Chapter 63: Crumbling Mountains

  It was the middle of the night and Kumo was on watch standing on top of the mansion. Like always, there were no monsters that came close to where they were. She was getting quite bored waiting for her turn for the dungeon. Her mind drifted to what her trial would be like. Maybe hordes of monsters against her or surviving in an endless storm.

  Tremors violently started shaking the mansion and shook her back into reality. The shaking grew more violent and then a thunderous crash made her turn around. Deep fissures ran across the mountain range except this time they completely sliced off an entire peak on the edge of the island.

  Massive gemstone boulders started to fall into the ocean followed by the peak itself. Luckily, it was on the opposite side of the island from Synexus’ freshly sanded ship.

  Sounds of people waking and leaving the mansion let her know that the tremors stopped completely. She jumped off the roof and conjured a gust of wind to cushion her descent. There was to be a count because it was clear Zuls had just emerged from the dungeon.

  Zuls was exhausted and wanted nothing more to sleep, but first she stumbled outside to greet everyone. To her surprise and luck, it was pitch-black outside.

  Synexus grabbed some bioluminescent plants from his bag and grew them so they could see the crowd for the count. His head snapped towards the door when he heard it open and saw Zuls stumbling out holding a giant egg.

  “Are you okay? We were all worried. You’ve been in there longer than anyone else.” He asked while walking up to help her.

  Zuls placed the egg carefully on the ground before answering. “I’m fine! I passed. The exhaustion just hit me. Sleep is definitely in my future. Sleep and food.”

  Prith emerged from the shadows and put his hand on her shoulder. “Congrats! I knew you could do it. Yours must have been much more difficult than mine considering how your body feels like steel now. What in the world happened?”

  “Let’s just say that it took every ounce of my will to succeed. I’m too tired to recount everything.”

  “Fair enough. You should go get some rest. We can talk in the morning.”

  Vorin came from the crowd and hugged her. “You really do seem so much stronger. Let’s get you upstairs.”

  “Wait, before you go here’s some yuop fruits and vegetables. Also, am I the only one dying to know what’s with the egg?” Synexus found it odd that no one had asked yet.

  Zuls took the fruit and bit into it before answering. “Wow, that is the best thing I’ve had in a long time. I did find it odd that no one asked about it immediately.” She laughed a little. “This was one of my rewards. It’ll hatch into a new bonded for me once I feed it enough mana. Speaking of the egg, can someone help carry it up to my room?”

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  Prith grabbed the egg while Vorin helped her up to the room. Everyone else dispersed since the count came up perfect. Kumo assumed her post up on the roof again.

  ***

  Morning came and all the class chosen were back to doing their various tasks. Vorin and Gene had figured out how to safely move the map table and were waiting for the ship to be done to attach it in the captain’s quarters. Synexus was waiting for the wood on the ship to dry, which shouldn’t be too long since he had modified the wood to dry faster. Kumo had also been blasting it with a warm breeze to lessen the wait. In the meantime, he had went through all the books in the library and imprinted them on his perfect memory. There was some fascinating information in the library, and he hoped it would be useful later.

  Shell was taking the class expected through the morning meditations and Prith had joined them. Afterwards, he would start sword training like he did every day.

  Zuls woke up and walked into the sunlight about midday. She had been exhausted, and it showed with how much she slept. Synexus laid out more food for her and she devoured it as soon as she woke up.

  She walked over to the meditation area and greeted everyone. Prith shot up and told her that Vorin was looking for her. That surprised her since he should have went in immediately after her. He told her that Vorin was upstairs in the map room like normal.

  As she went back to the mansion, she realized that one of the peaks was completely gone. Sure enough she found Vorin upstairs talking to Gene about various things.

  “You were looking for me?”

  “Hey! Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were okay before I went in. Last night you looked a bit wobbly.”

  “I’m fine after that sleep and some food. It had just been a while since I had eaten anything.”

  “What do you mean? You couldn’t find food in the dungeon?”

  She started filling in both Vorin and Gene in on what happened during her trial.

  “Wow! That’s incredible, Zuls! I can’t believe you had to go through all that. I’m curious to why you don’t have to eat in there.”

  “I can answer that. The System sustains your body due to the time displacement. Think of it like a time lock of sorts. This is to prevent aging while allowing progress to be made with levels and such. A side effect is that you won’t die from hunger, but the sustenance will still be beneficial if you do eat.” Gene turned to Zuls. “You have been through an ordeal. Your body has transformed from you pushing yourself to the limit. On top of that you gained ten levels while in there. This exhaustion you felt when emerging was your body’s way of dealing with all the changes once the time lock was released. You should be okay now, but Zuls you should take it easy and process what you’ve been through. Most would have quit.”

  “Thank you, Gene. I plan to take it easy. There is a lot to think about. Besides, all my mana is going to go to the egg for a few days to get ahead in its progress. I want this Hydragon born as soon as possible.”

  “I can’t believe the System awarded you with that egg. It seems to be trying to reward you all with high mana items to purge the excess amount. Your new bonded will be highly sought after.”

  “Then we will have to get stronger in order to protect it!” Vorin said with a confident smile.

  “You didn’t see this thing. I’m pretty sure it will be protecting us.” That got a laugh from them all.

  “Well alright, I’m off to get stronger anyways.” Vorin started walking out the door.

  The two remaining both wished him good luck.

  ***

  He approached the lock and placed his hand against it. Feeling the question ringing in his brain he attempted to satisfy it with his first answer.

  “What I need to overcome is the burdens of leadership. This constant responsibility on my shoulder that I know will never fully go away. This guilt has distracted me from progressing in my class, which is also a sign of bad leadership. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps feeding itself and getting worse each time.”

  The lock accepted and the door opened to reveal the blinding white light of the dungeon entrance. Vorin was sucked in.