Supreme Archer: Taking The Game's Weakest Class To The Top

Chapter 133: Assimilation (4)

Because of a few reasons behind the scenes, governments worldwide have imposed high taxes on The Legend Enigma Online.

It wasn't cheap to put real money into the game and convert it into coins.

Taking coins out of the game and changing them into real-world currency was also expensive.

'I forgot about taxes again!' Jake screamed inwardly. His booming voice erased his fish eyes and made him return to himself, causing Damien and Rebecca to snicker at him.

He awkwardly smiled at them, "Thanks for that… the tax must be high."

"Pennies for me," Damien chuckled. "I have a good accountant that will make it smooth for us. I'll have him contact you soon about the transaction. Taxes may be high, but you would be surprised how many loopholes are there to leverage. Even I was bemused to learn about a few."

"I see," Jake nodded.

"Care to share your experience with us?" Prince smiled. For some reason, he gave the impression that he had seen through Jake's plan. It must have been an experience of a man who fought on a celebrity scene and won. Perhaps the lack of any artistic tone was the cause of that, too.

Jake didn't know whether Prince's read of him was that good, but he followed his plan nonetheless.

He smiled, "Once you get Cerberus from me, you should name him Cerberus or The First Cerberus. I am not sure here, but giving him his real name and building a good relationship with him should soon reward you with a title—Misfit. This title will give you the ability to extract legendary traces… the same as I have.

It will also put you against the statutes, so you must weigh your options carefully here."

Yesterday, Jake realized that his business plan of selling traces was bound to fail at some point because of this exact reason—anyone could become a misfit given the right conditions.

The business of selling traces was inconsistent, so Jake would soon have to think of something else.

Jake continued, "I think his real name will enable you the most. I don't know what kind of relationship you would build with the statues if you were to take a different path, but I don't see you as someone who would abuse summons."

Prince smiled, "Why?"

"You'd make the hearts of your fan girls bleed," Jake replied.

Prince flicked his fingers, "Ten out of ten points, Jake! You're beginning to understand! I love this side-character progress of yours—"

"Shut up," Sin butted in. "You're a side character in this arc since you failed to overcome the high-level player and died as an undead. The Dead Undead… nothing worse than a worm."

"Stop rubbing salt into my wounds, my dear sister," Prince sighed.

Jake laughed, "Besides, Cerberus belongs to Hades, right? He's also the three-headed dog, so I think getting into Cerberus' past and origins as his friend is the best choice. You have a lot of quests ahead of yourselves, guys. As someone who was on the other side of the golden door and as a misfit myself with four legendary summons, I can help you with Cerberus' quests.

If we work together, we have a higher chance of getting more traces. Sin needs a companion, too. You're too much of a burden at times, Prince. So just call me whenever you find a clue. I'll be right here to help ya."

Prince hollered.

He hid his thoughts behind that laughter, 'My dark horse cleverly offered his aid with Cerberus' quests. He's not blatant or forceful about it… he knows his way with people. He must have thought about it a lot… how adorable. I'll take you up on it, then, Jake.'

Prince was growing to like Jake more and more.

"What was behind the golden door?" Prince asked.

Jake told him about the chalice. Of course, he wasn't sure whether it was actually a chalice since it was so huge and he was swimming in the middle of it, but he inferred it was a chalice that belonged to the god of wine.

Jake didn't tell Prince about Dionysus but that he swam in red liquid and received an assimilation skill from it.

He believed this much was fine.

It was a good choice, as Prince spilled the beans about The Alliance's Quest. The leaks about it had gone viral in the region, and everyone learned about the method the three guilds used to overcome Cerberus' inviolable status.

"It was a poison," he said. "The allied guilds received a quest from the statues to create a poison potent enough to defeat Cerberus… and then were ordered to throw poisoned boss into the golden door's realm before anyone else could have entered it first. If what you found on the other side was a chalice, then the statues had malicious intent toward Cerberus and players."

Sin added, "At the very least, their intent was to weaken the chalice's blessing."

Jake nodded. "I wanted to get a beast-tamer subclass from the statue before. She told me to turn my summons into slaves. Their existence is not that player-friendly, I guess."

