Mach Island

[S-Ranked]

[Mission: Exploration of the False God's Tomb]

[Time limit: 1 month]

[Location: Forsaken Realm, Mach Island]

[Note: Acquire the eyeball of the False God]

[Reward: 1,250,000 gold coins + Immortal Potion Recipe]

***

There was an instant commotion near the mission board. The reward was insane. Not only the amount of gold coins but also the Immortal Potion Recipe. No one present in the lounge knew what kind of potion it was nor what it did, but it was definitely linked with the Vitality Pathway. Maybe the potion gave the user immortality!

Jason gasped for breath and pushed past the greedy-looking adventurers in a bid to leave the Adventurer's Guild. Even after his departure, more and more people were entering the building. The news of a new S-ranked quest was spreading around the streets rapidly!

'Now it makes sense why the Seven Guilds have gathered and teamed up. Are they planning to share the coins and the potion recipe? It would make sense since an S-ranked quest can't be anything simple. Also, knowing it is the False God's tomb, the treasures left behind must already be tempting enough.

'However, now that it's public news, it will gather hundreds of smaller guilds and parties. It will be basically a race for those rewards. The location is what worries me. Forsaken Realm... its abandoned by the gods, and there must be a good reason for that.'

Jason paced back and forth, feeling tempted to join the exploration. He was nowhere near strong enough to fight for the main reward, but there must be weaker creatures roaming the island. Their ingredients were tempting. Even if he had no use for them, he could sell them for a lofty sum of money.

'I will go.'

The old him would message his father first. However, he wasn't a child anymore after becoming Systemer. The power of the system ran through his veins, pumping his heart with each heartbeat.

As Jason saw his arm muscles swelling, he clenched his fist and left the street behind. While walking through Iron Wall Street, he noticed that guild recruitment and party recruitment stalls were even louder than before. They were all recruiting members for the incoming exploration.

This was the might of an S-ranked quest. The power of money. The whole community of Realm Adventurers had gathered for this event.

'Forsaken's Mach Island will be soon the epicenter of activity...'

...

Inner Circle. Workers Street. Inside the Golden Lion guild building.

Men and women, donning a cloak that was embedded with an image of a lion with its paws raised toward heaven, were rushing in and out of the guild building. The ordinary members, who still hadn't acquired the cloak, were gathering supplies and medicine for the upcoming exploration.

The scene was so chaotic that it made many members have throbbing headaches.

It was the day before the exploration, and everything had to be prepared before they left. Unfortunately, the mission request came recently and out of nowhere. Therefore, many weren't ready for it.

The three-story guild building had members running up and down the stairs, while at the top floor, in the Guild Master's office, Percy was rubbing his temples as if he were suffering from a headache. There were stacks of papers on the desk with the laptop before him.

The overlapping sounds from the street penetrated through the window and entered his irritated ears. His pen trembled between his fingers while he was trying to calm himself down. He took a long breath before signing one of the papers and finally finishing the required paperwork for the Realm Association.

After he finally managed to catch a breather and lean against the chair's backrest, the door swung wide open. A figure with his face red in anger stormed inside the office and slammed his palms on the desk. The desk shook, causing several stacks of papers to litter the floor.

"Percy, what is the meaning of this!" Perseus shouted. He was the party leader of Jason's former party. At the moment, he didn't seem to be in a good mood, as he was grinding his teeth in anger.

"Call me properly when we are in the guild building and in the presence of other members!" Percy roared. The anger vanished from Perseus' face as if he had turned into a scared kitten.

"Close the door."

Perseus loosened his clenched fists and listened to Percy's commanding voice. He walked to the door, slowly closing it until he heard a soft click. Then, he walked back to the desk and was about to sit down before Percy raised his hand.

"I didn't tell you to sit."

Perseus bit his lip and straightened his back without any intention to disobey. His head was lowered, and he could only see Percy's fingers tapping against the wooden desk. It had an uneven tempo, giving off an unnerving feeling.

"I know why you are here, but I want you to tell it to me directly." Percy rubbed his temple with his left hand while tapping the wooden desk with his right. His anger and irritation had vanished from his face, and only silent coldness remained.

"Guild master..." Perseus took a deep breath before speaking. "Why have you rejected my application to join the exploration?"

"Your recent adventure in the Horror Realm was a colossal failure." Percy pinched his glabella before continuing. "If only the leader and the weakest member of the party survived, can that be considered a successful mission? No."

Perseus hid his clenched fist behind his back and said. "We lacked information about the Dark Dungeon. The person who posted the quest was very vague about it. There was zero information about what we were going to face."

"That is your problem!" Percy was about to slam his fist into the armrest before stopping himself. He let out a disappointed sigh and said. "It is your duty as party leader to investigate the area before doing anything. If I had just accepted missions without thinking, many of my friends would have perished. Only with correct intelligence gathering have I managed to build my guild."

"It was only an E-ranked quest... How could I have known..." Perseus whispered, his eyes moistening as if tears were about to fall.

