Chương 99: Chapter : 99

"It's a monster nest," Zinia agreed, cracking her knuckles with a tough grin.

"The heavy mana down there makes the beasts huge. If the Core is at the bottom, we are going to have to fight our way through a literal army of monsters." Laxmi punched her open palm, creating a bright flash of orange fire. She looked incredibly excited.

"Perfect! I was hoping we would get to hit something today! I am totally ready to roast some giant bugs!" Sayma pulled out her small notebook and quickly wrote down the details.

"This changes our tactical approach. We need to stock up on healing potions, anti-venom, and extra lighting supplies. The caves in Blood Fault are pitch black. Naomi, we need to hurry." Naomi nodded sharply.

"Let's go. If the 16th Princess is heading there right now, she is going to have a head start. We are leaving the market immediately." The elite girls and Princess Iris quickly turned around and started speed-walking out of the dark alley, their minds completely focused on the dungeon raid ahead of them. They were already discussing battle formations and elemental combos. Ken Eliot, however, did not follow them right away.

"Hey, wait up!" Ken yelled out, pretending to struggle with his shoe.

"My shoelaces are untied! Go ahead, I'll catch up in a second!"

"Just hurry up, farm boy!" Naomi shouted over her shoulder without stopping.

"We aren't waiting for you!" Ken stayed behind in the dark, empty alley. He watched his teammates disappear around the corner, blending back into the loud, busy market crowd. Once he was absolutely sure they were completely gone, Ken stopped pretending to tie his shoe. He stood up straight. He slouched his shoulders, shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and looked over at the bald, dirty old man sitting on the wooden crate. Ken didn't say a single word.

He just pulled his right hand out of his pocket and casually snapped his fingers. Snap. Instantly, the bald old man completely vanished into thin air. He didn't run away. He didn't use a smoke bomb. He just popped out of existence like a soap bubble bursting. The wooden pipe he was smoking vanished. The cracked crate he was sitting on vanished. Even the terrible smell of cheap tobacco and old cabbage totally disappeared from the alley. Ken was completely alone. He let out a long, lazy sigh and turned around.

But he didn't look down the alley toward where his team had gone. Instead, Ken looked straight ahead. He looked right through the invisible wall of the story. He looked directly at you. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Hey there," Ken said casually, giving a small, lazy wave right at the "audience." He leaned back against the dirty brick wall of the alley, crossing his arms and offering a goofy, completely relaxed smile. He completely broke the fourth wall, talking as if he were just chatting with a friend in his living room.

"Yeah, you reading this right now," Ken chuckled, shaking his head.

"I know what you're thinking. You're probably sitting there going, 'Wow, Ken, that was incredibly lucky! You guys just happened to find the one random guy in a giant city who knows exactly where this top-secret magical artifact is hiding? What a crazy coincidence!'" Ken pointed a finger at the empty space where the bald old man had just been sitting.

"Sorry to break the magic of the story," Ken smiled, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"But that guy was totally fake. He wasn't real. I literally made him up about ten minutes ago." He pushed himself off the wall and started pacing slowly around the empty alley, looking incredibly bored by his own genius.

"Look, let me explain," Ken said, holding his hands up defensively.

"I am a very simple guy. I like sleeping, I like eating snacks, and I absolutely hate sitting in long, boring meetings. When Princess Iris and Sayma were sitting around that strategy table earlier today, guessing where the Core of Luminus was, I realized we were going to be sitting in that room for hours." Ken rolled his eyes dramatically.

"They were talking about checking library records. They were talking about searching military outposts! Do you have any idea how much walking that requires? It sounded completely exhausting. I needed to get them out of that room and pointed in the right direction as fast as possible." He tapped the side of his head.

"Now, I already knew exactly where the Core was. And I already knew all the lore about Solurias and the toxic radiation. But I couldn't just stand up and tell them the answer! If I did that, Sayma would start asking a million questions. She would be like, 'Ken, how do you know ancient magical history? Ken, how are you tracking magical signatures across the city?' And then my cover as the lazy, idiot farm boy would be totally blown." Ken let out a heavy sigh, looking directly at the reader again.

"So, I had to use a classic video game cheat code," Ken explained happily.

"I created a fake NPC. A non-playable character. I just made up an old, grumpy informant, shoved all the correct information into his fake brain, and let the girls interrogate him. It was the absolute laziest way to give them the right answer without doing any actual work myself." Ken held up his right hand. He wiggled his index finger, showing off the incredibly cheap, shiny blue plastic ring he had bought from the street vendor.

"You see this beauty?" Ken grinned, admiring the terrible piece of plastic jewelry.

"Naomi thinks I got scammed. She thinks I am the dumbest guy in the world for buying a fake dragon core ring. But actually, this ring is the key to the whole trick." He pointed to the shiny blue stone.

"This is my trigger object," Ken explained casually.

"In the magical world, this technique is called 'Perfect Hypnosis.' It is an incredibly high-level, completely ridiculous illusion spell. But honestly, it's pretty easy to use. The absolute second that Naomi, Sayma, and the rest of the girls looked at this shiny blue ring back in the strategy room, they were instantly trapped in my spell." Ken snapped his fingers again for emphasis.

"Just like that," Ken smiled.

"As long as they looked at the ring, their five senses became entirely mine to control. I control what they see. I control what they hear. I control what they touch, smell, and taste." He walked over to the spot where the old man had been sitting. He kicked the empty air.

"I made them see the bald old man," Ken explained, looking quite proud of his own laziness.

"I made them hear his raspy voice. I even specifically added that terrible cabbage smell just to make the alley feel more authentic! I am telling you, the details are what sell the illusion."