Dustin clicked on the tasks option and another screen popped out in front of him.
[ Main Task: You must clear at least 7 of the 60 Special Dungeons located throughout the whole tutorial ground. However, you must not clear more than 2 dungeons from the exact same region. ]
[ Example: If you clear 2 dungeons from the Forest Tutorial Ground, you must move to other regions for your remaining dungeons. You can either use the transportation channels or travel on foot. If you enter a third dungeon in the same region and clear it, it will not be counted toward your total. ]
[ You must clear this main task before the event ends or before the dungeons get cleared by other allowed participants. Otherwise, your cicada will automatically die. ]
Dustin frowned after reading the main task, but he scrolled anyway to look if there was more.
[ Cicada's Food: You must feed your cicada fresh blood directly from the heart of any available species at least once each week. ] [ The minimum level of the species must be Level 20. This minimum level requirement will increase by 5 every single week until the event ends or until the cicada dies. ]
"Ew... what the hell?" Dustin muttered in disgust as he kept reading.
[ Note: If the cicada dies by any means, then the cicada's master will die as well. During the period of this event, you must treat it with utmost care. You must complete the main task and keep feeding the cicada to survive. ]
[ The cicada will not fly off and will always stay by your side. But it is very fragile and can be killed by other factors, so please keep this in mind. ]
[ Please scroll down to see the detailed map with the updated locations of all the dungeons and transportation channels. ]
Dustin looked at the other three men. He rubbed his forehead with his hand and looked back at the screen. Seeing his stressed expression, the others took a good guess that his tasks were not easy.
Below the text, he saw the updated map. There were twelve cave-like markings in each region representing all sixty Special Dungeons. The dungeons were scattered randomly over each zone. Some areas had three or four special dungeons clustered closely together, while some large areas had only one or even none at all.
There were also three tower-like icons marked in each region that represented the transportation channels. The locations of these transportation channels were obviously not random. They were placed with geometric accuracy. If a person looked closely, they would realize that in each region, these three channels formed an equilateral triangle.
Dustin also noticed that the Clouds Tutorial Ground was currently flying directly over the Ocean Tutorial Ground in the northeast and the Grasslands Tutorial Ground in the northwest. The massive floating landmass also cast a shadow over some parts of the forest and the desert.
Dustin quickly analyzed the whole map and then looked at the final rewards section of the event.
[ After the event ends, each participant who is still alive will receive their rewards from their cicadas. ] [ Just like how you all randomly chose the cicadas, the rewards you receive will be completely random. It will all depend entirely on your luck. ] [ You can get absolutely anything, or you can get nothing at all. You might receive a special class, a powerful sub-class, a legendary weapon, rare items, or completely useless junk. ]
[ Good luck everyone. ]
"Are you kidding me?" Dustin laughed dryly.
Despite how dangerous and stressful everything was, Dustin still found the situation a little funny. The idea of doing all of this insane work and risking his life just to potentially get nothing at the end was pure comedy.
"So, ah... what is your main task?" Zac asked Dustin.
All four of them sat in a circle and started discussing their respective tasks and how they planned to complete them. First, Dustin explained his dangerous dungeon-clearing requirements to the group.
"So you will have to travel to at least four different regions to complete all seven dungeons," Gary pointed out after listening to Dustin's task. "But completing seven of those places is going to be extremely hard. I went into a dungeon once, and it was a really hard to clear back then."
"Yeah, but there is nothing I can do about that, can I?" Dustin replied with a tired smile. "What is your main task?"
"Mine actually seems pretty easy," Gary replied. "It says I just need to collect newly sprouted twigs from all seven of the Rainbow Trees located in the Grasslands Tutorial Ground. The system says the only problem will be the wild monkeys that live in those trees. Most of my time will just be consumed by traveling since the trees are scattered all around the region."
"Seven of them, huh?" Zac thought for a while. "I saw two of those trees when I was in that tutorial ground. Those monkeys you mentioned are not very easy to fight off alone since they always attack in huge groups. But they are not very strong individually. If you go with a solid group of people, that should not be much of a problem."
"Yeah, thanks. I was actually thinking the exact same thing," Gary said.
"As for my main task," Brock spoke up next. "I have to become the lord of any one of the transportation channels. It says I must meet the specific conditions listed on the channel to claim it. I do not know if it is really hard or a bit easy. I guess I will find out when I actually reach one."
After Brock finished, Zac discussed his main task. He had to clear three puzzle-type Special Dungeons, and each one had to be from a totally different region. He had no way to know which of these scattered special dungeons were puzzle types, so he just needed to explore and find out. He hoped there would be some sort of clear sign at the entrances.
