Chương 49: Solo Mission - Daniel

He couldn't process this awkward feeling in his brain. One moment, he had heard Gavin talking to him and wishing him luck on his mission, and the next, Gavin's voice was dramatically cut off and Daniel was surrounded by a wave of purple that encompassed him. It was akin to being in a purple prison.

"What is all of this?" Daniel asked himself, looking down at his hands that seemed to have turned purple.

"This cannot be real." What Daniel was going through defied all laws of physics and even science; never in a million years could people go out there and develop a portal so advanced that it could take people to other planets. Where was this portal going to transport him to? Was he going to find himself in a completely different world with completely different social rules?

Or was he going to find himself back on Planet Earth, where he could finally reunite with his parents and his sister after what felt like a whole year of being separated from them? He had completely trusted Gavin back at the portal room, but at this moment, he had ambiguous thoughts about him. He had trusted Gavin to provide a safe escape route for him where there would be no obstacles and nothing trying to stop him from returning to Earth. But was Gavin a completely trustworthy guy?

Or was he just an ordinary member of The Leak who wanted him dead regardless? Was this all just a ploy set up by both Gavin and the unknown boss?

"I guess I'll never know until I see what's on the other side," Daniel murmured to himself. The purple wall, no, it appeared to look like dust, was doing its job perfectly to conceal the other side. It was impossible to see what was beyond the cloud of dust.

"So this is mana. It does look a lot like magic to me. It looks like something that shouldn't exist back on Planet Earth. It's like something that goes against the modern laws of science." Daniel wanted to close his eyes and ponder over the situation, but before he could do that, he could begin to make out what was beyond the thick cloud of purple dust. It felt like a miracle had just occurred.

"What the hell?" Daniel was perplexed.

"What is going on here?" Gradually, the dust, no, the mana, which was similar to purple smoke, began to dissipate. Purple gas began to spread in all directions like an aroma wafting in the air. It was like the smell of pizza reaching your nose when you're walking near a pizzeria.

"What is this?" Daniel wanted to fervently step out of the portal and explore his surroundings; his cells were bubbling with zeal that wanted to be let out immediately. However, simultaneously, he was feeling slightly apprehensive since he didn't know when the right time to step out was. Were there any consequences for stepping out of the portal too early or too late? That was something Daniel didn't want to find out. He waited for what was beyond the portal to be crystal-clear before leaving the portal.

And when he did, he was slightly disheartened.

"Is this just another portal room?" Indeed, it was. His feet were making contact with the room's cold stone floor. When he looked up, he saw that the room was only dimly lit with torches neatly placed on the walls. Yes, they were real torches with fire, not the ones you use when there's a power outage.

"This is ancient," Daniel whispered to himself. He immediately deduced the fact that he was somewhere underground. It wasn't just the floor that was made of stone, the walls and the ceiling were also made of stone. The walls weren't as smooth as the floor, but there wasn't any need for them to be smooth.

"If I'm underground, then how the hell do I get up?" Daniel's anger was boiling again. Gavin, who had been acting trustworthy throughout almost his whole time stuck in The Leak's facility, had sent him to a random, mysterious place with no way of getting out. Maybe it really was just a cheap, petty trick.

"Shit," Daniel cursed.

"Damn you, Gavin! Curse you for sending me here! This doesn't look like Planet Earth to me!" If Gavin were here, Daniel would have already charged towards him, pinned him down, punched him until he bled and plucked out both of his eyes. However, Gavin was absent, and it looked like Daniel had fallen for his ruse. Eventually, however, Daniel was able to calm down and suppress his anger.

"There's no point shouting when nobody can hear you. The best way to make some progress is to explore this damn room." When all of his anger had subsided, Daniel turned his head from left to right. There were two things he saw that were of utmost importance: a ladder and a door.

"Which one would be the most useful?" Daniel pondered over that question. The ladder looked ancient, archaic. There was rust on the frame and the rungs, and that thing didn't look sturdy at all. Although he was underground, and a ladder would be an easy way to get up to the surface, Daniel didn't know if climbing that thing would be safe. He then cocked his head to look at the door. It also looked like it was at least a thousand years old; it looked like something that had survived all the calamities of this world.

"This door is probably the safest option," Daniel whispered to himself. And without further words, Daniel trudged towards the thousand-year-old door. Once he reached it, he put a hand on it and, trying his absolute best not to break it into smithereens, he pushed it. Creak! Creak!

