Then, night fell.

The first thought Beast had in mind was that the mountains were god-damned cold. Because of the high elevation, as soon as the sun disappeared over the horizon and the moon peaked in the skies, the coldness of the night draft chilled him to the bones. Being in a valley of all places, they found themselves battered by valley winds over and over again, draining them of whatever heat that they had until the game saw fit to alert them via notification windows that they were dangerously close to freezing to death.

They will need to find a cave or something for shelter soon.

It might be a little too late though.

You are very cold.

Movement -75%

Regeneration -75%

Warning: Further exposure to cold will cause life-threatening situations

“B-beast? I-I am fr-freezing and t-tired.” Aveye stuttered, her teeth chattering involuntarily.

Beast drew his Lunar Fleece close and sniffed. “Me too.”

“C-can I have your cloak?”

“No.” Without his fleece, all he would have left are the paper-thin commoner rags that every character starts out with. He would freeze in no time.

“T-then, could we stop and make a f-fire?”

Beast looked at the shriveling state the archer was in and briefly wondered if he looked as pathetic. They had been bashing through the undergrowth of brambles and vines with no known paths in sight, it would be anyone’s guess where they were heading towards. The only rough gauge they had was the direction of the sun before it set, which Beast had used to chart a course south towards Corelia, hoping to return back to a trail, but all it brought them was an endless hike in the middle of nowhere.

Now that the night had fallen, everything looked the same – black, which threw off whatever little sense of direction he had left. With the reduction in visibility, he had almost slipped on a rock earlier. The lookout for a cave of some sort to spend the night turned up fruitless. Add the biting cold and the movement penalty, and Aveye was right; it was high time they tried to break for camp.

“Okay. Help me gather some wood and twigs. I will make camp.”

As soon as the materials were gathered, and a clearing made to the best of his ability, Beast took out his flint. It was neither as glamourous nor gimmicky as what the Chelsea mage had done but it should suffice.

There was, however, one problem.

“Damn it!” Beast cursed as the flame died for the fifth time.

The wind was too strong. Unwilling to give up, Beast tried several more times to no avail. Every single time the fire caught, a gust of valley wind would mercilessly blow it out in a puff of smoke and shattered hope. Even their paltry attempts at shielding were insufficient to allow the flame to become big enough for it to survive on its own.

“F*ck!” Beast threw the flint into the ground in frustration. This was not going to work.

“Oi, Aveye! Can you still move?”

A thud answered him, realizing his worst fears.

“Oh shit!” Rushing to the archer’s side, Beast quickly held her up, only to shrink back slightly at the biting touch of the female’s cold skin. Her lips were already turning blue from the lack of blood flow. Hypothermia – It did not take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Aveye was in a worse condition than he had thought.

“Aveye! Aveye! Stay with me.” Beast slapped her face a few times but it did nothing other than elicit an incoherent blabber.

“F*ck, you will die!”

And he himself would soon too, a nagging voice in his head reminded him. To think he would encounter two death crisis within such a short period of time. Perhaps there was a justified reason why the source spring quest had been uncompleted even after it had been released for some time.

Beast sighed, suddenly wishing that he had known better than to be hasty in regaining lost ground. The so-called Foreigner’s hubris, where players who have the capabilities to continue playing through the three consecutive in-game days, often find themselves ill-prepared to face the dangers of night-time. Always trying to squeeze in a little more time, always trying to make the best and most efficient path, but to what end?

But Beast refused to lie down and die. He had survived the long fall from the cliff; he will similarly get through this. Summoning whatever was left of his strength, he hoisted up the archer in his arms and began trudging forward.

“Don’t think about the cold. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.” With every step he took, Beast repeated his mantra to himself.

“Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.”

You have contracted Hypothermia

Movement -95%

Regeneration -95%

Ages Online might be a virtual simulation of reality, but the root of it was still a game. Despite the fact that people may accomplish miraculous feats in real life with pure determination alone, a game would still have to uphold its own game mechanics.

At his one hundredth and third step, Beast fell face forward into the ground with a soft thump, landing right atop Aveye.

“Mhmm, Toby…”

Normally, it would have been cause for an awkward moment but they were both beyond caring.

Then, Beast felt something wet on the back of his head.

It was… snow?

