Chương 114: Adventure

As Joe stood at the bow of his skyboat, watching the grasslands blur past beneath him. Herds of beasts roamed freely across the open plains, and every so often, smaller flying boats skimmed across the skies in the distance. He had to admit, this world was far more picturesque than Earth. There were no concrete scars, no endless roads, no choking towers of steel. Only rolling grasslands, forests thick with life, and the unbroken sprawl of nature stretching to the horizon. It was almost idyllic.

The forests nearby weren't as dense as Landradad, but they were still a sight to behold. After a while, he drifted back to the glass circle near the rear of the boat and sat down, letting the rhythm of nature flow through him. That strange, ever-present current of energy filled him with calm, and he smiled. They were heading for the nearest marker he'd mapped, but he wasn't entirely certain what he'd find there.

To cover his bases, he had tasked the three brats with scanning the landscape as they flew, pointing out anything unusual or interesting. In hindsight, it might have been a mistake. Barely five minutes outside the borders of Landradad, Shanna's excited voice rang out.

"Joe! Look there, that looks interesting," she shouted, pointing north. Joe rose and peered into the distance, activating Farmer's Sight. A massive herd of wildebeest-like creatures grazed on the plains. Above them, mana shimmered, condensing familiarly. He returned to his seat, lips quirking.

"Pay close attention, Shanna. A beast is about to form." Her eyes fluttered as she watched the mana twist and condense into a massive wildebeest, crowned instantly as the herd's new alpha.

"Wow," she whispered, reverent. Thanks to the speed of Joe's skyboat, piloted by Alice, they reached the first destination far quicker than expected. With a soft landing, Joe recalled the vessel into its ring, and the group set out on foot.

"What's that?" Shanna gasped, darting toward a fat insect wriggling along the grass. It looked like an oversized caterpillar, stubby legs churning clumsily, its segmented body about as long as Joe's arm. He identified it. Identify: Bulbous Jesynthe, Insect, no level, no bloodline They watched as the caterpillar trundled along its path through the underbrush.

"That is disgusting," Travis wrinkled his nose.

"I think it's cute," Shanna countered with a grin.

"What about you, Locke?" Locke gave a noncommittal grunt, but Shanna nodded as if that settled the matter.

"See? Even Locke thinks it's funny looking," she declared before poking the fat insect with a stick. Joe exchanged a look with Locke, who only shrugged. He chuckled and motioned for the group to keep moving deeper into the forest.

"Tell me, Locke," Joe asked after a while, hoping to inspire a conversation with the quiet Voldura.

"What do you do for fun?"

"I like to build," Locke replied.

"Oh? Like houses, vehicles?"

"Huts," came the simple answer. Joe shook his head. Getting Locke to open up was going to be a slow process. He shifted his attention forward.

"Alice, how you holding up?" Alice and Shanna walked at the front with Travis trailing behind them, leaving Joe and Locke at the rear of the group.

"I hate this. Why couldn't we just fly straight into the middle of the forest?" Alice grumbled.

"Because this is an adventure! Where's your adventurous spirit?" Joe teased.

"I left it back at the house," she muttered, ducking beneath a low branch.

"How much farther?" Joe raised a finger dramatically, as if testing the wind.

"Just past that ridge," he declared. His expression sharpened.

"Oh, and on your left… beast incoming."

"Thank you for the early warning," Alice complained sarcastically, brushing dirt from her leathers after dispatching the beast. Joe laughed. The beast was weak, barely worth the effort.

"This is what adventuring's all about!" he cheered as they crested the ridge. Below lay a valley thick with mana and beasts. Scores of them, ranging from level forty to over one hundred, prowled restlessly among the trees. Joe's smile widened.

"Now this is what we came for. Brats! Present arms!" he roared, leaping down into the startled horde.

