Second World

Since Jack was not targeting the boss' room, he no longer used his corporeal state. He relied on his radar to locate nearby red dots and headed in that direction.

They spent hours killing the minotaurs on that floor. More rare elites existed on this floor compared to the upper floors but the majority were still special elites. The eight players other than Jack gained tons of exp because the monsters on this floor were mostly around ten levels above their levels.

They lost track of time and farmed until they heard the notification that the labyrinth was closing in half an hour, which meant that it was almost midnight. The labyrinth closed at midnight and reopened again at dawn where its maze's layout would be completely reshuffled.

They continued to farm the minotaurs for exp until the last second. All of them increased by two levels, including Therras. Most of the exp came from the level 70 mythical gold bull boss.

Jack's two-level increase was one level to his Time Sage and one level to his Beast Monarch. If the exp wasn't shared with the other eight, he would have leveled up more. But he didn't regret it, he wouldn't have defeated the boss with such ease if he was alone.

He also got lots of mana cores, probably because he hoarded all of them. The level 70 mythical boss alone dropped 1,000 mana cores. The total mana cores he collected in this labyrinth run was around 2500, which was more than what he could get from the medium difficulty of the ancient battleground legacy dungeon. Additionally, that dungeon's medium difficulty could only be accessed once every two days, while this labyrinth could be entered every day.

When they came out of the labyrinth, the plaza where the labyrinth's entrance was located was full of players. They were all players who had been grinding inside the labyrinth until the last minute.

Some dwarven soldiers were stationed by the side of the plaza together with Diane. Because more dwarven players were there compared to human players, Jack was easily sighted. Diane and the guards immediately pushed over the crowd and came to Jack's side, forming a perimeter around Jack to keep the other players away.

"These are my friends," Jack said about Warpath's group. They were then allowed inside the perimeter with Bowler and the others.

The other players were surprised to see such treatment. They then noticed Jack's outfit and knew about his identity. Players starting to call him to look over. Some even asked for his autograph.

'What the heck? Am I a celebrity now?'

The guards told him that a carriage was waiting outside the plaza. Jack didn't stay around for long and went for the carriage. He didn't feel comfortable with this crowd who kept calling at him.

"Hey, where do you people stay? Do you want me to ask if you can stay with me in the palace?" Jack asked Warpath.

"No need. We have rented rooms at an inn," Warpath answered. Dasher and the others were visibly disappointed.

Jack didn't insist. He asked another question, "Do you people want to go into the labyrinth again tomorrow? We can go together again.

This time Warpath didn't reject, but he also didn't agree. Flowerrain answered on his behalf, "Yes! We will love to join if you will have us."

"Great. I should be coming here at noon. Let's add each other as friends to better communicate," Jack sent all five a friend request. They were already listed as his friend when he was using the Unrivaled Arcaner persona, but the friend list there was separate from his real one.

Everyone accepted the request immediately except for Warpath. It took him almost a minute before he clicked accept.

They said their goodbye and Jack went into the carriages with Bowler and the others, which then took them back to the palace.

*

The next morning, Jack was brought to meet President Thelgrun as planned. Thelgrun's face seemed more beaming than yesterday, perhaps something good had happened.

Jack was wondering what socialization event the president had arranged for this morning. But out of expectation, Thelgrun said to Jack, "Your carriages had been prepared. You and your friends can leave for Daedalus Labyrinth at once."

When Jack gave Thelgrun a questioning look, the president said with a solemn face, "I've discussed with my councilors. I've treated you as a fellow native while I should have treated you as an outworlder. I understand that your kind loves to hunt monsters. The Daedalus Labyrinth is the best place to show our hospitality. So, I have made arrangements to cover the labyrinth's entrance fee for you and your friend. You can also enter now in the morning instead of accompanying me to do pointless things."

"It's not pointless things. I do enjoy the time we spent together," Jack said politely.

"No, no. It's okay. I understand, you don't need to feel bad about this, King Storm Wind. I insist! I will go with you to the labyrinth if I have to."

"No. There is no need to trouble Mister President. Since that is the case, I will accept this offer and go to the labyrinth," Jack said. In his mind, he was celebrating. He had been wishing whatever boring activity he was presented with this morning to be over as soon as possible so he could get back to farming exp in the labyrinth. He never imagined his wish would be fulfilled.

He said goodbye to Thelgrun and was walking to the exit, but stopped after several steps. He swiveled back and said to the president, "Wait a minute... Mister President, exactly how many gold coins did the labyrinth generate for your country yesterday?"

"This... Um... It is state secret...," Thelgrun replied. His face wasn't as beaming as before. He was nervous instead.

"You got lots of gold coins after I entered the labyrinth, didn't you?"

"Haha, you are overthinking it," Thelgrun laughed. His nervous expression wasn't gone despite the laugh.

Jack folded his arms and stood there giving him a hard stare.

"All right, all right. You got me. We did get lots of gold coins yesterday," Thelgrun finally yielded.

"I want half," Jack uttered.