Chapter 4:Mountains [2]
When I woke up, I vaguely remembered my adventure into the secret cave last night, but I was on auto-pilot then, running on two hours of sleep.
Once I got up, I tried to look for the entrance to the cave again, but it wasn't there. I guess the moon activates it or something.
While I started stretching, I tried to feel for anything special within my body, like a skill or something. However, there was nothing. That was surprising; a random golden orb in a secret cave should definitely give some power, right?
My hopes were shattered, as I believed the orb could have been the dragon's eye, but I guess I had to search more.
Maybe I wasn't supposed to eat the orb and do something else with it. However, it was too late for regrets.
I left my sleeping spot and headed back to the right side of the mountain to continue searching the cave from yesterday. I was running low on water, and right it was bright as it could be, so it would be the best time to find the water source in that cave.
Once again, I entered the gigantic cave and inched closer into the darkness until the sound of running water finally reached my ears.
Following the sound, I went deeper and deeper into the cave until I finally heard the sound getting closer.
Just before me, a three-foot-wide river stretched into the darkness beyond me. After refilling my water bottles and drinking some water, I decided that heading further was the only way.
It had already been three days, and I had nothing to show for it. At this rate, I'd be expelled from the school once I reached it again for my lack of talent.
I really wanted to jump into the cool blue water and wash myself as I hadn't taken a shower since I arrived in this world, and I smelled like sweat, but the fact that a monster could sneak up on me any time deterred me.
After drinking some water and splashing my face a bit, I decided to search the cave further. After crossing the small river, I walked straight into a never-ending darkness.
Either my death or some overpowered item awaited me at the end of this; there was no between. In hell, a cave like this wouldn't have monsters, but at the same time, there was no way a cave like this didn't have some reward.
Moving further into the cave, I heard various sounds echoing throughout. Whether it was the sound of a bat waking up or an unknown creature walking around, the sounds never failed to make me react. It was like I was in limbo; at any moment, I could die, yet I still kept walking.
Was I insane?
Finally, I reached the end of the original path and saw that it opened up to a ravine-like structure. There was a big opening in the middle, and when peering down, I could see various other openings in the walls and near the bottom.
I was in the center of the mountain range.
I carefully maneuvered on the walls, using the rocks that pocked out to lower myself until I finally reached the bottom.
Just when I was about to sit down to relax my muscles, I heard the sound coming closer. It wasn't a normal sound; the sound of something crashing down on the cave floor echoed throughout the cave. There were the footsteps of a monster.
"Guess you play stupid games, you get stupid prizes."
I had played the game of luck and lost.
Looking towards the source of the incoming steps, I realized that my only chance of escape would be to outmaneuver the monster and run into the opening where it came from. Climbing was not an option as it would be too slow, so the monster could easily catch me, and there was no place for me to hide.
A dinosaur-like figure approached from the cave, a mountain tyrant. The tyrant's weakness was its short arm span; however, in secluded places like this, that weakness was nullified as there was nowhere for me to dodge.
I pulled my cheap sword out of its sheath and faced the mountain, waiting for its initial task. All I had to do was somehow get past the monster and run as fast as I could into that opening.
It was like a game of Red Rover; I just had to get to the other side, but a guard prevented me from doing that.
After a second, the tyrant adjusted to its surroundings and finally saw me. With an incredible speed, the T-rex-like figure darted at me.
Since I somewhat knew its attack pattern, I anticipated its initial attack would be a charge, so I dived out of the way.
However, contrary to my expectations, the monster seemed to have some intelligence as, instead of continuing its charge, it stopped midway after seeing me dive.
Immediately, it changed directions and started charging at my new location. I was vulnerable; I didn't have enough time to dive, enough space to dodge, or enough power to kill.
Why was I even doing all this? This power shit and survival, why did I even come to the cave? I could have just stayed in the inn until my suspension and lived at the school comfortably until my expulsion.
Why did I sacrifice that life for the tangible hope of getting power? It wasn't like I was going to do anything with that power anyway; I just wanted some protection. However, wouldn't the protection within the academy be enough?
I just had to act like some protagonist by jumping into dangerous situations without thinking, right?
Looking at the tyrant nearing, I felt a sense of serenity. For the past three days, I had put myself through constant exercise, near-death experiences, and terrible sleeping conditions. Not to say that it wasn't worth it, as I could see my weight drop significantly through my appearance as my jawline became more defined and abs developed on my chest, but at the same time, was this what I wanted to do?
