Leave The Monster Alone

"I found a boat" that voice was a relief, breaking the monotony in a seemingly helpless search for a way to cross the water. 

The search for a way across had been going on for a few hours now without any success on their front but finally, the search was over. Hopefully, this would make their journey much easier.

"Let me see, a Jon boat? I guess we can make do with it for now but I'm not sure this is the best option for us" Rika's words help true and Mark himself could not help but consider their situation. 

As they were now, any protection was good protection and this boat provided none. Actually, it would do the opposite and inform everyone that something was moving inside the water.

But since this was their only choice currently, they could not be the choosers.

"Should we have a look inside as well? Though I don't think we'll find anything better than this" they had to take Alan's suggestion with a grain of salt. The building at their side already looked on the verge of falling apart which was not great.

Some parts had already caved in and showed large holes. 

Their only hope lied in the fact that the building was huge horizontally and some parts had likely survived the crashing of the roof. However, this was a risk too since they had no prior knowledge. Even on his map, the place showed up as a building and nothing else was indicated.

As such, it was difficult to tell how big of a risk they were thinking of undertaking.

"We can try but we should secure at least one option for now. Let's get this boat secured before we think of looking any further" the boat they had found currently was hanging on the roped just shy of water.

Their first order of things was to get that boat back to water and then see if it worked at all. The ropes were cut with the help of his sword which did not feel great but necessity called for such a thing. 

In face of their mission, S rank and B rank held the same importance if they helped him clear it out. Also, he still did not know how to use this weapon efficiently.

Once the boat was down, he boarded it with Rika while Alan kept a check on their surroundings. 

"Do you know how to operate this?" Rika asked as soon as she saw the control panel. Her pinched expression made everyone aware that she didn't have any idea.

And neither did Mark.

Oh, this was a problem, wasn't it?

"I'll check for a manual inside my system and it should help?" By that, he meant asking Liam for one from the base. The system upgrade had allowed long-distance communication though the sentence length was limited.

Also, currently, you could only send one attached file per day, a function that had no use till now. It was a feature added as the store manager since he needed a list of items on hand.

Who knew it would come in hand like this.

The manual was sent almost instantly so someone was likely monitoring their progress. That was very good news and was most definitely for Rika's benefit rather than their own. Anyway, it only helped him in the longer run.

"Ok, I have the guide. We need a key to start it first" his words were followed by silence and then all three of them realised one glaring fact - the key was not inside the boat.

Kuro meowed from the building's entrance, her expression happy and cheery for some reason. Anyway, it looked like they would have to go inside anyway.

"I'll go first alone with Kuro, you wait here with the boat. This way we can minimise the damage to the party as well as our transport" that was a sound reason. They could not change the boat at all but the trip inside was a must now.

"I should accompany you inside to" Rika was still underestimating the danger this trip put them into. Has her training made her that much more confident?

"I need you here with Alan. I would leave Kuro too but I need her to sniff out the key. If I find anything inside then I will message you or bring you a sample" the offered deal did sound alright to Rika but it did not help curb her curiosity.

All through the way, she had been the one they had protected and not allowed to do much combat and she understood the reason for it. She was the head researcher and her research was going to help so many people.

That did not mean she had to like it.

"Fine. Be out quickly or we'll come after you" Mark passed a cautious look at Alan, a warning more than anything else to keep Rika outside and the other nodded. 

As soon as he stepped inside the building, his system rang which meant there was a quest here.

________________________

Hidden Boss reached: The sea monster's pearl - Oractus (Can be fought every 3 days)

(A creature banished from the sea and yet doomed not to live on earth. As an abomination, it lived in the area in between those places. However, unknown to everyone, it is binding. It's time to evolve and gain another form that would dominate everyone.)

Way to trigger: Steal the pearl of the monster to aggro it.

Rewards: First-time attempt reward - the boat key  (storage made available in inventory)

.              Regular rewards -sea pearlX1 (can be used once to complete the vial formula)

________________________

Wow, had the original recipe for the vial said anything like this? He did not have the time to read it yet but it was sure as hell the real recipe did not have this ingredient. 

They did not even know it existed.

And maybe that's why the formula was not completed yet - because they did not have all the necessary ingredients. It was likely also because of his involvement but he could not be sure.

His hands itched to open the log and read through it to know when Luna and his team had passed through this section to get to this base but there was one other thing that was much more important - the safe point.

He needed to find it to see the inside of this building because he was sure that this was much larger than it first appeared. This was no normal building but a region of its own.

The safe point was blinking in his map but it did not show up visibly. It was frustrating to him but also very assuring. This place could be navigated and he would likely take his time with it in future.

Since this was a game, the original map was limited so these domain-like spaces were added. That much did exist in the developer's notes. So this was such a place? It looked too ordinary but he still needed to discover much more before he could make a verdict on it.

"Kuro, let's go open up the checkpoint" the kitten purred in reply and in a second she was big again. 

Even if Mark had not felt any monster yet, he felt good with such assurance on Kuro's side. Not many small monsters would come close now which significantly reduced thor overall load.

Now with much better mobility, Mark allowed Kuro to lead them deeper while also shooting any monsters he saw. The points were needed by him and it did also assure him that he was not losing his touch.

The inside rooms flowed into each other and time held no meaning since his system clock had stopped as soon as he stepped inside. Did something inside here interfere with his system or was it a feature of this place? Even the message function was not working so he could not ask.

Finally, he saw some development in his search.

On the other side, it glowed softly - the safe spot. Kuro made the leap easily and activated the safe spot. Mark took much longer since he could not make it physically without a detour but once he reached that place, he could finally see the map.

And it was huge, spanning almost half a kilometre and with so much area to discover. It was like his own world with special features and the boss was located, right at the end with many? on the way.

With such precious information in his hand, how could Mark resist checking out this place?

But there was a problem with that - his party. Since he could not be sure about them, he needed to get the key and leave. This place would not run away in the meantime and he could always come back.

Right now, he needed to kill the boss of this place and secure the vehicle key. Hopefully, he would get some rewards he could see along the way.

But how would he get down there anyway? When he looked down, all he saw was a black abyss of death. Could he even make it to the boss first?