Really?

Who in the world programmed the Splinter Mountains to have this sort of screwed up microclimate? It was not just this. The valley they were in had been all sorts of strange; nothing like the valleys he had seen on the Internet where there were beautiful plains and lush forests. It was so strewn with chipped rocks and split boulders that it seemed indicative of something big, catastrophic even, that might have occurred within the mountains a long time ago to cause its current state.

It probably had something to do with the distinct lack of wildlife in the area too. They encountered the occasional level 72 mountain elk which behaved exactly like how the antrollopes in Torintu had but otherwise, the valley was painfully bare. Having yet to encounter a single monster since night fell, at least, they will not die via being eaten.

How he wished he had a heat pack in this kind of situation.

Right on cue, something warm pressed against his back, providing Beast with much needed heat and cover against the chilling wind and drifting snow. It almost felt like he was being embraced by a whole layer of heat packs, making him so cozy that he could sleep to it.

Or perhaps it was all his dying delusion. He was taking quite a while to think after all. What was he even thinking about? He just wanted to sleep. No, he should not. His eyelids were heavy. He had to stay awake. He could not keep them open any longer.

Against his will, Beast slept.

And the next moment it was morning.

“Huh?”

Birds chirped in the background. A feeling of dampness was quickly forming on his back, making him uncomfortable. Beast stood up unsteadily, dumping a layer of melting ice off his Lunar Fleece, and he gasped.

Snow. Trees, rocks, slopes, everything was topped by a thin sheet of snow. The whole area was painted a breathtaking white.

As he surveyed the improbable landscape around him, accented by the warm rays of the sun that he had never thought he would miss, Beast subconsciously made the connection that once again, he was alive and well.

Somehow.

His health had taken a beating, but there was nothing which could not be remedied by a potion or two, and his hypothermia had disappeared. Aveye, though unconscious, had yet to die. The development was nothing short of a miracle.

That was when Beast noticed another interesting phenomenon. Within a span of minutes, the snow that covered the land before was all but gone. In its place was a layer of clear, sparkling water that rose up to his ankles which then slowly, but surely, subsided to nothingness.

Beast hoisted Aveye up to dryer grounds and curiously observed. Even with the sunlight, there was no way so much the water could have evaporated so quickly. Therefore, it logically should have flowed somewhere.

But to where?

Only one place resonated strongly in his mind – the Inpelmarr Stream.

“This is…” Beast could feel goosebumps rising on his skin. It was implausible and yet…

“… the source spring?”

It was no wonder nobody had ever found the source spring; everyone else had been looking out for a physical body of water this whole time. Yet, the unique microclimate in the valleys of the Splinter Mountains had formed a transient phenomenon that fueled the Inpelmarr River with no one the wiser. Anyone can recognize a body of water and head upstream only to find nothing at the end, because the origin of this water came not from the ground, but from the cold night sky.

This was it, the mystery of the source spring. Beast felt excited. What seemed like a setback and a near-death experience had proven itself to be beneficial in ways he could not imagine. With this, they can start making their way down back to Corelia.

However, the update to the quest never came.

“This is weird.”

An update usually happens after figuring out the crux of the quest as a signal of objective fulfillment. Therefore it either meant that his hypothesis was wrong or incomplete.

“Display quest: Source Spring”

Pon!

The Source Spring of Splinter Mountains

The innkeeper of Corelia has divulged a town legend to you regarding the source spring at the top of Splinter Mountains that is rumoured to give the Inpelmarr Stream its unique properties. He is curious about its existence and wishes to find out within his lifetime. Bring back proof of the spring’s existence or non-existence to the man to complete this quest.

Difficulty: C-

Beast carefully read the quest again.

“…town legend… Inpelmarr… unique properties… hold it.”

There was a catch. If the snow was plain snow, then there should not be anything special regarding the water. Yet, when he had collected water from the stream previously, it mentioned healing properties that was not accounted for. That was the missing part of the puzzle, and it most probably had something to do with the grove of trees mentioned in Melvin’s journal.

“Urgh.” Aveye groaned.

Just in time.

“Finally decided to wake up?” Beast asked without looking, his gaze fixated on where the water had gone.

“How did we survive… never mind. I am feeling some form of Déjà vu.”

