"Who's huff stupid huff idea huff was this?" Entirely out of breath, I couldn't help but voice my question to my surroundings.

This was also ignoring the fact that I was alone and this was, in fact, my idea.

I didn't know why I thought I would be able to sneak anywhere. Every beast I came across knew exactly where I was and they didn't take my intrusion into their territory lightly.

I moved as quietly as I could, making sure not to step on any branches or sticks that would make noise. I even made sure to travel so the wind wouldn't carry my scent ahead of me.

Having no experience in trying to sneak was a factor I didn't consider when I initially made this plan. I thought that the experience of hunting with Austin would be enough to sneak by without having to fight everything I came across.

Either the beasts up here were better at detecting me or I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I had a feeling it was a bit of both, but more toward the latter. When we went hunting we were actively looking for a fight so it didn't stand out to us when our stealth failed.

Now that stealth was the goal, every time it failed, it was a fight I didn't want. Having zero stealth skills in my repertoire was another factor that I considered to be the reason.

I didn't think I was that bad at sneaking, but the beasts reacted to me well before they should have. It was like they sensed my presence from a distance and knew I was there.

It was unfair.

Bears roared and charged at me when I intruded on their territory. Wolves and big cats threw themselves at me when I passed. Even gophers popped out of burrows to attack me.

It was like I was carrying a neon sign that said attack me. Even a few fish nipped at me when I crossed a river.

Everything took their chance to hinder my trip as I passed by their territory. If I wasn't in a time crunch, I would show them why that was a bad idea, but I had to move on before more showed up.

I regretted not bringing my blacksmithing tools. My armor could use a servicing and so could my axe. None of the beasts so far were above level 25 but they would get there soon.

The further I went away from camp the higher the level the beasts were. They started at level 15 and quickly rose to over level 20 as I continued further toward the mountains. I noticed there weren't any lower level animals anymore.

That was another thing I had failed to anticipate. The mountains were a lot farther away than they appeared to the eye. When looked at from the camp, they looked like normal mountains, but as I got closer, I found out how big they really were.

Their peaks breached the clouds and continued further than my eye could see. Having misjudged the distance I would need to travel, I had to pick up the pace. I left on the morning after wave 15, Day 44, and had to be back before noon on day 46 for the 16th wave.

That left the entirety of day 44, the day I left, and day 45 to accomplish what I needed, before booking it back on the third day before noon. If it took longer than anticipated I would have to forgo sleep.

Sleep deprivation worked differently with stats than before. It depended on how active you were if you needed to sleep. With an endurance stat over 80, a few sleepless nights wouldn't kill me, but if I spent the entire time fighting for my life I would be dead on my feet.

I was usually so active during the day that a few hours of sleep were necessary to keep going. I kept my sleeping hours tied to the sun to make the most of my time as I could.

Hunting in the dark was asking for an injury and I couldn't forge because of all the noise, so I usually went to sleep a few hours after sundown. I spent those hours on mana manipulation and perception training.

I woke at sunrise, a scant few hours later, and went about my day. It usually left me with a good 5-6 hours of sleep that were enough to keep me going. The exhaustion was building up, though, and the short stints of sleep weren't enough to keep me fresh, it only put off the inevitable. Sooner or later I would have to rest, but I put it off. After this tutorial was over I could sleep for however long I wanted, I just had to get there first.

It took most of Day 44 just to get to the mountains. Eventually, I just sprinted past everything disregarding stealth completely. Some of the beasts were faster than me, but not all of them, and they were just as keen to fight each other as they were me.

I couldn't keep up my snail's pace if I wanted to reach the mountains in a timely manner.

Never one for cardio, it was my stats that were the only thing keeping me going. Before, I used to say the only way to get me to run was if something was chasing me. Now that I was running toward the mountain, that was technically true. Things were chasing me.

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After reaching the mountain, I had to drop my pace because of the incline and climbing I had to do. That also involved fighting everything that caught up, which took more time.

What kind of idiot thought I wouldn't be fighting anything?

It was with blood covering me that I started my hike up the mountain. The first thing I did was wash myself in a small stream coming down the mountain.

Having blood covering me was just asking for a fight I didn't want so I aimed to fix that.

I submerged myself into the stream to wash more than just my armor and boy was it cold. I didn't think anything of it at the time and jumped right into the water thinking it wouldn't be that bad.

Fortitude had improved my ability to withstand the cold and I figured I'd be fine.

As soon as I hit the water I felt the chilling cold invade my body. It sapped all of my heat and soaked my clothes in what felt like sub-zero water.