"That was just the reason why I am not allowing you to come to the exploration." Percy leaned against the backrest and waved his hand. "Leave. You are only allowed to leave the Inner Circle when you learn to value the lives of your subordinates."

Perseus left the office with a heavy heart. As he walked down the stairs, he heard the muffled laughter. When he looked over, he saw people pointing fingers at him with mocking expressions. Even when he clearly saw them, they didn't stop. It wasn't hard to hear Percy's shouting.

In the eyes of other Golden Lion members, Perseus' reputation and respect had reached rock bottom. They had high hopes for him; after all, he was Percy's younger brother. It was as if he were destined to follow in his footsteps and become the next Guild master. Now, it seemed very unlikely.

Perseus wanted to hide himself out of shame. He arrived in front of his room under the distant laughter, and it was only when he had latched the key in the keyhole, opened the door, and entered his room that he was free from the embarrassment.

He heavily sat on his bed and struck his fist on the mattress.

"I wanted to show him in the exploration that I wasn't useless anymore..." Perseus opened the translucent screen of his system. The rank had written text. System Veteran.

He had ascended to the next rank and achieved his class!

Yet, the initial excitement had vanished like a fleeting cloud. Perseus lay down on the bed and reached his hand toward the ceiling as if he were trying to grasp something. He only wished for the opportunity to show his worth.

...

Inner Circle. Iron Wall Street. Next day, outside the Western Inn.

Jason departed from the inn, carrying a light backpack that had only the absolute necessities. His throat's thirst was satisfied, and his stomach was full. He was ready to depart for the exploration. He was still quite nervous, but ready. His only goal was to gather some ingredients.

Then, he would perhaps visit his home in the Outer Circle's Northern Borough. His father and he had lived there their entire lives. His father had an impressive collection of recipes in his home library. However, he couldn't use random recipes to increase his percentage since it would ruin his core.

He had a strong start with Night Potion. It would be tragic to ruin his core immediately after. Thus, the next potion was an important choice, which he was ready to make.

Even if he found out later that all his ingredients were useless for the potions, he could still sell them. It was a win-win either way.

After passing by several familiar buildings, he arrived on Main Street, where the Realm Station's Entrance was. As expected, the entrance was bustling with activity. He couldn't even see the end of the line. Thankfully, the line moved fast, and soon he had also entered the Realm Station after quickly writing his name on one of the papers.

The Realm Station had countless empty spatial tunnels, seeming void of any life. Then, there was a portal for the Forsaken Realm that had rarely been used. Maybe once or twice in the past decade. Now, the ticket receptionists worked hard as they welcomed everyone with smiles.

No one skipped the ticket receptionist. If they didn't pay for the ticket, they wouldn't receive one and wouldn't be able to return from the Forsaken Realm. Thus, this was one place where greed was a bad trait.

After Jason paid for his ticket, he followed behind the excited and loud adventurers. Soon, they had walked into the light-filled spatial tunnel, and soon, they had vanished into the light.

...

Splash!

The first sound Jason heard was water splashing against rocks. He groggily opened his eyes, and his vision opened to the sight of a vast ocean with churning waves, and there were even tidal waves in the distance. The water was dark blue, and many were too afraid to even think about the hidden dangers in the depths of that ocean.

Jason turned away from the ocean and saw a vast forest with a towering ancient building in the distance. The ancient building looked like it was built many millennia ago. It even slightly resembled pyramids, but was made solely from gray rocks. They couldn't see the entrances to that massive building from this distance, but there was a hidden presence lingering in the air.

It felt suffocating.

However, once they tore their gazes away from that building, the feeling eased up. There were already many adventurers who had ventured deep into the forest. There were still guilds and parties organizing their members. Every now and then, they were shouting for their missing members.

'Maybe they used the guilds and parties to get free supplies and entrance to the Forsaken Realm. When they got what they wanted, they ran off with the intention of searching for treasure and keeping it themselves.' Jason thought quickly before walking away from the contact point.

After stepping into the forest, Jason's body froze as vibrations came from his pocket. He reached into his pocket, retrieved his phone, and opened it.

He had received three messages.

[Father: Hello, son, I have arrived at home and didn't see you anywhere]

[Father: How did your first mission go?]

[Father: Also, have you heard about the Exploration of the False God's tomb? It is the only thing I have heard ever since I arrived via Global Realm Station]

The Global Realm Station, the biggest Realm Station in existence. It was situated somewhere in the center of all the realms. It was available for every race, while the one Jason used was only for humans.

Jason's hand slightly trembled before he calmed himself down. He cracked his knuckles and cheered himself up.

Then, he wrote a message with his thumbs moving at lightspeed across the phone's screen.

[Jason: Welcome back. I survived (thumbs up emoticon). Also, I am currently participating in the Exploration of the False God's tomb]

After pressing send, he waited for his father's message. He didn't have to wait long before the phone vibrated in his hand. He lowered his gaze and saw the message.

[Father: Ok]

Then seconds later, another message arrived.

[Father: Be careful of any sudden weather changes. If it starts raining, if the wind picks up, or even if the air turns moist]

[Father: If something like that happens]

[Father: Run]