Special task

As Mark reached the factory, his destination, he quickly noticed an entrance for his truck. There was a small white outpost with a man in it and a bar outside. He could raise or lower the bar to allow or stop vehicles from entering.

Mark made his way over there, and as expected, the man signaled him to stop, which Mark did, as otherwise would hit the lowered bar.

"ID" the man said as he looked towards Mark with piercing eyes.

"I only have this if it helps. This is my first day."

Neither Rube nor Erinne gave him anything close to ID, so he could only provide the piece of paper with the details of his assignment. The man took the paper and carefully read it, unlike the quick glance that Rube gave it.

He then used a walkie talkie that he had hanging on his belt and said something that Mark couldn't hear.

"You need to wait here for a moment," the man said to Mark, keeping his eyes on him.

Mark didn't mind the way the person acted, as he could understand his logic. They were both doing their job in the end.

It didn't take long for another man, similarly dressed to Rube, to make his way towards the man, who was clearly part of the security of this place. The two had a small talk, which Mark couldn't hear.

"You can move in. Just take a left there, and you should see an open storehouse with people waiting for you. After you park your truck, they will take care of everything," the security man explained after finishing his talk with the other person.

"You know I will need to get the truck on my way back, right?"

Mark wanted to ensure they didn't expect him to leave it here, as otherwise would be troublesome to get back. He had no money for a taxi, and there was no train station on foot for a couple of hours.

"Yeah, yeah. As long as you don't get in their way, they should have everything unloaded within the hour."

Mark nodded with some satisfaction over the answer, and after receiving the paper with his assignment back, he made his way towards where the man pointed him to go.

Most likely, Mark didn't need the paper anymore since he got to the place, but he wanted to keep it just in case. They haven't yet discussed any payment for it other than him working on paying off his debt over the last loss from his previous assignment.

Even if he hadn't seen what they delivered himself, Truck-kun had let him know. It seemed like they were different electronic parts, but for no specific use, as far as Truck-kun knew. However, the amount was definitely more vast than the delivery he had done last time, which made sense since this truck was more extensive than his previous one.

That should also mean that the payment should be better, but he tried not to hope too much. As fat as he knew, he could do this for free, just to pay off his debt.

It didn't take him long to find the place the security guy mentioned, as some other people were outside of it, and he waved towards him when they heard the truck's engine. It didn't take long to explain everything to them as they already knew most of the details, so two men started taking off everything in the truck's trailer.

It didn't take them more than an hour, and Mark was good to go.

He left as soon as he was ready and had his truck filled with fuel for free. But, of course, it wasn't his truck in the end, but the company's, so it wasn't like they spent money on him, even if he was the one who currently used it.

The way back would take longer, but not by far, but either way, it would be late at night by the moment he was back. He didn't have a deadline to return, at least not one to give to him, but he didn't want to take too long.

After all, the sooner he returned, the sooner he would get his next assignment. And he needed to pay off that debt and make some money soon, as he also owed some rent, although his new Landlady was also the boss at his current 'job.'

Either way, Mark doubted they would expect him or anyone to be there late at night. So it should be okay to be back by the morning, as long as he didn't take too long.

He was somewhat familiar with where he was and knew there was a motel nearby that he could stay, and not that far, there was a small town. But motels costed money which he unfortunately lacked. But there was a bar where he could park his truck for free and maybe sleep for a bit in the truck.

It wouldn't be the first time he would sleep in one, and he had to admit that the seat in this one was more comfortable than of his old truck. It still wasn't made for people to sleep on them, but it was an improvement.

It was afternoon and started getting dark, but it was still far from needing to use traffic lights. He had to pass through one of the main streets of that small town to get to the parking area, but luckily it didn't seem like there was too much traffic here.

Mark looked forward to reach that place not so much about getting some rest, but to keep training on his <Martial Art> Skill. He wanted to be ready for his return in the <Dungeon>, and especially after seeing how fast Truck-kun leveled up his 'Skill,' he wanted to prove himself too.

Even if he had more Skills than Truck-kun currently had Upgrades, that didn't mean that his speed on developing should be that much slower. It was true, though, that the <Vehicle Possessor> should be a Basic Grade Upgrade, which should be much easier to level up than an <Advanced Grade> Skill like his <Martial Art>, and <Minor Energy Manipulation> Skill.

"Just because you have little talent, you shouldn't consider others to be the same."

Mark almost slipped his steering wheel once more, as he didn't expect Truck-kun to speak.

'Is he reading my mind?'

"Of course I do, because you keep shouting at them. Even if I was miles away, I would hear those thoughts of yours by how loud they are."

"I thought you said we needed to get the <Telepathy> Skill for us to communicate through thoughts."

"We aren't communicating. Communication goes two ways. Currently, only I can tell what you are thinking, but you don't know what I am thinking."

Mark understood his point and found it unfair that Tuck-Kun could read his mind like that.

"You just need to learn not to shout with your mind. I won't be able to hear you then."

"And how do I do that? My thoughts don't have a volume like my normal speaking."

There was no response for some time, but Mark didn't give up on this question.

"I thought you said you wanted me to stop 'shouting,' so shouldn't you give me a few tips?"

There was some more silence, but before Mark could pursue the subject, even more, Truck-kun spoke.

"With your current <Mind>, you may have a chance to do so. But we need to take care of other things first."

Then Mark felt like losing control over his steering wheel as it turned a lot, making the truck get a 180 degrees turn. Mark didn't think the truck could make that turn, but it seemed Tuck-kun's Upgrade had more control over the vehicle at his point than he presumed.

Mark couldn't turn the steering wheel at all, and the brakes or gas pedals didn't work either. So he had no control over the vehicle as it continued forward. And soon Mark noticed something he didn't want to be true.

Near where he currently was, and towards where his truck headed, in the middle of the street, an old lady was passing the street. The traffic lights were red for the vehicles, but with the lack of control he currently had, there was also one possibility—- he was going to hit her.

"Hey, don't tell me you want to truck her. She shouldn't be that suitable to do so."

Mark still had doubts about trucking anyone, especially an innocent old woman like that.

"The phrases of fate were written. What needs to happen will happen."

Mark found the voice of Truck-kun a bit stranger than usual. Almost like something was missing from it, but he couldn't pinpoint it at that moment.

Mark tried to get control back, but nothing worked, no matter what he did. But then he had an idea: to drain his truck's battery of its energy, which should shut the engine.

Even if that could cause some damage to the truck's battery, he was worried more about the old lady. And so he used his <Minor Energy Manipulation> Skill, as he closed his eyes to entirely focus on it to increase his speed.

And by the moment he opened his eyes, he noticed four things.

First, the old woman was safe. Apparently, a young teenager had pushed her out of the way before she could get hit by the truck.

The second thing was that his truck had really stopped, and it was at a spot just a few centimetres away from where the old lady was standing before.

The third thing was that the young man who pushed the old lady out of the way of the truck was down on the ground, motionless. It didn't seem like Mark had hit him, but he couldn't be sure about it.

And the last thing Mark noticed was a new notification that appeared in front of him.

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You completed the special task <The Die>.

Do you want to get your reward?

YES/NO

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