Moon's Labyrinths

The party headed towards a nearby park . They each bought a cup of coffee, and they sat down on an open bench .

“Everything is a bit unsettled for some reason . ”

Tim took a glance at his surroundings . The scenery was the same as always . However, it was as if everyone was feeling gray . It made everything look a bit subdued .

Moreover, he could see a tiny bit of fear on the faces of people .

“The early morning earthquake might be the cause . ”

“What?”

The Ross siblings had been about to drink their coffee . They froze in place . Emily’s eyes turned round, and Tim asked in a surprised voice .

“There was an earthquake? On the moon?”

“Yes . You didn’t know about it?”

Tim and Emily looked at each other .

There clearly was shock on their faces . One could tell that they hadn’t known about the earthquake .

‘It seems the earthquake happened while they were still on the spaceship . ’

If he thought about the time it took to reach Armstrong from earth, it was a strong possibility . It seemed he would have to give an explanation . He decided to drink some of his coffee before he spoke .

Tim scratched his head . Tim didn’t ask his question to Sungyoon first . He asked the question to his sister, Emily .

“Is it possible to have an earthquake on the moon?”

“I have no idea . ”

“Maybe, a meteorite impacted the moon . Wouldn’t that cause the ground to shake a little bit?”

“Armstrong is quite fastidious in monitoring the meteors . If a meteor was about to hit, that information would have been disseminated . ”

Tim and Emily looked towards Sungyoon .

“They didn’t say anything about meteors . ”

When Sungyoon replied in the negative, the two siblings discussed the event once again .

“There is a chance that a meteor snuck past the surveillance system to hit the moon . ”

“That might be a possibility . ”

In the end, the question and answer session between the two siblings brought forth no real answer .

“Was it a big earthquake?”

Tim wanted more information . He looked at his surroundings as he asked the question .

This place looked like any city on earth, but Armstrong was surrounded by a large dome . Of course, everyone was much more sensitive about earthquakes, since it could bring down the structures around them .

“It wasn’t that severe . It just shook the buildings a little bit . ”

It had been fortunate that nothing came out of it . However, it was proven now that an earthquake could occur in Armstrong . This meant there was a possibility of a larger earthquake hitting Armstrong in the future .

“Do you think the labyrinths are fine?”

Emily was careful in asking her question .

“I do worry the earthquake might cause something out of the ordinary to occur within the labyrinths . ”

“Mmm... . ”

Tim folded his arms, and he worried over this problem in a serious manner .

The three of them had experienced falling into an unknown region when the floor of the labyrinth collapsed . This was why they were very interested to know whether the labyrinths were safe or not from the earthquake .

“It was a small earthquake, so I doubt it had a big effect on the labyrinths . ”

He was talking that way, but his expression didn’t lighten . He wasn’t an expert on this matter .

“Shall we monitor the situation for a couple days?”

Sungyoon agreed with Tim’s words .

“That is probably for the best . Anyways, it’ll be hard to acquire tickets even if we want to return to earth on a spaceship . ”

Sungyoon looked towards the Aldrin spaceport, which was a little ways off . The Ross siblings followed his gaze to look at the Aldrin spaceport . It was much busier than usual as more people flocked to the spaceport .

People were anxious, and many were struggling to leave the moon . It clearly showed that it won’t be easy to acquire a ticket to earth in the near future .

***

The party spent the next four days in Armstrong . Thankfully, there were no other earthquakes .

Sungyoon wondered if he could gain some information from Chelsea, but he was unable to meet her .

It seemed the International Research Center was in a state of high alert thanks to the earthquake, and the guards stopped him from entering . It seemed the research center would restrict entry for the near future .

Therefore, he went to the Support Center as a precaution . He was told by them that the labyrinths would be unaffected by an earthquake of this magnitude .

He had no idea if they were telling the truth . There was a chance that they were just saying it without evidence, so Connectors would continue to bring in moonstones .

