Finally out of that damn cave, I take my first step towards my death. I know that my death is out there. Maybe a young master will take offense at me. Who knows. No one has been able to decipher the mind of a young master.
At least the books that I have read in my free time describe them in that way. A creature who attacks others with the slightest provocation. A creature, unable of rational thought. More importantly, despite the ability to see, somehow this creature is incapable of identifying a certain mountain. I look forward to meeting this creature.
My internal monologue is interrupted by a white light hitting me. Without me realizing I drop the blue mattress along with the book from my armpit as my body goes into combat mode.
Qi runs my body as I scan around for potential dangers. My teddy bear hands in front of my chest ready to punch anything that dares to come close.
It takes me a moment to come to my senses as I understand what this white light is. Snow. The white light that hit me was snow. For some reason, snow doesn''t show as grey in my vision but instead, it gives this bright white glow.
Great, I now dropped my matters and book for no reason. Trust me you have no idea how long it took me to fold the mattress and bring it to my armpit.
The easy thing to do right now is to just leave them there. While it''s tempting to do so, I can''t though. These things represent an opportunity for me to improve myself and learn new things. The desire, imprinted on me by the commands, is too strong. There is a reason why the mattress glows blue in my vision. I have to find out why.
It could be useful.
For that along I have to keep them. Crouching I extend my hands toward the mattress. Luck is with me this time. The mattress is still folded with the book tucked inside it.
After a couple of failed attempts, I manage to secure the blue mattress and the book inside my armpit again.
Man, life would be so much easier with fingers. Who knew that fingers were such important? I certainly didn''t appreciate them enough the last time I had them.
With everything in order and a reminder to myself not to allow the mattress to drop again, I take a step forward. My feet sink into snow as the crunching noises come to my ears.
Then I take another step, slowly I make my way through the snow. The view isn''t much. There is snow in every direction except behind me, the stupid cave is there. I can''t tell anything else. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
I can''t even distinguish if I am in a mountain, valley, or whatever this place is. My [qi sight] talent only offers me a few feet of vision at a 360-degree angle. After that, I am unable to see a thing. I wonder if I can do anything to extend this vision.
I reserve this question, for later. I have bigger problems right now. I have to escape. No, I am not escaping. I am not trying to postpone an opportunity to improve myself to escape from my master, may he hit his pinky toe on a chair, no I simply prioritizing my survival.
You hear that, stupid commands. I am in an open area searching for Alex so I can not stop to experiment with my talents. Who knows what dangerous creatures could assault me, while I am learning to expand my vision.
Ok, that doesn''t sound so bad. I have to find an opportunity to do that but not here. I don''t want a random meeting with my master. I am sure he has better things to do.
Look at me speaking with the commands. Trying to convince them. I might have mental problems but hey look at the bright side. At least the commands aren''t answering me. That would be disturbing.
My internal monologue doesn''t stop me from walking. I continue to walk straight in front of me. Trying to put as much distance as possible between me and that cave.
For the moment the qi reserves are holding up but for how long I don''t know. The snow isn''t helping either. In fact, is only making things harder. Every action I make is powered by qi.
The moment my qi reserves run low I have to stop and start cultivating to fill my core with qi. Think of it as a phone battery. Every action on your phone is powered by its battery.
When the phone battery becomes low you have to recharge it otherwise the phone shuts down. In my case, that means death.
The same thing happens if my battery, which in my case is called a core, is destroyed.
So every step I take spends a certain amount of qi but this snow is making things harder for me.
My steps spend more qi than they otherwise would. My short stubby legs aren''t helping either and the snow just keeps getting harder to transverse.
In the beginning, the snow reached up to my knees but now it reaches up to my waist. My limited vision is also making things harder for me.
Being only able to see a few feet in front of me I can''t tell if I am going upwards or downwards. Nor can I tell how much further away I am from my cave.
I swear if I am walking in circles I will be furious.
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I continue walking. I don''t know how long I have been doing it. Time is irrelevant to me. Especially, without any device or ability to measure it. I can''t even use the sun to measure time because I can''t perceive light in my qi vision.
Except for the mattress, in my armpit, everything else is either grey, white or black.
My qi reserves are also getting low at the moment, only 23%. Soon I have to stop and cultivate to refill them. The moment I have been dreading is coming closer.
I am afraid to stop. I know I have to eventually. All kinds of thoughts are entering my brain right now.
With my limited ability to see I can''t judge how far away I am from the cave. I have been walking straight without taking the slightest turns for fear of walking in circles.
However, that might have been a mistake on my part. I am unable to see where I am going but by now I am certain that I am walking upwards.
I don''t know what I am climbing. It might be a hill or a mountain I have no idea but I am climbing something for sure.