3 Chapter 3:Mountains [1]

Upon waking up, I could feel my entire body aching from yesterday's exercise, but I didn't have time to waste. After doing a couple of stretching exercises I had learned back in my past life, I put back on my jacket and moved the rocks out of the way so I could leave.

Looking down at the ground from my resting spot, the scenery could only be described as jaw-dropping. I had never been hiking before I died, but I guess I really was missing out.

The bright blue lake illuminated the sun's lights, the countless harmless birds flying around in the gigantic forest, and the bright blue sky that brought it all together. It was hard to believe that these mountains could be considered dangerous.

I returned to the man-made trail and headed further up the mountain, more specifically, further up to the right. After walking for an hour, I finally saw the end of the path up ahead. That meant that the real search was going to begin.

However, there was one big issue; I was sweating and hyperventilating like I just ran a goddamn marathon. After finding a spot with shade, I sat down and looked up at the sky for a bit.

Even since I started this book, I have been constantly on the move, with barely any time to think. Since the book already had a happy ending, I decided that interfering with the storyline would be useless. So, how would I live? Living off my father's money was not a choice anymore.

After thinking it over for a bit, I decided that my first goal would be to graduate from the academy, as from there, I could basically go into any field I wanted to. But, if I wanted to live nicely, I would have to graduate from Class A. Sure, it would be complex and time-consuming as I was basically 10 years behind on every student academic-wise, but some time at the library should solve that. Right?

After resting a bit longer, I got up and began searching everywhere. The only hint given to me was that it was on the upper right side of the mountain range, so I just walked around looking for caves.

It took me around 10 minutes to find the first cave, and to no one's surprise, the cave was completely empty.

"This is going to be a pain, isn't it?"

Why can't I be the damn protagonist who stumbles on whatever item he's looking for after 10 minutes of walking around?

After searching 3 caves with no results, I searched one last cave before returning to my sleeping spot.

Looking at the cave in front of me, I noticed there seemed to be a lot of noise coming within. That could either me there were a shit ton of monsters, and I would die, or it would mean the dragon's eye was there.

I quietly walked along the cave walls and slowly inched further into the cave. I could feel the presence of more mana within this cave, and my body seemed to heal every time I walked further into the cave.

*DRIP*

Suddenly, I heard the sound of running water further into the cave. Back in the village, I picked up most of the essentials, such as food and water. Still, I severely underestimated the amount of exercise I would be doing, leading to me being already halfway through my rations on the 2nd day.

I grabbed some empty water bottles from my backpack and walked closer to the sound; then I heard some footsteps, not normal footsteps.

If there's water, that means there are creatures nearby.

I had completely forgotten about that. Right now, I was in no position to even touch the monster, so I carefully backtracked my way back to the entrance of the cave,

When I inevitably ran out of water, I would need to return, but that was a problem for me in the future.

As the sun set, I headed back down the trail toward my spot from earlier. After some time looking around, I found the pebble path I had left behind to indicate my sleeping location.

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the cave's cool, rough floor. Uncomfortable or not, I was happy that my legs finally got a break. After only a few minutes, I gave in to my exhaustion as I fell asleep.

*TICK*

*TICK*

The sound of a clock ticking woke me up. What the hell, am I hallucinating now because I exercised too much?

Focusing on my ears, I once again tried to hear the sound that woke me up, but to no avail; it was no longer there.

Propping myself up against the wall, I peered out of the spot's entrance and saw that it was pitch black. Going outside right now to search would be a death, so I looked up at the dark sky.

After a few minutes, my body started aching again, so I once again laid down on the floor.

However, as soon as my head touched the cave floor, the sound of the clock ticking started playing again.

Are the gods playing some trick on me? Is this funny to you higher beings? Is torturing a defenseless reincarnate some pastime for them? If so, it's working very well.

Ignoring the clock's ticking sound, I closed my eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but the clock conveniently disrupted me every time I became closer to sleep.

I stood up again and attempted to find the noise source, but the notice was no longer there. Then, I returned my head to the floor, and it reappeared.

After taking and removing my head from the cave floor a couple of times, I realized that the sound could only be heard when my ears were close to the floor.

