After receiving Oritha’s advice, Akiko studied the library. These black eggs had an explosive radius of five metres. It would not be difficult to avoid one explosion but the chain reaction of dodging them wrongly would be catastrophic even if the building was protected by game logic.

This was a very tricky situation, so the Death Princess tried to enter the library as carefully as possible. The first step was alright. The eggs did not immediately explode when she stepped on the floor tile.

Then, Akiko took a look at the black eggs trembling with anticipation. Some of them further in the back and upper floor of the library did not react, but those closest to her started to move. They slowly switched position and stilled as if waiting for her to take her next step.

Akiko did not understand what this meant. Although they had Zen’s overview of the event situation and understood what must be done to win this game without having to kill anyone, this sort of situation was very far from her area of expertise. Akiko was only thankful that Liu Feng was not stuck with this stage.

Making no moves at this stage was a bad thing. They did not have much time before the basilisk was spawned. The purge was horrible, and Akiko did not know if Zen would survive the second purge. He was an important person in her plan to clear the dungeon, and if possible, she would rather not deal with an angsty Seer.

If the next step exploded on her, Akiko was moving back to the entrance. It might be better to ask Zen for his opinion on clearing this stage and warning him about Oritha’s arrival.

With only three directions to take, Akiko tried the right. According to the survival guide, right was usually the best answer when there were no clues about how best to proceed. The Death Princess watched the eggs nervously and raised her leg to take a step to the right. They did not show any indications of exploding yet, so she took it as a good sign.

However, when her foot made contact with the floor tile to her right, the egg behind her exploded. In reflex, the Death Princess lunged forward, further into the library instead of returning to the exit. She cussed. The Amazonian was amazing for remaining her cool in such a chaotic battlefield.

Trapped, Akiko looked at her party chat. She had to consult her advisor and the master of games now. This wasn’t something she knew how to handle in such a short period. If she was given a day, Akiko would figure it out eventually. However, the purge would happen in less than half an hour. The Death Princess wasn’t going to let her pride get in the way of her goals.

“Zen? I know you’re busy, but I need your help urgently. I met the Amazonian at the library and had a negotiation. She left the library so I could access the black eggs. However, these black eggs are moving in a pattern that doesn’t allow me to get close. If I step on certain tiles, they explode. I can avoid one five-metre radius explosion, but the problem comes when dodging them and stepping on other tiles that could trigger other eggs. I’m too far into the library to retreat now. Are you good at solving puzzles?”

In the kitchen, Zen, who saw the sacks of struggling white eggs, paused when he heard Akiko’s voice through the party chat. The guild chat was so noisy that Zen felt a headache coming up trying to focus on so many things at the same time. Also, this could be the only time he heard her speak so much. Things must look dire.

Tracer and Gambler checked on Scorpion and Controlled Berserker. Party Freedom bade him goodbye, and Zen lost his only alternative to assist Akiko with this final ingredient. He would leave the kitchen to help her with the puzzle, but there were simply too many things to do before the event concluded.

“Sasha,” Zen turned to the Russian sniper who struggled to keep the white eggs under control. “I need your help.”

No big sister Sasha. Zen merely called her Sasha like an equal, and the Russian girl blinked. Zen was serious.

“What should I do?” she asked and snapped into her professionalism.

The gamer simply handed over the guild command centre role to her, making her his proxy as he muted the guild chat channel.

“Let me know if anything important happens. I need to coordinate this call with Akiko. She is securing the black eggs.”

When Sasha heard that, she understood at once and muted her party call. No wonder she heard Akiko’s voice earlier.

In the party call, Liu Feng frowned. Akiko was struggling with the exploding eggs while he hadn't found any signs of Johan. For a psychotic person, the terrorist was lying very low as if waiting for something to happen. He felt useless but also worried that someone could be targeting Zen. The Seer paused and made a different decision. They had almost all the eggs they needed, and Akiko was collecting the black eggs as they spoke. Liu Feng’s distraction was no longer needed. If anything, he might be needed more to guard the kitchen.

Akiko gave Zen a very detailed description of the library and the position of the black eggs. Zen left the boiling, peeling and cutting of wings from the newly arrived eggs to Party Prayer. They should be able to handle it after watching and assisting him for so long.

The arena was very similar to a game Zen played before. The game was a classic, but the situation with the black eggs moving gave it a twist. They were no longer finding the bomb in this game of minesweeper. They were now trying to corner the visible bombs by trapping them in. Although Zen had no idea how the eggs could be diffused, he knew how to trap them into a stalemate so that none of these eggs could move.

“It’s reverse minesweeper,” he told Akiko. These eggs move in a pattern. The red eggs did something similar as well. Which tile are you standing on?”

Akiko counted the tiles and gave Zen her position. She also counted the number of black eggs near her.

