Max poured the water he gathered into the tub that was already in the cave. He made a total of four more trips back and forth from the stream to the cave to completely fill up the tub. He took this chance to work on his cardio and cultivation at the same time. The way back took longer with him having to carry the bucket filled with water. During the first water run, he had tripped and ended up spilling almost half the water in the bucket.

Max was huffing and puffing after finally filling the water tub, but now he had the luxury of water to cool him down. Checking on his cultivation, he was happy to see that it had also increased by one to 80/150.

‘And so the training montage begins.’

After emptying the last bucket of water, Max went back down the cliff to collect some more berries. In the past, he was only able to collect a few handfuls at a time, but now he had a bucket to carry them.

‘I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner.’

While he was collecting berries, Max also looked for a few branches that were on the longer and thicker side. He planned on making a few spears as well. The claws were a great weapon, but they had a short-range. He was still uncomfortable getting so close to an enemy. With a bucket in one hand and branches in the other, the trip back up the cliff was much more tedious.

Taking advantage of the light, Max spent the next couple of hours working out. He ran through his routine and even up the difficulty at parts where he felt it was too easy. He incorporated a basic martial artist move that his grandfather had taught him as a child. It was called the “horse stance”. It was mainly used by beginner martial artists to train their lower body strength.

To get into the horse stance, Max first stood up straight, then spread his feet apart. They went past his shoulders by about a foot on each side. He bent his knees and squatted down, he made sure that his thighs were parallel to the ground and his toes pointed slightly outwards. Making fists with both hands, he placed them palm facing up towards the sky. Each time he inhaled, he would punch out with a fist, and each time he exhaled, he pulled his fist back to the resting position by his waist. He made sure to twist his fist mid-air, by the time his arms were fully extended, his palm would be facing the ground. He had heard that the twisting motion would create more momentum and thereby increase the power behind each of his punches.

Max timed his breathing as if he was meditating.

In

1,2,3

Hold

1,2,3

Out

1,2,3

And repeat.

The first few punches were sloppy without any real power behind them. As the meditative state overtook him, each punch became cleaner, his form tightened and the force of the punch was bolstered. The distractions faded away into the background as he focused only on his breathing and the motion of his arms. Time slowly ticked by, his trance was finally broken when he couldn’t ignore the soreness coming from his legs anymore.

Max tried standing up from his squatting position, but he couldn’t. Instead, he lost balance and fell backward. When his back hit the ground, his legs were still spread out as if he was still in the squat position. It felt like there were thousands of pins and needles on each of his legs. He couldn't decide which was worse, this or a cramp. Max clutched his jaw and could only wait for the unpleasantness to pass and regain control of his lower half.

Laying on the ground, Max looked over to Ma Erk. The little wolf was fast asleep again after another feast. Max chalked it up to Ma Erk having been nocturnal for most of his life and the food coma.

‘I should check on him to make sure he isn’t eating too much. Weren't there some breed of dogs that would keep eating, even if they were already full?’

Max wasn’t planning on waking Ma Erk this instant so he directed his attention back to the sky. Folding his arms behind his head, he made himself an arm pillow. Gazing up into the sky, Max watched as the clouds drifted about. If he discounted his immediate situation, he could imagine himself back on Earth. Just a normal day at the park, laying on a picnic blanket watching clouds.

The nice breeze was slowly cooling his overworked and fatigued body.

‘Maybe I should take a lesson from Ma Erk and take a nice nap.’

As Max started to close his eyes he noticed a dark cloud in the corner of his vision.

‘Hm, it might rain soon, probably a good idea to take a nap in the cave instead.’

Just as Max finished that thought he observed something different about that cloud. It looks to be thin, more vertical than horizontal like the other clouds, it was also flowing upwards. Opening his half-closed eyes Max sat up. Squinting a little he recognized it for what it was. It wasn't a cloud but actually, smoke. It was very far away and the landscape blocked his view of what was at the base of the smoke.

