*Thougts*
~Sound effects~
+++++
Chapter 23: On the mountaintop
As soon as Neuron won their race he was barraged by system Messages
* You are the first Person to climb to the peak of one of the highest Mountain inside the Willamar Mountain range (If it happened as a party everyone will receive the same reward)
Fame +150
+1% earth affinity
Luck +3
* You have leveled up
* Because you are the first party to ever climb a mountain in the Willamar Mountain range you get the right to Name this particular Mountain.
Fame +200
Please select a Name
* You have won the race!
Kyle has to run around inside a city full of players while wearing Girls clothes.
The winner can decide when the looser shall honor the wager.
The winner is also able to decide for the clothes the looser has to wear
“Hey Kyle, did you read that?”
“~Pant~ what? ~Pant~” Kyle asked, laying on the ground, but Neuron didn`t fare any better, they were both exhausted, so they had to lie on the ground, while chatting and catching their breaths.
After reading “What the hell, how did this manage to form such a quest?”
“Don`t know, but like this you have to do it!” ~sarcastic grin
“Shit, please give me some slack!”
“Well I would but the system won`t”
“Damn!”
“So let`s change topic, do you have an idea how to name this mountain?”
“How about the standard method of picking the Name out of our own?”
“Then NEKY, like the first two syllables from our name?”
“Why not, or KYNE, which I would prefer”
“Nope, if it’s going to be named like this, then the winner has to be named first”
“~Sigh~ ok, I agree, although NEKY sounds like trash”
“Then come up with a better name!”
“How about Race,….. Nah…, wow, I can`t believe Naming something is that hard!”
“Well duh, I pondered for hours about my playing name,” replied Neuron
“Good, let’s postpone the naming and enjoy this breathtaking view, while taking a bite to eat?”
“This sounds like a plan!”
And truly the view they saw was breathtaking, the tip of the mountain penetrated the clouds, which were sunlit forming a blinding white surface, which looked like cotton, nearly as it could sustain your weight. But sadly everything was covered by those clouds, so they couldn`t see the land below, but it was nonetheless breathtaking.
Far away they could see holes in the clouds, but they were too far away to see the ground, well Neuron could, but the angle was too shallow, so even he couldn`t see anything.
Far away they could see another mountain surfacing from the ocean of clouds, and this one appeared to be even higher than that on which’s top they stood right now.
“Hey Neuron look, there must be a storm happening down there!”
“How can you tell? The clouds are all pure white!”
“Look at them closely do you see those flashes that appear sometimes?”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“Lightning”
“Serious?”
“Yeah, and before you ask the clouds look white to us, because they reflect the suns light.”
“Ah, thanks for the lection professor”
“No Prob”
_______________________________________________________________
While Neuron strained his Hawk Eyes to see something inside the holes within the clouds Kyle was busy cooking.
*Oh, this is going to be great, just wait, I’ll serve you something breathtaking*
Kyle was happy, although he lost the sadness of loosing was washed away by the white of the clouds he saw, but the most contributed his favorite task inside the game, cooking, well right after eating, but you get the picture.
He also though, that Neuron wouldn`t be so mean to him, and thus being mild about choosing a dress, maybe he would even allow him to wear a Mask? Such were his thoughts while cooking.
But Neuron soon realized that it would be impossible, so he distanced himself from Kyle to work on whatever he planned beforehand.
“Hey Neuron, it’s time to eat!”
*Boah, I could really imagine Kyle staying inside a kitchen wearing an apron, with a ladle in one hand and a cooking top in the other, banging them together to signal the kids that dinner is served* ~shiver~
But after thinking that he had to laugh really hard. But this only grew worse when he came near Kyle noticing, that he indeed wore an apron, from then on he couldn`t hold it in and had to roll on the ground laughing.
“I don`t know what’s so funny, but come here, I cooked something delicious” while saying that he waved the ladle, he was holding to stir the contents of the pot, around
But the only thing he achieved was more laughter.
