Chereads / Project:Zerø / Chapter 10 - Reminiscences

Chapter 10 - Reminiscences

Arcana Tower.

That is the name of the Central Building.

[Arcana Tower]

[Effect 1: Doubles the effects of other buildings.]

Yes, Codex Labyrinth is create your own city - defense game that makes Zypher collect items for free, and the only setback is time.

[Quest Completed.]

Received : Radar Tower.

[You can choose another building to build in the city.]

[Linked Quest 1: Survive the first waveof monsters.]

"First wave?"

Suddenly, a screech was heard not far from the central building. There, 10 Blood Bats can be seen flying towards the building.

"What? Nobody told me that this will start like this!"

Without any weapon in hand, Zypher decided to take the stones on the floor to hit the bats.

The bats saw the stones are slow, so they dodged it and attacked the human who threw stones at them.

"What's this?"

Zypher ran as fast as he could as he saw the bats going to him. In fact, he was scared shit, because he knows that he can't overpower them.

But, being the brain of Caelestia, Zypher knows how to deal with the sudden dilemma.

If you can't beat them, blind them.

If he can use rocks, he can use the dirt and sand all over the place.

As the bats were slowly catching up, a handful of dirt was thrown to them.

Echolocation is good for a bat, but a sudeen shout may injure their eardrums, no?

"YOU STUPID BATS!"

Zypher shouted at the top of his lungs.

The bats that are near him suddenly lost track of their prey as they were suddenly blinded and deafened.

With that, stones continuously hit them, and as a send-off gift to them.

"Blood Missile!" The skill he got from Missile Bat was used. Due to his low vitality, he can only use one Blood Missile upon his health being filled.

Also, using Blood Missile as soon as his health regenerates, or upon hitting the health value above the skill cost, he will be inflicted by a random debuff, poison included.

In this scenario, he didn't use another one for the missiles killed the bats fast.

[You have completed the quest.]

[Rewards:]

10 grams of Blood Ore

20 Blood Bat Wings

40 Blood Bat Fangs

60 Blood Bat Claws

"WOAH!"

The drop rates of the bats is 100%, and the drops are not damaged.

And so, the linked quest was cleared.

And what happened next was a hassle.

[Linked Quest 2 has been received.]

[Linked Quest 2 Rewards obtained.]

[Linked Quest 3 has been received.]

[Linked Quest 3 Rewards obtained.]

[Linked Quest 4 has been ...]

[Linked Quest 4 Rewards...]

[Linked Quest 5...]

[Linked Quest...]

By the end of Quest 10, Zypher now has three buildings: The Arcana Tower, the Herb Garden and the Production Hall.

There is also a walls in the perimeter. It is almost 10 meters high.

There are also four towers now - Radar, Sniper, Wave and Drone Tower. They are located above the walls, and are on the East side.

The Radar tower adds range to other towers. Basically, it's like a scope to a sniper.

The Sniper tower is as its name, kills the enemies from afar. The farther, the higher the damage.

The Wave Tower is a bit special, as it makes the land troops go back to where they came from by using water.

The Drone Tower releases Drones to scout and kill enemies.

The defense, for now, only has the Eastern side. Although Zypher has a theory a out it, he did not conclude it early.

Also, the dungeon core was synthesized by the Labyrinth, and now, Shadow Bats and Blood Bats come from time to time.

But, a problem occured to him.

"The drops are not as many as when I killed them."

Yes, in the span of a few hours, he only got 2 grams of Blood Ore, a few wings, fangs and claws. This means that he can not exploit the ability that much.

But, 1 is better than 0. So, he decided to let it be, and log out for the day. It was his sixth day of offline and online, and tomorrow is one week of the death of his brother.

PSSHH!

The lid of the capsule opened as Zaon woke up from the game cabin.

Stretching his body, he walked towards his bed, and flopped his body.

A week after Zander died, and almost three weeks into the game.

That is also the time he had arrived in this timeline.

A bit too fast, but he met the Codex, two underlings of the 7th Apostle, and a team of Magic Night Guild.

But, this development is slower than his past life. In fact, a few more days into the game in his past life, because of a missed play, Magic Night will lose a huge clue on the 7th Disciple, and only know of it once the Caelestia Guild retrace the events.

But now, Zaon won't let the four guilds do their things.

After doing a light exercise and eating, he took a bath and checked his schedule for today.

It was to visit the pregnant Lara and buy some gym equipments for his health.

Yes, Celloid Fluid may be useful, but nothing beats the old fashioned exercise to temper the body.

In truth, the stronger the body, the better it is to play the game, as the controls are being manual, and no automatic way to play the game.

For example, the blacksmithing uses the muscles' true strength, and the stat are just additional to it.

Even if you have a high strength stat, if your muscles are weak in real life, you will just have heavy muscles in the game, and will just be a debuff to the player.

