Ball of Nothing

Zero was woken up by the noises of people running to and fro in the corridor. Despite having a late night, Zero was wide awake in an instant when he remembered what day it was. How could he have forgotten?

After brushing his teeth sloppily with nobody to chide him for it, the young doctor got dressed in something more formal. He wore his dress shirt, pants and shoes but ditched the blazer in favour of the lab coat. One doesn't simply abandon the pristine white robe of a scholar.

Nobody paid Zero any attention, too busy getting ready to move out. The trial will be held at Lucifer's castle as he was the overseer of the abyss. Mammon will bring Schaf along and Hades will escort Kerberos. King Yama arrived as a guest in Lucifer's castle the day before while Zero was busy at the auction house. He only knew about it when Mii informed him this morning. Apart from the map function, the strawcherry assistant was now able to keep tabs on allies when they become closer in the vicinity. It was a useful ability for sure and that gave Zero the advantage when it came to preparing surprises.

Right now, he was alone in the guest second guest room where the pile of gifts lay waiting in silence. Most of the tedious work had been done last night with the help of Sekkin and Qin Yun. Zero was thankful for the extra hands. Without them, he might have to pull an all-nighter. Although he'd grown physically, Zero wasn't confident in being able to carry the heavier looking items without some magic. He wasn't too keen on trying to use unfamiliar magic either so Sekkin's help was greatly appreciated. Qin Yun helped to save him a lot of time trying to identify and understand the strange items he was looking at. Her vast knowledge and experience about various objects and herbs native to the abyss made the sorting process more efficient.

"Quest window!" he told the system who responded at once. Zero scrolled down and selected the Item Hunting Quest that was still incomplete. Of all the gifts he wanted to prepare, he could only find a green leaf that he'd given Gaia during Christmas. There were still many more gifts with only a few hours to prepare them all.

Quest: Item Hunt

Find and give the following people their gifts.

Reward upon completion: Increased friendship and popularity

Buddha: Lotus Flower

Freya: Fire

Zeus: Lightning Bolt

Hades: Night Shadows

Isis: Mead

Sedna: Huge Fish Scale

En: Feather Pen

Grem Lee: Measuring Rope

Jen: Green Needle

Jeremy Hound: White Glove

Gaia: Green Leaf (Completed)

Of course, the people in the quest list weren't the only ones Zero intended to prepare gifts for. Like Mii said, he'd troubled many people with his selfishness back in the village. He'd have to apologise to everyone. There was also Baal who took on the trouble of helping him recover at the Spring of Vitality. He owed too much to too many people, it was only right to thank them grandly so Zero added on to the list.

- Baal: Pillow

- Mammon: Business

- Zenobia: Magic Weapon

- Coux: Skill-Transfer Party Call

- Wiser: Skill-Transfer Encyclopaedia

- Mitchnew: Long-term Visitor Pass to Baal's Domain (Signed by Baal)

Zero looked at his inventory and the pile before him. Zenobia's gift was with Wiser who was still crafting it into a musical instrument. He would have to put the magical enchants on it later. Coux was working on attaining that long-term visitor pass for Mitchnew and Zero would transfer skills for Coux and Wiser after lunch. He would meet Mammon later with Coux to discuss their business proposal in further detail after the trial. Baal's pillow was being sewn by Mitchnew back in the village and Zero would add enchants to it once it is completed.

He found the perfect gifts for everyone on the quest list after going through the items bought from the auction house. It took a little work to wrap some of the gifts but Zero managed somehow. All that was left would be to mail them out.

Buddha: Lotus Flower grown in the Spring of Vitality

Zero remembered how quickly the lotus seed grew once he tossed it into the Spring last night. The trip didn't take too long because teleporting made it easy. After inspection, he knew that this lotus was different from the rest. With one of the spare dimension storage jars he got from the auction, he stored strange gifts like this in them.

Freya: 100-year old Hell Fire

Zero didn't know why this was an item in the auction but the fire looked pretty in the jar. He used an app on the intergalactic communicator to ship it to Freya. The delivery cost money so Zero auctioned some of his purchases online to gain some starting capital. Apparently, shipping rates are cheaper if there were many items going to the same place. Unfortunately for Zero, none of his recipients were easy to reach. Buddha's delivery cost the most because Nirvana wasn't a registered location and he had to call to explain to the delivery company what it was.

Zeus: Storm Globe

Zeus gift was basically trapped chaos energy charged with negative energy and a thousand curses. Zero was very careful to add many layers of seals and protection to the jar. It may look pretty but it could very well be deadly. Oh well, as long as Zeus decides not to crush it with his unreal strength, everything would be fine. For extra precaution, Zero stuck on a hand-written note on it before shipping it out.

Hades: Lost Shadows

Zero didn't have to ship this out as he was going to see Hades later. There were various shadows lost from their owners and Zero thought that it would be cool to attach a magical rope to the shadows. They flew and floated around so Hades would have to be very careful not to let go of the ropes. Once it was gone, they would not be coming back.

Isis: Demon Queen Bee's Royal Jelly

Zero half hesitated to send this out. While Royal Jelly was said to possess many good properties, he didn't know if the same applied to the ones made by demons. He did taste the pot of jelly personally and found nothing wrong with it. He supposed it should be safe enough and sent it with a note cautioning Isis to try it on a taste tester before consuming it.

Sedna: Charybdis' Scale Mirror

Zero thought this was cool. He didn't know much about the monster called Charybdis but it was a sea monster. That should count as a type of fish right? Besides, a mirror was more practical than a single scale.

En: Cockatrice Feather Pen

Zero didn't know if Amaraline would be angry if she knew. While the pen's quality was unquestionable and it was enchanted with a never-ending ink supply, Zero didn't know how to feel about gifting a pen made of Amaraline's ancestors. Hence, he sent it out secretly yesterday using the courier service while everyone was asleep.

Grem Lee: Inch Tape Worm's Shedding

It worked similar to the measuring tape but even better. Zero made sure to never tell the tailor about what it really was. It could stretch and shrink easily while changing colour every inch for easier reading. With a command, it would go rigid and stay in place until another command was given for it to go soft again. Zero worked hard placing magic enchants on it. The measuring tape had four neat functions. The first is to measure, the second to straighten, third to relax and fourth of retract. As a bonus, Zero added self-cleaning magic before shipping it out with Jen's gift.

Jen: Urchin Needle

Unlike sewing needles that were commonly made from silver, Zero found this growing on a ball of living spikes. He pricked himself once but thankfully, the poison wasn't strong and he neutralised it quickly. They came in all different sizes so Zero cleaned everything he harvested and soaked them in an antidote solution for about an hour so that Jen wouldn't be poisoned if she pricked herself. Zero added a note to let her know he had a lot more of where these special needles came from if she ever ran out.

Jeremy Hound: White Glove

Of all the gifts, Zero thought Jeremy's was the least weird. They were literally white gloves. The only thing unique about these gloves were their history. They belonged to a master thief who was sentenced to the abyss for his sins. Inspecting them told Zero that these gloves would help the butler be a lot faster in performing his chores. With +10 Dexterity abilities, it wouldn't be surprising if Jeremy could sign documents faster than Baal using magic.

With that, Zero glanced over at the other items in his inventory. They would have to wait until he returned to Half Moon village. There were many goodies that he couldn't wait to share with everyone.

The room now looked empty and everything was as it should be. There were no signs of crates or funny objects, the guest room looked neat and tidy. Satisfied, Zero turned and left the room. They would set off to Lucifer's castle immediately after breakfast, Zero couldn't wait to see En again. Although he was slightly nervous, he had confidence in his plan. He would definitely make Schaf work for him.