would ever have the chance to challenge it and reap its rewards.


    Requirement for encountering one of such bosses often requires an entire guild to pour in an enormous amount of effort, time and resources as investment.


    As clues to them are usually hidden deep within Heaven Descent''s lore or within conversations with NPCs, where bits and pieces of information are sprinkled everywhere in the game.


    Sometimes, even the nonsensical ramblings of a random mad NPC in the town square could be important clues that would lead the way to a wild boss as well.


    Hence, large wealthy guilds with the capital to spare would typically raise a team of library rats as part of their team like what Azure Corporation did. Undercover spies that would infiltrate other guilds and steal crucial information are the norm as well.


    Top guilds with the financial backings of large conglomerates would dump millions of credits solely for possible information to wild bosses. The act of which would subsequently become the source of numerous employees'' livelihood such as the case of Venn in the past.


    It is a risky gamble that could make or break a guild, capable of yielding awesome rewards like rare monster cores, legendary chests and even the major inheritances of a God.


    Thus, Venn wanted to be part of Ivy League''s expedition group, that was if his guess was on point.


    Despite Silverfox''s attempt at his life, he is willing to forgo getting her back as doing that would have absolutely no benefit to him.


    It would even have the detrimental effect of him becoming enemies with Ivy League, something that he couldn''t afford to do at this point in time, especially when he is still under level 10, incapable of facing a guild by himself.


    Crushing him at this point would simply be just a mere lifting of a finger to them.


    However, Silverfox''s unexpected reaction seemed to have shattered his hopes.


    "I have no idea what you are talking about. Go ahead and kill me." Silverfox replied in a firm tone and looked away without caring that a dagger was pressed against her neck.


    It seemed as if she really didn''t know about anything regarding wild bosses seeing her attitude.


    Her uncaring action caused Venn to be taken aback.


    "Was I mistaken?" He couldn''t help but think to himself.


    With his eyebrows furrowed, he sunk into deep thought while maintaining his hand on the dagger, calculating where he could have gone wrong.


    A creeping silence enveloped the surrounding as he began to doubt himself and the conclusion that he had reached.


    It wasn''t until a moment later when he chanced upon Silverfox''s poor attempt in pretending to nonchalantly glance at him with her peripheral vision that he found himself to be overthinking about it.


    Watching Silverfox''s large peach blossom eyes repeatedly glancing sideways at him to observe his reaction, and then turning her sight away bashfully whenever their eyes met, Venn was ashamed that he was almost fooled by her poor acting skills.


    "..."


    "This girl¡­ is too¡­ innocent. Those lines must have been taught to her by Ivy League''s guild leader"


    "I bet the purpose for her to wear a fox mask was for this as well¡­"


    Finally knowing that he was right on the money, Venn began steering the conversation back to where he wanted.


    "Before you deny any further. I know that I''m right." Venn gave a confident smile before continuing his deduction.


    "We have never met before, but yet you launched a sneak attack on me. This suggests to me that you wanted my presence gone from here."


    "However, what''s weird is that why would a level 19 player appear in a level 3 hunting ground? The experience points that the monsters here provide are insufficient to a level 19 player to level up at an efficient rate."


    "So, that begs the question. What kind of purpose do you carry that you would want to silence anyone in this vicinity?"


    "Other than those large guilds that would cordon off the hunting grounds to service their young master or guild leader, the other possibility would be that your guild has encountered a wild boss and is now trying to block information from leaking out."


    "Am I right? Miss Silverfox? All I ask for is a spot in the expedition group. I''m certain that you have the power to introduce me to your leader. I''ll refrain from selling this information to other guilds if you do that."


    After finishing his long speech that carried a tinge of threatening tone, he flashed the brightest smile he could show.


    He was very certain that he had offered a deal that she couldn''t refuse. Either accept him or be faced with the interception of other guilds that want a piece of the wild boss.


    However, Silverfox''s reply was not something he would have expected.


    "You do realise that I can see your name as well right? Mister Night Raid? Or should I say, my esteemed sage?"


    Hi, author here.


    There''s honestly a lot of things I wanted to say here.


    First of all, thanks for reading my book, I really appreciate it.


    Hopefully, my story is up to your standards and you enjoy my novel.


    Do comment your opinons and vote powerstones so that I know I''m writing well.


    It''s lonely and tough to write a novel.


    I saw some complaints about going premium at chapter 10 was too early. Come join my discord server, I''ll see what I can do. I rarely use the app, so I didn''t know about this.


    If you feel my story is worth it, please support me as well.


    Your support is my motivation. The app seems to prioritise books that do well, so my novel relies entirely on your support.


    Writing a chapter takes me 2 to 3 hours, but I''ll try to mass release sometimes as well.


    There''s a lot more things that I want to write. This is merely the beginning, so please support me until the end.


    That being said, I''m looking for moderators, contact me on discord if you are interested!


    Thank you for the support!

 Chapter 11: Negotiation

    An air of uncomfortable silence enveloped the both of them the moment Silverfox''s sentence ended.


    Her sarcastic reply had rendered Venn completely speechless with his tongue tied as he had a realisation that his plan had gone awry, and that now the tables had turned on him.


    Due to the fact that he rarely got into any fights in the past timeline, being the library rat that he once was, the game mechanism where one''s name would be revealed to their opponents whenever they entered into combat had slipped past his mind completely.


    He had calculated everything perfectly, but had overlooked this simple fact.


    Heck, he could even see Silverfox''s name and status himself as well hovering above her head right now.


    With his identity of the sage exposed, Silverfox''s had gained the upper hand of this negotiation deal despite him having her life at his mercy.


    There was no use beating himself over that though, the end result would still be the same as his current situation was unavoidable. It was Silverfox that ambushed him while he was taking a break from hunting the mud wolves and it would just plain bad luck.


    The important thing now is to concentrate on how to deal with Silverfox well. He had to seriously rethink his approach with her again.


    Negotiation is an action where both parties bargain for what they desire from the other party while simultaneously offering the least they could.


    He initially thought that he could blackmail his way to a ticket inside a wild boss expedition group and leeched off innumerable experience points that the wild boss would give, but the situation had seemed to become haywire.


    Venn''s current situation was akin to having his trump card revealed, or putting it in other words - caught with his pants down while in the midst of a masturbation session.


    It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to him.


    Meanwhile, while Venn was still in deep thoughts, Silverfox, who was observing the dumbfounded Venn the entire time, smiled.


    "Before you deny any further. I know that I''m correct." She said with a smug glee on her face. Compared to her teary expression just a moment ago, her face had brightened up tremendously and she appeared to be more at ease.


    "I suggest you point your dagger elsewhere if you don''t want me to spew my mouth away about your identity. And now that I think about it, it''s quite peculiar that the famous sage of Rosewell is just a level 7 player."


    "Tell me, how did you attain the title? Who do you work for? It''s fine if you don''t wish to divulge your secret. Perhaps we can collaborate on the queen quest if there''s a possibility. I''m quite sincere about this. I promise I won''t tell the others about your identity."


    After she offered a chance at a possible cooperation, she placed her index finger on her small lips to indicate to Venn that she will keep quiet about his secret.


    However, Venn was sceptical about it.


    There was no guarantee that what she said was the truth, and he had no way of discerning the reliability of her promise, especially when his secret can be used against him.


    Also, the sudden change in behaviour was too suspicious.


    From her actions, he deduced that Silverfox must have achieved contact with her guild leader, and that she was instructing her via the in-game friend messages, a logical action to do in her circumstances.


    "Alright, tell me more about the wild boss that your guild has info on. Where is its location and the progress you and your guild are making." Venn asked while squinting his eyes. "You have to show me your sincerity before I can trust you."


    The malicious glare that Venn was emitting made Silverfox''s uneasy. Killing other players and monsters in the game was her strong point, not interacting with the others.


    She had rarely spoken to anyone other than the young mistress for almost all her life.


    Despite that, she tried to calm herself and reassured herself that carrying out the young mistress''s orders was of the utmost importance.


    Thus, facing head on with Venn''s cold stare, she acted as natural as she could, repeating the instructions given to her in the message log.


    "The guild is still searching the inner parts of Maple Leaf woods for the whereabouts of the King Wolf. The chain quest that was given to one of our guild members by a NPC beggar in Storm Kingdom led us to this place. The quest had revealed that the wild boss is most likely hiding in an underground cavern located somewhere here, along with the inheritances of the Grand Mage, Adeonis. We still need more time to successfully search for its location, though."


    "If you are interested, you can join our group. Of course, I expect you to let us in on your queen quest as well. It''s only fair."


    Silverfox flashed a confident smile at Venn after finishing her piece, she was certain that Venn would accept the offer that she had made.


    He had to. Especially when his looks had been recorded in the in-game video.


    Though Ivy League only accepts female players, absorbing Venn as part of the guild as an exception for the sake of the legendary celestial quest is still a worthwhile deal. Of course, whether the young mistress abandoned him afterwards doesn''t concern her.


    ***


    After decimating the hordes of hobgoblins charging at her expedition party with multiple bolts of purple lightning with her [Elemental] skill, Blue Lotus took off her helmet with both hands and slumped down against the dungeon wall, taking a much needed break.


    Panting heavily, her resolve to conquer the dungeon hardened.


    The group that consisted of 30 elites of the guild had been fighting non-stop in the dungeon floors for 3 entire in-game days now, clearing 8 out of 10 dungeon floors that made up the Void Worm''s nest.


    A little bit more, and they could reach the wild boss''s heir.

 Chapter 12: Aftermath

    After which, Ivy League that she had created personally with her own two hands would finally prove the others that looked down on her wrong.


    In order to prevent any accidental event from happening, she had sent Silverfox and other trusted members that were quick on the feet to eliminate any players that came within 3 kilometres of the nest, combing each and every inch of the area thoroughly.


    But during the dungeon battle to clear the annoying mobs that were blocking their advancement to the inner section of the dungeon, she received a direct message from Silverfox and heard that she had been defeated by a level 7 player who triggered the well-known world announcement that had everyone discussing.


    As her mind was focusing on dealing with the waves of dangerous hobgoblins with the party, she simply sent reinforcements and gave some simple instructions on how to handle Night Raid after hearing Silverfox''s explanations. Most of it was to stall for time until reinforcements arrived.


    Now that she had free time, she wanted to ask Silverfox about the situation at her end. It''s been quite a while since she last heard from her.


    Opening her friend list and scrolling through it, she found Silverfox''s name faded out indicating her status to be offline. After sending a message to her, her pretty eyebrows furrowed heavily.


    [User has been ejected from Heaven Descent. Remaining time until penalty is lifted: 143 Hrs & 52 Mins]


    "What exactly happened to Silverfox?!" A look of disbelief surfaced from Blue Lotus''s otherworldly cold face.


    And after some pondering of her own, her voluptuous pair of jade rabbits trembled with her muttering.


    "Night Raid..."


    ***


    "What''s your destination, young adventurer?"


    Arriving at the city gate, a middle-aged soldier in charge of the gate asked Venn with a questioning tone.


    "The Grand Library of Adeonis." Venn politely answered.


    After paying the toll that consisted of the sum of 5 silver coins in his possession that was gained after selling all the loot he had gotten from the Mud Wolves to the general store in the city, he entered the city gate and proceeded into the inner section of Roswell City.


    Ignoring the bustling sights on the street, he navigated his way to the Library of Adeonis almost by instinct. He had stayed here for so long that he could vividly remember every city landmark and the NPCs in the inner sector.


    The Capital library of Rosewell City which is also dubbed as the Library of Adeonis is situated in the inner sector of Rosewell City, and was the reason why Venn was willing to pay his entire savings for the toll despite the pain he felt in his chest.


    As the capital of the powerful Rosewell Kingdom where the imperial family is situated, the city is divided into 3 different areas for the commoners and nobles commercial and residential needs with the imperial family and important nobles occupying the central sector while the rest stayed in the inner and outer sector.


    The three areas are separated by heavily guarded gates consisting of a platoon of level 70 NPC guards. It was a necessary game setting to prevent the players from causing havoc in the city and upset the balance of the game.


    Perhaps in the future, the players could challenge the authority of the Kingdom, but in the 3 years that Venn had played, the highest level that a player could achieve was only a mere level 52.


    Along the way towards the capital library, Venn couldn''t help but to recall what happened an hour ago.


    It was a close call, to be honest. To survive the encounter with Silverfox, he figured that he had used up all his luck.


    Any misstep would spell his doom.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that he met Silverfox while she was still a mere level 19 with only the [Serpent] and [Elemental] monster cores in her arsenal, he wouldn''t have even survived one second of a battle with her.


    He had watched videos of her masterfully killing her opponents with skills from the [Humanoid] and [Beast] class before, so he knew how much of a battle talent Silverfox was.


    Furthermore, his combo of blows that he used to permanently knockback Silverfox could only be achieved to players that had not put in any stat points towards strength. Without any resistance to knockback or strength to hold onto the ground from enemy blows, players are susceptible to be rendered useless in such cases.


    Of course, party composition such as tanks, warriors or players that focused on pumping their stats points into strength would help. And even in a one versus one scenario, having skills that let one escape from such combos would be another method of counteracting this.


    As for the fate of Silverfox, it goes without saying that Venn was the one that killed her by slitting her throat with his poor dagger. Although he killed her, he believed that it was the correct decision to make.


    Both he and Ivy League''s guild leader wanted something from each other, and it would be wise to let the situation remain status quo.


    They do not involve a third party from entering the discussion as it would have a negative impact on both of them if someone else swooped in and reap the rewards.


    However, there was one thing that affects Venn more negatively in this offer of cooperation. And that is time.


    Ivy League could lie to Venn about their progress with the Wild Boss, and after they finish the Wild Boss, they could threaten Venn without any repercussions. Whereas, as long as Venn identity is known by them, Silverfox could threaten Venn into doing her bidding, unless Venn wants to live a life of constantly fleeing.


    Thus, Venn gave himself 6 in-game days to prepare. By killing Silverfox, he had gained 144 hours to grow stronger. He doubted that the Ivy League would challenge the Wild Boss without their important DPS member. They couldn''t afford the failure.


    It did not matter if Silverfox was lying about the guild''s progress with the Wild Boss, killing her was the safest option he could do at the moment. Besides, he really doesn''t like to be threatened with, even if the other party is a pretty girl.


    What''s the point of returning back to the past if he was to become a dog that works for others and be at their beck and call?


    He had to take matters into his own hands!

 Chapter 13: Grand Library of Adeonis

    Thus, after shooting her a friend request and explaining that he would love to cooperate with them but she had to die for his sake, he cold-bloodedly ended her life instantly.


    He did it without a care in the world about what Ivy League''s reaction would be as he figured that they had their plates full with the Wild Boss that they wouldn''t bother him for the time being.


    And that would be his window of opportunity. Although small, it was all he needed.


    He knew just the method of fast levelling at this stage, and that would be the repeatable errand quest that he was planning to complete in the first place.


    Even though he would definitely prefer to start the quests after getting the [fleet] skill which he originally planned, he had no choice but to accelerate his plan and skipped that step.


    As the magnificent view of the luxurious library that was built entirely out of numerous perfectly chiselled marble in the shape similar to that of the famous Pantheon in ancient Rome, entered Venn''s view, a feeling of melancholy overcame Venn.


    He recalled the time in the past where he had spent almost nine entire years of in-game hours in this place, and completed through all sorts of books in this place like a mad man for his sister.


    Scrolling and flipping through piles upon piles of books stacked like a mountain without any sleep just for a very small possibility, a fleeting hope of something of value.


    Nine entire years of hard work and sweats to save Rena, but it was all useless in the end.


    Clenching his fists, he was determined this time to change both his and Rena''s fate this time.


    His skills had improved tremendously compared to when he started 10 hours ago due to his sage title which essentially doubles his skill masteries and training speed, but it wasn''t enough. He needed to be more powerful to have a say against the others that are more stronger than him.


    Taking one last look at his status information, he proceeded towards the direction to the grand building that stood out like a sore thumb in the inner city which was towering approximately a hundred and thirty metres of height.


    Character: Night Raid (Human)


    Affiliated faction: None


    Title: None


    Fame: 0


    Level: 7


    Health: 170/170


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 25


    Stamina: 10


    Wisdom: 4


    Charisma: 0


    Monster Cores: Not Activated.


    Free Stats Points: 0


    Skills:


    [Backstab Learned. (Level 6 Mastery) Deal 53% additional damage to enemies when striking from behind.]


    [Dagger Mastery Learned. (Level 8 Mastery) Equipping a dagger increases damage by 32%.]


    [Double Stab Learned. (Level 4 Mastery) Stabbing the target twice in quick succession will deal 130% and 138% damage to the target.]


    [Critical Hit Learned. Striking the same vulnerable spot will have a chance to deal critical damage of 200%.]


    [Low Kick Learned. (Level 3 Mastery) Kicking the target''s vulnerable spot as a counterattack will inflict a dazed status to the target lasting 0.25 second.]


    [Knife Throwing Learned. (Level 2 Mastery) Deal 45% damage when throwing a knife/dagger in hand.]


    ***


    Venn entered the library without any issues. The library is permanently opened for all visitors that have a friendly relationship to the kingdom and there is no entrance fee charged to enter it.


    Stepping into the building, he couldn''t help but be awed once more by the magnificent view of the inner furnishings of the library despite him practically staying a third of his life here.


    Unlike the heavily industrialised style of the kingdom, the inner view of the library was filled with a thick canopy of trees with their branches crossing in a certain orderly but chaotic arrangement.


    Tendrils of plants and stems often in a spiral form could also be seen stretching out and twines round suitable wooden supports and beams that build the fundamental base of the otherworldly paradise.


    One could fully partake in the joy of reading the books available in such a tranquil and peaceful environment with rows upon rows of non-lendable books filling one''s eyes. There are so many books that one could be lost in the maze of bookshelves that the library offers.


    Such elaborate and majestic landscape could only be made possible through the magic of the great mage Adeonis.


    Legends revealed that the library itself was older and had more history than the existences of all the human kingdom combined.


    It was said that when he first built this place, it was opened to all races on one condition.


    That condition was that anyone visiting the library must offer a book to the library in return of the knowledge one would gain from reading the books.


    Over the period of time, the place would go on and accumulate a diverse selection of books featuring all kinds of knowledge from all races in the world.


    There was even a saying that even Gods had visited this place and abided by the rule as well. However, no one knows whether the information was reliable or not. Venn merely read about a short passage in a random book written by a bard that talks about his encounter with a God in the library of Adeonis.


    As Venn walked into the library, he spotted a familiar figure amongst a group of twenty people, whispering as softly as they could discussing some important matters to prevent getting booted out from the library by the female Elf who was also the overall caretaker of the library.


    Moving nearer to have a closer look, Venn''s expression lightened up a little.


    "Klein?"


    Though the other party didn''t even know his existence, Venn knew him very well. The bald guy with the burly build and tanned skin was the only best friend of his, back in the previous timeline.


    Although his appearance might look like a middle-age man, looks can be deceiving. He was actually just a year older than him. Venn guessed that it must be his baldness that made him look twenty years older than his actual age.


    Klein was his team leader in Azure Corporation that took care of him when he first joined the game.

 Chapter 14: The Repeatable Errand

    Klein was his team leader in Azure Corporation that took care of him when he first joined the game.


    He was a smart guy with a big heart, always paying attention to other peoples'' feelings.


    During his time working under him, the two of them had faced many challenges together and all the stuff he had learnt were patiently taught to him by Klein without any reserves.


    When Rena needed money for her treatment, he was the only one in the team that forked out a large sum of money to help with the medical bills without Venn even asking for his help.


    Venn knew about his family''s poor circumstances, but Klein never once prodded him about repaying him back. Up until the end of his life, Venn wasn''t able to pay him back for his kindness.


    They were practically like real brothers at that point, and Venn was grateful that he had such a great mentor and friend.


    However, Klein had no idea who he was right now as he didn''t go for the job interview with Azure Corporation unlike before. His trajectory in life had changed drastically.


    It was a unique experience to see Klein showing the others the ropes about the job at a distance away. Venn recalled that he was part of the newbies in the group as well, listening to Klein explaining about the job scopes of a library rat during his time as one of the members.


    It wasn''t a glorified career, but at least it''s honest work.


    One of the job responsibilities was to learn the written language of the major races such as the Elves and the Orc as in-game translation is not provided to players in any sort of way.


    If a player wants to understand the language of other races for their quests, they either have to look for certain NPCs and bribe them with gifts to establish a friendly relationship so that they could ask them for translations or look up their meanings in the library.


    That was how hardcore the gameplay was for Heaven Descent, and it was also the main attractive factor for some masochists as well.


    However, to companies that pursue profits, such methods are time-consuming and have a low rate of success.


    And, as a result, it was natural for big companies to collect and consolidate in-game data and organize a group of contracted employees to decipher and crack these languages for easy referencing, resulting in a more efficient solution to such problems.


    Venn simply stood at a distance away without disturbing Klein''s lesson. He was glad to see him again but he had made up his mind.


    Although he wanted to work with him again, and live a better life together, he decided not to recruit him for the time being as he had more important matters to attend to.


    Besides, why would a promising team leader of the Azure Corporation quit his job and work with a level 7 player in Heaven Descent? If Klein did that, he would seriously doubt his motive in doing so.


    Furthermore, he would just appear like a madman that had lost his mind if he ever did approach Klein like that. He had nothing to offer him in return.


    Pausing for a brief moment to reminisce their time together, Venn moved away from Klein''s group, and blended into the crowd made up of similar groups that worked for other corporations.


    All the groups are scattered around the place, hard at work, competing against one another with regards to information gathering.


    Although the groups here hated each other to the core, they had to coexist peacefully in the library. If anyone tries to start a fight, the NPC guards would arrive within a minute and the player that started the fight would be arrested, and dragged away to a prison to rot.


    The penalty for starting a fight in safe zones is harsh and merciless. Arrested players would have to spend a week''s worth of time staring at a stone wall, being bored to death.


    Logging out of the game wouldn''t help as the timer would stop counting down until the player logs back into the game again.


    Funnily enough, the punishment and lack of method to bypass it had driven many players to insanity that if one survived the sentence, it became some sort of bragging rights to them.


    Initially, when the game was just launched, a lot of players ended up getting arrested for doing stupid things like sexually harassing NPCs and being a public nuisance in general. However, after news on the harshness of the penalty erupted in the forum, these things quickly stopped.


    Thus, it was quite a hilarious sight to see how these groups behaved in the library. Most of the time, they are like petty little school kids doing their schoolwork while at the same time, disturbing the others to slow down their progress, all the while avoiding the gaze of the elf caretaker.


    After stopping his feet for a while to look around the place, Venn nonchalantly slipped into a relatively remote section of the library without drawing much attention to himself, and away from public eyes.


    There, he began to search for a certain book in the gigantic wooden bookshelves as normally as he could, trying his best to maintain his composure.


    Similar to real life, the library books in the game were sorted according to chronological order, so Venn had no problems finding the book that he wanted to look for.


    Tracing his index finger horizontally from right to left on the books that belonged to the DOOLB section, his finger stopped at the forty-ninth book in the forty-ninth row of the bookshelf .


    "Jackpot!" Venn muttered under his breath as he took out a mysterious black leathered book with no words on the cover or at the back. It was a small and thick hard-bound book, weighing approximately half a kilogram.


    Shifting to a much isolated corner of the library with the book in his hand, he sat down on a wooden table and opened the pages nervously. His entire plan was hinging on this book.


    Like what he had expected, a black envelope was hidden inside the book. With the letter in place, he thought that he should be able to activate the repeated errand quests. But much to his surprise, he couldn''t find the note that would indicate who the letter should be delivered to.


    With no other way to continue, he decided to open the black envelope after some tinkering.

 Chapter 15: Eras

    With no other way to continue, he decided to open the black envelope after some tinkering.


    With a gentle pull of the envelope, the item inside fell out of the envelope and revealed itself. After some careful examination, Venn concluded that It was simply a piece of brown colored paper that was folded in half with a rough grainy texture.


    Unfolding the small piece of paper, he attempts to read the content within.


    On the piece of brown paper, it was filled with words of a person''s cursive handwriting written in black ink. Upon a quick glance through of the writings, Venn shockingly recognised that the letter was written in an ancient language belonging to that of the Stormbound Empire.


    Other than that, a strange logo was situated at the bottom of the letter as well.


    "What exactly is this?" Venn''s eyebrows furrowed. The content of the letter was not what he had expected at all.


    The Stormbound Empire existed in the same era as Adeonis. In fact, it was the birthplace of the Grand Mage as well.


    Throughout the history of humanity in Heaven Descent, there are four definite eras that made up the story background of the game.


    The oldest era, also known as the Era of Gods, was a time where various Gods roamed amongst humans. They imparted precious skills and knowledge, provided blessings to humanity and taught them to live in a treacherous world filled with perilous danger.


    The second era was called the Era of Calamity, it was a time where the Gods had fallen and became relics of the past. It was the darkest period for humans as their protectors had betrayed them, either fled or dead.


    No one knew what happened as there exists little records of this period, but details had shown that the population had dwindled sharply during this period of darkness and despair.


    The third era was named as the Era of the Three emperors and Five Kings. Unlike the previous Eras, there was a clearly defined period of how long it lasted.


    And that was five thousand years. Books that mentioned about this period were ample, and it was the main topic of research of the library rats.


    To end the Era of Calamity, the talented mage assistant - Adenois devised a method where humans could extract and assimilate cores from defeated monsters.


    It meant that humans could finally gain the chance to retaliate against their threats, and not live in the bottom of the food chain anymore.


    Through the sacrifices of mountains and mountains of human lives, more and more monster cores were accumulated, and the overall strength of humanity grew as a whole.


    It was a great monument of the history of humanity.


    Adeonis had carved out a bloody path of progress for humanity and was crowned as the grand mage afterwards for his achievements by the people.


    Whenever Venn read about him in the library books, he would always think about the acts that he did. He had a feeling that he and Adeonis were the same kind of people.


    Was Adeonis correct in his decision? Venn wasn''t sure.


    But one thing was for sure, desperate times call for desperate measures.


    Needless to say, most casual players would never have thought that there would be a history behind the mechanisms of monster cores. And that was the mesmerising thing about Heaven Descent. The game was truly alive.


    Finally, the era that the players were currently living in, is known as Pantheon Era. This is the time where the once glorious empires and kingdoms of the past had broken up into scattered kingdoms.


    The various kingdoms would act as the centre stage for the players.


    ***


    Venn was confused as to why such a letter would appear in this place. Wasn''t it supposed to be a simple errand quest?


    In the past timeline, he stumbled upon the book by accident and whenever he looked inside, he would find a piece of envelope and a note that would indicate who the envelope should be sent to.


    After returning the book back to the shelf, a new quest with a new set of instructions would appear in the book again if he finished the delivery.


    However, it was different this time.


    "What could it be? Why did this happen?" Venn thought internally. Without the quest, his plan would fall apart like a sand castle.


    Fortunately, Venn had attempted to learn the ancient language used in the Era of the Three emperors and Five Kings from Klein before in the past.


    Although he was just an amateur, it was still better than nothing.


    Paying more attention to the writings, he tried to single out words that he could understand.


    "Annual meeting."


    "Or...phanage."


    "Seven¡­ days?"


    "..."


    "Fuck me sideways!"


