Chương 29: Solo Mission - Theo (4)

Theo was reminded of the time he was on Planet 501. This was oddly similar to that; he was in front of a menacing cave entrance, and the inside of the cave was foreign to him since the entrance was a dark black portal waiting to engulf him whole. It was like entering one of those caves in the rocky city of Planet 501.

"The good old times," Theo said to himself. HIs brain seemed to evoke a sense of nostalgia even though the expedition to Planet 501 was only about a week ago. The entrance of the cave itself looked extremely proud, with the ground forming a hill above the entrance and trees growing on that hill. It was like the planet made way for this cave to exist.

"This has to be where the bears live," Theo muttered. Clutching onto his sword and after stabilising his breathing, Theo made the bold decision to enter the cave. Just like the cave back on Planet 501, this cave had a pitch-black interior, and at first, Theo didn't know where he was going. He didn't know if the rocks that made up the cave had jagged edges that could stab him if he made a wrong move, which could lead to something detrimental if he wasn't careful.

However, there was one item in his system inventory which could solve that issue. Theo reached into his system inventory and pulled out a torch. Flick. Flash! Suddenly, there was light inside the cave. The cave's interior was just as impressive as its exterior, with its high ceilings and rocks jutting out from the walls. Theo was thankful that he had brought a torch, since scraping one of those rocks might be the end of him.

"Hello?" His voice reverberated and made an awful echo which seemed to carry on forever.

"I know you're in here." Theo continued to stroll further into the cave. Soon, the entrance was just a tiny dot in the distance. It felt like he was getting tunnel vision. Where were these bears? And why was this cave going so deep? Clack. Clack. The only thing that could be heard was Theo's footsteps.

"Just come out," Theo pleaded.

"There has to be some beasts hiding in here." However, it looked like this cave was empty, and the bear Theo had been chasing did not run into the cave. Theo sighed, and his sigh created an echo inside the eerie cave. He was about to give up when he saw something in the distance. A white dot. It wasn't the cave entrance, since that should be behind him.

"Is this cave actually a tunnel and is that just the opening on the other side?" Theo thought. That was one possibility. But then, just as Theo was about to firmly believe that he was inside a tunnel, the white dots in the vicinity began to duplicate like Devon's clones. There was no way what he was looking at was an exit. Theo's mouth curled up to form a psychotic grin. His smile was so wide that there was a possibility of his lips reaching his eyes.

"Now we're talking," he snarled. What Theo had been looking at wasn't an exit of the tunnel, but a group of wild mana beasts.

"Yes, come closer and meet your demise." Bingo. Theo had found the group of bears he had been chasing for what felt like a million hours. It was finally time to hunt and kill. Time to regress back to the Stone Age.

"A hundred bears in here shouldn't be an issue," Theo sneered. He had finally found something to bully that wasn't a student back at school. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Stab! Two of the bears were down in an instant. He had killed around ten to fifteen bears on the surface, so he had around eighty more left to defeat. [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Bam! One of the bears charging at Theo was launched into the sky just from one uppercut.

He was definitely going to get used to this. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Stab! [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Stab! Down went a few more bears. Although Theo had no experience in swordsmanship, he was wielding the sword elegantly and effortlessly as if he was a seasoned warrior. Each swing was satisfying to watch, and it was hard to imagine that he had absolutely no experience in this field at all.

That was the power of mana. The power of magic. Slash! Stab! Bam! The head of the nearest bear was sliced off like it was a slice of cake ready to be cut. The sword then entered one side of another bear's body and penetrated through; the glistening blade was visible on the other side. Another bear was sent crashing into a sharp rock protruding out of the wall, splattering the wall with fresh blood. And Theo was at the centre of all this mess, orchestrating it. He wasn't scared. He was grinning.

It was all in a day's work for a Night Hopper. Theo laughed. And he laughed some more. His laugh turned into a maniacal laugh which couldn't be stopped. The bears that weren't hit saw the bears that Theo had killed and decided they were going to avenge the ones who had met their untimely deaths. But Theo couldn't be stopped. He was having too much fun. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I will kill you and all your brethren!" Theo bellowed at the top of his voice, shaking the entirety of the cave. Roar! The bears responded. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Whoosh! Stab! Slash! The bears, which were deep into the basic level, were no match for a Hopper who was at stage 4 and about to advance to the advanced level.

"Come at me if you dare!" [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Bang! Crash! Loose pieces of rock tumbled from the walls to the floor since the bears had crashed into the walls with such a great force.

"I could do this all day. Killing these bears means free mana crystals. And free mana crystals means free money." It was shocking to see people at the basic level of skill users being this strong. The skill user world was surely a world to behold.

"You guys are all toast!" Theo looked like he was never going to run out of mana. He was having too much fun. It didn't take him long to defeat a hundred of those bears. [You have gained 315 XP for defeating 105 'Grizzly Black Bear (basic)'.] [Total XP: 335/2000] Theo was panting. He couldn't stand up straight. His heart was pounding like a drum and his sweat was creating miniscule puddles on the ground. He had done it. He had completed the first part of the mission. [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.] Slowly but surely, Theo began to recover.

"That was fun," Theo wheezed before his breathing rate could completely stabilise. He wanted to rest and recuperate, but he couldn't rest for long, since he could see glowing eyes in the distance, symbolising the arrival of more mana beasts. This time, though, their eyes were red. It wasn't just their eyes that were red; their fur was also red and glistened like rubies. They were literally the physical embodiment of advanced mana crystals. They were living, walking mana crystals.

"Oh shit," Theo grunted.

