“You must be kidding me…” Zeifar cursed under her breath.
In the screen in front of her, Mika’s big stupid face continued to talk, “So, while the unfortunate people continue survival, you more unfortunate folks shall start the second section of Rounds: Selections.”
“???”
“Stellars will pick representatives to lend abilities and money to by the end of this Round—keep in mind, you are allowed to decline offers if you want.”
The screen was replaced by the Terms.
[“Mikhaenil Rainier you fu—”]
[“Why’re you mad at me?! Chang’e said she’d unsubscribe if she didn’t see that Singaporean of yours!”] Mika argued back.
[“…you mean Zac?”]
[“Yes!”]
She glanced at Zac, feeling rather thrown off by the idea. The boy was sobbing onto the table while Raymond consoled him.
‘He caught Chang’e’s attention?’
It was a bit odd.
Chang’e was a high-level, so much that she was considered as a part of the highest Rank of Stellars—her being interested in him was in one way good. But Zeifar had not seen Zac display anything exceptional—nothing of the sort to catch such a person’s eyes.
So what could be the reason for it?
Zeifar felt like there were red alerts going off all over her brain, telling her something felt off.
But was something really off? Was it not just in her head?
With all that was going on, Zeifar wondered if maybe her brain was going into some sort of survival mode—maybe her mind was so on edge that she was seeing problems in things even when they weren’t there?
“…” ‘That doesn’t sound like a coping mechanism I’d use though.’
Well, maybe not.
****
[Terms: Clear as many Dungeons as possible.
Duration: 10 Hours]
“They want to decide within 10 hours?” Ethan asked.
“I suppose to them it’s more like how rich people make bets on who will win, ya’ know?” Adrian replied.
“Hey!” Kazerin smacked his arm, “Not all rich people are like that okay?!”
“Kaz…you used to make bets back in high school…”
The Kotrov’s eyes grew big as she smacked the Nadir’s arm, “No I didn’t!”
“We’ve known each other since childhood…”
Ethan jokingly asked, “What sort of bets?”
Zeifar grinned, “Well—mmph!” Kazerin covered the girl’s mouth with her hand. Ethan moved a bit away in surprise, “…never mind,” it probably was not very safe.
“But isn’t Kazerin older than Zeif?” Adrian asked. Ethan gave him a confused look, “What?”
Adrian looked up at the other boy, “You didn’t know? Kazerin’s like three years older.”
He looked at Kazerin, “You are? Wait—how old are all of you?”
Adrian seemed surprised that he asked so late, “Well, I’m near uh, 26?”
“Ah right, normal,” Ethan muttered, “If I’m 26…yeah.”
“You’re 26?!” They all exclaimed.
“…yeah??” he replied.
Zeifar blinked, visibly surprised, “I thought you were like—just outta’ college.”
“But I…I did military service before moving to Russia?”
“Oh.”
“You’re younger than me, though,” Kazerin sighed.
He looked at her, waiting for her to say it.
If she was three years older than Zeifar then at least…
“28, yeah.”
“WHAT?!” Ethan suddenly felt like his whole life was a lie.
He looked at Zeifar, who had already walked ahead to her car, “But…if she’s 25…” simply, the math was not mathing.
“Oh, she uh, graduated college really early. Smart kids, man, I dunno’” Adrian shrugged, “And she used to do club-racing in uni, where she got scouted and all…so there’s her age yeah.”
‘…but…25?’
****
[Maximum for 1 Dungeon: 3 Contestants.]
“What do we do?’ Danielle asked.
Zeifar shrugged, “3,3,2?”
They all shuffled around uncomfortably.
“It’s not always necessary to be in a big group, guys. You’re all pretty capable by yourselves,” she sighed.
A bit more convinced, they chose partners.
Zeifar counted her teammates, “Ray, Xavi and Kaz… okay them,” It caught their attention that she had gotten on nickname terms with all of them.
“So that leaves Zac and Dan with me…but as far as I remember, you two have somewhere to go?”
“Ah…yeah,” Danielle rubbed her neck.
“Alright then,” Zeifar casually continued.
Shocked, Danielle asked, “Is it really..?”
