SB: Chapter 218 – A Deserted Island

AN: Delete me, owe 4 chapters.

***

Surprisingly, once we reached a specific passage, the ascent towards the surface was very quick. There was no stream of cold air coming down the passage towards the surface and there was no city name written into the bottom step, which would have been the case for Eldarin entrances.

I was the first to climb up and there was a cave the passage exited into. There was the smell of salt water and light from the sun outside the entrance. Not the diffuse light through the thick cloud cover of the beastkin continent, but actual sunlight.

I walked out of the cave and let the sunlight hit me. The rest of my team was slowly following behind me. The air was cool, but not cold. We had come out fairly high up on a mountain.

Below us I could see huge waves crashing onto the rocky shoreline. There was some moss growing on the rocks, but no trees, grass, or other plants.

“Where are we?” Lanner asked.

“Somewhere in the middle of the Great Ocean. Closer to the Eldarin Continent,” I said as he nervously walked over to my side to look out at the massive waves. Wild Tail followed as well along with Ozy.

“The sun, so bright,” Wild Tail said while squinting up at the sky.

“Helps when there isn’t a thick layer of clouds covering everything,” I said, enjoying the sun and cool breeze. It was nice to get out of the dungeon somewhere that wasn’t a frozen hell hole.

No offense to the beastkin, but the hospitality of their continent was incredibly lacking. If it wasn’t for the curse on me, I wouldn’t bother going back. The demons, the cold, it was a huge hassle.

I looked behind us. The cave was there and then the rocky mountain went up a bit more, but unless this was a very narrow peninsula of some kind, we were on a island. No birds or other animals that I could see.

“This place appears to be completely deserted,” I said while looking over the ledge down at the shore.

“Are we staying here for long?” Lanner asked.

“We will rest tomorrow. Enjoy the sun and fresh air. Then head back down after this,” I replied. Hopefully we would make it back to the Eldarin continent on the next descent.

“I was thinking you were just guessing, but you really got us away from the beastkin continent,” Lanner said.

“I might be a lot of things, but I wouldn’t joke about something like that. Hopefully we can make it back in one more descent. The dungeon can be too confusing at times,” I said while thinking about how easy it was to get siloed to the beastkin continent but getting back was a nightmare.

I moved back towards the cave entrance and began to unpack. I also began taking off my armor. No need for it if we were taking a rest day. Not like there was anything to fight on this patch of rock.

The water was very far below us and I had no plans of climbing down. The waves were too big and scary. Even with my stats and skills, getting slammed by them would be incredibly disorientating. If I got swept out into the Great Ocean there would be no saving me.

I wasn’t going to tempt fate by messing about. After getting changed, I put Wild Tail to work on cutting vegetables. While he wasn’t as good as me, he could learn Cooking Skills and help contribute. Vegetable cutting was basic enough that he could manage.

Ozy had flown up and confirmed to me mentally that this was an island. That was good to know, but not surprising. No man made structures or anything else. It appeared that this entrance passage was completely unused by anyone.

A shame there wasn’t an animal I could hunt and butcher. Looking at the crashing waves again crushed any idea I might have had about fishing. There were some sea creatures on the shore, but I wasn’t going to risk getting close and seeing which ones were edible.

Eating unknown creatures was a big risk. I might be okay with my Poison Resistance, but my two companions wouldn’t be if I picked the wrong creature to throw in the stew pot. I knew a bit about marine life in terms of cooking, but not enough to actually harvest creatures.

We sat outside watching the sunset as we enjoyed a meal.

It was nice being outside, without having clouds, cold, and worrying about what we had to fight to survive. In the background we could hear the waves crashing on the shore. I had set up a metal runic plate that increased the temperature in the surrounding area. Even with the wind, it was comfortably warm now instead of chilly.

“Its relaxing, the waves,” Lanner said.

“Hmm, it is soothing,” Wild Tail replied. “Just surprising to see the sky without clouds. It’s been years since the last time this happened,” he said.

“Its that bad?” Lanner asked.

“Yes. Clouds, could, and wind. The demons are just extra. But even without them, leaving all that behind isn’t a bad thing,” Wild Tail replied.

“I like the colors,” Lanner said as we watched the sun slowly dip behind the horizon. There were lots of reds and oranges.

“Well the stars will be a sight to see, if there is no moon out,” I said.

“The moon, that will be interesting to see,” Lanner said. He wasn’t hiding his background very well, but Wild Tail wasn’t saying anything. I was content to just enjoy the moment. We had escaped the beastkin’s continent.

