My Emperor's Sword

Chapter 53: Panda

"What? Who's having a mental breakdown?! Your mom!"

With that outburst, Amaterasu stood up and looked at the party.

"What are you guys standing there in a daze for? Let's go to the third floor. I don't want to wait until the party with the monster arrives and we get stuck with it. Let them idiots deal with that."

"Haha, you're right, Amaterasu. But Great Master, just what dropped from that doll steel thing? Is it some epic weapon?"

"I still haven't checked. But before that, let me ask you guys a question. Why do you guys think that we tried to take the lead and not stay with the main group?"

"Wasn't it because it was safer to do so?" responded Leo.

"Well, yeah, that's part of it. Let me rephrase it if we were to stay with the main group, what potential scenarios could have happened? Think about it for a second."

The whole party pondered for a few seconds before Amaterasu spoke out.

"The monster would have probably tried to take some vital role in the exploration of the first floor, the main tank for example, and dropped the aggro of the boss to result in a team wipe."

"Close. Even without me or DepressedRyan, fifty people can easily kill an enraged Red Wolf King. It may result in a lot of casualties, but a team wipe is impossible." Shesmu then paused for a second before continuing. "However, the idea is the same. The monster would try to get a vital role and would betray us when the situation allows it. But, this is pretty surface level thinking. The real problem that we have, and the reason why I made sure for us to take the lead and not get stuck with the main party is that not a single person in this tower knows how to deal with a monster in disguise."

"Why is that a problem, Great Master?"

"Yeah, I don't understand either, Shesmu."

Both Leo and Kazumi's face showed their confusion. However, contrary to the duo, Amaterasu's eyes brightened up.

"They're easy to manipulate."

"Bingo, Amaterasu. That's the problem. No matter how we plan and what kind of strategy we make, it doesn't make any difference if the whole group cannot stick to it. In a situation with high tension, anything you say could be used against you by the monster. Even staying silent can result in conflict down the line."

Shesmu then went towards Kazumi and stopped right in front of him before continuing, "And, one last thing. In this tower, you can damage other players. You two probably want to adjust your pain settings. Turn it down to 12%, that's the optimal number."

"Wait, you can adjust pain setting in this game? Why didn't you say that before? I got stabbed so many times by those damn goblins, it gave me a trauma!"

"Now, now, Amaterasu. He told us about it now, so isn't it all fine?"

Amaterasu's outcry wasn't without justification. Even if the normal pain setting was barely a quarter of what one would experience in real life, it still hurts to get stabbed multiple times in the guts by green little creatures.

"Well, sorry about that, I forgot. Anyway, just go to your character menu and you'll see a slider. Just change that to 12% and that will be it."

Amaterasu and Kazumi busied themselves with looking for the slider Shesmu was talking about. After a couple of seconds, they were done.

"All done now. So, Shesmu, don't ignore the question, what did the boss drop? If you dare snag my share, you will never hear the end of it!"

Remembering the loot, Shesmu checked his inventory.