Jake and his team were able to enter the second floor of The Condemned Dungeon.
The influx of countless players gunning for the legendary boss' drop and possibly a class caused the second floor to lack monsters. If anyone wanted, they could ignore all hazards and get down to the dungeon boss' cave's feet.
It was that effortless nowadays.
Amidst this chaos, Jake had found a silver lining. No one wanted to mine!
Ever since they appeared worldwide, dungeons have been known to be more hazardous mines. Their unnatural, unique, and complex structure has brought various wonders to the fantasy world.
If it hadn't been for players who had been here for months, Jake would have had to face traps, more monsters, and natural hazards, which would have made his gameplay much more enjoyable.
It was one of many flaws in his slow gameplay.
"ORA! ORA! ORA!"
"ORA! ORA! ORA!"
Jake wasn't one of those people to think about the inevitable. He enjoyed the thrill of gaining more resources and exercising, his body perspiring as he swung his pickax against the steel vein!
Prince had initiated another challenge.
Wukong had nothing to say about that and silently worked alongside his master. He enjoyed it.
Sin was standing across them, leaning against the wall. She kept her eyes on her teammates' stamina.
With the game system, she needed only approval from either to see through their stamina bars. But when it came to Wukong, she could only rely on her astute eye and experience.
It was another kind of practice that Sin needed and enjoyed.
She was also the representative of the team now that men were engaged in the labor.
A few players had picked up the grunts, strikes, and thunderous cries of two men. They would enter the corridor to check on them, only to see two men mining as though their lives depended on it.
The players' reactions depended on their relationship with the trio.
Players who hadn't been in the dungeon before would chuckle at them and either turn around or go past them. Those who had fought against the hot, the irregular, and the rich would twist their faces in anger and face them with their backs for a few heavy seconds before leaving the corridor.
Those expressions were so amusing that Sin told her brother and Jake to stop mining each time the face she recognized came to check on them.
Jake smirked. He had previously been the top player in an MOBA game and had learned about gamers' personalities. Teasing and triggering others was in his blood—at least in gaming blood.
Multi-player games were always interesting because players knew someone behind the other screen was fuming, cursing, or biting upon their failure. All chat opened ways to interact with those players and it only snowballed from here.
Immersive virtual reality, however, allows all players to see those emotions in person.
In addition to people being more liable to expose their real selves in the games, being able to see faces and feelings directly caused the competition to be more fierce and made fighting to death more common.
One could say that the lawless zones existed precisely because of it.
Sin suddenly said, "Hey, another team is here."
Her side glance already rested on the new visitors.
This time, the players who had checked on them wore masks of disbelief. Their countenance was unique, and their lips were parted so wide that at least two eggs could be nested there.
Sin's lips curved up slightly.
Jake chuckled.
Prince took off his helmet and wiped his forehead. He cracked his neck and put the helmet back on before returning to work.
He was slower this time as he invited everyone for a party talk.
Everyone joined the voice chat.
Prince said, "We should steal that legendary boss."
Jake curtly looked at the man with a glance before striking the ore. He believed that he'd be able to get a legendary trace out of the legendary boss.
He hadn't fought that many monsters, but Cerberus was a name similar to Fenrir, Odin, and Medusa! There had to be a trace of the legendary existence within that boss!
Jake also wanted to enter the golden door. the-place-NovelFire
After all, he was a selfish player and human. It was for that reason that he understood Prince's intent.
Prince said, "We don't know what those high-level guilds are plotting, but they must have gleaned enough information about the world to have a clue or two. They will be able to take down Cerberus down the line. Time's against us."
He looked over his shoulder at his sister.
There was a high chance she could hurt Cerberus.
Prince himself believed he would be able to deal damage to him.
Just like Jake kept the information about a potential legendary trace to himself, Prince and Sin kept the information about their classes to themselves.
Jake squeezed his brain.
He couldn't reveal too much.
"Are we gonna bet on my and Odin's arrow?" Jake asked. He had told this much to the siblings before, so there was no need to hide it. He was sure Prince had thought about that powerful arrow that had awakened Cerberus.
He wouldn't have brought out that topic otherwise.
Prince nodded, "We can hide in the invisible zone and wait for the moment to strike! You know how a monster's drop doesn't go to the inventory but pops out around the corpse? We can try stealing the drop or even enter the golden door with our invisible zone, but killing Cerberus is way too enticing! It's like a forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve couldn't eat! My artistic—"
Sin interjected, "Shut up." She cut off Prince's speech about the art and said, "The dungeon boss' cave is constantly overseen by high-level players and representatives of the three guilds behind the outside zone. They have measures against invisible presences. They aren't that stupid."
Prince spoke sharply, "True... what would have I done without you, my dear sister?"
Ignoring him, Sin turned her eyes to Jake.
He smiled, "We'd need a location from which we can release a surprise attack."
She didn't react. It seemed she wanted to hear more.
Jake thought about it for a second and said, "If we could come to this conclusion, so could anyone else. There's a chance the high-level guild is currently searching for a hidden path to the dungeon boss' cave or even making it!"
Sin smiled, "That's what I thought as well. The dungeon appears to be under the control of the three guilds. If no one finds a hidden path or fails to make it, the discord will ensue."
'Discord... sounds like chaos,' Jake's eyes gleamed, turning into jades.
It was quite a handsome look he had decided to wear now.
"We should get to the third floor, hide in our invisible zone, and track anyone we find suspicious," Sin took the mantle of the team, passing down the next orders.
Prince and Jake were on board with them!