I had a knife out, carefully trimming my nails. I would have to cut my hair soon. I was diligent about cutting away any beard every couple of days. But my hair, was a much greater mess. Using a knife to cut it, meant it was constantly messy.

Lanner needed a trim as well. As for Wild Tail, his grooming would need a lot of work. Unlike Judy, the beastkin I knew from the college, he was a mess. I wasn’t saying anything, but he would need a professional to help him look more presentable once we got back. That was up to him to figure out. I wasn’t going to say anything.

That was one way to start drama, pointing out flaws about others on your team. I might not be the most sociable but I knew not to do something like that.

The sun slowly set and the stars came out. There were only a couple of small clouds in the sky, so the view was amazing. Lanner and Wild Tail were both quiet as we looked up at the night sky. I had seen this sight before several times, but I let them enjoy the moment.

There was something memorable about looking up at the night sky and seeing all those stars. At the College there was some investigation into them with the Astronomy skill, but it was looked down on for the most part in comparison to the dungeon.

Supposedly those stars were all incredibly far away. There was nothing to investigate or learn after all the millennia people had looked up at the sky. In comparison the dungeon was much closer and that knowledge held actual value that could be sold to adventurers.

The fact that air became thinner and harder to breathe the further one went upwards, was also another factor why most people looked down at Astronomy. The distances and harsh nature of everything outside the atmosphere was a huge deterrent.

It did make me wonder about other planets and if the dungeon extended to them as well. Another question that had never been answered. It was highly unlikely, since no being showed up like the beastkin did in the dungeon.

While the Great Ocean was nearly impassable, that didn’t mean there was no information about the other continents. It was known that they existed and beastkin were real. There were two other continents out there, both were thought to be uninhabited based on the one or two reports people had made over the millennia, where they got siloed over to those continents and then made it back.

The information was incredibly sparse, but it was confirmed that they existed. I had been far too caught up in myself at the start of my time at the College, when I should have been asking my father questions about the world.

But did it matter? The surface was not my future. The stars were not my future. My future was in the dungeon as an adventurer, like my mother.

Still, it was a nice sight to look up at.

The next day, I climbed up above the cave with the dungeon entrance to the top of the mountain. Looking around, the view was amazing. Nothing but endless waves in every direction. I looked down at the shoreline, but there was nothing down there except rocks.

The rest of the day just watching the waves was relaxing.

“This was a good idea,” Lanner said.

“Hmm, you thought it was a bad idea?” I asked.

“Taking a day off like this, outside the dungeon, I wasn’t sure,” he replied.

“Its necessary. Fighting against monsters and staying in the dungeon can mess with your head. There is a certain tension that builds up in your body. Breathing helps, but that can only do so much,” I replied.

“I do feel more relaxed,” Wild Tail said.

These two didn’t understand the true wonder of taking a spa day off and having a professional look over one’s body. While my mother might have looked down on such things, I wasn’t going to give such things up.

Fighting constantly for your life in the dungeon would mess up anyone’s thinking over a long period of time. Being too tense and on edge wasn’t a good thing. I wouldn’t keep focusing on Danger Sense while we sat out here, watching the waves. I couldn’t help but check it occasionally, but I felt a lot less concern outside the dungeon, compared to being inside of it.

I spent the day watching the sun and trying to estimate where we were in relation to the beastkin continent and the Eldarin continent in my head. There wasn’t anything else I wanted to do. I knew I was completely off in my mental guesses, but it amusing trying to use angles and dates to figure out my position. If I had the Astronomy skill that might have been possible, but people rarely got lost like I had.

And even if I knew my position I wouldn’t learn anything useful. The route back home was through the dungeon. Crossing the Great Ocean was impossible as far as I knew. I still didn’t understand how the Eldarin Empire had reached the beastkin continent or why they would even bother.

Even if they conquered a large portion of the land, there was nothing of value. Perhaps there was some ore, but the distance would make extraction and refining not a worthwhile investment.

Lanner and Wild Tail were both reading one of my books. Reading for me was involved with training some skill. I didn’t want to train for one day. That was the purpose of having a break day like this. Letting one’s mind destress from the constant pressure so it didn’t break.

Also, with the discovery of the red soul fruit, I had a lot more confidence in finding natural treasures in the dungeon. While they were incredibly rare, if I ran across an Abnormal in the future, I would know to look for one.