The young man had been walking for about an hour now. He had thought about going east like the bird had suggested. However, when he had come to a clearing at the edge of the woods, he had seen a single bare hill raising to the south west. It stood several hundred feet higher than the surrounding trees, so he had decided to head that way. Figuring he would have some elevation to get a good look at the world around him. He surprised himself as he felt no pressing need to find people. In retrospect however he realized that due to his circumstances before coming to this world, he still needed to find some time to sort through his jumbled mind and put things into some semblance of order. He was in no hurry, he was young again, and just enjoyed the slight breeze and sun beating down on his naked flesh.

Cultivation was weird, he had used the slip of jade, allowing a fuck ton of info to dump directly into his brain. At first, he thought he was having a delusion like one of the old him’s had. That quickly changed when he realized it was just knowledge and the occasional diagram. Knowledge he wasn’t quite sure what to do with yet. He felt it was important, and knew that he needed to get a handle on this Cultivation thing. So, while taking his time in a slow walk, he mind parsed the information. The hill turned out to be further away then he had thought. It had taken him a few hours to make his way to its base. When he got to it he realized it was also much bigger then he first suspected. The day was half done, he figured he could either head back to the pond where there was at least water, and cover under the trees before heading east in the morning. Or he could climb up the hill and take his chances with whatever he might find. If he did that however, he didn’t think he would make it back to the ponds area before dark. He was naked, and it would probably get colder as the night started to fall.

With a shrug he started to make his way up the hill. The grass slowly gave way to scree then rock. He guessed it was more then a hill at this point, but not quite a mountain. Not sure what to call it he just continued to climb in a slow and steady pace. He didn’t want to risk injury, as again we wasn’t wearing any clothes, also he had no medicine or bandages to deal with something that wasn’t minor. From what he could tell, it had taken him 3 or 4 hours until he finally reaches the summit.

The sun was hanging low in the sky, the first shades of yellow and gold changing the blue sky, as the sun began to move beyond the horizon. Standing in the faded light, he spun several times in a circle. He could see the way he had come from. The woods with the pond, that quickly changed to something more than mere woods. He scanned as the trees slowly grew bigger and taller. The muted greens and browns of the woods changing into the darker colors of a forest so massive and terrifyingly majestic, he first response was to shiver in awe. Then he wondered why he had not seen any wildlife. Things always lived in woods and forests, so why had he not seen any trace of wildlife? Thinking back, it had taken a few hours of walking before he heard any noise at all. Then it had just been insects and birds. Maybe like a thunderstorm or lighting strike, his arrival had chased away the locals? He shook his head and turned a bit.

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Looking more to the east, he saw the plains he had almost been to when he decided to go to the hill. Judging by the rolling green foliage, this world was in spring. At least if his sense of the seasons were not off due to this not being earth. About a days full walk, if he could gage the distance, he could see a strip of red and brown running through the plain. It looked like a road, and he was certain if he got to it and continued east, he would find the place the bird mentioned. Turning more, he noticed a cave around the south west side of the summit. Since it would be dark soon, he would scope it out and see if he could hole up for the night. Dead west was another plain, this one however was various shades of brown, with bits of yellow and red. A steppe plain of sorts?

Walking around the few hundred yards of the summit, he got a better view. Unlike the way he had come up, their seemed to be a trail of sorts winding its way down with a few switchbacks. The trail looked to be in some disuse as the edges were eroded with new growth. Still it would be an easier and safer way down. The one problem was that it was firmly westward bound, into the steppe, and not to the civilization the bird told him about. He could take it down then make his way around, but he felt that would increase his time to reach the road by a few days. He would need water for that, and food would be nice as well. Clothes were going to become crucial at some point. He wasn’t sure what his first impression would be like if he was still unclothed, but he could imagine. As this thought was made the last of the sun went below the skyline and darkness was descending faster then he realized it would.

With a sigh he slowly made his way to the hopefully uninhabited cave. The moon he saw coming up over the horizon was massive. Easley as 3 times bigger than the moon of earth. It hung in the sky with a silver blue radiance, gently add a bit of light back to the world. It looked barren, with the same deeper pockets of shadow and lighter areas of luminescence his old moon had. It was just more, there also seemed to be smaller objects orbiting around it. Planetoids maybe, or just big rocks like asteroids, it seemed weird that a moon would have moons but what did he know. The moons light allowed him to safely make it to the cave. The entrance was still shadowed, but he didn’t detect the smell or sounds of animals. He decided to not go into the cave until it was light again, and just shelter near the entrance and out of the wind that was starting to pick up. Sitting Indian style upon a large flat rock he closed his eyes and once again tried to figure out cultivation.