"Here we go again." The beasts strutting towards Theo were exuding an aura of confidence. They didn't look like basic mana beasts anymore. Theo read the name tag above their heads. [Blood Bear (basic/advanced)] He flinched.

"Those things are scary," he thought aloud.

"How are they still half in the basic level?" He wasn't going to have to fight those, right? Right? Theo checked the system window. The mystery beasts had been revealed. [Mission 2/4: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Grizzly black bear (105/100) 2) Blood Bear (0/30) Shit. He was going to have to defeat thirty of those monsters. Those blood bears were the living embodiment of bloodshed.

"There's no such thing as being scared in my dictionary," Theo said to himself to try and ease his nerves.

"I can do it, and I will do it. They're still basic-level beasts after all since they still have basic written on their name tag." But the blood bears didn't behave anything like basic beasts. Roar! Slash! The blood bear nearest to Theo pounced, exploiting the fact that Theo had faltered; its claws made a deep gash on Theo's right arm. Right where that snake had bitten him the night before.

Blood poured out of the wound on the floor like water being poured into a measuring jug, creating a small puddle of liquid advanced mana crystals.

"Shit," Theo cursed.

"It's happened again. I cannot let my guard down anymore. That's two times it's happened now." Gripping onto his sword tightly, Theo was ready. He was going to defeat all thirty blood bears and progress onto the next mission. Like the main character of a game.

"Forget this wound for now. I can endure the pain. Killing these blood bears is more important right now." [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Stab! Argh! [Blood Bear (3/30)]"If you can catch me off guard and ambush me, why can't I do the same?" Theo bellowed.

"Anything you can do, I can do better!" Slash! Stab! [Blood Bear (5/30)] Calling Theo Parker a bully at that point was a complete understatement. He was more than just a school bully. He was a monster. He was a destroying machine. He was having fun. He didn't even care about the wound on his arm that had just opened up. He knew he wasn't going to die from just a silly cut. [Blood Bear (10/30)] In an instant, there were at least ten blood bears on the floor leaking blood out of at least one stab wound.

That was already a third of the blood bears Theo had to defeat dead, and only around five minutes had passed.

"You can do this, Theo. You can do this. If you've already defeated ten blood bears like that, you can definitely defeat thirty. Just think that this is way easier than my first mission on Planet 501." Theo grinned. [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] Theo swung his sword at the nearest blood bear. Stab! Slash! Bang! With the elegance of Theo's sword movements, another three blood bears fell to the floor in defeat.

They didn't even stand a chance despite the Bali system classifying Theo as being weaker than one of the bears. [Blood Bear (13/30)]"Just seventeen more to go," Theo wheezed. Just like that, Theo had defeated thirteen blood bears like they were nothing, which happened to be all the blood bears in that large group. Even he was shocked at the magnitude of his own strength; he only started to lose his breath and gasp for air after defeating thirteen menacing blood bears, most of them with just one stab.

He had come so far in just a few weeks. A few weeks ago, Theo had been sitting in a classroom trying to bully the shit out of his classmates. He was a feared school bully with no real friends other than Ben Oxley. However, he now had a group of trusted friends and superhuman powers he thought were only possible in works of fiction.

"How quickly life changes," Theo murmured. He didn't have any time to contemplate about his life, however, and soon, after he had confirmed that there were no more blood bears in the vicinity, he stood up and began to cut open the corpses of the blood bears, searching for mana crystals.

"Blood bears my ass," Theo whispered to himself.

"What's so scary about them?" Yeah, what was so scary about them? As long as Theo wasn't facing legendary or infinite level mana beasts, there was no need to be scared. Each bear had a mixture of basic and advanced-level mana crystals, with the advanced crystals looking like one of the bear's internal organs. Eventually, there was a collection of basic and advanced level mana crystals on the ground. Theo took a handful of advanced crystals and stuffed them into his pocket.

"Only for emergencies," he said.

"If they're still there by the time I get home, I'm gonna sell them all for big profits." He took the remaining advanced mana crystals and smashed them. You have chosen to use an 'Advanced Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +7 2) Agility +7 3) Stamina +7 4) Intelligence +7 5) Upgrade skill Option 1. Trait, 'Strength', has been upgraded by 7 points. Strength: 48 → 55 You have chosen to use an 'Advanced Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for?

1) Strength +7 2) Agility +7 3) Stamina +7 4) Intelligence +7 5) Upgrade skill Option 3. Trait, 'Stamina', has been upgraded by 7 points. Stamina: 33 → 40 Once Theo had finished upgrading his skills, he took a handful of basic mana crystals and threw them all into his mouth. Without chewing any of the crystals, he swallowed them all.

"Ugh." Theo almost choked. Swallowing all those mana crystals was like swallowing a huge ball of chewing gum.

"That should replenish most of my mana," Theo said to himself. He then stood up and started walking further into the cave, stepping hard on the corpses of the blood bears he had defeated in the process. [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Crack! The unmistakable sound of bones breaking could be heard as Theo trampled on the fallen bears without mercy. Once he walked past the bears that had fallen, Theo continued to explore the cave.

There were no other animals around, and the awkward silence gave Theo the chills. He felt like he was the main character in a horror movie.

"Hello? Where are these blood bears?" As if the blood bears had responded to Theo's question, Theo's pitch-black vision began to sprout red dots. The blood bears had come.

"Blood bears my ass," Theo repeated, but this time, he said it louder than the first time.

"This is gonna be an easy seventeen kills." Theo didn't know this at the time, but unlike his previous battles against the beasts of this planet, this time, he was being watched.