And so, he decided to at least get some equipments to aid his growth in the game.

He wore a green polo shirt and denim shorts with a pair of top sider shoes. He then wore his glasses and put some pomade on his hair.

Taking out his keys, he patted his clothes and decided to take the stairs rather than the elevator. For him, physical activities is better than anything else.

"Woah! Where's the date today?" A female voice suddenly said as he went down.

This was Brix, the neighbor's daughter, Brianna.

She is a bit taller than Zypher, but is younger than him by almost half a year.

"No dates, just filial obligations and some self-love items." Zaon said as he walked outside the house.

"You'll grow old alone in your life." Brianna joked as she put her arms in her sides.

"What? Wanna grow old with me?" Saying that, Zaon smiled at Brianna, and this made her face go red.

"And now, you're rizzing me up?" With a red face, she made a difficult expression, but was betrayed by it as Zaon laughed hard seeing her.

"What? Laughing at a lady is considered a crime!"

"And what crime exactly?" Holding his stomach, Zaon looked at the lady in front of him.

"You stole a heart." Brianna said softly, soft enough not to be heard.

"What? What did you say?" Zaon said as he wiped the tears on his eyes.

"Nothing, you idiot." She said as she ran off towards her house.

"I'll let dad know! Hmph!" With a final snort, she left Zaon alone in the streets.

Zaon waved at her, and when she was out of sight, she started walking towards the main road to hail a cab.

As he was walking, memories of the place played by his mind.

This was the place where he and Zander always talk when he has problems, or even have fun when the rain comes.

One week is still not enough to forget the pain, the heaviness is pushing down, but he has to live by himself now.

And he have to realize his brother's dream, although it is just in game.

A few moments later, he arrived at the main road, and was walking down to the bay of the cabs.

From there, until he arrived at Lara's compound, he can't help but be sad as he looked at the familiar, but not familiar places.

In his past life, and even in this life, these places were filled with sadness, happiness, success, failure as well as laughter and solemness.

One week ago, he was killed, but he isn't thinking about it. He was more of thinking what will happen now.

Yes, he knows the future, but will it be a docile wise dragon, or a hostile rebellious tiger.

Another thing is to protect Laurie, and the Caelestia Guild.

He can't also put his head on the things in the game, as it is proceeding fast, and he cannot process all of them yet.

Just like a brain, his overflows from the information from his past, the future that might happen, and the present that needs to be taken care of.

"Sir, we're here." The driver said as he pulled up on the curb.

"Thanks." Zaon gave a few Myrrhs to the driver as he went out of the cab.

Lara's house is one block away, but Zaon decided to first take flowers for her.

He took some tulips, as they were her favorite. He also added some hyacinths and lavender to the bouquet.

"May I have these arranged?" Zaon said to the florist as she smilef at him.

"Serenity and growth, but I think you got the wrong color for your tulips." The florist said as she pulled the yellow ones from the other vases.

"Serenity, growth and hope. That's a good combination now."

"Wow, I just thought that all flowers have one meaning." Zaon said as he took the bouquet from the florist.

"Yes, but not all. Colors also speaks for themselves. Art is cognitive, you know?" The florist smiled as she looked at Zaon.

"Young man, sometimes, new begginings are not bad, but always remember that the first steps are the important ones." The florist said as she walked Zypher out of the store.

"Thank you. I will remember that." He said as he walked down the block to visit Lara.

Upon arriving, he knocked on the door, only to see a pale Lara with her eyes a little bit swollen eyes.

The redness in her shows that she her eyes remained opened for a long time. Her face became a little bit thin, and her hair messy.

The room was also in a mess, and a few food packs were in the floor.

Seeing him, Lara can't help but to hug him and cried out loud.

The neighbors that were startled were looking at them, but Zaon just hugged her tightly and caressed her back.

Zaon remembered that this was also the time Lara will get a capsule for herself.

Although Zander and her were developers of the game, Zander made sure that he played the game, and enjoy it.

Lara thought of it as some nuisance, but it was the main reason she moved on from all the pain, especially when she gave birth to Laurie.

Zaon doesn't want to change the timeline as much as possible.

For now, he can only stick to the timeline he had last time.

"If not for that stupid game." Lara said as she cried herself in Zaon's chest.

"Don't worry Ate, we will finish that game in his stead." Zaon said as he carried Lara inside the house.

(Ate, pronounced as /ˈɑːtɛ/ in Filipino means sister, which is equivalent to Onee-San in Japanese and Noona in Korean Literature.)

As he said that, Lara is already asleep, and he put her down in the sofa.

After that, he cleaned the room, opened the curtains and the lights to ensure that sadness is welcome, but is not the boss of the household.

After arranging the flowers in a vase, Zaon then cooked food before leaving for the night.

For their new begginings, Zaon has to become merciless to his enemies, whatever happens.