The day was still young for one particular mountain range on Vervina-C. For one human man, there was more than enough time left until he would need to worry about that side of his portal home closing, even if it’d simply open again the next day.

Although if he were to be trapped on the frozen mountains for a night, or even longer due to any bad weather, then he’d already come prepared for the risk. Since his pocket space could hold things in stasis, he had naturally brought both a campfire’s worth of flaming sticks and such, along with cooked Bark Snakes collected in the time after his bath in the river.

But it was thanks to this assurance that Jordan felt comfortable with the current detour that was being taken. When Haje had been transported, it’d been at the base of this mountain range, where he’d then happened on the portal. Then while still only Level 1, he’d made the rather brave choice to explore it, before coming back to climb up the mountains instead.

Jordan rode on his drone as Haje led the way. And the stone giant was indeed leading, as he managed to run at a pace that still moved faster than even his drone at top speed with the spaced-out casts of Overcharge. Because even though Strength and Endurance were his primary Stats, Dexterity was apparently his third choice. Or at least it felt like that had to be the case, since Haje was clearly able to run so fast for what had to be Stat-related reason.

Man, I hope it’s just that he had invested plenty of points into Dexterity too. But then… it was a similar story with that Crab, despite having a Class with Juggernaut in the name. Crabs are naturally pretty fast, even if something about the way they’re built makes them run sideways. And Haje’s height would mean that each stride he takes is worth multiple of mine, despite him seeming to be really heavy. System, is it really just that humanity’s start Stats mean that we kinda suck as a Species? Jordan mentally asked, to which there unsurprisingly was no reply.

“Hey, Haje!” Jordan called from behind. “Real quick question, but do you have any idea what your Stats looked like at Level 1? Like your total between all seven of them, before the Title, Trait, and any Class modification you have?”

“No, I did not bother. But what do you mean by seven? I only have three Stats,” Haje replied without turning to look back or slowing down his pace.

To that, Jordan immediately had a doubletake. “Wait, really? I have Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Endurance, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Will. What do you have?”

Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance ended up being the answer. And when Jordan naturally asked if that was just another limitation of his new friend’s Class, the answer was no. Not only due to the lack of that being one of the warnings it’d given him before selecting the Class, but also due to everything that had come before that point.

Apparently, the list of Traits that Haje had been given access to was pretty different from what Jordan had gotten. Haje hadn’t received any magical Traits, nor any that had offered the four missing Stats. Then when it came to his Class selection, that had also been different.

From what Jordan and his initial group had found out together about which Stats were the primary Stats for different Classes, he could now summarise that Haje simply hadn’t gotten the options for those Stats he was missing. Such as not receiving the choice to become a Mage or Healer, as two examples.

However, when Jordan had briefly mentioned the fact about coming here with a group, he noted that it caused a brief change in Haje’s movements. A flinch that was almost immediately corrected, and might even have been missed if Jordan had blinked at the wrong time. But when the large man chose not to comment on it, he respected that and chose to also leave it be.

Yet at the same time, Haje also didn’t bring up the idea of ever comparing his starting Stats with others of his kind. Yet from the implied evidence that they managed to gather so far, a fairly safe conclusion could be made.

It was simply the result of a difference in Species. One which made Jordan quickly wonder something else. Was it that humanity had access to “all” seven Stats, or were there even more that only a different Species could use? For example, what did the Crabs see for their listed spread of Stats? Did they have less, the same as humanity, or even more?

At the very least, he could take solace in the fact that it wasn’t just another impossible question with no way to find an answer. Whenever Jordan met more Crabs that were hopefully friendlier, and the other Species that were also on this world, he would have his chances to find out. But it did mean that, for now, he would have to just push it aside until then.

But in any case, it meant that Jordan had to do a mental recalculation for his estimate on how Haje’s Stats were spread. He has assumed that his mentioned favorites of Strength and Endurance would get the majority, but then at least a little would be put into others. Since if one had a surplus on Stats, then why pad out all of them to not be too far behind, just in case?

Yet with only three options to pick from, then Jordan could only imagine how long it’d take until Haje got his first thousand points in one Stat. He’d probably get another Title from it too, knowing how the System was giving those out like candy to reward those who were already doing well.

