Chapter 23: The Laboratory [2]

While we were about to enter the gate all of us voted to take a nap, but most of us noticed that we weren’t in our best condition. Like it wasn’t obvious after all the things we did before we reached this place. Without anyone complaining, we headed to get some shut-eye while I had another dream concerning my past

The story started inside a school to be more precise in the afternoon at the cafeteria. The memory started to move by the time a black-haired kid (Morris) was kicked in his abdomen. Not a single person would reach out to help him, and the bully seeing this went for a punch aiming at his face. Unfortunately, his actions were stopped midway by a kid who threw his tray at the right time. This knocked down the kid while he walks closer to Morris

“Are you ok?” The kid said while Morris stand up with a smile on his face

“Thank you, stranger. If you hadn’t interfered I probably wouldn’t skip a minute’s worth of getting my ass kicked. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to continue my notebook~ where is it!!? Don’t tell me I misplaced it?” Morris shakes the child’s hands while the bully’s friend focuses on getting him to the nurse’s office. They thought about getting back at the red-haired kid, but a single glare made them scared and ran away

‘What the hell is wrong with him he’s laughing as if nothing ever happened. Huh?? That’s the book he mentioned, isn’t it? Looks like he hasn’t noticed, World of trials? Is that a title for a story, more importantly, it has a cool-looking design for a cover? Let’s take a peek at this story shall we?’

After he grab ahold of his notebook, Morris swiftly snatched it with his quick and slippery hands. He thought that nothing could go wrong only for him to fall onto the floor when he slipped into his spilled soup. Before he could recover from the fall, it gave the kid the time he needed to open his book. His expression suddenly shifted from happy to bleak when he saw a ton of typos on every page he looked at. It was so horrible that it made most of the written words look like a foreign language to him

“If it wasn’t for the prologue I would’ve thought that you’re an exchange student. Your handwriting sucks!! Can’t you see that you made a ton of typos in a single paragraph?” The kid said while he helped Morris stand back to his feet

“I’ve heard that!!! You only said ‘typos’ does that mean you liked it?” Morris said while his eyes glowed when he hears the kid’s opinion

“The concept of the book is good, but you’ll have to rewrite your mistakes… By the way, I’m Jin Kurenai. I just transferred here. Well… See you later I guess,” Jin said returning Morris’s book while he leaves to grab the tray that he threw at his bully

“Wait, up I have to hear what you have to say next!!! By the way, I’m Morris. Nice to meet you Jin. Also, your name sounds pretty awesome, to me, it sounds like you’re the main character of this school. Also is that red hair natural or did you dye it?” He said while Jin accepted his handshake

“It’s natural, my hair I mean, and the thing about my name sounding like a main character? I don’t know much about my name since I’m an orphan. And it looks like I don’t have a choice but to be your friend, is that guy a big shot here? I didn’t think he’d be so weak, I wasn’t even trying to throw it that hard,” Morris’s dream was cut after that last scene. He woke up hearing Yoona’s nagging voice. He doesn’t have a clue how long they have slept, but her voice was making him and the others annoyed by her repeated sentence

“Come on, wake up it’s been 6 hours, 6 hours wake up I can’t be the only one who’s awake, Morris!!!” Yoona shouted when she gets startled by Morris that appeared in front of her back

‘Lately, I’ve noticed that she’s following my plans without ever questioning my motives even after Blake’s confession. I agreed with our vote for him to join our team, she didn’t even oppose the idea. Does she know something about me, well it’s not important she’ll eventually ask me about something. The way she’s currently behaving is out of curiosity. She’s wondering why her group is not suffering any casualties… Let’s play along and act like a clueless side character. I think I’m doing a good job with that role of mine, I hope so,’

“Yoona what’s wrong you look a little pale, I can ask Blake to procure a potion if you are ill,” Morris switched back to his kind and caring personality

“If I ask you something would you answer it? There’s something that I’m curious about,” Yoona whispered in his ear making Morris understand that it was a personal question

“It depends on the question whether I can answer or not… But I’ll only answer your question in an area far away from where we currently are. Since you’ve gone so far to whisper your suspicion of me,” Morris led Yoona into an area far away from their camp and they stopped until he was sure no one could hear their conversation

“Why are you helping us? I’ve heard your conversations with your deity… Y-your some kind of prophet or something like that?” Yoona said while she sees Morris walks back to their camp after he realizes it was a simple question

“Yes, I’m a prophet, and my motive for helping you is to prevent a ton of deaths, that might happen that’s all,” Morris said while Yoona stopped him after she was unsatisfied with his answer

“That’s it. ? If we die then there are a lot of players? How can you be sure that we’re the ones who have to stop that from happening!!?” Yoona grab ahold of his clothes and pushes him back to the wall after she didn’t accept his reason

“Beats me, I’m just a prophet. I can only tell you what I see, it’s up to you to believe it or not. For the record, you should be grateful that I’ve even said the truth most prophets would only give you a clue. After that’s said and done they’ll cease to exist. The best example for them is like your father after he said he’s going to buy some milk,” He pushes her back with a single hand and realigns his clothes after they got a little messy

