Chương 17: First Mission (2)

There was no need to take a breather: I walked and walked until I stumbled upon another large cave. The entrance to this cave might have been at least twice as large as the previous one, and it almost perfectly resembled the entrance to a portal. In summary, it was reminiscent of the portal we used to travel to this planet. It stood out compared to the other nearby caves; it was grandiose, it looked like the largest cave on this planet, and it beckoned for me to enter.

As I entered this pitch-black void of nothingness, the system window appeared again. Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts Beasts to defeat: Iron-horned rhino (5/100) Black Spotted Jaguar (20/100)??? (?? /??) That was a surprise. I could clearly remember that I had only defeated ten black spotted jaguars, but the system was telling me that twenty jaguars had been defeated. And it looked like someone had managed to defeat a group of rhinos. That was good news.

Maybe this was a mission for all of us to complete together, not an individual mission. Maybe Theo, Ben and Maya's kills all contributed to the final total. At least that meant we could all get the mission done quicker and claim the planet. The cave I was entering was more impressive than the last. There were many rocks jutting out from the walls and the floor was uneven; I almost cut myself several times from stepping on sharp edges. It would be very unfortunate if that was how I ended up dying.

I continuously glanced back at the system window, and yes, the number of beasts being killed was constantly increasing although I wasn't killing anything. What a relief. I looked down at my sword. It seemed to be glowing, and I could only see it faintly due to the darkness. I could, however, make out the areas where the sword wasn't glowing, which were the areas where the dried jaguar blood stained my sword like dalmatian fur. Clop, clop, clop. There they were. The beasts of this cave.

Their footsteps reverberated, creating an extremely painful and ear-splitting noise that made me cover my ears. Clop, clop, clop. Like little drums, the mana beasts made their way towards me with menacing silver eyes and a menacing silver horn. Now I could see why they were called iron-horned rhinos: their horns must be made of pure iron. Then were their eyes made of iron as well? I didn't have time to answer that question. Again, I looked at the name tag above the beasts' heads.

[Iron-Horned Rhino (basic/advanced)] So the system couldn't decide which level to classify the rhinos and the best they could do was to classify them in the middle. I had a lot of questions in my head that needed answers, but I wasn't going to get them without trying things out. I couldn't remember whether there were beasts in Night Hoppers that had one foot in one level and the other in another level. I didn't want to think about it just yet. There were more important things to think about. Like my safety.

[Skill, 'Reading Bubble (basic)', has been activated.] Surely they weren't going to break through my shield. Clang! Clang! Clang! I heard the horrible noise of iron making contact with the dome. It sounded like a gong, but at least a thousand times worse. It was something that could break my eardrums in ten seconds. Clang! So far, the beasts weren't making any progress in breaking through my reading bubble, and it must have been because they were still partly at the basic level.

It would be difficult to classify which stage the rhinos would be in if they had both basic and advanced level qualities. Was there a stage four-and-a-half in the Bali system? Surely not. Bang! I was surrounded by rhinos trying to break through my reading bubble. It was like the fans in a football match trying to invade the pitch but being barred by security. This definitely could not go on forever. I had to disengage the skill at some point. Clang! Clang!

"Hey!" Who was that? Was it one of my friends? Or was it a competitor we had to compete against for the rights to claim this planet?

"Are you in here?" The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I looked behind me. Thankfully it wasn't someone I didn't know. It was Theo, running down the cave with a torch in his hand, trying not to slip and fall on the jagged rocks.

"Theo!" I called out.

"It's me."

"Robert?" Theo was astounded.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," I answered.

"I think I'll be OK for a while since these beasts can't break through this dome." Theo gave me a wry smile.

"You do you. I'm here to help." I might've said that too early. [Skill, 'Reading Bubble (basic)', is showing signs of breaking.] Crap. I had jinxed it. Well, the beasts did have advanced-level qualities, but I didn't think they would be able to make a dent on the surface due to their basic-level qualities. Maybe I did need Theo's help after all. [Skill, 'Reading Bubble (basic)', is showing signs of breaking.] Those iron horns looked deadly as well.

They looked like they would seriously hurt if they pierced deep into human skin. There were now cracks forming on the dome like cracks on glass. [Skill, 'Reading Bubble (basic)', is showing signs of breaking.] I couldn't risk it anymore. I could lose a ton of mana here if everything goes wrong. [You have disengaged basic skill 'Reading Bubble'.] Thankfully, this time, the skill disengaged when I wanted it to. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.]"Theo," I said once I was out of danger.

"Do you think you can help me defeat those beasts?"

"Do you think I can help you defeat those beasts?" Theo repeated my question with a smug look on his face which reflected his past life as a bully. However, his response was the complete opposite of what a bully would say.

"Why else am I here?" he asked me.