"This was not what I was expecting." Beyond the dated door wasn't a set of stairs, which was what Daniel envisioned would await him. Instead, it revealed another torch-lit room with a smooth stone floor. There was a button at the far end of the room.

"If that summons a staircase out of nowhere, I'll admit that this is pretty amazing." Confidently, Daniel took giant strides towards the crimson-red button. He pressed it boldly without any second thoughts.

"Roar!"

"Woah!" Daniel was taken aback, his mouth agape.

"That was not what I was expecting." Instead of summoning a staircase that would take him to the surface, Daniel had summoned a wild mana beast that emerged out of nowhere. It pounced, causing Daniel to flinch reflexively in order to dodge it.

"Run away!" Daniel shouted, sprinting at full speed and shutting the door behind him before the beast could catch up. Clack! There was a palpable sense of relief in the room. Huff, huff, huff.

"That was too close for comfort," Daniel wheezed, desperately gasping for air.

"I should've just climbed up the ladder instead. Holy crap that was too close." He should've known, the colour of the button was equivalent to the colour of fresh human blood, which could only signify one thing: danger. After a while, he stood up, trying his hardest to ignore the banging noise the mana beast produced. He then cautiously strolled towards the ladder, which appeared to be suffering from wear-and-tear.

"There are other skill users and Hoppers on Planet Earth, so the fact that the ladder is in this condition shouldn't be a surprise." Daniel continued speaking to try and ease the pain in his mind that this wasn't Planet Earth. He had put his full trust on Gavin to take him back to his home, back to his family and back to living a normal life. Well, a normal life as a skill user. Clack, clack, clack. Huff, huff, huff. He placed both his hands on the frame of the ladder and his feet on the first rung.

Then, with a slight discomfort in his stomach, he began the arduous ascent to the surface. Clack, clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack.

"How far down am I?" Daniel asked himself after climbing around ten rungs.

"I have to be at least fifty feet underground." He wasn't. The harrowing reality was soon going to hit. Clack, clack, clack.

"How far?" Clack, clack, clack.

"I'm… running out of… breath." Clack, clack, clack.

"Damn you, Gavin!" Clack, clack, clack. It felt like thirty minutes had passed before Daniel could see any sign of daylight. A single beam of light radiated from above, which almost made him flinch and fall off the ladder. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Finally! I can finally see the sun!" Clack, clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack. Daniel mustered all of his remaining strength and continued to climb. He didn't care that sweat was starting to trickle down his forehead and into his eyes. He didn't care that he was running out of oxygen. He just wanted to reach the surface and finally be back home again. After all, he was still in his school uniform from when he had school on Friday. Clack, clack, clack.

As he climbed, the enlargement of the hole was prominent; it signified that he was making significant progress.

"Please… please." Soon, he was at the final rung. He was ready to make that giant leap onto the surface.

"Finally." All of his remaining strength was channelled into his legs for this final push. With a deafening grunt, Daniel pushed himself onto the ground.

"Finally. I'm back home. I'm back- what?" As soon as he stood up, he had to face the vilifying reality.

"This doesn't look like home." Just like back in the underground portal room, Daniel turned his head from left to right. There were trees, bushes and grass, but no houses or roads. He was right. This didn't look like home. But at least this looked like Planet Earth.

"Let's wander around for a bit- what the hell is that?" Daniel had only walked five steps away from where the ladder reached the surface before another shock hit him dead in the heart. In a gap between the trees, looking downwards, was a ginormous valley. Two cliffs as tall as skyscrapers were separated by an area of flat land, and built on that flat land was a settlement akin to a large town.

"This does not look like home at all," Daniel muttered.

"How many miles away from home am I? Am I even on the same continent?" He hastily pulled out his phone from his pocket and tried to switch it on, but the phone screen remained blank.

"Shit," Daniel cursed again.

"My phone is dead." The number of angry thoughts he had harboured in his brain had reached an all-time high. Saying he was irate was an understatement. Daniel could literally burst his vocal cords shouting curses towards Gavin if he wanted to. There was no word in the English dictionary that could perfectly describe how angry Daniel was deep inside.

"Gavin, you motherfuckerrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Daniel burst into rage. He thought steam was going to erupt from his nose, ears and mouth. Yes, this was definitely a ruse.

