Gods' Impact Online

Zoe looked at the blue portal and said, "You can use the portal if you want. I can wait for the monster to spawn again."

"I can't." Siesta shook her head.

"It's fine. I don't mind it," she said calmly.

"No, I actually can't."

Siesta grabbed Zoe's hand and took her to the portal, then she tried to pass through it, but she was stopped by an invisible floor.

"What's happening?" Zoe asked with a confused look on her face.

"You are the one who cleared this floor, so it registered you as the portal owner."

"I see. Now I understand what that sentence said," she muttered under her breath.

After a few seconds, Siesta raised her brow and asked, "Wait, how are you here?! This is a solo dungeon, so no one should be here except me!"

She jumped a few steps back and stood in a defensive stance.

"You are the hidden boss, aren't you?"

"I am not."

"That explains why you are so strong at such a low level. God, I trusted you for a second. Good thing I realized this before you backstabbed me."

"You are clearly a misunderstanding. If you have read the rules and know everything, then you should also know that this is not how the dungeons work. Yes, this is a solo dungeon, but players can run into other players on random floors.

There is a ten-minute reset window on each floor. On average, a player takes about five minutes to clear one floor, so it's balanced. But some players manage to break the balance and clear the floors faster than they were supposed to.

Me, for example. So me running into you was a perfect coincidence."

Zoe explained while taking a step forward.

Siesta jumped and stood in a defensive stance after noticing Zoe was trying to get close to her.

"Would you stop doing that? It's annoying, really. And I don't actually care if you believe me or not. And if I was truly a hidden boss, you would already be dead by now. What makes you think you are worth my time?"

Siesta gulped down nervously and muttered, "Your words hurt. How could you say something so cruel with such a straight face? I bet you don't have any friends in real life."

"Who is being mean now, huh? And mind you, I have more friends than you! Also, my bro— ahem, my lover taught me how to talk like this. He said you should treat people the same way they treat you. And I did just that," she ended with a shrug.

"I am sorry. I… have trust issues. I guess… I was just scared. I don't want to die… but the thought of my lover dying in this game hurts me more."

"I can understand that feeling. Now, if you will excuse me."

Zoe walked past Siesta and left the dungeon through the exit portal.

"Hey, wait!" Siesta ran after her and left the dungeon too.

She couldn't proceed to the next floor, and the floor 50 boss was going to respawn in ten minutes. She knew she wouldn't be able to defeat it, so the best thing she could do was to leave the dungeon.

Now, if she entered the dungeon again, she would spawn on floor 50, where she would have to defeat the boss to proceed to the next floor.

"Wait!" She ran after Zoe, who was hastily walking towards the city.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Zoe didn't stop, but she slowed down so Siesta could catch up to her.

"Can't you see where I am heading?"

"I can, but why would you leave the dungeon? You could enter the next dungeon floor."

"I am not interested in clearing floors. All the rewards, quests, and everything in this game are useless to me. There is no weapon, shield, or armor stronger than me. I only cleared the dungeon to the 50th floor to pass the time and be eligible to ascend to the higher realm.

Also, I needed to unlock my secondary class to use magic freely.

Zoe and Siesta played questions and answers on their way to the city and reached a restaurant.

Zoe entered the restaurant and ordered the food, but they asked for the payment first.

"Since a lot of players don't pay after eating and make excuses, you would have to pay before making your order," the receptionist said.

"How can I pay?" Zoe asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"I will pay for her!" Siesta butted in and paid for Zoe's order. "I will make my order too."

Zoe sat on the empty table in the corner, and Siesta sat on the same table.

"Why are you following me?" Zoe asked.

"Wow. Is that how you say thanks to someone who just paid for your food?"

Zoe raised her brow and remarked, "I don't remember you thanking me for saving your life earlier."

"Umm… well… I never got a chance, so let me do it now. Thanks for saving my life."

"Same to you for paying for my food."

"Don't mention it."

"How did you get this game's currency? I only got a few dozen coins by completing the quests I didn't even know I had."

"Huh? You don't know? You can link your real-life bank account to this game and freely use that money. And I happen to be rich, so I can live a peaceful life here if I want."

"I only read about the important things."

"Money is important too. Are you new here?"

"It's been like a few days. But I started clearing the dungeon today."

"Oh. I have been clearing them since day one. And I happen to be quite good at using my brain to survive… so I somehow managed it. How long did it take you to clear the first fifty floors?"

"What's fifty multiplied by 10?" Zoe asked.

"500."

"And what's 500 divided by 60?"

"Umm, 8… something something?"

"Hmm. Then it took me eight minutes to clear the first 50 floors. I could have done that in 5 minutes if I could use magic from the very start."

"...holy moly… you have got to be kidding me!"

==

Thanks, @Jeffery_Holley, for the gift!