The Sphere pulsed in front of me faster than it ever had before—90 times.
[9000]
[1010]
...…
[10,010]
"Huh?"
I stared blankly at the Sphere. Didn't I kill over 100 things? Like 30 in the morning, then I counted 100 in the afternoon.
"The fuck do you mean only 90 kills?!!!"
I screamed at the Sphere.
[1,000,000]
The stupid, ridiculous tome appeared before me.
"No! You can't just do that every time!"
Nothing. I was mad. I was so, so mad.
It took me a moment to calm down.
"Okay, so why only 90?"
[1,000,000]
The tome appeared in front of me again.
"I know already. Stop showing me the damn tome!"
I was more upset about being let down by the only thing that had been a constant during those early days. I fought every day, and I had grown comfortable with the Sphere always rewarding my actions. Now, all my previous confusion and frustration came rushing back.
I was quickly starting to lose my mind in this new world full of secrets and mysteries.
I stayed there for a moment, thinking.
I tried to figure out whether the crawlers were worth fewer points. But then again, the Sphere pulsed 90 times, which meant it registered 90 kills. I could be wrong—or not. I simply didn't know.
"I have to count this time," I told myself.
I did tell everyone—or actually just Travis—that I'd be back today, but I needed answers more than ever. I would lure the crawlers out the same way, kill them the same way, and then run to the clearing before sunset.
I decided to buy [Good Nutrition] for 500 points. Then I fixed my [Exhaustion] for 700 points.
I decided to get upgrades to help with this mountainous terrain.
[Improve Strength - 15]
[Improve Dexterity - 21]
[Improve Constitution - 20]
[Improve Stamina - 31]
[Improve Mind - 0]
I bought 29 upgrades for dexterity at 870 points. I stopped at only this much because another upgrade costed 1 000 points. There was obviously some kind of threshold on these upgrades.
Then I upgraded my constitution by 20 points for another 600 points.
At the last minute, I also upgraded my strength 20 times for 600 points.
After all this spending, I used a total of 3,270 points right there and still had 6,740 left.
[Improve Strength - 35]
[Improve Dexterity - 50]
[Improve Constitution - 40]
[Improve Stamina - 31]
[Improve Mind - 0]
[6,740]
I decided to upgrade my stamina until it hit a threshold. It took only 19 upgrades for a total of 570 points.
[6,170]
I was sure I could get a lot of points the next day, so I decided to try something new.
[MIND UPGRADE] [100]
The starting cost was already 100. So I bought one. The price didn't change, so I bought nine more before hitting the threshold.
[MIND UPGRADE] [1,000 points]
'Damn.'
[5,170]
With this I was already halfway to my goal, while doubling my stats. I felt on top of the world!
[Improve Strength - 35]
[Improve Dexterity - 50]
[Improve Constitution - 40]
[Improve Stamina - 50]
[Improve Mind - 10]
I willed myself to wake up by shifting my focus away from the Sphere.
________________________________________
I woke up feeling like my best self ever. I wasn't hungry at all, and my body felt alive. It felt perfect—fully recovered. Like I had just had an intense stretch and massage session.
The sunrise was beautiful from this view. It highlighted the distant eastern hills and cast a golden hue over the southern misty clouds.
I climbed down easily. I was so fast, I felt like a professional parkour athlete from those YouTube videos. I hopped from rock to rock and had incredible balance. I felt in control of my center of gravity as my muscles worked effortlessly.
It didn't take long to reach the cave. The same weird boulder and puddle—it looked like a copy from the clearing.
I picked up a rock and threw it.
"Come out, you fuckers!"
I screamed, more for the sake of coping than anything else. I ran up the steep incline like an athlete. At this point, my body looked jacked. For the first time, I could do muscle-ups as I climbed the rocks. I looked behind me at the cave below.
I waited.
After about 30 minutes, I grew bored and considered going back down to try again. Nothing happened.
"Hey! Try and catch me, you freaks!" I yelled something like that and darted up the steep climb.
My muscle strength was enough to push me faster than ever. My balance was insane. I eventually reached the steep stone wall and waited a bit for the crawlers to show up, but nothing came.
I went down to the cave again, and thought a bit of the situation. The pale crawlers might be nuctoral monsters, hence the pitch black cave. Maybe I shoud try this at dusk again.
I went down the mountain, which took the rest of the morning. For a few hours I ran around and killed goblins with my bare hands.
When a group of three showed up, I would bump the first one full speed that knocked him down breathless. I then block the hit from the second one, while kicking the third one, and then throwing a hook on the second one. The first one would still be struggling to stand up, so I just stomp its head and kill it.
I felt like some assassin character from the movies.
After killing about 12 at a leisure pace, I climbes the mountain and reaches the cave at dusk.
I threw another rock, and shouting taunts. I climb as dozen meters with haste and wait with baited breath.
Soon, pale crawlees showed up.
Like some olympic athlete, I ran and climbed up the mountain. They were fast, and I had no idea how I did this before with a weaker body. Must have been the fear for my life.
Eventually, I reached the plateau when it was already dark.
I clenched my teeth and stomped down on the hand of the first one. Yes, my foot stung a little. Yes, the crawler's hand splattered and fractured. The fingers were still attached, but the force of my full stomp popped the flesh of his palm.
I got to work quickly—leaping with side shuffles as I stomped and kicked. No group was fast enough to overwhelm me.
This time, I counted.
"75…76…77…78…79…"
I grabbed the last crawlers head beneath my foot and lifted him over my shoulders, above the ledge.
He kicked and screamed. Before his hand could claw at me, I punched him in the chest. He puked blood out of his large gaping mouth. In disgust, I shoved him far.
"Dammit."
Now I had a new layer of stink on me.
I climbed down the stone wall. It was night, and I would be late to arrive at the clearing.
I passed by their bodies, counting as I descended. I reached 68 before I had to look down the sides of the rocks to find more. Some were too far to reach without taking an unnecessary amount of time.
In the end, I passed by 68 goblins on my way down and found 25 further away, which I also counted but didn't approach since their bodies were rangled at odd stone walls against the mountain.
"The last 7 of the 100 must be somewhere between the rocks."
After two more hours of climbing, I reached the bottom. It was a little past noon, so I decided to run to the clearing and kill goblins on my way.
I ended up killing 7 more.
Fighting them was easy. One punch to their heads knocked them out. Two or three more, and they were dead. Obviously, my strength upgrades played a role. My wrist and knuckles stung from punching goblin skulls, and my right hand even had a small cut. But it didn't feel close to any injury.
By the time I reached the clearing, it was probably midnight. Some guys keeping watch saw me approached, and were ready to attack. They went at ease when they finally could see my face in the dim blue moon light.
Travis was awoken, since I came out of the treeline where his group always camped.
"I was starting to worry," Travis said, welcoming me back.
I was exhausted and panted hard. My stamina was great, but ask any marathon runner to climb a mountain and run all day, and they'll spit on you.
I ignored Travis and walked straight to the pond, sweaty and red-faced. The water tasted like heaven.
"Welcome back. Did you see the Holy Land up there?"
Samuel appeared out of nowhere.
"I wish. Why are you so up late?"
He chuckled.
"Carl saw you and is fetching Rebecca and Bruce from their slumber."
"The Old Man?" I asked.
Samuel raised a brow.
"Never heard someone call him that. You know he was military, right?"
"You know we're in some crazy-ass world, right?"
He looked at me—and laughed.
He wiped his tears and said, "Guess we can be whoever we want to be."
Something about that stuck with me, but I didn't have time to reflect before the so-called leaders surrounded me.
"What did you see from up there?"
Rebecca was the first to ask. Around me stood her, Samuel, Carl, Travis, Victor, Hannah, Old Man Bruce, and a few others I hadn't met yet.
"I didn't reach the peak, but I got really high. The East has a lot of hills. The West has some open fields, maybe plains, with mountains way off in the distance. The North is covered in some kind of mist or clouds—I couldn't figure out what's causing it in the middle of the day."
"And the South?" Travis asked.
"I climbed from the North side of the mountain."
Everyone looked disappointed, but I was already thinking of an excuse to go again.
"I couldn't see behind the mountain. I want to go back and climb the east side—get a better look at the South and East."
That seemed to catch their interest. They fell into thought.
"We don't have a problem with that. Don't you want help this time?" Rebecca offered.
"How many goblins are there? We need more hunting grounds," Travis interjected.
She scoffed. "We don't need more hunting grounds—you just need to stop taking more than half the goblins!"
"We need more ground so we can get stronger faster. We still owe that owlbear in the east." Travis folded his arms and looked at me.
"Now, calm down, everyone. We have our differences, but we need to work together." Carl stepped between them.
Victor nodded. "I'm with Carl on this one."
"I'll go to the mountains again. It's faster if I go alone. There are a lot of goblins there, but no more than here, overall."
I caught Samuel's eye. He was watching me with suspicion. I looked away, which probably made me seem even guiltier.
"My boys and I will continue to explore west, just to see if it's any different from the east," Old Man Bruce said confidently.
"Are you sure? What if there are owlbears on that side too? Or something worse?" Rebecca asked.
I lost interest in the conversation and slowly backed away, heading toward the pond for a drink.
As I looked around, it was obvious—everyone was in bad shape. Some were so skinny they looked like they were barely hanging on. Others had visible broken arms or legs. Nobody had proper clothing. I even saw some girls throwing themselves at hunters in the dark at the treeline. It was obvious they were trading their bodies for protection and help in hunting.
"You know, everyone can tell when you're lying."
Samuel crouched beside me, squinting with a wide grin.
"Sure." I splashed my face with the pond water, rubbing off sweat and blood.
"Be careful. Yesterday, someone got their arm broken for bathing in the pond when most of the group was out hunting."
I stopped, glancing around. People luckily were sleeping—even some from Travis' group. I decided that was enough and stood up.
"We really should figure out a way to separate the drinking water from the bathing water."
Samuel's eyes lit up.
"Great idea! Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?" He hurried over to the others, probably to share whatever plan he just came up with.
I took the moment to stare at the boulder near the pond. Maybe it was because I could compare it to the one on the mountain, or maybe it was my upgraded mind, but I noticed details I hadn't before. The grooves, the crevices—everything about it was exactly the same as the one on the mountain.
Looking closer, it didn't even seem natural. It looked carved, like someone had placed it there.
Two boulders. Two ponds.
One next to a cave, with a pond at its entrance. The other standing in the pond itself…
My eyes widened.
"Is there a hole beneath the boulder?"
The pond never dried up. And the one by the cave had a stream flowing from inside. This had to be some kind of underground fountain—covered by a massive boulder.
'Damn. This Mind Upgrade really made me cook some wild theories.'
It was a bizarre feeling—to just notice things and make conclusions I never would've before given the situation.
Samuel broke me out of my thoughts.
"You can thank me later! Tomorrow, we're digging a channel from the pond to the treeline—gonna make a proper river. Top part for drinking, bottom for washing."
He looked really proud of himself.
"Nice." I meant it. I was sick of being filthy.
Samuel ran off, probably to gather help for tomorrow's project.
I made my way back to where Travis' group usually slept. I was really tired and in the mood for a nap. I was also eager to find out what the Sphere was going to show now that I counted every goblin. I found a soft patch of grass, lay down, and finally closed my eyes.
It had been a long, exhausting day, and it finally ended with 93 pale crawlers plus 19 confirmed goblin kills and 5650 points to spare on the Sphere.