Right, so now that everything's settled, all we have left to do is to actually go and get our wishes! First stop is actually right here on Sibirus too, so we won't have to worry too much about traveling if anything goes awry, though I sure hope it doesn't. Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

"Err, so then..." I bashfully scratched my cheek as I turned to Olya as he picked up the recall device, "I forget, what was the World Wonder in Sibirus called again?"

"You don't even know that and you're planning on visiting them all?" Doc rubbed it in.

"No, but isn't that a good sign then?" Olya figured, "If someone as curious about the World as Schnell doesn't know, then surely a regular person wouldn't either. That being said, our destination for today is gonna be the Cognisphere, said to be the exact point where the northern pole starts."

"Ri~ght, that's the one!" I put my hands on my hips as I recited all the fun facts I knew about it, "The Cognisphere, meaning Sphere of Knowledge, was named that after a traveler from before the Ever Division sailed all the way to Sibirus. Thinking he was going to find vacant land to conquer for himself, what he instead found was a giant metal ball with a bunch of rings around it. The entire structure couldn't have possibly been naturally generated, but at that time dubbing it a manmade one felt equally as wrong. Thus, the traveler came to the conclusion that it was the work of the Gods, and was in turn rewarded with a bunch of knowledge by Selzion. He returned to his home country and used the God-given knowledge to turn it into a thriving Empire we now know as Carmen. Another point to make is..."

"I didn't ask." Olya turned to the doctor, "Hey doc, did you ask?"

"Nope, maybe if we keep looking for the rest of our lives, we might meet someone out in the World who did though." He snarkily replied.

"Mnn, you think?" Olya thought about it, "Nah, no way there ever existed such a person. In conclusion, Schnell, get fucked."

"Wow, you two suddenly banded together swimmingly." I felt a tad hurt to be the butt of their joke.

"When faced against a common foe, anyone can become best buds, if not only for that short moment." Doc explained like he was giving me a lecture.

"Didn't ask." I returned the favor in kind.

"Wuh-!? But you just did though!" He got pissy, "Olyahim, you tell him."

"Nah, screw you." Olya gave me a high five as we chuckled like idiots at the doctor, "Aha, anyways - We really shouldn't be wasting too much time. C'mon, Schnell."

"Yeah, let's..." I stepped in front of the portal before pausing, "S-So, do we just like... jump into it?"

"Yeah, think about where you wanna go and you'll go there." The doctor described his experience, "You don't even have to have an exact name or location in mind, I think. Just by envisioning "where" you wanna go, the portal will automatically fill in the gaps and get you exactly to where you need to go. Genius design, really."

"Hehe~!" Olya puffed his chest out all smug, "Praise me more."

"The hell do you mean by that? You didn't design this shit, the Book did." I groaned before pushing him in front of me, "Now come on, get in there and scope the scene."

"What the-!? Hell no, you go in first, jackass!" Olya defied me with all his might.

"But didn't you say we shouldn't just jump into this and remain wary?" I smirked, "I'm just doing as you said and looking out for myself."

"By tossing me under the carriage!? Fuck that!" Olya shouted.

"Uhm..." The doctor tried interjecting.

"What!?" We turned to shout at him.

"Hrm..." He groaned before calmly suggesting, "Why don't both of you jump in at the same time? If you're worried about getting separated, then try holding hands or something."

Holding hands? What the hell is this guy saying, we're not kids. Well, you could argue a 19 year old is still kinda wet around the ears, but this fatass sure as hell isn't! Sigh, this doctor obviously didn't get beaten enough by his parents and it shows.

"Hm?" I felt a fat sweaty hand grab my own all of a sudden, "You can't be serious..."

"Better safe than sorry." Olya gripped my hand tighter, "Ain't that right, bud?"

"You're really aimin' for me to call you that one slur." I chuckled.

"You better not, otherwise I might get offended." Oya added onto the joke.

"If you get offended, doesn't that mean you agree that you are one?" I raised a point.

"Does it?" He thought a bit before shrugging, "Then I just won't get offended in that case."

"Offended or not, let go of my fuckin' hand." I warned.

"My my, does this much fluster you~?" Olya mimicked a woman's voice to get under my skin.

"H-How the hell are you so good at that voice!?" I tried yanking my hand away to no avail, "L-Let go!"

"Oooh, he's blushing." The doctor looked genuinely impressed, "Damn, that's impressive, Olyahim."

"Grr...!" I finally snapped before hoisting Olya high above my head and tossing him into the portal haphazardly.

Of course, I jumped in immediately after, but it was on my own terms, goddammit! Ain't no way I'm passing through that damned thing holding this fatty's hand! Geez, thank you muscular genes of mine for giving me this strength...! I swear, if I didn't have you, I think I might've just beat the shit out of him.

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"Waaaahhhh~!" Olya and I screamed with all our might as we raced through the colorful portal, "Oof! F-Fuck is it cold out here!"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Right." I added, "Guess we got used to the Lair's temperature. Still, it's good we didn't get separated... Ah."

"Yeah, thankfully nothing unexpected happened." Olya brushed off all the snow from his clothes as he turned to see me staring off at the sight behind him, "But is this really the place? Where is the Cogni... Ah."