    Venn wanted to hit himself. Out of the large chunk of passages, he could only recognise five words and he wasn''t even sure that he was correct in deciphering them.


    However, a second later, a quest notification popped up in his vision.


    [Common quest received: You have discovered a mysterious piece of paper with strange writing on it. As you cannot understand the meaning of the words, perhaps it would be wise to ask someone that might understand the language.]


    [Quest reward: 200 experience points and 20 copper coins]


    [Accept the quest? Y/N]


    Venn wanted to accept the quest, he had already thought of who he could ask regarding the letter. However, the familiarity he felt when he saw the strange logo on the letter made him paused a little.


    He had a feeling that he had read about the logo somewhere before.


    Ignoring the quest notification, Venn examined the logo more closely again.


    The logo depicted two serpents in red, both devouring each other tails, forming a perfect circle. In the middle of the circle was a wide opened eye seemingly able to stare into one''s soul. The design was strange and ominous. That''s why Venn had a strong inkling that he had seen the logo before.


    Searching his memory to his best efforts, Venn tried to associate the image of the logo to the books that he had read until he realised he could simply narrow down the range of his search to the history of Stormbound Empire.


    Very quickly, he seemed to have recalled something.


    "Isn''t this logo, the emblem for the blood serpents?!" Venn exclaimed. "Every single thing makes sense now!"

 Chapter 16: Blood Serpents

    "Isn''t this logo, the emblem for the blood serpents?!" Venn exclaimed. "Every single thing makes sense now!"


    Venn''s eyes widened with his mouth agape as the realisation hit him hard.


    How foolish was he to not have realised this?


    He had been running errands for the blood serpents all this time, and yet the existence of the organisation had slipped right past him under his sight.


    It was so obvious thinking back now. He should have sensed that something was amiss.


    The generous and hefty rewards given to him despite just delivering a simple letter.


    The strange reactions of the NPCs who immediately changed their attitudes toward him upon receiving the letters delivered to them.


    All of these were clues that he would not have missed if he was to pay a little more attention to them!


    He should have known that the omnipresent AI that was controlling all matters in Heaven Descent would never make such an illogical mistake of giving out such a vastly disproportionate quest to players!


    If he had been more attentive, and investigated further into those NPCs, he would have discovered this mysterious organisation in the past. And in doing so, wouldn''t he be able to save Rena? Venn couldn''t help but thought of that this way.


    As he thought so, he fell into a deep silence.


    However, before his thoughts were steered towards a bad direction, Venn took a deep breath and kept his composure.


    There was no point in regretting over past events anymore. He believed the reason he was given a second chance was to right the wrongs and not waste the precious chance he had to dwell in misery again.


    He might have failed back then, but he was certainly not going to fail again.


    Clenching his teeth hard, he reminded himself not to make the same mistake again. Going forward, he had to be much better in this game to beat the other top rankers that were further in progress than him.


    With that in mind, he began searching his memory to recall the information concerning the blood serpents. This time, making sure that all details were meticulously mulled over.


    Blood serpents is a mysterious organisation shrouded in secrecy dating back to the Era of the Three emperors and Five Kings. It had strong ties to the Stormbound Empire given that it was founded there.


    Rarely any other information was known about the operation and goal of the organisation. Venn was certain that no more than a handful of players had even heard of the name - ''blood serpents'' before.


    Had it not been for the one interesting fact that the blood serpents was famous for, Venn wouldn''t have even remembered their emblem given the total lack of their information in the game.


    Blood serpents is an assassin guild that specialises in assassinations no matter how heavily guarded and impenetrable the place is.


    Throughout the long history of Heaven Descent, the existence of an assassin guild wasn''t all that uncommon at all though. There were several assassin organisations popping up in all kinds of places, across every kingdom, all with different aims and purposes, especially in times of turmoil.


    However, what made blood serpents stand out amongst its competition was for the fact that they had a stupidly suicidal practice before carrying out all their assassinations. And that questionable practice involves giving their target a seven day notice that they are coming for their lives.


    Who the hell generously notify their target in advance that they will kill them? What would they expect their target would do?


    Wash their neck clean so that it will be easier for their assailants to have an easier time slicing their heads off?


    Venn''s initial reaction when he saw the mention of the blood serpent in an old book called the ''History of Stormbound factions'' was to laugh out loud at how ridiculous the practice was.


    Never once did he think that he would become their errand boy one day. The errand quests that he proudly did back then was the exact same thing he had mocked about. He ended up being the very person that went around Rosewell Kingdom, delivering notice to blood serpents'' targets and in a way, telling them that they were going to die a terrible and horrible death.


    It was ironic that he laughed at their practice.


    Venn had spent quite a period of time back then, figuring out the purpose for blood serpents to implement such a rule, and ultimately chucking their practice as a practical joke that the developers of the game had planted. Never did he imagine that he would one day revisit the topic of blood serpents again.


    Sending a letter to notify your target would just mean giving them an ample time in shoring up their defense and be on the lookout, resulting in a harder assassination attempt.


    Was it simply stupidity or just plain arrogance?


    After experiencing Rena''s death, Venn had a clearer understanding of life now with a second outlook. Also, when he recalled the frightened and cold expressions of the NPCs who had received the letter, he could finally understand the reasoning behind the practice now.


    "Despair." Venn softly muttered under his breath with his eyes fixated to the letter. It wasn''t until a notification sound disrupted his thoughts that he pulled himself out from the painful memory.


    [Ding]


    [Due to your knowledge of the blood serpents, details of the quest have been updated.]


    [Wisdom increased by 5 points. (+5 WIS)]


    [Elite quest received: You have uncovered the mysterious piece of paper with strange writing belonging to a faction called the ''Blood Serpents'', a mysterious organisation that carries out assassination attempts. Being the enemy of the Rosewell Kingdom, the head knight Julius had always been active in eradicating the remnants of the past Era. Notifying the discovery to him would result in a handsome reward.]


    [Quest reward: 3500 experience points and 35 Silver coins | Taking too long to complete the quest would result in failure.]


    [Accept the quest? Yes /No]

 Chapter 17: Elite Quest

    "What?" Venn was momentarily stunned when he saw the changes of the quest given to him by the game system before he finally realised what on earth had happened. He had no idea the rarity of quests could be upgraded.


    "Haha! What kind of luck is this?" The sudden windfall made Venn have a great urge to laugh but he tried his utmost best in maintaining a poker face lest there was someone else observing his actions.


    After a short while trying to keep his calm, Venn hurriedly turned his attention back to the quest log that popped up in his vision.


    "Who would have thought that the elderly were right! Studying really changes one''s life." Venn grinned internally.


    By just recognising who the letter belongs to, the quest reward had improved drastically. Venn counted his lucky stars that the mysterious letter was found by him. If it was found by someone else without the specific knowledge of the blood serpents, then wouldn''t such a rare quest be wasted?


    The quest system in Heaven Descent is categorized into Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Epic, Mythical, and Celestial. Similarly, the same categorization can be used for the equipment in the game as well.


    In Heaven Descent, quest rarity correlates to its difficulty and the level of difficulty in obtaining them. Thus, at the start of the game, most players would only receive common quests from the NPCs. Quests like running delivery errands, mining ores, harvesting herbs were dime a dozen. Needless to say, the rewards for such quests were pitiful as well.


    However, in order to obtain higher level quests, players have to put in a substantial amount of efforts and time in doing so. For Venn to receive an Elite quest so easily was something not anyone can replicate.


    It was his years of accumulation of knowledge and hard work that he had poured into the Rosewell library that yielded the leap of the quest''s rewards and rarity. It could be said that it took Venn two lifetimes for it.


    Venn was obviously elated about receiving an Elite quest. But, due to the lessons he had learnt just a while ago, he did not simple mindedly accept the quest.


    If the rarity of quest depends on the choices players make, then wouldn''t he be able to further enhance the quest rewards? He decided to experiment on it. After all, he succeeded in doing so, so it was not entirely impossible.


    Evaluating his options, Venn started to assess his situation from the beginning.


    The real cause of why he was able to obtain an elite quest instead of the errand quest he was expecting to find, was because he had gotten hold of the book which the blood serpents used to communicate within themselves, a year earlier than he was supposed to.


    This meant that instead of the blood serpents using the book as a tool to give the players'' delivery errand quests, at this point in time, it was still used among its members to spread information.


    That would explain the terms he had translated in the mysterious letter that he found and the logo on it. The errand letter and the instructions accompanied with it that he was tasked to deliver in the past had no such logo.


    He hypothesized that the blood serpents are most likely having a meeting among its members in an orphanage in Rosewell judging from the words he had, perhaps possibly seven days later.


    All of the evidence supported his theory. The butterfly had flapped its wings.


    As Venn arrived at the conclusion, his heart began racing rapidly. He had really found a method to maximise the benefit of the quest.


    Normally the right thing to do in Venn''s scenario was to find and report the information of the blood serpents whereabout to the authority which would be to the head knight of the Rosewell Kingdom.


    However, what if he was to deviate from doing the right thing? Instead of following the quest instructions like most players normally do, what if he was to join the dark side instead?


    Venn palmed his forehead as he entered into a dilemma.


    On one hand, the pros of handling the letter to knight Julius would mean guaranteed enticing rewards.


    3500 experience points would get him instantly levelled up to level 13, which would mean unlocking the ability slots to absorb monster cores. 35 silver coins would make him a very rich man, and the capital would pave a way for him to earn more money by playing the game''s players'' market.


    Furthermore, if he could get into Julius''s favour with this opportunity, that would mean receiving a chain quest or even more.


    On the other hand, if he was to choose to infiltrate the blood serpent''s meeting place, who knows what other juicy information and benefits he could get? He strongly believed that the rewards for lifting the mysterious veil behind their organisation would be greater than the Elite quest he held.


    The only thing stopping him was that he had no assuring plan at all to infiltrate their meeting ground.


    He had to bullshit his way through the NPCs, and that would be worst than gambling. It was an impossible mission. At least with gambling, there was a chance to win.


    He isn''t like the others. He must not fail. A single slip up would spell the doom for him and especially Rena, for her life depends on him.


    A historical chance to uncover the secrets of the blood serpents or taking the easy way out?


    After a much careful session of evaluating his choices, Venn was still on the fence. As he was about to finalize his decision, his vision was split into two halves.


    [Ding]


    [An entity had entered within 10 metres of your vicinity.]


    [Switching to dual sights.]


    [Do you wish to activate emergency log out?]


    [Yes / No]


    Venn''s vision was split into dual screens, with the left screen showing the events happening in the game while the right screen showing Rena approaching him after entering the room.


    It was a safety measure implemented in the virtual helmet to prevent the user being completely oblivious from his or her surrounding.


    When Venn saw that it was Rena that entered the door, he opted to log out normally. After a countdown of 60 seconds, he removed the virtual helmet.

 Chapter 18: Decision

    ***


    "Rena! The egg is so good!"


    On the dining table, a pair of poor siblings were having their dinner in the dining area.


    Although the food on the table wasn''t scrumptious by any means, there was genuine laughter filling up the room.


    "Are you sure you aren''t mocking me? It''s just a simple sunny side up with a dash of pepper." Rena pouted her lips and crossed her arms as a sign of being angry, but Venn could tell from a glance that she wasn''t being serious about it.


    Despite Venn''s exaggerated actions, he wasn''t lying about Rena''s culinary skills. It had been a long time since he had a taste of her cooking and the familiar taste had warmed his cold heart that he thought had long been dead.


    To him, no other dish could replace Rena''s sunny side up egg in his heart.


    Thinking about Rena had made Venn smile once more, he never once thought that he would get the chance to sit across Rena on the dining table again. In the past, they would have dinner together no matter how busy they were. But it all stopped when Rena was diagnosed with gene failure.


    "Oh right, brother! How did the interview with Azure corporation go? Did you get in?" Rena asked.


    Looking at Rena''s concerned look, Venn told her the truth.


    "I''ve decided to set up my own gaming workshop. Give me enough time and I shall earn enough credits for a mansion." Venn half-jokingly said while making a money gesture with his hand. He didn''t want to have any secrets hidden from his sister, but he didn''t want her to worry as well.


    "In that case then, I want a big room for my bedroom. And it must come with a balcony." Rena sheepishly said.


    "What are you talking about? Who said that you are living with me? The mansion is just for me and my wife. Wai-t, stop! Don''t tickle me at my side! That''s my sensitive spot! Ah-haha!"


    "Spare me. Lord Rena! I fully understand what I did wrong! Ahah!"


    Before Venn could finish teasing his sister, Rena had already pounced on to him like a swift cheetah and unleashed her malicious claws on him.


    Not to be outdone, Venn retaliated back as well. Soon, both of them got their arms tangled up, and Venn''s complexion went pale as soon as he took a look at Rena''s face.


    "Your nose... it''s bleeding."


    "Huh¡­ this is nothing. Must have been the weather nowadays. I keep having these nosebleeds lately." Rena shrugged it off like it was nothing.


    However, Venn knew what the nosebleed meant.


    It was the medical symptom for Rena''s illness.


    "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Venn cursed inwardly.


    If it wasn''t for this incident, he would never have found out that the illness had already laid its roots in Rena so early.


    While he was leisurely having dinner with Rena, he could have spent the time playing the game instead.


    Gobbling up the food in the plate, Venn quickly went back to his room after excusing himself.


    Entering the game once more, Venn had firmly made his decision without hesitation.


    ***


    At the outskirts of Rosewell city, the shadowy figure of Venn could be seen moving across the bushes in the direction of an old, derelict building.


    The sky in the game had since turned dark with litters of stars taking over the night sky.


    Monsters roaming in the night were stronger than those in the days, however the game compensated the extra efforts in taking down the monsters with a 20 percent experience points increase.


    Over the journey to the building, Venn had already dispatched several monsters that foolishly got in his way.


    After the dinner with Rena, Venn chose to look for the orphanage by himself instead of reporting the blood serpents to the head knight.


    With the pressure from both Rena''s illness and Ivy League, he couldn''t afford to raise his power slowly anymore.


    They are like the sword of damocles hanging over his head. Blink and it''s over.


    He needed strength immediately. And the only way he could realise this was to infiltrate the ranks of the blood serpents.


    He had no choice but to act on the fly. No matter how risky it was, this was his only option.


    Upon returning to Heaven Descent, Venn hurriedly looked for a map of Rosewell city in the library. Luckily he managed to find one after asking for its location from the elf librarian.


    The map he got had the details on the central sector blanked out. But it was sufficient for Venn to rely on. He figured that a mysterious organisation on the run, and was setting up a secret meeting among its members would most likely not hold their meeting in the single, most heavily guarded area so it didn''t matter to him.


    With the area of search narrowed down, the next thing he had to do was to figure out which orphanage out of the possible three in Rosewell city would they hold their annual meeting in.


    The choices were Rosewell Colored Institution, the Red Presents Home and the Fiore Orphanage, with the former located inside the outer sector of the city near the church of Eternal Order while the latter two choices were located just on the outskirts of the city, and under protection of the nearby the watch towers.


    Considering the section of the library where he found the hidden book in the library, Venn instantly knew the answer.


    The Red Presents Home came into Venn''s view slowly as he approached the worn down building with heavy steps. With every step that he took, the silence of the surrounding made the night even creepier.


    He had come without any preparation given the short notice nor did he have any resources at hand to prepare anyway. His purpose of visiting the orphanage was to scout the area since the meeting would be held seven days later according to the letter.


    Arriving at the doorsteps, he gave a gentle knock on the wooden door.

 Chapter 19: Infilitrate

    Arriving at the doorsteps, he gave a gentle knock on the wooden door.


    The knock on the door was immediately responded by a person behind the door. Not wanting to open the door, a peephole of the size of a small window slid open, revealing the face of an old granny.


    "What''s your purpose here in the middle of the night?" The old granny''s voice sounded cautious and coarse.


    Her sudden appearance had caught Venn by surprise and made him freeze on the spot.


    He did not expect anyone to answer the door, let alone right away, especially not with a gentle knock in the middle of the night.


    He was originally planning to snoop around the orphanage to investigate the place, knocking on the door was just a test to see if there were any NPCs inside the orphanage that was still awake.


    The old granny''s immediate answering of the door was too suspicious. A strange feeling arose within Venn and he felt that he might have been overlooking some things.


    Learning from his previous lessons, Venn carefully mulled over every detail relating to the quest to find out the anomaly.


    "The only explanation on why anyone would answer the door so readily could only be that the person was already expecting visitors in the first place." Venn''s eyebrows furrowed greatly while deep in his thought.


    Though his face wasn''t particularly dashing by any means, his seriousness exuded a charming aura.


    "I might have been on the wrong track from the beginning."


    "Unlike the players who have instant communication with each other as long as they are in-game friends, the NPCs in the game had no effective tools of communication at all. The seven days mentioned in the letter might just mean that the annual meeting will be held for seven days instead of seven days later."


    "It would make more sense that way."


    "I have to say something to get in now or the opportunity is gone." Venn looked at the old granny with an intense gaze.


    It was the moment of truth. There was no going back and trying again, he had to think quickly on his feet.


    His past experiences dealing with the game NPCs had taught him that they behave just like real people, complete with their own dislikes and preferences, so he had to treat them as such.


    And the art of bullshitting dictates that he had to act the part and speak as vague as possible to avoid any slip up.


    Thus, channelling his inner Oscar acting skill and mustering his courage, he acted as aloof as he could and spoke with a cold tone.


    "I''m here for the annual meeting."


    "Here for a meeting? In the middle of the night in an orphanage? Are you a buffoon? Go away and stop bothering my sleep." The old granny replied, seemingly irritated.


    However, it did not faze Venn. He was certain that he was at the right place, and the caretaker of the orphanage would know something or two about the blood serpents.


    "You dare to question me? Know your place!" Venn pressured her with a loud roar. Like people in real life, the NPCs in the game react the same when subjected to intimidation and fear.


    As expected, the next moment, the old granny''s face became very ugly.


    "Y¡ªYou are here for the initiation process right?"


    "But that can''t be¡­ everyone that was supposed to come has already arrived. The disciples of Master Ves, Master Quinn and Master Lexor had already entered an hour ago. Even those absentees who were unable to come had sent a message as well."


    "U¡ªUnless¡­ you are the disciple of Mistress Granhiert?" The old lady with trails of winkles over her forehead paused for Venn''s confirmation with a humble gaze, her attitude differed completely from before.


    Who the hell is Mistress Granhiert?


    Although Venn mentally retorted, he was perfectly happy to let the old granny misunderstand his identity. He couldn''t help but want to praise the old lady for her great assist even though he never really did anything notable. Now that he had a better look at her, he couldn''t help but found her looking amiable.


    "Nice assist!" Venn mentally noted.


    After which, he gave a slight nod to her and resumed his act as a heartless assassin even though he was extremely elated inside.


    [Ding]


    [Your power of persuasion improved. Charisma increased by 1 point. (+1 CHA)]


    "Oh! My sincerest apology! It is just that Mistress Granhiert rarely attended these meetings so I assumed she wasn''t coming. I didn''t know she had sent you as her representative for the guild members initiation. I''m terribly sorry for my mistake."


    "Come in quickly. We better hurry! The meeting had begun an hour ago!"


    Upon finishing her words, the old granny opened the wooden door, allowing Venn to step inside. Once she saw that Venn had entered, she closed the front door and led the way to the second level of the orphanage, signalling Venn to follow her.


    Along the way, Venn attempted to gather more information by asking in the most ambiguous way. However, the old lady simply urged Venn to quicken his steps.


    Before long, Venn and the old lady reached the second level of the orphanage. Here, Venn could see a dozen of poorly dressed children fully asleep in their respective wooden bed frames.


    Observing the children, he could tell a sleeping spell was casted on them. It seems that the blood serpents were using the kids as a cover for their activities.


    Arriving at the middle of the second storey, the hunchback old lady passed a lantern that she had taken from a corner to Venn.


    [Ding]


    [Lesser Magic Lamp Obtained. (Rare Tier)]


    [Durability: N/A]


    [Requirement: None]


    [An all-purpose lamp. Allows one to see past lesser illusions and see ghosts. Good for late night studying.]


    Pointing at the wall at the end of the passageway, the old granny smiled.


    "Now, hold tight on this lantern and run into the wall over there. Don''t ever hesitate, you have to sprint at full speed."


    "What?!" Venn exclaimed at her ridiculous words. He was unsure who was bullshitting who now.

 Chapter 20: Quest Failed

    Venn speechlessly looked down on the lamp in his hand. Except from the green glow of light that was emitted from the flame, the lamp looks no different from any other ordinary lamp, making him sceptical about her words.


    The magic lamp he was given didn''t particularly give him much confidence to be onboard with the idea of running head first right into a wall at full speed.


    Nevertheless, seeing the sincere expression on the old lady''s face prompting him to try, Venn doubted there was any other way around it. He doubted that a NPC would play a practical joke on him, especially one that he had intimidated just a while ago.


    Thus, after saying his prayer, he prepared himself mentally. He just hoped that it would turn out like the century old movie he watched with Rena when they were still kids. He barely remembered the name of the movie, but he remembered that it was something related to the kidney stone of a sorcerer.


    Else he would be the first person in Heaven Descent''s history that died because he banged his head into a wall per a NPC''s instruction.


    Holding the lantern in his hand, Venn quickly picked up speed because of his high agility and collided into the wall with his eyes closed. Much to his surprise, there wasn''t any pain associated with the collision. Rather, the whole experience felt like breaking through a barrier of air.


    And when he opened his eyes to survey his surroundings after some time had passed, he found himself in a completely different place from the orphanage. The children and the old granny were gone, and his surroundings were replaced.


    The place he was currently in looked sort of like a cavern, and he seemed to be in a passageway judging from the bumpy terrains and the slippery dirt path around him.


    Multiple brightly lit medieval torches were placed in metal candle holders by both sides of the wall illuminating the dark passageway. Judging from the human activity, Venn deduced that he was on the right track.


    After carefully observing the place, Venn followed the dirt path forward when suddenly, multiple game notifications sounded crazily like a fire alarm.


    [Ding]


    [Hidden Dungeon: Congratulations, you are the very first player to discover the Headquarter of the Blood Serpents]


    [Reward: 2500 experience points received. +3 to all stats]


    [Strength increased by 3 points. (+3 STR)]


    [Agility increased by 3 points. (+3 AGI)]


    [Stamina increased by 3 points. (+3 STA)]


    [Wisdom increased by 3 points. (+3 WIS)]


    [Charisma increased by 3 points. (+3 CHA)]


    [Fame increased by 100.]


    [Title received: Junior Dungeon Explorer (Upgradable)]


    [Effect: Equipping the title will grant a 10% increase in experience point gained and item drop rate from monsters when hunting in a dungeon for all members of your party. The effect of this title is stackable with other titles'' effects.]


    [A job well done! Be the first to discover more dungeons to increase the rank of the Dungeon Explorer title! Go forth and march on, progress on to the frontier of exploration!]


    [Ding]


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    [You have reached level 10. You are now eligible to unlock up to 5 branches of monster cores.]


    [Note: For every additional core that a player chooses to unlock, the experience points needed to level up will increase by twofold.]


    [Note: You cannot level up anymore until you have made a decision. Any experience point gained shall be accumulated.]


    [Ding]


    [Elite quest failed. You have chosen not to report your discovery of Blood Serpent''s trail to Rosewell Kingdom. Instead, you decided to investigate into the meeting place where the mysterious Blood Serpents are gathered by yourself.]


    [No penalty for failure of quest.]


    "This is¡­"


    Venn froze on the spot. He was rendered speechless as he looked through the bombardment of system notifications before finally letting out a muffled "Yes!".


    He tried very hard to maintain his composure given his location and the uncertainty of his circumstances, but his excitement was undeniable.


    Although he had failed the epic quest, the compensation for deviating from the quest was absolutely worthwhile for him. He was glad that he made the correct decision.


    A total gain of 15 stats points and a stackable title was much more valuable than the promised quest rewards.


    For every level up a character undergoes, he or she will be rewarded with a small bump of health and 3 stats points. Thus, gaining 15 stats points was a better outcome as it is somewhat equivalent to leveling up five times.


    The stackable title was even a better reward than the gain in stats points. Combined with his sage title, the effective experience points per monster killed would increase to 2.2 times. With it, he was more confident now choosing to unlock 5 slots of monster cores. Not to mention, he could upgrade the rank of the title in the future as well. And when that day comes, his training speed would be truly monstrous.


    After his initial excitement subsided, it was time to return to work. He needed all the strength he could get to deal with his next problem.


    Opening his stats panel, he moved his finger towards the Monster Cores section and tapped on the words - "activate".


    As soon as he selected the virtual button to activate his monster core slots, his vision blurred and a huge image of an unknown constellation in an abstract shape appeared before him, covering the entirety of his vision.


    He had done this before in the past, thus he focused his mind towards the constellation sign.


    As he did so, a message prompt popped up.


    [Please choose the number of monster core slots to unlock. You may unlock up to 5.]


    Without any hesitation, Venn chooses to unlock all 5 slots. And with his decision, out of the magnitude of stars that made up the constellation, 5 different stars shined dazzlingly for a minute before their brightness eventually died down.


    Those 5 stars represented the slots that would enable Venn to absorb five different types of monster cores out of the sixteen.

 Chapter 21: Fourth Member

    Those 5 stars represented the slots that would enable Venn to absorb five different types of monster cores out of the sixteen.


    To be able to reach level 10 within a day of playing was nothing short of a great achievement. Because of his prior game knowledge, and his guts to risk it all, he was able to take a great leap with his progress in catching up with the leading pack.


    However, it wasn''t enough. And he most certainly isn''t out of the danger yet.


    Thus, with great caution, he proceeded forward to meet with the Blood Serpents and see what they were about.


    Venn walked for about thirty meters when he came across a wooden door that was open. Carefully moving towards it, his heart began pounding rapidly.


    As he was preparing to enter the door as naturally as he could, a man wearing an Orc mask suddenly came out from it.


    Venn stopped moving, but the mask-wearing man recoiled backwards with his weapon drawn like he was spooked.


    That surprised Venn as well. But he did not speak any words. In this unfamiliar environment, the more things he said, the greater the danger he put himself in.


    Both parties were silent at the development of the situation. Finally, after several moments, the mask-wearing man asked with suspicion.


    "Who are you? How did you find this place?"


    Venn knew that question was coming. Fortunately, he had formulated an answer with a little help from the orphanage caretaker.


    "I''m the disciple of Mistress Granhiert, here for the initiation." Venn shamelessly assumed the identity of Mistress Granhiert''s student and introduced himself politely to the other party. Although he had no idea who Granhiert was, that did not stop the fact that at this moment, he really wished to be her disciple.


    "A fourth candidate? How can there be a fourth one?" The mask-wearing man paused upon hearing Venn''s answer.


    His actions seemed to indicate his distrust towards Venn as he leaned towards Venn until his mask was almost touching Venn''s face.


    Meanwhile, Venn was extremely nervous under the man''s scrutinising eyes. He was analysing every action and words the mask-wearing man said and where he had messed up for him to react like this.


    Thankfully, it seemed that there was nothing to worry about as the man erupted with laughter the next moment.


    "Great! That troublesome lass sent a candidate of her own? Didn''t she know that all three spots this year have been taken by the others? Marvelous! It sure sounds like her to stir troubles."


