The Vessel

Roger recalled the “vessel” mentioned in those documents and glanced back at the goblin's corpse.

Although this goblin had given him the feeling of fighting a final dungeon boss, it likely wasn't the so-called “vessel.”

The secret letter had used words like “ready” and “filling” when referring to the vessel, rather than “already in use.” Something still in the preparation stage wouldn't be stationed out here to guard the entrance.

At the same time, he didn't believe the cave-in from earlier was a coincidence either. The timing was far too precise, occurring right at the critical moment they were preparing to withdraw from the passage and reunite with the main force.

If it was triggered intentionally, then whoever did it was highly likely still deeper inside the cave, continuing to tinker with their shady experiments.

In short, those cultists were probably still cooking up something nasty deep within the cave; the real threat was still ahead.

Hearing Roger's thoughts, Irene quickly tried to dissuade him:

“Are you sure? Neither of us is in any shape to fight right now. If there are more things like that inside, we won't survive a second one.”

“If you don't want to go, you can stay here and wait for rescue,” Roger replied, not wanting to force her to risk her life with him.

Irene's response caught him off guard: “In that case, I'll go in with you.”

“Are you sure?” Now it was Roger's turn to ask. “You ran back to help me, ended up trapped here with me, got beaten up by that goblin, and even had your sword broken. You still want to keep going? Aren't you afraid we'll run into something even more troublesome than before?”

Irene replied dismissively, “Staying here by myself wouldn't be any better. Our way back is blocked, and goblins could pop up at any moment. I'd rather go with you so we can at least look out for each other.”

To this, Roger replied with just one word:

“Alright.”

After recovering some of his strength, Roger casually picked up a sword from beside a goblin grunt's corpse and tilted his head toward Irene. The two of them began to venture deeper into the cavern.

Before setting off, while Irene wasn't looking, Roger picked up her broken sword from the ground and stored it in his system inventory.

They soon returned to the fork in the path they had encountered earlier, where Steinbeck's white chalk mark remained on the stone wall.

But this time, they chose the right-hand passage.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, they heard movement ahead once again.

Roger's Scout's Eye caught several small outlines huddled in a corner.

He exchanged a look with Irene and slowed his pace as they drew near. As they stepped onto the edge of that area, the outlines in his Scout's Eye overlapped with what his naked eyes could see.

A group of goblins was huddled in the corner. They were completely unarmed, without even the most basic cloth wraps for protection, and some were exceptionally small.

Roger and Irene's sudden appearance threw them into a panic. A few of the slightly larger goblins instinctively stepped forward to shield the cubs behind them. Though their bodies trembled with fear, they still let out weak, threatening growls from their throats.

The two raised their weapons in silence. Their blades carved two cold arcs in the dim glow of the crystals on the cave walls. The goblins didn't even get a chance to shriek before everything fell silent once more.

After killing these goblins, his points only went up by 100.

This confirmed his previous suspicion: combat capability was the primary weight factor for earning points. In the system's evaluation, these unarmed goblins yielded negligible points.

Still, he didn't feel it was a waste. These goblin cubs would eventually grow up to raid human villages. Choosing to give them a quick death rather than torturing them was already the utmost mercy he could offer.

After ensuring there were no survivors, the two continued down the passage.

Time became difficult to track in the darkness. After walking for an unknown duration, light finally appeared ahead.

Small niches had been carved into the cave walls on both sides, embedded with purple crystals identical to the one on the goblin's chest, though smaller and dimmer.

These crystals were placed every few paces, like a guiding light strip deliberately installed deep underground, providing only basic illumination.

“They've been here for a very long time,” Irene whispered.

“Tell me something I don't know,” Roger joked.

“...”

Turning the corner at the end of the passage, the view suddenly opened up.

They stood at the entrance of a massive chamber.

The scale of this chamber far exceeded that of the previous alchemy workshop. Its area was visually comparable to the hall of a small church, and the cave walls were embedded with systematically arranged crystals, bathing the entire space in a dark purple glow.

In the very center of the chamber stood a stone platform about waist-high, its surface carved with complex patterns. These patterns radiated outward from the center of the platform, their ends connecting to grooves in the ground where a dark purple liquid flowed.

Roger crouched in the shadows of the chamber's entrance, sweeping his Scout's Eye across the vast space. There wasn't a single soul in this room, but the facility was clearly still operational.

On the platform, a football-sized fleshy mass hovered in midair, its surface similarly covered in vein-like patterns.

“The vessel,” Roger muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?”

“The ‘vessel’ mentioned in the secret letter is probably this fleshy mass.” He stood up and slowly approached along the shadows at the edge of the chamber, keeping his Scout's Eye at maximum range to ensure there were no hidden traps or spells nearby.

“This is the core of some large-scale ritual. The cultists were testing the enhancers here primarily to use on this thing. The goblins were just tools.”

Irene followed a few paces behind him, remaining constantly on guard.

Her gaze drifted over Roger's shoulder, staring at the fleshy mass hovering in the center of the platform. It was quite a while before she spoke:

“It's not finished yet. If it were complete, the cultists wouldn't have left it here.”

“So we got here just in time.” Roger stopped a few paces from the platform and cast Appraisal on the fleshy mass.

【Name: ???

Quality: ???

Description: Unknown origin, unknown abilities, but it is certainly a living creature and is still 'hatching'

Current Status: Unhatched, progress approximately two-thirds

Inferred Use: ???】

Roger raised his sword and slowly approached until the tip could just touch it. He carefully poked the surface of the fleshy mass a few times, but it didn't react at all.

“Stand back,” he warned Irene.

Once she had stepped away, he also took a few steps back and fired a Chain Lightning at the fleshy mass.

The fleshy mass convulsed violently several times. Roger immediately ducked behind a stone pillar, waiting for a potential counterattack.

But after waiting several seconds, nothing happened.

Roger peeked out to assess the situation and saw that the fleshy mass had fallen to the ground. Its surface was charred black, and a thick, dark purple liquid was oozing from several thin cracks.

“Points +10. Total: 9,610.”

Roger stepped forward and used Appraisal. The description on the panel had changed:

【Deceased】

That was it? It was over?

Roger used his sword to slice the fleshy mass open, its internal structure unfolding layer by layer beneath his blade.

The inner tissue of the mass was somewhat similar to muscle, but far more slimy. Beneath several layers of translucent tissue lay a curled-up creature.

It was about the size of a human infant. Its skin was not yet fully formed and remained translucent, offering a faint view of the muscle fibers and vascular network beneath. Every blood vessel was secreting dark purple fluid.

A row of tiny bone spurs grew on top of the creature's head, and its mouth was nothing more than a single vertical slit lined with tiny tentacles.

Through the translucent skin, an irregularly shaped fragment of a purple crystal could be seen embedded inside its chest cavity.

The fragment had stopped glowing, but its position clearly corresponded to where the heart would be.

Roger pulled his sword out of the remains of the fleshy mass and shook off the slime clinging to the blade. He looked down at the curled-up creature on the ground, falling deep into thought.

“What on earth is this thing?” Irene also stepped out from behind the stone pillar. She stood beside Roger, looking down at the dissected corpse with a tight frown.

Roger didn't answer. He swept his gaze around the chamber, his eyes finally landing on the dome directly above the platform.