Swish!
My feet landed on the heavy snow of the Himalayan mountains. I took a deep breath and continued walking ahead. I bought climbing tools from the Exchange Store, which is why my Exp was now below 500.
(It doesn't matter, if I complete the quest then I will get my awakening back.)
My eyes absorbed the immersive view of the great mountains in front of me. The snow felt like a bed where I could sleep, though that sleep would be eternal.
(But seriously, what am I even doing here? I jumped in front of a train but I got summoned here, and instead of trying to die again, I'm climbing? I'm not even a climber.)
I wondered what my goal even was in this world. Though I had some serious questions.
Why am I an 'Error'?
What is this world? What was wrong with those moons, or were they just background decoration?
What is an Indestructible Remain?
Thud!
My ice axe slipped from my hold and I hit the ground. I hadn't reached great heights, so the damage wasn't big, but if I was like this at the start, then how would I even reach higher?
I walked around the mountain base a bit but saw nothing except a smooth way for going up. Wait, there is a way?
There was a straight route leading up the mountain. It was so easy that even a fat isekai-loving nerd could climb it.
There were even bars on both sides for holding. It was there to prevent people from slipping in the snow. Seeing that perfect route, I looked down at the tools I had bought for 60 Exp.
[Exp: 460/500]
I looked up at the route and then at the equipment I bought multiple times, then asked myself,
(Is this Sia effect?)
I opened the Exchange Store once again and scrolled for a moment to find a way to get a refund for the stuff I had bought. Luckily there was a refund option, but it only gave half the Exp back and took the item too.
(Something is better than nothing.)
With that thought in mind, I gave up all the items I had bought except one, the tent. I didn't know where the temple was, so maybe it would take several days to find it. Until then, I needed a place to sleep and warm myself.
[Exp: 480/500]
I put the tent back in my inventory and started walking toward the route. I had no plan for how I would find the temple, but if the Order gave me such a hard quest, then maybe it would also give me hints.
***
After walking in the snow for a while, Rayen, whose nose had turned red along with his cheeks, suddenly had a question.
(Are Dreams here too? If they are, then it would be a huge problem for me, as I gave up my awakening too.)
He then curled his hands together and blew warm breath into them to keep them from going numb. He also rubbed his hands together to generate heat.
He carefully examined everything he saw on the route. Giant boulders, trees covered in snow, and his legs, which he couldn't feel anymore.
He jumped in place and did some warmup to generate heat inside his body, but his legs were still numb. He took a deep breath and started running as fast as he could in the snow. He stumbled from time to time but somehow managed to get away without falling.
***
In the day he completely covered the perfect route, and at night he set up the tent and sat inside it without food or anything, with no lamp as a source of light.
Outside the tent, a snowstorm was going on, but the tent had the ability to work like an igloo. That's why Rayen's body was warm now. He was rolling around inside the tent because he couldn't sleep even though he was tired. The biggest reason for that was that he was having many flashbacks in his mind.
Of the orphanage owner lady and the kids there. Even though he was different from an average child, he was never neglected by the orphanage kids. Most of their attention was always on what he was doing. He was like the center of attention in the orphanage.
But even that couldn't shake off his emptiness, and even before becoming a teenager he intentionally jumped from the orphanage's roof, but he survived without even getting a fracture. That day even the bright and always smiling orphanage owner lady cried.
(I wonder if the orphanage owner lady is still worrying about where I went? But that doesn't matter now. I am in a new world. I need to find a new purpose, because it's either to adapt or die. And if that indestructible remain turns out to be helpful, then maybe I will get a new goal.)
With that thought, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
***
I opened my eyes, but I didn't find myself in the tent. I found myself in a very messy situation. I was holding someone's neck, and my hands were too small, small enough to be called the hands of a young child.
But why am I a young child?
The one whose neck I was holding was bleeding from there, and I felt my grip was strong enough to choke them.
But why was I trying to choke them?
I never had any bad relationship with anyone. Though I never had any relationship in the first place, even if I considered it their one-sided connection, I still never did something to get hate.
"### S€€, 1'm ߆øpping ßl°°d ƒr°m ç°m1ng 0µ†."
I heard a child's voice. It was so close that maybe it was coming out of my own mouth.
But how can anyone stop bleeding by choking someone?
***
He opened his eyes and looked around. It was the tent. Then he slowly got up from the ground and put a hand on his heart. It was beating fast.
He had a neutral expression on his face as he said, "That same nightmare again, and again I forgot the face of the person whom I was choking."
Strange.
It was extremely strange that he remembered everything that happened in that nightmare, still he couldn't remember the face of the person he was choking. But he had already grown indifferent to it, as it was the same every time he slept. He ended up seeing that same nightmare and remembered everything except that person's face. In that dream he always asked those three questions, but never got the answers.
That nightmare was the only dream he ever remembered. That's why he had named it.
The First Dream.
He then stood up and dismantled the tent. The tent disappeared and went back into his inventory. Then he looked up at the weather. It was clear, and the morning sunlight was shining on his body. It was cold, but better than bad weather and snowstorms.
He walked around in search of food and a support stick, because there was no telling when this bright morning would turn into something he didn't expect.
(Take Dreams frivolously, not nature.)
And soon enough he found a good enough support stick beside an old tree. But along with the stick, maybe he had found some food, because he heard the sound of some animals.
When he peeked from behind the tree, he saw some small, adorable rabbit-like animals running here and there, holding green grass in their mouths and chewing it.
Rayen licked his lips and said in a low voice, "Let's see how much I can hunt."