章節 18: Chapter 18 - Trail ( 2 )

As I passed out due to exhaustion the scenery around me started to change. A warm feeling appeared in my body and restored my body to a healthy state. I looked around me and found I was on the top of some mountain.

A screen appeared in front of me.

[Congratulations on the passing of the trail of persistence. The next trail is a trail of patience. Head to the house on the top of the mountain and learn a skill from the owner of the house.]

Again a clean and simple task but the difficulty has risen by a lot. This trail is also unknown. So I began to search for the house. Soon I find the house said in the task.

The house is big and mostly made up of stones and wood. The house also has some metal in it. I knocked on the door. No response came for a long time so I tried to open the door.

To my surprise door opened easily. I entered the house and saw a mini garden. In the garden, many plants and flowers are placed beautifully. There is a small lake in the corner of the garden. It is hard to imagine such a place that exists on this barren mountain.

Some fishes are jumping out and again land in the water. A big turtle is socking in sunlight at the border of the lake.

A big banyan tree in the centre of the garden increases the majesty of the garden. Its branches almost covered the whole garden except the lake area.

At the bottom of the tree, an elderly or I say old man is sitting on a big rock and meditating. The old man did not wear anything on his upper body. I just sat at some distance from the elderly and waited for them to complete the meditation.

It is a very rude thing to wake up someone from their meditation unless it is an emergency. I observed the old man to get some more information.

I used the SCAN on them but the result shocked me.

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Name - ????

Rank - ????

Race - ????

< Omitted >

==========

For the first time skill SKAN failed to get any information. My curiosity towards the old man grew tremendously.

The old man has white hair and a white beard. His face has wrinkles indicating the man is old but his body tells a different story.

The old man may look old but his body can put many youngsters to shame including me. The elderly body is like that of a warrior filled with muscles and explosive strength. His bulging arms show power hidden in them.

I felt a strong threat from the old man despite he did not try to intimidate me. His mere presence is a threat to my life.

As I waited time passed and the whole day passed but the old man did not wake up from his meditation. I did not try to wake him up and continued to wait by his side. The night also passed and the new day came.

Finally, in the afternoon old man opened his eyes and looked at me in a questioning manner.

I got up and introduced myself.

" Hello my name is David Adam. I came here to learn some skills from you. I will be very grateful if you teach me something." ( David )

The old man just smiled at my request and continued to observe me. Just as I feel he may reject me the old man speaks to me in a gentle tone opposite to his looks.

" Okay I will teach you some of my knowledge as I am pleased that you did not disturb my meditation. Be warned my teaching can be strange and not easy to follow so be prepared or go back now." ( old man )

" I am ready to take any challenge so please teach me as you wish. I will not complain or quit." ( David )

" bold words you got there but I like your attitude. A man's attitude and will are the most important things. Strength can be gained in many ways but character and will are needed to build by ourselves. Always trust yourself regardless of what others think. The most powerful opponent of you is none other than yourself." ( old man )

The old man got up from the rock and entered the house. After a while, he comes back with some food and water.

" first eat something as you have not eaten anything for 2 days and take rest today. We will start your training tomorrow morning. There is an empty room in the house so live there for now. There is also a kitchen so grab anything to eat if you feel hungry. ( old man )

I said thank you and eat all the food. I was really hungry but now I think the wait was worth it. As I finished eating plates disappeared.

I marvelled at the scene and got in the house to get some rest. I have not slept for days if you include the time I spend in the desert.

The next day I woke up early and got ready to receive my first lesson. As I walked into the garden I found the old man was already sitting on the rock and meditating in the same place.

May he sense my arrival elderly open his eyes and speak to me.

" come here kid. Close your eyes and take what I give you in your palm. Close the palm and never open it till I tell you to open it. As long as you are holding the thing in hand you can not look into it or drop it." ( old man )

I closed my eyes and stretched my arm forward. The old man placed something on my palm. I closed my palm. As I opened my eyes old man again reminded me not to open my hand in any situation. Saying this much elderly goes back to meditation leaving me clueless about many things.

I have no idea what am I supposed to do with the thing in my hand. I sat some distance away from the old man and started meditating. During the meditation, I try to find what is in my palm just by touching it or trying to identify it with just a touch. It is a lot harder than it looks.

I even used the skill dual thinking to boost my thinking ability and try to sense the thing in my hand.

For the whole day, I fully focused my mind on observing the thing in my hand. I am roughly able to imagine its structure in my mind but its color or other things are still out of my reach.

The old man did not wake up from the meditation during the whole day.

I made dinner for myself and the old man just in case he ate it. I eat my share. After that, I meditated till midnight and went to sleep. Even In sleep, I did not let go of the thing in my palm.

The next morning I wake up early as usual and get ready still holding the unknown thing in my palm. Strangely I feel a lot more connected or familiar with the thing in my hand after one night. I noticed the food I left was eaten so I made extra breakfast and stored it for the old man.

As I arrived at the garden old man called me. He told me to close my eyes and open my palm. I did as I was told. I feel that he took the thing I was holding till now and placed something else in my palm.

He told me to repeat the things I did yesterday. So I again started to meditate and feel the thing in my palm only by touching or using my mind to roughly draw its structure.

The day went by and night came. I make dinner for myself and the old man. After dinner, I meditated till midnight Then I fell asleep holding the thing in my palm.

The next day old man again took the thing in my palm and placed a new one. He told me to repeat the same routine I did yesterday. I obediently did what he told me.

For a whole month, this process gets repeated.

Every morning the old man took back the old thing and replaced it with the new one.

A month went by. One morning the old man took the thing in my palm but did not put anything new on my palm. I get confused by this move. After that old man told me to open my eyes.

I did as he told me. An old man took a big table out of thin air and placed it in front of me.

Then he took out a small bag and emptied its contents on the table. There are lots of different-sized and coloured rocks. The old man mixed all the rocks well. After that, he speaks to me.

" Now is the time for another test. These are the things I give you every day. You have to tell me which rock I give you on which day. There is no time limit so when you complete the task call me." ( old man )

Saying this elderly left me stunned and entered the house.

My brain went blank for some time. After some minutes I wake up from my blank state.

I take a deep breath and try to stay as calm as I can. There must be a reason or hidden lesson from the old man. I grabbed a random rock and placed it in my palm like I did till now.

I closed my eyes and began to feel the rock in my palm. Even after an hour passed I felt nothing but I did not give up and kept on trying.

After hours of hard work, I began to feel something. The rock in my hand started to give me a familiar feeling. I concentrated all my focus on that feeling.

My mind began to make the structure of the rock in my mind and started to match it with the structures I sensed since last month.

After hours of trial and error, I was finally able to find which day I received this rock. It was on the 7th day I got this rock.

I opened my eyes and found out the day had passed and the night had come. My stomach grumbled in protest.

All that high concentration must have used all the energy inside of me so I placed the rock away from the rest of the rocks and entered the house.

I got inside the house and made myself a good dinner. I also made a portion for the old man. After dinner, I did not go to the rocks instead, I returned to my room. I sat down on the floor and entered a meditation state.

For the whole night, I try to repeat what I did during the day. I constantly make rock images in my mind to get more familiar with the feeling I felt during the daytime.

I tried to make the structure of all the rocks I held till now with just the faint feeling I have from those days I held them in my palm. The night passed and a new day arrived but I did not go near the rocks. I just made some breakfast for two people and again returned to meditation in my room.

A whole week went by like this. For 7 days I only meditated and made food for myself and the old man. During this time my mind goes into hyper mode. I used the skill dual thinking to boost the speed.

On the morning of the 8th day, I woke up from my meditation with new vigour. I feel my mind has become clear and my thinking speed also increased a lot.

I get out of the house after making breakfast for the old man. I went to the table where the rocks were placed.

I grabbed the random rock and began to feel it in my palm. In some minutes I got that special feeling I got while observing the first rock. I focused on that feeling. In just half an hour I was able to find out which day I received this rock.

I placed it aside and grabbed another rock. I repeated the prosses and found it a day later than the previous rock.

As I got more proficient in the process I was able to identify the rocks at a much faster rate. In half a day I identified all the rocks and placed them in the right order.

Just as I was about to call the old man I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and found that the old man was standing right behind me and observing all my actions.

Did he stand there from the beginning? The old man looked at the rocks on the table and gave me a nod. He smiled and spoke to me.

"Congratulations, kid. You have passed the test perfectly. The thing you have done may seem hard but it is the tip of the iceberg compared to peak. Take this skill book. It is the reward you deserve. The trick you performed comes from this skill or I say it originates from this skill." ( old man )

I accepted the skill book and said thank you to the old man.