    "You are barely in time. Come with me."


    Venn followed the man inside the chamber with his head lowered. By now, his back was drenched with sweat. That was a close call and Venn knew it.


    If he had answered the question in any other way, he would have been slaughtered. By now, he had realised that the game had given him plenty of clues to uncovering the secrets of the Blood Serpents. There was no way the game system would introduce a storyline that a player cannot participate in. If he played his cards right, he might even be able to join the assassin guild.


    Following behind the mask-wearing man, Venn entered the chamber. When he saw what was inside, he sucked in a cold breath.


    The chamber was larger than he had expected. From what Venn could see, it looked approximately the size of a basketball court. Most of the space was occupied by a giant statue at the back. Due to the lightning condition, he could only see a rough silhouette of the statue.


    There was a long dining table in the middle of the chamber. Seated at its side, were seven people wearing black robes and a variety of masks covering them. Three on the left side of the table and three on the right, with the final lone figure sitting at the end of the long table.


    Besides the seven people that were sitting down, three other people were standing at the other end of the table with their backs turned against Venn.


    Although he couldn''t see their faces, judging from the outfits and their bearings, Venn could tell that the three standing had lower standings than the rest of them.


    Cross referenced to the information that he had, Venn was almost certain that the three should be the aforementioned new members that were joining the guild.


    Eleven of them¡­ including the Orc mask¡­


    Within seconds, Venn had scanned and memorized everything in the chamber with his sharp eyes. He couldn''t afford to be careless here.


    "Why have you come back here? And who did you bring here?" A black robe who sat on the seat closest to the door stood up. Her voice was pleasing to the ears but the large scythe hanging behind her chair said otherwise.


    "I left because the meeting was boring, but not anymore when I found him. Granhiert sent him here as her disciple." The man who brought Venn into the chamber explained while pointing at Venn. Compared to before, his voice sounded much chirpier. Obviously he was enjoying the show that would soon unfold.


    "Granhiert? That Granhiert that doesn''t give a care in the world about the guild? You mean to tell me that Granhiert sent a candidate to vie for the limited spot? You mean to tell me that Granhiert''s disciple don''t even know that it''s mandatory to wear a mask to hide your identity from the other members as per the guild''s rule?"


    "Boy. Who exactly are you? Lie and I''ll cut your tongue."


    This time, another black robe who sat opposite to the female with the big scythe as her weapon, rose up from his seat with a menacing aura. His robe was barely enough to cover his stout build which allowed Venn to see his chiselled muscles, and his disgruntled voice sounded weird like a non-native person speaking.


    However, his words had imposed a nightmare on Venn as it had rung the alarm for everyone in the scene about something obvious.

 Chapter 22: Wits

    At the end of his sentence, a barely audible gasp resounded the chamber from the scythe wielding woman.


    Soon after, everyone from the table, including the three new initiates that were standing, turned and stared at Venn''s dumbfounded face, waiting for his response.


    His current situation was like having multiple guns pointed at his forehead, their chambers ready to be emptied at any given notice.


    It was the end of the line for him.


    "Fuck me sideways. What is this? A masquerade party? I needed a mask to get in?" Venn was dying internally as he cursed in his mind.


    He was so close.


    His expression was like a deer caught in the headlights as he noticed that even the initiates that were standing were wearing masks on their face to hide their identity.


    There wasn''t any clue or mention that points to him that he would need to get himself a mask in order to crash the blood serpents'' meeting. Thus, he was at a loss of what to do.


    "I knew it! I knew that it wouldn''t be this easy."


    At this moment in time, he desperately wanted to know the addresses of Heaven Descent developers so that he could send razor blades to their home for developing such a stupid game.


    After mentally cursing for several seconds though, Venn pulled back his drifting thoughts and began to think of a solution. At the back of his head, he knew that it was useless to think about such pointless things in his mind.


    Immediately, his anxious eyes scanned the chamber to look for a solution to overcome the black robe''s grilling question.


    Within seconds, he found a breakthrough when his eyes rested upon the mask of the scythe wielding woman.


    She was wearing a red fox mask.


    With quick reflexes, Venn pulled out a broken mask from his inventory and held it up prominently so that everyone in the room could have a clear view of the mask in his hand.


    "My mask unfortunately broke in a fight with a group of skeleton soldiers while I was on my journey here. Nevertheless, I was able to obliterate them in the end. As for why I didn''t get a replacement mask, I was already late for the initiation, I can''t afford to waste time getting another one. "


    Venn nonchalantly explained himself. Thankfully at the last possible moment, he remembered that he had looted Silverfox''s broken mask before killing her, and spun a credible lie revolving the mask in short notice.


    He even enhanced the credibility of the lie by including the specific monster that he fought.


    Skeleton soldiers are level 26 monsters that reside in underground caves near Rosewell. He included them in his lie after he saw the level of the three initiates as they turned hostile towards him.


    The levels of the three initiatives were level 23, 24 and level 29 respectively.


    When NPCs turn hostile towards players, their levels and health bars of the NPCs would appear and hover above their head as the hostile action is considered as engaging in combat. However, the NPCs themselves won''t be able to see players'' information.


    Hence, Venn used it to his advantage. His words suggested that he was roughly around the same strength as the other three candidates, and there was no way the Blood Serpents could verify that.


    Not everyone in the chamber turned hostile towards him though.


    The three black robes that sat on the left side of the long table which included the scythe wielding woman remained seated despite the commotion.


    Whereas the other three that sat on the right side of the table were the active ones that were on the verge of attacking him.


    Through Venn''s sharp observation, he deduced that there was internal strife in the guild. It was too much of a coincidence that there were two polar opposite reactions happening in the chamber.


    "Looks like the group on the right has some bad blood with Granhiert¡­ As for the group on the left, I can''t tell if their stance is neutral towards me or better."


    Venn made a mental note to himself. He needed all the information he could get.


    Unfortunately though, he was unable to see the levels of the core members of Blood Serpents.


    The level difference between him and them was too large. All he could see was just multiple question marks.


    [Level: ???]


    [HP: ???/???]


    If the level difference between two opponents is greater than 20 or more, the weaker side will not be able to see the exact level and health bar of the opponent.


    Furthermore, there is a penalty of 50% damage reduction on the damage that the weaker player deals to the stronger side. The rule applies to all monsters, NPCs, and even players.


    ***


    Venn''s convincing explanation seemed to have worked. The black robes stopped their attack and returned back to a neutral stance.


    However, as Venn had expected, the burly black robe continued to pose troubles to Venn.


    "That doesn''t prove any¡ª."


    "Are there so much distrust between members of this guild?". Venn interrupted him loudly without giving him a chance to finish speaking. By pointing out the obvious problems that existed in the guild, he was forcing the leader of the guild to act.


    "But how can there be four new members?" Not giving up, the burly black robe bellowed.


    However, someone else interrupted him this time.


    "Enough. It doesn''t matter. After all, there will only be three left after we are done." The man who had stayed silent all this time finally spoke.


    When he said so, the three newcomers who stood by the long table suddenly trembled.


    "Prepare a grail for him." The leader who was sitting at the end of the table instructed.


    Acting on his instruction, the woman who wore the red fox mask stood up and grabbed an unused grail from the table before placing it down next to the other three initiates.


    When Venn stepped forward and stood beside the other three initiates, he saw that there was a grail in front of them as well.

 Chapter 23: Argos Von Kaiser

    When Venn stepped forward and stood beside the other three initiates, he saw that there was a grail in front of them as well.


    Similar to Venn''s, their grails were empty too.


    From the looks of things, it seems that the initiation ritual was just getting started.


    The strange phenomenon led Venn to the conclusion that the timing of his arrival was too perfect, especially when he had arrived late to the annual meeting according to the old granny. Hence, he had a guess that the current situation was probably the work of the AI system in the game.


    As long as a player enters the orphanage within the stipulated seven days period and answers these NPCs'' questions perfectly, he or she will be met with the same exact scene regardless.


    That was the only explanation he could come up with.


    While Venn was thinking about the details of the quest, the hands of the woman who was wearing the red fox mask never stopped moving.


    First, she opened a bottle of wine and proceeded to pour the wine into the grails on the table until all of them were half full.


    Following that, she went to the leader''s side and obtained a small treasure chest from him.


    Holding the small chest on her palms with great delicateness, the woman walked past her seat and approached the four new initiates until she stood right next to Venn.


    Opening the chest, she took out a vial of red liquid and added a drop into each and every one of the initiates'' grails one by one.


    After she added a drop of the unknown liquid into his grail, Venn noticed a pool of bubbles were violently forming in his wine.


    Subsequently after putting the vial of liquid back into the small chest, she pulled out an item from inside the chest again.


    This time, it was a brown parchment scroll.


    By now, all of the black robes had risen up from their seats. Automatically, without any communication, all of them had a grail in their hands indicating that they had done this at least more than a few times.


    "Now, hold your grails high up."


    The woman''s pleasing voice echoed loudly in the chamber. At the same time, Venn could smell a sweet fragrance permeating from the scythe wielding woman who was standing close to him.


    For reasons unknown to Venn, her small statue coupled with her pink twin tails that was revealed after removing her hood, gave him an impulse to conquer her and have her for himself.


    Fortunately, through sheer willpower, he was able to shake away those impropriety thoughts from his mind and focused his mind at the nick of time.


    "What the hell was that?" Venn took a small step back away from the woman to keep a distance from her. He could sense that the woman was the one that drove him to this state.


    Venn concentrated his thoughts back to the initiation ritual and raised his grail up as he was told; channelling his curiosity about how the ritual would be held, and what all the NPCs meant by only three of them would remain.


    He silently observed everyone, including the leader of Blood Serpent.


    After eventually confirming everyone in the chamber had held up their grails, the woman recited the content of the scroll with a loud voice. With each sentence she recites, the frenzy glow in her eyes grew crazier.


    "Rain. 62th of the Wolf Calendar."


    "Chronos had betrayed us!"


    "The foreign ones have reached our doorsteps!"


    "Only carnage and bloodshed remained."


    "Only I remained."


    "The weak minds had closed the gates to Heaven."


    "That imbecilic and cowardice bunch!


    "They do not deserve to be alive."


    "I am Argos Von Kaiser, the last emperor of the dragon race."


    "The one who fought valiantly at the end of his time.


    "The one who lived his life without any regret except for one."


    "My time is nearing its end now."


    "I shall leave my body to the fated ones."


    "Take my power and grow in strength."


    "Rise from the ashes and to the top. For the Gods shall return one day."


    "Prevent them at all costs! My children!"


    "Let the Heavens fall!"


    At the end of her last sentence, total silence had filled the room. It was so quiet that Venn could hear a pin drop in the chamber.


    The content of the scroll had shocked Venn greatly. Judging from what he had heard, the scroll was probably the work of Argos Von Kaiser, written in the format of a diary.


    He had no clue who he was, and he had no recollection about reading any information about him. But if he was to make an intelligent guess, he figured that he would be a person that existed in between the Era of Gods and the Era of Calamity.


    "The foreign ones and the dragon race. It looks like I''m onto something big here." Venn was thrilled. Uncovering the hidden truth of the missing history would mean legendary rewards and even more.


    Like the scythe wielding woman, Venn''s eyes are currently filled with a burning desire.


    "Now, newcomers! The founder of the guild will test you. Drink the wine in your hands instantly!"


    [Ding]


    [Do you wish to join the Blood Serpents?]


    [Yes / No]


    The notification window showed up in Venn''s vision upon the orders of the woman. Now, he had to make a decision that would affect his entire life.


    He wanted to wait to see the reactions of the other three initiates that had drank the wine, however, the woman had her eyes constantly on him to prevent him from doing so.


    When he realised he couldn''t afford to drag on without the woman''s interference, he drank the wine from his grail at one go.


    As the taste of the wine flooded Venn''s taste buds, and down his throat, he could feel a burning sensation from within his stomach and esophagus.


    Before long, a searing pain could be felt all over his body.

 Chapter 24: Painful Trial

    As the taste of the wine flooded Venn''s taste buds, and down his throat, he could feel a burning sensation from within his stomach and esophagus.


    Before long, a searing pain could be felt all over his body.


    Venn was sweltering profusely in his current state. After he drank the wine mixed with the mysterious liquid, he felt excruciating pain in every part of his body as if his entire body was set on fire.


    The pain was unlike anything he had experienced before. He could feel something crawling underneath his skin, trying to invade his veins, bones, and down to his marrows.


    The agony was so intense that Venn had released the grail he was holding onto and dropped his knees to the ground.


    "What is this? Why is this happening? Isn''t this just a game?" Feeling confused and in agony, Venn cried out internally. He wanted to scream but he no longer even had the capability to shout or speak properly.


    Kneeling down with his back hunched, Venn opened the game setting panel to reduce the pain receptors setting. It was currently set at 90% which would mean any injury inflicted on him would feel similar to a stinging toothache.


    Something had gone horribly wrong for Venn to experience this kind of suffering pain.


    With trembling fingers, Venn managed to turn off the pain receptor after a few tries. However, different from what he had envisioned, his situation did not improve a single bit.


    The agonising pain was still eating him up from the inside.


    "Hyukk!"


    "Hyukk!"


    Several moments after Venn found out he couldn''t turn off the pain he was currently experiencing, he started dry heaving.


    He was on the verge of breaking down as he found his airway gradually blocked and that he was suffocating from the lack of air. The feeling was so real that Venn questioned himself.


    Suffocation in a game? The whole thing doesn''t make sense! What about the others? There must be a way out of this.


    Tilting his head with struggle, Venn managed to turn his head to the right to see the conditions of the other three candidates that drank the same stuff as him.


    In his mind, he was thinking about observing the others as it should give him a clue on what to do in this dire situation.


    But then it happened.


    At the exact same moment that he turned his head to find out how the others were faring, the furthest initiate from him yelled out in pain all of a sudden.


    A gigantic and deformed arm the size of a building pillar sprouted from his shoulder blade and crushed the skull of the initiate to his left in the process, killing him on the spot with no time to react.


    The initiate who had gone berserk from the pain subsequently went on to attack the rest of the black robes that put him to the trial. The same time he did so, large irregular lumps were forming underneath his skin at the other parts of his body as well, reshaping his tall figure into a grotesque and unrecognizable shape.


    Venn could clearly see the horrifying transformation and the numerous black scales on his deformed arm as it thrashes about in the air. The force was so great that the wind which was generated from a swing of the arm was enough to knock everything in the chamber up by a few feet into the air.


    Plates, candlesticks, chairs and other miscellaneous items were toppled from the long table and onto the ground, plunging the room into total darkness.


    Fortunately, within seconds, a ring of fire magically appeared and surrounded everyone in the chamber. The light produced by the fire was reassuring to Venn as it provided him with precious visibility.


    Immediately after he could see again, Venn turned his gaze back to the initiate that had transformed.


    However, Venn could only see his lifeless body slowly slumping down.


    His head had gone missing from his neck.


    And in turn, the scythe wielding woman was standing behind the corpse holding her blood stained scythe.


    The whole sequence of events had exceeded any predictions Venn had before he drank the glass of wine. Never did it cross his mind that it would turn out this way.


    Although he kept convincing himself that the whole scene was just simply a part of the game and the people that died were just NPCs, the fear he felt was very real.


    He couldn''t take it anymore. He wanted to get out. It was so much easier being a library rat.


    Opening the game menu, he tried navigating to the log out button. But unfortunately, the system notified him that he couldn''t log out in the middle of a trial.


    The bad news plunged him further into despair. But that was not the worst.


    Several seconds later, he could hear rumblings from the last remaining initiate. The ridiculous murmurs that were coming out from his mouth and the endless trembling of his body had proven to Venn that he had lost his mind.


    Thankfully, this time, before he could reach the point of transformation, his head had cleanly sliced off.


    However, the momentum of the swing caused his head to roll along the floor, and stopped right in front of Venn, making Venn feel like he was staring at him with eyes filled with grievances.


    The scythe woman had claimed another life once again.


    "The last one. Will you be able to make it?"


    A charming voice sounded from behind. The woman who the voice belonged to, squatted down in front of Venn with a smile and met his gaze at eye level.


    However, Venn couldn''t see her face as his vision became more and more blurred. His mind had been in total disarray from the start and his insides were burning as if it was scorched by strong acids.


    Then, as if Heaven was taking a pity on Venn, a game notification popped up in his game log.


    [Ding]


    [Detecting that user''s heart rate had exceeded one hundred and thirty five beats per minute for an extended period of time. Does the user want to exercise the option of emergency log out?]


    [Yes / No]


    ***


    "Log out?" Venn muttered to himself without any strength when he saw the message with his lifeless eyes.


    He desperately wished to escape from this hellish nightmare and he finally got the chance to exit the game.


    However, contrary to his thoughts, he found himself unable to say yes; something was stopping him from doing so at the back of his head.


    If he does select to log out now, wouldn''t that be counted as running away? Furthermore, what would happen to the trial?


    Would it be counted as a success or a failure? He had no idea.


    After steeling his resolve time after time and the constant reminder that he would do everything it takes to save his sister, what kind of coward would he be if he was to run away?


    Didn''t he swore to protect Rena?


    What kind of pitiable excuse would he give to himself this time, especially when he was given a second chance to correct things.


    "I can''t do it."


    "It is fated."


    "I''ll do better next time."


    Could he bear to say these to Rena?


    Was the agony of losing Rena greater than the agony he is experiencing right now?


    Was the pain he is feeling now even comparable to the organ failure that Rena is eventually going to suffer from?


    A million thoughts crossed his mind.


    "No one has any hopes for me..."


    "There''s no one who dreams that I''ll accomplish anything someday..."


    "There''s no one that believes that I''m even remotely capable of protecting somebody..."


    "Not even that¡­"


    "But Rena does!"


    "Time and time again, she will steadfastly cheer me up."


    "Time and time again, she believes me to be a capable big brother."


    "She truly believed me when I said I will buy her a mansion!"


    "She truly believed me that I will protect her smile even at the end of her life!"


    "If I run away now. Wouldn''t I be the same as those Gods that Argos Von Kaiser had mentioned in his dairy?"


    "What''s the point of living a life of cowardice if you can''t protect your loved ones!"


    "I''ll do it. I''ll do whatever it takes!"


    Venn shouted with all his might!

 Chapter 25: Ten Holes

    "She truly believed me when I said I will buy her a mansion!"


    "She truly believed me that I will protect her smile even at the end of her life!"


    "If I run away now. Wouldn''t I be the same as those Gods that Argos Von Kaiser had mentioned in his dairy?"


    "What''s the point of living a life of cowardice if you can''t protect your loved ones!"


    "I''ll do it. I''ll do whatever it takes!"


    Venn shouted with all his might!


    ***


    In the headquarters of the Blood Serpents, all the black robes were patiently sitting at their respective places overlooking the progress of the trial.


    Unlike what Venn had seen in his trial, the chamber was in pristine condition. Nothing had been knocked over and there were no signs of a fight breaking out.


    After all four candidates had drunk their share of the wine mixed with the blood of Argos Von Kaiser, the founder of the guild, they had unknowingly stepped into an illusion prepared by the legendary emperor.


    The purpose of the trial was to sift out the weak minded that he detested the most. Under intense pain and unknown fear, he wanted the elites that had an unwavering mind to carry out his will.


    This would explain why Venn was unable to log out from Heaven Descent, and why despite turning off the pain receptors, he was still experiencing a great amount of agony. All this time, he was simply in an illusion.


    However, that was not to say that the trial was harmless since it was simply a mere illusion. In fact, due to Argos'' incredible power that could rival the Gods, all who had failed the trial had either gone insane or became mindless ghouls.


    The eight black robes that were waiting in the chamber were the survivors of the trial. There were others as well that either were on a mission or just couldn''t be bothered to attend the annual meeting.


    It had always been a tradition to only accept three new members each year into the guild. The leader of the guild had initially planned to increase the dose of the illusion gradually to eliminate one from the newcomers.


    However, the bizarre situation was not what he expected to see.


    All the other three initiates had ended up as failures and had been removed from the scene. Only Venn remained amongst the four candidates that participated in the trial.


    Also, it had been way too long for Venn to be in the illusion. Normally, one would crack within 5 minutes, but Venn had endured for the entire 2 hours with no sign of any result.


    As the group showed some signs of being tired from the waiting, all of them suddenly felt a strange vibe from the surrounding.


    "The air is vibrating." The man wearing the Orc mask was the first to point out his observation.


    As he did so, everyone turned towards Venn''s direction.


    ***


    The agonising pain had been assaulting Venn''s body for quite some time. During this period, Venn had been enduring with nothing else but his teeth clenched.


    Ignoring everything with his eyes closed and his mind focused on finding his inner peace, he was willing to drag out for however long it took for the trial to end.


    There was no chance he would surrender without a fight.


    Thankfully, there was a silver lining to his suffering.


    He found that the longer he suffered, the more notification sounds the game system sounded.


    Watching his stats continuously improved, the suffering he was enduring seemed a little less intense due to the unintended byproduct.


    At least now, he was happily willing to endure it. As a gamer, he wished that the pain would grow even more so that the rate his stats would increase would get faster.


    He was getting the feeling that the pain was beginning to reduce for him.


    [Ding]


    [Your pain endurance has improved.]


    [Health increased by 5 points. (+5 Health)]


    [Ding]


    [Your mind has improved due to intense mediation.]


    [Wisdom increased by 1 point. (+1 WIS)]


    [Ding]


    [Your stamina has improved.]


    [Stamina increased by 1 point. (+1 STA)


    ***


    After an indeterminable amount of time had passed, Venn abruptly heard a voice resounding in his mind, speaking directly to him in the darkness.


    The voice was deep and low, but from the tone of the voice, Venn could tell that the voice belonged to a great figure as it carried an air of majesty.


    "You have passed the trial. But not with flying colors."


    "You may not be the most talented, but your resolve is the greatest that I have seen."


    "I am Argos Von Kaiser. I accept you as my child."


    "I shall leave my inheritance to you, like I did with my other children. Use them well."


    [Ding]


    [Synchronising¡­]


    ***


    Immediately after the end of the sentence, Venn''s senses returned to him.


    His vision had come back to him, and he could hear the surrounding sounds around him again.


    Opening his eyes after closing them for so long, his eyes hurt from the stinging bright lights. But after a while of getting used to the light, he found himself being surrounded by a sea of blacks from all sides.


    After fighting alone for so long, he sighed a breath of relief. As he did so, his consciousness faded and he fell asleep instantly with his body leaning forward.


    The last thing he could remember was that he fell into something soft. He was so tired that he couldn''t be bothered anymore even when he felt that he was getting carried away somewhere.


    At the end of the trial, only ten holes remained on the ground as evidence of his initiation ritual.


    Those holes were the length of all his fingers.


    ***


    Several hours later, Venn regained his consciousness in darkness. He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were so heavy that he just wanted to remain in his relaxing posture.


    Another reason why he wasn''t ready to wake up from his slumber was because the back of his head was supported by something soft. The texture and bounciness of the material could be described as so heavenly that he doubted he could find it in real life even if he had credits for it.


    Tucking his head deeper into the soft material, Venn was ready to go back to sleep once more until a gentle voice came from above him.


    "Is my thighs that nice?"


    Hearing the voice, Venn opened his eyes to see who it was. As he did so, he was met with two perfectly shaped breasts hanging above him.


    With fast reaction, Venn rose up to his feet and moved a distance away from the person whose thighs he was sleeping on. Not because he was shy, but rather he was afraid that the person might be ugly.


    He knew his luck perfectly well. There was absolutely no chance a pretty girl would lend her thighs to him to sleep on.


    "Do I smell? Why are you so far away?" The voice laughed. Following the direction of the voice, Venn saw a young girl with a short stature covering her mouth coyly.


    The girl was of a particularly small stature. Other than the tiny black wings attached to her back, and the U-shape horn that stuck out from the sides of her head, she looked just like an adorable elementary school girl, approximately at about 5 foot tall.


    Besides that, the most prominent part about her was that she had a tail sticking out from her tailbone region.


    Her body structure was something Venn had never seen before in the game, much less heard about for all nine years of his gaming career in the past timeline.


    Venn was confused on what was happening when he spotted the young girl''s pink twin tails.


    He remembered that one of blood serpents'' member and the owner of a pleasing voice had a pink twin tails as well.


    Before Venn opened his mouth to ask who she was and where was he, he stopped himself from asking such stupid questions.


    Instead, he decided to ask the important questions and skipped those obvious parts that could be easily guessed so that the NPC would be impressed.


    "Where is your mask? Isn''t it one of the guild''s guideline to hide our own identity from one another?" Venn decided to ask the young girl.

 Chapter 26: Lilith

    Hearing Venn''s question surprised Lilith a little. She had a small astonishment that Venn could recognise her identity despite never seeing her appearance before.


    Also, she was expecting him to ask her the typical questions of what had happened in the trial, particularly the details on it, seeing as he fainted immediately after exiting the founder''s illusion and that he regained his consciousness so abruptly.


    Never did she once think that Venn would have the presence of mind and cautiousness to take note about the matter of her revealing her face to him.


    As such, her evaluation of Venn rose even further.


    Nonetheless, she answered Venn''s question patiently as she was ordered to do so. Her role here was to properly induct him to the Blood Serpent.


    "First of all, welcome to the ranks of Blood Serpents. Before I brief you any further, let me answer your query."


    "It doesn''t matter that you have seen my face. Granhiert and I have known each other since a long time ago. As a disciple of hers, it''s fine for you to see my face as well."


    "Besides, it''s only right that I show you my most secretive and sensitive place when you have already shown me yours without any reserves."


    Lilith politely answered.


    Her bashful face and demure manners seemed to indicate that she was a pure and innocent young girl like her appearance seemed to suggest. However, her devilish smile and her sentences that carried a smutty double entendre suggested otherwise.


    Faced with such a predicament, Venn decided to tackle it head on. Behaving like a prepubescent boy was the worst thing he could act in this scenario. Besides, although he has never had a relationship with someone before, he wasn''t exactly young either.


    Putting on his bravest front, he spoke with a deep tone while maintaining his eye contact with Lilith. It would be wise to show her his confidence so that she would view him as her equal rather than a mere disciple of Granhiert.


    "Then how about we bare naked to one another. Let''s start with you first since you are the one who suggested it."


    Venn was happy that he thought of such a witty line, however the action of the woman in front of him exceeded his knowledge of the game.


    "Interesting¡­ As expected of Granhiert''s disciple. Not only have you passed the founder''s trial while the rest couldn''t, you even have the audacity to be comfortable with me. I want you even more now. How about this? Leave Granhiert and join me. I shall grant you heavenly pleasure beyond your wildest imagination."


    Lilith said with a highly suggestive tone. And at the end of her sentence, she gave Venn a lascivious wink before her appearance morphed into someone else.


    Within seconds, she had finished her transformation.


    Her small build and innocent look of an elementary girl was no longer present.


    Taking its place was a young maiden with a pair of voluptuous breasts and supple plump thighs wearing a scandalous small black corset that barely covered her monstrous jugs.


    Below her waist, Lilith was wearing a high quality leather-made black miniskirt, and on her thighs, a layer of translucent black thin leather was wrapped around it, giving her the look like she was wearing black stockings.


    Her body curves were so seductive that Venn mentally gulped as she approached his direction gradually.


