"We could roam around the mansion and get every treasure we could find without triggering an attack or trap."

Hearing that, others fell silent and exchanged glances with each other. In the end, the ones who initially protested hesitantly nodded their heads.

Ren then faced the Doctor. "We accept your terms."

[New Main Quest Appeared!

Align with the Mad Doctor's quest to create intelligent life. All it takes is to defend her mansion from unwanted intruders for an hour. Do this, and she will handsomely reward you.]

"Splendid!" Dr. Frida exclaimed and smiled. "So, who's going first?"

"Me." Evie volunteered herself almost immediately.

After less than an hour, the bodies of Ren's entire group were all altered.

It didn't feel as bad as they expected, but their features changed so much so that it was impossible to recognize them.

Ren's skin was darkened, and his eyes turned from silver to violet. He also wore a different kind of armor, with gears, metals, and pipes attached to his vest and pants.

His hair also turned spiky and violet, and his skin was decorated with some stitches and staples.

There was something mysterious about him, though, and he looked both scary and handsome at the same time.

Evie, on the other hand, was transformed into a mechanized rabbit. Her head was replaced with a real rabbit's head, and her long white bunny ears were decorated with piercing gears.

She wore a Victorian-style dress that looked like it was inspired by the Alice in Wonderland theme. When she saw her new look, she couldn't be any happier with the outcome.

As for the others . . .

Leonel and Isolde were turned into . . . zombies. Nikolai became a little ghoul, while Sumeri turned into a banshee.

Ragnar, on the other hand, was altered into one of those Steampunk undead Orcs, while Roz was turned into something like a monster with different body parts.

"T-this . . . this isn't so bad . . . ," said Leonel and peeled the greenish skin from his hand. "Kind of gross, though."

Isolde checked her reflection in the mirror and was amazed by what she saw. She was skin and bones, and her face seemed like it was melting. "So this is what I look like when I die."

While the others were both amazed and frightened by their own reflection, Ren was talking to Evie.

"You look happy," he said.

Evie giggled, a rare fit for someone like her, and that meant that she was indeed really happy. "It's not every day that I get to be a monster."

She then extended her claws at Ren and roared slightly. "How is it? Did I scare you?"

". . ." Ren's heart felt so big he couldn't breathe. Without a word, he turned back and covered his mouth with his hands to repress the emotions that wanted to burst from his lips.

So CUTE!

Ren's shoulders were shaking, and Evie thought that she might have scared him. Not to brag, but she could really be scary if she wanted to.

Evie nodded to herself for a job well done.

"Well then, feel free to roam around, and I hope you can eliminate as many players as you can while I get some more parts for another genius creation!"

With that, the Doctor turned and abruptly left.

"Should we let her go like that?" Sumeri asked, wanting to attack the Doctor for turning her into a banshee from all monsters that could be chosen from.

Ren shook his head. "If we tried to attack her, we'll find out that she is a fast-moving woman and will easily dodge us. As she escapes the room, she would call out two steampunk Orcs to enter and attack us, and our deal with her would get canceled as well."

"So we really have no choice but to become monsters and kill players?" Nikolai sighed as he stared at his rotting flesh. He didn't know which limbs still belonged to him.

On the bright side, his fear of the other monsters lessened. He was also one now, after all.

"It's not so bad," said Ragnar, swinging his axe. "We could still use our weapons and skills. It's just that our HP was almost reduced to half."

Thanks to their allegiance to the Doctor, the map of the mansion and the Mad Lab became accessible to them. Even traps and treasure were all readily indicated on the map, and it was time to pillage the place while killing some players along the way.

Players would be able to wander around the enormous mansion and explore rooms.

The mansion was connected to the tower to the south of the building, which was the lab proper. Beneath the mansion was an underground network of rooms and tunnels.

Stairs at the entrance led up to the observatory, and a door in the south wall, which was connected to a small corridor, led to the Research Room. The same was true with another set of stairs that led to the second floor.

"What now?" Ragnar asked.

"Is killing players going to trigger a PvP fight? If so, won't they know that it's us?" Isolde questioned.

"No," Ren answered. "If you look at our names on top of our HP bar, we are now named Creation 1004 and so on. It only means that we're no longer players here. We're monsters working for the Doctor."

Leonel sighed wryly. "At least that's one way to hide the identity of the killers."

"Good. We could massacre all we want without being roasted in the forums after this was all done." Isolde snickered.

"Killing ten groups of players is a lot, though. Should we split up now that we have the map?" Sumeri suggested.

"Let's split into two," Ren immediately said. "Evie and I will cover the armory and gallery."

Isolde and Leonel looked at each other while nodding in understanding.

"Then Isolde and I would go to the kitchen and lobby."

"Nikolai and I will stay here in the Mad Lab," said Sumeri.

That left Ragnar and Roz.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)