To tell the truth, it actually made a lot of sense. While Jordan’s land drone had failed to harm the Crab, that had been before its latest evolution to upgrade its guns. Along with just the basic fact that due to the situation at the time, he hadn’t been able to hit it with any Overcharge-empowered shots. Which since the first stack was a double-power buff, and the additional stacks were like its speed boost in their scaling, it was something that made for a massive difference in power that would then be applied as a dual shot.

Yet between all of that, and presumably his own high Stats making a difference in a way that he didn’t fully understand yet, it’d barely made an impression against Haje’s body. But if his companion only had three Stats and a metric ton of points to dump into, what had to be a high base Endurance to begin with? Yeah, that was fair.

But it was from this conversation that Jordan also learned about an additional restriction imposed on Haje’s Class.

He had no Resources. No Stamina Points, Mana Points, or Tech Points like Jordan. It wasn’t even listed as zero; instead, that part of his Status simply wasn’t even included. If anything was a sign that Haje was likely to be forever restricted to that single Passive without the ability to gain more Skills, that was probably it. Because he could see the System’s logic, if one didn’t ever have Skills that used Resources, then why even include it as what would basically just be clutter in their Status?

But time steadily marched on. Starting from Level 1 as he had looked for things to fight, it’d taken Haje the last few days to climb up the base of the mountain range and reach the area where he and Jordan would eventually meet. Yet a lot of that time was simply spent wondering around, versus the almost direct line they were going now to head back there. Plus, unlike the slow ascent, they both had their own means of moving much faster than he did then.

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The sun had gone past its midpoint to mark the day as at least late into the afternoon. Though it’d recently become a little harder to tell. Compared to the blue skies Jordan had seen when he’d first gone through the portal, a mass of thick and dark grey clouds now covered the sky overhead.

Even with the bad weather they promised still having not yet arrived, just their blocking of direct sunlight was enough to drop the ambient temperature by several degrees. Jordan was at least glad that the uses of Overcharge kept his ride fairly warm at all times, and allowed it to also act as his personal heater.

When they arrived at the edge of the mountain range, Jordan asked if they could stop. He needed to take a break to eat something, also while relaxing his sore muscles from clinging onto the drone for the last few hours straight across multiple inclines and declines. But also for another reason. He wanted the chance to admire the breathtaking view before him.

They were already far below the actual peak of the mountain that they stood on; he estimated that they were somewhere still around a couple of miles above the base. Jordan was amazed that he could even breath so easily with how thin the air must already be at such a great height. But perhaps that was just another testament to how superhuman his physical Stats already made him. Yet at the same time, while viewing things from that high-up angle, the world before him seemed to stretch on into infinity.

Jordan couldn’t even guess how far out the horizon was. He understood that being up meant being able to see a lot farther out than being on ground level. Dozens of miles at his current height, perhaps? Though that was really just a shot in the dark guess, more than anything.

And as beautiful as the world before him was… it also didn’t make a lick of realistic sense. Somewhere to his left, far beyond the mountain’s base, there was a sandy desert. And then directly next to it was a forest on one side, and a lake on the other. Then to its diagonal top left, was a snowy flatland of some sort.

Though from such a far distance, it was a wonder that he could see the different environments with a decent degree of detail. Especially as the dray grey clouds made it so that current lighting conditions weren’t exactly optimal. A bonus to his vision from one of his Stats, perhaps? It was possible, especially since having a higher Will, for example, hadn’t yet made his willpower really feel any better.

But the wild types of environments next to each other weren’t even the strangest part of what he saw. No, from his vantage point, he could now clearly see the dividing lines that acted as a hard cutoff between each type of biome.

From his earlier view of the line of trees between the forest and starting grassland, and then where the wildfire ended not that far from the river, he’d assumed it to be a square grid. A straight line for every cardinal direction to make each one a square placed alongside one another, into something that might have looked like a wild chessboard from the top down. As it would turn out, the idea had been pretty close, but the actual shape that made up this grid had been rather off.

Hexagons.

The whole planet and its seemingly random placement of environment types was just a God damn grid of hexagons. From the ground level, the line had appeared to be straight enough that he assumed it to be one side of a square. But from here, he could now clearly see how the lines met for sharp turns to form the hexagonal shape. Granted, each line still appeared to be extremely long, enough so that it would be difficult to tell from the ground level, unless he happened to be standing directly at one of these edge points.