“We have to go.” Beast tossed the archer some healing potions as an afterthought. There is much to do, the first of which would be to find a base of operation to conduct the search as well as to spend the night. “You can dream of your colleague after we find a safe place.”

“At least give a lady some time- Hey, wait up!”

…………..

The current plan of action was to trace the flow of water. Given his hypothesis that the water will join with the Inpelmarr Stream, it will at the very least lead them back to Corelia. Following water was easy. As long as the ground they tread was damp, Beast was convinced they were on the right path. If they were lucky enough, they might also find the grove along the way. Eventually, it led them to a section of the valley where they were surrounded on both sides by steep imposing slopes.

They had been navigating the scree for an hour when a loud rumble suddenly reverberated through the valley. A handful of sand puffed over them, eliciting hacking coughs from the both of them.

“What was that?”

On the talus of the mountains to their left, Beast could see several small dots rolling towards them. At first, he stood there dumbly, unable to make sense of what was happening.

Then it hit him. Freeze. Thaw.

“RUN!” Grabbing Aveye’s hand, Beast broke into a sprint. “It’s a landslide!”

“A what?!”

Thunderous rumbling answered her. Only a few seconds had passed, but the ‘dots’ were already close enough to be seen more clearly. Boulders the size of cars tumbled down the talus, each one of them with enough momentum to maim and kill in a single hit.

It was almost like a scene straight out of an action movie.

“We won’t make it!” Aveye screamed.

It was as she said, they were far too slow. While they managed to outrun the bulk of the rockslide, they found themselves right inside a rain of death soon enough. The ground shook from every impact of the boulders, the force breaking some of them up into smaller pieces of stone that expelled in all directions.

“Just run!”

His eyes could be playing tricks on him, but Beast swore he saw some of the boulders breaking apart in midair. Then, he noticed the incoming threat.

“Watch out!”

Beast pushed Aveye out of the way in the nick of time just as a large rock in particular slammed into him.

-958HP

Your Chi skill has increased to Intermediate 1!

+5 Wisdom

Mana regeneration increase +2%

Your Iron Body skill has increased to Intermediate 5!

It nearly concussed him there and then had he not activated Chi: Fortify in the last moment, draining all of his mana. Compared to the fateful encounter with Alpy the Alpaca, it hurt much much more.

“You okay?” Aveye pulled Beast upright, re-orientating the dazed Lore Keeper.

“Y…yeah. Let’s go.”

Not more than twenty steps away, another near death encounter awaited. This time it was Aveye who spotted it.

“Heads up!”

A boulder’s trajectory seemed as though it would ram right into them within the next few seconds. Beast and Aveye braked to a halt and took cover, just in time as it landed where they would have been at had they continued running. However, they could not stop to celebrate. Pathing their way around, the historian and archer duo came face to face with yet another obstacle.

Their route out had been blocked by a wall of piled up stone.

Around them, the rocks continue to fall. They will soon be buried alive.

“Goddamnit!” Beast yelled, brandishing Blatta at the blockade in a fit of desperation.

It had been something done without calculated thought, so when the option to unleash Desperado Backlash came up, Beast opted for it without thinking. In a wild flurry, he slashed again and again upon the rock wall with his mandible dagger. Like a hot knife through butter, Blatta sliced the stone wall apart and where the dagger touched, deep scars surfaced over the stone, turning what had been boulders into several smaller chunks.

“Now what?” Aveye anxiously asked. What Beast had done did nothing to physically tear down the wall.

“I need a force to blow it open. Mana… I need mana fast…” The Lore Keeper muttered, beads of sweat rolling down his face. He had used up all his mana seconds earlier and his regeneration is not quick enough to replenish it before they get buried, not even after drinking a mana potion. Ten seconds is far too long.

If only he had a quick way of instantly filling… wait.

“The stone!”

Fishing it out of his inventory, Beast shattered the Michelin stone he found and absorbed the every bit of mana he had into his fist before smashing it straight into the epicenter of diced rock.

A thunderous boom sounded over the rockslide as the weakened wall broke loose in every direction, causing it to crumble upon itself. As the jaws of Beast and Aveye dropped down in disbelief, the path ahead clears in a cloud of dust, offering a way out of the predicament that they took without hesitation.