Still he didn’t hear any ominous rumors about a labyrinth collapsing .

It was a source of some comfort .

“...will we be ok?”

Sungyoon and the Ross siblings were having a meeting . They were discussing thier future plans, and Emily expressed her worries in an anxious voice . However, Sungyoon and Tim didn’t have a clear answer to her question .

“Still, we can’t continue to stay in Armstrong like this . We have to make a decision soon . If we don’t continue to acquire moonstones, we can’t stay in this city thanks to the living costs . ”

“Mr . Tim is right . We have to make a decision . Do we want to start raiding the labyrinths again or do we want to return to earth?”

Ross siblings had amassed a good deal of wealth, but they couldn’t live in Armstrong for an extended amount of time if they weren’t acquiring moonstones . Of course, Sungyoon was in the same boat too .

“What do you think, Mr . Sungyoon?”

When Tim asked the question, Emily turned to look at Sungyoon . It seemed Sungyoon had become the leader of the group, and they wanted to hear his opinion .

Of course, Sungyoon didn’t think of himself as a leader at all .

“I think it would be for the best if we go back to raiding labyrinths . ”

“Mmm . Do you think the labyrinths are unaffected by the earthquake?”

The only one amongst the three to experience the moon earthquake was Sungyoon . Tim remembered that Sungyoon had said it was an earthquake of low magnitude .

If that’s true, the labyrinths should be fine .

Moreover, there was another reason why he wanted to return to the labyrinths .

“Of course, this is only my assumption . However, it is also true that we don’t have much of a choice even if it had been a strong earthquake . We cannot completely leave the moon . ”

“That is true . ”

Tim agreed, and Emily nodded her head . The Connectors instinctively wanted to head towards the moon . The moon would never loosen its grip on the Connectors .

“I doubt Armstrong will lower their prices for us . ”

“They are almost fanatical about taking our money, so I doubt they’ll give us a discount . ”

Tim jeered .

“In the end, we have no choice but to go acquire moonstones within the labyrinth . ”

Even if they lived like paupers on the moon, they needed money . They needed water, vitamin packs and a place to sleep . They needed a lot of money just to satisfy these basic needs .

“So we have no choice . ”

Tim let out a sigh . This might be the inevitable conclusion that most Connectors would arrive at .

“Still, we should be thankful that the labyrinths are sturdy . ”

“How can you say that when we experienced the floor collapsing under us?”

“You always say the wrong things . ”

Emily stared daggers at Tim, who always had to give his two cent’s worth after everything she said .

“The battle had made the floor thin . It almost became nonexistent . That’s a whole different story . ”

“Right?”

When Sungyoon took her side, Emily’s expression suddenly changed . Tim looked at her with contempt when he saw this .

“Still, we should be cautious . Let us go to the Beginner’s labyrinth to see if any changes have occurred . ”

The two siblings didn’t hesitate as they nodded their heads at Sungyoon’s suggestion .

***

It had been a while since Sungyoon’s party had entered the Beginner’s labyrinth, and they were moving quickly through it .

Even if this was the Beginner’s labyrinth, it was still a labyrinth . However, Sungyoon’s party had leveled up too much, so the Beginner’s labyrinth was too easy for them .

Puh-uhk!

The Fang Boar didn’t know its place as it charged towards Tim . Tim split apart the Fang Boar with his axe .

“Annoying . ”

Tim nudged the Fang Boar’s corpse with his foot .

Normally, they would get into formation to fight the monster . However, Tim was killing all the monsters by himself right now . Sungyoon always preached to Tim that he shouldn’t underestimate his opponents . However, Sungyoon was currently not paying attention to Tim .

Sungyoon’s interest was solely focused on the walls of the labyrinth .

“How is it?”

Emily, who stood next to him, asked the question .

“I don’t see anything abnormal . There are no cracks, and I don’t think the earthquake created space beyond the walls . ”

As if to prove his statement, Sungyoon knocked on the wall of the labyrinth . A dull sound was heard . It meant the wall was solid .

