Chapter 161: The Mysterious Person
Chapter 161: The Mysterious Person
Bloom just smiled as he was really exhausted while saying: "Sure, I managed to slay it."
"All on your own?" the NPC asked.
"Of course I wouldn't be if certain someone wasn't slacking behind."
"Tsk," the NPC shook his head, "don't blame me for that. Who told you to be so impulsive and run on your own."
Bloom glanced over the NPC as he muttered: "What do you mean by that?"
"I should have helped you at the final battle," the NPC shook his head before adding, "but you did it all on your own."
Bloom was speechless there for a moment. "You never said anything like this before!" he shouted in rage and he had all the right to feel so! He was almost killed.
"Don't blame me," the NPC acted innocent, "I'm not the one who ran wild and left the dolls behind."
"Tsk," Bloom shook his head before adding, "let's go, the gate is open."
He turned to watch the gates cracked slightly open. "Push it open," he ordered and the next moment his girls moved to push it wide.
Just as he was supposed to move inside, he didn't.
"What's wrong?" the NPC asked.
"Nothing," Bloom checked the black market interface, finding his dark points rising up again above two hundred thousands. "Wait me here, I'll come in a minute," he added before taking out his bow and went directly towards the nearby monsters.
"I need to save some for Panty," he smirked while launching a hundred arrows turning a hundred monsters into his pets. "Tsk, I'll miss this place here," he shook his head before adding: "Turn them all into tokens."
"System alert: each one will consume a thousand dark points. Do you agree?"
"Agreed."
"System alert: a hundred monster tokens are now lying inside the player's inventory. Player can use them anytime to summon the monsters."
"Thanks," Bloom was feeling excited as he went towards the gate finally, leaving behind an army of angry monsters trying to reach him. "Let's go inside," he shouted when he neared the gates, and everyone moved in with him.
The moment they entered there, a transparent shield suddenly erupted, cutting the road over the rest of the monsters to reach them. "It's a safe zone," Bloom sighed while feeling much tired from this quest. "Let's end the quest, what do you need then?" he asked.
"Nothing you don't have," the NPC laughed before pointing towards the long tunnel, "let's go first and get your rewards."
Bloom didn't understand the full meaning of the NPC, yet he followed his words and went directly towards the tunnel.
The tunnel wasn't narrow, but with the presence of his one hundred and twenty girls it appeared tight. They walked for ten minutes, while the NPC only remained silent while Bloom stole glances towards him from time to time.
When they arrived at the end of this creepy tunnel, a small room appeared. There was nothing much there; only a closed treasure chest with a strange interface appearing on top of it, plus a portal.
"Here we are," the NPC said in a theatrical move, "ladies and gentlemen, here I represent the crown jewel of the quest, of the mines, of my life; the treasure room."
"You call this small chest a treasure room?" one of the girls chuckled while giving a harsh remark over his words, making him blush instantly.
"My lady, listen to my advice and leave that good for nothing player. My name is also Bloom, so you won't feel the difference."
"Hehehe, the difference isn't just in the name, Bloom," the girl laughed while she whispered with some others around her and then they all laughed while glancing at certain spots of his body.
"What? C'mon, I can prove to you I'm one hundred percent better!" the NPC shouted in embarrassment, while Bloom just patted on his shoulders.
"Drop it man, they are all mine," Bloom simply said.
"I can grant you one more try to gain a treasure from here, just give me some," the NPC tried to bribe Bloom who simply laughed and shrugged.
"It's not possible, let's just go and collect the rewards," Bloom said before pointing towards the treasure chest and the hanging panel above it. "What's this all about? Huh?"
"Tsk," the NPC showed his discontent, while adding, "stingy," but Bloom just ignored him and went directly towards the chest.
The interface was closed at the moment, with a dark screen and nothing appearing over it. Bloom just checked it to find no clue. "How can I activate it? And is this my reward?" he pointed towards the screen and as he did, the screen suddenly lit up, startling him.
"Welcome player Bloom," these words appeared with no sound at all, written on the screen. "You have done brilliantly well in this quest, going miles above my own expectations."