Looks like he noticed it too, because the moment he turned around to see what I was gawking at, his expression started resembling mine a whole lot more. In front of us stood a giant metallic sphere, just like it was described in the folk tales, but the sheer size really is the thing that seems the most surprising of all. Don't get me wrong, I expected it to be like, the size of a house. Maaaaybe a mansion, but I didn't wanna get too unrealistic. Nah, it seems whoever made this structure was unfamiliar with said term, because this ball is the size of a whole ass mountain! What the hell, I thought it was nighttime when we first came here, but it turns out it's just this dark because we're standing in its shadow! I can't even see half of its height, much less the top!

"Gulp..." I chuckled nervously, "T-Then, let's just go touch it."

"How, though?" Olya asked, "I wrote in the Book that just touching any part of it is enough, but if you look closely, it looks like the entire thing is propped up on an equally as giant stand. Does the stand count as the World Wonder?"

"Are you saying we gotta climb up that thing until we can touch the actual ball part!?" I raised my voice.

"Better safe than sorry." He then chuckled, "What, feeling rusty from us fucking around in the lair this whole time?"

"N-No!" I crossed my arms defiantly, "In fact, let's bet on it! First one to touch it gets 10 silver!"

"Dude, we have an entire lair filled to the brim with gold and treasure..." Olya facepalmed.

"Readysetgo!" I zoomed passed him as I cackled on, "It's not about the money, fatty, it's about provin' you wrong!"

"Grr, shiet..." He clenched his teeth before running after me, "You damned out of shape bulk for brains! Proving me right is the best prize I could ever ask for, and you just gave it to me!"

And so, the race is afoot! Haha, I haven't run like this in ages, so this really does feel nostalgic! Ehh, a bit tiring too, but who cares? I can't let this guy get to the ball before me. My pride just wouldn't allow me to go on if he did! Right, I got a headstart, and am just way stronger than him in general, so I should be reaching the stand with time to spare!

"Bap!" I grabbed onto the almost smooth wall of the stand, "G-Gahh, haha! You really think you can win against me in climbin'!? You'll never climb this wall! ...Eh?"

"You can climb that smooth and steep wall all you want." Olya easily overtook me as he gently walked on the giant rings surrounding the ball, "Meanwhile I'll be waiting for you at the top, bud!"

"The fuck!?" I shouted, "That's cheatin'!"

"Says who?" He smirked, "You never made a rule against it."

No, no...! This can't be! There's no way this fatass is gonna beat me in a race! Gah, he used brains over might to take the easier route! That conniving sly fatass of a man...! Ugh, no matter. That's just gonna make it all the more worth it to win this race in the first place, even when he cheats by taking the baby route!

"Graahhh!!!" I shouted as I shifted into maximum overdrive, "Olyaaaa...! You... You ain't gettin' the dub, y'hear me!? Not now, not ever...!"

"W-Whoa, what the hell is that grip strength?" Olya's voice sounded a bit uncertain when he saw me scale the shit out of the wall, "M-Maybe I should hurry it up as well. This is a race, after all-"

"Gyaaahhhh!" I felt my nails almost rip off as I grappled the almost flat surface with all the strength in my forearms that I had, "Ain't... no... way!"

"Oh shit-!" Olya started booking it up that damned ring of his, "S-Stop right there! You should seriously take it slow! Look, screw the race, man! If you fall now, you might seriously hurt yourself!"

"Don't gimme that crap!" I saw the ledge that signified my goal, "Now that you're losin', you wanna call it off, huh!?"

"You were the one to suggest this in the first place, dipass!" He yelled angrily, "Dude, that ledge is too far away for you to grab onto. Slowly climb down and take my route..."

"Ngahh!!" I gave my best battlecry as I jumped off the part of the wall I was on and just barely grabbed onto the ledge protruding above, "Haah, haaa... B-BAP!"

"You fucking suicidal idiot..." Olya almost fell from the anxiety himself, "Didn't I tell you not to do risky plays?"

"Yeah..." I waited for him to come over to me so we could touch the Cognisphere together, "But where's the fun in that?"

"Tch, never a dull day with you around, eh?" He gave me a low key fistbump before we both turned to the ball's surface, "Then, shall we?"

"Yep!" I stretched out my hand with him as we both touched our first World Wonder.

Honestly, a huge part of me wasn't expecting any indicators of us making any progress, but it seems I was wrong. The moment we put our hands on it, a somewhat misty Green light appeared from the point of contact as it made its way from our fingertips to our arms and finally to our chests. With that, we knew for a fact that we were on the right track.

"Alright, now to recall." I turned to him.

"Yeah, just gotta... Hm?" He did a double take as he checked his pockets, "What? I could've sworn I... Ah."

"What?" I feared the worst, "What's the matter?"

"Dammit, Schnell..." He pinched the bridge between his Eyes as he sighed deeply, "When you tossed me into the portal, I think the recall device fell out of my pocket..."

"Ah." I awkwardly looked down below, knowing full well we now had to go down manually and actually walk all the way back to the lair because of this, "Sorry..."