They took his words in the first half to heart, as it seemed important and potentially true to them but decided to conveniently ignore the latter half as him talking nonsense to himself.
After hearing the story behind the existence of this out of place frozen land in the middle of spring like green, grassy plains and hills, brought up many questions in their mind regarding what this place exactly was? What mess had they gotten caught up in? And what exactly is the truth behind it all?
The game-like stat window that randomly pops-up, the strange and terrifying creatures, the messed up history, the multiple worlds, realms both heard and unheard of, the existence of blind spots and beings from outer worlds pulling all the strings...none of it made any sense to them.
All they really wanted to start with was a way back to their worlds, even if life there wasn't all perfect at least it felt more real than all this, more like home. Their life, their pasts, the people they care about and those that cared about them were all there after all.
This thought renewed their motivation and determination to move forward.
'So are you all going to continue staring at me or are you going to start looking for a way out of here?' reminded the young dragon, tilting his head and bringing them all back from the many thoughts that had come to plague their minds, deciding to focus on the situation at hand.
'Y-yeah', jolted Seo-Jun, 'So what now? We're supposed to climb those mountains?' he asked Snow since he was the only one who seemed to know the most about this place, considering he was raised by the apparent ruler of this place, was found and possibly even raised here.
'Do you have a death wish?' asked Snow innocently.
'Umm', Seo-Jun started.
'If you do, you could just use your sword here or I could help with that if you want, because surely it'll be easier that way...', continued Snow, interrupting his attempt at defending himself,
'I mean were you not paying attention when I told you about how dangerous it is here?' he asked, seeming to become more annoyed the more he thought and spoke about it.
'Then, how?', asked Seo-Jun.
'Which lunatic even told you to climb it?', asked Snow.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
'The map...or orb, whatever it's called, that was left behind by...by Yuki Niflhel', replied Jason holding up the orb wrapped in a handkerchief taken from his inventory.
'Oh, mother...then that's not possible. If she chose you as the successors she wouldn't send you to your deaths like this. Though it is made by Aunt Aylin and she might do something like that as a prank but still...Did it really say to climb them?' asked Snow, doubtful.
'No...the last we checked it said to go to the Snowy Mountains...', explained Jason.
'Check again, then', said Snow.
Jason did as he said and removed the cloth covering it, holding it directly in his palm.
To the groups surprise, the words had now changed. It displayed new directions, 'Walk forwards for 300 meters.'
'Told you', said Snow, hopping back on Alice's shoulder and signaling with his chin for them to start.
'Let's go then, before it tells us to die again', said Daiki sarcastically, taking the first step forward.
'Still holding a grudge, huh?' asked Zhiren.
Daiki just scrunched his eyebrows and silently walked forward.
The group held back a laugh. It was unfair for him that his inheritance would need him to die first, but while it did make them feel bad for him, his reactions made it funny right now.
It was kinda cute, like when a baby gets a grip of its hair and cries while pulling them himself.
Its mean to find it cute or funny but you can't really help yourself. Though you feel bad for it, not as much as it is cute.
(Alice: You watched a reel and wrote about it to tell the readers about what you watched, didn't you?
Author: Sorry
Some reader: =_= )
They all started walking with Jason in the lead as the distance reduced from 300m to 299, 288, 277, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10...2,1.
They walked the forward till the instructions changed.
'Turn right and walk forward 10 steps'
They followed what it said as the instructions changed yet again.
'Turn left and walk forward 15 steps, then turn right and walk forwards 10 steps, now turn left and walk for 100 meters.'
They kept simply walking forward silently, counting their steps and not interacting the whole way to avoid getting distracted, especially Jason who was leading.
Even though he had the orb in hand and would immediately know whether he's doing it right or not, he still didn't want to make any mistakes just in case.
He reached the end of the 100 m, when the instructions finally changed beyond simple walking around like a treasure map.
'Dig the spot directly in front of your feet'.
He took out a shovel from his inventory and followed what it said.
The others looked on curiously.
(Readers: Isn't it too convenient that they just happen to have just what they need in their inventories?
Author: Well...they got a lot of stuff at the base, and then there's the shop. If you want, I can make their lives harder though so they have to work for everything.
Some Readers: Yes!
Players: NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! IT'S HARD ENOUGH! IF YOU DO IT WE'RE TAKING OVER AND FIRING YOU!
Author: Okay, okay. I won't do it.
Those readers: We'll drop the story then.
Author: Please don't. (￣┰￣*)
The Readers: We'll consider it.
Author: Thank you for your continued support.
Players: Can you write what happens next now, of you're done?'
Author: Oh, yeah sure. Sorry for going off track. Heh.)
The others decided to help when it'd been over a minute since Jason started digging. They kept going for over half an hour!
Around the 15 minute mark, they barely dug through the thick snow and reached the ground, where strangely enough they found a something poking out of the ground.
They continued digging the ground as the object gradually revealed itself.
'Oh, it's the underground portal', remarked Snow, who had left Alice who was busy digging and rested at the top, upon laying his eyes and getting a clear view of the now uncovered object.
To be continued...
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Zhiren: Drop the thing about being told to die already.
Daiki: Hmph.
Author: If I recall your introduction correctly, didn't you want exactly that?'
The other four: What?
Daiki: Nothing! It's nothing! *whispering* You better shut up if you know what's good for you.
Author: *Smiling* Nothing, I was just talking non-sense.
Readers: Well...that took a dark turn.
Author: Oh, you have no idea. Wait till you read the chapters in the distant future.
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