"This little son of a bitch." With anger and curses directed at Gavin accumulating inside his mind, Daniel descended the cliff, practically stomping with every step he took. His objective was to reach the town and find a source of help, someone who could help him get back home. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't just him making the trip down to the settlement. There were other people doing the same thing.

When he was about halfway down the hill, he could see what appeared to be guards at the front of the town, presumably to tell people whether they could or could not enter. This all looked so primitive, and this statement could be backed up by the fact that the settlement had a clear wall separating it from the outside world.

"What the hell…" Daniel's anger was soon replaced by shock and astonishment. He was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere that didn't appear to be anywhere near his home, and he had no way to get back. Getting help from someone was paramount. No, entering the town was paramount. When he was just a few yards away from the town, he could make out a queue forming near the entrance. Without even having to debate his choice, he joined the queue and waited patiently. He took a deep breath.

"Next please!" Soon, the queue began to move.

"Next please!"

"Next please!" He was so far back in the queue that he thought the number of times he heard the innocuous words 'next please' was enough to make a microscopic hole in his eardrums. He wanted to cover his ears so badly. But that would just make him seem like somebody who has no experience dealing with loud noises, and that was not the type of person he was.

"Next please!" Soon, after a gruelling twenty minutes, Daniel was finally the person at the front of the queue. Finally, he muttered in his head. I can finally get help from someone. Unfortunately, however, he was not ready for what the guard had to say. It was probably the biggest culture shock he was ever going to receive.

"Hello, Hopper. Are you new here?" There it was. He had said the term 'Hopper'.

"Hopper?" Daniel blurted out unintentionally.

"What Hopper?" Oh yes, he thought, having an epiphany moment in his brain. I'm a Hopper now. Not just a skill user.

"Yes, I am new." Daniel changed his response.

"What level are you?"

"Umm," Daniel faltered. All of this was still very new and foreign to him. However, he soon remembered what he had eaten when he was in the facility with Gavin.

"I am at the advanced level."

"OK. Just wait here. I've got more people to take care of. I'll get someone here to take you into the town. Jake! Jacob! Where the hell are you?" As if responding to the guard's orders, someone emerged from inside the town with a benevolent look on his face. This person didn't seem too old; he was either a teenager or someone who was in his twenties but no older than twenty-five. He still had a youthful demeanour.

"Take him into the town for me please," the guard instructed.

"Get him a room or something. I've got more people to tend to than just him. Next please!" The person, whose name was Jake or Jacob, then beckoned for Daniel to follow him. And soon enough, Daniel had both feet inside this isolated town.

"What the-" This was undoubtedly a culture shock for Daniel. It was completely different to what he was used to seeing. Whilst many cities had city centres teeming with people, this town was almost filled to the brim with people going about their daily business. It created a bustling but vibrant atmosphere that encompassed Daniel, forcing him to be one of them. There was a stark contrast in the buildings as well.

Back at home, most buildings were very well-built and of exceptional quality, but in this town, it looked like materials were haphazardly laid together to form large boxes that were eventually stacked on top of each other. The buildings were made from either iron boards, concrete or what looked like mud bricks, and most of them had three floors and a balcony on the middle floor.

"You seem quite astounded." Daniel averted his gaze towards the source of the voice. It was the person assigned to lead him into the town: his guide.

"I-Is this Planet Earth?" Daniel stuttered.

"Planet Earth?" Jake, or Jacob, seemed slightly puzzled by Daniel's words, as if he didn't know whether Planet Earth existed or not.

"I've never heard of 'Planet Earth' before. Are you talking about the earth we use to grow our crops?" Daniel wanted to bury his face in his hands. Was this person insane or did he really not know what Planet Earth was? If it was the latter, then Daniel might not even be on Planet Earth. Gavin might have sent him to some random planet in the middle of the vast, open universe.

"You're making me feel awkward," the guide said.

"I'm Jacob, by the way. I'll be your guide for today. First, I need to give you this." The guide, Jacob, reached into his pocket and pulled out something small. It was an object akin to a credit card. Printed on it in bold characters was the number 33. Daniel took the card from Jacob.

"This is like your identification card in this town. You need to keep it safe at all times. The number on the card tells you which cave you're going to in order to complete your missions. There are so many caves on this planet that each cave is numbered. That's what earned this place the name 'City of Caves'. Each cave has different missions, but only one cave houses the boss beast, which is the beast you have to defeat in order to make this planet yours."

