The Scene in Cafeteria

"It's the boss!" Donald shouted and ran down the stairs like a possessed demon. "The kill is mine!"

"Shit!" Ramon and Hannibal quickly began descending down the stairs, but since they were at the top, they were furthest from the boss!

"It's a child?" Katalina said with surprise while walking down the stairs at a rather calm pace. She didn't look like she was in any hurry because the men in her group had already reached the bottom.

After seeing the health of the boss, many players felt their greed shoot up, as with a single attack, they could kill the boss and shoot straight to the top of the total point score.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

"The kill is mine!" But then, Donald pushed past the players and lunged at the floating child with his sword. He didn't care that the Chaosbeing looked like a child.

"Oh, you want to play?" Clown Boy showed a bright smile, and his eyes gleamed with excitement. He then pointed his finger at Donald, his fingernail painted red.

"Then let's play a game of tag. If I touch you, I win!"

As the finger neared Donald's forehead, he swung his sword at Clown Boy's neck and expected it to kill him.

However, when the broadsword finished its swing, Clown Boy vanished from the scene, leaving behind empty air.

"Where?!" Donald's eyes widened in shock as he saw his sword hitting empty air.

"I caught you~" At that moment, a voice came behind him, and a finger touched the back of his head.

Clown Boy floated behind Donald, touching his head with his finger.

"You've lost." Clown Boy said with a childish voice, but then his teeth started growing. "A winner gets the loser's dinner."

When he opened his mouth wide open with his razor-sharp teeth, his skin started to tear near his mouth, and suddenly his mouth looked massive, as if he could eat a whole elephant in one bite.

The players exclaimed in shock and shuddered in disgust. This 'child' was not a child but instead a terrifying creature.

As Clown Boy prepared to take a bite out of Donald's head, a figure with a shield rammed straight into the side of Donald, sending him flying away from Clown Boy's clutches and saving him.

"Ouch..." Donald rolled down on the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the person who saved him. It was none other than Adam.

"Y-you, why..."

"You stole my food!" Clown Boy's mouth closed, and he smiled sadly. "That was not nice."

"Yeah, whatever." Adam swung his sword towards Clown Boy's head, but the strange child-looking creature vanished like a fart in the wind and appeared on the sixth floor, floating near the ceiling.

"You cheated!" Clown Boy shouted. "See you tomorrow, cheater!"

At that moment, Clown Boy vanished from existence, and silence returned in the castle.

"W-where did it go?" Players murmured between each other.

"..." Adam slowly sheathed his sword and stored his shield in his inventory. He then shook his head, checked the pocket watch, and saw that it was one minute past midnight.

He didn't say a single word and walked out of the castle, heading back to Safe Area with an atmosphere of silence surrounding him.

It was still silent inside the black castle, and all the players were confused about what had just happened.

"You alright?" Niko helped Donald stand up. "Scary stuff, aye? You know what happened?"

"No..." Donald shook his head and held his head. "I am a little tired; I think I am going to return to Safe Area to sleep."

"What if it returns?" Niko asked.

"I am too tired..." Donald waved his hand lazily and left the castle with many thoughts filling his mind.

A few players still remained in the castle. However, most of the players left for Safe Area to have a proper night's rest.

In the control room, the man in charge nodded thoughtfully.

"They didn't manage to defeat it, as expected. It's really hard without proper teamwork." He said out loud. "Still, that guy managed to find out the truth about the floor's test. Write it down; the council might want to know about it."

"Do you think someone told him?" A shoulder-length-haired woman asked.

"No, he seemed to have figured it out by himself." The man said, "Also, I don't remember anyone in the past few years finding it out. Players often just discover Clown Boy after midnight, and then when the pattern repeats, they realize what time the Clown Boy usually appears."

In the far corner, Muriel hugged her notepad against her chest and left the control room with a smile on her face.

...

After arriving at his room, Adam went to take a long, hot shower to wash away the tension and stress of the day. After that, he only put his briefs on and laid down on the bed.

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, feeling the weight of his exhaustion lift off his shoulders.

'I hope I was convincing enough.' Adam put his arms under his head and let out a short yawn. 'I could've killed Clown Boy, but that is not impressive. That will just give a 'meh' reaction.

'Tomorrow, I'll have to convince them. That won't be easy, as I am not really liked here, and everyone wants to have the kill. Still, as long as half of them are with me, I'll consider it a success.

'Before that, I'll have to do something else...'

...

The following morning.

In the cafeteria, the players from Adam's group had gathered to eat breakfast. Most of them planned to finish it early and go straight to the black castle.

As Donald moved his spoon mindlessly in the soup, he heard footsteps come from the entrance and saw the black-haired Adam enter the cafeteria alone.

He wanted to call him out, but then he saw Adam walking past them and approaching another group in the corner of the cafeteria. They occupied the biggest table in the cafeteria as if they were like 'kings'.

They had been the longest in the tutorial compared to others and had already reached the third floor. They were extremely close to completing the tutorial, and in a day or two, they might succeed.

Donald frowned, and a few other players also watched as Adam approached them with a frown.

After Adam stopped beside the table, the players around the table frowned and angrily asked.

"What do you want, newbie?" They acted arrogantly, as if they were seniors and had the right to bully the newcomers.

"Mind sharing the information about Clown Boy?" Adam asked with a smile.

"Hah!" A brown-haired player laughed loudly and looked at his friends, who also snickered mockingly. "Sure, but the information costs 100 Shinecoin."

"You thought you could get the information for free? Haha!" Another player laughed. "In a tutorial, knowledge is money, and knowledge is not free!"

"We are fine with your sword too." A player saw the steel shortsword dangling from Adam's hip and licked his lips greedily. "That and 50 Shinecoins, then the information is yours."

Ramon and Hannibal stopped eating their food and looked at the scene with frowns on their faces. It was silence in the cafeteria. The players from Adam's group watched in silence, slightly frustrated by the arrogance of those players.

They had been only a few days longer than them in the tutorial, yet they acted like they had been in Mortal Online for years more.

They started to get the taste of the 'hierarchy' of Mortal Online. It was seeped deep into the bones of the players.

Those players who now acted arrogantly were also once the newest group, and the older groups acted arrogantly towards them. Now that they were the oldest group, they wanted to feel superiority, and it made them feel important.

"Oh, quite expensive." Adam smiled. "However, I was not asking. I was demanding."

"Huh?" The brown-haired player frowned, but before he could speak another word, Adam grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall.

"What the hell!" A haughty-looking player jumped up from the table, wanting to help his friend, but then felt a cold blade on his neck.

Adam held the steel shortsword near the haughty-looking player's throat while simultaneously squeezing the brown-haired player's throat.

"Y-you'll get punished for this!" The brown-haired player screamed. "Help; he is attacking me. Punish him!"

However, his shout reached empty ears as there weren't Ron or any mercenaries nearby. It was still early in the morning, and they were often doing their own stuff this early before their shift started.

"Tell the weakness of Clown Boy." Adam said. "Also, say it loud enough for my friends to hear."

"Friends?" Ramon frowned and looked at others with equally confused looks. 'Since when the fuck were we his friends? Did he hit his head when he slept or what?'

"F-fine!" The brown-haired player screamed. 

He thought he was able to easily overpower someone from other groups as he had already experienced three floors, but when he looked into Adam's eyes, he had bad premonition 

"Good..." Adam smiled. "You have one minute. If I even suspect you of lying, I'll shove the sword down your throat. Trust me, it won't taste nice."