Using his gamer insight, Michael found two locations where hidden items or chests could be placed by the system/Sanctuary and was positively surprised to find one out.
"Well, at least it's a 50/50 shot so far... still, I was not expecting such developments..."
Opening the chest did bless Michael with some good stuff, but he couldn't help but remember his conversation with Iosef before he left Nevesk.
"Who is the 'Mother'?"
[Do not call her that! It's a demon, Lilith. The gospel says she will walk among people posing as the Mother of Sanctuary. If she is here, it is humankind's own sin that brought her here.](Iosef)
Seeing the monk's strong adverse reaction to the name, Michael decided there was no reason to ask for more details from a fanatic. The damned idiot might turn on him if he pressed the issue.
Since he couldn't get an unbiased answer, he focused on a different point.
"Who is this Hermit?"
[He surrounds himself with dark knowledge. Tread carefully, and pray he has not fallen to Lilith as well.](Iosef)
The monk's disgust and disdain for this 'Hermit' was all but dripping from his words. However, the words 'dark knowledge' appealed to Michael's curiosity, especially since Lilith and her backstory should be considered as such.
Shaking his head and surveying the map, Michael made some calculations and opened up his Equipment inventory page.
"At least I gained something from that fanatic..."
[ Choker of Pennance
Neck: Amulet
40 Item Power
----------------------
* +4.0% Resistance to All Elements
Description: A too-tight choker worn by those faithful to the Cathedral of Light. Slight discomfort keeps one guarded against impurity. ]
"*Tsk* Disturbing fanatics with strange fetishes... let's see the drop from the chest. It's shining blue!!!"
[ Adept Strider's Handwraps
Hand: Magic Gloves
82 Item Power
------------------------
41 Armor (+13 compared with the currently slotted item)
* +2.0% Critical Strike Chance ]
"Ugh... More armor, indeed, when compared with my current ones, but I can't take a small increase in Critical Strike Chance over +4 attributes. So, yeah... we'll sell this on the first occasion."
Slightly disappointed, Michael focused on the next objective as he walked. His experience bar was almost full, meaning he should get to Level 6 very soon, as it was currently showing 7682/8580.
He stopped when he saw a crossroads, stumped since it didn't point to which one was leading in the right direction he had to take.
"*Sigh* I can only take a rough guess. The one on the left is somewhat headed toward the golden area, while the one on the right seems to deviate slightly from it. Maybe there's a Side Quest on the right, but I must get this over quickly. My body craves a bed!"
With a decision made, he followed the road on the left, and he was soon face to face with a cavern.
Walking carefully inside, he was stumped once more to see that inside it, the road also spit into two directions. One headed forward and the other to the right.
Shaking his head, he kept moving forward.
"Huh!? Are those spiders!? Why the fuck are they that big?"
[ Hatchling (Minion) - Level 8 ]
Seeing their name, Michael shuddered. These 'hatchlings' were as big as a small football and were only 'children'!?
Swallowing hard, he cursed at the fact that he didn't have a torch and had Pathfinder scout.
Unsurprisingly, a spider the size of a fucking Saint Bernard spat silken balls toward the poor Skeleton.
The silk was sticky, making it difficult for Pathfinder to advance.
Immediately after, a strange abomination that looked like a combination between a spider and a human slowly charged at the minion.
[ Spider (Minion) - Level 9 ]
[ Spider Host (Minion) - Level 10 ]
Shuddering at the Sanctuary's explanation, Michael panicked, threw two balls of Blight, and spammed Bone Splinters while having the Goons protect him.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
A very dangerous situation followed, with the damned Spider Host changing targets to him, but he managed to kill it three or four steps away from his position.
Just as he slayed the giant spider as well, the host exploded, and over twenty hatchlings sprung at Michael, making him almost piss his pants.
"What the fuck!?"
Before any damage could be dealt, the air around Michael exploded and turned the Hatchlings into meat paste. He reached Level 6 at a very opportune moment.
