Chapter 38: Perfumer, Sleeping Fragrance, Sweet Fragrance

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Perfumer, Sleeping Fragrance, Sweet Fragrance

The eerie red sky outside filled everyone with a sense of unease.

A closer look at their surroundings revealed a scene of utter decay.

The windowpanes in the room had long since shattered. Through the broken frames, the sky outside appeared a sickly red, as if stained with diluted blood.

In the distance, the faint outlines of several tilting skyscrapers were visible.

The room’s interior was an even greater mess.

All sorts of things were overturned, and glass had shattered into glittering fragments that made a cringe-inducing CRUNCH underfoot.

In the quiet, they could hear all sorts of rustling sounds from outside the house.

It sounded like the crawling of some many-legged creature.

"The sky is so red out there. Is this one of the worlds in the Disaster Game?"

The lanky Martin Lewis moved to the window and, without a shred of caution, stuck his head out of the shattered frame. "It doesn’t even feel that dangerous!"

He turned around excitedly, his right hand suddenly glowing with a faint blue light.

He was using his Talent Ability.

A bottle not far away levitated into the air, tracing an arc before landing steadily in his palm.

"See that? My [Telekinesis] Talent!" Martin Lewis boasted to the others. "Haha, becoming a Player gives you the chance to get a superpower! I can’t believe I actually got one!"

However, Martin Lewis was completely oblivious to the danger creeping up behind him.

"Idiot!!" the man in black hissed, but it was too late.

The red light from the window illuminated Martin Lewis, twisting his excited expression into a demonic grin.

The moment he turned, the man in black’s sharp eyes caught something falling from the top of the window frame.

It was a transparent thread, as thin as a hair, with a fist-sized, purplish-black spider hanging from its end.

The spider’s eight compound eyes swiveled in unison, locking onto Martin Lewis’s exposed neck.

But the lanky Martin Lewis remained oblivious. He was still basking in the joy of gaining a superpower, figuring that surviving three days in this world wouldn’t be much of a challenge.

"I think we can team up. My Telekinesis can..."

"Get down!" The man in black rushed forward, grabbing Martin Lewis by the collar and yanking him to the ground.

At the same time, a silver glint flashed from his hand—it was his Ability, Metalization.

It could turn the body into metal.

At this moment, he had metalized his fingers, making them incredibly sharp.

With a soft "SHINK," the spider was precisely cleaved in two. Green slime splattered onto the windowsill, instantly corroding several small, smoking holes into the surface.

Martin Lewis collapsed onto the ground, his face deathly pale. "Wh-what was that..."

"Shut up! Are you trying to attract more bugs?" The man in black quickly scanned the surroundings and only relaxed slightly after confirming there were no other immediate threats. "Keep shouting if you want to die."

The man in black was furious.

Everyone else fell silent.

Seraphina Sullivan looked up at the unnaturally red sky. The color looked as if it had been smeared on with diluted blood, and even the passing clouds had a sickly pinkish hue.

She withdrew her gaze and quickly scanned the other people in the room:

Martin Lewis was still slumped on the floor, staring blankly at the holes corroded by the spider’s goo.

The female student was nervously biting her nails.

The man in professional attire looked calm, but the beads of sweat constantly rolling down his forehead betrayed his fear.

And the couple had shrunk into a corner, like frightened rabbits.

’A bunch of dead weight,’ Seraphina judged them in her mind.

She quickly decided it would be better to go it alone this time.

Although the main objective was simply to survive for three days, Seraphina had a feeling this world would be far more dangerous than her last two.

If she was stuck with someone like Martin Lewis, who yelled at the slightest thing and had zero sense of danger dragging her down, she wouldn’t last long.

"’The Insect Frenzy.’ Just the name is enough to make my skin crawl."

Seraphina muttered to herself, a small Silver Needle held in her hand, ready to attack the moment danger appeared.

Considering the mission, she realized the greatest threat in this world would likely be the various insects.

But there were many kinds of insects.

The palm-sized spider just now was probably just an appetizer.

She ignored the others’ fearful or dazed gazes, instead quickly focusing her mind to activate her [Worker] Talent.

She prepared to awaken her [Profession] for this world.

’Activate Worker Talent!’ she thought.

[Worker Talent activating... Awakening in progress! DING! Awakening successful!]

[Congratulations, Player! Your Worker Talent has awakened the Profession: Perfumer in ’The Insect Frenzy’!]

[Perfumer Profession]

Ability One: Sleeping Fragrance

Effect: Exhale a fragrance that induces Sleep!

Ability Two: Sweet Fragrance

Effect: Exhale a fragrance that can Charm others!

Seraphina looked at the Profession she had awakened for this world. She had anticipated something like this, so she wasn’t disappointed.

Seraphina opened her eyes and felt a warm current surge up from deep in her throat. Her mouth suddenly filled with a sweet, fresh fragrance.

She gently exhaled, and a wisp of pale pink smoke seeped from the edge of her mask. But Seraphina, afraid of attracting the others’ attention, quickly deactivated the Ability.

’Not bad,’ Seraphina calmly assessed her new Ability.

The Skills of this Perfumer Profession were even more practical than the two Skills from her previous [Tailor] Profession.

Although Seraphina couldn’t understand why the awakened Perfumer Profession didn’t have the ability to actually blend perfumes.

Still, she was very satisfied with the Skill Effects of [Sleeping Fragrance] and [Sweet Fragrance]. One induced Sleep, and the other could Control people.

Especially Sweet Fragrance. ’If this Skill can also Control insects,’ she thought, ’my chances of surviving this world will be much higher.’

Just as Seraphina was getting a handle on her Profession for this world...

...trouble started brewing elsewhere.

A piercing "SQUEAK SQUEAK" sound came from the ventilation duct.

Everyone looked up.

Seraphina snapped her head up and saw the wire mesh of the vent vibrating violently, as if something was trying to squeeze out from inside.

"Ah! What the hell is that thing!" Martin Lewis suddenly screamed.

A cockroach the size of a house cat was halfway out of the vent. Its greasy carapace was covered in strange red patterns, and its two antennae whipped through the air like lashes.

The female student and the woman from the couple both let out a hysterical scream at the same time. The sound was like a signal.

In an instant, the walls of the entire room began to "squirm."

Countless insects poured out from every crack: fist-sized ants, centipedes with Poison Stings, moths with wings that had a metallic sheen...

"Stay away! Stay away!" The female student suddenly materialized a scalpel in her hand and swung it around wildly. She didn’t hit any of the insects, but she did slash her own arm.

The smell of blood seemed to excite the swarm even more, and their movements noticeably quickened.