Like an animal, I got down on all fours with my head touching the ground and followed the ticking sound. However, when the ticking sound got louder, and I noticed I was getting closer, my head bumped straight into the end of the cave.

Somehow, it seemed like the sound's source was inside the mountain. Right now, I was too far into this mystery to give up, so I placed my head on the wall that blocked me from going any deeper into the mountain, and sure enough, the ticking sound was even louder.

Why the hell is there a clock inside this mountain?

Placing my hand on the smooth surface of the wall, I tried to find a secret lever or something to open the wall, but this wasn't some spy movie, so nothing worked.

Next, I formed a fist with my hand, and with all my strength, I punched the wall. However, the only thing induced by that was now, alongside the bump on my head I got when I bumped into the wall, my hand hurt like hell.

This single wall had inflicted more pain on me than the rest of the mountain within less than 10 minutes.

I angrily walked back to the cave's entrance. There was no way I could sleep with that sound, so I might as well stretch until the sun came up.

I removed the rocks I had placed to block monsters from entering the cave and walked outside. Looking up at the sky, I saw a yellow half-crescent moon and what seemed like a million stars shining in the dark night. 

Alongside hiking, stargazing was another thing added to my list of things to do if I ever return to my original world.

As I started stretching outside, I noticed a weight light coming inside my sleeping cave. When I turned around and looked into the small cave, I noticed that the back wall was now shining. Not the entire cave, just that back wall seemed to shine. Then, the cave shook briefly, and a small opening was revealed at the bottom of the back wall.

Was it the light? No, then it would have opened from the sun. Was it the moon?

After glancing at the beautifully starry sky, I silently thanked it for ending my mystery. I swore when I got my hands on that clock, shit was gonna get real. Not only did it keep me up in the middle of the night, it also gave me two injuries.

I crawled through the small opening in the wall, ignoring the fact that my academy uniform was now essentially covered by dirt.

If my "father" saw me in such a state, I wondered what he would think. He would probably go crazy and try to execute me for ruining his God-blessed family name.

As I walked further into the secret cave, I noticed that I could hear the ticking sound even when my head wasn't even on the floor. Guess I no longer have to act like a wild animal trying to find food!

The secret cave path was not straight and level; it led me downwards, and there were at least three turns and twists.

My suspicions about this only grew. This cave could not have been created by nature; it was far too unnatural. There was no way the cave would suddenly turn right, left, and right again.

So then, did a man make this cave? How did he get that secret entrance to work, then? Even with over 1500 chapters of the book read, I had never heard of magic activated by the moon's light.

Finally, I reached the end of the cave, and like in a horror movie, a pedestal sat awaiting me. On that pedestal was also a small golden orb emitting the ticking sound that had caused me so much pain. The pedestal resembled one of those at a museum. However, there was no red cushion protecting the orb.

From all the horror movies I had watched, my instincts told me that the orb was bad news. However, my curiosity got the best of me. Someone had made this cave, and this someone had left behind a golden orb.

Was it the dragon's eye? Had I been searching in the wrong area this entire time, or was it some item never mentioned in the book?

As I walked towards the pedestals, I could feel my ears about to burst as the sound of ticking was way too goddamn loud from this distance.

In a swift motion, I stepped toward the pedestal and grabbed the orb with my right hand. The ticking sound coming from the orb immediately stopped.

What was going to happen now? Was the cave going to collapse because I stole the treasure it protected? Was some person going to come out of the orb, thank me for awakening them, and then kill me?

However, none of that happened. The cave and my surroundings stayed exactly the same.

Anticlimactic much?

Looking at the orb in my right hand, I tried to recall the description of the dragon's eye item, but the book never mentioned anything about its appearance besides it being a ball.

Well, one similarity is enough for me. After the moon activated this secret path and made that ticking sound, this item had to be something special.

Without any hesitation, I placed the orb in my mouth and swallowed. After savoring its sweet taste, rivaling a gummy worm from my world, I returned to the secret cave.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be wrong as the small opening was still there. Again, I displayed my nobility by crawling like a dog through the opening.

Walking through that secret cave twice while not fully recovered took a lot of me, so I laid back on the floor.

After a few minutes of lying down, I confirmed the ticking sound was no longer there, so I drifted back to sleep without a worry in the world.

[A/N: Do you like this novel cover better or the other one?]