Chapter 131: Assimilation (2)
Jake opened his eyes in the real world.
He languorously took off his virtual reality helmet and put it beside himself. He was still sprawled on his bed, staring at the ceiling with groggy eyes.
He was so dazed that Mary would think he'd contracted a virus.
Jake thought aloud, "I'm not drunk in the real world, am I? Ugh… I have a slight headache… it can't be a hangover, right?"
The consequences of getting drunk in the virtual reality world were unknown to Jake, as he had promised to leave everything to Lukas in this regard. Jake wasn't interested that much in it, nor did he ever think he'd get so drunk.
But if the virtual reality game could reproduce pain and pleasure, then nothing stopped people from getting drunk.
Alcohol was truly a dangerous poison that could dig out another personality from the depths of people's hearts.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I expect my drunk self to be… so jolly and loving…" Jake muttered…
Recalling how he'd acted while drunk, Jake closed his eyes.
Even while intoxicated, he saw the world with the archer's eyes. It pleased Jake, but he couldn't help but weakly smile at his drunk self, who believed he could achieve anything with his limited skills.
Jake felt a cringe pang upon recalling himself calling The Headless Hunter a baby. He grew so red and embarrassed that he glanced at his room's door to check if it was locked.
He washed off those feelings by thinking of his new skill—Assimilation.
It was a legendary skill that allowed Jake to assimilate with his summons! His assimilation with Wukong had facilitated Jake's unusual and bizarre vision of archery to become true!
Various odd ideas of his passion often came to Jake when he was in his classes or on a throne. What he had done to the enemy players in his drunk state wasn't a spark of inspiration—Jake had seen this image of himself while taking a dump!
If Wukong knew, he would probably punch Jake.
Just like the drunk Jake had said to the enemy players, his vision of archery wasn't so shallow. He'd not limit himself to the traditional means in the fantasy world!
He once felt that using mana wasn't a proper ethic for an archer despite wanting to harness magic with his archery.
Jake, however, had overcome that hurdle when he'd learned that archers of the past had used mana to strengthen their muscles and senses from Minerva.
His vision of archery took a significant step then.
And his drunk self took one of them out with the help of the assimilation!
Thinking about the future and the progress he'd made, Jake felt goosebumps running down his back. His blood turned hotter, and he wanted to study archery more!
With those feelings coursing through him, the mysterious hangover was thrown out the window—or maybe just forgotten.
"Ugh, so sweaty," Jake sniffed the uncomfortable smell wafting over his nose.
Only now did he realize how much he had perspired while experiencing the thrilling events of getting into the hidden path, dealing with high-level players, snatching the legendary boss, and becoming a different breed altogether.
He gasped, "I used the high-level trick! How did I do that?!"
Jake shouted as though asking his drunk self.
No one replied to him.
He sighed.
"I guess I have that dawg in myself," Jake joked.
Although he was jesting, he spent an hour in the bath thinking about that high-level trick. In this case, he was stubborn and only left the bathroom when Mary banged on the door, saying that she wanted to take a bath, too.
Jake was forced to give up, fortunately.
Back in his room, Jake sat down at the desk and researched about Dionysus. It was legendary in the game world, but it was also someone from the mythology.
Once again, the game developers must have been very inspired, so Jake read about this entity from various sources to prepare himself for future events.
He still hadn't checked what his new blood did, so Jake was taking several steps in the wrong order.
Not like he wanted to log in to the world game after taking a bath!
"Lukas should be offline, too," Jake thought aloud. The first thing he wanted to do after leaving the bath was to call his friend, but the curiosity about the new blood within him weighed more in his heart. Now that Jake's curiosity had been placated, Jake took out his phone and called his friend.
A moment later, Lukas' voice rang in Jake's ear.
"A rare call from our archer! What's up, bruh?" Lukas asked.
Jake chuckled, "You see, bruh…"
"What have you done this time?" Lukas beat Jake to the punch and asked. It was rare for Jake to say Lukas' most used word—bruh—and he would use that to him mostly when he had done something unusual.
Jake faintly smiled, "I lost my drinking virginity… but not of my own choice!"
"What?!" Lukas exclaimed. "Our President Walker went out of his way to lower the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen! He told the country that young soldiers in the army should be able to celebrate their squads' success by clinking glasses of liquor with their seniors! The community agreed!