    All the while she was doing so, Venn''s sight couldn''t control itself from staring into the abyss that was located between Lilith''s cleavage.


    Sensing Venn''s intense gaze at her body, Lilith smiled and whispered gently into Venn''s ears.


    "Well? Have you decided yet? As a succubus, I''m fairly confident in my skills. Whatever you desire, I shall grant them all. Just nod your head, and big sister Lilith here will take care of your needs. Your stress, your problems¡­ I shall take it all in..."


    After saying her piece, Lilith made a slurping sound and observed Venn with her gorgeous looking eyes.


    Watching his dazed expression, she was absolutely certain that he wouldn''t be able to refuse her tempting offer.


    And she was absolutely right. The next moment, Venn spoke with a blank face.


    "I want you."


    Hearing Venn''s reply, Lilith laughed.


    However, much to her surprise, before she could celebrate her victory over Granhiert, Venn''s next sentence completely shattered her perception that she had of him.


    "But I want Granhiert too. So¡­ do you do threesome?"


    "Why are you glaring at me so scarily for? You did say any desire." Venn acted as innocent as he could as he quoted her words.


    "You!" Lilith wanted to cough up blood badly.


    She had never seen such a despicable person before. Biting her lips, she restrained herself from killing Venn on the spot. If it wasn''t for the guild rule that members are forbidden to fight against one another and that Venn was Granhiert''s disciple, she would have squashed him like a fly.


    Meanwhile, while the succubus was staring at him with eyes filled with hatred, Venn sighed a breath of relief.


    He figured it was for the best to deal with the succubus NPC in front of him by making her give up on him rather than outright rejecting her or accepting her deal.


    Of course, there was a chance that she might kill him on the spot given his answer. However, based on his prior experiences, he knew that his answer would probably anger her greatly but not sufficient to warrant him to be killed when he was officially a guild member now.


    On the other hand, if he was to reject her advances harshly, it would be like painting a big target on his back in the guild which was something Venn would like to avoid at all costs.


    Whereas if he was to accept the deal, the succubus may find out that he is a fraud one day.


    Thus, it would be wise if the current situation could remain status quo for him.


    Operating under Granhiert would give him a perfect excuse in the Blood Serpents since Granhiert was not particularly too keen on her duty as a guild member, and it meant that he could be her supposedly mouthpiece. He wasn''t willing to give this up for some pleasure. Especially with an NPC with an ulterior motive.


    Furthermore, throughout the nine years playing Heaven Descent, he had never once heard about any NPC having a relationship with any players.


    Those that attempted to try to form a relationship with NPCs were either mercilessly killed by the NPCs themselves or arrested by the guards for public nuisance, let alone having sex with an NPC like what Lilith had suggested doing.


    There was even a case of a player patiently giving flowers and wooing a village girl day after day in the game for nine entire years, and the last that Venn heard was that the story ended in tragedy with the village girl ended up marrying another NPC in the game while the player never log back into the game anymore.


    Thus, Venn was highly puzzled the reason why Lilith would respond in such a strange way.


    There was another fact about Lilith that made Venn frowned heavily. And that was her race as a succubus.


    Throughout the entire nine years of playing Heaven Descent, he had never seen or heard about the existence of a succubus be it from rumours, forums or in-game books.


    The existence of a succubus was even rarer than the dragon as although the dragons were believed to be extinct, there were still traces of their previous existence in quest lines, items, or the books.


    Staring at the succubus in front of him, Venn couldn''t contain his excitement.


    All these mysteries and secrets meant that it would to lead to more and more quests for him.


    Furthermore, there are a lot more other members in the guild as well. If each one of them has a epic quest or two for him to explore, he would strike it rich with the rare items and money that could be obtained from them!


    "I have to uncover her secrets at all costs!" Venn mentally noted to himself.


    Unbeknownst to him, his intense and fiery gaze was affecting Lilith in ways he could never have imagined.


    Due to Lilith''s unique constitution as a young succubus, her body was getting hot under Venn''s fervent gaze.

 Chapter 27: Dragoon

    She could feel the intense desire coming from Venn''s eyes.


    "This guy¡­ he lusts after me so badly. I can feel that he wants to eat me up and swallow me whole."


    Lilith silently thought to herself. However, she had completely misunderstood Venn''s intentions.


    After a brief moment of awkwardness of staring at each other, Venn finally broke the ice and proceeded to ask Lilith about information regarding the trial and the guild. He had asked her in a sincere way that Lilith just shook her head and continued her briefing.


    ***


    "Never mind. It''s your loss anyway."


    The succubus begrudge said in which Venn nodded his head and agreed wholeheartedly. Seeing his response, Lilith thankfully resumed the briefing again. Her anger had subsided a bit after Venn gave her some time to calm down.


    "Back to the briefing. As a member of the Blood Serpents, there are only two rules. Number one, no infighting amongst members. Number two, accomplish the mission given at all costs, even if you lose your life while doing so." Lilith stated clearly with two of her fingers held up.


    "What happens if I fail the mission?" Venn carefully asked.


    "Then the rest of the members will hunt you down till the end of the world." Lilith answered coldly without an ounce of compassion in her voice.


    "I see. So death to all traitors then." Venn commented. His words were mainly a reminder for himself. He shudders to find out what the guild would do to him if they find out that he was a fraud.


    "As for the trial, what was it exactly?" Venn continued to fire questions. He needed all the information he could get to think of a way to maximise his benefits.


    However, Lilith was appearing lacklustre and half-hearted towards explaining things to him.


    "Shit! I don''t remember the NPCs in this game are so bothersome." Although Venn mentally retorted, his actions reflected otherwise.


    With a cheerful smile to curry the succubus'' favour, he started praising and coaxing the unenthusiastic NPC to smooth her ego.


    "Would you be so kind to point the way to me, Big Sister Lilith? I will be greatly indebted to you."


    Venn said in a humble tone. He swore he would get back at her if there''s a chance to do so in the future.


    Watching Venn humbly request her for help greatly amused Lilith. She did not know why but she felt great pleasure seeing Venn running into trouble.


    "The trial is an illusion set up by the founder of the guild. The goal behind it was to weed out the weak-minded and the cowards from the elites. The trial had already started the minute you consumed the wine infused with the Dragon emperor''s blood. Everything that you saw after that was all a part of the illusion." Lilith explained, and before Venn fired another question, she continued while shaking her head.


    "The other three candidates had gone insane because of the trial. Their minds were too weak, so there''s no point in feeling sorry for their loss."


    "At the end of your trial, you should have heard the founder speaking to you. Normally, that means that he has acknowledged you to be part of the guild and has left his inheritance to you. Check yourself for some changes in your body. You should be able to feel his power inside."


    Upon hearing Lilith''s words, Venn instantly started patting himself and checked his body for some changes until he realised he could simply check his status.


    Muttering "status" under his breath, he could see the massive changes that had occurred to him.


    Character: Night Raid (Lesser Dragoon)


    Affiliated faction: Blood Serpents (Hidden)


    Title: Sage, Junior Dungeon Explorer


    Fame: 100


    Level: 10


    Health: 550/550


    Strength: 10 (+1)


    Agility: 33 (+3)


    Stamina: 22


    Wisdom: 15


    Charisma: 4


    Monster Cores: 5 Slots Activated. [Dragon], [Blank], [Blank], [Blank], [Blank]


    Free Stats Points: 12


    What appeared on his status screen shocked Venn.


    First of all, his race had changed from a human to a dragoon! He guessed that the change must have occurred when he consumed Argos Von Kaiser''s blood!


    Existed in the Era of Gods, In Heaven Descent, dragoon was a race that comes from the hybrid of a human and a dragon. Being the worshippers that served their gods, they unfortunately went extinct after the Era of calamity began.


    Thus, Venn was surprised that he could obtain the power of a dragoon in this game.


    "Looks like the things that the entire player base had seen after nine years were just the tip of the iceberg. There''s more to this game than meets the eye."


    Hovering his status, the race trait and attributes of a dragoon appeared in his game log.


    [Ding]


    [Synchronization success!]


    [You have inherited the will of the Dragon Emperor!]


    [You have become a lesser dragoon.]


    [A dragoon is a hybrid between a dragon and a human. Capable of wielding both powers of its counterparts.]


    [Race traits:]


    [Increased Vitality (Passive): The strong life force of a dragon ensures longevity of their race. That power had been passed down to their childrens as well. Health increased by 300 points. (+300 Health). For every subsequent level up, the player will receive an increase of fifty health points per level instead of the usual thirty.]


    [Dragon''s Constitution (Passive): Drawing from the power of the dragon hidden in their blood streams, a dragoon constitution surpasses all other life forms other than their masters. 10% increase in both strength and agility stats.]


    [Dragon scale (Passive): The scale of a dragon is impregnable. Though a dragoon''s skin has a weaker effect, its natural skin can still negate most blows to its user. Defence rating of the player is doubled for all armours equipped.]


    [Monster slot occupied. You can now wield powers that belonged to the Dragon class.]


    [Dragon skills can only be used by players with dragons'' blood and heritage in them.]


    As Venn read on with the description of the benefits of becoming a dragoon, Venn''s heart started pacing faster and faster.


    Every effect of the race was very useful and awesome to him. He was extremely thankful that he chose the right choice to join Blood Serpents.


    And when his eyes laid upon the words about only a player with dragon''s blood infused could unleash dragon related skills, he literally had gone insane.


    Unable to restrain his happiness anymore, his laughter spread out to every corner in the room.


    "Haha! Hahahaha! No wonder! That explains it all!"

 Chapter 28: Types of Monster Cores

    "What are you laughing at?" Lilith who had transformed back to her original appearance asked annoyingly. She was honestly creeped out by Venn''s sudden outburst from out of nowhere.


    "Sorry, I was just glad to be able to have entered the guild and meet you. Please continue the briefing." Venn quickly apologised and changed the topic before returning back to his train of thoughts. But even after some time had passed, he couldn''t hide his smile because of the newly learned information.


    If he could plan his next step properly with it, his strength could very well double or even triple in an extremely short amount of time!


    In Heaven Descent, monster core skills are categorized into sixteen different unique branches. Out of the sixteen, only 11 of them are known among the entire player base with the remaining five still undiscovered by the players.


    However, Venn was certain that the powerful and strong guilds must have information about them, just that they refused to share those important information to the public as there was no incentive for them to reveal their trump cards to the outsiders.


    As long as the corporate-driven guilds control such vital information, an individual would be powerless against them, much like the case in the real world.


    Although, a story about an underdog sounded really nice and inspiring, reality often managed to disappoint.


    However, with the dragon emperor''s blood within him, Venn might finally be able to stand a chance against those capitalist giants provided if a particular condition could be fulfilled. He was hoping he could capitalise on it.


    The eleven unique branches of monster cores that are widely known and obtainable by the public were as follows.


    The most common category that most players have are the [Elemental] cores. Skills that involve elements like fire, water, ice, earth, lightning, light and darkness all belong to this category. The skill - [Flame flash] which was used by Silverfox in her battle with Venn was one of the many skills that an elemental core user can unleash.


    The second most widespread monster cores that were activated by players would be the [Humanoid] cores that are dropped by all humanoid creatures. Examples include Orcs, Elves, Goblins, Dwarf, and other races that are similar to humans. Most of the time, the dropped cores would translate into the skill sets of their learned techniques.


    Other than those two, there are also other types of monster cores that are much more uncommon and rare like the [Serpent], [Beast], [Plant], [Undead], [Winged], [Oceanic], [Mechanical], [Insectoid], and the [Dragon] cores that all players can select to opt for.


    All the different branches provide its users specific skill sets with their own distinct pros and cons. And out of all the categories, some of them require special conditions to use them.


    This was especially true for the cases like the [Mechanical] monster cores], and the [Dragon] cores.


    In the case of the [Mechanical] monster cores, in order to use the corresponding skills, it was not enough for the players to just activate the [Mechanical] monster cores in their constellation slots.


    They would first have to hunt for a special item called a golem heart to replace their own internal one, and which could only be dropped by a shiny golem that appears in 1 out of a million other stone golems. Sometimes, it would even take months for a shiny golem to spawn if there was no one clearing the golems in their spawn areas.


    Adding to its difficulty of obtaining one, it was not even guaranteed that the golem heart would be dropped with its drop rate being so ridiculously low as well.


    Thus, one would have to have insanely good luck to obtain one without any background or support.


    Furthemore, the amount of effort to obtain a golem heart was also extremely high due to the fact that the level of a typical stone golem was around level 60. Without powerful methods of clearing the golems efficiently, the public had no chance to obtain one especially when they still have to challenge the large guilds and big corporations as well for the precious resources.


    All these factors in turn led to the result of the resources being monopolised by the large guilds and big corporations. The supply was cut off directly from the source and many players could only wallow in their pool of tears after they found out they had wasted their monster core slot.


    In the end, the price of a golem heart became so exorbitantly high in the black market that only the truly rich could obtain one. In his memory, Venn recalled that the price of a golem heart had even reached 26 millions in one''s player auction!


    Many players were even commenting on how cheap it was when the buyer of the golem heart reached the top ranking of the player base as a nobody.


    That was how powerful the mechanical cores skills were despite the many limitations it places on the user''s body such as not being able to use other monsters'' core skills that utilises a modified part of the body.


    In terms of raw power and damage, it ranked above the rest and surpasses them.


    As for the [Dragon] cores, no one knew the special condition to successfully unleash the dragon skills. Players had even complained to the game site but to no avail. No announcement was made and no information was clarified.


    Cores dropped from slain Wyverns, Cockatrice, and many more with tinges of dragon blood in their ancestry were absorbed by many players with the impression that they had struck it big as dragons were associated with strength.


    But in the end, instead of becoming more powerful, most of them ended up regretting their choices as no matter what they did, they couldn''t figure out the way to use those dragon-related skills.


    Despite how powerful the skill description sounded in their monster core interface, they couldn''t access it and use it. The whole situation was like having a beautiful childhood friend and watching her get hooked up with someone else other than you.


    So near yet so far...


    However, that changes now. Venn had finally learned the secret behind the [Dragon] core by accident. One must have the blood of a dragon within him to unleash the Dragon skills!


    However, that was not all!


    Blood has a certain property in them!

 Chapter 29: Round Orb

    Blood has a certain property in them!


    Through the process of reproducing, it has the special functionality of passing one''s vital information to their descendants by forming a complete ancestry line.


    And in the case of the dragons, the power contained within their bloodline was so tremendous that it could alter other races and create a brand new species without even participating in the act of copulation as evident in his case where he became a Dragoon just by passing Argos Von Kaiser''s trial.


    Tilting his head and looking at Lilith with an intense gaze, Venn deduced that all the other members of Blood Serpents were of the same circumstances like him as well. After all, those that failed to absorb the Dragon Emperor''s blood were no longer present according to Lilith''s words.


    Continuing with his train of thoughts, Venn seriously thought about the possibility of utilising the dragon blood to maximise his benefits in the game.


    Due to the nature of the dragon cores, they were deemed as useless by the general public and everyone as they could not unlock the secret behind it.


    In turn, the price of all the dragon cores across the game had plummeted heavily ever since it was discovered as compared to the other cores, down to a dirt cheap price of around the cost of 5 copper coins each.


    The act of looting one was so useless that it was not even worth the return trip back to town to sell them to the NPC merchants.


    In the past, they were thrown away to the side by players whenever they would pick up a dragon core from the monsters to make space for better stuff in their inventory.


    However, one man''s trash is another man''s treasure.


    By combining the numerous amount of dragon cores available in the market with the dragon blood, he could produce an army of dragon core users at his disposal at an extremely cheap price.


    With such a powerful force at his disposal, he could rival the other guilds and carve a territory among Heaven Descent for himself.


    If only he could get his hands on more blood... That was the difficult part.


    Venn''s eyebrows burrowed deeply as he continued to process his options and consider his circumstances.


    The only way to go about in achieving the goal was to climb the ranks in Blood Serpents and seize control of it from the inside. If he becomes the leader of the guild, all the hidden secrets and precious resources would be within his reach.


    With that thought, Venn''s eyes glinted as he came to the conclusion. Looking down at the angelic face of the elementary girl looking succubus, he quickly realised that she might just be the admission ticket for him to achieve that important goal.


    Furthermore, all his goals had aligned as one now.


    As Venn thought of that, the corner of his lips curled up. Though unorthodox, he was delighted in his choice of choosing to join the Blood Serpents as it had proven to be a crucial one.


    Now, he just had to find a way inside the heart of the innocent looking girl.


    ***


    Lilith''s body had been set ablaze with lust for quite some time with Venn''s hungry eyes fixated on her, desiring every part of her flesh.


    With every move that she made, she could feel Venn ogling at her as if she was already a part of his possession. The raw and undisguised passion as revealed by his smile was driving her crazy.


    Like a dog in mating season, the chemical reaction occurring in her body was slowly consuming her mind. Her black succubus tail was itching badly and swaying wildly with pure lust.


    Although she tried her hardest to control her emotions, her primitive desire as a succubus was beginning to take control of her despite the fact that she was still a virgin in the affairs of the heart.


    The man in front of her was truly intriguing to her. Normally the newcomers would be so afraid of her that they would stammer in front of her terrifying aura, let alone gawking at her with such insolence.


    Also, despite the fact that she had tripled the amount of doze in the trial which led to the failure of the other three candidates, he alone had managed to clinch on and survived against the odds.


    He was supposed to be a casualty in her fight against the candidates nominated by the opposition members but he persevered on and successfully held on.


    Thus, her interest in him soared. And since the moment he rejected her advances, she found Venn more and more appealing to her taste.


    ***


    After a series of questions were asked, Venn navigated to his monster core''s panel to explore his newly obtained [Dragon] cores skills that came along with the absorption of the Dragon Emperor''s blood.


    However, before he could do so, Lilith tossed a small black pouch over to his direction in which he subsequently managed to catch in his hands with quick reflex.


    Before he could catch a break, Lilith continued to toss a sword and round orb to him as well.


    Fortunately with his current agility stats, Venn successfully caught them as well without any fumbling.


    As his eyes landed upon the items in his hands, they immediately widened with surprise and joy.


    He couldn''t believe it!


    In his left hand, he could feel a warm sensation from the round orb that fitted perfectly in his palm. It was transferring its heat to him constantly and Venn could feel a tremendous power inside.


    He kept his left hand as steady as he could, fearing that he would drop the object in his hand carelessly. After all, he was holding the equivalent of a large sum of credits that could potentially cure his sister of her illness.


    It was a monster core that he had dreamt about numerous times all these years! For it to be thrown to him so carelessly was something he never had imagined would happen to him!

 Chapter 30: Countdown

    It was extremely anticlimactic to receive a monster core in such a way. Venn had imagined many times the scenarios in which he could land one, but it was never in such a way.


    However, beggars can''t be choosers. With a grateful heart, Venn analysed the round orb in his palm. Depending on the rarity of the monster core and the power of the skill, the price of the monster core would fluctuate greatly. With great anxiety, his vision focused on the descriptions of the shiny black item.


    [Ding]


    [Elemental Monster Core Obtained]


    [Shadow Partners (Dark Elemental)]


    [Conjure and control shadows up to a maximum of three shadows from your position. Each shadow has 10% of the user''s stats and the percentage can be increased by 10% more per skill mastery level. Shadow can last for a maximum of one minute and has 300 health points. Reactivate the skill to teleport to one of your shadow''s locations.]


    [Cost: 5 stamina points per activation. 300 health points per shadow conjured.]


    "Ha¡­ Jackpot!" Venn screams internally in his mind like a little girl who saw her beloved idol in a concert. Although it was out of his character to do so, he couldn''t help it because of the insanely powerful skill description of the monster core he was currently holding in his possession.


    A core that has such a high versatility of both attacking methods and defensive abilities with such a low cost of activation was all he could ask for.


    "B rank? No. This core could be classified as A rank or even higher!"


    Thinking about the amount of credits the core could be auctioned for had Venn temporarily dumbfounded. Just by selling this, he could cure Rena''s illness and even had a little sum left over for both him and Rena!


    Turning his head towards the succubus whose height was around his waist, he gave a hearty smile to her. Ever since he met her, his life had been getting better and better.


    To Venn, Lilith was like Santa Claus who loves to give out presents to everyone.


    When he remembered how nonchalantly Lilith had tossed him such a valuable monster core, Venn had overcome with greed.


    He wanted to strip Lilith bare and see what other things she had underneath her clothes!


    Remembering that Lilith had tossed a sword to him as well, Venn immediately turned his gaze towards the sword he had in his right hand.


    The sword was pure black including its scabbard, its shape was similar to the japanese katana but was an inch shorter in length.


    Holding it in his hands, Venn was astounded by the lightness of the sword, and as he grasped the handle of the pure black sword from its scabbard, a metallic glow shone from the reflective surface of the sword, giving Venn the impression of absolute sharpness and and the poetic beauty of violence he could unleash upon his enemies with the cold blade in his hands.


    Analysing the glowing black sword with a small serpent inscription carved slightly above the handle, a paragraph of the item description popped up in his vision immediately.


    [Mirasume Katana (Rare)]


    [Durability: 75/75]


    [Damage: 45 - 85]


    [Increase level of User by 5 when equipped.]


    [Requirement: STR 20+]


    [Forged by the master blacksmith in the Mirasume village, its length is slightly shorter than a typical katana sword to allow for better manoeuvrability for its user and faster attacking speed.]


    "Mirasume village? What is this?" Venn puzzling muttered to himself. He had not heard of the place anywhere before.


    However, Lilith picked up his mumbling and kindly answered his question.


    "The katana sword is a weapon that is given to all Blood Serpents'' members. In our line of work, there are times where you will have to battle against large monsters so the sword will come in handy. Of course, you can choose not to use the sword if it doesn''t fit your battle style, but remember to keep it with you at all times as it carries a ceremonial purpose for the guild."


    "You are now at the rank of an E rank member. The more missions you successfully complete, the higher your rank within the guild will be. Correspondingly to your rank, the guild will give you better equipment and training resources as well."


    The information that Lilith explained was acceptable to Venn. It was only fair that the stronger would get the larger share of the pie. Just like in the real world, weaklings have no say in Heaven Descent. Rather than waste time and effort to cultivate mass armies of useless cannon fodders, Venn thought that the motivation method of focusing on a few powerful individuals which the Blood Serpents adopted was much more efficient.


    Taking down mental notes of the guild''s operation, Venn smiled. He realised that there were many more things that he could learn from the game.


    "However, before you are let into the privy details of the guild, there is one more thing that needs to be done first. And that is ¡ª your first mission."


    As she ended her sentence, she pulled out her large read scythe from seemingly out of nowhere before pointing it at Venn''s face. After which, she began to speak, but this time, the pace of her speaking doubled.


    "The details of your first mission is inside the black pouch I have given you. Help one of our allies and liberate them! It was originally a mission for all newly accepted guild members but only you survived. Thus, you have to bear the entire burden of this mission on your own."


    "Always keep in mind the motto of the Blood Serpents ¡ª Mission first! If you attempt to flee or fail to complete the mission, the Blood Serpents will hunt you down like any other deserters!"


    "Now, open the pouch and use the teleportation scroll inside. You have five more seconds before I cut you down for attempting to delay the completion of the mission given to you."


    "Five."


    "Four."


    "Three."


    "Two."


    "One."

 Chapter 31: First Mission

    "What the¡ª" Venn was confused by the sudden change of Lilith''s attitude. But despite so, his hands didn''t idle.


    Storing both the elemental monster core and the sword in his inventory with quick succession, his hands untied the pouch and retrieved the items inside at an amazing speed.


    Inside the pouch, there was a piece of small brown paper with instruction and two other scrolls as well.


    Without any time for him to carefully look through the items, he quickly grabbed one of the scrolls in his hands and stored the other items in his inventory space.


    At the last possible second, Venn swiftly tore the scroll into half and very quickly a distortion of space occurred in front of him along with a loud booming noise.


    Within a few seconds, a dark blue portal made up of swirling energy appeared from where the distortion occurs and without any hesitation in his action, Venn headed into it without regard.


    That was because he knew that there was no roundabout way to reject going into the portal as the quest log notification appeared in his vision giving him no other choices.


    [Ding]


    [You have received your first Blood Serpents'' mission.]


    [Elite quest received: Open the pouch that Lilith had given to you and complete the task as stated.]


    [Quest reward: +20 Recognition in Blood Serpent.]


    [Quest penalty: Failure in completing the mission as stated would result in permanent death of in-game character. Blood Serpent never forgives and Blood Serpent never forgets.]


    "Fuck!" When Venn saw the quest penalty that he would incur if he failed a Blood Serpents'' mission, he almost coughed out a mouthful of old blood.


    Never did he once think that this kind of exciting experience would land onto his lap.


    Although he had heard multiple stories in the forum in his previous life, asking others about their unique circumstances of getting their characters permanently deleted from the game if they ever died in the game, he didn''t think that it would happen to him as well.


    Mostly because many of the cases were the consequences of the affected players getting cursed by the others or accidentally equipped themselves with cursed equipment.


    The debuff of permanent death was something every player actively tries to avoid, thus Venn was frustrated that he would one day have the honor of suffering under the threat of permanent death as well.


    Furthermore, his circumstance that he had landed himself into, was infinitely worse than the others. Unlike curses that could be cleansed by paying money to the churches, he had it even tougher.


    Even if he successfully completed the mission this time, he would have to keep on surviving and be successful in completing the Blood Serpents'' missions every single time. A single failure would spell his doom and would push him over the edge of the abyss!


    Venn sighed.


    Just when he thought he was free from the threat of the Ivy League with his renewed strength, he stepped into a bigger pitfall.


    While still contemplating his future decisions in the darkness that had enveloped him for a full minute after charging into the portal, his focus was dragged back to reality when rays of bright lights filled his entire vision.


    "Argh!"


    It took awhile for the sudden brightness to subside and for Venn to recover his eyesights from the intense lights that blinded his eyes. Once he found himself able to see again, he immediately surveyed his surroundings with his dagger out to orientate himself and deal with any unexpected situation that might occur.


    What he saw shocked him.


    He found himself in the middle of a battlefield or at least that was what he thought his location was with the clashing of two different races until he observed the situation more.


    A horde of hideous looking goblins that were well-equipped with standard steel swords and kite shields were on the offensive, attacking another humanoid race with great discipline and order.


    Many of their opponents had fallen under the blades of the goblins who outnumbered them greatly with little to no resistance.


    Their eyes were filled with regrets and fury when they realised their inevitable death. And as they slipped into a state of despair and anger of being captured, the two horns that grew from their forehead turned scorching red until it turned into the color of crimson.


    Along with the transformation of their horns, their body sizes doubled with their muscles bulging everywhere.


    If ordinary humans got confronted with such a sight, they might run away with tails behind their back.


    However, that was what the goblins had wanted right from the start as all of the goblins'' eyes shone with immense greed before proceeding to beheading them.


    Blood curdling screams and chaos filled the air.


    Individuals of the weaker race were wearing outfits that were unfamiliar to Venn, and the weapons that they used to defend themselves were merely some poorly graded farming tools like hoes and shovels. Some of them there were even wielding made-shift weapons made out of simple and fragile wooden sticks.


    Venn had no idea what to call them as he had never seen them in the game before.


    "Another unknown race¡­" Venn mumbled to himself. Ever since he joined the Blood Serpents, he was honestly surprised by the vastness of the game.