Offended Kyle sat down and began eating, while Neuron still couldn`t compose himself. Finally although still giggling Neuron came over to Kyle and was greeted by a large bowl of white Noodles.
“What’s that?”
“…..”
“Oh come on, don’t be offended, I didn`t mean any harm with that, it was just that you resembled a housewife” Pffthhaha
“Oh, shut it, this is called Carbonara”
“You say it’s something called Carbonara, but all I see is a plate with white noodles”
“~Sigh~ It really is a plate with white noodles”
“And?, that’s it?”
~shakes head~ “No, I have toppings prepared” and with that he gave Neuron an of course look, while handing him a plate with fried bacon cut into cubes, and a bowl with a white grainy sauce.
“So tell me, what’s that?”
“It is fried bacon which you should put on your noodles, hey wait, don`t take all, this portion should last for all of our meal, and there is the sauce made from Parmesan, cream and two egg yolks. So now dig in”
“Wow, that is really good, hey I got the name for this mountain, lets name it Carbonara”
“Hmmm, That’s a good idea!”
“Don`t speak with a full mouth!”
* For having enjoyed a self cooked meal at the tip of a mountain
+5 Stat Points
“Wow, that’s great!”
“Do you ever listen?, uäks that’s gross, I think a piece landed on my face” Neuron complained while wiping his face, Name the Mountain Carbonara!”
* Are you sure to name the mountain “Carbonara?”
“YES!” They both shouted
* The Mountain is now named “Carbonara”
After they finished eating, and packed all their belongings Kyle asked Neuron
“What now?”
“Well, the original reason why I wanted to come up here was to take a look at the Land we soon will set foot in, just to get some picture about geography, but seeing that there are still clouds..”
“And? What is the other reason? Come on do you think I wouldn`t notice?” Said Kyle after neuron gave him a surprised look, “Whenever something doesn`t go your way you get angry, but not if there is a second thing you can do, or thought “
“Ok, but you`ll never guess what it is”
“Nope I won`t so please enlighten me” Kyle was rather straight forward acknowledging his shortcoming, but that was only because Kyle knew about the ingenuity, or craziness Neuron had, while thinking, “But first I would like to hear how you managed to close the distance between ourselves so quickly, if I didn`t know it better, I would say you flew your way up this mountain, but that is impossible.”
“Well not quiet my friend, not quite”
“?????????????”
“Good, now listen: As you know, my Mana connection skill leveled up when we fought, and I couldn`t think of a new possibility”
“Till some hours ago right? Or even before we started our race?”
“Yeah, the latter is true”
“Don`t tell me you planned everything, the part about giving me a head start, the taunting and the ridiculous wager?”
“Yes, I just wanted to see you inside a dress”
“Wow, I can`t believe it, but what if you would have lost?”
“Well then I would say tough luck, and do it, as you know Thou shalt honor thy gambling debts, good, so now I was there working on what I told you before but I am going to reveal it after this story is done”
“Oh, come on Drama Queen”
“Ok ok, don`t fret, so the New connection property I chose is rubber band”
“????, why rubber band?”
“I`m coming to this part, but before I want to tell you, that it was a real pain in the ass to get the property I wanted, damn I hate this AI, she just wouldn`t understand what I wanted from her!”
“Ähm, can you explain it so that also normal mortal ones can comprehend it”
But Neuron as usual ignored Kyle and continued with his rampage
*Well, here I can do nothing, so I`m just going to wait, sometime later he will tell me everything, even if I don`t want to hear it, so I’m just going to enjoy eating some more*
“I wasn`t that hard to understand or was I?, all I wanted was a simple rubber band, that I wouldn`t have to stretch after forming it, that’s all I wanted, so to say a rubber band that is stretched when I create it, is that so hard to understand?”
“No, I got it” said Kyle without paying much attention
“But the AI gave me a stinking normal rubber band, so I had to contact an Admin, explain everything to him and so on, and then finally they told the AI on what to give to me!”
“And what is it?”
