Chapter 21. Return to Trigitech Building

When the Goblins were down to three, they did the call again. This time Jack didn't bother to escape. He stood his ground to kill the three Goblins and then waited for the last pack to come. Without any further complications, he dispatched the last pack as well.

During the fights, he had noticed several coins dropping, but he didn't have the time to pick them up. He now went around collecting the spoils. There were no equipment or item drops. The drop rate was still as stingy as ever.

He then proceeded towards the Trigitech building. When the entrance came into view, he stopped and observed its surroundings. It was a stark contrast to his last visit. Before, it was full of people lining up to go inside the building. The surrounding neighborhood had also been very crowded with people going about their activities and with vehicles speeding up and down the main street. Now it was dead silent; just some monsters roaming around infrequently in the distance.

He checked his radar; there were no monsters around the main entrance to the Trigitech building. He began to doubt his suppositions now. If the building was some kind of important event location, then usually it would have a boss or at least a guard. While here, the entrance was completely devoid of any monsters. Could he have guessed wrong? Was this building just a common building like all the others, with no clues as to what had happened to the world?

'Well, I've traveled a long way to reach this place; it would be a waste if I didn't at least check inside,' he decided.

  Also, Jack still had a gut feeling that there really was something inside that had a connection to the world's change.

He took out the container in which he had stored the Egg Fried Rice. It had been several days since the food was made, so he expected a foul smell.  But it still appeared, and smelled, fresh.

'Wow, the game system is really convenient,' he thought. If he could keep game food indefinitely, he could stock up on it to be used in an emergency.

He then ate the Egg Fried Rice before going into the building. If he met with resistance inside, the stamina and mana recovery for the next three hours would be helpful.

After finishing the meal, he took out both his weapons and carefully entered the building. The courtyard's appearance was still the same as before. With no people around, its alluring, yet deserted, landscape now had an added serene look. The pond and garden decorating the courtyard were tranquil. He fought the urge to admire the view, and advanced into the building. He passed the sliding double glazed doors and stopped at the bottom of the main stairs in the central hall.

This was the place where that guy was killed and where he picked up his God-eye monocle. The Monocle was called Administrator God-Eye. In other words, it belonged to an administrator. In this case, he assumed the dead guy was the intended game administrator for the Second World game. He looked up to the top of the stairs.  The administrator had come from there when he was being chased by the zombies. Jack figured he should follow the trail.

He climbed the stairs to a long hallway with glass-walled offices lining both sides. A round aluminum-cased trash-bin was on its side, trash spilling out. Through the transparent walls of the offices, he could see some chairs and small cupboards fallen to the floor and papers scattered around.

He glanced around.  The building looked totally deserted. Not even any monsters were visible. He remembered when he first put on the monocle; the building had been teeming with red dots, which had caused him to hightail it out of the building. Now, there was not a single blip on his radar.

'Wait! There is one at the furthest point of the radar. With how large this building is, that red dot's position should still be inside it.'

After some thought, he decided to go towards that sole red dot. With the whole area this vacant, there must be a reason for the existence of that one red dot. As he got closer, he also saw that this red dot was darker than normal.

'Could it be another Elite monster? It seems to be stationary,' he noticed.

It wasn't roaming around like the monsters he had been seeing all this time.

'Is it sleeping? Could a monster even sleep in this game? Or could it be that it's guarding something?'

He thought that this last guess was highly probable.

'If so, then if there is a clue inside this building, it should be at the place where this Elite monster is.'

He increased his pace along the hallway.

He arrived in front of a large double door made of stainless steel. Unlike the offices, the walls around this door were solid concrete with a white paint finish. There were no windows or openings to let him peek inside. He readied his weapons.

'A stationary monster in a room.  It's highly probable that signifies a Boss.'

Every RPG game would have Boss monsters. He didn't believe that this world that was governed by game rules would be exempted from this law.

He took out the Whetstone in his backpack and applied it onto his sword. The whetstone disappeared as the damage stat on his sword rose by ten percent. A pity to use his scarce resources, but he had a feeling that he would need every edge to survive in the room behind this door. He readied himself for a tough fight and pushed on the door.

It didn't budge.

'It's locked?'

He looked around the door, there was no keyhole. And then he noticed a small box beside the door. It was a card reader machine. It was a highly secured room, this one. He was even more certain now that there would be something valuable inside, even if it was not the clue he was looking for.

'Now, where will I find the card to use on this reader machine? Do I need to rifle through all the offices here?'

It would take a very long time. He was depressed.

Suddenly he remembered something. He dove into his storage bag.

'Where was it? Where was it?'

There was a lot of disorganized stuff inside as he had just been throwing everything he found in his oversized bag. He took a mental note to sort through his possessions and file them in a neat arrangement once he got the chance. Finally, he found the thing he was looking for.

A metallic-looking card materialized in his hand when he summoned it out of his inventory. It was the Administrator key-card he obtained from the body of the previous owner of the monocle.

'Please work,' he prayed as he swiped the card onto the small card reader machine. The prospect of shuffling through the building looking for the correct card did not excite him. The machine blipped a couple of times before a green light flashed. He heard a click, and the door beside him opened slightly.

He let out a relieved sigh and then readied his weapons again. He didn't dare to be careless.  He cast Magic Shield while he pushed the door further open with his sword. He stepped into the room.  It was a large spacious hall devoid of furniture and decorations. The room was simply empty with the exception of a single figure sitting down on the floor in the middle of the room with closed eyes.

'Heck, how much of a Boss setting can you make here?' He thought.

The monster was bare-footed and bare-chested.  Its whole body was covered with red scales. It had deadly looking claws at the ends of its fingers and toes. In its left hand it carried a round shield and its right hand held a scimitar. It had a thick tail behind and its face had an elongated mouth like a crocodile. Its eyes abruptly opened revealing snake-like yellow pupils. It stood up slowly and faced the intruder.

*

Lizardman Blood Guard (Special Elite monster, Reptile)

Level 12

HP: 4800

*

Jack's God-eye monocle showed the monster's description.

'Special Elite?  Does that mean that it's a stronger classification than that Skeleton Captain? From the look of it, it isn't a slow type like the Skeleton Captain either.'

He didn't expect his kiting technique, which had defeated the Skeleton Captain, would be effective here.

Furthermore, its HP was enormous; it was roughly four times higher than a normal monster at level 12. Observing the crimson scales covering its body and the round shield, he was sure its defense would be tough as well. Jack was getting a headache now.

While he was contemplating how he could deal with such a monster, it rushed toward him with frightening speed.