    It seemed that he had chosen a high risk high reward path in the game, and hence was the reason why he was able to uncover these wildly unknown game content that no one was able to access in his previous past life.


    Venn felt sorry for them despite knowing that it was just a game.


    He originally thought that it was a clash between the two vastly different races but upon further observation, he found that it was instead a slaughter.


    Surrounding him were huts made of simple dry grasses and timber bundled in a simple fashion, however, they were being set on fire by the goblin race.


    It was a sight of carnage and despair!


    As Venn took in the situation happening in front of him, he immediately opened the pouch that Lilith gave him.


    Opening the small piece of paper of instructions, he prayed to the Heavens the hardest he had ever done as he started to read the paper with anxiety.


    "Please! Please! Please! Let my allies be the goblins! Please!"

 Chapter 32: Altered Goblins

    [Ding]


    [You have received your first Blood Serpents'' mission.]


    [Elite quest received: Protect the Oni race from the Goblins'' extermination. Liberate them from the Goblins'' reign of terror.]


    [Quest reward: +20 Recognition in Blood Serpent.]


    [Time limit: 10 days.]


    [Quest penalty: Failure in completing the mission as stated would result in permanent death of in-game character. Blood Serpent never forgives and Blood Serpent never forgets.]


    "Fuck me again!"


    Venn''s eyes were clouded with despair after he finished looking through the quest instruction given by Lilith. He couldn''t help himself and cursed out loud after finding out that reality had failed him again.


    Although he knew he wasn''t exactly a lucky person to begin with, at the back of his head, he was still somewhat hopeful that a miracle might happen.


    But looking at the scenes of terror happening around him, Venn couldn''t help but complain about his terrible luck.


    How the hell was he going to save the Oni race here when it''s already overrun by the well-equipped army of goblins here?


    The quest was impossible to begin with! Especially he had to rely on just his own power.


    Can I gather the rest of the Oni here and mount a comeback?


    No¡­ they are too weak to start with, and there''s too many goblins here.


    How about using my wits to trick the goblins?


    No! The battle had already begun. They won''t listen to anyone anymore. Any tricks won''t be useful here.


    Despite the odds, it was not the character for Venn to give up so easily.


    Swiftly drawing up solutions upon solutions in his mind, his brain quickly analysed the success rate of each individual plan he had thought up from the spot.


    It wasn''t until someone surprised him from behind did he finally stopped his thoughts.


    Thankfully, Venn had always kept his guard on all this time in a hostile environment, thus he was able to react at the nick of time.


    Dodging the advancement of the sneak attack, he threw his entire body to the ground before rolling away in one swift motion.


    After getting some distance between them, Venn tilted his head to the attacker''s direction, and discovered that the one who had launched a sneak attack at him was one of the goblin that was attacking the Oni.


    It must have spotted his figure and tried to kill him. Thankfully, it came alone and did not call for reinforcement, otherwise Venn would be in greater trouble.


    The goblin''s outer appearance was hideous looking to say the least. It was baring its sharp and crooked teeth at Venn with great animosity while wildly swinging his steel sword at him, taunting him to fight.


    Its green skin showed that it belonged to the one of the weaker and common goblin race that players often slain around the human kingdoms but the size of the goblin and its expression seemed to dictate otherwise.


    It had a frenzy expression similar to a mad dog with its mouth salivating with drool all over.


    Observing the goblin with great caution, Venn having seen plenty of goblins before in the past, could judge that there was something peculiar and wrong about the goblin who was standing opposing to him.


    And as expected, when Venn took a glance at the status bar of the goblin, he finally understood the reason why.


    [Altered Green Goblin Scout]


    [Level: ???]


    [HP: ???/???]


    The goblin was much stronger than he had expected. For Venn to be unable to see its level information and HP information, the goblin in front of him had to be more than 20 levels above him.


    Thinking back on the situation that just happened, Venn''s body shuddered with fear. He was so close to death and he hadn''t got the slightest clue.


    A simple graze from the goblin''s sword would be devastating to him, the level difference between them was too big, and the penalty for the large gap in level between the goblin and him would be detrimental for him if he decides to challenge the goblin.


    He could not see him winning. There was simply zero probability of him winning this.


    Within seconds, he had made his decision without any hesitation, he had to flee from his current spot as fast as possible.


    Unfortunately for Venn, he could not get away for the goblin launched its attack the moment it senses Venn''s lack of intention to fight.


    With a heavy twist of its ankles, it practically leaped across several metres of distance and closed the gap between Venn and him at one go, leaving Venn utterly in shock.


    "Fast!" Venn couldn''t help but yelped in surprise when he saw the goblin''s movement.


    Compared to the slow and utterly weak goblins that were prevalent across the human kingdoms, the altered goblin in front of him was several times much stronger in both the attributes of strength and speed.


    Venn was in a great peril.


    In a flash, the goblin appeared right in front of Venn''s position and swung its steel sword with great speed. When Venn managed to dodge its savage swing, it kept on pressing Venn with its wild thrashing, forcing Venn to be quick on his feet in retreating.


    Unlike the weak goblin counterparts that Venn had seen before in the past, there was no possible way for Venn to discern the disorientating attacking pattern of the frenzied goblin he was fighting. Although he managed to complete multiple successful dodges, he was gradually cornered into a corner with little space left for him to manoeuvre.


    Realising his dangerous situation of slowly being cornered with nowhere to escape, Venn retaliated back at the goblin with his daggers to push it back.


    However, contrary to what he expected to happen, the result of the clash was the complete opposite.


    At the point of their weapons'' collision, multiple sparks flew with the clanging of the metals. But unlike what Venn had envisioned, the strength of the goblin was several times more than his and it quickly overpowered him with the resultant force of its strike transferred entirely to his body.


    -356


    [Ding]


    [Novice dagger durability had reached zero.]


    [Your weapon has been shattered.]

 Chapter 33: Twin Oni

    "Shit!"


    Venn''s face turned ashen as his entire body got flung across the field and crashed into one of the grass hut through the door, leaving a big hole in its aftermath.


    Dust and debris were scattered all over the place where he crashed and the fissures on the ground showed how devastating the impact was for Venn that suffered the full force of the crash.


    Another 130 damage was incurred by Venn, leaving him at a silver of health, but that wasn''t the only concerning point for him.


    His heart sank when he got the news that his weapon had broken due to its durability reaching zero. As his daggers disintegrated pieces by pieces into digitlised pixels and promptly turned into nothingness, his mood turned even heavier.


    Although he knew from experience that their power difference would be huge, he didn''t expect that his weapon would break with just a single hit from the goblin.


    Buckets of sweats broke out from his body as he thought about the fact that without his newly improved stats gained from [Increased Vitality] and [dragon scale], he wouldn''t even survive a single hit.


    Fortunately for Venn, his plan had worked for the time being. He managed to widen the distance between him and the altered goblin by using the force resulted from their weapons clashing to push himself away from the cornered spot.


    Though there was a slight deviation from his calculation, resulting in him landing into the grass hut, he was able to escape with his life at the moment, giving him valuable extra time to find a solution.


    "This quest is seriously impossible!" Venn cursed.


    But although he said that with his teeth clenched, he swiftly got back on his feet and immediately consumed the last remaining steam buns he had in his inventory to recover his stamina and health points.


    There was no way in hell he would give up now, not with Rena''s life on the line! No matter what, he decided he would be following through with his resolve.


    Stuffing his mouth full with steam buns, his eyes burned with determination until he almost choked due to the surprise he got when he was suddenly struck by a blow on his head from behind.


    -3


    Though the force was small, the position in which he was hit was extremely cunning. If it was real life, it would have hurt a lot.


    Venn was so focused on coming up with ways to deal with the goblins outside that he failed to notice that there were someone else behind him hiding inside the grass tent as well.


    Turning his head back, he saw a pair of young kids hugging each other on the small wooden bed with one of the two holding onto a long wooden club, presumably used to hit him. Tears were welling up in their eyes as their small bodies shook with fear.


    Judging from the single horn growing from their forehead, Venn deduced that they were part of the Oni clan as well. The possible scenario that might have happened would be that they were left behind by the adults when the goblins invaded the village.


    "You girls looked alike. Are both of you twins?" Venn tried to strike a conversation with the girls. Apart from their hairstyles, with one being long while the other having a short hair, they looked exactly identical, and thus was the reason why Venn asked them whether they were twins.


    However, Venn received nothing as response as the twins seemed to ignore him and averted their gaze away from him due to their wariness.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    With no common topics, Venn turned back towards the man-made hole that he caused in the hut wall to be on alert for any possible attacks and returned back to his thoughts.


    He initially tried to struck a conversation with the twins because he thought that they might be the clue to the breakthrough of his predicament. But, judging from their responses, it was highly unlikely.


    Soon, there was another knock on his head at the same spot again.


    "..."


    Disregarding the two young kids'' actions, Venn quickly searched and scanned through any possible ways he could deploy. He couldn''t afford to waste any more time to deal with non-essential NPCs.


    It was a matter of life and death.


    Glancing at the opened panel featuring his monster cores, he paused for awhile to read the dragon skills he had attained from the Dragon Emperor''s blood with excitement. But after reading through them, his excitement died down rapidly as he had no way of using the skills yet.


    [Dragon Roar Learned (Dragon) (Level 1 Mastery)]


    [After channeling for 1.5 seconds, release an intimidating roar that have a high chance of inducing fear and confusion to all creatures within a 500 metres range. When weak creatures are subjected to the fear debuff, they may have a 20% chance of being forced into submission.]


    [Cost: 100 stamina points per activation. 10 minutes cooldown]


    [Dragon Breath Learned. (Dragon) (Level 1 Mastery)]


    [After forming the required hand seals, unleash the true dragon''s flame to the surrounding in conical range. Flame released can melt through armor easily. All opponents that got hit by the flame would have their defence rating reduced by up to 60%. Damage dealt equals to 1000 true damage + 50% of the user''s attack power.]


    [Cost: 150 stamina points per activation. 10 minutes cooldown]


    There were eight other skills available to a dragoon such as him, however in the panel, other than the dragon roar and dragon breath, they were all unselectable. Even if he wants a preview of their skill descriptions, he couldn''t.


    Things were worsening by the seconds for Venn. Taking out the rare Mirasume katana blade from his inventory, and equipping it to his back, he had to make a final stand.


    Watching attentively at the opening that he had made, his hand pulled out another object that he cherishes greatly and waited patiently for any movement outside. If worse comes to worse, he would have to make some sacrifice.


    Of course, if he had a choice to avoid fighting with the goblins, he would gladly do so.


    However, like before, Heavens had always been harsh on Venn. Soon, the silhouette of the goblin that Venn had been fighting slowly appeared with a sword grasped in his ugly green hand.


    Its expression was now crazier than before. And as his figure blocked the only exit of the hut, it revealed a cruel smile.


    "Kew Kewew Kewew!"

 Chapter 34: Shadow Partners

    "Kew Kewew Kewew!"


    The sadistic and cruel laughter generated from the goblin''s vocal cord sent a chill down Venn''s spine. For the first time ever after he was given a second chance to save Rena, he was trembling with fear.


    The fear he was feeling was not caused by the goblin or its terrifying presence, but rather, what was at stakes if he loses.


    The stakes of the upcoming fight with the goblin was so huge that it weighed heavily on his mind.


    By selling the monster core in his possession, every problem he was currently facing could be solved in the blink of an eye.


    If only he could safely log out¡­ but that was out of the question as it requires Venn to remain motionless for a minute during the countdown to log out from the game.


    Clenching his teeth, Venn had made his last stand.


    Right now, he just wanted to wipe the smug glee from the goblin''s hideous face.


    Even though the mission to liberate the Oni clan was supposed to be handled by three level twenty plus NPCs according to Lilith, he was determined to complete the mission singlehandedly, or at least die trying.


    Pointing to his chest as he faced the goblin at close proximity, he declared proudly, "I''m not fucking dying! You are!"


    And with no way of avoiding the fight, Venn crushed the monster orb in his palm with grit and threw it into the air as the starting signal of his attack.


    In the instant that he did so, multiple dark rays emitted from the crushed orb in mid-air, temporarily blinding everyone in the room except for Venn who was prepared.


    And with the sweet sound of system notification in his ears, Venn swiftly closed the distance between him and the goblin.


    [Ding]


    [Shadow Partners Learned. (Dark Elemental) (Level 1 Mastery)]


    [Conjure and control shadows up to a maximum of three shadows from your position. Each shadow has 10% of the user''s stats and the percentage can be increased by 10% more per skill mastery level. Shadow can last for a maximum of one minute and has 300 health points. Reactivate the skill to teleport to one of your shadow''s locations.]


    [You can only conjure a maximum of one shadow.]


    [Cost: 5 stamina points per activation. 300 health points per shadow conjured.]


    "Only one shadow?" Venn was displeased by the skill description of the monster core, but he did not stop himself from charging straight into the goblin. Like a bow that had its string drawn, there was no time for him to adjust his plan.


    Taking the great window of opportunity where the goblin was temporarily blinded, he clenched the murasame sword in his hand and swung its blade at the goblin''s neck swiftly.


    However, as if it had sensed Venn''s presence nearby, the goblin scout swung its sword wildly in front of him as a precaution.


    Facing the irregular attack pattern of the goblin scout, Venn did not pause his attack for even a millisecond. As if he knew that the goblin would panic when its eyes couldn''t see, Venn activated the skill that he learned recently just a second ago.


    "Shadow Partner!"


    Immediately, Venn''s health bar decreased by a little more than half, down to a dangerous level where he would be instantly killed with just one hit from the altered goblin scout. And in such a dangerous state, Venn''s consciousness was split into two.


    An identical figure whose appearance was exactly the same as Venn emerged from within his shadow, and appeared behind the goblin after travelling some distance along the ground surface.


    By launching his skill, he had teleported a small distance by leaving behind a black silhouette in his original position.


    With a clear straight line to the goblin''s vulnerable neck, Venn rapidly slashes at its vital spot as quickly as he could. And with each strike, the goblin in question shirked in agony.


    [Ding]


    [Sword Mastery Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Equipping a sword increases damage by 7.5%.]


    [Tri-slash Learned. (Level 1 Mastery)] Slashing the target thrice in quick succession will deal 80%, 90% and 100% damage to the target.]


    [Bleeding inflicted on target.]


    "Yes! " As soon as Venn saw that the goblin was bleeding, his mood was uplifted. By slashing at the vital spots of the monsters in the game, various status effects could be inflicted on the target, and that was what he had placed his bet on!


    Although the bleeding effect was weak to the point where the afflicted target would only drop 1% of its health every twenty seconds, there was another status property that bleeding would incur on the monsters as well.


    By rapidly striking at vital points, bleeding could be stacked up to a maximum of five times!


    Against an opponent that had more than 20 levels of difference, that was the only way he knew he could win against it.


    Furthermore, to achieve his goal in doing so, he had handpicked the final battle ground to be in the cramped tent they were currently in, rather than the open ground. His shorter sword would be easier to manoeuvre around the small space in the tent compared to the long sword that the goblin was wielding, thereby erasing the range advantage the goblin had.


    Without giving any time for the goblin scout to recover its eyesight, Venn immediately swung down his blade again. However this time, despite landing multiple blows successfully, no bleeding effect occurred because of the RNG factor acting in the game.


    Although he was disheartened, he kept going on by shuffling his feet to constantly remain outside the goblin''s line of sight as it kept frantically searching for Venn''s figure after it recovered his sight.


    "Sixteen minutes and thirty seconds."


    "Eleven minutes."


    "I can do it!"


    Venn counted silently in his mind as he squirmed and wiggled around all over the place like an annoying rat, avoiding the wild thrashing of the goblin''s sword as the furniture and objects in the tent got smashed around.


    Before long, the estimated time to take down the goblin had shortened rapidly and he could see a gradually achievable dream until his sight toppled a three hundred and sixty degree and his face landed flat onto the dirty ground.


    Venn''s leg was swept by an unexpected leg sweep by the goblin. And before he could recover, a huge sword was plunged into his abdomen with its tip appearing on the other side of Venn''s body.


    "Fuck¡­This is why I hate fighting against humanoid monsters..."


    As Venn''s figure dissipated into black smokes, all his hopes and dreams had disappeared along with him as well.


    Venn had died.

 Chapter 35: Drum Beats

    Venn had died.


    Or at least that was what he was hoping that the goblin scout would believe especially after the Oscar level acting that he painstakingly performed.


    Originally, he had already planned to fight to the death with the goblin scout in the tent. But once he realized that he could control both himself and the shadow that he conjured separately, he had a change of mind.


    It was much better that he did not put all his eggs into one basket, and he was right.


    "Hahh.. Hahh.."


    After distracting the goblin''s attention, his shadow had escaped from the tent with the twins in his arms.


    And right before he was killed, he had reactivated his skill to swap places with his shadow, resulting in his shadow to act as a substitute for the fatal blow.


    It seemed that he was still able to swap places with his shadow even if they were more than 30 metres apart. Knowing this, Venn''s face brightened a little, but still he needed to experiment more to know about the extent of his skill.


    After switching places, Venn had been running around the battlefield that was engulfed by flames with the Oni twins piggybacked on his back to look for a way out whilst dodging flaming debris.


    Even though deep down, he knew that the twins were just digital data, and he wasn''t exactly in a circumstance to help the NPCs, he couldn''t find the heart to abandon the twins. Especially after witnessing the atrocities that the goblin army had subjected to the Oni race.


    Looking back, ever since he joined the blood serpents, he felt that things kept getting weirder and weirder.


    The more he knows about the secrets in the game, the more unfamiliar the game is. Heaven Descent had evolved to become a much different game than what he had remembered.


    ***


    After encountering flaming obstacles after obstacles, Venn finally found a clear path out of the village after taking several detours.


    Along the way, he had met others that were running away for their lives as well and they banded together to search for a way out of the ransacked village, following along a somewhat empty path.


    Although Venn felt that it was very strange that all the goblins were nowhere in sight, he shrugged the feeling off as there were no alternatives.


    Before long, the group consisting of around 20 people finally arrived at an opening.


    However, instead of feeling relieved, their faces quickly distorted into faces of despair when they soon discovered a row of heavily armed goblins surrounding them and blocking their path of escape as if they had been waiting for them to land directly into their trap.


    Among the goblins, there was even a gigantic hobgoblin standing amongst them with a large wooden club of around 5 metres long while behind the rank of goblins, there were clusters of captured individuals with their wrists being tied with massive ropes; many of whom on the verge of death as bruises and blood covered their bodies.


    Seeing the goblin''s formation, Venn quickly realised that it was a trap. To save the hassle of finding Oni that were hiding from them, the goblins had set fire to the village to flush out the remaining individuals.


    "Hahaha¡­ Is this the end?"


    "After all that I had done to join the blood serpents, I was given an impossible mission to complete?" Venn complained while clenching his sword hard.


    He couldn''t accept such an outcome.


    Almost immediately, Venn turned to the group of Oni around him to inspire them to fight. But unlike what he had expected, the colours of their eyes had long since faded away along with their fighting spirits.


    They had completely given up.


    Nonetheless, Venn wasn''t able to. Although he might look like an idiot that struggles pointlessly, he preserved on.


    That was how he had lived his life, and he wasn''t going to change that.


    Stepping forward to fight, Venn''s lone figure appeared incredibly gallant. Against the horde of appalling goblins that were multitudes larger than him, he steadfastly stood in the middle of their encirclement.


    However, before Venn and the goblins crashed, the sound of a lone drum beat suddenly could be heard as it echoed throughout the grassy plains.


    "Dum!"


    Surprised, everyone in the area; both goblins and the Onis alike, stopped their actions momentarily to look around for the sound''s origin, but to no avail.


    Soon, the drum beat was followed by another again, with the sound of each beat landing indirectly onto everyone''s heart, thereby affecting their heartbeats as well.


    "Dum!"


    "Dum!"


    "Tak!"


    Shortly after, the beat of the drums quickened its rhythm, going faster and faster every time a verse is completed.


    "Dum! Dum! Tak!"


    "Dum! Dum! Tak!"


    "Dum! Dum! Tak!"


    And at the height of its speed, the beats stopped abruptly, turning the place into a creeping silence.


    No one knows what was going on. But once the beats stopped, they spotted a young lady had appeared out of nowhere in front of Venn.


    Immediately after that, the Onis cheered when they had a better look again at the figure.


    "Princess Ysera!"


    "The princess is here to save us!"


    The young lady was wearing a long white silk dress with a long sword in her right hand. Along with every step that she took, an air of elegance was emitted by her as well.


    Against the large hobgoblin, she wasn''t fazed a bit. Instead, she launched the initiative by attacking first.


    With the simple twist of her wrist, her long sword flew across several metres towards the hobgoblin, and before the hobgoblin could intercept the sword with its club, the long sword split into seven longswords within a second, surrounding the hobgoblin in all directions in mid-air.


    Then, as if she was dancing around the hobgoblin elegantly, she appeared towards one of the swords and grabbed it before she strikes at the hobgoblin.


    Meanwhile, the sounds of drum beats could be heard again.


    After every slash, the sword she was holding would disintegrate, making her move on towards another floating sword. It went on until the 7th sword with the first fourth aimed at the hobgoblin''s limbs, the fifth and sixth sword aimed at its chest and the final strike aimed at its head.


    Within less than three seconds, the huge hobgoblin fell without even putting up a decent fight. As if it was a strawman for practice, its large torso collapsed to the ground making everyone that saw the scene speechless.


    "Fuck. This is just the in-game cutscene for having completed the tutorial isn''t it?" Venn thought as he finally realised why he was given ten days to complete the blood serpent quest.

 Chapter 36: Ysera

    He had a hunch that all of the stuff, including the fight with the altered goblin scout he had experienced were just the opening sequence to the quest.


    ***


    The sudden appearance of Princess Ysera had shocked everyone, including Venn. Against an opponent that he had absolutely no chance of winning, the young princess standing in front of him literally took less than a few seconds to gracefully dispose of it from head to toe.


    Watching the scene made him wonder just how strong and powerful the NPC in front of him was, and the things he needed to accomplish in order to successfully complete the elite quest.


    Staring blankly at the princess''s slim figure, his train of thoughts was soon derailed when he sensed the ground rumbling intensively.


    Noticing the intense vibrations from the ground, Venn peered over the horizon to find the blurry shadows of a large herd of horses galloping towards the goblins at top speed. He could see that riding on top of the horses were people from the Oni race as well.


    As such, Venn guessed that they were reinforcement that followed the princess here.


    With their leader dead, the goblins seemed to be in disarray as they scattered away without any order, fleeing with their tails behind their back as they ran for their lives, leaving behind the captured Onis who were mainly children and women.


    Once the goblins had fled, the rest of the Onis behind Venn immediately rushed forward to take care of their people that were tied up.


    Seeing the situation, Venn finally let out a sigh of relief. It had been a close call for him, and he knew it.


    He further calmed down when he saw a small group of reinforcements breaking away from the formation to their position whilst the rest of the group pursued the broken ranks of goblins soldiers.


    However, he could not relax just yet. The quest was just starting to begin for him.


    Depending on his response later, the difficulty of Lilith''s quest would change drastically. Faced with the princess''s presence, he was extremely stressed and worried on how to respond to her.


    He had to be on the good side of the princess since the elite quest depends on her. Even a blind man could see that the Oni princess would be the crucial key in completing the elite quest.


    Without the overwhelming power of the Oni princess, he can kiss goodbye to ever completing Litith''s quest.


    Thus, after some careful deliberation, Venn slowly approached closer to the princess''s side. He had determined that adopting a polite and humble attitude would be a better choice as he could score some brownie points for his first impression.


    Unexpectedly to him however, before he could open his mouth, the Princess instead opened hers first to greet him with great respect.


    Tucking away her long white sleeves, she turned around to face Venn before kneeling down to the ground with her head bowed in a refined and dignified manner, without paying any mind in dirtying her white dress in the process.


    Additionally, even more puzzling to Venn, the princess went on to profusely apologize to him whilst addressing him as her lord.


    "My lord, I am terribly sorry for my sloppy behaviour. I should have gone to greet you the moment I arrived."


    "Ah?" Upon hearing the princess''s words, Venn was so surprised that he could only utter a nonsensical sound. Confused and stunned by the sudden turn of events, he could not, for the life of him, figure out why the princess was being so polite towards him.


    "When did I become a lord? Or did I hear wrongly?" Venn doubted himself in his mind.


    Mistaken by Venn''s puzzled face as him being upset, the princess explained herself hurriedly. "My lord, I needed some time to recover after using my skill to defeat the goblin, hence the delay to greet you. Once again, Ysera is humbly asking for your forgiveness."


    Hearing Ysera''s explanation did not help Venn in understanding a single thing. He was still as clueless as before. Nonetheless, as a player, he quickly strung some words to form some sentences to avoid the misunderstanding.


    "I think you have mistaken me for somebody else. I don''t recall me ever being a lord."


    "Your sword¡­ they are from her supreme highness, Lilith isn''t it?" Faced with an unexpected answer, the princess raised her head quickly to explain herself once more.


    However, those words could not reach Venn as he was in the middle of a trance as he was transfixed by Ysera''s beauty.


    Ysera''s facial features were unlike anything Venn had seen. Her tanned and exotic face were so unique and out of this world that he swore that she could never exist in the realm of reality.


    With her long and thin eyebrows and her large crimson red eyes staring at him, he felt both terrified for his life and intrigued at the same time. Tying her dark brown hair in a long ponytail fashion with several braids and ornament hairpins as decorations, she gave off a stylish yet classical charm.


    The most prominent feature that stood out was the two horns sticking out from her forehead. Unlike the rest of the Oni that he had seen, only she had more than one horn. Contrary to Lilith''s blatantly provocative charm, Ysera''s had a much soothing element to it.


    If Venn was an ordinary man, he would be in a panic now, however Venn was someone who had been given a second chance to live.


    "Lilith gave me this sword and told me to help your clan from the goblins. Can I know why you are calling me Lord?" Venn answered Ysera''s question as humbly as he could. Nonetheless, as a fellow man, he could suddenly sympathise with the player who fell in love with a game character for nine years.


    "Great! Her highness is the sovereign ruler of our land. As a vessel clan, we can only seek help from her as our land is currently invaded by the goblins. You are the envoy who came under the order of her highness right?" Ysera smiled and her face brightened up like a flower that just bloomed.

 Chapter 37: Liliths Strength

    "What?" Venn was so stunned that his jaw dropped. Not from Ysera''s otherworldly beauty, but what she had just said. The new information revealed in Ysera''s sentence had sent Venn''s heart into great turmoil.


    "If the Oni clan is just a vassal clan to Lilith, then how many other vassal clans had Lilith subjugated? Furthermore, just how low of importance is the Oni clan, if she paid so little heed to them that she sent him, a complete newcomer to the guild to help them? "


    "Two? Ten? Hundreds?"


    Venn couldn''t help but shuddered at the thought of it. And what''s more, Lilith was just one of the regular members in Blood Serpents. Aside from her, there were at least ten others.


    "It looks like Blood Serpent is much more mysterious than I originally thought." Venn contemplated.


    Nonetheless, with such an amazing opportunity in front of him, he decides to seize it.


