[BONUS]

"Anyway, are you going to come with me looking like that or are you . . ." going inside me? When Ren realized how weird his words could've sounded, he immediately stopped talking.

"Egh? What do you mean?" Alice asked. "Of course, I'm going to walk with you — just like a perfect human being."

'You mean float like a ghost.' Ren was tempted to say, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Alice was hell-bent on insisting that she was still alive despite the obvious signs that she was not. Maybe she'd change her mind if she looked at herself in the mirror.

Ren was tempted to act upon that idea, but he couldn't risk the outcome if Alice found out about the truth. If she left the world because of that, then that would really be a waste of her abilities.

He stared at Alice while the latter's head appeared to be in the clouds. She mumbled, "Though I forgot whether I'm human or not. Maybe I'm a sprite . . . or an elf . . . or a dwarf?"

Yep. She lacked a lot of self-awareness.

While Alice was busy with her thoughts, Ren wanted to open the Platinum Chest he acquired a while ago when a notification stopped him.

[Ragnar: I died because of that girl. We should have never brought her.]

Ren was surprised to see Ragnar complaining. It was a first and it was even about a woman.

[Ren: How did you get eaten when all you had to do was literally hold each other until everyone reached the shore?]

[Ragnar: When there was a ripple, Roxy panicked, and she lost her grip on your robe. And if she's in trouble, then I'm also in trouble. We should have put her in last.]

Ren only shook his head. He only closed his inbox after confirming that Evie still hadn't replied to him. If she were dead, she would have let everyone know. The fact that she didn't reply meant that she was in trouble.

Ren was itching to go to the next room, hoping to meet her, not knowing that Evie deliberately refused to reply because she thought he wasn't concerned. Though the truth couldn't be farther from that.

Ren then opened the Platinum Chest, hoping to acquire a piece of legendary equipment.

He was not disappointed.

[ACQUIRED! Alchemist Bane!]

[ A L C H E M I S T B A N E

● A Legendary Knife with a magical liquid flowing in its blade and hilt

● This weapon doesn't need to be equipped and can be used as an item five times a day with no casting time.

● A magical knife that deals multiple status effects to foes in a wide area at least a hundred meter radius. The amount of Status Effect dealt is based on the difference of LCK between you and your enemies. The status effects include one or more of the following:

❶ Acid

❷ Poison

❸ Blind

❹ Silence

● No required race or class to use. ]

It might be a Legendary equipment, but Ren couldn't say he wasn't disappointed. He was expecting another [Infernal Scepter] or [Monarch of Sovereignty]. Though it was still decent since it didn't need to be equipped, and it could be used like an item with no casting time — plus, it wasn't consumable.

[Alchemist Bane] was like a status effect dud. The only advantage it had was that it could save him a lot of gil and ingredients needed to craft items with the same effects in the future if he finally became an Alchemist.

The no-casting time was also welcomed to be used against any White Mage who could cast [Cure] to dispel all the status effects. Their cooldown wasn't something that could match the magical knife.

At this point, White Mages could cast [Cure], but Ren doubted that they could cast it in wide ranges that were at least a hundred-meter radius. It would only be possible in the mid and later game, though. So for now, [Alchemist Bane] was an overpowered item to have.

What's more, even if players had items that could dispel the status effects, they needed to use specific items for specific types of illness — like [Antidote] for Poison, [Eyedrops] for Blind, [Echo Leaves] for Silence, and so on.

Unless they have a [Panacea] that could heal all of the status effects at once, they would soon empty their coffers buying those.

A White Mage was cheaper.

Ren contemplated whether he should auction it or not but decided against it. In the long run, the [Alchemist's Bane] would save him a lot of money from constantly buying Duds and wasting ingredients and time for making them when he became an Alchemist.

Ren walked toward the door while Alice was still murmuring to herself. When she saw Ren entering the next room, she immediately flew after him.

In the next room, Ren was surprised. He expected that he'd be transported to some random location again, only to see that he had stumbled on the Heart Chamber itself — the very room where Jibblinplip's core is located!

His worry for Evie overshadowed his initial fear of fighting the Boss by himself, so he started searching for her instead of studying the room.

"Ren!" Sebastian came running to his location.

Sebastian's appearance got one sharp bone off of Ren's list of worries. But the Centaur's next words hammered an even sharper and bigger bone into his heart.

"Where's Evie?"

It was obvious that the Centaur's only concern was Evie, just like Ren.

"We got separated," he simply answered.

"Is that so?" Sebastian's face was still serious as ever, but his voice was laced with concern. "And who's that ghost behind you?"

"Ghost?" Alice harrumphed. "I'm a perfectly fine functioning human being who's just as alive as you. Thank you very much."

Sebastian merely blinked at Alice before moving his gaze back to Ren.

Ren took a deep breath. "Don't ask. She's Alice. I found her trapped in the previous room before this one. She volunteered herself to be our maid in exchange for taking her with me."

Alice beamed and curtsied. "Hello. How do you do?" She curtsied so low that her head fell off her shoulders, rolling to the side.

"Ah! Ara! Ara! My head! Save me. That darn ooze! It definitely did something to my body! This is embarrassing, oh my!" Alice cried and complained at the same time as her body tried hard to search for her head blindly.

Sebastian gave his barest attention and faced Ren with a serious expression. "Anyway, we have to use tactics here. The armies are over there. Let's join them — they're currently discussing how to deal with Jibblinplip to end its madness once and for all. This will be the final battle."

( . . . continuation on NOTES)