Daniel's face was blank, devoid of any emotion; it looked like his soul had just escaped from his body. This information might even be more confusing than all of the information Gavin gave him combined.

"The guard at the gate said that you have to take me to my lodgings," Daniel muttered, feeling unequivocally confused, "but can you be generous enough to take me straight to this 33? Please?" Jacob could see his reflection from Daniel's watery eyes. At this point, Daniel was practically begging this man who was at most just a few years older than him to go to some unknown, enigmatic place. Nevertheless, he nodded.

"I'll make an exception for you," he said confidently, his head turned to the side.

"I don't usually do this though. Normally, it's imperative that I take you to your accommodation first." Daniel's shoulders slumped to the side. He didn't know how he could thank this magnanimous man, so he kept his mouth zipped shut. The two of them just carried on walking. They passed through a slew of chaotic, hectic and bustling streets where they had to push their way past other people just to get through. Then, after a while, the street they were on opened up, revealing an imposing, grandiose town square.

However, since Daniel had pretty much ordered Jacob to take him to number 33, they couldn't stop and admire the countless hours of dedication and effort that was put in to construct such a square. It was only after they had passed the town square that Jacob decided to make small talk with Daniel.

"Which planet did you come here from?" he asked Daniel.

"Planet Earth." Jacob soon had a revelation.

"Is that why you asked me how to get back to Planet Earth?" Daniel nodded solemnly at Jacob's words.

"Don't you want to claim this planet first? It's always nice to say that you have a planet all to yourself. This planet has a vast array of riches and valuables that might interest you."

"I don't need to," he said boldly, turning down the offer as if he already knew what 'claiming the planet' meant. Unfortunately, in truth, none of that information was present in Daniel's brain, and it was driving him crazy that he didn't know any of this. Screw you, Gavin. It's all because of you that I don't know shit.

"You just want to get back home?" Daniel nodded.

"Take me to cave 33 first, however. I'm still intrigued at what missions I have to complete to fulfil my duty as a Hopper."

"That's a very bold statement indeed. I shall carry out your wishes and send you to cave number 33 then." Soon, the two Hoppers were out of the town on the other side and were walking on marshy terrain. That didn't bother Daniel, however, who was genuinely in shock at how impressive the city of caves looked to him. There were caves scattered across both cliffs, both large and small, and where they took a person was a complete mystery.

Jacob then led Daniel to a cave quite far away from the town that was significantly larger than the rest. Its entrance was grand and seemed to beckon for Hoppers to enter. At the top of the entrance, in black paint and in bold characters, was the number 33.

"Here it is," Jacob said, pointing to the cave entrance.

"This is the place. Cave number 33. I've done my job. If you have any questions, come to me at the town. I'll be patrolling by the gates." Daniel nodded, not saying another word. He watched as Jacob, his guide, turned around and started walking back towards the town. He was all alone again, in the middle of the City of Caves, with no other person to support him. He had to carry on himself.

"If I stand out here, I'm just wasting time," Daniel mumbled to himself.

"I need to go inside and see what's going on." Without further ado, Daniel climbed the steps leading to the cave entrance and put one foot into the darkness that was cave number 33. The cave was exactly what he had been expecting: a dark, dismal interior with no source of light apart from the sun's beams that radiated from above. It was like walking into another dimension, another planet. It felt daunting. He didn't know what he was going to come across inside this cave. He didn't have any expectations at all.

The sole purpose of entering this cave was to find some sort of lead to take him back to Planet Earth, since the planet he was on was almost certainly not Earth. Soon, something caught his attention. You have a new mission! Cave 33: Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts"Hmm. At least I still remember how to open system windows." Using that knowledge, Daniel opened his system window. And that was the first sign of trouble that Daniel picked out.

[Cave 33: Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Grizzly black bear (75/75) 2) Crimson fox (50/50) 3) Boss: The Blood Bear (0/1)"Someone's already completed half of the mission," Daniel whispered.

"Only the boss beast is left undefeated." Daniel couldn't ponder over why more than half of the mission had already been completed, however, since the second sign of trouble was just around the corner. And this one wasn't any ordinary sign of trouble either. This was probably the most disturbing thing Daniel De Souza had ever seen in his seventeen-year life.

"Oh my gosh," he said, covering his mouth with both hands.

"I've just stumbled upon a massacre."