Camp was quickly dismantled, as the party of five continued its trek towards their goal, settling quickly into their routine. John was sent ahead of the party to act as a scout and a guide, his skills almost perfectly attuned with following a mark in the forest. These particular mark were tides of mana, a phenomenon that came to the Earth after System initialization. Mana tended to course through the world, drawn to the points of interest. Those places were monster nests, dungeons, settlements or particularly powerful individuals. As they progressed with a fairly rapid pace, Lucas was starting to get agitated on the account of being bored. John doing his job, spotting the potential threats and finding a way to avoid them without straying too far away from the path, and this whole professional demeanor was getting on his nerves.

“What else did I expect” he thought to himself “they are the best in this business, at least as far Camp Hearth is concerned”. Wild rumors from other places on the globe spoke of individuals able to topple mountains with just a blink, and less said about the multiverses, the better. Dwelling on this subject didn’t put Lucas’s mind to ease, but increased his current state of unease. You don't get that strong by avoiding every threat, or “maneuvering around hostile contacts” as Michael put it. But, a year with the mercenaries obviously changed Michael thinking. When he arrived back home, announcing he was on his leave, and told Lucas he is ready for another adventure, he thought that included fun times they use to have as kids learning their trade. A fun little romp through surrounding wilds, finding a dungeon or two to clear, getting epic loot, and then back to the inn, spending our hard gotten gains on nights of revelries, sharing tales to any girl who even bat an eyelash at them, hoping to score that night.

“What’s on your mind?” a voice pulled him from his thoughts. Hannah was standing next to him, clearly noticing signs of annoyance that crept to his face.

“I’m bored” he gave a quick reply.

“It’s a nice change of pace from your usual style of mowing everything until you either got bored or found a nest or dungeon to raid. Last to dungeon we didn’t even finished, because you said exactly the same sentence and left”

“Fucking puzzles” he muttered. He really, really hated dungeon puzzles.

“It would do your character a world of good to learn a measure of discipline and professionalism” she replied him, care showing on her pretty face.

Lucas frowned at her, but quickly replaced it with a smile, just a little bit forced.

“Who needs character when you have my dashing good look”

Hannah graced him with just one dirty look, before retreating from him. Lucas did feel a little bad, knowing that she really cared and that exchanges like this one left her angry and a little perplexed. But, that sliver of emotion was quickly forgotten, replaced by interest in prompt that he got.

“New Quest: As you near the dungeon that plague Camp Hearth, you start to see telltale sign of something brewing in the forest. Found what that something is or maybe it will find you.

Rewards:

3000 EXP

600 Credits

1 piece of random gear

Potential hidden awards

Accept quest (Y/N)?”

He quickly accepted, mentally thanking John for his high Perception. He would never noticed it on himself, but know that he know what to look for, he could clearly see it. Grass was downtrodden all around them, there was subtle hint of scratch marks on the trees and while the sounds of the forest were still there, they seemed farther away. With quick spring he jolted toward front, his Agility allowing him speed of a pre-System cheetah. This is was exactly the spice this little walking simulator masquerading as the adventure needed. At the same he arrived at the front of the party, John was back from his advanced position. He cast a glance at Lucas and spoke, equal part annoyance and pity

“You really have to temper yourself, youngling. I saw a copious amount of young fools die as they eagerly went towards danger” John said to him.

“Yea, yea, we all know that you served in Vietnam, or Korea or whatever shitty third world country was bombarded at the times” Lucas shot back at him.

John muttered something in the line of “little shit”, but aside of that let Lucas dig slide by him. “We are near a dungeon. Hour walk tops” he started “Mana flow diverges about a quarter length of this. That is probably objective of this new Quest” he finished.

“Should we try to avoid it?” Maraya asked. “Rewards don’t seem that enticing, and it will probably eat the rest of the day”?

“I’m also half mind to do that” Michael replied “It would be for the best to finish a job quickly and efficiently”

Lucas was stunned. Judging by the look on their faces, they were about to commit to skipping this quest. He felt a sudden rush of anger.

“NO” he yelled “WE ARE NOT SKIPPING THE FUCKING QUEST”

He focused on Michael, feeling the sting of betrayal. Had this incredible notion had come from anybody else, he wouldn’t reacted like this. But from Michael, the same Michael that used to roam the wilds with him, hunting and killing as they learned how the world works, that words were paramount to a slap in the face.

“Calm down, Lucas” Michael spoke “What harm is there to skip this one quest? You skip dozen of quests every day. You know, the one you don’t take from Town Hall”

“Do you hear yourself? You sound like an idiot.” Lucas spat “What has happened to you? This whole trip, we are “managing risks”, as you so adeptly put it. And now, when there is a legitimate Quest waiting, you still want us to cut and beeline straight to the Dungeon?” Taking a small pause to take some air, Lucas continued “What for, so we run straight to the end of it while “avoiding hostile contact?”

Lucas’s stomach sank deeper when he saw the look on Michael that basically confirmed to him that that was his plan. Pressure that had been mounting in him from the moment they broke camp tipped the boiling point. Before he could burst out, Hannah stepped in.

“I also think we should do it” she said softly, trying to defuse the situation. Lucas shot her grateful look, his anger relenting just a little bit. She turned to Michael and continued “I know you and Lucas didn’t pay attention on that tutorial vid we got at the Initialization, but this kind of Quests are pretty rare.” He paused for a moment before continuing “Also, look at the wording. I know Intelligence is a dump stat for the lot of you” she quickly shot a nasty look towards Lucas, showing him that she was still angry from that argument before “but it is heavily implied that whatever the threat is, it will soon be aware of us, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it already is”

Lucas could only pretend to be thoughtful and nod during Hannah’s monologue, knowing full well that she stood a better chance to squash this foolish idea. His anger continued simmering, but he couldn’t help himself fill a little bit giddy already. Meanwhile, Michael casted a long look at him before speaking “Alright, then I guessed we are off to this mysterious threat. I just hope that it doesn’t prove as a useless distraction”