Capítulo 24: "Hiking"
Locus wasn't sure what to make of this. He just stood there and looked at the mountain when a boulder crashed down just half a meter to his left.
Locus knew that there was no time to stand around. He closely eyed his surroundings. There was nothing remotely close to a protrusion or a cave where Locus would have been safe from the debris.
"He is insane. It's the only possible option. Maybe I'll just kill him the next time we see each other."
But to find Genken, Locus had to climb a mountain of about 15,000 feet.
"That maniac..."
Another rock came falling down dangerously close to Locus' position. He leaped to his right to avoid it, just to notice another rock heading straight for Locus' new location. He quickly stepped back.
The mountain went up at an angle of about 60 degrees.
"How am I supposed to get up there when it's hard enough to survive down here?"
In addition to this, another problem popped up in Locus' head. He needed a place to sleep. There was no way for him to accomplish such a task in just one day, so he needed a place to sleep.
Sadly, Locus was surrounded by mountains. There was nowhere to catch a break.
While trying to deal with those problems, Locus kept on dodging the imminent threat, but he was already running out of energy.
There wasn't any kind of food or water source down in the valley. How was Locus supposed to survive this?
As time passed, Locus' energy vanished. It was in the evening, and he had barely managed to gain 600 feet in height.
He sat down on a small stone. Locus knew it was risky, but he had to rest. He closed his eyes and laid down, although it was more sitting than lying.
Locus took a deep breath and dozed off a little. All of a sudden, Locus' body jumped away from the stone it had been lying on, mere moments before a boulder from the mountain cracked it.
Still in shock and wondering about what just happened, Locus' thoughts were racing. He had almost died just now. But he was still alive. How?
Locus remembered the moment in which Genken tried to punch him. The feeling had been almost the same.
Locus remembered his reason for being in this situation: He needed to develop and train certain skills. This was probably one of them. He had to feel the stones' Auras. Without doing this, he wouldn't last the dark night.
With the new approach in mind, Locus reached 1,000 feet. He couldn't go any further. But just sleeping was too risky. What if a rock would go unnoticed?
Locus had trouble standing. He needed a safe place.
He didn't know what his train of thought was, but Locus remembered Genken's words. Locus was supposed to integrate his ability into everything he does, as long as there was a benefit for him.
Locus picked up a few big rocks and piled them up. Then he turned each one of them into sand. That should keep him safe from rolling stones. But Locus couldn't do much about the rocks that were falling straight onto his body. It didn't matter. Locus needed sleep.
After just a few seconds, he fell asleep. Aside from waking up and dodging a few times, the night went well, so that Locus could continue his journey when waking up the next morning.
After trying something new by turning stone into bread and eating it, Locus continued his journey. He had always been worried about the possibility of accidentally turning the bread back into stone, but that risk was acceptable in a situation like this.
Just then, from one minute to another, the clouds went from white to black. A storm was approaching.
Even though he was worried about himself, Locus was more worried about Genken, since the top of the mountain marked the highest point and therefore the destination if a lightning. Locus hadn't even reached a height of 2,000 feet. Maybe Genken had teleported away from there?
Raindrops started to fall on Locus' head. He was prepared. Locus took out a provisional wooden cup that he had made out of a transformed stone and began to collect the rain while walking.
Whenever there was enough water inside the cup, Locus poured it into his adventurer bottle. The storm got stronger and stronger. Locus' bottle filled up, and he proceeded to just drink the water out of the cup in hopes of not needing a second bottle.
Suddenly, a thunderbolt hit the top of the mountain, followed by a second and a third one. Was Genken still up there?
By the time it got dark, the storm hadn't stopped. There was nothing that Locus could do about it. Dodging debris took every bit of energy he had. A cold wouldn't kill him. Locus decided to rest at a height of 5,000 feet. He was making good progress.
He woke up two times to dodge some rocks. But the third time he woke up was different. It was too dark for Locus to see what was going on, but he felt lots of Aura coming right his way. Before he knew it, a mudflow hit him and made him lose his footing.
While rolling down the mountain, Locus drew his katana and rammed it into the ground. Because of the enchantment, it went pretty well, but it just slowed Locus down.
After putting all of his strength into his arms and holding out for a few seconds, Locus had finally stopped.
He looked around and walked a few steps. The ground still seemed a little bit unstable, so he went away from the scene.
It looked like he wasn't hurt. That was a good sign.
But it just took one look down to make all the relief he felt go away.
Locus was back at the beginning at only a few hundred feet.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
MdM002
MdM002 I'm not satisfied with this chapter. It all sounds so easy.
Estado de energía semanal
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