"Sounds like a main quest we must learn about," Prince smiled.

"You should catch a hint or two about the main quest upon becoming a misfit."

"Gorgeous!" Prince stood up and applauded. "That's what I need for my movie!"

"Yeah… good for you," Jake shrugged.

The conversation smoothly ended up an hour later.

Before parting ways with the siblings, Jake asked about the epic ring and the necklace he'd received from them. While Prince immediately told Jake to keep the epic ring to himself, Sin wanted her necklace back.

She grasped the hanging jewel and squeezed it in her little hand.

She smiled, "It's warm."

Jake blushed.

Prince widened his eyes in shock. He looked like a man struck by a lightning bolt.

Sin threw it back at him and turned around, "Keep it. You're wanted by three guilds, so it should come in handy."

"Thanks," Jake replied.

As Sin walked away from them, Prince shook off his disbelief and asked, "What's your next plan?"

"I must learn a few new skills and will be grinding! I need to upgrade my bow with a jewelry skill!" Jake said. His passion for archery and crafting flashed in his eyes.

Those eyes were shining like jades with stars.

Prince chuckled, "Crafting is but another form of art! I knew we had more in common, my dark horse! Have fun! We will be around here until the transaction is done. After that, I reckon we will move to the neighboring province and their dungeon. With the bounty for your head and our connection to you, we'd better hunt epic boss somewhere else.

A new arc shall soon start for both of us!"

"Yeah," Jake nodded.

- Find adventures on NovelFire-mp,yr.

"Master Aaron! Are you home?!" Jake stood by the old artisan's house, shouting for a few minutes. It took a little longer for the old man to come out from his basement.

He opened the door and replied, "I am! I am! Stop shouting! Yer done with your dungeon expedition?"

Jake smiled, "Yes! I've picked up lots of ores to learn on! I will make that sight sooner or later!"

The old master grinned, "I can feel yer passion over here! Haha!"

"Well, you know, The Headless Hunter suffered some damage… I think it'd be good if you looked at it," Jake said, then opened his game system, taking out the epic bow.

Aaron couldn't have believed the young man's words.

He was a newbie player and someone who shouldn't even scratch beyond two thousand points!

How could he make the epic bow suffer?

"Yer aren't normal," Aaron said.

Jake faintly smiled, "I know."

After a short talk, these two went to Viktor's place. Aaron hadn't said it aloud, but he decided not to repair the bow in his basement and instead take it as it was to Viktor.

It should help Viktor's cause.

At last, these two were in Viktor's workplace.

Jake took a seat, and so did Aaron.

Only Viktor stood, his arms crossed.

The mood was heavy, and only Jake was undisturbed by it.

Which was because he hadn't learned about the cause of it yet.

He was still kept in the dark.

Aaron poured a whiskey for himself into a small glass and gulped it in one go.

He shouted, "Just talk already! Yer tsundere!"

"Could you stop calling me like that, old man?!" Viktor barked at the old master before gritting his teeth and looking away.

Finally, he told Jake what had weighed on his heart all this time: the cause of him going out of his way to help Jake clear the dungeon and become stronger.

Viktor said, "Other branches of The Imperial House had handed in a document to remove Asta Bow House from The Imperial Circle."

Jake opened his eyes wide. He looked up at Viktor, then turned his eyes to Aaron.

The old man curtly nodded at him.

It was the truth.

Archery was so frowned upon that even The Empire, which had been respecting it for years and various generations, concluded that bows and arrows were no longer needed.

"Old Hag is in talks with The Emperor. He's her direct descendant and respects her a lot, so we still have a lot of time before other houses can pressure him to make the decision," Viktor said.

Aaron nodded, "Minerva has helped us greatly. We owe her a lot."

These two shifted their eyes to Jake.

He deeply inhaled and said, "It hurts but also excites me. I'll make them all listen to the melody of my soul."

Jake chuckled.

It was the phrase of his drunk self, but it fitted so well here that Jake decided to make it known!

The Melody Of The Archer's Soul!

"Let's combine our ideas to make it happen," Jake said, taking the crown of this meeting.

Though he was the youngest here, he was the most confident in the future of archery.