‘What now!’- that was the question

"THEO!!" John was about to jump but Voli and Sandra grabbed him. "Lemme go!"

"Go where!?" Voli screamed. "We need a plan first!"

"BUT-" But John wasn't listening. Strangely the cliff was actually rather sturdy. It was almost as though Theo just got a bit too unlucky.

"This isn't the only entrance. Coming up from there would be nearly impossible." Sandra paused. "WE should make way for the other entrance."

"There are more entrances?" John calmed down slightly. "And why would it be impossible, we can just take a cruiser and-"

"Yes, but-" Sandra didn't want to say it. There was a reason for it. "IT's still impossible."

A very good reason why that entrance at all times, was supposed to be kept a secret.

But-

***

His head throbbed.

He'd fallen from quite high. Maybe a kilometer or two? Or maybe ten?

Yet, he didn't feel much pain.

If anything, he felt light and also lightheaded.

Bluergh!!!

He proceeded to throw up.

Luckily his mask auto opened for a small amount of time and sealed itself tight once he was done…

Not the best feeling.

Nor smell.

He tried to look up but- the light was really, really far up.

He- or rather, Theo could see the sky well enough, since this place was big and all but- but the light wasn't coming down as he'd expected.

It was almost as though something was sucking in all the light just over his head, making everything down here, blindingly dark.

He really regretted not bringing his Arima glasses today. The glasses were kind of obsolete now that he had his minimap. So, he didn't bother using them. 'Then why the hell did I even bother buying that warpnet package?'

Sigh.

And yet, Theo could see- or at least he thought he could.

'Wait, how am I seeing all this stuff?'

The ground was black. The plants were also black. And some small cat sized mice were just running around- also black.

And even the environment was black.

Yet- he could still see.

'Seriously, what is going on here?'

But then he noticed, there was a report near the left edge of his vision.

[F.Q completed.]

[Reward- night vison; bonus rewards- 10000 exp, 1 potion]

'SO basically, you wanted to give me night vision, so you dragged me out here?' His system did not reply, no.

The hidden soil licking quest was still ongoing and it demanded Theo to head north of here.

Meanwhile, there were no immediate quests like the one before.

All this time, he thought the system was maybe slightly sentient and that was it. He didn't know what it was. And he didn't know what it could do.

But he surely didn't think it'd force him or anything just to get certain things done.

Actually, 'Just what the hell is this thing?'

So far, he'd been on a honeymoon period and was just having fun with the system. He never questioned or even tried searching for why it was here, and what it was doing. Actually- why didn't he?

Because there was a chance someone might think he was going mad or-

'I actually liked this thing and-' And perhaps he wanted to believe, there was no consequence in having it. Perhaps he wanted to believe that this was his chance to shine in life.

He snorted self-deprecatingly.

Theo's suit vibrated slightly- which meant- there was danger in the distance. The danger was still far away as the vibration was mild.

He kept a sharp eye around him. He could think about the system later, for now, he had to survive first. But he himself had to agree, he was just running away from the subject.

'But how do I get out of here?'

His minimap didn't expand enough to let him see any exits. And it didn't show much of any path either.

This place was big.

It did however show moving dots- presumably animals, and some golden spots- marked as exp hotspots. And some red and orange dots- predators?

The hidden soil quest wasn't immediate or mandatory- he could just leave- assuming he knew how to leave in the first place.

But he didn't have many options. He could just sit here, hoping his friends would come down and rescue him. But that ran the risk of some deadly predator lurking. After all, the reptiles were sealed here- at least according to the legend. 'But that's just some legend, right?... Right?'

Yeah, he didn't trust his luck.

He could go search for an exit- that might or might not even exist.

Or, he could finish his quest and hope the rewards would have something useful for him to get out of here.

The system brought him here and it could certainly get him out of here, right?

'But that'd be too good to be a coincidence.' He took a breath. 'But this system really likes to make things this way…'

So, without wasting any more time or effort, he looked ahead and started walking due north.

***

Theo avoided the moving objects on his map and eventually reached a golden spot. He didn't come across any deadly predators and he didn't want to either.

The golden spot wasn't golden in reality. But rather, there was just a small herb growing. A small herb that wasn't black; a vibrant green glowing herb.

'Isn't this stuff called Kuticle or something?'

Theo once read about expensive herbs and this stuff was on top of the list.

There was only one herb, so he picked it up. The plant was similar to mint- but the leaves were slightly bigger and looked a bit more veiny, a bit more pretty.

'So now-'

This place was touted as an exp hotspot- at least according to his map.

He scanned the herb for toxic substances, opened his mask, and gave it a lick.

Minty freshness.

Cool- calm- wonderful.

Heavenly- or so the thought went through this mind.

[Exp acquired- 1445]

And then he snapped back to reality.

'That's it?'

Needless to say, Theo was mildly disappointed.

But just as he thought that was it, the herb disappeared and got sucked into him.

[Spirit increased by 2 points!]

'What the-'

Blip!

'WHAT NOW!'

Blip!

Blip!

Blip!

But it wasn't just his system- it was his suit.

And both were telling him to run.

Something was coming this way- something chasing a mouse.

Something big.

His map also started flashing. A white and a red dot was heading this way- fast. With lots of other dots behind them.

"It just had to be a centipede…" Theo's face twitched.

A three-meter-long, spiked centipede with three heads to be more specific.

'I fuc*ing knew it!'