Chương 22: Mountains

CH 22 - Mountains

"So these people have been trapped between lions and apes…Gnarly… We should help them out if we can." Jim said.

"That's right. Let's give up a good portion of our food. We can go hunting for more. I still want to explore the mountains. I have a feeling there will be resources there that can make us stronger." Grey responded. The group worked together to set up a big barbecue for the townspeople, and they all went about asking their own questions.

"How'd you kill the lions!", "What is your wish!?"

"Where did you come from?". Grey dodged the questions best he could and headed for Willy's to use the forums. Willy showed Grey to their Settlement Orb. It was in the basement of their town hall, guarded by two men.

"Just hold your hand on it, and the menu should appear in your vision," Willy said. Grey did as he was told, and sure enough, a menu popped up in front of him. A translucent blue window, much like his stats appeared. Many of the tabs were greyed out, likely limited by the (F) grade of the orb. The tab he cared about was "Forum". He willed for it to open, and it did. Countless posts filled the screen, and he adjusted the filters. He clicked USA, then clicked Florida.

There were only a handful of settlements there to choose from. Under the Florida forums, he saw menus, "trade, warnings, tips, safe zones, missing people" and opened "Missing people." Looking through a myriad of posts had him worried until his eyes lit up. (Missing: Grey Falsen. Contact Key Lost with information.) Grey turned to Willy and said, "Someone's looking for me in Key Lost. A Florida settlement. I think it's my family." Grey felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"How can I contact them?"

"We can't," Willy said. Grey's heart dropped.

"(F) Rank Settlement Orbs can only browse the forums. To post or message another settlement, we'd need a better orb, or a way to upgrade ours." Grey hesitated. He had a (E) grade settlement orb in his inventory pouch. Part of him wanted to offer it up to learn more about his family. However, he stopped himself. He didn't know enough about Willy or the town, and he wasn't sure that this was a good place for him to place his orb. Grey had a feeling that the mountains would have everything they needed.

If they could take down the apes there, they'd be better off there than in New Hastings.

"Thank you, Willy, this means a lot to me. I think I'll explore the mountains as planned. Then, I'll try to find a solution to contact Key Lost."

"It's no problem, young man. We appreciate you taking down the lions. We should be able to set up farmland, as well as hunt the bison in the prairie. This will be a major boon to my people. We were getting hungry, as you could tell…" Grey returned to his group and reported his findings back to Jim.

"I feel an abundance of qi coming from the mountain. I think you're right. That would be the best place to settle. When are we going?" Jim asked. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Not sure, lets have a few days' rest here, then we can head out." Sarah overheard them talking and wandered over.

"When exactly are we heading into battle?" Grey didn't mean for her to hear. In his mind, this battle was his alone. Jim was with him until he found a good place to cultivate his internal energy, but Sarah, Joe, and Ike were only with them until they found a settlement like this.

"We're going to explore the mountain for resources, maybe settle there. If not, we'll continue onward." Jim said.

"Well, I'm coming with. So are Joe and Ike. We already talked about it. You are the strongest person we've met. We want to stick by your side." Sarah told them. Grey felt a bit embarrassed by the praise, but allowed them to join. The help would be appreciated. Having variety in their skillsets would come in handy. The group spent a few days in the settlement chatting with the villagers. The people living here didn't have much. Their gear was minimal, and their levels were low.

Clearly, most of these people hadn't gained many levels since the integration. I f there are this many weaker people here, how many out in the wild didn't make it? Grey thought about their journey so far, and realized that they really hadn't run into many people. For a major city, Minneapolis should have been full of people… Did they all really die right away? Grey thought back and realized that the animals and monsters in the city were unusually strong.

Likely, they preyed upon defenseless humans to level up so quickly. New Hasting's was especially weak. I think everyone here just holed up behind WIlly's strength. Even the guards weren't that powerful; they would have taken down the lion or the apes by now if they were. Raccy, Red, and the rest of the group rescued from the minotaur's barn decided to stay back at New Hastings for now, until Grey found a safe place for them or a plan.

Raccy took some convincing, since he looked up to Grey as a role model, but ultimately agreed he should avoid danger. Actually, he took a lot of convincing. Does he have seperation anxiety? After a couple days of rest, Joe, Ike, Sarah, Jim, and Grey prepared themselves and loaded into two cars. Today, they would approach the mountains. What would they find? They weren't sure. But they felt like they needed to keep exploring if they were going to get a head start in this new world.

They followed the road out of the old town and into the countryside. The roads sloped upwards, getting rockier as the elevation increased. Grey looked out of his window for signs of danger, "Willy said there's a small colony of apes up here. We either have to avoid them or focus on taking down the alpha. We can't take them all on at once."

"I say we focus on scouting for now. If we get a chance to take down the alpha, we take it. Otherwise, we stay quiet." Jim offered.

"We'll go as far as we can in the cars until we notice signs of ape activity, then go on foot," Grey responded. The group continued down the roads, approaching the looming mountains through broken and winding roads. After a while, something caught their eye.

"Take a look," Jim pointed. What was once a small wooden house was now lying in shambles. It had been broken apart to pieces. The unlucky inhabitants' belongings were scattered all over the front yard and a trail of dried black blood stained the grass into the woods.

"Something dragged a body through here. It was a long time ago, I doubt they're still alive." Jim grimaced.

"Let's walk from here. We'll follow the tracks and see what we can find." The group tracked the blood stains through the woods until they found decomposing remains rotting under a tree. Grey noticed big footprints in the clay leading deeper into the woods. The group hiked a few miles more, following the tracks. The woods were quiet. Normal wildlife was scarce, perhaps hiding in the canopy or underground. After hiking all the way to the base of one mountain, they found a pass between two tall peaks.

Climbing through the mountain pass, Grey could hear whooping in the distance. He held a finger to his lips to signal to the team that they should remain silent. Grey poked his head over the ridge to peer in the direction of the whooping. What he saw was an enormous tree in the center of a clearing. The tree towered up a hundred feet tall, and at the top was an ape that was significantly larger than the rest crowding around the base. The clearing was surrounded by mountains on all sides, completely isolating it.

Only the path they just taken and possibly other hidden routes led into the valley. This would be the perfect spot to settle; it's defensible and hidden. Grey thought.

"The one at the top must be the alpha. I think that if we take him down, the others will either leave or become weak enough to hunt. Jim nodded.

"But how do we get the big guy isolated? He's surrounded by the others." Furrowing his brow and squinting his eyes, Grey thought up a plan.