SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Extra Quest: "Gold Rush Robbery" initiated.

Quest Details are being calculated. Please wait...

"...They're all here." - Garami

I returned my gaze to the System Message again. This seems to be a bonafide Quest with a capital Q. Unlike the ones from the Adventurers' Union, this is a trial gifted by the World itself (or at least its System).

The mention of "Extra" caused me to deja vu back to the time with the underground caverns where I had to undertake the Extra Trial where I obtained the Zahhak skill, but my worries were for nothing. All of the Extra Medals in my possession, meaning 3 Fairies, 1 Serpent, and 1 Machine, were still all accounted for.

"Bloom, do you mind?" - Garami

"Explaining what is going on? Sure." - Bloom

"You two are in good sync." - Iron

"Your praise fills me with disgust." - Garami/Bloom

Anywho, we're been dragged a long way from the Dungeon. I considered jumping off, but I'd be battered quite nastily even with [Fall Resistance] under my belt. Plus we're so far away from the Dungeon now that walking back is equivalent to suicide. Especially for me, and I'm the one who knows the way home thanks to [Auto-Mapping]. Iron said he's started building a Teachings of Searching class, but this desert is just too hell-mode for a beginner scout.

"Anyway Bloom, is this 'Extra' part of the Extra Quest related to Extra Skills?" - Garami

"Pretty much. But that will be easier to explain when the Quest is finalized." - Bloom

"Finalized? What do you-, whoa-!?" - Garami

I didn't have the chance to ask as the creature carrying the ship suddenly started digging deeper into the sand. A murky golden barrier was placed to cover the ship, so we didn't drown, or worse, got sand in our underpants...which would only be a problem for me alone. Or is having sand inside your body as irritating for a Phantom Mail the same as sand in unspeakable places for anyone else?

It took a good minute or so underwater, er, "under-sand" before we arrived at our "destination". It is a massive dome underneath the sand. The outer shell of the dome is made out of..., sand? No, this is the case where a transparent barrier is preventing the sand from burying the underground area..., I mean, the "under-sand" area! Damn, this is an annoying situation in more than one way.

The dome looks sort of like the inside of an ant colony, minus the ants. Several rocks seem to have been borrowed through, or maybe melted with acid(?), to create a strange, almost building-like labyrinth construct. Despite being underground, there's a strange light that keeps everything colored strangely golden-yellow. I can't figure out where the light source is, but let's chalk that up to Quest shenanigans.

Only the upper half of the dome area is visible. The lower half is covered in some golden dust-like mist. I can vaguely make out some shadows of more buildings of the same fashion as the ones on the "topside", but that's all.

Also, since we were out of the sand (strictly speaking), we were finally able to witness the sight of our boat-napper..., WHAT THE ****-!?

*Cough*, I freaked out there. Sorry about that. But who can blame me!? The boat thief looks like a gigantic, golden serpent! The type you could easily find in movies and animations where Egypt is the central theme. Well, half of it looks like that. The remaining 50% seems like a hybrid between a mantis and a locust. Rather, now that I take a better look at it, isn't this monster a Lamia with the upper body of a gigantic mantis/locust monster!? It has several claw-like arms across its snake body, making it look like it's part centipede as well... Hmm...

Okay, this guy is BARELY acceptable! I can't stand snakes, but this guy is closer to a giant insect, so he's safe!

"Master, are you thinking about something stupid again?" - Bloom

"What do you mean by 'again'? And brace yourselves. We're going for the landing here." - Garami

The giant insect Lamia dropped off the Marauder and us with it on a platform on the giant labyrinthine construct. Without giving us as much as a glance, the giant insect Lamia fled through the sky and exited the dome by making some magic-based hole in it that closed after the insect Lamia had left the scene.

FYI, the "in the sky"-part comes from that the insect Lamia had created a road in the sky it could crawl on using floating sand..., is the best way to describe what I saw. Must be some high-rarity skill. I hope there's something similar for Darkness or Light. Heck, I could go for a path of poison even if that was necessary.

