Scaling down the mountain is a lot harder than it looked--and it already looked pretty difficult; you can't slide down too fast, and every rock I grab falls apart the moment I touch it. I forgot what being overly careful was like, and I can't say I like it that much; I really did take some things for granted.

The student accompanying us has no such problems, he jumps from rocks to rocks like a mountain goat and waits for us to follow when he inevitably gets too far ahead. I could use a skill to make my life easier, but I'm not sure how safe that is either; all skills have side effects, and they might affect Hotel in unforeseen ways since our souls are linked. No, it's better to not use skills unless I absolutely have to, there's only so far I can push my luck.

"I still don't get why there's no path leading to that dojo," I complain. "Surely you guys must be getting supplies from somewhere, right?"

The student jumps down to another rock before answering, "Wouldn't be very challenging if you could just find the sect by having a road already telling you where to go! Even getting to the dojo is supposed to be part of the training. You really found this place by accident? Didn't even know it was possible."

"Let's just say I have a condition that makes me very likely to put me into random places."

"Ho! Teleportation? Can you teleport? Can you?" He jumps back and forth between me and Hotel like some kind of excited dog.

"I suppose teleportation is the best way to explain it without going into details. Whenever a certain something happens, I find myself somewhere else in the world." I try to remain vague in my explanation; I'm not sure telling people that I can 'teleport' on death is a good way to convince them not to kill me.

"That's so cool! Or not? If you want to be healed from that I doubt it is cool to you. That's why you're going to the Valkyrie sect, right?"

"That's to fix something else that's wrong with me, I think I can actually fix myself just fine, but it can't hurt to have another expert take a look at it," I cringe as I say this. I know I secretly hope for an easy way out, one that won't require a choice to be made--that's why I'm going along with this at all.

He glances at Hotel whose struggle to descend the mountain is multiplied tenfold by their sickness. I thought Hotel would be able to walk just fine given enough time, but the repeated cloning and travel had more impact than I thought--the universe eater's fight can't have helped either.

The student nods. "Aye, family's important- sorry, are you family? You look like family." He stops, his cheerful demeanor slipping for a second. "Gotta be strong to protect family, strength is the only thing this world respects."

I don't question him further, it's clearly a touchy subject, and I'd rather not make things awkward for the rest of the trip. "Can you carry Hotel?" I ask. "If we keep this up, it's only a matter of time until they fall down and crack their skull."

The student scratches their head. "Ha...didn't wanna ask but... are they a girl or a boy? Because...uh..." a blush creeps on his face. "Carrying a girl like this might be weird."

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I raise an eyebrow. "I doubt they'll care either way, but just consider them a boy if it helps us get down that stupid mountain faster."

"But I like this mountain..." he mutters, jumping next to Hotel. "Err, may I? Maybe?" Hotel returns a blank stare, it's clearly hard for them to even hold on to consciousness. He takes it as a yes and awkwardly puts them on his back.

Going down the mountain is a lot faster now that I don't have to constantly keep an eye on Hotel, but I'd be lying if it was pleasant. It doesn't help that we weren't given any supplies, and all we could eat were a few edible plants that somehow managed to grow in this hostile environment. After what feels like years of travels, we finally start seeing patches of grass growing here and there; a village in the distance confirms my suspicions--we're pretty close to the bottom of this mountain.

It only takes a few hours for us to reach the village. Judging by the farm animals around here, I can also guess they have some actual food around here instead of just foraging the quite frankly disgusting herbs that grow around here.

The student waves excitedly to one of the villagers. The villager is old but carries a massive bag behind him like it's nothing--I don't know if it's due to special training or if everyone in this universe is that strong.

"Jing! Finally got a mission!" the student exclaims.

The villager smiles. "Min Chāo? With how long you stayed up there, I thought your training had already started!" He waves to us. "Welcome strangers, make yourself at home. Any friends of Min is a friend of mine."

The student--whose name is apparently chāo--whispers to me, "Try to stay formal with them, especially your elders."

I nod, not calling out the fact his interaction with the villager was anything but formal--I suppose he knows them well enough to get away with it. Not that I know what 'formal' even means in this context, I guess I'll let Chāo do all the talking. Although being quiet can be considered rude in some situations. Most cultures I've visited thus far didn't really care about formalities that much--or I guess I never had to care since I was never in any real danger; I'll just have to ask Chāo when I get the time.

Chāo carefully lets Hotel down, still refusing to look at them in the eyes--I guess the possibility of Hotel being a girl still makes him uncomfortable.

Speaking of girls.

Hyper Communication

ORIGIN: SVENTLINARITIKELD

----------------------------------------

MESSAGE: Just don't lie to me again, or I'll cut all fucking contacts, assuming you care about that at all.

I'm doing fine on my own, remember when I told you I wanted to set up a shop? I did.

The shop's running like shit, but I'm sure I'll get better with time. Besides, I've got all the time in the world.

I'm keeping your stupid fucking frog plush safe, as promised.

Will you come back? It's fine if you don't, but I want to get a confirmation, I don't want false hopes.

For some reason, I hoped she wouldn't answer at all. I sent that message on a whim, and now I have to deal with the consequences.

I can't lie to her, and I don't think she'll be happy with a 'I don't know'.

So I'll have to be honest with myself.

I'm scared of coming back, but I want to anyway.