    Changing his tone to a much distainful one, he spoke to Ysera as if he was above her. "Why? Of course. Lilith sent me here to solve your little problem. Now, before you explain to me what''s the general situation here, shouldn''t you invite me to a much more hospitable place where we can discuss? Do you agree, princess of the Oni clan?"


    ***


    Inside a large manor built with sturdy graphite and natural stone blocks as its foundation, Venn was impatiently sitting on a wooden chair made from expensive oak wood.


    A day had passed since the dredged fight with the altered goblin scout. After meeting the princess, he was given a horse to ride and was guided back to the capital city of the Oni clan, Kersaru.


    Luckily for him, the horse was rather cooperative to him, thus he did not make an embarrassment of himself amongst the Oni warriors. Successfully tamed the unfamiliar horse, he was even able to gain a passive skill.


    [Horseback Riding Learned. (Level 10 Max Mastery) Riding a horse gives the user the ability to comfortably and confidently walk, trot, canter and gallop across all terrain.]


    The long riding journey enabled him to max out his skill mastery to level 10, something he was delighted to see. Along the way, he even shared his saddle with the Oni twins and gave them a ride as well.


    After the rest of the goblins were killed by the reinforcement and had confirmed that there were no more survivors, the warriors and the villagers went on with the return trip.


    With no village to return to, the villagers followed the princess''s convoy back to Kersaru, where they would find proper shelter and food after their encounter with tragedy.


    Venn had actually arrived in the city during the night. However, instead of being led to discuss with the princess, he was given a place to rest and left alone after arriving.


    It was not until the sun had reached noon did a messenger look for him and led him to the manor and by this time, Venn was extremely anxious watching the remaining time left for him to complete the quest counting down while he did absolutely nothing.


    Just as he was about to get up from his seat, Princess Ysera finally entered the manor except this time, she was wearing a red dress that further enhances the crimson color of her large eyes. Following behind her were several Oni warriors as well, each of them well-equipped with either a polearm or spear.


    "Apologies for the delay, my lord. Many things had to be settled at my end. With the constant ransacking of the villages by the goblins recently, time is something I wish I had more." Ysera earnestly apologised to Venn before taking a seat directly next to Venn.


    Having Ysera so close to Venn was tempting to him. Observing every spore of her skin with only inches between them, even Venn couldn''t help but mentally gulp at the sight. If it was real life, there could never exist a reality where Venn would talk to such a nation-ruining beauty.


    He could even smell the citrus aroma permeated from her body.


    However, Venn''s good mood was spoiled when Ysera subsequently asked him to spar with one of her underlings.


    "What is the meaning of this? What are you implying?" Venn said angrily. Being level 11, there was no chance of him winning in a spar against one of the Oni warriors. More importantly, there must be a reason why the princess wanted to test his strength.


    "Don''t take this the wrong way. It''s like this. One of the villagers had told me that you had trouble fighting against a goblin. Although it''s unlikely that he was telling the truth, it would be better to be safer than sorry to verify the claim for our clan, especially when we are at war with the goblin." The princess explained in earnest.


    Venn''s eyebrows furrowed heavily whilst he listened to Princess Ysera''s reason. He was in a dilemma on what to do.


    To be truthful or lie? It was an important decision to make as his reply would affect the quest''s progress and he had no way to predict whether his choice would result in a positive outcome or a negative outcome.


    Laying his eyes on Ysera who was pursing her lips awaiting his reply, he truthfully answered. If he was in her position, he would want to hear the truth as well.


    "I might not be the strongest in fighting goblins, but I am the right man for the job. As proven by this sword given to me by Lilith. I was entrusted this case by her personally. Besides, didn''t you guys fail in solving the issue that you asked for our help?" Venn said mockingly.


    "Rest assured. I swore on my life that I will end all of this in ten days. Now, can you tell me the exact situation, so I can get to work? Venn looked directly into Princess Ysera''s eyes and smiled, placing his index finger underneath her chin with great confidence.

 Chapter 38: Pill

    His overly intimate action seemed to have angered the nearby guards that were protecting the princess. They did not expect the outsider to be so blatant and frivolous towards the holy princess, especially with them closeby at her side.


    Immediately, several of the guards raised their weapons at Venn, stopping just inches apart at his neck, staring at him with malicious intents. If it was not for the princess ordering them not to kill the insolent man in front of them, they would have shredded him apart like a lifeless paper doll.


    Tension had infiltrated every corner of the room at a sudden notice. Nobody dared to move an inch. Everyone was nervously waiting for Princess Ysera''s order, including Venn.


    The moment Venn noticed that the guards had turned hostile towards him, he knew that he had crossed the line with his action. He wanted to act confident in front of the Princess as he was sent by Lilith whom they addressed as their lord. However, he wrongly estimated the level of control Lilith had over the Oni clan.


    Relationship between a vassal clan and their lord differed greatly. Not all behave the same. While they might have pledged allegiance to Lilith, it could be possible for them to betray Lilith as well.


    Relationships do not last forever. Nothing is constant in life except self-interests. Venn finally understood the saying that he had read in the past, but it might have been too late.


    Fortunately for Venn, instead of killing him, the princess stopped the guards from killing Venn by gesturing with her right palm and continued their conversation as though nothing happened.


    With a smile, she inched closer towards Venn along his finger. "How can I trust you?"


    Faced with Ysera''s question, Venn knew that he was out of danger. While the guards wanted his life for his action, the princess knew that there was nothing to gain for the Oni Clan by killing Venn.


    "You can have my head and hang it anywhere you like if I fail to defeat the goblins within ten days." Bolstered with his guess, Venn answered sincerely with his life on the line. If he fails to complete Lilith''s mission, he would be mercilessly hunted by the blood serpents either way so there wasn''t any difference to him.


    "Words are cheap. Everyone''s life is at stake here. If that''s all you have to say, then I''m disappointed." Princess Ysera rebutted despite hearing Venn''s sincere promise. As if to mock him, she moved away from Venn while shaking her head as well.


    "Then what do you want me to do to gain your trust?" Venn replied, visibly frustrated, he had no idea he had fallen into a trap.


    "Eat this. And I will trust you."


    Princess Ysera slided a tiny wooden square box across the table towards Venn.


    Venn opened the tiny box with caution. As he did so, a purple round pill was revealed sitting squarely inside the cushion within the box.


    Holding and focusing his view on the pill, a notification sounded in his mind.


    [Ding]


    [Unknown Purple Pill]


    [An unknown pill. The effect after consuming the pill is unknown.]


    [Ding]


    [Pill identified through the knowledge of the user. Wisdom increased by 2 points. (+2 CHA)]


    [Seven Orifices Bleeding Pill]


    [A poisonous pill. After consuming, the user will bleed internally to death from the seven orifices and die a painful death, ten days later. Useful in assassination attempt.]


    [Poison can be cured with the consumption of the blood congruent pill.]


    "What is this pill?" Venn asked Princess Ysera, even though he knew what the pill was. He had a bad feeling about what she was about to say.


    "The seven orifices bleeding pill. You will bleed to death internally ten days after consuming the pill and die a horrible death. The only way you can be saved is by consuming the antidote before the deadline. Actions speak louder than words. If you want to gain my trust, then you will need to prove it to me."


    "Why is it that every female NPCs that I have met is trying to kill me?"


    Venn lamented after hearing Princess Ysera''s explanation.


    He had read about the pill in the books before. Moreover, he knew about a certain infamous incident that had happened surrounding the seven orifices bleeding pill as well.


    There wasn''t even any need to spend time searching about the information regarding the pill within his memory as the incident was so ridiculous that it had deeply ingrained in his memory.


    In the past, someone had posted a thread about finding a bunch of unknown pills in a mysterious ruin and proceeded to consume them. In the beginning, everything was perfect as the various pills granted various effects to him such as permanent increase in agility, strength and many more.


    However, without knowing the effect of the remaining pills, he accidentally consumed one of the seven orifices bleeding pills as well. After getting the notification that his in-game avatar will die a permanent death after ten days if he did not consume the antidote, he started posting on the forum for help as there wasn''t any clue to what could cure the poison.


    As expected, little paid attention to such a dubious post. Even after the promise of rewards, no significant progress was made and the post sunk into the ocean without making so much of a tiny splash in the water.


    At the point of despair, the person started giving the pill to important NPCs and guild leaders as gifts. By poisoning them, he believed they would spend all their resources to find the antidote as well. And he was right.


    By mixing the pill with other pills with powerful effects, he avoided suspicion and managed to poison a lot of important figures through showing the beneficial effects to their underlings. Oftentimes, to curry favour of their bosses, those underlings would spend money to buy the pills and offer it to their respective guild leaders.

 Chapter 39: Bargaining

    Venn was also one of the people that started frantically searching for the solution in the promise of the handsome rewards.


    In the height of the incident, guilds were offering real life credits featuring up to ten of millions to anyone that can save their account from permanent deletion. Affected NPCs even started giving out quest missions with ridiculous rewards in order to save their own lives. Some even offered their own shop houses and legendary family heirlooms as well driving everyone into a frenzy to search for the cure.


    Nonetheless, ten days was too short of a time to find the cure. Despite the efforts and rewards they put in; those people who were poisoned began dropping like flies everywhere.


    In the matters of days, the power dynamics between guilds got reshuffled and the dynamics between the human kingdoms were all messed up as well.


    The situation got so bad that the inner workings of numerous towns and cities were paralysed for several months. Venn remembered the horrible time where players couldn''t even find a place to store or sell their loot in towns. Quests given by NPCs were almost non-existent too.


    Prices became so inflated that the whole economy in Rosewell and Grendell kingdoms went into the Great depression that lasted an entire year.


    Worst of all, players couldn''t find a place to unleash their frustration as the culprit had died along with the rest. It wasn''t until months later that people finally found out that a simple blood congruent pill would be the antidote, but everything was too late.


    The whole incident was later dubbed as the Corrupted Blood incident.


    ***


    Observing the pill in his hand, Venn was deep in thought. Honestly, he had no issue with consuming the pill as his life was already in the hands of Lilith and the Blood Serpents. If he couldn''t liberate the Oni clan from the goblins, it would be the end of the line for him either way.


    However, while looking at the pill in palm, something clicked in his brain. "Isn''t this the perfect chance to increase my quest reward further?"


    Thus, he decided to try to bargain with the Princess like a sly merchant. He had a lot of experience in how to properly converse with the NPCs during his time at Rosewell Library in dealing with the elf librarian.


    "You kept talking about having my trust but I don''t have any obligation to prove anything to you. I''m fine with eating this pill and proving my unwavering resolution in helping the Oni Clan. However, it wouldn''t be fair if I''m the only one taking this enormous risk. If you want me to eat this pill, you would need to compensate me for it. Greatly."


    Venn spoke in a cold and calculating tone whilst observing any slightest change in Princess Ysera''s facial expression.


    If she expresses any dislike towards his request, Venn would change his attitude straight away with a seamless transition. Being shameless was the trick on how to get into the NPCs'' good book.


    Hearing Venn''s reply was a shock to Princess Ysera. She didn''t expect Lilith''s messenger to accept the deal even after she threatened the man in front of him with the possibility of death. She had initially planned to drive the man away.


    But instead of finding excuses for himself. He rose to take on the impossible challenge with confidence. "Perhaps, he really could save me," she thought, her impression of Venn had changed.


    Nonetheless, without exposing her inner thoughts, Princess Ysera replied with a poker face.


    "Fame, power, wealth, you name it. As long as it is within the capability of the Oni Clan, you will have it. I promise you."


    "Jackpot!" Venn shouted internally with greed; he was laughing so much inside that he almost choked on his own saliva. Once again, he was able to increase the quest reward. Even better this time was that the quest difficulty did not increase. However, Venn knew he could get a lot more if he was more thick-skinned.


    "Hmm¡­ fame, power, and wealth¡­ Do you really think they matter to me? I am a proud member of a few selected individuals working under Lord Lilith. What I want isn''t something so tasteless and common. I want something¡­ more unique. And I want it right here, right now. I am risking a lot more than you are, I am basically handing you the control of my life in your hands. You need to give me something equivalent in return to justify."


    Venn proudly but nervously stated his request while he looked straight into Ysera''s crimson eyes. He was hoping the Oni Princess would agree to his demand that didn''t cost him anything to try.


    He would be greatly satisfied if the princess gave him a legendary weapon passed down in the Oni Clan or S rank monster cores that could fetch a high price in the market.


    But unlike what Venn had envisioned, Princess Ysera did not answer his demand with a ''yes'' or a ''no''. Instead, she gazed into Venn''s eyes for a solid minute whilst biting her lips that seemed to be trembling slightly before dispensing her guards away from the manor, leaving Venn and her alone in the hall.


    Venn was utterly confused with the Princess. Her actions made little sense to Venn. Even more so when he saw the Princess standing up from her chair and stood a few feet away with her back facing from him in silence.


    The silence lasted more than what Venn could bear. Sensing that his plan to increase his quest reward had backfired on him, he decided that it would be for the best to immediately apologise to the Princess.


    Just as Venn was about to stand up from his seat and approach the princess, however, his eyes couldn''t help but bulge when he saw the straps of Princess Ysera''s long silky dress drooped down her shoulders, revealing her tanned and smooth, supple skin.

 Chapter 40: Mother of God

    [Ding]


    [Your power of persuasion improved. Charisma increased by 5 points. (+5 CHA)]


    The notification sounds from the game resounded loudly in Venn''s ears. However, he paid it absolutely no heed considering all his attention was currently focused solely on Princess Ysera''s tanned sculpted figure in all its glory.


    "Holy Mother of God¡­" Venn couldn''t help but utter his surprise. He could not figure out why Ysera stripped her long dress until he recalled their conversation prior to this.


    "Did¡­ Did I just pressure and coerce a NPC into engaging in sexual activity with me using my position? But¡­ It couldn''t be. Never have I heard that a player can do this to a NPC during my entire time playing Heaven Descent." Venn thought to himself with furrowed eyebrows.


    Things had taken an abrupt turn.


    Based on his past experience, all mature content had been censored by the game. Even players that had the intention to engage in sexual activities amongst themselves, were not allowed to do so and would be immediately kicked out of the game by the omnipotent AI that is governing the game.


    Thus, Ysera''s action had surpassed all expectations of Venn, and it had made him seriously doubt himself.


    "What the hell is going on? Did all this happen because I have joined the Blood Serpents?" He could only think of such a reason to explain Ysera''s bizarre behaviour. First Lilith the succubus, and now Ysera, both of them had exhibited strange and unexpected conducts that differed from normal NPCs.


    ***


    Venn''s irises darkened as he took in the magnificent view unfolding in front of him. His heart had been pounding non-stop ever since Ysera started to remove her clothes.


    One at a time, Princess Ysera had been removing her dress pieces in an elegant motion, with her small hands. Beginning from her shoulder straps to her waist ribbon, she had been slowly working her way from the top to the bottom, all the while with a flushed face that was as red as a ripe apple.


    Even Venn could tell her inexperience with such matters from the shyness that she had exhibited.


    And although Venn knew that it was all a big misunderstanding, and that he should stop Ysera, words could not escape from his mouth when he could foresee the event that would be unfolding later.


    Even as someone who had lived twice, he was essentially still a man that had his own personal needs. Before he realised, he found himself unable to avert his gaze from Ysera''s healthy and toned youthful skin.


    Finally, as time went by, when her red patterned dress came undone in one fell swoop at the end, Venn who was still sitting down on the expensive oak chair, heavily gulped.


    Faced with Ysera who was covering her breasts with one of her arms, and her crotch area with her alternate hand, Venn was speechless with how gorgeous Ysera looked.


    Although parts of her body were covered by her hands, the amount of skin she was able to cover was almost non-existent. Venn was still able to admire her delicate and soft copper rabbits that were on the verge of overflowing out from her arm.


    Along with the crumbled dress beneath her feet, her shyness and bashfulness that was shown to him had given rise to an uncontrollable urge to conquer her.


    Soon, silence ensued, but Ysera was the one that broke the creeping silence. As if she had made up her mind, her perfectly shaped supple breasts rose as she took in a deep breath.


    "Venn¡­ was it? Let us drop the honorifics and acts, and speak as equals. To be honest, our clan is on the verge of destruction right now and I have been feeling nothing but disappointment and betrayal to see you as the envoy sent by Lilith. Ysera broke the silence before continuing.


    "In one glance, I can tell that you are even weaker than an ordinary foot soldier in our clan. Why would Lord Lilith send you to save us? Is our clan that unimportant that Lord Lilith would abandon us like this?"


    Ysera spoke in a relatively composed tone, and Venn could feel her sadness in her words.


    "You are right. It is indeed arrogant of me to demand you to hand over the control of your life to me without giving you something of equivalent value in return. Hence, if you can promise me that you are capable of saving the clan, I will offer myself up to you. With that, I''m sure you will have no objection seeing as the entire Oni clan will belong to you once you marry me. Can you?"


    Tears had begun to well up in her crimson eyes as she spoke. Towards the end of her sentences, Ysera''s voice had become increasingly shaky, and by the end of her last sentence, her voice had turned into a soft pleading whisper.


    Watching Ysera''s humbling and realistic plea, something within Venn''s heart shook. To be able to sacrifice everything that she had, he could tell that she had steeled her resolve in saving her clan and that the situation surrounding the quest was extremely dire.


    Venn''s heartstring had been tugged by her. Her helplessness reminded him of his past self. He couldn''t help but shudder if he was to fail in saving Rena this time.


    "Can he really save her clan?" He asked himself the important question. His decision would be crucial and it would affect a matter of life and death to the NPCs in the game.


    "Can he really shoulder all of these responsibilities?" Venn closed his eyes to contemplate.


    After closing his eyes for several moments, Venn made an important decision. After opening his eyes, he took the pill out from its wooden container. And without any hesitation, he swallowed the pill in one swift motion and looked into Ysera''s eyes with sincereness.


    "I promise."


    "I understand. Then¡­ allow me to serve you. Lord Venn. B¡ªB¡ªBut¡­ the real thing has to wait till w¡ªwe are officially married. I will use my m¡ªmouth this time." Ysera offered her service with her hands waving around in a panic after taking a glance at Venn''s erected tent.

 Chapter 41: Praise the Grannies

    "I understand. Then¡­ allow me to serve you. Lord Venn. B¡ªB¡ªBut¡­ the real thing has to wait till w¡ªwe are officially married. I will use my m¡ªmouth this time." Ysera offered her service with her hands waving around in a panic after taking a glance at Venn''s erected tent.


    ***


    "Y¡ªYou don''t have to do this now. I will fulfill my part of the deal regardless." Venn stammered a bit with his face turning slightly red and at a loss of what to say. Even if his character wasn''t exactly what one would deem as upright, he also knew that this was wrong and did not want to exploit anyone even if the other party is a game character.


    Like what Ysera had requested, Venn had treated her as an equal.


    However, her lucrative offer to hand over the entire assets of the Oni Clan to him on a silver platter if they were to be married was deadly attractive to him. Thus, he did not reject her advances entirely.


    He could already imagine the enormous wealth and advantage he was to gain if he successfully completed the liberation of the Oni Clan.


    Besides that, faced with Ysera who was bending over and approaching him on all fours with a timid expression on her face, his honest body began violently protesting against any thoughts of rejecting Ysera''s alluring advances.


    "It''s too late now. You have seen every part of me. According to the clan''s practice, I cannot marry anyone else but you." After noticing Venn''s struggle, Ysera said. "Or am I not attractive enough?"


    With intense internal struggle, Venn couldn''t move a muscle and simply sat down on the expensive wooden chair with his heart pounding heavily. He swore that he would die of a heart attack soon if his heart beat increases any further.


    Meanwhile, while all that was happening, Ysera was gradually closing her distance with Venn whilst her tiny waist swayed sideways in an incredibly lewd manner like an innocent kitten that was suddenly being offered with food.


    And soon, she managed to lean over onto Venn''s legs with her knees on the ground and with her eyes earnestly staring at Venn''s lower body.


    "Can I?" Ysera asked in a soft whisper, in which Venn replied with a nod. He was no saint. Faced with Ysera''s seductive body, he trusts that no healthy male would have the self-restraint to reject her. By now, the anticipation was killing Venn.


    After getting a confirmation from Venn to proceed, Ysera squeezed out a nervous smile from her face. It was her first time that she was in this kind of situation and she was extremely tense, however as a female Oni, it was her duty not to burden her husband in all kinds of situations, including during her service to him.


    It was a custom and a widely accepted way of behaving that the women of the Oni Clan adhere to. Along with the custom that was passed down by the ancestors, techniques in bed were passed down as well, often through gossip and stories from grannies and married elders of the families. Hence, as the princess of the Oni Clan who had reached the age of marriage, Ysera deemed herself to be quite experienced in such matters despite never having first-hand experience.


    She had already immersed herself in the role of Venn''s wife. She knew that without the help of Venn, the possibility of winning the goblins was extremely low. Thus, regardless of the outcome she had nothing to lose. Moreover, Venn had already relinquished control of his fate to her. She believed that she should do the same.


    With a gentle pull, Ysera managed to remove Venn''s pants. But, what she saw was totally out of her expectation. When she saw that a tent had erected instantaneously right in front of her widened eyes, the sight got her shrieking.


    "Huh¡­"


    "Wha¡ªWhat''s this?! It''s getting all big¡­ and it''s throbbing¡­ It looks so grotesque! Can this even fit in my mouth?" Ysera''s face went from amazement to terrified in a matter of seconds. But after some gazing at the incredible looking monolith, Ysera calmed herself down and grabbed Venn''s penis with conviction.


    Her small hands were all over Venn''s rod. Unsure of what to do, she squeezed and kneaded it whilst becoming gradually engrossed in its reaction. Then, with a pair of puppy eyes, she mumbled to herself.


    "Er, what should I do? I''ve never done this before. But, one of the grannies did say that eye contact is very important."


    Shifting her sight towards Venn, she was delighted deep inside to see Venn gazing at her with passion. Tucking her hair behind her left ear, and opening her cherry lips, her face inches closer to the tip of Venn''s scorching hot rod, all the while maintaining eye contact with Venn with her exotic crimson eyes.


    "This¡­ This is so erotic! The inside of her mouth is so warm... Is this supposed to be like this?"


    A heavenly pleasure soon overtook every fibres of Venn''s body as Ysera swallowed his rod inch by inch with her tiny mouth. Despite trying her best, she found herself unable to take in everything as her mouth and throat was filled to the brim.


    Remembering the wise words of her granny, she started stroking Venn''s little man up and down repeatedly using her mouth, bobbing her head swiftly, and sometimes throwing her tongue into the mix.


    Her mouth was slippery and warm, providing Venn a pleasure that he had never experienced before as his penis felt incredibly comfortable being wrapped around the inside of Ysera''s mouth. Watching how Venn''s legs would twitch and tremble every time she moved her tongue around, she felt a great sense of achievement as well.


    Paying great attention not to injure Venn with her teeth, she sped up the movement of her head as she grew increasingly comfortable with the act. Before long, slurping sounds of saliva could be heard echoing in the guest room of the manor.

 Chapter 42: General Brugvun

    "Haah¡­ Haah¡­"


    "Haah!"


    The erotic slurping sounds combined with the risque view of Ysera greatly aroused Venn''s senses to the point where his mind had became blank.


    In his position, he could see the splendid view of Ysera''s naked back, butt and supple breasts in full view. Her small butt was firm and lissom, and her perfectly shaped breasts looked delicate and soft. With every bob of her head, he could see her sensational breasts heaving up and down in total sync with her head movement, seemingly defying the laws of gravity momentarily, and absolutely mesmerising.


    "She is too good at this!"


    Venn was trying to distract his mind from the wondrous sensation he was feeling, but he found himself unable to do so with his mind totally enchanted by Ysera''s alluring eyes and figure. It was at this moment that the scene with Ysera was deeply ingrained in his memories.


    From the look of her attractive eyes, Venn could tell that she was earnestly trying to make him ejaculate with her innocent mouth. Looking at her crimson eyes that were full of encouragement and invitation, he wanted to unload all his sperm out into her and he honestly could not endure it any longer!


    He had no idea how the game was able to simulate this, and he couldn''t care less about it now!


    Throwing all caution to the wind, he just wanted to release everything he had inside Ysera''s mouth right at this moment. He believed that Ysera would gladly accept everything he had stored as well!


    After a few more strokes from Ysera''s mouth, globs of semen spurted out from his erected monolith like an erupted volcano that had been pent-up for centuries. With great momentum and intense pressure, it was released inside Ysera''s small cherry mouth without notice with a great force rivaling a great waterfall.


    The unexpected and sudden gush of sperms had Ysera surprised. Within a few seconds, her cheeks bloated like an inflated balloon trying to contain Venn''s fluid from overflowing. The massive amount had her panicked momentarily, and traces of tears were formed in her big round eyes.


    Fortunately, remembering the advice from one of her elderly, she shoved Venn''s rod down her throat as deep as she could and swallowed hard, taking in everything that Venn had to offer and prevented a massive spillage on the wooden floor made of expensive oak wood.


    Then, following the royal techniques that were taught to women of her clan, Ysera grasped Venn''s twitching rod to adjust the angle in which she could better position her head to swallow, not forgetting to delicately massage Venn''s family jewels with her left hand so as to empty his balls thoroughly.


    A minute later, when Venn had stopped his twitching after experiencing an otherworldly pleasure , Ysera finally stopped her suction and kissed the tip of his penis before she sucked out all residual till it was sparkly clean.


    Tendrils of her saliva were hanging from her mouth as her lips parted with the tip of Venn''s rod, and as she did so, she scooped a glob of semen that was cascading down her chin with her index finger and put it back into her mouth.


    "Grasp¡­ Haah¡­ Haah... "


    "Amazing¡­ you have released so much¡­ Lord Venn." With a face of innocence and panting out heavily with steamy breaths, Ysera commented shyly as her eyes met the intense gaze of Venn, seemingly desiring Venn''s compliment.


    Faced with Ysera''s adorable look, a strange sense of feeling welled up inside Venn. However, before he could compliment Ysera, both of them noticed a loud commotion happening in the courtyard.


    And after hearing what the commotion was about in silence, both their eyes grew wider in sync.


    ***


    "Hold it! Do not attempt to trespass any further! The princess is currently holding a private meeting with Lord Lilith''s envoy and had instructed that no one was to be allowed inside. Please don''t make things difficult for us, General Brugvun!"


    "There is little to no time now, and the princess is still pinning her hope on an outsider? What can an outsider that knows nothing about our clan achieve? The Brugvun family is more than sufficient to deal with this! Moreover, doesn''t she know it''s already past the time for the war meeting? All the elders are waiting for her! So, do not try to stop me, soldier!"


    "General Brugvun!"


    "General Brugvun!"


    With a loud crashing sound, a huge figure that was armed to the teeth wearing heavy metal armor covering from the top to the bottom, and wielding a mace in his hand appeared in the open doorway. In front of him were the debris of the broken door and the injured bodies of the soldiers that were guarding Princess Ysera previously.


    Judging from the pained sounds that the soldiers were making, Venn could tell that they had failed in preventing the said figure from barging in.


    The moment that General Brugvun entered the guest room, his eyes immediately locked onto Venn who was sitting down with a nervous expression on his face and his eyes grew with fury. However, when he saw the delicate Princess Ysera who was dressed in her long red dress approaching him, the look of his eyes became gentle and soft.