After arriving at their camp they continued their journey and wore their gas mask and stepped forth to the laboratory. In a place that was overflowing with monster evo gas, they prepared their weapons and formed a circle. They continued marching ahead and the sight they saw was a place hidden from the world, a mysterious laboratory. The place where the alchemist was conducting his experiments looked like an ancient bunker filled with sketches and drawings of the old civilization

“What is this place? This looks like a different setting compared to the outside world~ Ahhh!!! I’m alive?” Gale said while he almost fell into a gorge that was rigged with illusion magic. Blake pulled his clothes before he could fall from a depth that no one has a clue

“Be careful now, this place isn’t anything you’ve ever seen, this place is where it all started the darkest age of alchemy. There live two prodigies in a small town, complete opposites you could say. They were meant to be rivals; one of the prodigies was a kind man that will become the apothecary. While the other one became known as the mad alchemist he was engrossed in his research to achieve something?” Blake’s tale was interrupted by Shin’s curiosity

“What was he trying to achieve? With his gift he could’ve changed the world alongside the other prodigy,” Shin said while Blake continued with his tale

“Nobody knows what he’s working on, even in his downfall the apothecary that stopped him from achieving his goal never found out his reasons. Even after his death, the plague that came from the seed wasn’t able to wither. It led everyone in that time to perish without a trace,” Blake threw a potion that exploded right after. The smoke created were spread across the room and revealed the hidden traps

‘What a dramatic story he’s the perfect narrator if someone was making a movie in the world of trials. But I gotta say these traps are over the top. How did the alchemist even enter and exit this place alive?’

“I can get past all of those traps, watch carefully. I won’t do it again,” Shin said while she rushed ahead avoiding every kind of trap. In doing so, she was drained of her stamina only to see Morris catch up to her

“Ho-How did you get here?” Shin was confused about what she was witnessing in her own eyes

“I made a platform to step on after I analyzed the room I’ve found out that we can easily cross just like this,” His actions were seen to be annoying and downright one-upping her efforts. This made her enraged when she sees his face

‘Seriously as much as Shin is one of the best assassins out there, she’s not that cunning and quick-witted. Her only strength is to subdue anyone that could be a threat to her team. This made her the biggest obstacle if you want to join their team. Was she suspicious of me? well, that’s to be expected,’

They made their way into the last room where they found a ton of empty canisters lying around the room. It was quite a strange sight from the other sights they came from not even a single speck of dust was to be seen. It’s filled with fresh air making them able to finally take away their mask. When they reach the only table in the room, they’d found a clue while a voice suddenly played in the background

“Puhehehehehehe, you’re too late. I’ve already finished my purpose in this dump but I’m a little impressed to think that person would have noticed my irregular behavior. It was a good thing that I left a recording since this is the last thing you’ll ever hear!!!” The recording stopped while something descended from the top of the room. It was about land at their location only for it to be repelled by Gale’s powerful roar followed. His attacks were then followed by Shin’s backstab killing it without breaking a sweat

[System: You’ve killed a monster, the collected experience will be shared with your teammates]

“Everyone get ready, 1st tier magic combination Ignite + Magic orb!!!” Morris shoots out a spell hitting a Monster hidden in the ceiling

A grotesque figure with four heads, two gigantic arms, and legs that was filled with eyes and mouths in every part of its body. It made a disturbing scream that resembled the cries of the human subjects, the elderly, children, and teenagers. They were not spared their fate of becoming a test subjects of the alchemist

[System: You’ve encountered the named homunculus Quadrex]

[Quadrex LVL 20

Hp: 500

Atk: 100

Spd: 35

Def: 60

Mp: 30

Stm: 50

Skills: Acid spit, Poisonous breath, Self-destruction, Regeneration, Aura]

The monster leaped onto the ground causing it to crack, jumping at the exact time it landed they used the corners of the room as their stepping stone while Blake accompanied Yoona to a safe place, while he joins the three of them in attacking the monster, landing on its head, and they began to slashed their way through its thick flesh only for it to regenerate

Outside of the warehouse

“Kyo, are you sure that Morris is inside that place?” Esther knocked out the other players that were following them

“I’m sure I can smell Boss’s scent and he’s with a bunch of people. I don’t know who they are,” Kyo said while he threw a rock into his blindspot revealing an unknown person hiding without the two of them noticing

Esther quickly engages in a one-on-one battle with the person while Kyo was restoring his energy. Even after she uses her skill, Esther wasn’t a match for the person in strengths and talent. This made her use her blessing along with a ton of dirty tricks that she learned through Morris. With her newly gained strength, she overpowered the stranger and points her sword at his neck

“Wait, a minute I’m not here to fight you, your friend just said your ally was with a bunch of people? I think one of them is my teammate, my name is Hugo Miller I don’t mean any harm,” Hugo said while he catcher Esther’s blade with nothing but his bare hands

While Morris was busy keeping his characters alive an encounter that he would have never believed would happen. It was the encounter of his main character with a bunch of powerhouses that was never mentioned in his book

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep