Chương 3: The Climb

Raian was a rational person, a person that followed logic.

Growing up in an orphanage he learned, observed, mimicked others, always learning, observing and always correcting his actions so people would like him more.

Prefer him more over the other children, all in all more snacks from the caretakers.

Taking in the positive and storing the negative. Even as a 3-year-old he could tell whether something was good or bad by gauging the reaction of adults around. After many years of experience, he had a profound understanding about good and bad. It was all subjective.

Growing up, as long as he could remember, he was different from the others his age. When he was 3 years old, he always wondered why others cried, it just didn't make sense to him. Crying was inefficient. The kids cried because their desires were not met. Instead of crying Just going up and asking the caretaker for what they wanted made more sense and he was often praised for that attitude.

He wasn't the smart or the genius who people called instead he could just think.... and when the orphanage eventually shut down. Raian escaped to the slums, being the most logical choice at the time. The thought of someone unknown buying him didn't suit right with Raian. Which was a stupid idea to say the least.

In all, all he knew and followed was logic.

But

This situation he was experiencing was not logical at all.

After closing his eyes, relaxing his body, letting the thoughts slowly vanish and the sweet whispers of dream slowly take hold of his body.

Suddenly he woke up. By a similar voice that welcomed him to his first challenge.

Sudden change was calculated, considering the information he got, all he had to do was survive till the end and he will successfully become a Sleeper. Easy as that.

but

'Cold!!!'

Opening his eyes Raian felt chilling cold wind clash upon his back.

Looking ahead.

'A rock?' He saw and felt it, rock upon rocks, 'a mountain?' He was climbing a mountain.

Immediately looking around he noticed the changes in his body, he felt different. Movement of his limbs and the connection of his body and his mind were different. The body he currently inhabited felt full of strength much more that his original body, like a whirling pool of vitality residing inside, constantly clashing and creating power, in the body Raian felt as if he could face anything he was forced against. Eventually the thoughts stopped and Raian calmed down.

'Calm down, let's focus on my current objective.'

Ignoring the current difference between his real body and this dream body, Raian climbs upwards. He didn't know why but it just made sense to climb up. After all, what was he gonna do? FALL DOWN? Of course not, climbing was the most logical path to take.

As he continued to climb up, slowly but surely ascending the mountain he heard many shouts near him, above him and below him.

The voice above encouraged, giving hope to Raian and others who were ascending the mountain alongside him.

The voice near him responded to the call with enthusiasm, like flame blazing with its everything against a billowing gale.

The voice below him responded at first, but after many hours of climbing the voices no longer continued.

Ushered by the sudden cold he wanted to look around wanting to gather information despite knowing it was a terrible idea. The need to look around and the need to know was slowly gnawing at his mind like a dull sound not loud but not weak but eternal.

Internal struggle somewhat weakened his focus on the current task of climbing making him lose some pace, trying to catch up to his previous pace Raian sped up or at least he tried to speed up. Guard down and mind distracted Raian had screwed up.

He felt the grip weakening, arm failing to firmly grab the rock he was looking at. His knee buckled, sudden fear of death washing over him. Raian panicked trying to grab anything that was held in place, but alas failure was the ending he met with.

Before falling to his death his arm shot up.

Making a life-or-death gamble he grasped randomly, 'Blessed!' yelled in his mind as He clutched at another rock. Almost thanking god Raian gripped the next few handles like his life depended on it. 'Damn Spell'

Pacing himself once again, Raian continued to climb the mountain, this time reinforcing his mentality to ignore certain things.

Like the eternal chilling wind upon his back, the continued voice from above and his personal wish to gather information by looking around.

He had been in the dream realm for few hours but he was already brushing close with death. It was unacceptable to just die like this, so he started planning his climb.

Raian climbed logically, trying his best to plan the optimal path to the top. Resting when tired, climbing after a few seconds because staying still in this cold atmosphere was a terrible idea. Planning A then B for when A failed and then C for when B failed.

Looking ahead Raian saw an endless climb but instead of cowering or cursing he just climbed.

After all he had a dream and following his own logic anyone with a dream and conviction would outlive others with no road to walk ahead no sun to look up to.

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After enduring countless days of relentless climbing, Raian finally reached the summit of the stupidly imposing mountain. The experience had been a grueling test of his endurance, marked by near-falls and a relentless struggle against the mountain's sheer incline and size. Raian cursed the mountain many times in his mind, but he stopped a few minutes after the cursing began.

Cursing a non-living objective was pointless, what was the mountain gonna do? Bow down to him and create a staircase from its inside?. That was just stupid.

Raian wished he had an ability to command a mountain, maybe that was his future ability when he eventually survived this nightmare. By the looks of it the sole act of climbing the mountain should be worthy of getting an aspect.

A part of him wished that after climbing the mountain his trial would be over, but Raian knew it wouldn't end that easily. but

'Transcendent Mountain Whisperer' felt like a pretty good name after climbing this mountain for a few days.

After almost dying because he was imagining himself as a Saint bending many mountains against nightmare creatures, Raian stopped his useless thoughts and focused on finishing his climb.

What felt like an eternity to him, however, translated to a more realistic few hours.

Raian, though uncertain of the precise duration, estimated that it fell somewhere between four to six hours. Judging by the average climbing speed of ordinary individuals and multiplying it by five, he speculated that the distance he covered was approximately 15 kilometers in height. Yet, lacking precise information, this remained a speculative and confused guess.

His contemplation on the intricacies of time and entry into the mountain's stopped abruptly as he reached the summit. The only thing important was his survival, though he couldn't shake off the pervasive cold that enveloped him. Almost shivering, Raian rose from his precarious position and staggered along the mountain's peak.

Breathing became a laborious task; his arms felt immobile, and only the ability to clench his fists remained. While his legs, once pulsating with vitality, were now gradually succumbing to the cold and hours of flexing muscles. Raian's back felt as though it had frozen solid, yet he pressed forward, seeking a place to rest.

In the distance, he spotted a shack or a ger illuminated by a light. The hue suggested a flame with its flickering pace, but the color was weird. Excited Raian walked towards the beckoning warmth.

But he stopped abruptly as he realized something. He was in the fckin Dream realm.

Here, the rules governing the living world were but distant echoes.

Reports that he paid too much for told him many things. Anything was possible within the Dream realm so he should be careful of everything, but he was exhausted and hungry.

Eventually Raian walked toward the ger, driven by a logical desire to rest and recover.

What was he going to do anyways, it was only logical that he gets into the shack and rest.

When he was climbing the mountain, he heard many sounds of encouragement from above and from the people climbing behind him. What happened to the people he heard from above? Maybe they were dead, or they set up a shack so they could rest and people who newly climbed would find them.

Following his logic Raian walked forward and entered the shack.