    "Greetings, General. Ysera is pleased to see you. But what is your purpose in coming here and injuring my men?" Ysera gracefully bowed as per her manners that were taught to her, but her words were condemning General Brugvun''s rudeness.


    Seeing Ysera greatly pleased General Brugvun. Although he found it weird that the corner of Ysera''s mouth was stickered with something white, he paid it no heed as he was here to take Ysera with him back to the war tent before the elders flew into a further rage.


    The princess and him were supposed to be married already if it wasn''t for the pesky goblins that suddenly appeared in their land, attacking and pillaging the villages located in the outskirts.

 Chapter 43: The Brugvuns Plot

    Although their marriage was arranged by their families as part of a political alliance between the two powerful families, he was fine with it. It could even be said that he was elated when he heard about the news from his father.


    Ever since his childhood, he was always fond of the little girl that was constantly following him around everywhere he went. And when he saw how beautiful the little girl of the Shuten family had grown to become, he became mesmerised with her.


    Her long eyelashes; her beautiful horns; her angelic face; her prideful twin peaks. Every part of Ysera is a work of art to him; a miracle that only the Gods could create.


    To have the Shuten family''s approval to have her hand in marriage was a dream come true to him. But annoyingly, their marriage kept getting postponed because of the intrusion of the goblins. Furthermore, it was delayed even further when Ysera''s father perished in the punitive expedition against the pesky goblins.


    Though the goblins had proved to be a serious threat to the Oni Clan, he had thought little of it. With his strength and the power that his family holds, he was confident to win against the goblins and marry Ysera at the end of the whole thing.


    "Just eight more days." General Brugvun mentally thought as his gaze roamed all over Ysera''s elegant figure. To reach their goal and to prevent anything unexpected from happening, the elders of his family had organised a war meeting with all the elders of the other families. By pressuring them to agree in launching an all out attack on the goblins'' lair eight days later, Ysera''s excuse of delaying the wedding with him would turn invalid as well.


    With the death of Ysera''s father - the patriarch, the power balance of the political scene in the Oni Clan had shifted advantageously to their side. Now, by marrying Ysera, the elders in his family would be in even greater delight as it would give them a great excuse. Devouring the Shuten family would be a piece of cake to them after the assault on the goblins where they would dispose of them once and for all.


    He initially thought they would have to lay low for the time being when the news of Blood Serpents'' envoy arriving to the clan had reached his ears. However, he threw all caution to the wind when he saw just how weak Venn looked.


    He wasn''t exactly hopeful that the Blood Serpents would answer the patriarch''s call for help, so he was surprised that they would send someone as reinforcement. But after confirming that the Blood Serpents did not care much about the Oni Clan by sending someone as weak as Venn over, he was assured.


    The relationship between the Oni Clan and the Blood Serpents was just of a vessel clan that pays its tributes for protection. Blood Serpents had no say in their clan structure and how their clan operates. Thus, regardless of which family will lead the Oni Clan, it would not matter to them as long as tributes are dutifully paid.


    Brushing all his non-consequential thoughts aside and holding back his disgust of Venn, he greeted the approaching Ysera politely. His burly body trembled with excitement when he heard her sweet voice as he began to imagine the adorable Ysera who had always been following him around since childhood, would soon become his wife once the whole thing blows over. He had always wondered how soft her body would feel.


    "Princess, the elders are all present in the war tent awaiting your arrival. With the death of the patriarch, your presence is greatly needed to guide our clan in the oncoming war against the goblins. Please allow me to escort you to the war meeting." General Brugvun said with a stern voice.


    Watching Brugvun''s hypocritical act, Ysera''s heart sank. She knew what the Brugvun family was planning but she was not in a position to stop it. Her fate was no longer in her control on the day that she found out that her father, the strongest warrior, had died in a battle.


    The burden of the Shuten family was suddenly placed upon her shoulders and she had to step up. In this hopeless situation of hers where she had become a mere puppet to the other families, she had to find a way out even if it meant grasping at straws.


    Glancing at Venn who was still sitting down, her teeth gritted. Though it was despicable of her to pull Venn into the internal struggles of the Oni Clan, she had no choice.


    "I know the way there. You do not have to escort me, general. I will be at the war tent after a change of attire. Please escort Lord Venn to the tent instead. He is employed to be my advisor for the upcoming battle with the goblins and I trust that he will prove his worth." Ysera replied coldly.


    "The outsider? What does the outsider know about us and the situation we are in? What can he even do with his feeble body? Brugvun mocked Venn without a care that Venn was right in front of him. The thought that an outsider would interfere with the clan''s affairs angered him.


    "Watch your tone, general. Lord Venn is a precious guest of mine, and I will bear animosity towards you if you continue to be rude to him." Ysera raised her voice towards Brugvun, and after which, she made a signal to Venn with a blink of her eyes.


    Venn immediately understood the princess''s intention behind her gesture. It was important for him to attend the aforementioned war meeting. Even though he had no idea the specifics of what were to be discussed in the meeting, he knew that it would be regarding the goblins.


    Shooting up from his seat in an instant, he approached General Brugvun with smiley eyes whilst constantly rubbing his hands.

 Chapter 44: Meeting

    "Princess! What are you saying? The general was just being concerned with the clan''s interest! Please do not fault him! I will follow the general to the war tent just as you instructed. I trust that the General will treat me well. Do not worry about me and please be on your way, Princess." Putting on a concerned expression on his face, Venn acted as best as he could.


    "If Lord Venn said so, then Ysera will take your advice to heart."


    "General Brugvun, I will be leaving Lord Venn in your care. Make sure to see it personally that Lord Venn safely arrives at the war tent."


    Without giving General Brugvun a chance to react, Princess Ysera left the guest room with her guards after demurely walking to their sides to help them recover from the ground, leaving only Brugvun and Venn in the room.


    Seeing that Ysera had left the guest room to have a change of outfit, General Brugvun had no choice but to obey her instruction, and swiftly led Venn out of the room before signaling Venn to follow him.


    Now that Venn was acting as an advisor to Ysera and the Shuten family behind her, he had no more legitimate excuse to stop Venn from attending the war meeting. Though he doubted that a weak outsider like Venn could do anything to help.


    "Follow me closely by my side, and keep any words you have in your mouth."


    Silence ensued while they were on their way to the war tent. Along the way, there were many twists and turns among several intersections that Venn gave up on memorizing. He had a good grasp on spatial cognition, but even he was confused by the number of variations in the route.


    If only he had the skill [cartography] that was dropped as a monster core by the Iron-beaked eagle, then there would be no need for him to make a mental map of places. While the skill is active, all explored areas by the user would show up as virtual maps in the user''s interface. Oftentimes, such maps could be sold for several thousands of gold to guilds and individual players alike. But since he did not have the skill, Venn felt that there was no point in mulling over it.


    Focusing his energy on information gathering instead of memorising the layout of Kersaru, Venn decided to break the ice between the two of them.


    The silence did not last long with Venn smiling warmly at General Brugvun as if General Brugvun was his long-lost friend. As an outsider to the Oni clan, it would be wise for him to adopt a humble attitude to the General if he wanted to uncover more crucial information about the quest ahead.


    Behaving otherwise would shut down the possibility of having a conversation with the NPCs. As a former library rat, he knew the importance of information in Heaven Descent. Although he knew that Brugvun was rather cold towards him, it did not affect his mood. It would be incredibly childish of him if he was to get angry at some game characters.


    Afterall, it was all a game to him.


    Or was it?


    When Venn thought of Lilith and Ysera''s actions, this doubt of his, surfaced to his mind.


    "Venn, you can call me that or Night Raid. But, seriously it sure is tough to work under the princess, eh?" Showing an amiable smile, Venn extended his hand towards General Brugvun, and was rejected. Despite receiving a cold shoulder from Brugvun, he kept on talking to keep the conversation alive.


    "Wow. You must have trained hard to achieve that body. Your muscles are so well-defined, especially your biceps. Care to share your secret in achieving those powerful guns of yours?"


    "Where are we heading? Is the war tent far from here? Are we there yet? Other than you, how many other generals exist in the clan? Can you share how many elders are there in the war tent?"


    "To tell you the truth, I am extremely broke. Do you have some spare change that you can spare? Come on, help a brotha out."


    Along the way, Venn fired questions after questions at General Brugvun like an annoying house fly buzzing around his ears. The more he was ignored, the more ridiculous the questions he would ask him.


    "Shut the hell up! I swear I''m going to bash your head in if you continue to blabber on!" Frustrated by the non-stop talking of Venn, Brugvun finally snapped at Venn. But after seeing that Venn was fearless towards him, he seemed to have relented to Venn''s constant harassment.


    With a resigned tone, he warned Venn. "Anyway, with the war tent just in front of us, let me warn you, keep your mouth shut inside. Or else, you will face the consequences. Even though we can''t offend the Blood Serpents that backs you, we will still make sure you sufficiently suffer."


    After saying his piece, their figure soon arrived at a large ivory white tent consisting of unknown animal skins and bones. The tent seemed similar to an ancient Mongolian tent to Venn and it occupied an area of approximately a basketball court.


    A total of 12 soldiers holding spears were guarding the entrance of the tent. After having a small conversation with Brugvun, they finally allowed Venn to enter alongside him.


    Watching Brugvun''s figure disappear into the tent, Venn followed suit and nervously lifted the curtain of the tent with his foreman with a heavy heart. Uncertain of what the quest holds, his heart began to palpitate.


    He had no idea what the quest entailed, but he had a feeling that it would be the one of the hardest quests that he would experience.


    Since he had teleported to this unknown land, he discovered that he could not access the messaging and friend functions in the game.


    Furthermore, he was able to determine that he was currently in an unknown continent from the small conversations that he held with the Onis guards during his travel to Kersaru.


    "A totally unknown place where a misstep will spell the end of me and my knowledge is my only advantage in this, eh? Even though the situation is so dire, why is my body feeling so excited right now?"


    "Huah."


    "Ysera?"

 Chapter 45: Isolated

    Venn was surprised when he noticed that Ysera was already present inside the tent after stepping inside. He was confused as it made no sense to him that Ysera would arrive earlier than him when General Brugvun wasted no time in leading him directly to the war tent.


    "Didn''t she take a detour to change her attire?" He uttered to himself as he looked at Ysera.


    Ysera was standing quietly with her lips pursed behind an elderly female Oni that was sitting on an exquisite looking wooden chair. She was covered in black tight clothing with multiple bandages wrapped around her thighs and arms while equipped with a dagger on both sides of her thighs. Her expression was aloof and cold, carrying no emotions, much different from the face she had shown to Venn previously while they were alone in the guest room.


    As he walked further into the tent, Venn could sense multiple eyes on him, including Ysera who was staring at him and scrutinising his every action with her large crimson red eyes.


    He took his time to survey the room trying to cram the scene inside the tent into his mind, and when he saw Ysera, his gaze stopped at her face as he couldn''t help but sense that something was off with her. Just as he was about to figure out why he would feel that way, he heard his name being called.


    It was the granny that called out to him.


    "Lord Night Raid, I''m so glad that you finally came. Lord Lilith had addressed in a letter to us that she was going to send reinforcements to help in our fight against the terrible goblins." The granny that was sitting down in the chair spoke, her tone carried a tinge of friendliness that General Brugvun lacked.


    Faced with such hospitality from a NPC, Venn humbly replied. "Yes. I was ordered by Lilith to come here to help. Rest assured, I will do everything in my power to defeat the goblins. May I know how to address you?"


    "Obari from the Shuten family. You can address me as granny like what my grandchildren do since you look to be around a similar age as them."


    The granny introduced herself with dignity and pride unlike what her age suggests. She was so old that her face was full of wrinkles and her hair was silvery white, but Venn could tell from the game status that she was extremely powerful.


    [Level: ???]


    [HP: ???/???]


    "I''m level 10 now, equipped with Murasame sword that increases my level by five, I should be able to see the status of any NPCs that are level 35 and below. Seeing that I could not tell her level, that means she is at least level 36."


    "The Shuten family that Princess Ysera belonged to. Is that why she called out to me? Is she supporting me and the Blood Serpents behind me? But why is she being hostile towards me?" Venn mentally thought.


    To test her actual attitude towards him, he extended his hands towards the granny which the latter warmly held his hands like an elderly would with the younger generations as a friendly gesture.


    This further made Venn confused.


    "Enough! Introductions can wait. Let''s focus on the important matter at hand. Night Raid of the Blood Serpents, the Oni Clan welcomes your help. You are allowed to listen in the war meeting, but please keep in mind that you are not allowed to interfere in the clan matters. If you agree, then wait at the side quietly."


    A loud grumpy voice boomed in the tent and interfered with Venn in his conversation with the granny. The owner of the voice belonged to another elderly Oni who was sitting down grasping a large wooden clutch in his hands. As he spoke, he slammed the clutch to the ground with great force. Standing behind him were several heavily armored soldiers and General Brugvun at attention.


    "Noted." Venn nodded his head and stood aside after taking a quick glance at the granny. He agreed to comply when he saw that the granny was calm about being interrupted. As a level 10 player, he had no say in dictating the matters of the Oni Clan. Thus, he went towards Ysera and took his place beside her naturally.


    "For now, I need more information."


    He had no information on the internal workings and the political struggles of the Oni Clan, but even as an outsider, he could tell that there existed underlying conflicts happening between the parties of the clan.


    The difference in attitude towards him by everyone in the tent, the conversation that General Brugvun and the Princess had, and even the positions of where everyone was standing currently in the war tent were clues he could utilise.


    Players often neglect the dynamics of the NPCs'' relationship and would fail their quest unknowingly, but not Venn. He truly understood the importance of them. Thus, squinting his eyes, Venn continued to observe everyone in silence.


    The war tent was large and spacious inside. Multiple light sources in the form of glowing orbs illuminated the tent well, allowing Venn to take in everything in sight. In the middle of the tent, a round oak table was placed, and on the table were wooden pieces and blocks of various sizes. Based on the arrangement of them, it seemed to Venn that they were using the wooden blocks as simulation pieces.


    Weapon racks that displayed various weapons like maces, swords, shields, and more were present inside the tent as well. Compared to the smaller weapons that humans wield, it was clear that the larger sized weapons on the rack were specifically produced for the usage of the bigger sized Onis.


    Besides the granny and the elder who was grasping a wooden clutch, there were three other Onis that were sitting down on wooden chairs. Among the three, two of them were middle-aged whilst the remaining Oni was around the same age with the Shuten granny based on their appearances.


    Behind all the 5 elders, stood several soldiers that seemed to serve as guards. Venn could guess that each of the representatives and their groups were representing their respective Oni families based on the color of their clothes and armors, with some of them dressed in blue, red and other colors.


    And on a related note, a distinct difference could be seen between them and the Shuten family''s representatives. Consisting of Venn, Ysera and the granny with respect to the dozens of soldiers that were in the tent with their respective family heads, they looked extremely out of place.


    "This is not good. I now understand the reason why the Shuten granny and Ysera wanted me on their side. Everyone is isolating the Shuten family." Venn concluded after his observation.

 Chapter 46: Arrival

    Several minutes had passed since Venn reached the conclusion that things weren''t looking good for him. He initially thought that liberating the Oni clan from the goblins would be a straight forward quest, but little did he expect that things would turn out to be so complicated.


    Now, he would have to think more carefully on how to tread the dangerous roads ahead of him.


    Meanwhile, whilst he was contemplating if he should unbind himself from the sinking ship of the Shuten family, things haven''t changed a bit in the tent.


    Heavy silence was hanging over the atmosphere with all the elders closing their eyes and resting their minds. Even though the Brugvun elder wanted Venn to stand aside and focus on the "matter" at hand, nothing had happened since then. All this time, everyone was just patiently waiting.


    Unsure of what was going on and what everyone was waiting for, Venn took a quick glance at Ysera with the intention of asking her.


    Time was of the essence. He only had less than eight days to complete the quest given by Blood Serpents. Thus, he simply wanted the supposedly cutscene in the war tent to proceed so that he could carry on with the quest.


    After spending some time thinking, he had made up his mind, and had now given up on removing the label of the Shuten family from himself. It was probably too late anyway. In addition, after what happened with Ysera in the guest room, he couldn''t possibly be that heartless to abandon Ysera after taking advantage of her.


    Glancing over at Ysera and looking at her refreshingly face, Venn couldn''t help but be reminded of the texture of her lips. He could not believe that such an adorable girl would be so skillful in that aspect. Just moments ago, her lips were wrapping itself around his rod.


    With her hair tied up in a bun, he found that the current Ysera was looking much more youthful than before. Prior to this, Ysera was looking much more mature with the aggressiveness and assertiveness that she had displayed to him. Thus, his interest was fully intrigued by her.


    The more he looked at Ysera''s facial features, the more he found her irresistible.


    "Gosh¡­ Am I falling in love with a NPC?" Venn panicked. He knew he had no time for this, but it was the first time he was involved in the affairs of the heart.


    Even though it was unofficial, he remembered that Ysera did technically say that she could only marry him as his wife now.


    "What am I thinking? This is so unlike me." Venn lamented. Ever since the incident with Ysera, he has been behaving strangely. The difference between reality and the virtual world seemed to have become non-existent. An intense feeling of wanting to tease Ysera surfaced in his mind. Before long, he was starting to convince himself that it was a good idea to follow through.


    "Isn''t this a perfect chance to test whether one can have a relationship with an NPC in Heaven Descent? A longstanding question that had left tons of players heartbroken could finally be answered. Furthermore, if I think about the benefit of having a NPC as my wife, doesn''t that mean that I can have all sorts of advantages in the game? Not that I would do it, but I bet that I could be popular just by being a streamer and livestreaming my virtual life with an NPC wife. Moreover, my partner is a princess as well. Marrying her would mean inheriting the entire Oni Clan!"


    The more Venn ponders about it, the more exciting he gets.


    As such, even though the quest takes precedence, his feeling emboldened. Figuring that there would be no harm in teasing Ysera covetly, he reached out his hand towards Ysera from below and held her hand tightly without anyone noticing. As he did so, his heart was pumping crazily like riding in a roller coaster.


    ***


    "What are you doing?" The sudden action from Venn seemed to have Ysera terribly surprised that she let out a small exclamation. Fortunately, due to the nature of her soft voice, it meant that no one had noticed her sudden yelp. Furthermore, she managed to stop herself from letting out any weird sound by covering her mouth with her alternate hand.


    Immediately after she recovered from her initial surprise, anger overcame her. She stared at Venn with her intimidating eyes and tried to withdraw her hand away. However, Venn wouldn''t allow her to do so with how tightly he held her hand.


    "Release my hand, you¡­ you uncultured hooligan!" Ysera squeezed the harsh words out of her cherry lips. She had controlled the volume of her voice just at the perfect volume such that only Venn who was close to her could hear.


    Venn was able to hear her perfectly and he was taken aback. Within seconds, he became furious as well due to the sudden change of Ysera''s attitude.


    "Didn''t you say that you will become my wife? After showing me your naked body in the guest room and servicing me like a wife would, you are denying everything that has happened?" Venn whispered into Ysera''s ears, he could not understand why Ysera was denying her relationship with him.


    "What nonsense are you talking about? This is the first time that I have met you. How could you slander my reputation and say such crude things and accuse me of doing such a shameful thing. Ah! Do you mean?" Ysera fiercely rebutted Venn''s claim, but at the end of her sentence, her eyes widened when she realised it was all a big misunderstanding.


    Venn was alarmed. Looking at the rapid changes of Ysera''s face, even a fool could understand what happened. Withdrawing his hand instantly, he backed off several steps away from "Ysera."


    And as if the world was playing a joke on Venn, a shout from the guards outside the tent resounded.


    "Princess Ysera has arrived!"


    ***


    Ysera entered the tent clad in light silver armor. With her unsheathed sword at her waist and a clean ponytail, she looked as valiant as a medieval knight.


    Wearing a serious expression on her face, she stepped into the tent as lightly as she could as if she was walking into a trap.


    And indeed, even though she knew that she was walking into the den of tigers, she remained undeterred.


    Meanwhile, in the other corner of the tent, Venn had not recovered from his shock. With widened eyes and his jaw agape, he looked like Dracula that was being confronted by a bunch of garlic.

 Chapter 47: Jade Medallion

    Buckets of cold sweats began to form on Venn''s forehead as he repeatedly turned his head to and fro, between the two "Ysera" in the tent. By now, he had realised that he had committed a huge blunder and had mistaken the identity of the girl beside him.


    Upon closer inspection of her facial features, he finally understood why he felt a weird vibe from ''Ysera'' when he first entered the tent. Though she and the real Ysera shared a lot of semblance with each other, her appearance looked much younger. And furthermore, she was equipped with daggers as her main weapons whereas Ysera uses a sword.


    "Hah¡­" Venn let out a heavy sigh, and face palmed. He was lucky that he wasn''t in a town, or else he would be thrown into a jail by now.


    He was essentially harassing one of Ysera''s family members. Judging by how similar they looked, Venn could tell that they had close blood ties. From the looks of things, it was highly possible that she was Ysera''s younger sister as well.


    Turning his head towards the young lady beside him in an attempt to explain himself, he was in horror when he saw that she was confidently smiling at him, her sweet tiger tooth was revealed as she smiled. And as if that wasn''t enough, she leaned in and whispered softly into Venn''s ears. Her face was so close that Venn could feel her expelling hot breaths on his face.


    "I''m going to tell my sis that you laid your hands on me against my wish. Fufufu~"


    "Thunk!"


    While Venn was in a nervous and horrified state after hearing what Ysera''s sister had whispered to him, a loud bang reverberated throughout the war tent. It was so loud that everyone''s attention was instantly drawn to the center of the tent and onto the person that made the deafening noise; the Brugvun elder who was sitting in the center of all the elders.


    Startled by the commotion, Venn and Ysera''s young sister hurriedly returned to their position as well. Their expressions were shocked from being startled as their faces separated from each other. But soon, their faces became furious with rage as the Brugvun elder opened his foul mouth.


    "Ysera! You finally dare to show your face to us! After the death of your father, we have organised so many elder meetings, but yet you ignored every single one of them! Don''t you know that these meetings are extremely crucial and will determine the fate of our clan? Did you think that being the clan head will give you special privileges?" Even before Ysera had fully stepped her foot into the tent, the Brugvun elder began to chastise her with a smug look on his wrinkly face. After all, Ysera had finally walked into his trap that he painstakingly laid out for her.


    Pointing his index finger at Ysera, he continued with his act. "Yesterday, I was pleased to hear that you had reflected on your actions and that you finally agreed to attend the meeting today, but you completely made a fool out of us! How bold of you to make us wait for you for more than an hour!"


    "That''s right! Ysera, you are late to the meeting."


    "How can we trust a girl in handling the clan''s affairs?"


    "Ysera. I have known you since you were a little baby, but I''m sad to admit that I am really disappointed in your actions!"


    "You weren''t like this when your father was still alive, Ysera!"


    As if they had all agreed, immediately after the Brugvun elder finished his piece, the rest of the elders, except for the granny representing the Shuten family, began to lambaste and criticize Ysera harshly, expressing their disappointment and anger.


    However, regardless of how painful and regretful their expressions were, Venn wasn''t deceived at all by their poor acting.


    "How laughable. All of them are ganging up on a young girl." Venn mocked. Of course, he kept his comment to himself.


    He was in no position to act, especially when the granny sitting in front of him had kept her cool. Watching the frowned faces of the Shuten granny and Ysera''s sister, he reaffirmed his deduction. However, there was still something he was not clear on.


    "Why are they putting on this act? What are they after?"


    Then, as if to answer Venn''s question, the Brugvun elder sprang his trap on Ysera.


    "Ysera! In view of the upcoming war we have against the goblins eight days later, the elders have all decided in the clan''s interests that you are incapable of leading our army. That is why, with immediate effect, you are to hand over the patriarch''s seal that grants you command over the army to us. The elders will handle everythin-"


    "Y-Ysera understands." Unexpected to Venn and everyone in the room, Ysera suddenly interrupted. After tossing the medallion that was carved out from a piece of jade onto the round table with accuracy, she said with an icy tone. "Is this enough?"


    The Brugvun elder almost choked on his own words when he saw how Ysera willingly handed over the jade medallion that was in her possession to them.


    The medallion could give the holder the power to command the entire army and that was what he and the rest of the elders were after ever since the original Patriarch died. With it, it could be said that the Brugvun family was now the actual head of the Oni Clan while the Shuten family had become a puppet to them.


    For the sake of obtaining it, he had prepared countless plans and formed several alliances to this end. For him to obtain it so suddenly was a nice surprise to him. Although Ysera rudely tossed the jade medallion, he was delighted that Ysera had finally seen the light that it was useless for her to struggle. She had caused so much trouble to him because of her refusal to come to the elder meetings, but in the end she finally yielded.


    "In the end, you are just a naive girl." He thought internally as he hurriedly grabbed the medallion off the table.

 Chapter 48: Greed

    With his goal met, a sinister smile appeared on his aged face. He was prepared for a long extended fight pressuring Ysera to surrender the command of the army with the other elders, but in the end, it wasn''t necessary.


    After stroking the jade medallion with his hands to feel its texture, confirming that the medallion was indeed authentic, he let out a laugh, showing a complete one hundred and eighty degree change in his attitude.


    "Ysera, I am glad that you understand the hardship that the elders are facing. We are worried sick for the members of the clan that are under the threat of the goblins. I commend you for the sacrifice that you are making for the clan. Ultimately, we all strive for the interests of the clan."


    "Yes. What a wise girl."


    "Good going Ysera. I''m glad that you have realised your mistake and reflected on it."


    "I''m sure that your father will be proud of your actions, Ysera."


    Instantly after the Brugvun elder complimented Ysera, the other elders that were in cahoots with him followed suit and praised her as well. Under the pretense of having the interests of everyone, they shamelessly committed such a hideous deed.


    Their unsightly greed reminded Venn of the politicians in real life. Everything from their hypocritical actions and words was the same and it truly disgusted Venn.


    After getting the command of the entire Oni army, the Brugvun elder began pushing his luck in an attempt to quench his insatiable appetite. With his sheepish eyes, he demanded more from Ysera.


    "Now that we got that matter out of the way, let''s discuss more about how we shall be dealing with the goblins. Ysera, as you know, after we clear out the goblins from our land, you will be marrying Nigen and be his wife. In view of that, I want you to concentrate on the upcoming wedding, and hand over the command of the Shuten family troops to Nigen. I trust that you will support your future husband for the upcoming battle, right?"


    Ysera was biting hard on her teeth and clenching her fists when she heard Nigyo Brugvun''s unreasonable demand. The Shuten family troops are mainly composed of the family members, and are part of the family''s assets. Being one of the largest families in the clan, their military might was the reason why the Shuten family had a voice in the clan, at least before the striking of the tragedy that involved his father. Thus, Nigyo Brugvun''s request was akin to him asking Ysera to defang the Shuten family.


    She had already relinquished her control of the military. Why isn''t it enough? Ysera was crushed.


    Unquestionably, the Shuten family would never agree to it. And as a matter of fact, Ysera''s granny was the first one to object.


    "Enough, old fart! I would advise you to stop while you are winning. The Shuten family had done its part, sending our men to be part of the main force. What''s left of the Shuten troops are none of your concern, so keep your dirty paws away. Remember, the clan is still run by the Shuten family!" Her voices echoed loudly in the tent, and as it did so, a wave of invisible pressure was released with her being in the epicenter of it.