Zen nodded. The Death Princess was in a very dangerous position. It would help more if she could remember her previous position and what happened.

At that, Akiko told him how she took one step into the library from the entrance and made a right step before all hell broke loose.

Zen calculated the number of steps she took and asked about the positions of the egg, but Akiko could not recall. There were simply too many. Once the eggs exploded, a new one would materialise and take its old place.

When Zen heard it, he was more convinced that this event was not just a collection and run mission. It was a puzzle game. The opening ceremony tested the candidates for their resourcefulness and skills. This first event was to test them for their ability to adapt to changes and their wits.

It gave those weaker but more cunning candidates like Tracer and Gambler a chance to shine. No wonder Tracer took command even when Gambler was the party leader. Zen had to give it to the sickly teen who looked like he never slept. If the guild could bind his loyalty, he would be a great tactician.

“Skip a step and jump two tiles to your back. You need to go further into the library. This is a game of reverse minesweeper where you need to avoid the bombs and find a safe spot. However, I believe that there is a way to defuse these bombs further into the library.”

Akiko thought about it. Ever since the opening ceremony, she had never visited it apart from scouting.

“Don’t feel bad about it,” Zen reassured her. “It’s not a priority to visit the library when you only have three days to prepare for the next death game.”

Akiko followed Zen’s instructions and reported the egg movements with each step she took. It was strange how confident she was feeling in a sea of bombs with Zen’s guidance. The black eggs simply hovered near her angrily but never exploded as she skipped across the library’s first floor.

“Beware of the steps,” Zen warned. “They could be triggers too, but I’m not sure because they have a different pattern.”

Akiko nodded and looked around. They scouted the entire first floor without much success. The diffusing device was not there, and Zen wanted to check the second floor to be extremely sure before he devises a new method of harvesting these eggs.

There was a way to climb to the upper floor without using stairs, and Akiko wondered if Zen would scold her for acting recklessly. There was only one way to find out, and Akiko jumped to grab the bottom ledge of the second floor’s railing, pulling herself up and balancing on the half-destroyed railing.

“I’m on the second floor now. These eggs are staring at me rather hostilely because I didn’t take the stairs. Where should I go now?”

Zen sighed when he heard how Akiko climbed to the second floor without using the stairs. There were only several other ways he could have done it, and Zen had to remember these teens were different from him. They could do many impossible things in reality, so running around in virtual reality felt like a caged bird flying around and slamming into walls. Not everyone appreciated the wings virtual reality and games gave.

The gamer listened to Akiko narrate the new positions of the bombs and nodded. The second floor was somewhat different from the first. It was more tricky and had lesser options, as if there was only a death trap awaiting the candidate. However, Zen was more certain now. If they could navigate through this floor in the way the game wanted them to, he would find something to help defuse the bombs.

“Move to the tile diagonally left of the stairs.”

Akiko did as Zen instructed and mentioned how the eggs no longer changed positions and remained still. Instead, they were constantly moving, and Zen felt a bigger headache. He should be there in person to see and understand the pattern.

“Describe the speed that they are moving and the pattern they are flying in.”

It took Akiko a few minutes to find a pattern, and Zen felt bad. This was a natural disadvantage to anyone who did not play games or knew how to analyse patterns.

“I think I know how the eggs are moving now. What should I do?” Akiko asked.

Zen could only give her one piece of advice and wish her the best. “Flow with it. Never go against their movements, and they will take you to where you need to be.”

Honestly, Liu Feng might be better at the second stage if sound effects worked well in the game. The blind assassin was very good at moving and picking up the flow of the wind in his fights. Zen had the chance to witness it in the game clip highlights. His movements were precise, deadly and graceful. The Seer would have been the perfect candidate for the library mini game.

Akiko thanked Zen and told him to get back to his kitchen management. She would take it from here. The guild still needed him, and she took up too much of his time.

Closing her eyes, Akiko tried to sense the movements of the eggs in her mind from her memory, syncing them with their real-time movements. The Death Princess stood still for minutes that the people watching her live broadcast wondered if she was alright.

To the few who knew how the Death Princess worked, they smirked. The black eggs will belong to Guild Survivors. It was only a matter of time now.

When everything synced, Akiko opened her eyes. However, this time, they were unseeing. The world witnessed the true Death Princess in action for the first time after she arrived in the academy.

With fluid grace and no hesitation, Akiko spun and allowed her instincts to guide her through the second floor. Zen was right. Even as the black eggs came close to her and almost brushed against her face, Akiko never moved away from her guided course. These eggs did not explode, no matter how close she came to them. They would only explode if she made a wrong step.

In no time at all. Akiko saw a floating device in the middle of the librarian’s office. That was what they were looking for. This game was as good as won now.