None of them had any good ideas about puzzle-type dungeons. Dustin quickly explained the concept to them based on the second-hand information he had heard from Mark earlier.
After discussing everything, the group reached a few terrifying conclusions.
The types of tasks were incredibly vast. They ranged from extremely hard, like Dustin's dungeon crawl, to somewhat simple, like Gary's gathering quest. Players would either have to travel across many different regions or stay locked in a single assigned zone to survive.
But the most dangerous conclusion of all was the unspoken race against time. The system randomly assigned tasks, which meant many other people definitely had the exact same objectives. If two people needed the same Rainbow Tree twig, or if multiple people needed to clear the same Special Dungeon, it was a game of first come, first serve. If another group cleared a dungeon before Dustin could get to it, he would lose his chance. If he ran out of available dungeons, he would automatically fail his task and die. They had to clear their objectives as fast as humanly possible before the resources ran out.
There was no visible timer counting down to their deaths, but the pressure was incredibly heavy. Once the food is gone, the game is over.
After coming to this grim realization, they briefly discussed the food requirements for their cicadas. It turned out that all of the bugs had very different diets. Dustin's cicada demanded fresh heart blood, while Brock's cicada simply required just river water.
Almost an hour passed while they planned their routes. They finally decided to go their separate ways.
Dustin and Zac decided to travel together since their tasks were quite similar. They both needed to clear dungeons. They headed toward the Desert Tutorial Ground because the nearest Special Dungeon on the map was located just across the border. Entering a special dungeon completely alone was basically suicide. Even though they had only known each other for a single day, they knew there was safety in numbers.
Brock and Gary decided to travel together to the Grasslands. Zac and Dustin asked Brock to come with them to the desert since the nearest transportation channel was located there, but Brock insisted on sticking with Gary. They did not ask him a second time. The four men just waved at each other, wished each other good luck, and walked their separate paths.
Dustin and Zac traveled directly into the desert region. The sun was still high in the sky and the heat was incredibly intense compared to the cool shade of the forest. They traveled slowly to save their stamina and constantly hydrated themselves with water from Zac's supplies.
Time passed quickly.
Zac was singing a random song Dustin had never heard before. Dustin was looking down at his cicada, whose wings were shining like glass in the bright sunlight. He thought about his past life where he always used to sleep late, play games, and do absolutely nothing productive. Now, he was fighting monsters in life-and-death situations just to feed a magical bug. He could not help but let out a quiet laugh.
Rustle.
"Something is approaching us from under the sand. I guess we are eating that for dinner," Dustin said. His Super Sense picked up a heavy vibration. He gestured toward a nearby sand dune.
"You really are perceptive," Zac stopped singing and got ready to fight.
Whoosh.
A massive lizard suddenly burst out from the sand directly in front of them. It was about four meters tall and several meters long. It was bright yellow in color and its thick scales looked surprisingly slippery.
The excitement of both guys completely vanished after seeing the beast. They were both really hungry and thought they were going to eat a good meal, but this lizard looked incredibly disgusting.
Dustin scanned the creature using the system.
DING.
[ Common Desert Lizard (Level 31) ]
[ Description: These beasts are really fast and like to hide under the sand to perform sneak attacks on their prey. Their entire body and blood are highly poisonous. ]
"Oh, great. It is completely poisonous," Dustin complained. He gripped his daggers and charged toward the lizard anyway. At least he could increase his stats even if he could not eat it.
"Were you actually thinking of eating that ugly thing? Haha," Zac laughed and charged at the beast from the other side.
"Hell no," Dustin replied. "This thing is just freaking me out."
Slash. Clang.
Dustin delivered several fast cuts to the lizard's legs while smoothly dodging the heavy sweeps of its tail and its sharp claws. Zac used his raw physical strength to punch the beast directly in its ribs, cracking the scales.
After a few rounds of taking beating, the lizard realized it was not going to win this fight. It dove headfirst into the dune and tried to burrow away.
"Right there," Dustin pointed to a moving lump in the sand. The lizard may have gone underground, but it could not escape the sharp hearing of his Super Sense.
Zac leaped forward and smashed both of his fists into the sand, crushing the beast's spine. After a few more strikes, they finally managed to kill the lizard. However, neither of them received a level-up notification.
It was almost dark, but they decided to keep moving. If they rested out in the open desert dunes, there was a high chance of being ambushed in the dark. If they got surrounded by five or ten of those poisonous lizards while sleeping, they would be completely doomed.