"Fuck! Talk about plot armor! These fuckers almost got to me."
Seeing the extra point he gained in the Abilities interface, he hurriedly selected Supernatural Blight.
[ Supernatural Blight
-------------------------
You and your minions deal 15% increased damage to enemies within Blight. ]
Grinning, he realized he was one point away from opening the next set of skills in the Skill Tree, and he very much looked forward to that.
Shaking his head to return to a more focused mood, Michael reached the end of the relatively short cave and saw a collapsed door made of wood beams.
"I can crawl under it and be on my way... though, I am a bit curious about the second path in this strange cave..."
Turning around and having Pathfinder scout ahead again, he was unsurprisingly met by more of the same variety of arachnid monsters.
The MAP was also updated, showing that this small path was connected with the second road he refused to take before reaching the cave.
"*Sigh* Well, at least there are no surprises. I made sure there wouldn't be anything attacking me from behind, as there shouldn't be any monsters respawning... probably. Still.... seeing corpses fully wrapped up in cocoons is quite detrimental to my mental sanity."
He did his job as a fellow human and checked for signs of life, but the victims were long gone.
On the second corpse he checked, a group of small bats attacked him, flustering him quite a bit.
It was hard to hit the damned critters with his Bone Splinters, but the Skeletons quickly cut them down mid-flight. It made Michael realize that the summons had automatic attack responses once enemies he recognized entered their attack range.
"Damned strange creatures... Fuck! At least they give good experience, though. I'm already at 2598/12000. Maybe 'playing' on World Tier 2 wasn't that bad of a choice since I can level up quite fast."
After ten minutes of walking on this side road, he reached a small opening outside the cave that overlooked a cliff. Michael had to deal with even more arachnid horrors and was hit several times by balls of silk.
It took him over five minutes to clean up the monsters and himself of the damned sticky silk. Finally done, he walked in front of the cliff wall that appeared to be about two to three meters tall.
"I can probably scale that easily based on the groves in it, but it doesn't seem like a good idea... What if a spider is waiting for me up there? Just imagining it jumping my face makes me shudder."
So, as tired as he was, he decided to take the road back and crawl under the collapsed wooden beams since they at least provided him with a generally unobstructed view of the outside.
Fifteen minutes later, he was crawling from under the damned things and was a bit annoyed seeing the Skeletons looking at him blankly from the other side.
Sending them back to their 'realm' and resummoning them, Michael moved forward cautiously and soon found the cliff he previously saw.
"It seems like the MAP was updated as well. These two small roads were connected... Also, I'm at the border of the golden-marked area. Fortunately, I should be able to find the Hermit pretty fast."
The location was also updated, showing the name 'Eastern Pass.' Thinking about it made sense as it was a shortcut through the wilderness but was probably abandoned due to the snowstorm and infested by those vile spiders.
Another strange thing was that the Sanctuary began highlighting different objects in Michael's view.
[ Hollow Tree - Advised to inspect. ]
And he did just that. Though... there was nothing to be found. Continuing forward, a second object highlighted appeared.
[ Loose stone - Advised to inspect. ]
And indeed, upon pushing over the small mound of stones, he found 38 gold coins stashed under it. Scratching his head in confusion, Michael took it since nobody but bandits or bad people would hide their fortune in the wilderness.
"Ill-gotten gains, but welcomed addition to my ever-growing stash. Hmm? What's that?"
Another shrub of sorts was glowing ahead of him, making Michael look forward to it.
[ Biteberry - Advised to collect. ]
Unfortunately, after over five minutes of searching inside, around, and even under the damned bush, he found nothing.
"Then why the fuck are you still glowing!? Hmm? Don't tell me it's harvestable..."
Upon trying to gather the small fruits, Michael was stumped. He gained four Biteberries before the glow disappeared.
The same thing happened with Gallowvine, of which he found five pieces.