“Like I told you, it is a rubber band that is already stretched when I create it, and so pulls on both ends with great force”
“Good, but for further understanding, could I see the skill?”
“HMMMM, show skill Mana connection to Kyle!”
* Mana connection Intermidiate Lv1
You are able to connect yourself to everything you touched
The connection will be invisible until you specify the property
Possible properties: 2
Attention
everything can only be connected in a straight line,
If something is in between, the manifested connection will go right
through it and possibly become stuck
PropertyMana CostThread10 per meter
* You are now able to disconnect/connect the thread from your body
* When the thread is reeled back, the excessive Mana will be stored for 5min
* You are now able to connect different things together
* The Thread has now become unbreakable
Rubber Band200 per meter
* Due to users request the rubber band will exert a pulling force on both connected subjects when activated
“Ähm Neuron wait, I think I get the picture, you already used this skill on me, right?”
“True, it was to pull you out of that avalanche, it sure is powerful, don`t you think?”
“Yeah, that it is, I never flew that fast……Don’t tell me you used that skill to launch yourself in the air like you did with me?”
“DING DING! 10 Points”
After this declaration Kyle’s mouth gaped wide open
“What about landing? Didn`t you think about injuring yourself?”
“True, but I first tested it out with a rock, that had roughly the same weight as I, and so I could manage to land safely, and also my jumping skill helped a lot, you do know that it lets me endure strong impacts with my feet, but till now I couldn`t understand what it meant completely, I just thought that this would only apply if I used the skill, but it seems it is always active. But just to be save I didn’t use it before the snow line.”
“Ah, you thought, that the snow would soften your impact!”
“True and it did!”
*This guy is just plain crazy*
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Good, so now you have a human catapult skill, but what about the surprise you promised me since a long time ago?”
“Here” with that he gave Kyle a pair of crudely made ski”
“Boah, what you don`t think, do you…” Kyle stuttered with fear but also a little excitement
“Yeah, I plan to go skiing downwards from here”
“But, But I can`t ski, or Snowboard”
“Well, me neither, but we got no time to learn it”
“What you mean on going down this mountain freestyle without the skills!!”
“Yeah, doesn`t it sound intriguing”
“You are crazy, but I must say I like it!”
While a grin formed on neurons face he replied:”Finally someone knows what I’m worth, I believe you thought about this matter like I did”
“Well I can only assume, but I always admired the skills of those freestylers and someday I wanted to do that too, but I was too scared of injuries and death”
“But this is…..” began Neuron
“A GAME!!!” Shouted Kyle to end the sentence, and now both of them trembled with excitement, while they began wearing the skis
“Ähm, when did you make them?”
“Inside the forest when you first told me to leave you alone I went to make those, and because I couldn`t finish I gave you a head start”
“Hmmm, but do they work?”
“I don`t know, I polished them, and waxed them, well only with normal wax, but I think the action counts”
After neuron made this proposal Kyle only looked at him strangely
“Good, I get it; let’s just jump
“Wait!”
“What you getting scared”
“NO! I just wanted to record our downhill skiing” explained Kyle
“Yeah this time I want to do it too, ähm how do I do it?”
“Inside your option menu, where you also can logout, found it? Good, now right above the logout button there is a bottom that says Record, pay attention not to press the logout button
“Oh shoot, I pressed it!”
“Oh you idiot” ~Facepalm~
“Jooooke!”
*Should have known it*
“So now press that button, then a system message should appear, asking you from witch perspective you would like to make the video” he explained, without mentioning what happened
You have selected the video option
From which angle would you like your video recorded?
* Your Point of View
* From above
* From Behind
* From 45°up
* From the front
* Other view
(If you choose other view, you have to explain how you want the film to be recorded)
“Hmm, let’s make it from all directions, and also add some more, for the times we jump, so that we can also be filmed from below”
“Can you edit Films?”
“No, but I think you can?” asked neuron
“Yup”
“So why did you ask me?”