*Bing!*

Along with a funny notification noise (which I bet was only added for the lols), the System Message from before transformed into one similar to the System-generated Quests I cleared back in the Water-Knot. Or rather, it's the same type, just with some extra bits. And I'm serious when I say "extra".

Extra Quest: Gold Rush Robbery Quest giver: "Golden Desert's Robber" - Dizlakaia Requirements: Ownership of a desert-traveling vessel. Encountering the "Golden Desert's Robber" - Dizlakaia. Quest Description: The greatest thief of the Sekarot Desert has discovered and robbed you of your vessel.

Why is this giant beast pilfering ships and vehicles?

Escape from its lair while possibly also trying to solve this mystery. Quest Content: Clear Conditions: Escape with your desert-traveling vessel from the lair of Dizlakaia, and the creature itself. Detach the chains that are trapping your desert-traveling vessel: 0/3 Find a way to open the gate leading to the surface. Failure Conditions: Destruction of the desert-traveling vessel. Fail to release the desert-traveling vessel before the time limit: 11:59:53 Death of all participants. Bonus Conditions:

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Discover the cause for the "Golden Desert's Robber's" strange actions. ??? Extra Notes: Teleport tools/skills/magic spells are negated for the duration of the Quest. Clear Rewards: 1 level to all Sand- and Gold attribute skills. Accessory: "Desert Thief's Armband". Bonus Rewards: ??? ??? Chance to obtain Extra Skills (if one clears the conditions). Failure Punishment: Loss of the captured vessel. -5 AP.

Ugh... This seems like a hell-mode run. And what is up with the "Failure Punishment" tab? If things go south, we will be stuck in this dome of sand for the rest of our (maybe short) lives. Losing some AP won't be anything big...

To check out the authenticity of the Quest's information, I wired down the ship's sides to investigate it. As the Quest suggested, several circular objects, sort of like magnet-based locks, had been attached to the ship, one each on the starboard and port side, then one attached to the engines located at the back. Trying to force the ship loose would only result in a broken keel and/or engines.

"Yeah, we're not getting out of this place the easy way," I told Iron after returning to the deck.

"Then we clear the Quest?" - Iron

"We clear the Quest. Not that I'm keen about doing something I don't know what I'll get for it. Except surviving, but if we hadn't got caught up in that kleptomaniac mantis' thieving spree in the first place..." - Garami

"Miss Bloom, do you mind telling us what these question marks are?" - Iron

"Miss"? This guy's chivalry is on a whole new level. And FYI, Iron qualifies for the Quest despite the Marauder being my ship. This must be the case where only one of the party members is required to fulfill the conditions to start the event.

"Oh, they are masking any potential important clues on how to solve the mystery that the Quest is about." - Bloom

Hmm, measures to prevent the Quest Board from spoiling the secret end? Tch, those World System Administrators sure know how to make things difficult...

"In that case, let's just look into how to get rid of these 'chains' that are keeping the Marauder stuck. If things look dicey, we'll leave as soon as possible." - Garami

"And if it is...'cakewalk'?" - Iron

"No need to try acting radical if it isn't your thing, Iron. You do you. And to answer your question...we will take everything they have here as a warning not to mess with the Nightmare Voyagers!" - Garami

"And for harming the Marauder's paint job?" - Bloom

"That too!" - Garami

"......I can live with that." - Iron

I just love having subordinates who know how to read the room.

---

Since we had wasted enough time deciding our course of action, Iron and I immediately investigated the chains. Each of them led to different "buildings" if you could call them that. It looks more like some bedrock had been bored through with acid and created a set of room inside the rock. It looked not that different from the rest of the eerie "constructs" outside.

We went to the starboard chain's building first. We chose to take it first because it was the one closest to the ship. No monsters or traps blocked our path, so it was strangely easy for a Quest with a time limit of 12 hours. After entering the building, we did not see where the chains were connected to, but a ton of treasure chests.

