Chapter 44: Chapter. 44: Caves, Quests & a Screech

[It appears you need my help!]

Glim called for the first time in a while. Had it just been waiting for me to struggle with something?

[Noo, how could I be waiting to be useful?] Glim scoffed. [I am your assistant after all, I am always useful!]

I nodded.

[That said, it appears you are in quite the conundrum. The mountains are rather empty, eh?]

I agreed with Glim once more, waiting for it to get to the point.

[Well you see, each region is kind of different with its own ecosystem. So, in this one things like Rime Worms and subterranean life thrives, while others can only survive at the extreme of the harsh environment.]

That sounded reasonable. Though I had to ask ⁠— since Glim was offering information.

“So no more Knell Boars, Everwood Moose, or Loa Vulpes?”

[None!] It bobbed. [This is a no quadruped zone!]

Uh huh. I looked behind me, where I could barely see the crowns of the trees. So the environment at the mountains was completely different? I shuddered. That didn’t seem awfully surprising considering the cold. Where I was it was bearable, but looking at the distant mountains that were barely visible made me feel unsure. Was I even in the right place?

[Don’t worry, you should get by just fine!] Glim cheered. [Pinky promise! Or well, proton promise? Promise of light? I promise that you won’t die so long as you are not impulsive!] It circled around me.

If Glim said so⁠— as if I could actually trust Glim. I shook my head and pondered about it seriously, but thinking about it it was closer to: I should give it a go. Rather than I was going to die. The mountains were different to the forest, and maybe held new challenges; new guardians, new loot. The thought of needing to get stronger steeled my resolve. I simply had been slacking off, and sure I had killed some elves already, but it was just… It kind of happened? There was no perceived relief, or sense of regret, but it was a forced situation after all.

I just hoped the child was okay. That was something I regretted.

I closed my eyes feeling the cold hard stone beneath my feet, the callus of the soles gave it a weird sense of detachment; it felt dry and rugged. I grabbed my spear and decided to use it as a walking stick given the rough terrain. Glim had mentioned that there were mostly subterranean monsters, and where the climate was the most extreme was where I could find actual monsters outside.

The lowest place of the rocky plains was a mix of stone, random patches of dirt and the black patches, but as the slope inclined and the altitude went up, the more snowy it became, the more scarce the black and dirt became, and at the farthest reaches of my vision I could even see ice. I made my decision without second thoughts and began walking to the closest edge of the mountain. Looking from the faraway distance for crevices or places where caves could be. It was jagged and uneven, an expansive rock wall of gray and somewhat blue stone.

After a minute of walking the wall had become much clearer, and the inconsistencies became more apparent. Soon, I saw caves, some bigger than others, and some looked like shallow cuts rather than something that went underground. But I was a bit excited, maybe it was hotter underground⁠ — but maybe it was also much colder. I didn’t have high hopes, but eventually I reached a small cave, the closest one. Walking from where I had entered the mountains to the cave had taken almost ten minutes. Even though the plains looked wide and open, they were massive. A sense of scale that I didn’t quite get in the first place.

As I approached the cave, it seemed quiet and damp, darkened by the looming shadows of rock protrusions. It had an almost magical frost aura to it, reminiscent of the burrow of the Rime Worm. A quick examination and that was it; the cold air gave me a slight pause but I still ventured inside with the spear in hand. What awaited at the end of it?

◇ ◇ ◇

The cave at times was constricting and claustrophobic, the cold walls and constant wind did not help, and other times it was open like a small room. The passage was uneven, sometimes it was smooth. Naturally cold, and naturally beautiful. As I traveled with the light ⁠— Glim ⁠— it bobbed, and spoke unnaturally.

[Hey, Blair, I just thought of something…] it hesitated.

“What did you think about?” I tried to keep myself in high alert, but there was only so much one could do after walking on a passage for tens of minutes and not finding anything.

[Well, remember the quests? Yeah, so… We got the walking quest, yes?]

I nodded.

[Well it just occurred to me, you don’t really need it? Like⁠— you know. It’s useful for sure, its a quest for rulers to expand their territory after all. But the thing is that, well, Blair⁠— you don’t… have any people?]

An impossibly long sigh escaped me. “So, I’ve been doing that quest pointlessly?”

[Well, pointlessly is a strong word⁠—]

I interrupted with utmost seriousness. “Glim…”

It trembled. [Listen, it’s not pointless, but matter of fact is that you don’t have any people under your wing. For example, if you made Matt and their little group serve you then it would be useful, you know?]

I shook my head and moved on, it was just Glim things. Part of me wanted to be upset, but aside from a small sense of disappointment there was not much. It almost felt like something to be expected; completely normal coming from it, and that was fine. I was fine with that. I was fine with that…

“What happens next, then?” I asked with a low grumble.

[Wow, don’t get so angry!] Glim said in a weird tone. [I was simply thinking that we should change the quest for something new, something better, something much more exciting and fun!]

I gave Glim a skeptical look, though it held no expression for it was a ball of light. “Are quests supposed to be exciting and fun?”

[Sure they are, just take a look!]

Glim sent a notification with a small quest list.

[Available Quests:

[Till They Bleed (Uncommon E): Exploration does not come without pain, make them suffer. Reward: Suitable piece of equipment (armor). Condition: Kill other beings (0/40) (Repeatable)

[The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E): They must be protecting something! Reward: 3 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill a Guardian type monster. (0/1)

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[Explorer of The Uncharted (Uncommon E): The best sights are the ones no one has ever seen before. Reward: Unknown. Condition: See an uncharted place inside the Skirmish. (0/1)]

I stared at it briefly, before becoming annoyed. “Couldn’t you have told me about the Guardian quest before that?”

Glim moved up and down in place as if it was thinking. After a second of silence it finally spoke. [I forgot, hehe~]

Annoyingly endearing, indeed. I sighed inwardly. “I want the first quest, then.”

[Oh, no, no⁠— You can just take all of them, here.]

I was suddenly prompted with a bunch of notifications, all of them asking if I wanted to undertake each quest, but. I thought you could only have three? Why could I receive all three, on top of the two I already had⁠— three? As I stared with confusion Glim spoke as if justifying itself.

[To be fair, it is highly recommended to only pick 3 quests at the start until the initiator is highly adapted to the circumstances they find themselves in. And I deem that you are quite adapted, congratulations, Blair!]

I felt a slight sense of anger with Glim at that moment.

"Couldn't you have given me some of these quests before I got into so many fights? What is this, I forgot, thing?!"

Glim paused. [Well, considering I simply follow routines most of the time and have to break myself to even give you hints that's a big ask for me to not forget, you think I have self will? Well sort of...] It awkwardly bobbed. [If I gave you the Guardian quest mid Kame battle you would have died from the distraction, at the same time I found no right moment to force it onto you in the periods of the Osthus Tree Guardian. Other quests... Well, I suppose that is my mistake. But should you fail to complete more than one quest by the end of the Skirmish then there will be trouble, and I mean it. I much prefer for you to advance slower than for you to cripple yourself!] It warned but I simply sighed.

That said, now I felt a bit worried. Didn’t that mean that everyone that could pick quests, had picked up as many as they were allowed to? I was half-tempted to try to find out the quest list, but if it was as long as the list of available skills then I wanted to save myself the trouble.

Glim coughed.

[There are a total of 209 quests available, and 204 have been deemed inappropriate for you, by yours truly. The other 2 have been deemed impossible! Also, remember. If you fail to complete the active quests some penalties might come to be! Though nothing too harsh. Can’t have people dying for picking up 200 quests after all, but at the same time I suppose the punishment isn't better than death.]

A sigh left me. It wasn't worth it to get angry over Glim not giving me enough quests. As far as I knew he was telling the truth with the failing to complete more than one quest, but it still sucked, but now was better than never. And maybe just maybe Glim had actually done the correct move with not giving me every quest, but who knows. I turned to my quest list.

