22 Explore the ruin

By the time the stasis pod opened again, Owen was still standing by the coffin. His tears had dried up for a long time, but he did not stop looking at Levi.

Aiden could not help but sigh. He'd never guessed that their bond would be so strong. When he first met them, he thought, Levi was a typical bully, and Owen was a victim.

'Don't judge a book by its cover. This is what they meant by that.' Taking a deep breath Aiden stepped out of the pod.

Owen might have realized his presence as he turned to look at him. He took a deep breath, bowing to Aiden, he said: "Thank you for saving me."

"You don't need to thank me. I had promised Levi."

"He wanted you to save me?" Owen's dried up eyes had filled up again, however, he controlled himself, "How did he die?"

"The devil," Aiden said, "it was the same one, Jewel had mentioned."

The raging outburst or breakdown that Aiden had expected had not occurred. Owen was calm.

"You should heal yourself first. Your hand is injured." Aiden said. To his surprise, Owen did as he was told.

"If I'm not here until you wake up, don't leave the shuttle pod. There's enough food in there. And with the weapons of the pod, you'll have no problem surviving until the end of the task period." And the stasis pod closed, taking Owen inside.

Aiden took his blade and stepped out of the shuttle pod for a bit. He wasn't sure what to do. Whether to hunt for a mana crystal, explore the mine or go to the White root city.

'I should wait until Owen comes out of the Stasis pod.' Aiden made his mind and looked around. 'It would have been better if I had recovered the mana crystal before I had left.'

Looking at the dead carcasses of the beast, he sighed. He was not sure whether or not he would be able to survive for six days. So collecting mana crystals was a waste of time.

But now he regretted it a little bit. Most of the meat had been devoured. Whatever left, was giving off a rotting smell.

[Captain Lyla had sent you a message.]

Aiden was a little surprised by the notification. He had never expected her to contact him.

[Stay where you are. We need to talk.]

'Where is she?' As soon as he asked, a map appeared in his view with multiple green lights, with name tags that were coming towards him.

'Huh! If you mark Elijah as green then…' Aiden couldn't help but smile. This was the first time he was going to meet her, after his supposed death.

'What should I do?' Aiden felt lost. He wanted to have his revenge and killing her here might not be a problem. 'Then my punishment will increase too…'

Now that Aiden thought about it he wasn't sure whether it was right to blame her. She was merely an accomplice like Alex and had done what they were told to.

Without knowing what to do, he waited for them to come. Soon all the surviving members appeared in front of him.

First to come out of the darkness was Lyla, behind her was Sara, Elijah and Asher.

"What do you want?" Aiden asked as he gripped the blade tighter. He didn't even try to hide his hostility.

"What do you want to kill us too?" The red-haired girl, Lyla, couldn't help but frown.

"I wouldn't mind killing some of you." Elijah avoided Aiden glare, "What do you want?"

"I have seen that you have explored one of the mines."

"And?" As soon as he cleared the mission, he had asked ESS not to exchange the location of the mine with others.

It wasn't because he was thinking about the safety of the teammates, rather he wanted to hide his treasure trove to use on a later date.

"The information should be distributed between the teammates." Lyla had failed to notice Aiden's intention.

"Sorry, I don't understand what you want to say."

"With more people, we have more chance of successful exploration."

"So you could reap the benefit of my work?" Aiden completed her words.

"What are you talking about? It is for the mission." It was the first time Elijah had spoken.

"If you are not sure about it, then you can check again. The mission is checked as completed. So there is no need to investigate anymore." Aiden said with a smile on his face but Elijah didn't dare to argue about it more.

"If that is all you want to say you can leave now." Aiden had no intention to entertain them anymore.

"Perhaps, you had forgotten that you have killed Alex, the captain of the team. If you don't help in…"

Again, Aiden didn't give Elijah the chance to complete her sentence, "And I don't think killing one or two will make much difference."

