The Final Desperation

(You have slain the boss of the Delving Caves)

(You have reached level 30)

Genji walked past the pile of spider corpses and collected his 10th progression card. It's been about 12 hours since he entered the city and the rate of leveling has been moving to a snail's pace. It can't be helped. With every ten levels, the exp required for leveling up increases exponentially.

Not even running dungeons in the 40s can change that. At this moment, Genji was starting to doubt how long it took the top person to reach their current level. It's getting ridiculous. Although it might seem that he only spent 12 hours doing these dungeons, the number of completions he had was astonishing.

With each dungeon taking only a few minutes and Genji diving right back in after finishing, he's completed hundreds of dungeon runs by now.

"I'm starting to think this game was in existence for a long time and it just became public recently. Unless there's an exp-boosting option, I don't see any other way."

Genji stepped through the portal and appeared at the entrance to this dungeon. At this moment, Genji has decided to explore a higher-level dungeon. Since his cards allow him to fight above his level, there's no point in crushing this one anymore. He might as well take the risk and level a little faster.

Lv 65 Dungeon: Weeping Cemetary

Genji soon found himself in a graveyard filled with undead creatures. Zombies, skeletons, ghouls, ghosts. If you can name it, it exists here. Genji pulled away from these swarms of creatures and activated his Enigma card. Then he made a mad dash for the boss's room. Under normal circumstances, this is not a viable option because of all the common mobs in the area, but Genji managed to accomplish this with some clever combinations.

Using shadow energy to mask his presence, Genji then used his class cards to make a distraction to lure the undead creatures away from him. Go figure, undead are attracted to light abilities. He found this in a lower-level undead dungeon. This was part of the reason he dared to attempt a dungeon so far above his level.

"Too bad I can't kill all of these creatures. That's a lot of exp I'm missing out on."

Technically Genji can, but the time spent would not be worth the exp earned. It would be more cost-efficient for Genji to kill the boss and complete the dungeon.

Soon he came across the boss room. Not a room since it's the open area in the middle of the cemetery, but it will do.

(Skeleton Necromancer Boss Lv 67)

Health: 1,238,000

 

Genji started the battle with his dagger summons and managed to chip off about one-sixth of the health. The flame eyes of the skeletal figure bore into Genji's soul and waved its staff. Suddenly, massive amounts of bone spikes shot out from the ground and tried to impale him. Genji quickly used his Shroud of Terror card to teleport away and use his Curse Bearer card to weaken the boss.

When the five black orbs entered the boss's body, he sensed strong resistance from the creature. This was not much of a surprise for Genji since the curse card is a dark attribute effect, the same attribute as the boss. It made sense then, that the boss would have resistance to elements of the same type.

"But what about light attribute?"

Genji took out the priest staff and cast his class spells. As long as it had a low mana consumption, Genji used it. It was more for distraction than anything else. And it worked. He was easily able to keep the boss at bay, but the high concentration of light attracted a large crowd of undead.

Chain heal, Medium heal, Light Heal, Holy smite

Genji cast a bunch of spells and figured out one thing, The useless healing spells did the most damage among all his spells.

"Not much of an option here."

The Lethal Opportunity card exited cooldown and Genji took another sixth of the health. When the boss felt this damage, it slammed its staff and summoned a hoard of undead. It is now phase 2 of the fight. The spamming phase.

Genji calls this the spamming phase because both of them are spamming their skills. The boss spams summoning skills and Genji spams his holy spells. Not very good for Genji's mana pool, but what choice does he have?

"What about poison?"

Jaguar

The green saber materialized and left a small cut on the arm. Other than that, the boss was not affected.

"Yeah, I figured. No flesh means no blood to poison."

Curse Bearer, Enigma

More curses stacked on the boss. With this new addition, the boss experienced a slight delay in its attacks.

"Great. The perfect chance to deal some damage."

Genji summoned his daggers again and made a few of the closer ones ignite with shadow flames. The boss seems to sense the danger and tried to summon a bone wall to block the attack, but the sharpened daggers tore the obstacle apart. Then the rest of the daggers followed and chipped away at the health.

"If there's one thing I have a problem with, it's how unrealistic this physics engine is. I've hit that arm multiple times by now and it's still intact. If this was the real world, I would have snatched that wand and started bashing your stupid head with it. How can you afford to throw all these spells at me if you don't have your casting tool?"

As Genji said that, the flames of the eye sockets flickered strangely, but Genji chalked it to cool art design. Yet Genji did notice the attacks have gotten more condensed. It was as if the boss had gotten smarter or decided to go all out.

"Strange. This power-up had no indication. Why did you start attacking so ferociously after I said that? Could it be because I called you stupid?"

As if the skeleton was caught in the act, it returned to its normal attacking pattern and pretended that nothing had happened.

"That's strange as well. The moment I point it out, it returned to normal. Could it be that these AIs are sentient?"