If that kind of information had been known to him from the very start, he would have assumed that they must have been in a video game or something. And while the theory of this all being some screwed up, highly detailed simulation couldn’t technically be disproven, it at least still felt pretty real to Jordan. But looking at the neatly divided biomes just felt… wrong, on an instinctual level. It was an eerie feeling, to say the least.

But while he’d been staring, Jordan had already pulled out some pre-cooked Bark Snake to chew on. He then glanced over to Haje, who also appeared to be looking out at the view. He looked down at the partially eaten food in his hand, and then back to Haje again.

Wait, he doesn’t need to eat food, does he? Not even sure how he would, considering the lack of a mouth and how he’s made of stone. But on the other hand, he talked about hunting back in his home world, which would obviously need to be for a different reason than just farming Experience Points. Huh, Jordan thought to himself. After swallowing down the latest bite, he figured that he might as well go ahead and ask. And then planned to at least offer some if Haje affirmed that he, somehow, did eat food.

“No, we do not consume plants or meat. We hunted for glory and pride in our skill as hunters. But more than that, we hunted to survive. Within my kind’s bodies is a core. One that our stone bodies form around. If it is destroyed, it means my immediate death. But to the creatures of our world wished to consume our cores. I do not know how it makes them stronger, but it does. And so they hunt us, and we had to hunt them in return,” Haje helpfully explained.

But as he had done so, one of his arms had partially reached up to the deep scar in his back. It’d stopped before actually touching it, and then was lowered down. Jordan took it as a likely subconscious movement that he assumed meant one thing. Whenever Haje had faced the Lord of the Mountain, his own core must have come pretty damn close to being sliced in that single strike.

On that note, Jordan made quick work of the rest of his meal, and followed it with a big swig of water. As for how the temperature felt on his face during the brief moments that he took a bite and had to expose it to the cold air? Well, the good news was that he could still feel how cold his lips were. Because it was freezing enough that he’d be worried it would just skip straight into the stage where he stopped feeling it entirely.

The two of them then began their downward trek to reach the base of the mountain, and exit the mountain range itself. From here, he could still clearly see the line where the snow at the base suddenly stopped and turned into a brown hexagon of just plain, barren dirt.

Thankfully, it appeared that Haje had a rather good memory in terms of his sense of direction. As they went downward, Jordan was pretty quick to spot the purple sphere. It looked tiny from a distance, but still stuck out like a sore thumb from its position just a bit away from the mountain’s base. As it turned out, an object that was big, perfectly spherical, and a glowing color that stuck out from most environments was pretty easy to point out from afar.

"So just to ask," Jordan began. "Did this portal just drop you in the middle of the water, or was there a coast for solid ground on the other side?"

"There was a beach. It is only a short distance from the water's edge. But unless it has changed in these few days since, it should be the same for when we enter it now." And that was all the answer Jordan needed to at least know he wouldn't directly end up in the ocean, with nowhere to go.

As they got closer, Jordan used a quick cast of Appraise on this new portal.

Name: Planetary Gateway

Description: A rare but natural phenomenon in the multiverse that can be found on Vervina-C. The gateway functions as a portal that is connected to at least one other gateway at another location on the planet. Anything that touches it will be instantly transported to the other side. These portals often have varying requirements for when they appear. Some are active at all times, others are tied to environmental factors such as the time of day, and others still may require any variation of general or highly specific conditions.

Hmm, same as before, then. Ah well, Jordan thought to himself with a mental shrug. The chance of gleaming any new information had at least been worth a shot.

Yet when they got up to it, Jordan found himself quickly removing the outer layer of winter gear. Now that they were away from the snow and officially in a new biome, the massive difference in temperature meant that he’d get way too hot in what he was currently wearing. When they were just a dozen or so yards away, however, Jordan was hit with a breeze that came from the portal.

One that was both very warm, and carried the distinct scent of the ocean. Jordan had to quickly rub at his eyes to stop the tears forming in the corners, before they could betray him into becoming actual tears that might have escaped their prisons. As a great feeling of nostalgia welled up like sand filling his chest, sadness in turn felt like lead that might sink him into the earth.

Because it reminded him of when he was a kid, and the exactly one time his family had gone on a vacation to the coast.