Jin stared into space for a moment.
The ringing sound of the Demons retreating was music to his ears, especially since he knew that the fight was finally over. The cheers heard from afar also confirmed that particular fact as he felt like the boss battle took a significant toll on him.
“If Panda Remnant Rex had not intervened along with…Original Bellator Kraft and his companions, User would have lost the fight.” The System stated the obvious, but Jin was too tired to argue.
“Was it a coincidence that they arrived on time? Or has it always been possible for them to interfere with the fight.” Jin questioned the System.
“Negative. The System has run through the rules for the fight. Normally, no one would be able to do such a thing, but because Pandapolis’ Dungeon Core was willing to make an exception for King Baal to settle his local threat, the loophole was there for the System to exploit.” The System explained. “In essence, it was an unprecedented situation agreed upon by two Dungeon Cores themselves.”
“Huh, but shouldn’t their Dungeon Core know that the last key was with Baal? Why would it not tell Baal to stay away from them, instead of asking Baal to defend the core.”
“The Dungeon Cores are not as sentient as the System. It appears to be an instinctive call to action when feeling threatened. Would User take any chances if he felt his life was in danger? According to System’s analysis of our own Dungeon Core, they appear to have basic AI functions that are leagues ahead in terms of technology for the current Dungeon World.”
“System suspects that the Dungeon Cores may have originated from other worlds or they might truly be relics left by high tech civilisation similar to how the Dwarves left Lost Tech to the Goblin and Orcs.” The System analysed.
“Shhh…I do not need a boatload of explanation right now. It just makes my head hurt at the moment.” Jin said as he tried to sit up. The pain was dull despite the recovery from his ‘vampire bones’ and legendary inscription working overtime. If not for Pei and Rex aid, Jin would already have passed out from the pain from his speedy recovery.
“Sometimes, I do not know why I am putting myself in danger.” Jin chuckled to himself.
With a bit of Green Panda Wind Energy, he managed to scoop up the remnants of the wretched crown and brought it close. Then he took an empty container and placed the broken contents into it. The System immediately took everything that was within the box and Jin was slightly amused since it behaved like a small child who couldn’t wait to open his Christmas gift. All this for some processing capabilities… at least Jin was looking forward to his own reward.
“The broken pieces of the crown definitely contain traces of defunct Dungeon Cores which are now highly reactive because of the magic inside. Decades of hard work by King Baal has turned the defunct Dungeon Cores into valuable resources capable of enhancing the System’s work-frame.”
“I keep thinking you are some sort of server room, but at the same time, you guys are not. What are you actually?” Jin asked as he tried to stand up and started to see some silhouettes afar. It seemed like the Pandawans and the shopkeepers were moving towards Jin. (Conveniently the System was taking this opportunity to keep silent.)
“Oh shit. I did promise them that I would show some of my skills, didn’t I? Haha… They’re probably gonna scold me for this.” Jin sighed with a light smile.
“BOSS! YOU ASSHOLE!” Xiong Da shouted as he jumped off of his hippo mount and allowed it to dash towards Jin. Thankfully, the dungeon supplier was still nimble enough to move away from an angry hippo charging towards it. Alternatively, he could have easily disintegrated the black sludge since it was originally part of his chi.
“Ya, Boss! You lied to us! We thought we were going to fight side by side! In the end, I had to fight along with this Fat Hippo!!” Luo Bo complained, and Shi Zuo allowed her to do so. It was best to let his fiancée-to-be rant it all out.
“More like Boss ran away before he could reveal his skills to us. He tricked us again, I am not going to believe his words anymore!” Yue Wen snarled.
“Boss, I cannot help you this time. You are really in the wrong.” Bu Dong agreed with the rest.
“Not to mention, there is no footage of you fighting against the big bad monster. The streams only showed us. I do not need to know how well this move could be improved…” Bin Yong commented and suddenly thought of ways to do so.
“Didn’t I guys tell you that the AI that runs this is highly advanced and that I left the actions to it? I was just as surprised as you guys that he had such a move. Besides, technically I did show you guys my powers quite a fair bit during the charge down the bridge.” Jin tried to rebut yet the crowd jeered.
“Landlord, you gotta keep your promise somewhat. Else it is not fair to these loyal customers of yours.” San Sun wasn’t happy with this technicality as he too was curious of his Landlord’s powers.
“Fine, fine!” Jin sighed as he started to think what would be a cool way to impress them, and the only thing that came to mind was the System Rider thing. Still, he felt that ‘surprise’ should be kept away from them (not to mention it was currently busted). Who knows whether the masked hero gimmick could be useful in the future if he needed to intervene in something.
“System wishes to remind User that masked vigilantes are probable causes for the police to catch you. They do not like surprises…although the System also recommends not to disclose one of your trump cards so openly.”
“But what can I show?” Jin asked as he turned away from the crowd and pretended to fiddle with his watch. He did entertain the thought of fighting all of them, but it would be too much of a pain, especially when his body was still recovering.
“…User is hopeless.” The System said as it transmitted a bunch of tickets in Jin’s hand.
“Hahaha…seriously, are we playing this card?” Jin looked at the black striped tickets with a polar bear symbol on them.
“We’ve been luring them with that idea for a long while. Could not hurt to use them as beta testers for that ‘dungeon’ you have painstakingly designed.”
“I am glad you recognise that fact.” Jin chuckled as he turned his head with a smirk. Xiong Da could already see that Jin was plotting something bad but before he could say anything somehow a smoke bomb was thrown right in front of him and the Pandawans thought that Jin was going to attack them.
Only when the smoke subsided, they found each of their weapons were pasted with the very same black ticket that the System had handed to Jin.
“That Boss…as sly as ever.” Xiong Da grinned. He knew Jin was strong but for him to paste a ticket so quickly when the smoke bomb was deployed?
That was some skill too. As for the ticket…
It was the privilege ticket to the elusive Polar Phantom Gentlebear Instance. “Come after Chinese New Year!” The Boss sent each and every one of them a personal text message while thanking them for their efforts.