I shot out of the water as fast as I could and couldn't help shivering. Even with my affinity and stats, the cold was making me shiver. Good, this is what I wanted.

It was good that I was cold, this was the feeling I wanted to meditate on. Some way to make my ice colder.

I could feel the mana change as I climbed higher. My mana senses weren't the best but even I could feel the stark change. Plant and nature mana fell away to ice and water. Wind mana was prominent as well.

It was refreshing to breathe in.

Closing my eyes and inhaling deeply I could feel the tension in my body melt away. The adrenaline from the fights leading here flushed from my system and I felt lighter on my feet.

The change in mana was also reflected in the beasts I found.

Fur thickened and changed color, with more white hues that blended in with the snow than the browns of the forest. Elk and deer had white fur that blended into the surroundings and had antlers that looked like ice crystals.

Snow foxes prowled the lands for prey and snowbirds circled the skies.

Worst of all, they passed the level 25 threshold.

[Identify] was my best friend and I kept it constantly active. Now that I reached my destination I needed to find a quiet spot without anything to bother me.

As I continued up the mountain my breath started to plume out into fog that was visible in the air and I knew this was what I needed.

The cold burn in the back of the throat when inhaling and the temperature so cold you could smell it. The crispness that the air carried along with the piercing winds that seemed to disregard clothing.

This was the spot.

I felt at home.

The snow was over a foot deep and I could see for miles I was so high up. It was harder to breathe from the elevation but nothing my stats couldn't handle. I got tired quicker but my endurance powered through. The beasts were scarce up here and only a few fights hindered my hike up the mountain.

The view was marvelous. The sun was halfway through its descent in the sky and created a beautiful sight on its way down. The mountains on either side continued climbing out of sight with vast forests to look down upon to the south.

There were fewer monsters up here and they were less aggressive to my presence. My plan of finding a quiet spot to meditate wasn't as far-fetched as my trip here would indicate.

I didn't even clear the area of snow before I sat down to take it all in. I knew the area was clear of any animals from a quick survey and I could take my time to experience it all. I had to go around a few animals traveling up the mountain but it was nothing compared to the trip here.

I felt free.

The stress from the impending waves fell away and the feeling of loss went away for the moment. The constant worry for my family disappeared and the only thing I was left with was the snowy mountain I was on.

Snow covered fields of white that reflected enough light to look luminescent.

Reluctant to move from my spot, I put off setting up my camp for later. I just sat in the snow and relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever.

I didn't know how long I stayed like that but my back started to hurt from the way I was sitting. Sitting cross-legged wasn't a comfortable position to be in for extended periods of time.

It was long enough for the sun to dip into the horizon until sunset was near. A full day of travels led me here and the feeling of accomplishment wasn't small.

After the rocky start to my trip, I thought it would only get worse. I was glad that wasn't the case.

My stomach rumbled prompting me to finally get up. I ate a quick meal of dried meat and took the time to set up my camp before it got dark. The tent was easy to set up and only took a few minutes.

After my meal, it was time to figure out how to do this.

The first thing I needed was a place to sit. There was no chance I was doing a lotus position or whatever the new 'zen' posture was. That was the single most uncomfortable position I think the human body can be in.

My knees didn't bend like that and the whole process was unpleasant, to put it mildly. How someone can sit like that for an extended period of time boggled my mind.

If it was torture you were into, just call it that. Don't try to play it off as meditation like it was relaxing.

I needed something with a back and didn't bring any chairs with me.

A smirk worked its way on my face and I pulled with [Ice Manipulation] to make it happen.

The snow around me jumped to answer my call and started packing itself together. Clumps gathered together with other clumps building up to something bigger.

The base started to take shape before extruding into the air. A wide base for stability built up to the first ledge a few feet off the ground before rising further angled away from the ledge.

With the practice I put into [Ice Manipulation] this amount of work was trivial.

Snow continued working itself together into what I envisioned and before long, it was finished.

"Ah, perfect!" I said joyously before taking a seat in my newly made furniture.

I made some slight adjustments for comfort before putting on the finishing touches for flair.

A throne of snow now decorated the mountain and no, I wasn't ashamed to call it that.

Well, it's more bean bagged shaped than throne shaped.

Honestly, it was a giant bean bag of snow that was extremely comfortable to sit in. I can call it whatever I want. I made it more for comfort than anything and a throne would be worse than sitting on the ground.

Ok, now all I have to do is figure out this meditation thing.

How hard could it be?