“That’s good . ”

“Yes . It really is . ”

The only problem was the fact that Sungyoon knew nothing about geology .

Still, only Connectors could enter into the labyrinths, so humans with high-tech equipment couldn’t come in to study this place .

Basically, it was impossible to do a formal study, so Sungyoon had to eyeball it .

Still, the eyes of a normal person couldn’t find any obvious damage, so it was a relief .

“Shall we head out?”

Tim spoke . He looked bored as he picked up the moonstone dropped by the Fang Boar . Sungyoon looked at his watch .

“Let’s head down one more floor . We’ll be out by dinner time if we do that . ”

“Understood . ”

Was he happy, because this boring run was about to come to an end? Tim’s feet looked lighter .

They went lower using a familiar path .

Fortunately, they didn’t find anything strange in the lower floor . Still, they witnessed something unpleasant once again .

“It is a Sealed Section . ”

They could see a Connector blocking the entrance to a tunnel . The three of them looked disgruntled, but they didn’t do anything . They quietly turned around, and they started heading towards the entrance to the Beginner’s labyrinth .

“It is still happening . ”

Tim grumbled as he expressed his dissatisfaction . He had almost faced catastrophe, because the high rank Connectors had failed to properly clean up the Beginner’s labyrinth . The memory of that made his mood sour .

However, there was something else that put Sungyoon in a more foul mood .

“As expected, the anomalous event within the Beginner’s labyrinth is getting worse in a progressive manner . ”

Sungyoon turned to look at Tim and Emily as he spoke .

“Do you know when the Mana stream started within the Beginner’s labyrinth?”

“Mmm . I think it occurred around a month ago . ”

Emily’s eyes moved upwards as she tried to pick out a faint memory .

“As expected, the clean up of the Beginner’s labyrinth should have already been completed . ”

Sungyoon’s eyes turned retrospective .

“Anomalies started occurring within the labyrinths, and it was followed up with an earthquake on the moon . . . ”

Sungyoon’s murmured words and body posture made Tim and Emily turn serious .

“...do you think something is wrong?”

Emily sounded full of worry as she spoke . However, Sungyoon didn’t have a clear answer for her .

“I have no idea . ”

He could only give her a lame answer . It made the worry in Emily’s eyes deepen .

“It’s probably nothing . There is too much information we don’t know in regards to the labyrinth . ”

“R . . . right?”

She was still worried, but Sungyoon’s words had the effect of comforting her . In some ways, she probably looked foolish, but the emotions she was feeling right now were being felt by most of the Connectors on the moon right now .

“Anyways, let’s head out of this labyrinth . ”

Sungyoon broke out of his thoughts, and he started walking forward .

***

It was said that passage of time was better than drugs in pacifying the mind . Even if one was worried about something serious, it became swallowed up by the current of time, and one became used to it .

It was the same for Sungyoon’s party . The moon earthquake incident had caused worry to sprout within their hearts, but they returned to their normal lives when nothing out of the ordinary happened afterwards .

In the beginning, they had reacted to every sound thinking the labyrinth might cave in around them, but they no longer did that . Everything was back to normal .

Since the party determined the Beginner’s labyrinth was fine, they decided to travel to Sungyoon’s personal labyrinth, and they started clearing it .

Sungyoon swung his axe at the Orc in front of him .

Puh-uhk!

The shoddy helmet was split open, and the axe dug into its head . It let out a single scream before it fell to the ground .

Sungyoon turned his head when he confirmed his kills .

Tim had killed his opponents, and he was shaking blood off his axe .

Five Orcs had ambushed them this time . Their equipment was shoddy, but they were all equipped with weapons and armor .

If it was the past, Sungyoon’s party would have struggled facing them .

However, that was no longer the case . Emmily didn’t even need to use her support magic to enhance their bodies . Sungyoon and Tim could easily defeat the Orcs .