"Wo-hoo! Did we hit the jackpot?" - Garami

"Guild Master, please stay calm." - Iron

"Nothing to worry about. I'm not at Mira's level. Forget about the chests for now. We need chains. Or at least something like the controls for those magnet locks attached to the chains." - Garami

We looked around the building, making sure not to touch the chests just yet, but we found nothing. After taking a closer look at it, the chains seem to enter the floor underneath us, but there's no entrance to it, be it a door or a stairway. It could potentially be one in the golden mist, but none of us dared to try and brave through that weird dust. Gold is bad for demons in the first place. We take more damage from Gold attribute attacks and all that.

"Maybe it is hidden underneath one of the treasure chests?" - Bloom

Following Bloom's idea, we tried to push the chests out of the way to see if they were hiding any stairs, but the things must be welded into the floor. We couldn't move them even with the help of the Dead Flesh Golems I summoned.

"This is...IMPOSSIBLE!" I shouted while resting my aching arms. Why am I still experiencing such trivial pains and wounds despite my increased stats?

"Maybe the path is inside the chests?" - Iron

"Or they could be booby-trapped." - Garami

"But..., [Discovery] is telling me there is something regarding these chests." - Iron

"......Say that in the first place!" - Garami

Some context: the [Discovery] skill is something Iron obtained when he started working on obtaining his [Pathfinder] class. It can only be obtained if you have at least 1 Teachings of Searching class(es), so I who is running Teachings of Killing can't get it.

As for the skill's effect, it makes it easier to discover things of interest. It is pretty vague on what "interest" means, but according to our resident Teachings of Searching user, it generally reacts toward objects that the skill user would find useful. The skill might be relying more on the LUC stat than it lets on.

Trusting Iron's hunch and luck, I tried picking open one of the larger chests near the walls. They seem like the most likely candidate for concealing a path down to the underground floor. Lockpicking is more in line with the Teachings of Hiding, but I had Mira give me some lessons. Unless it is something too complex, my high DEX, LUC, and trap detection abilities should keep us from getting ka-boom-ed by a booby-trapped lock.

*Click*

That went fast and painless. Not even a minute had gone since I started working on the lock. And inside is...

"BONES!?" - Garami

I jumped back as I was greeted by the sorry sight of a bunch of skeletons forcefully pushed into the chest. They look old enough that they could turn to dust if you didn't handle them carefully..., scratch that. They're already in Dustvile.

"Guild Master?" - Iron

"What?" I asked with thorns in my words. The sudden scare wasn't good for neither my heart nor my attitude.

"Are you not a Necromancer?" - Iron

"WHAAAT? Even we Necros can be freaked out when we're suddenly faced with the remains of the dead! Especially in a situation like this!" - Garami

"Yes, yes~." - Iron

Grrrr... That rust bucket, even he's started to not show me enough respect these days. Only Revi is my sole ally...*sniff*...

I glared at the undead knight as he tried to open the next treasure chest on his own. Mira did extend her lockpicking lessons to everyone in the Guild, but I wouldn't do that if I were him. There's something nasty, but non-lethal attached to that lock...

*Sproing!!*

And there it goes~. Iron, who lacked my [Detect Trap] skill, magnificently pulled the joker. A spring-like trap caused the chest to open and threw out the skeletons that had been stored inside, almost like a jack-in-the-box. Iron was given the terror-ish honor of being covered in dusty bones and skulls. The event was so surprising that it caused the knight of death to faint on the spot...

Hey, hey, hey~! Mister Phantom Mail, sir Iron~? You're making fun of me while you're no better yourself~? Okay, enough gloating. How to wake up an animated armor. Water...would probably not work. Holy Water then? Hmm... Let's just try to find those stairs while we wait for him to wake up. I just got a good tip on how to cheat my way to the right box.