Bloom felt some weirdness in the words and the way this screen was communicating with him. "Who are you?" he asked.
"A friend," the screen showed the answer, "a friend from the real world."
The answer startled Bloom more, making him instantly vigilant. "Who are you? CEO board member? A developer?"
"Hehehe," the laughing silent words looked more scary than the real laugh itself. "You can consider me both."
"Have we met?" Bloom asked.
"No, I was too busy to attend your brilliant performance," the screen answered before the words were replaced, "but let me tell you I watched your performance over a dozen times already."
"You look a bit lonely," Bloom laughed, trying to hide his own nervousness.
"It's weird that the NPC we doomed as failure carries the same name as you. And you among all people help him to survive and end this trial."
Bloom felt a hand clenching his chest before saying, "this is just a strange coincidence."
"I agree," the screen replied, "it's strange indeed."
"What do you want?" Bloom suddenly asked. "I believe you didn't show up yourself to me without proper reason."
"It's nothing," the screen showed these words before replacing them with another, "I just wanted to tell you a piece of advice."
"Tell then," Bloom said while he had a bad omen towards this mysterious person.
"Drop it," the screen showed these words and paused on them.
"Drop what exactly?"
"The meaningless race you have with Dockrey," the screen showed the answer before the words got replaced, "Dockrey is destined to be the next president of our corps, not you."
"Wow," Bloom muttered before adding, "do you love Dockrey this much? I suggest you go and marry him then," he sneered while the screen changed.
"I can't leak your ID to anyone, or else I personally will be punished severely. So, I can only promise you this: if you don't concede and retreat, I'll make sure each step you take in the game will be in your own blood and pain."
"Humph," Bloom wasn't fazed by these empty threats, "I know you played a couple of times in the last quest at least to stop me, but you know as I know stopping me is impossible."
"Don't be arrogant and listen to friendly advice."
"Don't be mean and fuck off!"
Bloom said it in a very strong and domineering tone.
"Sigh, you'll regret this; I promise."
Bloom read these words which remained on the screen for a couple of moments before a normal interface appeared once more in front of his eyes.
Despite the interface showing a long list of rewards, he wasn't that excited anymore. "I have to find him," Bloom muttered, "and when I do I'll make sure no one will ever hear of him ever again!"
"Are you alright?" the NPC suddenly asked.
"What?" Bloom turned to him in a bad mood, "haven't you seen what just happened?" he casually added.
"What happened?" the NPC yet didn't understand his meaning, "you just reached there and stood motionless for a moment while giving me an eerie vibe," he added, and Bloom suddenly knew what happened.
"Damn," he cursed while saying, "it's nothing, just tell me what's all this about?" he pointed to the interface and the luster of him completing the quest faded away.
"These are the pool of rewards from my own treasury," the NPC grinned while adding, "as you finished the quest in such outstanding way, you have the right to choose three rewards randomly, plus one designated reward according to your own choice."
"Meaning?"
"See these items?" the NPC pointed to the screen and Bloom just inspected it without much interest at first.
"Damn!" he shouted in surprise when he saw all these items.
"What do you think? Satisfied now? Hehehe," the NPC laughed before adding, "if you granted me some of your dolls, I can add one extra choice by you. Think wisely, this chance won't be repeated again."
Bloom sneered before adding, "no thanks, I prefer to have my own choices here," he then glanced in much interest towards all the rewards. "You said I can choose one and leave three to fate?" he asked.
"Yup," the NPC was still groaning over his stinginess, "see this one here? I suggest you take it."
"The egg hatcher?" Bloom read the item description to find it was all about the egg he received from before. "I don't think I would choose it as my first choice," he smiled while adding, "can I choose now?"
"Sure, just select the item and the interface will bring forth to you," the NPC said before adding, "but beware, your choices can't be reneged upon."
"No problem," Bloom smiled before pointing towards a certain item as he added, "I want this one."
"The portable hidden dark fallen mines dungeon orb?" the NPC was surprised to see Bloom's choice, "are you sure man? This is the worst thing I have in my treasury! Worth nothing, absolutely nothing!"