Chương 48: A Ray of Hope

"Most of the details and rumors came from the old man who first appeared here. He was a plant researcher. However, he too had no clear knowledge regarding this trail," Laurene said.

"He was the one who stated that this is The Maw trail, so everyone believed him."

"The first thing he said about this trail was nobody will pass The Maw trail and leave this place. Since very few incidents had occurred throughout history, only a scant amount of information had surfaced into public knowledge regarding this trail. There were only a few people who claimed that they had entered into The Maw and exited from here," she continued. Hearing such demotivating words right from the start, Arthur was not the slightest bit shocked. He clearly understood the severity of the situation.

If it was said that an Alpha Standard Awakener had to kill an Omega Standard monster in order to pass the trail, one would have absolutely no argument against it. Only people with a Seven Core Layer had a chance to defeat an Omega Standard monster. Moreover, fighting it single-handedly was an extremely difficult task. Hence, Arthur did not plan to blame the old man or anyone else.

"There are a total of seven Labyrinths existing on the Trail. One needs to cross all of them in order to reach the central Labyrinth to fight the Final Boss. However, each Labyrinth possesses its own dangers."

"Some say there will be great rewards once a person passes the Trail. One could even receive rewards for every Labyrinth they reach."

"The distance between two Labyrinths shortens greatly. For example, to reach the Alpha Standard Labyrinth's Safe Spot from the waiting area, one needs to cover five kilometers. However, from the Alpha to the Gamma Standard Safe Spot, the distance reduces, but the dangers increase."

"The terrain of each Labyrinth changes drastically. Furthermore, each Labyrinth's Safe Spot requires a specific key-like Artifact to open. In order to obtain it, one has to fight the Boss of that Labyrinth."

"These are the main rumors we came to know after arriving at this place. Based on these, you can guess the difficulty of the Trail," Daniel finished listing off the information. This was indeed great knowledge to possess. However, these matters only gave Arthur a headache. Everything seemed to be an impossible task to achieve. A person could not just run directly to the next Safe Spot since an Artifact was required to open it. To obtain it, they had to fight the Head Boss of the Labyrinth.

Currently, his Skeletons only had the capacity to reach up to the third Labyrinth. After that point, he would definitely need stronger Skeletons.

"Where do you guys usually hunt?" Arthur asked. He looked around as they walked for a while, discovering that not a single monster could be seen.

"Monsters do not roam near the Safe Spot; there is at least a kilometer's distance. So, we go near a crater over there," Daniel explained as he pointed in a direction.

"There are mostly only a few beasts roaming there, so it is a little easier to hunt. However, the further you walk in that direction, the more beasts there will be. Eventually, you will be overwhelmed by the monsters. We nearly died three days ago trying to test the waters." Meanwhile, Arthur called out the Market Place, his mind completely blank on what to do next. If he possessed a Great Grandmaster Skeleton, he could easily run through this place.

However, he could not possibly hire even a Beginner Skeleton in this place with the resources it offered. His desire to hire a Great Grandmaster Worker was simply an impossible task. Nevertheless, he could not help but search for any workers that could aid him in his current situation. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. While walking, he searched for Master Status Skeletons. First, he needed to deal with this gang that took control of the situation.

Currently, three Theta Standard Awakeners sat at the top of the hierarchy. In order to subdue them, he needed to make a contract with at least a single Master Status Skeleton. To his surprise, a large number of Skeletons existed on the list. He slowly scrolled through the list, reading the Contract Payments and rejecting those that were impossible to contract. However, after going through the list, he could not find a single Skeleton that he could afford.

He would not be able to find a single worker if he searched blindly. With that, he simply removed all of his filter preferences and searched for a Master Status worker, setting the Contract Payment filter to only require Alpha Standard materials. The list reloaded, and fortunately, he obtained three results. With great joy, Arthur checked the details of the first Skeleton worker.

[Worker Status] Name: Max Designation: Artist Specialist: Architecture Professional Status: Master Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 10, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 1, 000 Theta Standard Parchments (or) 2, 500 Delta Standard Parchments (or) 5, 000 Gamma Standard Parchments (or) 7, 500 Alpha Standard Parchments Arthur was both surprised and disappointed at the same time. This Skeleton worker was an Artist, which currently had no use to him.

However, he was surprised by the multiple choices available for the Contract Payment option. He could choose one of them to pay for the hire. This was the first time Arthur had seen such an option available on the Market Place. Although he could hire this Skeleton if he were to hunt enough Alpha Standard beasts, it would not be of any help to his current cause. He quickly moved to the second worker in the results, praying hard in his heart.

[Worker Status] Name: Errol Designation: Cook Specialist: Steak Professional Status: Master Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 12, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 10, 000 fine cut Alpha Standard Steaks Arthur's face suddenly darkened. This Contract Payment was very much payable, if the Skeleton was a combat type. Instead, it was a Cook.

"God damn it!" Arthur cursed out loud. The hunting party, who walked in silence, was surprised by Arthur's sudden outburst.

"Is there a problem?" Daniel asked, his eyes gazing at Arthur's face.

"No, it is nothing," Arthur waved his hand. It would have been a true miracle if a combat Skeleton could be obtained with this Contract Payment in this location. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a useless Cook. What could he do with it? With frustration overwhelming his heart, he readied himself for the last result. He heaved a big sigh, hoping this worker would be at least some type of combat worker that would be useful to him. Even a Miner would be useful; he could easily use him in combat.

He tapped the details on the translucent screen in front of his face. The result clicked, and a new page loaded. Arthur's heart beat faster, and he gulped heavily in agitation. Just give me anything other than a Utility Worker. [Worker Status] Name: Techi Designation: Debuffer Specialist: Damage over Time Professional Status: Master Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 9, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 2, 500 Alpha Standard Beast Cores, 2, 500 Alpha Standard Beast Hearts"Bingo," Arthur muttered.

His prayers did not let him down. He had finally found a Worker Skeleton with a Master Status that would help in combat. Techi was a Skeleton who could help him overthrow the current regime of the dictator.

"This is the place we have reached," Daniel said. While Arthur was celebrating inwardly, he lifted his head from the screen after hearing those words. In front of him lay a large crater with jagged terrain.

"This place is fine to hunt beasts without getting overwhelmed by numbers," Daniel explained. However, Arthur currently wanted that overwhelming number of beasts; 2, 500 beasts, at that. That was a large number, and it would certainly take time. However, he had no choice but to do it.