The Flower of Dai Tien

Blake returned to the Parisienne Hotel after the encounter with Barry Carnival's men and hid among the rafters waiting for Dai Tien Hoang to return. Morning turned into noon and noon turned into afternoon.

By two in the afternoon, there was still no sign of old Dai Tien Hoang.

He had no idea if the old man made it out of that chaotic place alive, but Dai Tien Hoang was a Demon System graduate. If he couldn't make it, what could Blake possibly do?

"Hey, Marvin, Luis, Ray. Where are you guys?" Blake touched base with the ghouls around him.

"We're in the middle of training these new guys." Marvin responded in his ear.

"Do you need us for anything?" Luis asked.

"Hey Blake." Ray Street called out. "There's a new dude who wandered into our group and says he's one of your new recruits. His name is Barry Carnival. Is he legit?"

For a moment, Blake blanked out. But then he remembered the last living ghoul.

"Oh yeah. Barry. I just added him this morning."

"Man. He looks terrible. Where'd you pick him up from?"

Blake sighed.

"The jungle. Help him get cleaned up. If he needs more energy, let me know and I'll give him a little more."

"Okay. I'll try, but dude. He's in super bad shape." Ray sighed.

"Just do your best." Blake responded and shut communication lines off. If Marvin could recover from a tiny hairball, Barry should do just fine given a bit of care and attention.

He was glad that those three ghouls were banding together and training the six new recruits, because Blake as heck sure didn't have time. Old Dai Tien Hoang had him tied up with all the stuff having to do with the Overlord, it was amazing how he managed to keep up.

He was still hovering around waiting for the old man to return when a commotion near the gates caught his attention. It was the old man Dai Tien Hoang, coming back with the old nun, Dai Tu Liem.

There was no sign of Jasmine or her aunt, Dai Tien Ha, but at the moment, Blake was more concerned with the two old people at the gates.

They were being hassled by an overzealous gatekeeper who insisted on seeing verification that they actually stayed at the hotel.

Since Dai Tien Hoang had taken off from his fourth floor balcony, he hadn't officially checked out of the hotel properly, and the nun had actually never been at the hotel.

Blake narrowed his eyes and pulled out his police taser. He swooped down from his perch and tased the gatekeeper from behind.

ZAAAAPPP!!!

The gatekeeper fell to the ground, convulsing.

Blake signaled with his head for Dai Tien Hoang and Dai Tu Liem to step past.

Once they were safely inside the hotel, he returned the taser to his weapons cache and followed the two old people, leaving the gatekeeper lying on the ground.

He didn't get any points for tasing but Blake didn't care. It wasn't about gaining as much points as possible. It was about doing what was right at the right time.

The two elders did not say anything until they reached the room. The nun turned to the old man.

…

"I know where they are going, but we must remain here." Dai Tien Hoang responded to her silent unspoken words.

…

"Even if we leave now, it will be too late. We cannot overtake them since you cannot fly and we will have to go by road."

…

"I could go without you, and it would be much faster, but I won't. Old Tong Li will seek you out and he will kill you, just as I killed his younger brother."

The nun's eyes widened.

…

"Why would I taint my hands with it? Blake has the Spirit Head."

Blake looked at Dai Tien Hoang

"Do you want it? I can give it back to you," Blake offered, but the old man shook his head.

"No, no. You will need it for a later quest, when you get to level 50. Just hang onto it for now. And here."

Dai Tien Hoang threw the whip at Blake.

He caught it instinctively and it went directly into his weapons cache.

«Congratulations. You have completed weapons acquisition task Level 1. Weapons Level 2 Unlocked.»

"I am impressed!" Dai Tien Hoang nodded with admiration.

"You are a very strong poltergeist to have caught that whip without even thinking about it. It must have been all the spirit training you went through during your many iterations as King."

Blake blinked with surprise.

"Many—many iterations?"

Old Dai Tien Hoang shook his head.

"I don't exactly remember how many times. It was none of my concern, to be honest."

…, the nun responded, looking at him.

"She says you were King five times in all the years you have returned. This lifetime is actually the shoddiest you've been."

"Shoddiest?" Blake scratched his head.

"Yes. For some reason, in this life time, you forsook all the power and prestige, and loafed around as a poor musician."

…. the nun said.

"She said you were hanging around waiting for Jasmine and this was they only timeframe that you could slip back in and find a way to meet her."

"So I gave up being a King to hang out with Jasmine and be her bass player?" Blake laughed.

… the nun replied.

"No." Dai Tien Hoang shook his head. "Your purpose for coming at this time is to resolve what occurred seven-hundred years ago, to release the Queen, to untangle the misunderstandings between the Overlord Anh Hai and yourself, and to be Jasmine's protector."

Blake nodded as if he understood what the old man said, but in truth, he had no clue what all that meant. The only thing he was able to grasp was the very last part.

He was here to be Jasmine's protector.

He could dig that. She was someone worth protecting, and as long as he was around, he would do everything a ghoul could possibly do to make sure she was not hurt.

He didn't understand all the ins and outs of past lives, but it was okay. He truly didn't need to understand what was going on to know that he was at peace within himself and all his choices.

As the two brother and sister talked to themselves in their semi-silent way, Blake dug back into his System to reorganize and sort through all the new things he had acquired and the new numbers he had squirreled away.

With the new Weapons Level 2, ten more weapons slots had opened up for him.

Blake's eyes gleamed. He had more space for more weapons!

He scanned over his weapons stock.

There was his Vietnam Trench Tomahawk Ax, the Sumatra Karambit knife, the Glock 19, six boxes of bullets, handcuffs, taser, the multi-tool, the rope, and his newest preciousss, the whip that had taken the Spirit Skull off the body of the old man.

Under the weapons cache was a new set of numbers. 9/20.

Of course, with the attainment of Level 1, an entire new set of weapons collection tasks were unveiled.

He opened up the S and saw his new acquisition task.

«Acquisition Task: 5 shurikens, 5 wolfsbane pills»

Blake had no idea what these things were, but old Dai Tien Hoang was here. Maybe he could pick the old man's brains.

At any rate, another assignment was rearing its head.

«Assignment: Retrieve the Flower of Dai Tien.»

Flower of Dai Tien? What the hell was a flower of Dai Tien?