Chapter 124

  Choices in Life (VI)

  I haven't gone hiking much back on Earth, and never into the actual wilderness. It was usually well-trodden hike trails with clear signs of human touch. One thing above all, however, that stood out to me was how... loud the forest would get at night. There's always some howling and hollering and hooting, whether it's cicadas, tree frogs, owls, bats, or even an occasional wolf or two.

  It gets scarily loud, honestly, which was why I braced myself for the first night in the forest only to be greeted by the exact opposite: an eerie silence that felt almost oppressive. Plus, it was dark.

  Holy shit, is it dark.

  The canopy of the trees is just thick enough to shroud the ground from the moonlight, which meant that there was no light. And, hell, I didn't dare light one up--it'd be like an open invite to whatever horrors may live here to come, and I don't want them to come, no. I want them to stay the hell back.

  Thus, as soon as the light of the day began to fade, I found us a nice clearing with tall trees sporting thick branches, electing to camp precisely on top of them.

  According to Wan Lan, we'd probably have to walk at least a week to get to the ruin, not really because it was far, but because the forest itself is massive. No, wait, that makes no sense—not because it was far, but because it was difficult to navigate. Or something along those lines. She has an accent, so some words just fly over my head…

  It started north of the Spirit Sword Sect, bordering the Eternal Range, and moved east and then south against the Heaven-Piercing Peaks, all the way to the southernmost edge of the region.

  According to a local legend, there were 500,000,000 trees within the forest, but if the forest truly was as large as they claimed, that number is well off base. 'Just' five hundred million trees, while a staggering number, isn't actually that massive. For instance, Amazon back on Earth had four billion of them, and if the maps are to be trusted, this place was about 3/5ths as large at least.

  Regardless, the point is that the forest is massive, and trekking it was no small feat. There were no 'roads' or 'paths', just thick shrubbery and jutting roots of the trees everywhere. I stumbled and nearly fell six times today, and even the kids struggled a bit navigating it.

  Wan Lan sought the landmarks to orient us, namely moss and a certain type of flower. Moss I understood, as it grows in the shade, so you can orient yourself a bit, but the flower was a local thing. According to her, it only grows in the northern area, as it rains more frequently here.

  ... speaking of rain.

  I was woken up at some point in the night, feeling rather cold and wet. It took me but a second to realize rain was pouring quite heavily, draining from the bent canopies above us.

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  "Shit," the word escaped me quickly as I stumbled through my spatial treasures looking for anything tarp-like. There was nothing like it, of course, but pulling out a few blankets and stacking them on top of each other seemed enough to build a temporary, makeshift umbrella of sorts.

  Kids started waking up one by one, too, and copied me, building an overhead, improvised 'tarp', angled downwards so that the water doesn't coalesce, but it didn't really do all that much.

  I hadn't considered the weather at all, in my stupidity and my hubris. It wasn't just the rain, either; soon, lightning began to crackle above us. Even through the thick canopy, I could see the blinding flashes of light almost as soon as the thunderous roar came bellowing out like that of an ancient dragon.

  It was loud.

  So, so loud that I estimated the lightning struck maybe a mile from us.

  Before I could make sense of much else, I felt someone latch onto me and cradle against my chest. Looking down, it was Light; she was wet and shivering, though it didn't seem like it was from cold.

  Despite the dark, I could just barely make out the contours of her terrified expression.

  Looking back out, I saw that the other kids were... similar, strangely. Even Long Tao, though not terrified, appeared unnaturally uncertain.

  "It's just the lightning," I spoke softly. "No need to be scared."

  "... a-are you not scared of the Heavens?" She looked up and asked.

  Thinking for a moment, I indicated to everyone to descend as I quickly made a makeshift 'tent' to cover us up while Long Tao dried the ground.

  "Do I look scared?" I asked them directly.

  "... n-no?"

  "But Master isn't scared of anything."

  "Wrong," I quickly corrected. "Master is scared of a lot of things. Waking up with a snake wrapped around my pillow, accidentally swallowing water the wrong way and having the worst chest pains of my life, the phrase "I'm late," and a litany of other pointless things. But... I'm not scared of lightning."

  "... you're serious," even Long Tao joined from the side, seeming surprised.

  I mean, it made sense--to them it likely did seem as though the Heavens themselves were spitting out lightning at them, similar to how the acts of nature were perceived back on Earth in the past.

  "I am," I nodded. "It can get loud, and it can get bright, and if the lightning strikes nearby, even the ground beneath you shakes and shivers, but... I am not afraid. So, I need you all to be brave with me, okay?" Just then, another rip of thunder exploded relatively close-by. Not so close that the ground 'shook and shivered', but close enough that the flash of light briefly illuminated their faces rather perfectly.

  They all winced and yelped, closing their eyes instinctively, while Light hugged me even tighter. Any tighter, and she might crack a bone or two.

  No, seriously, the grip on this girl is freakin' insane. I just wish she didn't use me as a test subject.

  "It's alright," I said. "You know what my mom used to say when I was a kid about lightning?"

  "... w-what?"

  "Don't be afraid, she'd say." I smiled as the memory drifted into my mind. "It's just nature farting a bit to feel better."

  "..."

  "..."

  "Pfft, ha ha ha." It was rather collective, the explosion of laughter, and it came just in time for the rain to slowly stop pelting us and for the lightning and thunder to become a bit more distant. The roars were there, but they were dulled and dimmed, and the kids' faces were far brighter.

  "See? Now nature's feeling better, and it's going to give us beautiful sunshine tomorrow," I said. "Speaking of which, we have an early day, so you should all get some rest."

  They all went back to their trees, except the little gremlin still hanging off of me.

  "... you want to go to?"

  "I'm okay here." she said.

  "What if I fall from the tree?"

  "Then I'll protect you."

  "..." Oi, aren't you the one that was just shaking in her boots from some lightning? How can you just so confidently proclaim you'd save me from a good fifteen-foot drop?

  Haah.

  Will there come a day when I'll understand these little guys? No, rather... do I want to understand what's going on inside their little weird brains?

  Maybe not, after all...