Chapter 238: The Stone Forest in the Snow
Chapter 238: The Stone Forest in the Snow
The time was daytime.
But the sky was dark and gloomy, and a biting gale swept across the land, causing some of the stone forests to collapse and shatter into rubble.
On the ground, Lindsey and Hong struggled to move forward.
The gale was no match for their powerful Awakened bodies, but the freezing air stung their eyes and noses, making them want to neither open their eyes nor breathe.
Traveling had become a torment.
In other worlds, this extreme weather might have been explained by natural principles.
But this was the Black Mountain World.
The Dragon Beast's extraction of World Essence caused noticeable temperature changes. Even if a gale were to blow, at this altitude, it should have brought scorching heat waves instead of the current bone-chilling wind.
Moreover, this gale had not appeared suddenly.
The Dragon Beast had been manipulating the airflow in the Thousand Mountain Stone Forest with some skill. The wind had started as a gentle breeze a couple of days ago, but it had only intensified since then, eventually turning into today's gale.
Battling the cold wind that hindered their vision, Hong shouted,
"Lindsey, do you think that beast is afraid?"
"It knows I'm determined to go to Black Mountain and kill it, but it dares not kill me, so it's desperately blocking our path!"
Lindsey also shouted back, finding humor in their predicament:
"I can't think of any other possibility!"
"This guy's reaction only confirms our speculation; it's afraid!"
"But I want to make one thing clear!" Hong continued shouting, "I won't sacrifice myself to kill the enemy! Before we reach Black Mountain, we need to come up with a good plan."
Crack!
In the midst of the biting gale, Hong stepped on a round stone.
She steadied herself and continued questioning Lindsey:
"By the way, don't you have a lot of random stuff?"
"Have you prepared any secret moves to take down that beast?"
Lindsey answered Hong's first question:
"Don't worry, I wouldn't sacrifice my companions to kill an enemy either!"
Hong waited a few seconds, and her tone became slightly amused:
"I understand what you mean!"
"Sometimes, not answering is also an answer!"
The gale blocking their path was clearly summoned by the Dragon Beast.
Lindsey dared not be careless about this, and as the freezing wind blew into his face, he began to lie through his teeth:
"In that case, I'll be honest with you; I haven't figured out a solution yet."
"Hahaha. You're out of ideas too?" Hearing Lindsey's lack of a plan, Hong became cheerful, "That's fine too. When the time comes, I'll fight with all my might, and you can just watch!"
"..."
A week later, the gale continued to rage through the Thousand Mountain Stone Forest.
The Dragon Beast seemed to realize that a simple gale couldn't stop the two of them, so the temperature in the wind began to drop.
A few more days passed, and a blizzard arrived.
The sky was completely covered by dark clouds, and the world turned white. The snowflakes whipped up by the wind resembled waves crashing on a beach.
With just their eyes, they couldn't see anything.
However, Lindsey had the skills [Handheld Radar], [Compass], and [Map].
With these game-like abilities, the blizzard had little impact on their route.
For Lindsey and Hong, the trouble lay in survival.
The terrifying weather made it almost impossible to obtain food through hunting, and the previous gale had destroyed the tall trees, making it even more challenging to find fuel.
There was barely any difference between night and day.
After crossing a ravine, Lindsey shouted to Hong, "Hong, let's stay here for a while today."
"Let's dig a tunnel first, not too deep, just two or three meters below the surface!"
Beneath the white, snow-covered ground.
The fire of the meteor hammer and the cold light of the iron pickaxe flickered intermittently.
The two of them quickly went underground, and Lindsey stuck a torch by his feet, then threw several stones upwards, sealing the tunnel.
Clang, clang, clang—
The tunnel was sealed.
Through this not-too-thick barrier, the howling wind and snow outside became faint and eerie, as if some kind of demon was roaring outside.
Hong, leaning on her iron pickaxe, asked, "What's your crazy idea today?"
"We need to prepare resources; we can't keep going out in this weather," Lindsey explained his purpose and then started giving instructions, "Now let's expand this tunnel a bit, dig towards the east, I'll dig towards the west, and leave a few pillars in between to support it so it doesn't collapse."
The two Awakeners began to work underground.
With the swinging of the iron pickaxe, the simple tunnel was dug into a cave, gradually expanding in size.
Half an hour later.
This underground space was spacious, with pillars supporting it every few meters, and torches were placed for illumination.
While the environment might still be lacking in some ways, the atmosphere had a rare touch of warmth.
Lindsey lit a simple campfire, took out a sleeping bag, and shouted to Hong, "Alright, the space is big enough now!"
"You can go rest first, I'll handle the rest of the work myself."
"..."
Hong threw down her pickaxe and walked straight to the campfire, "Remember, don't wake me up later if you can't handle it alone."
"Haaah—"
The girl yawned and crawled into the sleeping bag to rest.
After sending Hong away, Lindsey took a deep breath, "Time to start the real work!"
The following tasks required the skills of a [Game Player], and there was no way Hong could help.
First, they needed to replenish water resources.
This was the simplest task, and Lindsey dug an infinite water pool, easily replenishing the clear water.
Next was fuel.
Lindsey took out two seeds, not needing to bury them in soil or water them.
He simply placed the seeds on the ground, and with his right hand on his chest, the power of the [Forest Brooch] began to take effect.
Swish, swish, swish—
The ability to cultivate plants worked, and the two seeds quickly sprouted and grew into a dense bush.
Compared to resource seeds that required cultivation, using the [Forest Brooch] for direct catalysis consumed more Essence, but the efficiency was incredibly fast! After cutting down the bushes, Lindsey also had fuel.
"Lastly, it's food."
In this icy, snowy environment, hunting was out of the question.
Although the meat crackers were unappetizing, they were Lindsey's emergency rations.
So, just like cultivating plants in a glass greenhouse in the Hidden Frontier, Lindsey began to cultivate resource-converted crops in this underground field.
"..."
"Converting seeds into resources still consumes too much Essence."
After working for half a day, Lindsey's body wasn't tired, but his mind was a bit fatigued, and he had spent most of his Essence.
The result was that the seeds of vegetables and staple foods had multiplied several times.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and returned to the campfire.
Out of habit from setting up camp every day, Lindsey opened the map.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Lindsey's eyes widened in surprise.
Because on the expanded map, beneath the raging snowstorm, several red dots were moving across the distant surface!
(End of Chapter)
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