In the middle of an ocean, laid an island, rid of any other in sight. It was a mountain… a really cold mountain. With a peak reaching above the clouds, and the ground, made of ice.


    Not a single life existed below the waters, no fish, no shark, nothing alive. Waves didn’t exist, nor did the waters move an inch.


    It was a dead ocean, housing a single island, that mysteriously froze its surroundings.


    Callan arrived on that island.


    [Welcome To The Fourth Floor]


    [Climb The Mountain Peak To Prove Your Worth]


    “Well, I didn’t expect it to actually be colder than snow. It’s not a lie though, only the ground is ice, the mountain itself is just snow.”


    Callan was at the edge of the land, he crouched down and looked at the water. “How is this possible though?”


    He then moved his eyes to his hands and legs. “It isn’t really cold either… It actually just feels like glass.” Callan carefully tapped the edge and it cracked, sinking immediately to the bottom of the blurry ocean.


    “It looks weird though, I’ve been so used to the second floor’s pond that I forgot an actual body of water doesn’t just look like liquid air.”


    Callan stood up and stretched his back forward. “Ahhh…” He scoffed and walked to the mountain, stopping at the separation of actual snow and ice.


    “This is where I’ll be for now.” Opening his inventory as he sat down.


    Before coming to the fourth floor, Callan slept for only 8 hours and spent the rest hunting boars and really only boars, as other types of animals didn’t even seem to exist.


    There was another difference in this island that Callan could clearly notice, magic… it didn’t exist. Whether magic or mana or really whatever those blue orbs were called are actually rare or not, well… just this situation isn’t really enough proof.


    “Could just not exist if I haven’t cleared it yet. To prevent any further training to a higher level, guess they did somewhat think about this tactic. Hmmm…”


    Callan took out another giant piece of stone. “Okay, now that I think about it, I forgot about that… I don’t think these floors actually go through a day-night cycle…”


    Callan slowly swallowed his saliva and inhaled deeply. His feet inch slightly back, biting his upper lip. Lifting his head up while his eyes got wider, Callan was about to bust in anger, but he jabbed his head down fast and shoved it off.


    “Fine! I don’t need to count the time! I will! And I mean it!” He raised his arms as far as he could. “Train till I master the spear!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.


    Callan looked at the mountain top, covered by the soft patterned clouds. “You know what, I kinda wanna climb it.”


    Without any hesitation, he ran. Unlike the forest, the fourth floor was an open ocean with the highest peak Callan had ever seen.


    It was like the embodiment of freedom. Truly a sight to behold. Callan felt free, so free!


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    His entire feet were submerged in the snow, but he proceeded, pulling and moving forward despite the holdbacks. Even with the time it took and the frustration of something like shackles on your feet, Callan started to climb.


    The entire mountain was covered in snow, it was like a snow cone that someone got too out of hand making.


    His hands pierced and fell from the snow, his hand was bathing in a field of sheep. Callan climbed higher and the higher he went, the stack of snow started to get smaller. Until at one point, he held on to a rock and turned around.


    The ocean colored dark navy blue with hints of teal, reflecting the shade of the beautiful sky, hiding in between those fluffy white clouds. The sun stood at the opposite mountainside of Callan, highlighting its shape, like an unhealed injury of Moses''s red sea.


    It took hours, really, hours, till Callan was able to reach the clouds. He stopped, not risking the possibility for the floor to fully activate its actual purpose. Though, he did fulfill one dream of every human in the world.


    Callan slashed the clouds in half. “Hehehe… that doesn’t feel that good…” He did it again. “That feels much better. Oh… there''s no rain in these clouds… that has no relevance in science at all~!”


    Despite the mountain going beyond the clouds, it was still thicker than a house. Callan punched himself a tiny hole and forced himself in.


    He had his knees up, shoulders squished, and head bent a little down. “This is so uncomfortable, but it’s so worth it… I wish… there was a sunset… cause I would have definitely loved watching it. Hah…” Callan sighed at the sight of the same unchanging scenery.


    Even with his disappointment, he stayed in that cubby for an hour without really thinking of anything.


    “Ha~!” Callan yawned, stretching his hands out… and… causing him to fall.


    “Ahhhh!!!” Callan rolled down the mountain until he was able to hold his grip and slid down fast.


    “Hahahaha! Great way to fall down, I guess!” Callan placed his feet just above the snow with no strain, making him smoothly slide down the slope of the mountain.


    Callan gathered his breath properly, relaxing his lungs and balancing his breathing. He stared at the ocean again, orange flares blinking at his eyes, wishing the sun would ever actually go down and show an amazing display of a sunset.


    After some hours of falling and almost reaching the bottom, Callan’s feet randomly fell off the snow. “What?” He questioned, as he actually fell. Then a short glimpse of a cave passed his eyes as he fell.


    Callan immediately clawed into the stone stopping his descent. He quickly climbed back up and reached into the cave. “Oh…” He licked across his lip.


    “This will be interesting.” The cave was small, it had the size of a cozy room fit for only one person. Callan could already imagine his entire future life in his little hole of captivity.


    “Now that I’m here actually, I’ll also make clothes from boar skin, at least it’s better than baby diapers.” Callan jumped back down in a hurry. After an hour of sliding, he quickly picked up the stuff he had removed from his inventory like a day before.


    This is why Callan had also denied the idea of even keeping counts of days, after gaining as much stamina as he has now, he could stay up for a day without even getting tired. There was no way he could accurately know the time, unless he counted each second, which he wasn’t a high school prodigy to be able to do that.


    Callan took out his campfire set-up and placed it in the middle of the cave, he immediately lit it up and sat in front of it, his back facing the entrance.


    “Hah… well… that was my first time hiking… I didn’t even notice. Amazing view, hours of joy… I feel like… this might just be the best time of my life.”


    He turned around to the same sky once again. He stood up and removed some leaves from his inventory. “I did not bring these things for this situation, but hey, I believe it is one great thing.”


    Callan hung the leave’s stems on the entrance by piercing them with a small, lengthy piece of stone. He covered the entire entrance, hiding the cave from most of the light, that it didn’t even have much of already as the sun was on the other side.


    However, it was still bright enough, and the darkness was much appreciated after looking at the bright white void for so long that sometimes Callan couldn’t even understand if his eyes were closed or he had gone blind.


    Using his magic he made small strips from the leaves, giving some bits of natural light in the cave. Though, the campfire was more than enough already.


    Callan stretched his back and slowly walked to his fire. He dispersed the fire with one big blow and laid down on the ground. “Good day… Good day… I hope you’re okay, Mirai.”