"Charge!" Alice and Shanna bellowed as they dove in after Joe, while Locke had to drag Travis forward physically. Travis kicked and wailed in protest, but Locke hauled him straight into the fray. Ten bloody minutes later, beast corpses lay scattered across the valley floor. Joe laughed as the three brats collapsed, gulping down healing and mana pills. Their chests heaved, faces slick with sweat. He hadn't even broken a sweat, of course. But the brats were improving their stamina gradually.

As they rested, Joe took on looting duty as he dashed around tapping all the corpses.

"Travis," Joe called.

"What level are you now?" Travis blinked, eyes glazing as he checked his status screen.

"Uh… fifty-one," he said with a whistle.

"I'm level sixty!" Shanna cheered.

"Three levels today!" Joe had them all in his party, siphoning all experience gains their way. These low-level beasts would barely give him anything anyway.

"Locke?" Joe asked as he tapped the last corpse.

"Seventy-one," Locke replied, a rare smile tugging at his lips.

"Yay, Locke!" Shanna exclaimed, bounding over to slap his hand in a forced high-five. Joe turned to Alice with an expectant brow.

"I'm not telling you," she teased with a laugh.

"If you're that curious, you can identify me anytime." She winked, and Joe rolled his eyes.

"What about you?" Shanna pressed, looking up at him.

"Level one-fifty-five," Joe said easily.

"But I'm not here to level. This is about the adventure." Alice groaned, muttering something under her breath as Joe strode forward. With a flourish, he produced five shovels.

"Time to dig!" A chorus of groans answered him. After a few minutes of half-hearted digging, Joe lost patience.

"Stand back." They barely had time to move before he unleashed his full strength. Dirt and stone flew as he carved a gaping hole into the earth, revealing a massive cavern below. He lit a lantern with mana and leapt into the unknown, shadows scattering against the limescale-covered rocks. He landed with a small explosion of dust and a faint echo. He craned his head back up and called, "It's safe. Come on down!" Locke was the first to drop into the cavern, landing with practiced ease.

Shanna followed right after, screaming the whole way down until Locke caught her mid-fall. Alice jumped next with Travis clinging to her back like a baby monkey, his terrified wails echoing off the stone. Once they were all settled, Joe turned his attention back to the cavern as everyone lit their mana-fueled lanterns. The air was thick with mana, so dense it pressed against their skin, making every step heavy. No wonder there were no beasts inside; this wasn't a place any living thing would want to linger.

They followed the rising waves of mana deeper into the expanse until the cavern opened before them. A colossal, multicoloured rock pulsed in the centre, steaming like a geyser. Each blast of raw mana rolled over them in suffocating waves, forcing them to keep their distance. Blue crystals glittered in clusters around its base.

"It's beautiful," Shanna whispered, eyes wide as she stared at the glowing rock. Joe crouched, identifying the crystals. High-density mana crystals, nothing more. He sighed.

"I can't see any gems," Alice said beside him, wiping sweat from her brow.

"I'd be shocked if we found them at our first stop," Joe admitted.

"Where's the fun in that?" He grinned.

"Let's make it interesting. Let's place a bet on when we'll find the first gem." Alice's eyes lit up.

"I like that. I say we find one within the first five mana veins."

"That's a pretty confident bet," Joe stroked his chin.

"Fine. I'll bet we don't find one until the tenth vein."

"What does the winner get?" Alice asked slyly. Joe cocked an eyebrow.

"What do you want?"

"A date," Alice shot back with a wink. Joe groaned.

"If you can convince Corel to allow it, then sure." He was one hundred per cent certain there was no chance she would agree to that. Alice's smile stretched in victory.

"And what do you want?"

"How about… You can't ask me for another date for an entire year," Joe countered. She hesitated, then extended her hand.

"Deal."

"Deal." They shook on it.

"Can I join the bet?" Shanna piped up eagerly.

"Sure. What's your wager?" Joe asked. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. She chewed her lip, thinking hard before declaring, "I bet we find one gem at the sixth mana vein. And if we do…" She spun toward Locke with a smile.

"Locke has to go on a date with me." Joe burst out laughing as Locke blinked in bewilderment.

"... What is a date?" Two days later, the group reached their fifth mana vein, this one hidden in a vast cavern beneath a mountain. Like the others, the chamber was choked with steaming mana, thick as a sauna. As they drew closer, a shiver of dread ran through Joe's senses. Something felt wrong.

"Look! What's that?" Shanna shouted, pointing excitedly. The moment Joe's eyes fell on it, his stomach dropped. He used Identify. Identify: Large Mana Gem. Full. E-grade"Yes!!!!!" Alice whooped, spinning toward him with one hand on her hip.

"Now I just have to decide on the perfect date location." Joe slapped a hand over his face. Of course. Out of all the caverns, it had to be this one. He stared up at the ceiling, silently lamenting his fate.

"Dammit," he muttered. Corel was going to kill him. Shoving that problem onto future Joe, he turned his focus to the gem. The thing was the size of his head, glowing like a diamond filled with liquid mana. But the moment he approached, he felt the danger; it radiated heat so intense he had to stop and shield his face. The others wisely fell back, leaving the task to him. Step by step, he pressed forward, activating Mana Stream to sheath himself in a faint glow. It dulled the heat but barely.

The air shimmered, each step worse than the last. It reminded him of forcing his way through that crushing gravity array back in the space gate. Sweat poured down his face by the time he finally reached the gem. He snatched it up in a swift motion and shoved it into his storage ring. Even that brief touch left angry burns spiralling up his arm to the elbow. The pain was sharp enough to stagger him, though he bit it back. He'd endured worse.

Still, next time he'd need heat-resistant gear, maybe he could source something from the Voldura-controlled pillar nearby, as he had left his own personal pillar back in Landradad. When he returned, Shanna and Alice greeted him with enthusiastic high fives. Alice, of course, added a wink that made his stomach roll. Trouble was definitely waiting for him down the line. Before they left the cavern, Joe made the three brats swear never to speak of their little bet again. Ever.

To everyone's surprise, they discovered a second Mana Gem at the sixth vein.

"Ha! Locke, that means you have to go on a date with Shanna!" Joe declared triumphantly. At least he wasn't the only one paying the price of a lost bet. Locke, to his credit, didn't so much as flinch. He simply inclined his head.

"It would be an honour to take you on a date, Shanna." Shanna's face lit red, and for the first time on the trip, she actually looked nervous. Joe felt no sympathy. She'd gone along with Alice's temptation, and now she had to pay the piper. He clapped Locke on the shoulder with a grin.

"Atta boy. Keep that attitude up, and I might upgrade you from brat." Locke chuckled and shook his head, while Shanna buried her flustered face in her hands at his glance. The group spent another day adventuring before stumbling across their first unexpected discovery. They were on the northern part of the continent, en route toward Mana Vein number nine, when Joe abruptly shot to his feet.

"Alice, stop! I feel something," he barked, moving to the port side of the boat. The vessel slowed to a hover high above a snow-blanketed forest. Joe leaned over the edge, narrowing his gaze. Farmer's Sight swept over the landscape. For several long minutes, he searched until a faint shimmer caught his eye.

"Wait here," he said, and leapt from the skyboat. He landed in a puff of snow on the branch of a towering pine, his eyes fixed on the anomaly ahead. A pulse of Nature's Paradise quickened his mini-maps spread, and at last a strange blob flickered into view. He dropped from the branch and trudged forward, snow crunching to his knees. The shimmer wasn't small. It blanketed nearly half a mile of forest in a translucent haze. Even with Farmer's Sight, he couldn't pierce it. His instincts were also abnormally quiet.

Joe crouched at the edge, testing the air, letting the mana flow brush against his senses. After several moments, he summoned Mana Stream, bracing himself to step through. [I found something strange. I'm going inside, move the boat about a mile south. If you see anything dangerous emerge, return to Landradad. I'll catch up later.] - Joe. [Do you need backup?] - Alice. [I'm not sure, it's just a precaution. I'm probably overreacting, but I just want to be safe.] - Joe. [Okay, moving now.] - Alice.