Then the boss started spamming attacks again for a few seconds before returning to normal. It repeated this cycle of attacks for a while until Genji's dagger card came off cooldown.

"Nah, there's no way. How could that be possible?"

Genji landed his attacks and continued teleporting away from the boss's AOE attacks. For those times the card was on cooldown, he used his Enigma card to get his shadow energy to use Flashstep. With this combination, Genji was able to always have a movement effect on hand.

"That being said, you are sentient, right?"

Genji decided to say some random things to see if the Boss became distracted.

"You must be. There's no way you would have reacted to me otherwise. No matter how you attempt to hide, you froze when I mentioned it. So are all AIs like this? What a strange system. All the NPCs act like they are dumb, but are secretly aware? Why are you trying to hide?"

No answer. Just the same AOE attacks with increased variety.

"Am I just imagining it? That can't be, right? It's not often I mistake something like this. I know. Let's do one last test. If you are sentient, keep the same attack pattern until I finish you off in 15 seconds. No, that doesn't make sense.

Why would you keep the same attack pattern if you know what I am saying? I'm about to kill you so if you do understand, you would change your attack pattern. It can then be justified as the boss going berserk and you can brush me off. Yeah, that settles it. If you change your attack pattern, then I will assume you are sentient. That's honestly preferred because I can have someone to talk to instead of being a weirdo."

The flames in the eye socket flickered vividly as the Skeleton prepared to finish the fight.

"And I have plenty of time today. We can have so much fun. I get to see how many buttons I can push while you pretend to be a normal NPC. It will just be the two of us. Me saying outrageous things and you listening to me. Just you and me for the next couple of days. Heh heh."

A shiver ran down the spine of this lich as it heard what Genji said.

"Oh, cooldown's up. Let's see what your reaction is."

16 daggers materialized next to Genji. Genji then waved his hand and ordered the projectiles to attack the boss. The Skeleton hesitated for a moment before opting to not do anything. After the health bar became empty, the skeleton clenched its chest and fell to its knees. It looked at Genji begrudgingly before the soul flames in its eyes went out.

Then the body fell to the ground and disintegrated into dust.

"I have to say, these cutscenes are well done."

(You have killed the Boss of the Dungeon.)

(You have cleared the Weeping Cemetary.)

(You have leveled up.)

(You have received a progression card.)

 

---

 

After farming the dungeon for a while longer, Genji logged off. He needs to get something to eat since he doesn't have access to his storage space. That and to check up with The Guild.

"Assassin, your offline."

Mage greeted him as soon as he appeared in the gaming room.

"Yeah. Is there anything I can eat?"

"Yes. Cook occasionally puts some leftovers in the fridge. So what's the game like?"

"Strange to say the least. Instead of skills from skill books, we use cards instead. When we kill a boss, we also plunder a card from them. These cards can then be sold for money or used yourself."

Mage handed him a bowl of cold noodles and gestured to the toppings neatly organized on the rack.

"I see. So how about the kill list? Any progress?"

"I'm afraid not. I've been busy grinding levels instead. These people have been around in the game for a while so we're going to need high levels if we want to stand a chance."

"What a pain. Since people enter the game with their real bodies, it's either the game world or the real world. In both cases, it's hard to find them and kill them in a timely fashion."

"What about the others?"

Genji was asking about the other members of The Guild that entered the game with him.

"Nomad and Lumberjack logged off 2 hours ago to settle their needs before jumping back in. As for Sensor and Bladedancer, they haven't logged off."

"How hardcore."

Genji finished his food and returned to his grind which continued for another 18 hours, occasionally taking some breaks in between to play with his shadow energy. If the energy starts to become volatile, Genji would simply cancel the skill and removed any complications. If it caused him injuries, he would use his class cards to heal up. That's why he chose this class after all.

When Genji logged off again, it was time for lunch.

"Hey, Assassin. We got news from Seer. An auction is going to be held in 2 days," Mage told him after lunch, "We're going to need you to go with us."

"What for? Isn't it just an auction?"

"It's not just any auction. It's selling the game cartridge."

"So who else is going?"

"All the heavy hitters."

Meaning everyone that's needed. Genji raised his brow. There's only one reason they need so many people.

"You're going to commit another robbery?"

"Yes."

"Sure. I'll log off the afternoon to prepare."

 

---

 

Genji appeared back in the room as he had promised Mage. He got in the car and followed the group to the site. Morphing had gone ahead and replaced an attendant in the place. If possible she will snatch a carriage and the rest of them will bail her out. As for buying it normally, the group doesn't have anywhere near enough money to compete against the rich psychics. Being a villain group that wants to destroy the government doesn't do well for their wallet.

Genji changed into a tuxedo and formal wear and pretended to be someone with money. He confidently strolled into the avenue and claimed a VIP seat. The others weren't so lucky and had to settle for a normal seat.