    Venn could feel the immense pressure as well. Being near the epicenter, the suffocating pressure he was feeling was multiple times more than the others. The deadly pressure was applying an immense force on him and crushing him from the top down, his knees were on the verge of buckling, but he managed to stand his ground. Rather than the immense pressure, it was the fact that Ysera had used him for her own aim that crushed his body and soul.


    Along with the words that were said by the Shuten granny, Venn found the last piece of the puzzle and started assembling them. After hearing snippets of the conversations of everyone, he had finally figured out the background of the Oni Clan.


    He was just a mere chess pawn in the grand scheme of things.


    Along with the death of Ysera''s father, the patriarch, the Shuten family suffered a great loss and had its position in the clan threatened by the Brugvun family. It was possible that a large portion of the so-called Shuten family troops perished in the battle against the goblins as well.


    Sensing that it was an opportunity to devour the Shuten family, the Brugvun family started forming an alliance with the other families. Using the excuse of the elders'' meetings to formulate future plans against the goblins, they were going to pressure Ysera to hand over the jade medallion that could commend the entire army of the Oni, something they were terribly afraid of.


    Ysera was extremely intelligent to see through their plans and refused to attend any of the meetings that they held. Sending the Shuten granny as representative every time, she managed to delay the meetings until today. Although the Shuten granny came to the meetings, the jade medallion was not with her. Most likely because after the death of the Patriarch, the medallion would be passed down to his successor, in which case happened to be Ysera.


    With the decision of launching a war against the goblins eight days later, Ysera could not delay in attending the meeting any further. That was the ultimate time that the elders had given Ysera to respond. Any longer, and it would force their hands, making a civil war likely to happen.


    Thus, she handed over the medallion to the elders and gave up her control of the military. Venn was unsure what she had planned after doing so, but it most likely would involve him.


    If the Oni clan loses to the goblins, the Oni would face total annihilation. On the other hand, if the Oni wins, the Shuten family would cease to exist as well as it would be devoured by the Brugvun family. Either way, there would be no way out for Ysera and the Shuten family in both scenarios.


    And that was why Ysera offered her body to him and promised to be his wife. As an outsider that knows nothing, he was the perfect scapegoat.


    Even though it was only his conjecture, he doubted that the truth would differ much from it.

 Chapter 49: Yseras Ultimatum

    "God damnit. I should have known. Whether it be reality or in game, whenever a female approaches me, it probably means that they have an ulterior motive and want something from me. That is the constant truth of the world. How could I be so gullible? To think that I thought she was different." Venn was annoyed at himself as he cursed inwardly.


    "No matter how realistic the game is, this is just an illusion. Let''s just treat this as a game." He reminded himself.


    It took him a while to accept the ugly truth, but he was able to take it in stride afterwards. Clenching his fists, he hardened his resolve.


    "Just like you are using me as a tool to achieve your aim, I shall do so in return as well. For the sake of Rena, I will do anything. I will clear this quest!"


    "Now, is this another test from the game? What would happen if I managed to endure it?"


    Clenching his teeth as a natural response from the intense pressure that he suffered, Venn continued to endure silently.


    The unknown skill that was unleashed by the Shuten Granny did not cause any damage or pain to the others surrounding her. Rather, it was a skill that attacks the willpower of the others by inflicting debuff to their statuses, and lowering their will to put up a fight. Venn knew of the existence of such a skill from the past by watching videos that were uploaded to the forum when players confronted a wild boss, but it was the first time that he had encountered it himself.


    "This is probably an area of effect skill like intimidation, but of a much higher rank." He thought to himself, and focused his mind. He knew that the only way to get away from the skill is to interrupt the user from channeling the spell or tough it out, and unfortunately, he could only do the latter.


    Time passes by slowly.


    Seconds turned into minutes.


    During the entire duration, the in-game notification was pinging like crazy. Every time his knees were on the verge of buckling under the pressure, he would bite his teeth to recover his stance through sheer willpower, not allowing himself to kneel and submit to the pressure.


    [Ding]


    [You are suffering from "Daunting Presence".]


    [Calculating success rate by taking into account player''s wisdom stats.]


    [You have lost the will to fight.]


    [Through sheer willpower, you prevented yourself from kneeling down.]


    [Ding]


    [You have lost the will to fight.]


    [Ding]


    [Ding¡­ Ding¡­ Ding¡­ Ding]


    [You are suffering from "Daunting Presence".]


    [Calculating success rate by taking into account player''s wisdom stats.]


    [You have successfully defended yourself against a mental attack.]


    [Wisdom increased by 2 points. (+2 WIS)]


    "Puah...hah...hah¡­ finally."


    Venn couldn''t help but be completely exhausted after enduring the entire duration of the mental attack. His eyes were half-close from the overexertion.


    Although the spell only lasted for 3 minutes, it felt like hours to him. Cold sweats were flowing down his back, and he found his clothes to be almost drenched.


    As a level ten player, it was a miracle for him to endure through the mental attack. If it wasn''t for his luck and the extra experience that he gained previously from undergoing the Dragon Emperor''s trial, he probably would be joining the others in the tent and knelt down on his knees with his heads bowed towards the Shuten Granny by now.


    Now that he had broken away from the spell, he was able to take a look around the tent. Majority of the people in the tent were either struggling to stand or had fallen into the granny''s submission. Ysera''s sister was one of the struggling ones, however the elders and individuals like Ysera and General Brugvun were unaffected.


    "Have you had enough fun, Kiare Shuten? What can you achieve by doing this? I know it''s hard for a genius like you to accept, but your era is over. You have grown old and weak. But don''t you worry, you can safely pass the responsibility of safeguarding the future of the clan to us."


    "Hahaha!" The elders burst into laughter. For too long were they overshadowed by the brilliance of the Shuten family.


    "Uncles! Ysera had something to say! Please allow me to lead the Shuten family troops to battle. As the daughter of the patriarch, it is my duty to avenge my father''s death!" Right at this crucial moment, Ysera spoke. Her earnest request was reasonable and it was difficult for Nigyo Brugvun to find an excuse to reject her. Nonetheless, he still had to try.


    "Nonsense! As the fiancee of my grandson, it is your duty to prepare yourself for the upcoming wedding after the war. The battleground is a dangerous place and it is too risky for you to join!"


    "If you refuse Ysera''s request, then Ysera will take it that you are insulting me and my honor. In that case, the next thing that I will slice with my sword will be my neck." Ysera showed a bitter smile and said while she wielded her sword and cut off her high ponytail.


    Her beautiful silky hair scattered everywhere on the floor and she was left with a refreshing look with her shoulder length hair.


    Faced with an ultimatum from Ysera, Nigyo Brugvun was stunned. Ultimately, he reluctantly approves her request on the condition that she and the Shuten family troops she commands would follow his order in the battlefield.


    ***


    "With that being said, I shall reveal the plan that we will be undertaking to eradicate the goblins once and for all. Eight days later, we will be launching an all-out assault on Blackwater Castle where the goblins are holding themselves in. Anyone have any questions about the plan?"


    After calming Ysera down, Nigyo Brugvun briefed the main commanders of the troops. They had formulated the plan in the past meetings among the elders. And at least for now, everyone in the clan is united against a common enemy.


    Venn''s ears perked up when he heard the plan. He had been waiting for this for a very long time.

 Chapter 50: Under Leveled

    With him severely underleveled for the quest, he had no choice but to rely on his massive game knowledge that he had accumulated in his past. That was his competitive advantage and the only option he could rely on. It was the source of his confidence, except that it was currently dwindling faster than the speed of light, the more he knew about the assault plan.


    "What the¡­ A castle siege against the goblins where the weakest mob is level 36 and above?" His eyes widened with terror when he thought about the scale of the upcoming battle.


    With his one-on-one battle against a mere goblin scout, he knew just how strong the goblins were. He was completely no match against it. During the battle against the goblin, it took all he had in his arsenal just to escape from it, and even then, he only managed to escape from the danger with just a sliver of health left.


    The stress and fatigue from that battle was more than he could handle. And now, he has to join in a siege battle against a large magnitude of goblins? With his current level, he doesn''t even stand a chance in surviving. Heck, he doesn''t even have the qualification to be a cannon fodder for the war! This scenario was not what he had expected in mind.


    "Hah¡­ Hah¡­ Calm down!" Venn took a deep breath. Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. It was useless to panic and he knew it. Rather than losing his calm, he kept his focus and continued to listen to Nigyo Brugven''s speech.


    "The upcoming war will involve the entire army and all of the personal troops of the five families. That will result in us having a numerical advantage over them. We have a rough estimate over the number of their troops, and I say we have a huge advantage over them. Six thousand of us versus two thousand of them. It will be an easy victory for us if we strike them with all our military might."


    The elder Brugvun continued to speak of his grand battle plan proudly. He could already imagine himself standing on top of the clan after his grandson successfully marries Ysera, which would subsequently grant him a perfect excuse to devour the Shuten family. With a certain unfortunate mistake from his order in the upcoming battle, he could get rid of those pesky personal troops supporting the Shuten family as well. As the grand commander of the whole battle operation, it was a piece of cake to him to orchestrate such a mistake.


    "Uncle Nigyo, Ysera has something to say. Reconnaissance reports from my scouts estimated that the number of goblins residing in the castle are a lot more than two thousand based on their activities they exhibited. It is highly possible that their headcount is in the four thousands range. Attacking a castle which provides the defenders a terrain advantage with our number is ill-advised."


    Right when Nigyo Brugvun was in the midst of his fantisation, Ysera interrupted his wishful thinking in a polite tone. Although Ysera was nothing but respectful in her words, it made Nigyo Brugvun unhappy.


    Thinking that Ysera had not given up her struggle to delay the union of the Brugvun family and the Shuten family, he argued fiercely to defend his stance.


    "What a load of crap! When the goblins first appeared in our land nine months ago all of a sudden, and murdered our fellow men at Blackwater Castle in cold blood, their numbers were already leaked. A messenger was able to flee before the castle fell and delivered us this precious information at the risk of his life and you dare to question him? "


    "Even if the goblins had grown in number since then, it is impossible for their numbers to grow to a great extent. The brave warriors of our clan are perfectly capable of handling them, so you can keep your worries to yourself. Unlike your father who led our men to death with his incompetence leadership, this will not be the case for me!


    After berating Ysera and ignoring her, Nigyo Brugvun turned towards the audience in the tent. With an ear-piercing voice, he gathered the attention of everyone in the tent back to him again.


    "Now everyone listens to me, the goblins have a pattern of splitting a portion of their troops to attack our villages swiftly for the aim of plundering resources while the rest of them holed up in the castle like cowards. Recently, their attacks have been getting much more frequent than in the beginning, and they are even targeting cities near the capital as well. It is time for us to get rid of this menace once and for all, and so we will strike them eight days later, at dawn. From now till the time of assembly, the family heads and the generals are to inspect the warriors'' equipment, battle readiness and prepare them for the battle ahead!"


    "General Brugvun! Come forth!" Nigyo Bruven ordered with a booming voice.


    "Yes! Grandfather!" At his order, General Brugvun stepped forward and immediately knelt down on his knee with his head bowed to Nigyo Brugvun to await his instruction. As one of the strongest Oni in the clan, his heart was pounding as he realised this was his chance to bring honor and prove himself as one of the greatest. The time for him to shine has arrived!


    "You will be tasked as the grand commander for this upcoming battle! Take this jade medallion and assemble the main troops of the clan at the training grounds. I want to see a well-trained army in eight days! Bring glory to our clan! Is that clear?"


    "Crystal clear!" General Brugvun replied loud and clear.


    General Brugvun was feeling intoxicated from the attention he had gained from the others in the tent. It was a prestigious moment for him, and he swore that he would sear this moment into his memory for ages to come. All eyes, including Ysera, were on him as he accepted the position of the grand commander. This unparalleled honor belonged solely to him.


    However, right at this moment, a jarring voice shattered this perfect moment of his. Like an annoying house fly buzzing in his ears, the owner of the voice asked an inconsequential question nonchalantly like it was nothing, seemingly unaware that he was interrupting the sacred ceremony of his.


    "Erm¡­ Not that I want to interrupt or anything, but er¡­ do you guys have some troops to spare? I can lead them in the upcoming battle as well." Venn awkwardly asked the crowd.

 Chapter 51: If I鈥檓 not embarrassed, then the ones who are embarrassed are the others!

    Venn was embarrassed to have so many eyes staring at him from all directions. He could sense the various emotions behind their gazes - angry, frustrated, hostility, but mostly stunned that there could be someone with absolutely no common sense.


    However, it was not that he was so unaware of his surroundings that he had interrupted the appointing ceremony of General Brugvun as the grand commander of the Oni army. He had no other choice! If he does not speak his piece now, he figures it would be too late for him once the chain of command of the Oni army is finalised.


    If he compares Heaven Descent to a normal game, then with the end of the appointing ceremony, it would also spell the end of the game cutscene. It would be fine in most cases, but the important thing was that he could not afford to let the game''s story end that way.


    He had given a lot of thoughts behind the objectives of the quest that he was given by Lilith. The objective was to liberate the Oni Clan from the goblins.


    However, the mission was vague. There are multiple ways that he could approach the quest. Be it through military or diplomatic methods, he was confident that he could make use of his game knowledge to find the most appropriate solution to complete the quest.


    But after attending the war meeting, he discovered that his way of thinking was too optimistic. When he figured out that the time limit notified by the system to complete the quest and the timing of the all-out assault of the Blackwater castle by the Oni clan coincided, he quickly realised his mistake.


    There was no other way to complete the quest! He needed to be present in the battle against the goblins eight days later to liberate the Oni Clan. That battle would be the key to completing the quest.


    But the thing is, he is too weak! He needed to get stronger, and fast! He knew of many different ways to do so, but he had to rely on the power of the others, and that was why he needed the command of a small troop. Without that, everything would end for him.


    In an unfamiliar place like the Oni clan, the places where he could make use of his massive in-game knowledge was too limited. Thus, he could only rely on his other advantage that he had at this moment. And that was Lilith! Like how he uses Granhiert as a front, he is going to do the same thing again!


    Making up his mind, he continued talking, this time, brimming with unfound confidence.


    "Before you reject my request, let me remind you all that I came here at the request of Lilith! Although I am quite weak, it doesn''t matter! Lilith and I share a certain special relationship with each other so it will definitely sadden her if I encounter any unforeseen peril in the upcoming siege against the goblins. As such, I strongly demand bodyguards to protect my safety. If you Onis do not grant my request, I will report to Lilith when I return!"


    "What?"


    "How preposterous of him!"


    "What a shameless human! To think we let him participate in this meeting!"


    The voices of the crowd instantly echoed throughout the tent , all of them were condemning Venn''s outrageous request. Even Ysera was looking at him with disappointed eyes.


    Although Venn was embarrassed from listening to the comments, he stuck it out and stared down at those who made comments at him until they went quiet.


    "If I''m not embarrassed, then the ones who are embarrassed are the others!" He reminded himself of this famous saying.


    Judging from General Brugvun, Ysera and the elders'' reactions, he knew that his position was too weak to command any respect from them, and as such, he fabricated a false relationship with Lilith. Only then could they have granted his request.


    But even so, the Brugvun elder calmly rejected his request after asking the crowd to quiet down.


    "Lord Night Raid. You don''t have to worry about your safety. You can just remain here when the war breaks out. With the high walls of Kersaru to protect you, you are in perfectly safe hands."


    "I am sad to reject your kind proposal. That simply cannot do. I''m a new member under Lilith''s wings in the organisation, and was sent here to participate and help you guys in defeating the goblins. Simply put, I''m here to collect my share of accolades for my future in the organisation. If I am exposed that I did nothing for my mission, my future would be destroyed! I have to participate in the war, and there must be enough troops to be my bodyguards! It would be even better if I''m allowed to stay behind at the battlefield as well!"


    Venn said agitatedly. As he spoke, more and more of his saliva spilled at Nigyo Brugvun''s old, detestable face. Fortunately, he was smart and quick-witted enough to counter the crafty suggestion of the old man.


    "Lord Venn, Ysera has troops to spare in my command. How many troops are you looking at?" Right at this moment with Nigyo Brugvun in a dilemma, Ysera spoke. She did not know what Venn had planned, but she wanted to grant Venn''s request as she had given him her trust back in the manor. Although Venn''s words and actions were shameless, she decided to trust him. Not because of the pill he swallowed, but because of the brightness in his eyes.


    "Four hundred will be ideal." Venn put up four fingers. The more the merrier.


    "No way!" Upon hearing Venn''s reasonable number, General Brugvun jumped up and violently rejected Venn. This outsider had ruined his perfect appointment ceremony and is now stating such an unreasonable demand. Normally he would tear him into pieces with his bare hands, but because of Lilith, he couldn''t and as such, he wanted to cough up blood.


    "As the grand commander of the upcoming war with the goblins, there is no way I will grant your request. Ysera''s Shuten troops are one of the best in the clan in terms of battle prowess, giving you even one of them will heavily affect my battle plan, so you can forget that wishful thinking of yours."


    "Then, how about the militias?" Ysera suggested it to Venn.

 Chapter 52: Duet Performance

    "The militias?"


    Venn''s eyebrows furrowed when he heard Ysera''s solution. It was not that he could not accept the compromise, but he just didn''t feel like compromising, especially after seeing General Brugvun''s scornful attitude.


    Nonetheless, after thinking it through, he accepted Ysera''s proposal.


    In the first place, he intentionally demanded a ridiculous request of four hundred soldiers because he knew that the Oni Clan would never agree to it.


    The real aim of him doing so was such that if he was to suggest another much simpler request right after they rejected him, they would feel a lot more obligated to accept his new request.


    In other words, he was playing a psychological trick on them to increase the chance of getting what he wants.


    It was a famous psychological effect that players had learnt overtime when dealing with NPCs. By managing the expectations of all parties involved, players could extract more information and rewards from the game''s NPCs.


    This method was even applicable in real life. A lot of beggars and pick-up artists had such a trick in their bags of tricks as well to achieve their goals.


    The militias and soldiers that were newly drafted had been Venn''s real aim all along.


    In times of war, it was common for civilians to be drafted in the military like in the case of the Oni clan. With how the goblins had been a thorn in the sight of the Onis for at least nine months, the probability of them having recently drafted a new batch of soldiers was very high.


    His guess was right on the money. To prepare for the final clash against the goblins, the Oni Clan had been constantly recruiting soldiers and converting civilians who had survived against the goblins'' attack into militias.


    Venn had gotten what he had wanted, but rather than feeling happy about it, he was feeling surprised that Ysera had figured out his real aim.


    "Was it a fluke or is she just really intelligent?" Venn couldn''t help but ponder.


    "In that case, I want six hundred militias to protect me." Venn argued with Ysera. He wanted to test if she really understood his intention.


    "The clan can only spare two hundred militias to protect your safety. Is that enough?" Ysera probed.


    "Four hundred."


    "Two hundred and twenty."


    "Three hundred and they must be well-equipped. They have to report to me effectively right now to undergo my training or else I won''t feel safe."


    "Two hundred and fifty well-equipped militias plus my younger sister, Vesra. She will assist you, but she will also supervise your every move. Will Lord Night Raid accept my proposal?"


    "Deal. I must say you really know your way in a bargain."


    "Ysera is thankful for your compliment. I will leave Vesra in your care, please treat my sister nicely."


    Before General Brugvun and the rest could react, Venn and Ysera had finished their duet performance within mere seconds. The Brugvun elder wanted to interrupt them, but he couldn''t find the opportunity to do so.


    Besides, if Venn was really that important to Lilith, he was fine with giving him command over two hundred and fifty militias that would barely affect the grand scheme of things in the battle against the goblins. Those militias would most likely end up as cannon fodders serving as the vanguard in the charge towards the battlefield anyway.


    Also, now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense why Venn was sent here as reinforcement by Lilith despite being so weak. After hearing Venn''s reason, he was utterly convinced and looked down on him even more. Thus, signalling with his eyes, he stopped his grandson from opposing.


    "In that case, I guess I should be on my way since I''m no longer needed in this meeting with my safety ensured. Goodbye everyone, I shall meet you all eight days later! Now Vesra, come along with Brother Night Raid, I need you to lead the way to my men." Venn laughed heartily as he scratched his head, completely oblivious of what the others thought of him.


    "Ah! Wait a moment!"


    Ignoring the protest from Vesra, he dragged Vesra by her skinny wrist, and proceeded to exit the tent, leaving everyone speechless at his shamelessness.


    Venn did not care a single bit about what they thought of him. Whatever happened later in the tent would be of no importance to him, now that he had obtained a small troop at his beck and call.


    ***


    It was already past noon once he and Vesra were finally outside of the tent. He only had a little more than six days left to increase his strength. Time was seriously running out for him.


    Silently walking, he held Vesra''s tender hand along the way in random directions. After travelling a fair distance away from the tent, the look of his eyes finally changed.


    Looking at Vesra who looked almost identical to Ysera, he finally released her hand and calmly said. "I need a detailed map of this region, it would be best if the map could indicate the location of nearby monsters'' habitats. Next, I want you to assemble all of the troops tomorrow at dawn with all their equipment ready. Give me a list of the equipment in their hands as well. I need the map and the equipment list as fast as possible by today. Oh, and I need a pair of daggers to use. My original pair was destroyed earlier in a fight. Lastly, I-"


    "Do you have something against me?" Venn stopped talking halfway when he realised that Vesra was about to draw her daggers out from the dagger sheaths that were tied to her thighs and a trace of anger was visible in her large eyes.


    "What is your relationship with my sister? And why did my understanding and great sister send me to assist you in your shameless and cowardly action? Answer my question!" Vesra angrily demanded, a lot of things had turned strange ever since his father had died.


    After hearing her questions, Venn sighed. It seemed that Ysera had not told her younger sister about the crisis the Shuten family is facing. He seriously had no more time to waste. But ultimately, he decides to explain everything to her.


    "How old are you?"


    "Sixteen."


    "Well then, lead the way to the manor where I am staying. I will explain everything to you along the way."

 Chapter 53: Status of his troops

    Inside a small study room filled with various kinds of darkened wooden furniture, a lone figure was in the room. He had been in the room for some time now. His hair was extremely messy and his eyes were bright red from the overexertion of using them.


    Frantically looking through the documents that were placed messily on the expensive oak table in front of him, he was emitting a scary aura that made people afraid to approach him.


    "One hundred and fifty steel tower shields, two hundred metal chain mails, two hundred forked spears and fifty lightbows. As promised by Ysera, they are really well-equipped." Venn was seriously impressed by the equipment list that Vesra handed to him in the afternoon. He was satisfied that they were of the same quality as the equipment that Ysera''s personal bodyguards were carrying.


    All of the equipment that was supplied by Ysera were of the rare grade for level 20 equipment. Being of the rare grade, these weapons and armors would be equivalent to a level 40 common grade counterpart.


    However, this fact had terrified him as well. In the past, even after nine years, the main bulk of the playerbase were still at around level 40, thus seeing so much expensive equipment being used in the upcoming war had Venn stunned. The battle ahead was much more dangerous than he initially envisioned.


    After spending the entire afternoon explaining to Vesra the dangerous situation surrounding the Shuten family and why he had the full support of her older sister, she gradually accepted his explanation, and promised to help him with everything he requested.


    Nonetheless, to avoid being lied to, immediately after finding out that the war meeting ended, she was careful enough to verify with her sister.


    In the end, by the time the documents Venn requested had arrived to him, it was already in the late afternoon. Thus, essentially wasting yet another day, Venn became extremely vexed about his lack of progress.


    In addition, despite having readily available troops at his disposal, he was at a loss of what to do.


    He was originally going to command the troops he had and clear out monsters for him to gain numerous experience points like how those rich young masters did by telling their subordinates to cordon off the hunting grounds, and hunting on behalf of them until they could deal the final blow to the monsters.


    In this way, just by securing the last hit, it would result in 30% of the total experience point being allocated to him, thereby leading him to an explosion of levels.


    However, when he saw the status of the militias, he knew his plan was going to fail if he did so.


    Compared to the monsters in the nearby vicinity, the militias were too weak to handle them. The average level of the militias was around level 22 while the large horde of monsters that were indicated in the map were all above level 35.


    This discrepancy in levels had proved to be a difficult question for him.


    If he goes after small groups of monsters that were separated from the main force, the experience points he would receive would be abysmal. But if he forces the militias to attack monsters that were clearly ahead in strength than them, there would be risks that some of his troops would be sacrificed, and even worse, they could possibly face a wipe out.


    Scratching his head wildly in frustration, Venn took another look at his game log to find an answer to his dilemma. Two hours ago, after Vesra had assembled the troops and had notified them of their new commander, their statuses were finally available for Venn to view.


    Character: Oni Spearman (Militia)


    Affiliated faction: Oni Clan (Shuten Family)


    Title: 5-men Unit Leader


    Level: 23


    Health: 1350/1350


    Strength: 70 (+7)


    Agility: 30 (+3)


    Stamina: 50


    Wisdom: 6


    Charisma: 10


    Race traits / Skill:


    [Battle Constitution (Passive): The body of an Oni is the perfect machine for war. Born with broad chests and shoulders, muscular forearms and a dexterous body, their strength and agility are a cut above the rest of the other humanoid races since they were born. 10% increase in both strength and agility stats.]


    [Oni Berserker''s Rage (Active): When driven to a corner or when entered into an agitated state, the user will enter into a state of battle frenzy, sacrificing the user''s intelligence in exchange for a temporary boost in power. The horn of the user will give off intense heat and bright light as a byproduct. 50% increase in both strength and agility stats, wisdom drops to zero. Effect will last for a minute. After effect ends, all stats will decrease by 90%.]


    [Intermediate Spear Wielding (Passive): Through practice and lessons, mastery of the spear has reached an intermediate level. Equipping a spear increases damage by 36%]


    [Vital Strike (Active): Focusing all the strength in the forearm to execute a stabbing motion at one singular point with a spear will deal 260% to the target.]


    Character: Oni Archer (Militia)


    Affiliated faction: Oni Clan (Shuten Family)


    Title: 5-men Unit Leader


    Level: 21


    Health: 850/850


    Strength: 52(+5)


    Agility: 34 (+3)


    Stamina: 50


    Wisdom: 8


    Charisma: 14


    [Battle Constitution (Passive): The body of an Oni is the perfect machine for war. Born with broad chests and shoulders, muscular forearms and a dexterous body, their strength and agility are a cut above the rest of the other humanoid races since they were born. 10% increase in both strength and agility stats.]


    [Oni Berserker''s Rage (Active): When driven to a corner or when entered into an agitated state, the user will enter into a state of battle frenzy, sacrificing the user''s intelligence in exchange for a temporary boost in power. The horn of the user will give off intense heat and bright light as a byproduct. 50% increase in both strength and agility stats, wisdom drops to zero. Effect will last for a minute. After effect ends, all stats will decrease by 90%.]


    [Intermediate Bow Mastery (Passive): Through practice and lessons, mastery of the bow has reached an intermediate level. Equipping a spear increases damage by 30%, range increases by 50 metres.]


    [Vital Strike (Active): Focusing all the strength in the forearm to execute a shooting motion at one singular point with a bow will deal 233% to the target.]