“Now!”

Tumbling out of the danger zone, Beast and Aveye sprawled over the valley floor in exhaustion. Behind them, the chaotic remnants of a rockslide laid, adding further credence to the lethality of the Splinter Mountains.

Physically and mentally drained, it started with a small chuckle by Aveye. Then, they simultaneously burst out laughing, glad to be alive.

“Why is it that dangerous stuff always seems to find you?” The archer exhaled. “My heart has been going doki doki non-stop ever since we set foot on this mountain.”

“No idea.” Beast shrugged. “Well we can’t head back. At least we have a place to sleep now.”

Back where they had cut their way out, rocks and boulders had piled up such that there was a small indented alcove of which they can seek shelter in at night. With his intermediate carving skill that allowed him to carve stone, Beast chipped off and enlarged the entrance and alcove significantly, earning a skill level in the process. Now enclosed from the wind, they can finally raise a fire. While there definitely is the risk of recurring rockslides, as long as they were nowhere near in the day it would not be too much of a problem.

Thus, a routine was established. During the day, they would head out to explore the area and return to the alcove before nightfall, usually to find it reinforced by more material. Then at night, they would either talk over the fire or log out.

The first rockslide they encountered was still the worst, and Beast could not decide if they had been unlucky or otherwise.

Food-wise, he still had his stores prepared before the trip, supplemented by hunting the occasional mountain elk they encountered, but even then it was rapidly dwindling. Despite the fact that they were two people, Beast had a growing suspicion that they were eating for three. He merely did not want to confront Aveye about it, given how females are usually quite sensitive about matters related to weight.

The last thing he wanted was conflict at this juncture.

In the end it was not a big problem, because they found the main stream on the fourth day of searching, confirming Beast’s hypothesis. Then, on the sixth day by following the waterways, Beast chanced upon a small grass plain home to a herd of level 75 Bisons that were cousins of the Rockbulls at the foot of the mountain.

Despite the overwhelming numbers and their fearsome gore attack, the bison were painfully slow, allowing Aveye to kite the beasts around in circles until they died. Both of them leveled a few times while dancing around the herd, gathering meat one after another.

They had barbecued steak that night, and it was delicious.

The fire cackled merrily and as they crowd around the campfire in preparation for the sudden dip in temperature, Beast suddenly thought of something.

“Hey, Aveye. Let’s head out early tomorrow. I want to show you something.” Beast said in between a flurry of hand movements with his improvised sewing kit comprising of a sharp twig and his knife.

“Why? I want to log out for a bit.” Aveye yawned. The archer had yet to witness the morning snow. It always melts too quickly and having a fire around meant that there would not be any near their campsite. Special efforts would have to be made for it.

“Just log in earlier. It will be good, I promise.”

Aveye eyed Beast suspiciously. “Fine.”

Your Ancient Tailoring has increased to Basic 5!

“Here, take this too.” In his hands, Beast held a cloak made from thick bison leather. It was made without proper equipment, but thankfully his Ancient Tailoring had allowed him to circumvent that. “It should help with the cold.”

Aveye wrinkled her nose at the smell as she took the accessory. “What about you?

“I can’t wear it.” Beast shrugged. “Anyway I am going to make another one if you needed it. We have enough materials to spare.”

“Right.”

With a nod of her head, Aveye slumped onto the ground unconscious, her player having exited the world of Ages Online while Beast continued with his work by the flames.

………………

When the radio personality laid her eyes upon the white landscape for the first time, she unconsciously let loose a squeal of excitement.

“Oh my god.”

Beast beamed. “Told you.”

“It is beautiful. Thank you.”

What Beast did not expect was her suddenly planting a kiss upon his cheek, leaving him stunned. By the time he recovered, Aveye was already in her own world, her journalist persona going into a tizzy.

“My video cam is working right? I need to document this. I am going to upload this. My fans will be so amazed.”

As Beast slowly touched the spot Aveye kissed him in, a feeling of a strong killing instinct suddenly washed over him. He turned around on reflex, but there was no one there.

Strange.

Beast dismissed it as his imagination but he could never shake the feeling off entirely, even until the eleventh day.

On the eleventh day, they found the grove of trees.

Author's Note:

I am back? :))