“To divide the work of course, but, sigh, ähm, but now I would like to train a little before going down there”
“What you afraid?” asked Neuron tauntingly
“A little bit of course, but I don`t want to embarrass myself in front of all those people watching us”
“Oh shit, I didn`t think about that! Your right lets train”
“Problem, where do we train? We are on the tip of a mountain!”
“Let’s look around; maybe there is someplace where we can do it”
So they began searching, and after a while, Neuron sent him a whisper: “Hey Kyle, I found something on the north side of Carbonara ~chuckle~, I don`t know what that is, but it is perfect for training, could you come here to look at it?”
“Hey, I know what that is!” Replied Kyle as soon as he saw Neurons discovery
“And?”
“Do you notice, that the whole ground is kind of plane with cliffs around half of it?”
“That is the reason why I chose this place! So now tell me what this is”
“Well it is the birthplace of a Glacier”
“HUH?”
“Do you know anything about Glaciers?”
“ähm, that they are made out of ice, and they slide down mountains, oh and that they are melting!”
“It is not really ice, it is just condensed snow, well till it transforms to ice, but…. ok you get the picture”
“But a question, why does it seem like we are inside a pan with those cliffs halfway around”
“This is because the Glacier eroded the rock while moving downwards”
“Ah, good, so now, let’s train!”
“But How? I must say this is a good place, here the possibility of slipping and sliding down the whole mountain is really minimized, but we don`t have a slope to learn skiing, look at those cliffs, there isn`t any snow there”
“Shit, this is true, but what do you think about making it ourselves, I know it will be a lot of effort, but I bet it will be worth it.”
“Hmmm, so how do you plan on doing that?”
“First we should make a ramp there on that cliff ~points nowhere in particular~ this should be as high as possible, then of course a jump, then also some obstacles, and so on, also …..” While talking Neuron became really delusional and planned for everything he had seen in the Internet.
*Boah, just how are we going to make all that? I bet all the physical work will be left to me, better make a second shovel, at least here he can`t reason that I have to dig because I have the highest strength, it is snow after all*
“Hey Kyle what are you putting out your portable furnace for?”
“To make another shovel, don`t think I’ll dig alone”
“Good, while you are at it, I’ll scout the place.
The rest of the day they scooped snow like madmen
“Kyle, where shall we sleep? The sun is setting.”
“Don`t worry, I’ll build us a igloo”
“Really!”
“Why so excited?”
“When I was a kid, I dreamed about sleeping inside an Igloo, but won`t it be cold?”
“Don`t worry, I know how to make one, actually I went on a Hiking tour with a friend and there we also slept inside a igloo, but only that you know, I don`t plan on making a fancy one, I’ll just make a hole inside the starting ramp”
“That’s alright with me, good, while you make it I`m going to shovel some more snow” And with newfound vigor Neuron went to perform his task.
After some time, the sun finally set and Kyle went inside the Igloo to sculpt the inside, that was what he told Neuron, but actually he finished that a long time ago and was now cooking, while listening to Neuron working.
“Hey Neuron, I have finished, come inside, I prepared something to eat! Just pay attention while coming in”
“Great, I`m coming”
*I wonder how it looks like*
First Neuron had to drop to the ground and crawl inside, after that he suddenly had to crawl upwards. Then he finally could see the interior of the Igloo, it was a round room, with a higher place on the other end, where Kyle sat and apparently cooked something. But the fact that Kyle used a flame inside a House made out of ice didn`t bother Neuron at the moment because he had to admire the white gleam the walls produced, while reflecting the shine of the flames. Then he finally made the connection inside his mind that fire is hot and thus melts snow.
“Kyle, are you crazy lighting a fire inside a Igloo?!”
“Nah, don`t worry, actually I even had to”
“Aren`t you preoccupied that it will melt, and also the smoke will choke us!”
“Both times no, look up, there you see that hole, I made this for ventilation purpose, and for melting, it is normal for Igloos to have about 0° Celsius of temperature, it can even be raised to 5° Celsius, without melting”
“Cool, so I heard you made something to eat?”