A million thoughts went through his mind.

‘Forest fire? No, the columns of smoke should be much thicker. It was too small to be a forest fire.’

‘Campfire? Maybe, but would there be multiple campfires in the same area? It could be a caravan. They are pretty common in fantasy novels, but do they even have caravans here?’

‘A town? If that is the case, then it would be a pretty backwaters town to still be burning wood for a fire. Was there smoke coming from there the last two days too? And I just haven’t noticed?’

After thinking about it for a bit, Max thought that that was possible. For most of the day he would be facing east or whatever direction the sun was rising, but this was more in a north, northwest direction.

Although he was already on high ground, he could still get even higher. The cave was about 12-15 feet tall and if he could get on top of it, he might be able to get a better view. But first, he needed to wait until he regained the ability to use his legs again.

Slowly the pins and needles faded and Max could stand up again. Stretching his legs and arms out before the climb, he was a bit nervous. He wasn’t afraid of heights per se, but there was no safety net if he fell, and would be a pretty long way down.

‘Bruh, would I be okay if I fall, I have a gamer body now. But then again, if I do fall and start bleeding faster than I could regen, I’ll still die.’

Taking a nervous breath in, Max walked up to the side of the cave that led to the top.

‘As long as I don’t fall, I’ll be okay. Maybe someday I won't even need to climb up a dangerous cliff to get a good view of something, I’ll just jump high, or better yet, just straight-up fly to get a better view.’

Max lowered his center of gravity and slowly took a few steps upwards. Just by looking at it, he could tell that it was steep. Likely around twice as steep compared to the path down to the clearing. Fortunately, there were a lot of small rocks that made for good hands and footholds.

‘Okay, if I fall, fall towards the ledge in front of the cave, that’s only 12-15 feet down, instead of the 50 plus feet to the clearing.’

Once Max reached the top of the cave, the first thing he noticed was the stream. From the ledge, he didn’t have the right angle to see the stream, but from here, he could see it. The stream was in a sideways “U” shape (⊃).

Turning his head in the direction of the smoke, he still couldn’t see where the smoke was coming from. It was still blocked by a tall hill in the distance. After reaching the top, Max had crouched down to his hands and knees.

‘Fuck, I am here, might as well.’

Slowly, inch by inch Max started to stand up. It was nerve-racking, his legs started to uncontrollably shake, and he felt like he was standing on a windy leaf. Before he knew it, his teeth started to chatter.

In his head Max was cursing himself, why was he doing this. He was reminded of the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat. An epiphany suddenly came to him. If he had just waited until tomorrow, he could check to see if the smoke was still coming from that direction. And if he observed it for a few days and always came from the same place, then more likely than not it was a town.

‘Why didn’t I think of that before I started climbing.’

By now, it was already too late, he had already committed. At his full height, he saw the very top of what looked like roofs. They seem to be made out of wood, but he wasn’t sure. There were a few, only the bigger ones seem to have smoke coming from them.

Max was elated to see human structures, but the next second a strong gust of wind came from behind him. His shaky legs didn't help the situation and he started to lose balance. Desperately waving his arms, he looked like a cartoon character trying not to fall. He bent forward to adjust his weight and saw the 50+ feet drop in front of him. Steeling his mind, he leaped. But instead of a leap forward, he consolidated all the energy he could and leaped to his right.

In that split second between balanced and unbalanced, Max decided he would rather purposely fall onto the ledge in front of the cave than gamble if he would regain his footing.

For a second, Max felt free, no longer weighed down by his woes. But after that first second had passed, he had a horrible realization. What if he jumped too far and completely missed the ledge and went straight down the cliff? Thankfully he felt a hard impact on his side in the third second.

-1HP

‘OH. MY. GOD. I am so happy I didn’t put those points in strength yet.’

Max was so close to the edge of the cliff his head was already sticking over it. Quickly getting back to the middle of the ledge, he thanked his lucky stars. His palms and the bottom of his feet were both damp with cold sweat.