On a flat land in the middle of nowhere, there was a small village in the middle of a luscious forest. The village was small, with houses and infrastructure that could only house hundreds of inhabitants.

The houses in this village were made of wood and thatch that protected them from the weather of the forest. These small rectangular huts were propped up by huge slabs of stone that prevented the houses from being flooded when it was the rainy season.

The infrastructure in this village was almost nonexistent. There were no communal buildings that the inhabitants shared, there were no cultural monuments that they celebrated, and there was no church where they paid respect to their god.

There were no houses that stood out amongst the others, meaning that there wasn’t a clear leader amongst them.

This could not even be considered a village but a gathering of inhabitants that had no connection with each other except for the fact that they lived near each other. Civilization was far from this place.

Their only way of survival was to hunt and forage. This was evident by the few carcasses of hunted boars hanging beside houses as the blood spilled out of its dead body. Not every house had one, and the houses of those that didn’t were worse for wear.

The inhabitants of this village worked either by hunting, farming, or house craft.

Technology in this village could be compared to the Stone Age. Their way of hunting was through the use of bows that were made of wood and arrows that were tipped with obsidian. They sewed their own clothes. And they picked up water from the nearby creek using clay vases.

Inhabitants of this village had bigger skulls and tougher jaws than humans. On average, their height was smaller than normal humans but in turn, they were blessed with stronger genetics for muscles and bones. They had stocky physiques with short lower legs and lower arms, which suited the colder climate of this forest.

They were not humans. They might look like one, given that they stood on two feet and stood up straight, but one could tell that they were of a different species. However, they do share a striking resemblance to humanity's oldest ancestor, the Neanderthals.

Not only that, but the color of their skin was yellow. The more mature Neanderthals and this village had a deeper color of yellow that almost looked like gold, while the younger ones were paler in comparison.

The name of their species was called Thalls.

A middle aged Thall with deep wrinkles in his face faced another who was much older than him with Thin white hair parsed along his skull—his skin was almost golden.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The middle aged Thall had a determined look on his face, while the older one shook his head in disappointment.

“I will go there. I want to go there. I have to go there,” said the middle-aged Thall.

But despite his determination, the older one still couldn’t accept that one of his own wants to throw his life away for an impossible miracle. It was a waste of his life. Their village was crumbling away, Thall by Thall, with very little growth. More of them die than give birth.

Given a few more years, their village will be nonexistent. He can’t have healthy hunters throwing their lives away for nothing. As the oldest one in this village, he couldn’t bear to see the legacy of his ancestors be thrown away and be fed to the wolves.

“Achram, you cannot go there. You will not survive. And even in the smallest of chances that you succeed, there’s a very big likelihood that it would be all for nothing,” advised the oldest Thall.

“Oh wise Buwarak, I do not doubt your knowledge. But it is calling for me.”

Buwarak sighed. “Many have answered that call. None have returned.”

Achram looked back at the horizon, where his goal looked larger than life. Even at this distance, it covered the majority of the sky. But Achram didn’t waver. The tallest of mountains required the tallest of dreams.

“I hope you find this god of Icy Rock,” Buwarak said as he slowly walked away from the determined fanatic. He knew he couldn’t convince him.

The majesty and mite of this snowy mountain haunted the entire village. They could see it in the day, it cold presence would show in the night, and it would occasionally send down humongous boulders that would decimate their whole village.

Achram pointed at the snowy mountain in the horizon and declared, “I will conquer you!”

But what he didn’t know was that there was already someone at the top of this snowy mountain. And this individual didn’t just plant his flag, it was somehow living there. It was exercising in the middle of the coldest region in the world without a care at all.

Who was it? It was the Tendora.

—————-

“That was amazing!” said Grammo. “You just defeated the worst bully in the classroom.”

“I didn’t do anything,” replied Patty.

Technically, true. Patty didn’t do anything, but Grammo didn’t see it that way. He believed that something about Patty scared the living hell out of Griff. And that was the coolest thing he had ever seen.

“You just gave him a mean look and he ran away with his tail tucked under his legs. I should stick to you.”

Patty just waved off the compliment.

“No, I’m serious. Please help me.”

Patty gave him a weird look. “Whatever it is, my answer is no.”

Me? Help him? Does he not know that Patty’s whole thing was to be as lazy as possible. He doesn’t even help himself; why should he help others?

“Please. You know how Griff and his goons. They will try to sabotage me till they finally get their wish and kick me out of this school.”

“No.”

“Look, the only obstacle in my dream is my inability to hear the right pitch. But that can change. There’s a Teqx that can cure tone deafness.”

Patty wasn’t even listening anymore. Why should he care about Grammo’s dream and all that?

“I know you’re lazy. You don’t have to do anything. Just accompany me and give Griff and his goons the stink eye if they come close.”

And just as Patty was about to say no again, the system popped up with another message.

[Mission]

[Requirement]

* Help Grammo

[Rewards]

* 100 Yi Power

* 1000 Credits

* 500 Minion Growth Crystal

* 15x Summon Scrolls

* 600 Ether

Although the summon scrolls were tempting, he wasn’t completely sold on the idea of helping Grammo. The wording on the mission was really vague. What if the system would scam him and not give him his rewards because of some unknown requirement?

And most of all, it would just take up his ‘laying around and doing nothing’ time. That was the most important factor.

“Ehhhh,”

Grammo pursed his lips. He needed Patty’s help, but it was harder than pushing a 500-pound bear out of its hiding spot. If he wanted to entice Patty, then he needed to entice his lazy bone.

“I will give you all my recordings, action figures, and memorabilia of Space Invaders.”

“…”

“And I will be your butler.”

“You should have led with that.