It wasn't just Elijah, all the other three were shocked. They had never expected Aiden to be so brazen. To be exact they had never expected that Aiden would be alive.

Looking at Aiden, Lyla couldn't help but sigh, "What you've done in the past isn't a matter for me. I want you to help us on a mission as the first officer of the team."

"What makes you so sure that I am going to help you?"

"Because you are the 1st officer and you are bound to obey the order from the team cap..." As soon as Aiden stared at her, Elijah fell silent.

"You should be thankful that I didn't kill you by now." Aiden turned to Lyla with a smile, "And I don't think Ms. team captain will do anything to save you."

"The rule book had stated that any…" Sara, the 2nd officer, spoke for the first time.

"I didn't read the rule book," Aiden spoke, ignoring the list of rules that had appeared at the side of his view.

"What do you want?" Lyla's voice was cold as always.

'Looks like they are very desperate.' Aiden frowned, but it also made him curious about their reason. "First tell me what you want?"

[Captain Lyla had sent you a message.]

[Mission: Exploration of ruin city of Irupax.

Condition: Study the mutated flora and fauna of the region. Search for any remaining human. Obey the command of the team captain.

Award: 20 Credit Points. Self- harvested mana crystal.]

[Is the host willing to accept the mission?]

'A mission? Is it a special mission for the captain or she had created one?' Aiden was not sure but the system had provided him with an answer.

[The captain is eligible to sanction a mission to others.]

"I am not interested."

"What do you want?" Lyla was surprisingly calm to his rejection.

"50 credit points, I can withdraw anytime I want and not to obey your command."

"24 hours. If you stay that long in the city I will give you 50 credit points. But you have to obey…"

With a smile, he asked before she could finish, "What will happen if you tell me to kill a grade A beast?"

"I am not going…" This time she didn't finish her sentence on her own.

[Captain Lyla had sent you a message.]

[Mission: Exploration of ruin city of Irupax.

Condition: Study the mutated flora and fauna of the region. Search for any remaining human.

Time limit: 24 hr.

Condition of failure: Kill or fight with the teammates. Abandoning the mission before the time limit.

Award: 50 Credit Points. Self- harvested mana crystal.

Comment: In case of failure the host has to return all the rewards and pay extra 50 credit points.]

[Is the host willing to accept the mission?]

'It seems very reasonable, but…' Aiden smiled at her. "I am not the favourite person here, so what if others attack me. It will be like last time, and you might not try to save me again."

As soon as he finished his words he could feel the unhappiness in her glare but Aiden couldn't care less, "Add a condition that I could retaliate if someone attacks me first. And reduce mission time."

"The mission time couldn't be reduced, but…" As she had said those words the mission appeared in front of him with the added retaliation condition.

[Is the host willing to accept the mission?]

'Exploring a city ruins gives 100 credit points but she gave me 50 of it without hesitation.' Many conditions surprised him but he was curious about the city too.

"I don't think you will create a mission to apprehend the killer of the previous team captain, do you?" Aiden looked at her. Yet again her eyes were calm.

"I am not idiotic enough to reduce the efficiency of the team due to some stupid excuse."

'Making a mana crystal out of me is a stupid excuse to you?' Yet Aiden smiled, "I accept."

[The host had accepted the mission.]

[Credit points received.]

[Available Credit point: 166]

"Wow! Advance payment? How generous of the team leader? So when are we leaving?" Aiden could see a new set of green footprints appearing in front of his eyes. Even though the destination wasn't marked in the visible region of the map, Aiden had the idea about the destination.

"I think Owen is healing. As soon as he comes out we will leave."

"No need to wait for him." Aiden couldn't help but frown at her suggestion. "Do you think he will be able to help us?"

"But he is part of the team."

"He is dead weight." Aiden said with a serious face, "Do you think without any inheritance he will be able to fight with his amount of mana?"

Lyla thought for a moment before she led four of them in the dark forest.