Chương 108: Chapter 104 – The Ruined Port

Mark and Ava found 13 volunteers at Cave Camp to come explore what the system wanted checked out. He had a variety of people: fighters, team leads, scouts, runners, and wannabe explorers, all of whom decided to come when Mark asked for volunteers. Mark brought up the system message again.

[Regional Emergency Detected] Water-Controlled Region Threat Assessment: Escalating Instance Stability: Critical Population Risk: Increasing Recommended Response: Immediate Investigation Additional Recommendation: Companion Adaptation Potential Detected Candidate: Chew Mark took the volunteers from Cave Camp and led them southwest to Lakeside and then south past the southern outpost. By the second day they had reached the shoreline of the vast lake he had previously glimpsed when he explored the western zone.

Somewhere farther south along that shoreline was the location the system had flagged as a regional emergency. When he crossed into the new region, his map updated with a new name: "The Lake of Many Shores." Looking out across the endless water, Mark thought it fit. Islands dotted the horizon in every direction, some little more than rocky outcroppings while others were large enough to support forests. As they continued south, the first thing they found following the shore was an old and broken-down lighthouse.

It was in bad shape; the top had fallen off as well as the whole left side. At first they did not even realize it was a lighthouse until one of the scouts pointed out some of its features. They searched the area and found nothing of interest and continued south. Mark allowed the scouts and other more experienced explorers to take the lead. The group spread out and started moving through streets and alleys, looking for signs of danger. Their destination finally came into view, and it was huge.

It was a harbor with multiple docks, buildings, and other structures. But like the lighthouse, they were in complete ruin. The harbor consisted of more than forty or fifty structures: docks, warehouses, inns, and buildings whose purpose had long since become impossible to identify. Each step forward made them realize it was even bigger than what they first thought. They slowly could see more details. The buildings had holes in their roofs and collapsed walls.

They even saw one building that had fallen sideways and was lying on another. It took almost an hour to walk to the harbor from the lighthouse. When they got close enough to touch the buildings, they realized the scale of it was even bigger than they first believed. And the decay and damage was worse than originally estimated from a distance. One of the scouts let out a low whistle, "this place is huge." Mark said, "I would love to have seen it back before it was abandoned and left in ruins."

The group spread out and started going down streets and alleys. Looking for any signs of danger. The scouts and fighters killed many smaller animals but nothing that was of any real threat to them at their level. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. They divided into three five-man teams with a scout or fighter with each group. They opened and looked into every building.

Most were so damaged that just opening the door risked causing the structure to collapse. Mark's team explored an inn where the top floor had collapsed and most of the back, but only the common room at the front could be viewed. The dirt, dust, and debris showed that it had to have been years since anyone had been here or this place was occupied. He then went through a warehouse that was huge. There were the remains of shelves and crates and other packing materials.

Going through them, nothing was salvageable, and it had been so long that even if they had been perishable items, the spell did not last. Even the roads were broken up and ruined. If this place were to be occupied in the future, it would take months to a year to rebuild even a tenth of it. After an hour of searching, the group met in the middle of what might have been a park or gathering area. And talked about what they have seen.

Two of the teams had explored the docks and said that they did not think they would collapse, but they were not usable either. One of the groups said they found something that Mark would most likely be interested in. It was a building that might have been some type of administration building for the harbor. They said it was nothing they saw but a feeling they felt but knew they should return and report about it.

A small group of them returned to that admin building while the others continued to look at and through the warehouses, docks, and the wrecks of a few boats that had sunk right at the docks where they were moored. When Mark reached the building, he too felt it, and as he reached for the door and touched it, a message appeared.

[Regional Infrastructure Opportunity Detected] Abandoned Harbor Status: Critical Infrastructure Integrity: 12% Known Systems: • Harbor Administration • Warehouse Network • Navigation Control • Lighthouse Network Further assessment required. Everyone had received the message and stopped to read it. Not too long after the message appeared the other team members came to figure out what they had found. As a group, they examined the outside of the building on all sides.

There were a few doors, but all were locked except the one Mark had touched. The inside of the building was trashed. Walls are partially fallen down, and items are all over the place. They found a set of stairs and had to remove the trash and debris, and then, not trusting the stairs, they pulled out some lumber they had in inventory and reinforced it to hold their weight. One at a time, they went up the stairs, holding their breaths, worried about it collapsing on them.

When the group finally made it up the stairs, they went down a hall and found another door. Mark had just opened it when he received another message. [Instance Anchor Located] Harbor Administration Status: Emergency Operations Active Failure State: Critical Recommended Response: Immediate Entry Additional Recommendation: Companion Adaptation Potential Detected Candidate: Chew Mark finished opening the door and walked in. All the others crowded in behind him. In the center of the room was a large glowing portal.

Ava was excited until she realized that Chew was outside playing in the water. She sent him a message and had to wait for him to show up. While they waited for Chew to show up, the group discussed who would go. They decided to have Mark, Ava, and Chew go, and then after a long discussion and a small argument, they decided that Darin, one of the scouts, and Steve, one of the fighters, would go. They all looked through their inventory for items they might need.

A few of the people not going handed over items that could be useful: a length of rope, various tools that might be useful, and food enough to feed them for a week. Taking one last look around at the group of people, Mark again asked if everyone was ready and if anyone wanted to back out. After they all said one last time they were ready, they walked forward and into the portal. As the portal swallowed him, Mark felt the same strange tingling sensation he always experienced when entering a cave instance.