“Woohoo! Hello everyone, my name is Lester! The number of participants seems to have finally reached 50. We can now start the Death Cave challenge. Woohoo!”

Lester’s appearance scared all the players. They, who had not seen the mascot before, were surprised at the sight of a talking panda.

“What’s that?”

“Is that a talking panda?”

“Doesn’t it look a bit too thin to be a panda?”

Ryuji joined the party with a mouth full of sweets. Looking at the expression of bliss in his face, Shesmu couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Seems like you really enjoyed yourself,” he said.

“A little bit too much.” Sakura shook her head and sighed at the sight of Ryuji.

The latter took his time swallowing all the food in his mouth before saying, “Dude, you should really try out these little cookies they have. I have never tasted anything so sweet.”

Sakura looked at the handful of cookies Ryuji was holding before she said, “Nah, I think I’m gonna pass on that.”

“Even more for me then.”

Ryuji kept stuffing his mouth while Lester explained the content of the challenge.

“Woohoo! Congratulations to everyone who has made it this far. You have already reached past 70% of the average contestants. You can be proud of yourself. Woohoo!”

Lester’s announcement created a fuss within the players.

“What does he mean? There shouldn't be any other group of players that reached the tower before us.”

“Maybe he means the NPCs? I heard that they use this place as a rite of passage before they stop being an apprentice.”

“Hey, Lester was your name, right? If we pass this floor, what percentage would that make us?” One of the players in the crowd asked.

Lester scratched his chin a little bit and looked up before his face beamed as he reached the answer. “Woohoo! That would push you to the 90%.” His smile then turned sinister, his eyes full of poison as he continued, “That is if you do pass, that is.”

A suffocating silence engulfed the palace chamber. Everyone’s eyes were focused on Lester and Lester alone. That’s until the silence was broken by a loud gulp.

Ryuji gulped down all the cookies he had on his hand before washing it over with some apple juice. “Damn, those cookies are really good. You really should have tried them, Sakura.”

Sakura’s cheeks turned beet red. “Now is really not the time, Ryuji.”

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Confused, Ryuji turned around and looked at Lester. “Oh, a panda?”

“Woohoo! My name is Lester, at your service. Woohoo!” Lester responded to Ryuji with a bow.

“Ah, how weird. A talking panda? I have never seen anything like that.”

While Sakura was embarrassed at being the center of attention along with Ryuji, Shesmu just smiled. He looked at Ryuji and said, “Ryu, Lester said that only 10% of the contestants passed this stage. What do you say to that?”

Ryuji’s eyes opened up at Shesmu’s statement. “Oh? Only 10%? So if we pass this trial, we’re one of the best in the world, no?”

“Yep, exactly.”

Shesmu’s response made Ryuji grin from ear to ear. “Then we definitely need to win.” He then looked at Lester with a puzzled expression. “But I have a question for you, talking panda Lester. What’s the highest floor ever reached?”

Ryuji’s question surprised Lester. For a second, he dropped his cutesy act and grinned manically at Ryuji. “Heh? You think you can reach past the highest floor ever reached? Interesting. Sure, I can tell you that. The highest floor to have ever been reached is the tenth, and only one person has ever reached that far.”

“Master, we definitely cannot lose here!”

With as much enthusiasm as Ryuji’s shout, Sakura punched his head.

“Ouch, that hurts.”

“Yes, as much as the cringe I have inside. Goddammit, Ryu, you really be embarrassing me sometimes.”

All the sudden turn arounds made Shesmu no longer know how to react. In the end, he just shrugged and let the situation progress however it wanted.

“Your party really has all kinds of nutjobs, Shesmu.” Hector made his way towards the latter and gave him a pat on the back. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have tried to poach all of them.”

“That’s because you only look at the stylish shoes and not at the child labor,” Shesmu responded. “They can be annoying as hell too.”

“Hey, what did you say, Shes?!”

Sakura’s angry shout made Shesmu raise his hand and back out. “Nothing, nothing, it was just a joke.”

“Yeah, it better be,” She replied with a humph. The interaction between the two made Hector chuckle, while Ryuji was just looking around confused, with a hand full of candies he got from who knows where.

“Well, I’ll let you guys be. See you on the other side.”

“Cya,” Shesmu responded.

With everyone’s attention still focused on them, Shesmu couldn’t help but look back at Lester. The talking panda coughed twice to make himself the center of focus once again.

“I assume that was the last question. Woohoo! Now it’s time for the third trial!” He brought out a small wand from the chest pocket of his black suit before chanting an incantation no human ear could decipher.

With a poof, a small portal appeared behind him.

“Woohoo! The portal behind me will send you to the location of the third trial. Be careful once you are there, you wouldn’t be able to respawn inside the tower like you could on the second floor. If you die, you’re out of the game! Woohoo!”

Players one by one made their way to the blue portal. Arthur’s team, the assassin’s, Hector’s team, Shesmu could recognize many figures from the players that marched forward. Even the redheaded Blake was still not out of the challenge.

Shesmu looked around the palace room before his eyes landed on Ryan.

“Oh, almost forgot you,” He whispered. He made his way toward Ryan, picked him up, before turning around towards the rest of his party.

“Okay guys, let’s go.”

“Okay, master.”

While Ryuji replied joyfully, Sakura was hesitant. “Eh, can you wait a second.” She then turned towards the panda. “It’s just that I have one last question for you, Lester. How many floors are there in the tower?”

“Hmm, isn’t there ten?” Ryuji asked.

“Woohoo! That’s just the highest floor any contestant has reached,” Lester responded. His eyes then turned dark as his mouth formed into a grin. “The actual highest floor is twenty.”