“I told you, you can go wherever you want. You’re a grown adult,” the girl yawned. She didn’t add the fact that she knew exactly where they were going.
“Let’s meet after 10 hours. Uninjured. “
The others nodded frantically. Their very young parental figure made a point to emphasize the word ‘uninjured’.
“So you’ll go alone?” Adrian asked, concerned.
“Maybe?” the girl laughed, walking out the large main gates of the mansion, the noise of her heavy boots audible until they weren’t.
****
[To open a Dungeon, you must kill a monster and use the stone earned. Tier of monster decides difficulty level of Dungeon.
Note: Dungeon cannot be escaped before being cleared.]
Zeifar sighed and shot a Tier-7 Monster.
The System had not shown anything since that day, it had been quite the same as ever, except for the constant, [Are you okay, Master?], every night when she had to tell the damned System goodnight for some reason.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Woahhh,” she sarcastically said, staring at the Dungeon-gate. It was so underwhelming.
“Every video game ever? Ya’ll should be copyrighted for design-stealing, man,” she muttered, walking in through the overly bright portal.
[Stellar: ‘Lady of Serpents’ says that is the original design and video games are the real thieves.]
Zeifar rolled her eyes. Who knew Medusa was a nerd?
[You have entered a Tier-7 Dungeon. Good Luck!]
“Thanks, System,” she mumbled, taking in the odd surroundings.
[No problem, Master! Have fun!}
Oh god.
****
Dungeons, basically, were monster infiltrated places with either a ‘Final Boss’ of sorts, or a core protected by other monsters which had to be shattered to leave.
Adrian, Ethan and Keilan had already cleared out a Dungeon.
Keilan walked behind the two of them, feeling like he should’ve just gone with Zeifar.
“They’ve been acting like I’m not here for 2 hours already,” he muttered, cursing in Spanish.
Two annoyed brown eyes locked into his, “Who the hell are you cursing at?” a slightly different Spanish.
Ethan stared at the Mexican and the Spanish, who were on some sort of cursing-war.
“Goodness,” he mumbled in a very annoyed Seoul-dialect Korean, “Troublesome little…”
The two flinched, turning to him, “…sorry…”
“Behave yourselves,” he scolded, walking ahead.
“Excuse me?” Adrian asked.
“You’re excused.”
“I’m the oldest son, me!”
“Okay, and?” Ethan retorted.
“She left me in charge!”
The two continued bickering as Keilan muttered,
“You guys aren’t actually a family…”
“SHUT UP, MIDDLE CHILD!” they both yelled, eyes on fire.
Taken aback, he yelled back, “How am I the mid—THERE ARE EIGHT OF US!”
****
Zeifar sneezed, “I swear they’re talking about me.”
[Congratulations on clearing 10 Dungeons, Master! Though that’s expected from you!]
“This thing still thinks I’m the original guy,” she realized. The original master must have been quite strong if clearing 10 Dungeons was ‘to be expected.’
“You cleared 10 in 2 hours? Alone?!” Mira yelled on the call.
“Yeah, yeah, two hours is a long time okay,” Zeifar replied.
Mira sighed, “Gosh. Anyways, you secured the funds right?”
Her sister laughed, “Of course I did—not even a Stellar would be able to find them.”
“Thanks, I’ll call you back later.” The call ended.
****
It was utterly empty. The feeling of meaninglessness.
[Stellar: ‘Guardian of Graves’ wishes to see you clear more high-tier Dungeons. +5000 Sterlings.]
[Stellar: ‘Master of Darkness’ agrees but does not agree. +5500 Sterlings.]
She wondered if Persephone and Anubis were legit arguing all the time, telling each other to stop ‘flexing’ in the chats. She laughed to herself, the thought was cute.
[Many Stellars are mesmerized by your charm.]
“What the f…” she stared at the message, “Eh?!”
[Stellar: ‘Master of Darkness’ says you are adorable. +4000 Sterlings.]
[Stellar: ‘Beauty of the Moon’ advices her fellow Stellars to not use such odd methods to earn the favor of contestants.]
Huh. Chang’e was watching her, not Zac?
‘Maybe she’s watching both,” which was possible, but probably required quite a lot of money.
Another message.
[Stellar: ‘King of Afterlife’s Throne’ added +8000 Sterlings.]