Our peers also added their few cents, saying that if anyone could become an adult video actor or actress at eighteen, why can't we drink at eighteen, too? He's our hero! We're heroes!
"Bruuuuuuuuuuh," Lukas drawled.
Jake had heard this story so many times that he had been expecting to listen to it again.
Lukas, however, surprised him, "So what was the occasion? You drank with a girl? You must have! My boy! Introduce her to your homie! We actually will be in The Warmonger Empire soon, you know?
Our quest is about to be done! Hehe, I can't wait to see a few reactions to that…"
As always, Lukas talked a lot.
Jake grew slightly pissed and said, "I will be like Walker and go out of my way to craft Cupid Arrows to pierce your asses with love arrows and connect you with a red thread to some ugly NPCs!"
"BRUH!" Lukas screamed!
"What! You were about to forgive me if I've drank with a girl! Bruh, I reneged on our promise! Don't be such a skirt-chaser!" Jake spat at his phone's screen.
He was so done with this topic!
"You never break a promise for no reason! I thought you got a girl! It's a common sense! Ah… yeah, common sense doesn't apply to you…" Lukas' pace slowed down at the end as he realized his mistake. "Haha! Bruh, so what happened?"
"You gonna just throw this topic under the carpet?" Jake asked in a judging tone.
Lukas laughed aloud. "Yep!"
"Well… a lot happened. I stole the legendary boss from The Condemned Dungeon, and it seems like the three guilds have put a bounty on me… that event forced me to drink from a chalice… I think it was a chalice. Look, I was thrown into the chalice of wine, bruh!" Jake explained.
"…let me check my guild's group chat," Lukas said in a quiet tone.
Jake's grin curved up.
He couldn't tell his friends that he was a legendary class user, so he followed Mary's advice not to tell them about the legendary skills and blood he'd received from the golden door.
What he had done to the three guilds of The Condemned Dungeon and The Ark Guild would become known sooner or later, so Jake could talk about it with his buddies.
Lukas' reaction excited Jake's heart.
That was what he expected!
It was so much fun.
He rested on his desk with a broad grin sculpting his face.
A few minutes later, Lukas's voice finally rang in Jake's ear again.
He said, "LMAO!"
"Hahahaha!" Jake burst out laughing!
"You seriously stole The Legendary Boss from them! It has become known already that The Alliance only received The First Cerberus' corpse, nothing more! You also had your hand in that?" Lukas asked.
"Yeah," Jake replied.
"LMAO!"
"HAHAHAH!"
"OH! I see! Your sister must have instructed you not to tell others of your cards! I hate to agree with this gorilla woman, but she's right here! You're doing so well, Jake! If you continue like that, we might have a quest together despite the level gap, which should be fun!
I will protect our oddball with my chest!" Lukas said, grinning on the other side.
Jake grew warmer.
He was so lucky to have met Lukas and others. Those really treasured him as a friend regardless of his selfishness and staying away from them for a long time.
"I will be grinding my skills in the Last Night for a while, so feel free to come at any time," Jake said.
"Nice," Lukas chuckled. "Mind if I tell others about your endeavor?"
"Nope," Jake chuckled, "Go ahead!"
After a few more casual topics, Jake's call with Lukas ended.
Jake looked at another contact on his list.
Prince… Damien Twice and his sister needed to know what had happened after their death!
Jake also didn't know what kind of choice he should make.
He had extracted the legendary trace, and one of his business plans had been to sell those traces to others.
Should he sell Cerberus to Prince?
This thought weighed so much on Jake that he couldn't make a call. He was so unsure about it that he weighed all his options and spent at least thirty minutes staring at the phone with empty eyes.
At last, he made a call.
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[The number you're calling is currently unavailable.]
Jake threw his phone onto the bed.
"PRINCE!"
Author's note: As a token of appreciation to privilege readers of the highest tier, I'd love to hear your opinion on Jake's current dilemma. You can leave a comment on this chapter and reason whether he should sell Cerberus or keep him. I have plot routes for both choices, so don't worry much about it and be honest with your feelings!
If you enjoy this input, I'll also not shy away from making more of these appreciations whenever possible!