Reincarnated Jester: Taming Players-Chapter 88: Murder Quest

"I am surprised you lasted over ten minutes inside; guess you are holding our all-time record now."

It may sound like she was mocking him, but awe was clearly displayed on her face.

Snowshade didn’t fare any better. "Ooh my... You did it. This cheeky, annoying, and arrogant kid really did it."

She was more of a feeler, and she showed more of her emotions.

As for Jung, his mind refused to register what was going on around him. He didn’t listen, didn’t care, and his brain barely kept up with the conversation.

All he wanted was to sleep for centuries, and seeing his adorable pillow Nero increased his desire even further.

"I need to sleep." He managed to utter the words.

Meanwhile, the system’s constant ringing intensified his headache, and he didn’t even peek at it.

The memories of how he arrived in his room were non-existent.

What the women spoke to him or what Nero meowed as she sat on his shoulders went unheard.

At least he reached his dear bed and slept like a dog.

No dreams dared to disturb his peaceful time as accumulated exhaustion caught up to him.

Hours passed before he woke up.

"It’s good to be alive," he thought, stretching his body to the limit.

It was dark outside, and no light reached his room.

Before he got up, Jung felt a weight pressing down on his lap, causing fluffy sensations.

Nero was beside him, and she was still napping.

Not wanting to interrupt her rest, his eyes glanced around, waiting for his brain to remember and grasp the events that had happened.

"I think I am more of a keeper now, right?" he whispered to Vex.

Jung could tell she was awake, and the reply was quick.

[Check for yourself,] she said, and displayed the full status window, along with other system messages.

Completely covering his view, he sorted the panel and started with his status.

««Archetype System V6.0»»

<Name: Jung (Balatro)

<Archetypes: [Rebel] [Hero] [Wizard] [Keeper] [Explorer]

<Archetype Tier: VI

<Archetype Progress: 75%

<Arcs: [Shifting Cloud]; [Heroic Barrier]; [White Beard]; [Keeping Mask]; [Deep Merge]

<Archetype Monsters In Your Care: Nero the Shadowpaw

<Quest I: Save Elara and bring her back

<Quest II: Slay the Ruler god, help Nero unite with her beloved family, and save cats from going extinct across the universe

<Quest III: Create your personal, completely new archetype

<Quest IV: Torture and eliminate Walt

«Rewards: Unknown; Unknown; Finding yourself; Ruler Archetype and Three Arcs

Checking the rewards this time, he refreshed his recollection.

Jung’s progress increased from 48% to 75%. ’It’s because of the keeper,’ he thought shortly and acknowledged the new Arc.

<Deep Merge

-With enough persona and dedication, you can merge two objects. The more similar they are, the easier the process will be.

"Hell yeah!" Jung almost yelled but contained himself at the last second.

Getting Arc out of the skill he had worked so hard to cultivate brought an unimaginable sense of joy.

Normally, he would have been so happy with something so trivial, but this new Arc changed everything.

He had more notifications to check as he remembered the constant ’Ding’ sounds.

[Quest V completed]

[Quest VI completed]

[Rewards are already given.]

Two quest completion messages covered his sight, but he didn’t know what they entailed.

"What did I do to deserve such grace?" he asked the system politely.

[You endured over ten minutes in the Arcane Chamber, and you merged more than one past life.]

She explained the contents of the quests, but Jung had questions remaining.

"And the rewards?"

[You should be able to feel them,]

Vex said shortly, leading him to concentrate on his condition.

Jung did as he was told and dived into his existence, trying to feel improvements inside.

The first one was the Arc he got.

It didn’t leave his expectations, but there was something more.

Not that it was foreign or unfamiliar, but Jung had to feel it with every ounce of his being to understand it.

After careful consideration, Jung found the answer he was looking for.

He merged with Everyman, Wizard, Caregiver, and Innocent.

It wasn’t enough for him to unleash or reinforce archetypes, nor to transform his personality by any means.

But the complete feeling that Jung had experienced intensified, as if he was more of himself than before.

Though, it didn’t end there.

His wizard archetype gave him a more whimsical power boost as if he had got two of them, and his body adapted to the strength with relative ease.

As for the archetypes he currently didn’t have unleashed, Jung met some kind of condition to unlock them.

He was dwelling on that matter when the system rang in his head.

[Ding!]

<Quest V: Unleash those merged archetypes by killing humans with the same archetype.

<Rewards: Unlocking everyman, caregiver, and innocent archetypes and gaining an augmentation to your capabilities.

"Damn, you are brutal," Jung said after reading the text.

He had to kill at least three people for his personal gain.

Truthfully, he would gladly do it, but outright slaughtering people didn’t sit well with his nature.

Not that he would give up.

There were plenty of people worth murdering, and he just had to find them.

The strength he had and the future promised to offer him were cutting every threshold he knew.

"Imagine if I wasn’t nerfed by the Archeons and got Arcs with every archetype and tier."

He said bitterly, yet he was quite pleased with how things had worked out for him.

It meant he, a mere human, was enough of a threat for the Archeons to interfere and ban him from getting even stronger.

Instead of demotivating, Jung always found reasons to strive for more.

[That’s your fault for rushing things. And I am not even saying anything about you offending them.]

Vex teased as she giggled.

Her emotional side was more vivid than ever.

"Yeah, that did happen," he said, chuckling softly. "But killing that Chosen One was worth it."

Then he thought about his potential.

It continued to be unmeasurable with numbers, and he was in the dark about most of his capabilities until he fought against someone.

Suddenly, as if to answer his desire, Nero stirred and opened her eyes.

With a devilish grin and maniacal voice, Jung whispered, undoubtedly planning something. "Good morning, my dear pussy cat!"