Wait a minute…
Anubis’ boss??? Osiris??
[“MIKA!”]
Mika fell out of his chair, which he had been sleeping in.
[“M-mademoiselle?”] he asked, checking around his office to make sure nobody had noticed.
[“I MANAGED ANOTHER TOP LEVEL!”]
“What?” he muttered, checking his channel, [“Oh my…”]
The amount of profit had suddenly skyrocketed.
[“Mademoiselle, it isn’t just one…Osiris, Persephone, Hades…”]
Wait a minute.
Mika double-checked the names.
Why were there so many Underworld Stellars?
And,
Who the hell was [‘Crown of Stars’]?
[“What?”] Zeifar asked.
[“…Nothing.”]
There was only one person that could be.
And it made his blood boil.
****
“She gave you an extra gun?” Xavier asked, astonished, “What reality is this, where the middle child is so favored?”
Raymond smugly shook his head, “Dunno’, but it’s doing me good,” then he stopped for a moment, “But how am I a middle one if there’s eight?”
The one to answer him was Kazerin, “Because one of us will be leaving soon.”
“What?”
The three stood in silence while Raymond thought it through.
“Oh…”
He felt his grip tighten around the gun in his hand, his breathing felt like someone had put fire in his lungs.
The other two took a few steps back.
Blinding blue light surrounded Raymond like it was part of him, blazing white—Xavier could feel heat radiating from him.
“Ray…remember, Zeifar said…” he reminded.
The light flickered as two blue eyes looked into his, Xavier flinched—Raymond’s eyes used to be softer, yet now there was something completely different from that. His own eyes moved away, it was hard to maintain eye contact.
“Oh,” Raymond realized what he had just done, “Right, let’s just…go.”
Kazerin sighed and told them not to get lost, walking off with the sound of her designer heels leaving them behind.
“Ray, let’s go?” Xavier pulled him by his jacked sleeve.
Raymond’s white hair shook, his eyes would not move away from his feet, “Xavi, if another one leaves…Zeifar she…” ‘Will she be okay?’ was the question. Xavier knew what he meant, but he himself was not so sure, “We can only hope she will be. We don’t know her well enough to know that,” he answered, walking along.
The words stuck to Raymond. The fact that they really did not know Zeifar—they knew nothing of the person who would do the most dangerous things for them without question. Someone who seemed to know everything, about them, about the System. And yet,
All they knew was that she was Zeifar Nadir, a racer. An ex-colleague.
That was it.
That was the extent of their knowledge.
*****
“And that’s betting 8,000…” the host said, “Now we have table 2, seat 20 on the 2nd floor going for 20,000… going 1, 2, 3…the deal has been signed. The sword has been sold.”
Attending an auction in the middle of all this was surely annoying, but the crossbow Zeifar had bought was not very compatible with her skills—she’d given it to Ethan, whose abilities were the same Category.
Doing things with basic weapons was becoming risky—the level and tier of monsters was increasing and so was the difficulty of Dungeons.
“I’ve never fought with a sword...” she muttered to herself.
“Then why a sword?” an unfamiliar voice whispered next to her.
Of course, nobody knew the other’s identity through the intricate to basic masks each bidder wore. Privacy was extremely important, after all.
Two pinkish eyes—no, actually, one was violet. Pink and violet, in a different setting it would have been cute.
“You didn’t answer my question, miss,” the boy whispered. A kid, for sure.
“I was trying to think for an answer,” she whispered back.
He raised an eyebrow. He had never met anyone so odd.
“You spent so much on that thing, and you aren’t even sure why you bought it?” he laughed. It was funny.
The pretty lady next to him, though he couldn’t really see her face, laughed and nodded, “Isn’t that why they hate rich people? Because we spend our money for nothing?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. He blinked a few times to check…were her eyes orange? It was a very specific sunset-tone, almost red but brighter, where did he know those eyes from?
Oh!
‘Watch out for anyone with bright orange eyes,’ his Stellar had sent him a message earlier. He was one of the first people in Dubai to become a Stellar’s representative.
“You seem a little…distracted,” she whispered.
“Hmm? Oh—no—” what was he doing?