I was given a second chance, yet I wasted it instead of doing things I enjoyed.
Looking at the Tyrant still nearing in on me, I noticed.
Is it just me, or is it slowing down? By now, the Tyrant should have killed me, yet it was still some distance away from my slumping body. If this kept up, I would have more than enough time to dive out of the way or climb up.
Well, who am I to refuse if god gives me a 3rd chance?
Deciding that climbing could be dangerous as this phenomenon could stop at any time, and I would be trapped on the walls, I dived in the direction of the cave the Tyrant came from.
However, even after I dived away from the Tyrant, the flow of time stayed the same. Looking at the Tyrant, it looked like it was running in slow motion.
"I know I said all that stuff about taking risks, but this isn't even a risk; whatever god there is is handing this monster on a plate."
By now, the monster had noticed my location change, so it once again changed directions. However, my speed far surpassed the monster. It seemed that for every second that passed in the monster's eyes, 5 seconds passed in my time, so even with my horrendous stats, I was faster than it.
I ran full speed around the monster, who could not react, and plunged my sword into its right leg. Tearing it out, I proceeded to do the same to its left leg.
The monster collapsed on the ground, no longer holding itself up.
However, whatever change occurred during that time seemed to stop, as the monster's arms and mouth began moving again at their original speed. But, it was far too late; the monster could not retaliate or dodge my incoming attacks as it was immobilized entirely.
Without any hesitation or mercy, I stabbed at the monster's body, ignoring its groans of pain until the monster became a lifeless corpse.
Looking at the monster lying lifeless on the ground, I immediately started climbing back up to the cave exit.
After that experience, there was no way in hell that I would continue exploring this cave. Sure I took on one of them, but there was probably over a hundred more lurking around in this big ass cave. I had been given a third chance, but thinking a fourth chance would come would most likely be a mistake.
After scaling the walls and reaching my original path, I soon returned to the river where I had gotten my water.
Noticing that my hands were somewhat dirty due to all those rocks I touched when climbing, I leaned down to wash my hands off in the river, but inadvertently, I also saw the reflection of my face in the river.
My right eye, which was originally red, was golden. However, that quickly escaped my mind as, through looking at my reflection, I realized my right eye was leaking blood.
I quickly placed my hand near my right eye before returning it to my line of sight. It was completely drenched in blood.
How the hell did I manage for this long without realizing it? Where the hell is the pain?
I looked like Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, as the right side of my face was blood red. Using the water from the river, I cleansed my face, and thankfully, no more blood flowed out.
After my face and hands were clean, I inspected the color of my right eye again. It was golden. You know who's right eye was also golden? The villain owner from the dragon's eyes.
I guess that golden orb really was it. Also, with all that fear out of my mind, I remembered that the slowing of time earlier was probably related to the dragon eye's first stage.
But something still didn't make sense. Why did it activate then and not earlier.? If it had been activated earlier, I would have never searched again and gotten into this ordeal.
I wasn't complaining as it saved my life, but I was curious. After all, what use was the item to me if it only activated when it wanted to?
After a moment, I looked at the reflection again, and my right eye was back to red. The mysteries kept on piling up. After I went this far to obtain the item, I would be damned if I didn't make use of it.
Bracing myself, I cleared my mind of all motions and focused solely on my right eye. I could feel a subtle change in my right eye, like how more blood flowed towards it, so I looked into the reflection again.
My eye was golden again.
Picking up a nearby rock, I threw it towards the river, but rather than moving in a fast and fluid arc; it seemed to float in the air like it was in slow motion.
Just when I was about to test the passage of time more, I felt a sudden urge of pain swelling in my right eye. It felt like my eye was about to implode from all the pressure.
After removing my brain's focus from my right eye, the pain stopped, but I still felt a weird tingling feeling.
After looking in the river again, I noticed that besides my eye color being back to red, more blood appeared near my right eye.
It seemed that using the ability for a prolonged period of time would lead to blood escaping through my right eye. Though at first, it may not seem like a bad penalty, without blood, my body is unable to operate, so using the ability for a long period of time would definitely lead to my death.
Even using it for a short period of time could lead to major blood loss, making it so I would lose access to some parts of my body.