“Here, dig in, I made a meat soup”
After eating they prepared their sleeping place, Neuron took out everything he had with him made from clothe or leather, and of course the furs they looted from the Trolls, Kyle added his things too, but what he pulled out wasn`t comparable to the mountain Neuron had lying before himself.
“Boah, where does this fancy dress come from?”
“It’s just loot I got from stealing”
“But there is so many! Now that I think about it, what did you place inside the Tailors home, so that he would get framed?”
“Not much, just everything that had their family crest on it, which surprisingly wasn`t that much”
They wrapped themselves really tight in all the cloth, till both looked like some Pupas with heads sticking out from one place.
“Hmmm, so Good night”
“Good Night”
And both of them had really pleasant dreams about tomorrow and how they will be able to learn skiing.
_______________________________________________________________
Kyle woke up when the sun just poked over the horizon.
{[999abd}] " Good morning Neuron”
After saying that an even louder yawn came from the pile of furs beside him and a really sleepy Neuron crawled out, that only said one word “Breakfast?”
“Soon”
After they enjoyed their breakfast it was again time to work on their project, and then after Midday they trained their freestyle skiing skills.
This routine of building and training continued for two more days, till both of them were satisfied with their prowess.
But of course building and training wasn`t the only thing they did, at the second day on the mountain Kyle suggested to go to the tip again, to enjoy The rise with some tea, first Neuron was reluctant, but Kyle managed to persuade him with the reason to again look at the land they will be about to enter, and so he went with him.
“Hey Neuron, look at that mountain, the sun has shined upon its tip, when we arrived here, but only now, 10 minutes later it shines upon us.”
“And?”
“If Royal Road is a round world, then that mountain has to be a lot higher than our, maybe even higher than Mount Everest”
“That big?”
“If I haven`t miscalculated, yes”
“And if you have?”
“Then it’s still far higher than Carbonara, because look, we can only see its snowy parts, and the snow line should be as high as it is on Carbonara, and the rest is even behind the horizon”
“Shit, if that’s true, than what must be the view from up there? But how do you know?”
“I don`t really know, it’s just an assumption, but anyway we will see if I’m right or wrong, when we get near it, but it’s still strange that its only one mountain”
“Yeah, that I know, something like continental drift, were really high mountain ranges are formed, but I don`t know if we can apply that knowledge inside this game”
“Me neither, so let’s stop thinking and enjoy the sunrise”
And it truly was worth it. When the sun rose the whole horizon was dyed in all sorts of red, the clouds where a yellowish color and the view was just breathtaking. Kyle and neuron spotted rivers, that glittered in the sunlight and Southwards near the Ocean they could see a really huge forest that stretched over the horizon.
“Wow, thanks for suggesting it Kyle”
“No problem, it was truly worth it”
And as if to agree with Kyle a system message appeared.
* You have watched the sunrise from the tip of Carbonara
Because you don`t have the Art Stat the reward will be
+5 Status Points
Of course they tried it again, but like Kyle suggested with the sunset because he knew that games won’t reward you for the same thing twice, but of course their reason to do it wasn`t the rewards, both of them wanted to enjoy the view…
* You have watched the sunset from the tip of Carbonara
Because you don`t have the Art Stat the reward will be
+5 Status Points
While they were training on the freezing cold mountaintop they even gained some cold resistance
* You have endured freezing temperatures without catching a cold, and thus it is less likely for you to catch one in the future
Cold Resistance +10%
They also gained +10 Dexterity and + 8 Strength for Neuron and +15 Dexterity and +5 Strength for Kyle.
And of course they made many videos of the feats they achieved while training, and they planned to make one long video out of everything with the descent as the end.
_______________________________________________________________
On the third day they woke up before Sunrise, practiced again till midday and made most of the footage they wanted to show to other people, when it was time they packed their backpags, and headed towards the tip.
“Ready Kyle?”
“Ready Neuron?”
Both of them nodded at each other and with a shout they jumped over the edge.
End Chapter 23
Finally the story i planned can begin `:^:^)~