“Anyways,” Zeifar Nadir laughed, “Nice meeting you,” she got up.
“W-wait,” he stammered, “Can I talk to you?”
*****
“Cyrus Rayne, nice to meet you.”
Zeifar smiled, “Zeifar Nadir, I’ve met your sister.”
The boy made a face, “Calypso?”
She nodded, though she had not expected the two Irish heirs to be in Dubai.
“Are all the rich people in Dubai?” she wondered.
“Actually, most are—we came to watch the Saudi Cup finals but…” Cyrus motioned around them and said, “You know how it is.”
“So, what’s with asking for coffee?” she asked, taking a sip, “I’m surprised there are still surviving cafes.”
“This belongs to Cal, she’s not here though,” he answered, “I’ve made sure this place is safe—my Stellar put a barrier around it,” explained, glancing at her.
The word ‘Stellar’ seemed to have caught her attention. She made an interested face and asked, “So you’re the first, the one I saw that announcement about four hours ago?”
He nodded, “I am.”
She already knew that.
Zeifar knew that the moment she saw him, but asking felt polite, manners were necessary in life.
“And to answer your other question…” the candy-eyes looked at her, “I want to make a sort of—”
“Deal?”
He grinned, “Sorta’”
Zeifar laughed, “So what is it?”
“I need to become stronger,” Cyrus said. Zeifar continued listening without commenting, her legs crossed over with her jacket hanging over the chair. The darkness of the café made her new title as ‘CEO’ of Verena quite fitting.
“You help me level up.”
“And?”
“I help you with whatever you want.”
The other laughed, leaning into the table, and asked, “Are you dense, desperate, or a risk-taker?”
Cyrus replied, “An extremely desperate risk-taker who knows you were the Strongest in Dubai before Reynold.”
Zeifar broke out in laughter, clearly satisfied—only a little shook too. She had not expected anyone to know—but,
[Cyrus Rayne
Stellar: ‘Lover of Beauty’]
Aphrodite definitely knew.
‘So that’s why Aphrodite’s suddenly watching Dubai,’ she thought to herself.
“Fine, I’ll accept this ‘deal’,” she decided, writing her phone number on a tissue, “Text me about it.”
“You don’t have terms for the deal?” Cyrus asked.
She smiled, “You’re thorough, hmm? I’ll text it. Gotta’ go.”
“To where?” he asked, getting up as well. Zeifar smiled, “Work.”
****
“Coffee?! Are you kidding me?!”
“What the hell are you doing he—won’t the cameras—” Zeifar could not find words.
Mika made a frustrated face, “No, they can’t see us. We’re in my house.”
“Wha…oh what the hell,” Zeifar looked around, “When did we get here?”
“Teleportation. Now answer!”
The girl yawned, sitting down on a chair in the dining room, “Answer what?”
“You seriously—you’re gaslighting me aren’t you?” he squinted at her, his arms crossed.
She laughed, “Am I?”
Zeifar raised her eyebrows, realizing Mika was pouting, “You’re a grown man…gosh, why are you even mad? Was the coffee poisoned?”
“No!”
She looked more confused, “Then?”
“…” Mika mumbled.
“What?” what the hell was this boy saying?
His green eyes looked at hers, clearly embarrassed, even his ears were red, “That was like—some, some weird stranger! How can you get coffee with some stranger?!”
“Huh? But I know his sister???” she replied, pouring water into a glass, “And then aren’t you a stranger too?”
“…”
“Sorry, was that rude?”
“Yes..” the sad looking boy replied, sitting down like an angry child.
‘How did I end up like this?’ Zeifar thought to herself, sighing out loud.
“Drink this,” she gave him the glass. Mika stared at it while taking it, “Wait…why am I annoyed?” he asked, blinking. No really, why was he annoyed?
Zeifar began laughing at this. Mika put the glass down and looked up at her, “I’m so confused right now—but still, the guy was really annoying, seriously!” he explained, “Like his air was annoy—mmph—*wharisdis?” (“What is this”)
“It’s called a hug, and that guy was a kid, he was not annoying.”
“Hewashzz!!!” (“He was”)
“No, you’re being childish.”
“Nohewashannoyeen!!!” (“No he was annoying”)
*************