[Active Quests:

[Land Reconnaissance (Common F): In order to conquer, one must first grow familiar. Reward: Small Territory Claim. Condition: Travel 20km (3/20) (Repeatable)

[Ecology Dissection III (Uncommon E): When in a strange land, one must first investigate. Reward: 5 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill Beasts of equal or greater level than you. (5/15)

[A Dream Of Stars (Rare D): Once upon a time the stars seemed so distant, but with the Inspiration of the Universe, constellations interconnected to create a unique fate. One to soar above the stars. Reward: Trial Pass. Condition: Claim a Prophecy to call your own. (0/1)

[Till They Bleed (Uncommon E): Exploration does not come without pain, make them suffer. Reward: Suitable piece of equipment (armor). Condition: Kill other beings (0/40) (Repeatable)

[The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E): They must be protecting something! Reward: 3 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill a Guardian type monster. (0/1)

[Explorer of The Uncharted (Uncommon E): The best sights are the ones no one has ever seen before. Reward: Unknown. Condition: See an uncharted place inside the Skirmish. (0/1)]

And they were just the active quests. I shook my head and simply decided to focus on the ones I could do that weren’t cryptic. Which were the killing ones, if I stumbled across a Guardian perhaps I could kill it as well. The other ones would come with time, I felt. Explorer of The Uncharted probably was something more cryptic than seeing an undiscovered place. If I looked inside a crevice nobody else had looked into, I doubted I would suddenly get the quest done.

With all that in mind I continued down the cave with Glim by my side. Things were relatively quiet, thankfully. Though, in the end I still had the walking quest.

◇ ◇ ◇

The cave had come to a relatively cool temperature, everything felt chill as if it were the middle of the night. Glim still served as a light, though the cave had come to an end. Instead I stared at two branching paths, and one was covered with a weird grime in the walls, the other one wasn’t.

Did I even want to continue? I was adamant about picking the right path ⁠— the clean one ⁠— only to be met with a dead end. At the same time I didn’t want to go down the left path, for it seemed filthy, coated with a blue slime, and simply put; it looked hard to walk on. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and decided to move towards the clean tunnel⁠— wriggling entered my ears, giving me pause, it was moist and constantly rubbing against each other. It was distant, but it sounded as if it was coming closer, and it came from the left tunnel.

I lifted my brow, and switched to my bow. And at that moment, there was an unholy screech that echoed through the tunnels. The entire cave shook, and the holes themselves trembled as if something huge had happened, and then there was silence. The sounds had vanished as soon as they came. I felt uncertainty once more.

The main reason I was here was to get stronger, and kill things. That was ultimately the main reason I had come to the mountains. Between the two tunnels one was silent, and the other reeked of danger, or at least guaranteed some encounters with monsters.

“How dangerous do you think it is?” I asked Glim.

The light flickered. [Well, I can’t really say, you know… But I recommend against it…]

So it was pretty dangerous.

I slung my bow over my arm, and grabbed my spear before walking towards the coated cave. As I stood before the opening of the path, I couldn’t help but notice it was in a downwards slope, and it too was coated with the same blueish slime. I had experienced something like it in the past, it was a slide⁠ — a naturally formed one, but it also meant that there was no way back. The true unknown awaited me, and being honest I felt a small amount of thrill.

I walked forward and stepped on the slope, my foot touched the slime, it felt sticky and cold, but without pause I placed my other foot, and in an instant I felt the lack of resistance from the ground. Leaning forward with a crouched stance, my center of gravity lunged me forward down the cave along with Glim.

[Isn’t this a bad idea? Well, I mean, I am just your Assistant, and my parameters tell me you’re not being totally unreasonable, but I can’t help but think that you could’ve just gone into a different cave.]

I ignored Glim as a notification entered my mind.

[You have entered a nest.]

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