"Of course I'm here to help you. I saw you go into this cave and I thought you might need help. Am I right?" Although he smirked, I could tell he was being genuine. He just had a bit of arrogance in him. Having a comrade with me wasn't too bad, since we were taking part in a collective mission and not an individual one. Besides, Theo had pretty much cemented his status as the strongest skill user in our group. Apart from Cayman and Ellie, of course.

"Who do you think was the person who defeated all the rhinos?" Theo asked me. Maybe Theo could be of some help in this situation. I couldn't imagine any of my other friends defeating five iron-horned rhinos at once. I could imagine Ben and Maya defeating a bunch of those black-spotted jaguars together, however, but not five iron-horned rhinos with one foot in the advanced level.

"Right," I said after pondering over the situation.

"Let's work together and defeat these rhinos."

"Let's." Theo gave me a fistbump. And with that, Theo disappeared. He must have used the teleportation skill to teleport away from me. I was rooted to the spot as I watched Theo teleport to the nearest rhino and give it a nice strong punch, sending it flying into the air and careening into the other rhinos. Punch! Bang! Theo must have used most of his mana crystals to upgrade his strength, since those rhinos had to weigh at least three thousand pounds.

The number of strength points he had was probably at least forty or fifty. Theo's punches were imbued with mana, after all, which might have made them at least ten times stronger. He had turned into a beast. I didn't want to think about what would happen if he punched a person with that level of strength. Who knows what his strength is going to be like once he reaches the advanced level? Well, those beasts were part-basic beasts anyways. Punch! Crash!

A rhino hit the wall at breakneck speed, creating a circular hole in the wall which looked like a ruined portal. It coughed up blood from its mouth and collapsed. Its iron horn, which had been attached to its head before the impact, was now on the floor, separated from its head. Tentatively, I walked over to the iron horn and picked it up. It was cold to the touch, and with the torch Theo had been holding, I could clearly see my reflection on the horn. It should sell for a lot in the skill user world.

It wouldn't be as valuable as a mana crystal, but it should still yield some profit. Theo continued to punch the remaining rhinos. Soon I realised that this was only knocking out the rhinos at best and not killing them, so I reached out for my sword and began to stab the rhinos one by one. Stab! Stab! Stab! Blood oozed out from the rhinos' bodies, staining my shoes and pants. There was blood all over me as I reached into the rhinos' bodies and grabbed the mana crystals inside their bodies.

There were two types of mana crystals inside their bodies: larger blue ones and smaller red ones. Both basic and advanced mana crystals. Theo, who had stopped punching the rhinos, walked over to me once he saw the brilliant blue and red glows. I gave one of the red mana crystals to Theo.

"Your strength is insane already," I said, handing another red crystal to Theo. He definitely deserved it, since it looked like it used a ton of mana. Theo nodded.

"I know," he replied with a smile.

"Thank you so much for the crystals." I stood up and walked over to the other rhinos. They were all on the floor out cold. There were cracks on the walls from where they had been hit by Theo's superhuman punches and there were loose rocks falling from the walls. Without saying another word to Theo, my sword made contact with the rhinos' bodies and penetrated through, and just like with the other rhinos, fresh black blood erupted from the stab wounds like mini volcanoes.

There was a system message waiting for me once I finished. [You have gained 150 XP for defeating 10 'Iron-Horned Rhino (basic/advanced)'.] [Total XP: 340/800] My blackened hands then reached for the mana crystals inside the bodies, and when I counted the crystals, there were twenty-four blue basic crystals and eighteen red advanced crystals. I gave half of my loot to Theo, which he greatly appreciated. I looked at the mission log. It looked like Ben and Maya were doing well to contribute to the final total.

Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts Beasts to defeat: Iron-horned rhino (15/100) Black Spotted Jaguar (40/100)??? (?? /??) We were making good progress. I could hear Theo cracking his mana crystals to replenish his stats before he walked over to me.

"I wonder how Ben and Maya are doing," he said to me in a composed, soothing voice.

"They better not be taking this too seriously and injuring themselves."

"Have you seen what they are doing?" I asked. Theo shook his head.

"They went in the opposite direction. Even though this is our first mission and we might feel a bit of excitement, I'm still a bit worried that they might injure themselves." I agreed with Theo. Ben might be reckless sometimes, and although Theo had known him for many years now, he was right to worry about him, since he could charge in blindly at the iron-horned rhinos and injure himself. I was less worried about Maya, though, since she seemed a lot more composed compared to the wild Ben Oxley.

"Well, let's get out of here." Theo stood up after breaking most of his mana crystals.

"There's still a mystery beast, and we're yet to find it." I was about to stand up too, but then I heard a noise in the vicinity that screamed trouble. Rumble! Theo must have heard it as well, as he froze and looked in the direction I was looking at. Something was definitely coming this way, and that something seemed like something we should avoid at all costs. Then, after a few heavy steps, a large beast emerged, looking ready to kill us.