As lunch rolled by, Zen pushed the cart he borrowed from the storage to deliver the boxed lunches he prepared for his guild members. He couldn’t help but yawn as he approached Akiko’s room. His body felt rested, but his mind was exhausted.

Yelena and Bolt’s enthusiasm last night kept him up till four in the morning when they discovered that he could learn at an incredible speed. The young commando changed her tune when Zen showed promise as a strategist. They discussed his strategy and contingency plans in more detail to fine-tune them. Thanks to them, Zen was feeling more confident about the strategy he would present today.

Knock! Knock!

“Come in,” Akiko said, and Zen entered using his back to push the door open so that he could pull in the cart with their boxed meals and drinks.

The smell reached the tired guild members faster than Zen could tell them he brought food. Liu Feng was already standing behind him with an outstretched hand, silently demanding his share.

For some reason, Zen couldn’t help but feel like a mother duck feeding her hungry ducklings when the guild members hurried to form a line behind Liu Feng, jostling to get ahead. The gentlemanly etiquette was forgotten as Gambler fought with oriole to get ahead, amusing Zen greatly.

Zen’s chuckle and smile reminded these mafia heirs and heiresses of their embarrassing behaviour, so they composed themselves quickly while shooting dirty looks at those who got ahead.

Ping!

[The Godfather approves of the subtle domination using food. You have been awarded 100 credits.]

Zen almost dropped the cutlery he was holding out at the sudden notification. Domination? He was only feeding hungry children!

“What’s wrong?” Akiko asked, and Zen laughed nervously, passing her a lunch box hurriedly.

When everyone had their lunches, they dug in silently. Only chewing and scraping cutlery against the plastic box could be heard in the room. Zen took this chance to observe everyone’s physical condition.

Apart from Tracer, who looked perpetually tired with his heavy eyebags, everyone else looked sleep-deprived more than they did yesterday. Zen felt slightly bad for putting so much pressure on them, but the compiled detailed map in the centre of the room told him everything he needed to know. Nobody slacked off and gave their all. They placed their faith in him that he would lead them to victory, and Zen didn’t want to disappoint them.

“Tomorrow is the day,” Zen started when everyone finished their lunch.

The mood turned serious once again, but this time, Zen felt more confident in everyone’s abilities as a temporary team. Sending the group out to survey the places served two purposes. Zen was glad they were better acquainted now.

“Can everyone briefly tell me what you saw when you were surveying these areas yesterday?”

One by one, Zen listened to everyone describe the locations they visited.

“There were hidden wiretaps and cameras in the garden,” Jessica commented.

“I came across Johan and Felix in the advanced gym,” Akiko announced, and Zen blinked.

“Who is Felix?”

Sasha cringed. “Felix “Hunter” Martin. He created his own famiglia and rose the ranks quickly, catching the Godfather’s eye to attend this academy. You should have seen him before. He is a big guy with gorilla muscles, bright beach blond hair and a scar over his right eye.”

“The Hunter is Guild Carnage’s vice guild leader. He’s also in Johan’s primary party together with a lady named Oritha “Amazonian” Silva. They’re strong. All three of them belong to Class B,” Liu Feng supplied.

This new information caused Zen some problems. If Johan split his guild into two parties, they would have a higher advantage of catching the Survivors off guard. Freedom and Prayer are support parties without powerful offensive abilities because Zen wanted to adopt a no offense strategy. The ones with the highest combat ability were in Godly Food.

“Do we know the members in Guild Carnage?”

Faceless rose his hand. “I did some stalking in the cafeteria yesterday while drawing the map for it. It’s not much, but I have their names.”

Zen searched his memory for the names Faceless gave him and matched them to their ranks from the information Bolt gave him yesterday. The last missing piece of the puzzle was here!

Everyone watched as Zen wrote down Guild Carnage’s information that he knew by piecing everyone’s report.

===

Guild: Carnage

Members:

Johan (Guild Leader) (#11)

Felix (Vice leader) (#13)

Oritha (#20)

“Shredder” (#25)

“Siren” (#29)

“Shadow” (#30)

“Ghost” (#49)

Party A:

Johan (Party Leader)

Felix

Oritha

Party B:

“Shredder” (Party Leader)

“Siren”

“Shadow”

“Ghost”

===

Although Zen did not have detailed information about Guild Carnage’s individuals, Bolt gave him enough information to take precautions against these parties.

“Party A is an attack party. They placed all their explosive firepower there, and every individual in that party can be a solo tank. Avoid them at all costs,” Zen directed that advice to Party Freedom and Prayer.

“Party B is a scouting party. “Ghost and “Shadow” have their speciality listed as stealth. “Siren” has a frequency manipulation ability. I’m assuming it is similar to Oriole, so beware. “Shredder” would be their sword and shield in that party because he has a blade manipulation ability.”

Liu Feng nodded. “I’m acquainted with some of them. We’re badly matched against them even if we have more people. The lesser we come in contact with them, the better.”

Akiko disagreed. “That party formation is clearly created to snatch points. “Ghost” and “Shadow” are expert scouts. They can infiltrate a highly secured facility without detection and sabotage the enemy communications within an hour. Of all the people I know here, only a handful can match their analytical and observational skills.”

This was troubling. Zen was counting on Tracer’s analytical ability to guide them on that day. However, there was a limitation to what a strategist can do when there were good tacticians on the actual battlefield.

Liu Feng placed a hand on Zen’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about the enemy. Leave that to Akiko and me. Tell us what you have in mind and what we need to do. Use us to win this war. You’re the only one who can do it, gaming expert.”

Hesitantly, Zen let them in on his plans. It was a risky plan that would fail if someone held back. This plan was formulated by borrowing everyone’s strengths.

As he spoke about his plan, the reactions from guild members became more prominent. Some thought that he was crazy, and others felt that he was brilliant. Zen explained the reasons for his decisions and what could potentially happen on that day. His plans were well thought out, and the back-up plans gave everyone the reassurance that they required.

“The aim is not to win the event. It’s to survive this game all the way until we clear the dungeon. Do not take more risks than required. Always report back if the situation on the ground differs from the strategy. Your safety takes precedence.”

Zen’s resolution moved his guildmates, and Sasha grinned. She was proud to call him her younger brother.

“Let’s survive together, all of us!”