Orc Wars 2 : Lazarus

Chapter 19 - The Cursed Saber

Friday.

The slamming of files and notepads signalled the end of the final class for the week.

The weekend had arrived.

"Plans?" Ash asked Jace.

His best friend responded immediately. "Lunch. Pick up some food and supplies. Home. Dungeon."

"B-but what about my social life?"

Jace gave his trade mark half-smile. "You go ahead and party. I've got work to do."

"That's not work!"

"It is. If I go virtual, I will be effectively doing overtime, right? Simtrixx will pay me the extra hours."

"How many hours are we talking about?"

Jace shrugged. Ash's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You are planning to dungeon the whole weekend?"

"I need to level up to be eligible for the Portal and collect materials. Then I will go see Kirana for her trial."

"So ... Level up, then continue with the Orb Trials?"

"Yeah, that's the plan."

"Virtual?"

"I think I'll alternate between virtual and normal play. I might not last the whole weekend if it was 100 per cent virtual," he said, thinking of all the damage his avatar seemed to sustain during all his encounters.

"Okay. I'll join you when I can. You may need my help in the higher level dungeons. No one can solo those. I'll help you get a team together."

"A team? Who?"

Ash smiled mysteriously. "Oh, just some friends," he said vaguely and winked.

-----------------

"What is he doing? Why isn't he moving? What is he waiting for?" Nadine asked impatiently.

Zen shrugged helplessly, he had absolutely no idea what the Ghost Lord was doing. Well not much actually. What was he thinking? That was the real question.

The Games Master has studied the winners of Season One. It was his job to know every aspect of the game, including the characters and especially the five Gatekeepers. It was essential to create ideal challenges. Study their strengths, their weaknesses, how they moved, how they think and how they interacted with each other.

Zen had already ascertained that Constantine and Kirana were more than friends, they worked and complimented each other's gameplay perfectly. They may be lovers or a couple in real life. The five Gatekeepers had a good relationship, often trading amongst each other and helping each other out. Zen suspected they may know each other in real life. Who is to say that they didn't become real friends during the competition?

Only Nadine, Director of the Virtual Reality Division knew who the real Players were and their avatars. The other heads of departments only knew what was relevant to their respective departments.

Nadine and Zen were watching Lazarus. He was in his chambers, holding the cursed saber. When he had retrieved it from his Inventory, they got excited. He must be thinking of dungeoning with it right? It would be faster and more efficient. However, after taking it out Lazarus had turned it over several times in his hands, unsheathed it and sheathed it back. Then he had just sat there staring at it. It had since been an hour.

"Notify me if he does anything significant," Nadine finally instructed Zen. She had better things to do than to watch their star player sitting around. She left the room. Zen would inform her when Lazarus made his next move.