Chapter 7: Mountain Time

  This was the second time in a row that Sam slept through the entirety of the night. He would have to make sure to take things a little bit easier because he was uncomfortable with the risk posed by being unconscious for long periods of time. Sure the trees had been safe so far but who’s to say that things would stay the same. To get a good start to his day, he took some swigs of cold water from his gourd and spent some mana while pushing what he assumed was spiritual power as well into his thermos. The chocolate rice pudding was amazing and he was looking forward to what food it would make next time. He only pushed a little with his spiritual power because even though his mana regenerated quite quickly now, he didn’t know if it worked the same– especially since he didn’t have anything right now that actually quantified it and let him see how long it took to gain the stuff back. As he opened the thermos, he was greeted with an incredibly welcome set of sights and smells; it was garlic fried rice and some perfectly fried eggs. Even though he wasn’t as worn out as the last time he used the item, he still ended up shoveling the mouthwatering breakfast into his mouth at a pace that made it seem like he hadn’t eaten in weeks and people were out to steal his food. That same slightly ticklish tingling sensation spread throughout his body again as he ate. Every bite of food from his thermos so far tasted good in a way that felt almost like it was feeding more than just his body. It could be part of the item’s actual effects or it could also be that he had basically been wandering the forest for over a month without any real connection to home and its conveniences, either way he wasn’t going to complain about how good the food was.

  Once he’d finished doing his bout of morning prayer and some meditation Sam gathered his things and descended from the spiritual Narra tree. He took some time to practice with [Inexorable Stride]. Because of all the different bonuses he got to his regeneration of resource pools as well as the reduction in costs associated with the skill Sam was able to find a steady pace of activation that made it so that the mana used regenerated at the same rate it was consumed. Doing so, each step Sam took seemed to bring him a great enough distance that it was likely he was slightly faster than going at a full sprint. It was amusing to him that his walking speed now outpaced his running speed, considering he didn’t have a skill to augment how fast he ran and his movement skill only worked when he walked. That was fine with Sam though, since he wasn’t particularly in love with running. In fact he looked forward to the idea that he might never need to run again and instead could just casually walk places at a blistering speed. He still wondered if he technically disappeared whenever he took a step with the skill active since it was kind of like teleportation. He’ll have to make sure to walk in front of a mirror at some point to figure that one out.

  With everything ready as it could be, Sam began his casual stroll up the mountain before him. It was pretty big so maybe he’d even find a cave to hang out in or maybe dungeons were a thing and he’d be able to do one of those. Luckily the mountain wasn’t bare and had some trees and shrubbery still so he wouldn’t have to worry about turning back around before nightfall. Since spiritual Narra trees were a thing, maybe spiritual plum blossoms would be a thing too. It felt nice to be able to walk around and just take in the views. The mountain climbed high into the sky, and even though previously when he was trying to get here he never saw any clouds, now the mountain’s actual peak was hidden behind a cloud layer. For a while that’s all he did, just one foot in front of the other while basking in the feeling of satisfaction of making it where he wanted to go.

  Thus far, there weren’t too many changes save for the fact that he was walking at an incline instead of flat land. There were some differences though, for one Sam thought there was much more diversity in the plant life on the mountain. Along the way he even saw some flowering plants and bushes with berries. As much as he wanted to pick the berries though, he wasn’t willing to risk it like he had with the lake water in the beginning. A stomach bug from water was one thing but who knew if magical nightshade was a thing now. Instead he kept a few handfuls of berries in his bag with the hope that he’d find a way to ascertain their safety before they went bad. The berries themselves were the size of jawbreakers and although the color of the skin itself was a relatively plain blue, the fruit still had this opalescent quality to them. It was like the air shimmered around the things. It was all quite beautiful. All told, Sam was having a grand old time with his walk.

  At some point he went around something of a cliff face when his breath was taken away. As he rounded the natural barrier he was taken by a wonderful sight. There before him lay a grove of what he assumed were cherry trees in full blossom. The air was full of petals fluttering in the wind and within the massive grove was a serene lake. There were rays of orange light shimmering through the clouds as the day turned to dusk. Still no sun in sight, but the mix of colors before him was enough to make him a little emotional. He’d always wanted to be able to go to Japan during the cherry blossom festival with his dad, but never got the chance before his dad died. Holding the rosary in his pocket that came from his father, this moment almost felt like the culmination of that dream, in some way at least. At the same time he was overcome with grief at the idea that he would never be able to share such moments with his father. He would never be able to partake of the joy that magic was real with him. With those thoughts, it was like the wounds of his grief reopened. Still it was at this moment, that Sam decided for certain that he would see as much of the multiverse had to offer as he could so that he might share the stories and sights when he met his father at the end of his journey.