They walked until the sky turned pitch black and was illuminated by a full moon and countless bright stars. They finally decided to take a rest when they found a rocky area with some sparse vegetation. It was mostly just different kinds of sharp cactuses, but it provided some cover.
They slept there with empty stomachs. They woke up the next morning due to the extreme heat of the rising sun and continued their journey surviving on just water.
After walking for another few hours until the sun was directly over their heads, they finally reached a beautiful place that actually had green grass. Looking closely, it was a large, natural oasis.
This was the exact location where the map marked the dungeon. Both of them quickly walked toward the center of the oasis. After walking for another twenty minutes, they finally reached the entrance, but they got slightly shocked after seeing the large number of people gathered there.
The dungeon's entrance looked somewhat like an igloo that was generally made of ice, the kind Dustin had only seen in books or on TV, but this dome was made entirely out of hardened sand.
There were about twenty people already waiting there, but no one was entering the dungeon. To find out the reason instead of guessing, both of them decided to go and look at the entrance for themselves.
They walked near the dungeon dome and stood directly in front of the entrance.
DING.
[ Two more participants registered. (26 / 30) ]
[ The entrance will open once a total of 30 participants have registered themselves. Until then, please wait patiently. ]
After analyzing the system information, both of them understood the reason behind the crowd. They walked back to the shaded area where the others were waiting.
"Do you know what kind of dungeon this is?" Zac asked a muscular guy who was sitting alone under a palm tree.
Suddenly, many people nearby turned and started looking at them. Zac and Dustin noticed the hostile stares.
"Why do you not find out for yourself when you enter?" the muscular man growled at them aggressively. "Now get lost."
"My bad. No need to get angry," Zac apologized quickly. He grabbed Dustin's shoulder and they walked over to an empty side of the oasis.
"What a bastard. Just because he has some extra muscles, he thinks very highly of himself," Zac cursed under his breath. He sat down next to Dustin on the cool sand beneath a different palm tree.
Hours passed, but no one else came to the oasis. They just waited as the sun slowly set. It was already night, but still, no more people arrived to fill the final four spots.
Dustin and Zac were starving. After the aggressive behavior of that muscular guy, they did not have any hope of asking for food from the other survivors. They decided to look around the oasis for something edible.
Suddenly, a loud voice echoed across the camp.
"Food!"
"Fresh food here!"
"Food for 300 points each!"
They looked in the direction of the shouting and saw two guys selling cooked meat in exchange for system points.
"What are they even doing?" Dustin laughed. "Do they think this is some kind of reality TV show and they just opened a food truck?"
"No, it is actually an excellent idea," Zac corrected him. "Look, there are already some customers over there. We are extremely hungry, and people like us have no choice but to spend points to get food even though it is super expensive. Those guys are going to earn a massive amount of points. But this idea will only work for a day or two at most before people run out of money or find their own food. Let us go and get ourselves something to eat."
They walked over and bought enough food to get full. They slept together in a quiet corner slightly away from the rest of the tense crowd.
The night passed and the next day arrived. Only one more girl arrived at the oasis that entire day. The day passed just like the last one, but the food business completely failed because Dustin and the other survivors went out and hunted their own food in the surrounding desert.
Finally, on the third day, a group of three people arrived. The group consisted of a girl and two boys, all in their late teens or early twenties.
They walked up to the sand dome to register themselves, just like the others had told them to do. As soon as they touched the entrance, everyone in the camp gathered around the dome. The requirement of thirty participants had finally been fulfilled.
DING.
[ The requirements have been completed. The entrance is now opening. ]
[ This dungeon is a Puzzle Type Dungeon. Everyone must enter in a group of exactly three people. ]
Ten large circles made of glowing light appeared on the sand near the dungeon entrance. The circles had many mysterious symbols carved into them. Each glowing circle was divided into three equal parts, which meant one person was supposed to stand in each section.
"I guess lady luck is smiling at me," Zac said. This was exactly the type of dungeon he needed for his main task. He gestured for Dustin to follow him.
Both of them stepped into one of the glowing circles. One part of their circle was still empty, but they did not invite anyone. Since there were exactly thirty spots and thirty people, someone would eventually have to join them.
Many people on the other side were fighting and arguing over specific spots and team formations, but neither Dustin nor Zac troubled themselves with the drama. They just stood quietly and waited.
After nearly ten minutes of waiting, a young woman in her early twenties walked over and stepped into the third part of their circle. At this point, the loud commotion on the other side of the camp had finally calmed down as everyone found a spot.
Swoosh.
All of the people in the circles vanished instantly. Ten bright streaks of light shot upward from the sand, leaving the oasis completely empty once again.