Chapter 168 – Eternal Range (X)

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.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

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?