  Within the peaceful lake, from his vantage point, Sam could see a small island that was mostly empty save for some grass and two trees. One he immediately recognized as a spiritual Narra tree, though seemingly much grander and possibly more ancient based on the size, and the other what looked like another of those trees with pink flowers. In his mind he had called them cherry trees but he wasn’t completely sure. They did look a lot like them though so that’s what he would call them for now. He was definitely going to try and record those trees in his archive and so he’d find out their actual name later on.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Seeing the Narra tree, Sam decided that he would make his way to the grove and spend the night in that tree on the island. The island itself didn’t look too far from the shore, he was just hoping there wasn’t anything lurking in the waters of the lake that had any interest in taking a bite out of him. The lake that he had been walking along when he was on his way to these mountains didn’t look like they had anything particularly dangerous in them so hopefully this one proved to be similar in that regard. If he was lucky, there was a chance that the lake was incredibly shallow and he might not need to swim at all.

  Making his way up, Sam decided he would enjoy having a walking stick. He just needed to run into the right stick. It simply wasn’t the same if you didn’t find the perfect branch. Branches were, after all, not all made the same. Speaking of branches, he was coming upon somewhat of a branch in his mountain walking journey. Before him lay two options for continuing forward, one was a field of boulders that seemed cumbersome and the other was a paved brick road. Both would bring him closer to the grove that he wanted to get to and still both made him wary. The brick road was the first sign of any kind of civilization that he had seen in the tutorial. This kind of freaked him out and it just be paranoia talking but it couldn't possibly lead to something safe. He decided to traverse the boulder field. His skill made it quite easy for him, it really was no different from the walking that had been doing so far. The main reason why he was wary of the boulder field was that there could be all kinds of critters waiting within the crevices. He knew snakes and things loved hiding in those kinds of places. Even though he took the boulder path, he took note of the location of the brick road in his mind in case he wanted to come back and check it out. There was a chance, all things considered, that the road was related to completing all the tutorial quests. Eventually he came to the end of the rocky area. Before moving on forward though, he made sure to pick up a nice rock from the place. He would keep it as a memento of his first time using the terrain traversal aspect of his skill– which by the way worked wonderfully. Honestly with how well the skill was working with him, he might never ride a car ever again. Walking truly was the superior form of locomotion.

  He wasn’t far now from the trees and their beautiful flowers. Along the way he had kept an eye out for potential walking sticks but nothing really stood out to him. As he walked into the more densely populated area of trees, he noticed a feature of the lake that he wasn’t able to see from where he initially spotted the place. The island in the lake wasn’t truly an island; there was a small land bridge that connected to the area with the two magnificent trees so it would seem his worries about having to brave the waters were unfounded.

  Entering the grove, he scooped up a few of the fallen petals and put them in his pocket. He knew they would probably dry out and not keep their beautiful soft pink hue but he would still like to keep them as mementos for the moment. Thinking about how sentimental he could be, he realized how fitting the Archivist of Creation trait was for him. It was definitely one way for him to keep mementos that couldn’t wither away, but still even if he had the trait he wanted some small things for himself that he could actually touch in the real world. Sam made his way to the island using the land bridge. He still hadn’t achieved his goal of finding a nice cave to think in but this place with the two trees was certainly a welcome addition to his journey. Wanting to spend more time here before moving on, he resolved to spend the rest of today and tomorrow just looking around the grove. For now though, he decided to maybe try hanging out in the massive tree with pretty flowers. Even though they looked like the cherry trees from Japan that he wanted to visit with his dad, these trees were far larger with much heftier branches. This difference was fine by him since it only meant it would be easier for him to climb up and relax on those very branches.

  Finding a nice cozy spot for himself to sit on, he mind went back to his attempts at cultivation. Without much else to do he began his daily practice of meditation; feeling out the energies around him, visualizing their path into him as he breathed, and attempting to hold or cycle those energies within him. He tried to keep a small portion of it for himself before he exhaled. He wasn’t really sure how cultivation worked in the multiverse but the space for it on his status told him it was real so he wanted to try and see what developing a core would look like for him. Every time he did this though he still felt like he was just playing pretend but since he could properly sense the esoteric forces around him, he figured that he must be doing something right. He was able to gain those titles after all. As he entered a deeper state of calm focus, he noticed that the energies of this place felt different from when he would meditate in the forest of spiritual Narra trees. There was a different quality to them that he couldn’t yet quite put his finger on. They felt more fleeting in a way, but no less potent; there was something soft and beautiful about them in a way that despite their fleeting nature they held more within them. The nature of the energy led him to some insights in his meditation. His breath too was fleeting, as was the very presence of the energy within him and yet it felt like that motion, that cycle was the very reason they contained power, much in the same way that breathing in held no meaning for his body if he didn’t also breathe out what was necessary. There was something there for him to grasp; he knew it, still it remained out of reach for now. He wasn’t dissuaded by this as he was comforted by the thought that he had a direction to reach toward.