Somewhat annoyed at the sudden farming spree, Michael opened up his map and realized that he had already moved inside the golden zone quite a bit and saw an intense light coming from a building ahead.
"And there's my cabin... Hmm... it seemed pretty easy to find. It looks like the MAP even has its name. 'Windswept Cabin,' huh?"
Walking to the building, Michael decided to scout the situation first. Going straight to the door without any preparations would be weird and unsafe.
Fortunately, a road behind the cabin was pointed out so he could use it to scout the general situation.
"Hmm... it looks like a high cliff. There's nowhere to go down from here. The fuck!? Is that another treasure chest?"
Weirded out, Michael wearily looked around him and found another pile of loose stones highlighted by the Sanctuary, where another 32 gold coins joined his purse.
He did stop momentarily, realizing that the cabin's owner might've hidden them there. If the 'Hermit' finds out that he stole the gold from his stash... he probably wouldn't react too well, right?
"Ugh... yeah, let's put them back. I need the man to follow me to Kyovashad so I can cash in that favor with the Cathedral. That's the only way I might be able to meet with the higher-ups and decide regarding the faction I'll pick."
Putting the money back and arranging the stones back in place, he turned his eyes to the chest. Swallowing hard, he reached out and gestured to Pathfinder to open it.
"Thank the Sanctuary! The box actually disappeared upon being opened. This should be a game mechanic rather than the Hermit's stash. Let's see... Two Potion Orbs, 12 gold coins, and... ha! A blue item!"
Opening up the Equipment inventory, he happily talked to himself, unaware that he was right behind the cabin. If someone was inside, there was no way in hell they wouldn't have heard his girlish squeals of delight.
[ Insulating Threads
Feet: Magic Boots
99 Item Power
------------------------
50 Armor (+15 compared with the currently slotted item)
* +4.0% Cold Resistance ]
The blue item was much better armor-wise than Martel's gift, but he would lose 4 Dexterity by unequipping it.
Looking at that Cold Resistance and the other +4% he got from the weird necklace Iosef 'gifted' him, Michael was curious if he would feel less cold after wearing them.
So he did and was surprised to feel his body become warmer.
"Interesting. Even the slight numbness in my body went away. Well... Since I'm in the middle of a snowstorm, 4 Dexterity wouldn't make much difference... probably."
He completed his circling around the cabin and was once more in front of it. Looking at the big tree in its proximity, Michael moved closer to inspect it.
"Usually, in games and stories, these trees have clues pertaining to those living close by. There we go... what's this?"
Under the still-burning beacon under the tree, a small sheet made of fur was housing six bottles on top of it.
Upon smelling them, they reeked of alcohol.
"Well... a drunk is more welcome than a church fanatic..."
Muttering under his breath, Michael walked back towards the cabin, and the Sanctuary finally had just about enough of his dilly-dallying.
[ Quest update: In Search for Answers
Description: Enter the cabin. ]
The strange wording made Michael realize there might be no one home at this hour. Or maybe he needed to get permission to enter, but the system didn't necessarily care.
Pondering for a moment, Michael walked up to the door and knocked on it.
"Excuse me for visiting this late. A Monk of the Cathedral named Iosef sent me to look for you."
Raising his voice slightly, but not enough to scare the poor Hermit in case he was sleeping, Michael waited for about five minutes, but there was no answer or sound from inside.
Knocking again and planning to yell a bit louder, he was shocked to see the door open. He rushed back closer to the tree, weapons drawn.
"The fuck is with this horror movie development!? Uhm... system? Can I NOT go in?"
After waiting for an answer another five minutes, the Sanctuary didn't seem to budge or update the Quest. Nobody was inside either, from the looks of it.
Sending Pathfinder to scout the cabin, Michael was a bit shocked when he sensed the interior through the Skeleton. The fireplace was burning strong, and the room was empty.
Walking inside, the system finally reacted.
[ Quest update: In Search for Answers
Description: Search the cabin. ]