" thanks a lot for teaching me such valuable skill. Can I know your name." ( David )

"It's been a while since someone asked my name. My name is Roger but people call me the Great Roger too or Grandmaster Roger. Okay, you should leave now as you have many things to do. I want to teach you all my knowledge and skills but you have already chosen your path. Here is my token if you come across someone special who has a passion for blacksmiths give it to him. Always remember in pursuit of power do not lose yourself." ( Roger )

Saying this old man's body and all things around me started to disappear. Only I was left on the top of the mountain.

I will try to find out more about the person named Roger when I go back. I put away the token the old man gave me. A screen popped in front of me.

[Congratulations you passed the trail of patience. The next trail is a trail of hard work. Climb down this mountain and reach the bottom. Your strength will be fixed at the level of a normal person. Some necessary tools are given to complete the trial. Best of luck.]

Wow, one trail after another. No time to rest. I feel my strength is restricted and become the same as that normal person. Some necessary tracking tools appeared in front of me.

I used SCAN on the skill book to learn more about it.

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Name - Earth Observer

Rank - F ( growth)

Element - earth, spirit, metal.

Description - a skill that allows users to observe all earth-related things and know more about them. By touching the ground user can sense things that are buried in it or the situation of the ground around him. At a high level users can even find which metals are present in forged items just by touching them.

Remark - if used correctly it can be used beyond its limits.

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After reading the description I know I hit the jackpot. Skill books are rare and growth-type skill books are as rare as seeing legendary mutants in person.

This skill has many uses in battle and out of combat. Without much hesitation, I learned the skill.

[ skill earth observer learned successfully. ]

I can not use the skill now as my mana is locked but I will try it later.

I picked all the climbing sets and wore them properly.

I have no idea how to climb up or down a mountain as I have never done it before but David has some experience in it. David climbed many mountains all the time to find rare herbs.

I closed my eyes and tried to recall those memories of mountain climbing from David's memories. As I got a general idea of how to start I moved to the edge of the mountain.

The mountain must be thousands of meters high and have uneven surfaces. I took a deep breath and started to climb down the mountain.

I carefully placed each hand and leg on the rocks. I make sure the rock I am holding is strong enough to carry my weight.

There are ropes and hooks too for support so I am not completely relying on my body strength for climbing.

Slowly but steadily I descended the mountain. At first, I did not face many problems but as time passed my whole body started to feel exhausted.

I have no choice but to rest at fixed intervals to keep my body in good condition.

After the sun is set the whole mountain gets covered in darkness. Why is there no moon? I cursed the trail settings in my heart.

Even if I used a flashlight It is hard to climb down at night. The light from the flashlight is not enough to show the path clearly.

I have no choice but to stop descending. I found a flat surface and lay down to sleep. I tied a rope around my body to keep me from falling off in my sleep.

In such an uncomfortable place, I was somehow able to sleep. The next day sunlight woke me up from my sleep.

My whole body feels sore due to the hard surface of the rock and sleeping in the same position for the whole night.

I stretched my body a little and continued to climb down the mountain after eating some food and water.

Days went by like this. In the daytime, I climb down and at night I sleep on some rocks. Sometimes I sleep while hanging by a rope.

Due to this routine, my body becomes sore and tense with each passing day. Normal rest is not enough to fill the energy required by the body. Sore muscles did not get well with just one night of rest.

But I did not give up and continued to climb down the mountain. It is no longer about the trial or class anymore but it is now a challenge to myself.

The challenge is to reach the bottom of this mountain no matter what.

Adding personal feelings as fuel and overusing my body I continued to climb down the mountain.

Sometimes rain appeared and increased my hell-level difficulty by another level. There was snow too and sometimes harsh winds also came to greet me. Many obstacles appeared in my path.

It felt like nature itself trying to stop me from descending this mountain but despite all these odds, I did not stop myself.

I may be stopped for some time to take a rest but I will continue to descend this mountain no matter what happens next.

Even In heavy rain, snow, and strong winds, I continued to descend the mountain. Reaching the bottom has become an obsession for me now.

With a crazy mind, I give my all to a single goal.

Finally, after 2 weeks of constant struggle and hardship, I managed to get to the bottom of the mountain.

My body is almost broken and may fall at any time. Every muscle fiber of my body is way passed its tolerance limit. My body is on the verge of breaking but my face has a smile on it.

The smile of victory and satisfaction. As soon as my feet touched the bottom of the mountain I colloped into the ground.

Till now only my willpower supported my broken body but as I reached the bottom it left me.

Before I passed out I saw a screen in front of me.