Joe waited until the boat was a safe distance away and then pushed through the shimmer. Crossing it felt like stepping from midwinter into high summer. The cold snow behind him vanished; green grass unfurled under his boots, and a gentle heat washed his skin. Above him, the sky was impossibly clear. He glanced back, the shimmer now a translucent curtain, the snow-laced trees visible through it. He tested the edge with his hand. The barrier yielded without resistance. Good. He could leave.

At the centre of the grassy ring, a gate floated, unlike any he'd seen before. It wasn't a simple portal but a slow, living swirl of rainbow light that shifted and folded into itself. His identification skill returned nothing. The only other feature inside this area was a small pond at the gate's base, its surface perfectly still. Something, however, prickled at the back of his neck; a sense of being watched.

He raised his Mana Stream and activated his barding, feeling a little foolish for the precaution and grateful for it at the same time. He withdrew Jingu Bang. The staff hummed faintly in his hands. Step. Step. Step. Something lunged, a motionless instant, then an almost imperceptible impact that filled his vision. Joe Space-Jumped sideways on reflex and activated Aura Shout. The sound scattered through the clearing. Then: nothing. Silence. No residue of an attack, no disturbed grass, no shadow in sight.

For a second, he thought he'd imagined it. He crouched and waited, muscles coiled, breath loud in his ears. Five minutes passed. Nothing. He tested the space again, stepping forward and… something lunged at him. He activated Space Jump, vanishing to safety. This pattern repeated. Step forward, the invisible thing surged; he would dodge, counter, strike… and find only air and undisturbed earth. Fifteen minutes of that cat-and-mouse, and his chest ached from holding tension.

Every lung felt real in the moment; every counterstrike hit nothing. The gate was the only common factor: the assault only came as he approached it and stopped the moment he halted. He stood very still, sweating under his barding under the sun's rays, and watched the rippling colours of the gate. It was real, the attacks had force, but somehow they left no trace afterwards. Whatever hid in the shimmer was patient and surgical.

Joe's gut told him this wasn't a random trick; it was deliberate, set to test or to guard. The next step would tell whether the watcher in the grass was a trap he could outthink, or something that was beyond his ability to understand. Joe drew in a deep breath and stepped forward. As expected, the invisible mass surged at him. Every instinct screamed to dodge, but he forced himself to stay still.

The pressure rose to an almost deafening crescendo as it washed through him, unseen and unstoppable, and then it was gone. He exhaled shakily, relief flooding in. Who would've thought not reacting could be so damn hard? His heartbeat slowed as he steadied himself. He tried another step, and this time nothing came. So that was it? A trial of willpower? A test of restraint? He pressed on, eyes scanning the clearing, when something odd caught his eye to the right. A snail, no bigger than his fist, slithered into view.

Its shell glimmered faintly, and its mouth curled into what looked suspiciously like a smile.

"Well done, well done! For a moment, I thought you wouldn't manage it. By golly, that was a big one!" the snail boomed, its voice comically loud for its size.

"Erm, thanks? That was a test, then?" Joe asked warily.

"Yes indeed, by golly! And I must say, how strong are you? The test scales with the entrant's strength, but I've never seen it react with such force before. Are you truly in the E-grade? I can't identify you at all! Whose child are you? A god's?" Joe pinched the bridge of his nose at the barrage of questions.

"One second," he asked, raising a hand as he pulled up his party chat. [Alice, all clear here. You can bring the boat into the shimmer at my location.] - Joe. [Great! On our way.] - Alice. Turning back to the snail, he shrugged.

"Sorry. I'm… pretty strong, I guess. Yes, still E-grade. No, not a god's offspring. Just a guy trying to survive in a hard world, universe, whatever this is."

"By golly, there's nothing ordinary about what I saw. Exceptional! Oh, and your friends, how strong are they? They'll need to pass the test, too!" the snail said cheerfully. Joe rubbed his nose once more.

"Great," he muttered, sending a quick warning message to the others. Alice was the first to appear. Knowing the trick, she breezed through on her first attempt. Joe now understood what the snail meant when it explained that the test scaled with the entrant's power. The force that rushed toward Alice as she took her try was a lot weaker than what he'd faced. Where he faced a roaring lion, she faced a crying kitten. It wasn't fair at all. Shanna and Locke both managed it after a couple of shaky tries. But Travis…

no matter how they coaxed him, the boy simply couldn't withstand the pressure. In the end, they had no choice but to leave him behind, a safe distance from the test, while the rest approached the gate and the ever-chatty snail.

"Hi, Mr Snail. How are you today?" Shanna asked as she crouched down to eye the tiny snail.

"Girl, I am not a Mr., I am a Ma'am! By golly, can't you tell?" the snail huffed, indignant. Shanna blinked, then looked toward Alice for help. Alice only smirked, offering none. With a sigh, Shanna bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. You're just so small, it's hard to tell. How do I know?"

"The swirls on my shell, girl!" the snail tutted. Shanna nodded slowly, clearly not understanding how that helped at all. Joe shook his head and ignored the bickering as he stepped toward the gate. He raised a hand and touched its swirling surface. Instead of a notification appearing, the snail suddenly floated into the air, shell sparkling like fireworks.

"Congratulations to everyone who passed the test! Welcome to the third wonder of the world! Welcome to the Lighthouse of Alexandria! Built around 280-247 BCE, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Enter and venture forth to Pharos Island, where you will embark on an epic journey to claim the inheritance of Alexandria!"

"Oh my God!" Shanna squealed. It took Joe a little while to console the heartbroken girl after he explained that they wouldn't be venturing inside.

"Why not? We found it, shouldn't one of us claim the glory?" Shanna mumbled, pouting hard enough to sulk a hole into the ground.

"Because I made a promise to a friend that the first Seven Wonders Gate I found, I'd let him enter first," Joe said, offering his best apologetic look.

"What friend is this?" Shanna pressed, her pout deepening.

"One of the other Progenitors. Hak."

"Oh!" Shanna perked up instantly, pout vanishing.

"Well, you should have said that first. That's fine, then." Joe had no idea why that suddenly made it fine, but he wasn't about to question it. A brat no longer pouting was victory enough.

"Are you sure we can't sneak in for a peek?" Alice asked hopefully.

"No," Joe said firmly.

"Now let's get moving. I think the snail's about to cry." Right on cue, the ground shook as the snail began to wail. A short time later, Joe's skyboat zoomed eastward, bound for the last two mana veins. __ Hakeem blinked as a bird swooped into his house, a message capsule tied to its leg. He never carried a communicator; he disliked the idea of people reaching him whenever they pleased, so the city relied on message birds while the city mayor was still recovering. He untied the letter and began to read.

With each line, his eyes grew wider until he nearly leapt from his seat. That lucky bastard… Joe had actually found one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world"Yess!!!!!" Hakeem shouted, fist pumping the air. __ Two days later, with four more mana veins checked off the list, Joe and his crew stood at the edge of the continent. Before them stretched a vast ocean, glittering under the sun. They had scoured the main continent; now it was time to venture into the unknown.

"Erm… could I go back?" Travis asked nervously.

"I don't know how to swim, so I don't see how I can be of any help out there. Plus, I'm falling behind on my studies."

"What studies?" Joe asked flatly.

"I'm glad you asked! You see, I found this book on the history of the multiverse…" Joe raised a hand, cutting him off before the lecture truly began.

"Forget I asked. And no, you're coming with us. We're barely halfway through this adventure, and not a single one of us has come close to death yet." He grinned.

"Death?!" Travis squeaked.

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Oh, come on, Four Eyes. Where's your sense of adventure?" Shanna laughed, eyes gleaming. She threw her arm toward the horizon.

"On toward the unknown!"

"On toward the unknown!" Joe echoed, his laughter ringing across the deck. Alice clapped her hands as Travis groaned, the skyboat surging forward to splash onto the endless ocean before them, toward the unknown.