Chapter 168

  Eternal Range (X)

  We reached the base of the mountain at around 3, per my estimates. There wasn't a 'clock', as it were, in this world, but there was timekeeping, just that it wasn't particularly precise. They simply called the range between about 2 and 5 'post-midday', and... well, I kind of like it.

  Can you imagine the hell back on Earth if we just vaguely defined time periods and tried to function that way?

  Sheesh.

  Anyway, one thing immediately stood out--and has been standing out for the last few hours now--above all: it's gotten cold. Like, I-now-fear-for-my-life-up-on-the-mountain cold.

  By my estimates, it was around fifty-ish degrees, at best, which was around, what? Ten degrees Celsius? I do have a lot of useless knowledge in this stump I call a head, the kind of things that you simply naturally obtain as you keep on living.

  As I said, it wasn't exactly freezing cold, but it's also important to note that this is the base of the mountain.

  Strangely, it was quite barren--there were no villages or watchtowers or outposts of any kind, and there weren't even any clear roads to travel. Trees and shrubs arose like mad all around against the naively gentle slopes to begin with. But even this early, I could immediately spot dozens of sheer cliffs, tall and jutting and old, peeking out from beyond the trees.

  We didn't hesitate and decided to use up what little we had of the remaining daylight to initiate the climb.

  The gentle slope didn't last long--before we stopped to camp, the ground had turned to a much harsher angle, and it was all rather well hidden due to the sheer number of trees. From far away, I'd seen that they were only there for about a quarter of the entire mountain, as it was likely too cold for even them to exist up beyond that.

  Just as the sun set, we pitched the tent and entered. It was as any other night--the kids cultivated, and I even joined them today, as I could finally cultivate relatively normally, though decided to take a break around midnight.

  Exiting the tent, I suddenly sympathized with those cat and dog videos where they hoot and holler to exit out to play in the snow, yet the moment they get their first step in, they just spin around and go back where it's warm.

  Because, by God, it was freakin' freezing.

  The temps had to have dropped below 0, and visibility was--well, there was no visibility. I couldn't see shit past like sixteen inches, if that.

  As the tent isolated all sounds (well, not all, just ones that weren't nearby), I was also spared the symphony of the forest--birds, wolves, insects... and many more that I could not identify.

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  As such, I scurried back inside as quickly as I came out. Even if false, the sense of 'security' the tent provided by just making it so I couldn't see or hear anything past it was... priceless.

  The night passed relatively quickly, and the sounds died with the dawn.

  We actually ate outside despite the cold--it was because I'd already passed on the sequel, 'Art of Surviving,' to the kids, and they wanted to play around with it.

  Strangely, though, despite them all seemingly gaining initial mastery in it, the system didn't give me any rewards. Why?

  Yeah.

  No idea.

  System is as system does. Or something like that.

  After breakfast, we restarted the trek--it wasn't too bad for the first hour or so, definitely steep but sort of like a proper hiking trail back on Earth steep.

  However...

  The split was actually rather clear--the trees thinned out considerably, the stones seemed to 'grow' sharper edges, and the incline just about doubled. Now it was less so a hiking trail and more an 'I really want to work out my calves and thighs' trail.

  Though, to be fair, at least there actually was a trail--it was uneven and often interrupted by overgrowths, but the signs that other people used it were there. It made it a bit easier, especially navigation-wise, though I was quite surprised that it seemed this was the only one.

  "Oh, so you do it like that!" It was during the lunch break--they mostly just used 'lunch' as an excuse to take a break when they saw me beginning to wheeze a bit--that Xi Zhao managed to apply some principles from the Art of Surviving to his attacks.

  It was actually a combination of three things--Sword Qi, his unique trait of 'temporal law', and a freakin' vacuum! That's right, he used my application of 'let's clean these clothes a bit better' to add a tertiary aspect to an attack, which made it completely silent.

  Hm.

  Honestly, he's becoming a bit of a perfect assassin, isn't he? He already got that new trait or whatever that massively increased the swing speed and damage of the first strike in combat, and now this... if Long Tao teaches him that cloaking art, or I make a simplified version geared for him with the freebie points I have, won't he become a little terror?

  He kept swinging the sword around rather quickly, yet none of his strikes could be heard. Well, that's not entirely true--using Divine Sense precisely at the locations of his strikes, I could actually hear faint buzzing, but only so at precisely those points and nowhere else.

  Feeling inspired, he challenged Dai Xiu to yet another bout of sparring, and, well, she was a bit... more feral than usual. Perhaps it was the pent-up frustrations, perhaps it was the jealousy that she didn't really get anything from me (yet) for breaking through, but whatever the reason, she did not go easy on him.

  Though his first strike did actually seem to hurt, she pushed through it and unleashed an onslaught of fists and kicks--though, again, with a slight... adjustment. She used the principles of air currents slightly differently than Xi Zhao--instead of sealing sound, she would warp her legs in a faint sheen of wind to better displace the air resistance, increasing the speed of her kicks quite considerably.

  ... yeah.

  It's really depressing, watching it unfold firsthand. My 'utility' art, meant to only be used as a simple 'I miss my modern comforts' replacement, was being reshaped and reconfigured in ways that I, literally, could never envision. Well, not never, but certainly not in this sort of a way.

  To be fair, it's not really the art, just its approach to things, at least. It's some comfort.

  Just as Xi Zhao got bandaged up, and we packed our stuff, ready to resume the climb, we felt the ground shake temporarily before a sudden explosion rocked our eardrums, coming from the east.

  A massive cloud of dust and debris was kicked up, almost like a volcano exploding, and, as though aimed at us, I watched a body fly in a rather spectacular arc right toward us, slamming no further than ten feet from shocked Light--no, wait, that's not shock; that's just your standard fare curiosity and awe.

  My bad.

  I thought a seven-year-old girl might be scared of a freakin' body slamming right down in front of her.

  My bad, I guess?