"Tsk. Womanizer," Mechanic grumbled to himself.

"Aren't you just jealous of his socializing skills?" Scout asked.

"That's a given. If I had those skills, I would have gotten myself a girlfriend instead of being single the entire time."

The rest of the group laughed at that.

"What are you thinking about?"

The rich lady Genji sweet-talked into bringing him into the VIP room approached him as he stared off into space.

"A lot of things that I shouldn't."

Genji smiled before continuing.

"Doesn't matter. Let's enjoy this night."

The woman's eyes lit up. Yes, let's enjoy this night. For some reason, she got an extortionary feeling about this person. That carefree and calm attitude towards life. She doesn't know many with this outlook, but the few that she does know can't match Genji in temperament. The reason she approached Genji was because of the common trait between people with this mindset. They are all successful.

If they weren't successful when she met them, they are now. It's reasonable to say she had her fair share of connections, yet she's always open to having some more friends. It was this mentality that caused her to invite Genji into her room when she heard he wanted to join the auction.

A small gesture now can make all the difference later.

"If anything catches your eye, just mention it. I'll try my best to get it for you."

"Thank you, but it won't be needed."

Genji wasn't keen on accepting her good intentions. He's here for a heist, not to make friends.

Soon the lights dimmed and the auction started. Most of the items were irrelevant to him as they are put in for the rich people in the audience. After that, it's the items psychics can use. These interested Genji slightly as they are equipment, but nothing fancy. Just uncommon items. Hours later, it was finally time for the main show.

"And lastly, we present a carriage for the rumored game, Etheria Offline! I won't go any further about the details. If you know its value, then bid. If not, don't waste your money. The bidding will start at 1 million with increments no lower than 50,000."

'Seems like Morphing wasn't able to steal it. Otherwise, she would have given off the signal and this auction wouldn't be happening.'

"3 million," Genji decided to fake the bid. Who cares. As long as he gets his hand on the carriage, it would be action time.

"4 million."

"4.3 million"

"4.6 million"

In a blink of an eye, the price reached 7 million. Genji considered placing another fake bid but realized he has no way to justify the amount if someone questions him.

"Well, it really does come back to robbery."

Time passed and soon, the cartridge went for 11.2 million. But as Genji was about to leave the room, he saw that the auctioneer bring in another tray. The same tray as the previous item. Another cartridge.

Genji took a seat and tried to bid again. To his disappointment, the second one went for a higher price than the first. He simply has no way to beat them. As the second cartridge was brought, the auction brought out another. Another attempt and another fail. Then another one. Genji was starting to doubt where the auction got so many of these.

"How about I buy one for you?"

The lady in the room spoke up at this moment. Genji hesitated, but before he could give his response, the lady continued.

"Don't be so quick to reject me. I can see that you really want this mysterious item. How about I buy it as a token of friendship?"

"Then I will shamelessly accept your gesture. May I know your name?"

Hearing him accept a wide smile appeared on her face.

"I am Lina. This is my contact information."

She handed him a business card, which Genji stored away in his pocket.

"Hello, Lina. I am codenamed Assassin."

"Uhhhh."

Lina didn't know how to react to this weird name. Who gives their code name to people, let alone such an ominous one?

"It's fine. Many people show that reaction when they hear that introduction," Genji casually lied through his teeth, but Lina doesn't need to know that.

"20 million," to circumvent the awkwardness she caused, Lina decided to shout a bid.

"22 million."

"25 million. Whoever you are, I'm determined to get this."

"28 million. You're not the only one."

"30 million."

"32 million. How about you give me some face, unknown lady?"

A thin man walked out of the VIP room and into the balcony. When Lina saw who it was, she smiled and walked out to her balcony as well.

"I can say the same to you, Hudson."

"Ah, so it's Lady Mahchinoki. Then I will withdraw."

The man bowed to her and ended the bidding war.

"30 million going once. Going twice. Going thrice. Sold!"

Hearing her win, Lina walked back into the room with her chest up high.

"You seem to know that person."

"He's an acquaintance of a friend."

Genji shrugged and got up.

"Let's go then. I'm not personally interested in the rest of the auction."

"Impatient, aren't you?"

"I can't help it. That cartridge is what I came for."

"So can you tell me about what that item is?"

"No. It would be best if you don't know. The psychic world is turbulent right now so I advise against getting involved."

"Is that so? Then I won't ask."

Lina knew her limits. At best, she's a successful businesswoman. She knows better than to get involved in something as dangerous as psychics. Especially when this promising person warned her against it. His kind disdains to lie. Rather, keeping their word means more to them than anything. That's why she was so willing to make friends with these types of people.

When Genji got his hands on the cartridge, he sent a text to his fellow guild members to prevent them from doing anything unnecessary. Why conduct a high-profile robbery when they already have their target?

"That confirms it. I'm so jealous of that charm of yours," Mechanic sulked in his window seat as they drove back to the base.