After the dragon turtle left, Aaron continued his journey. He thought about following the dragon turtle but decided against it. No reason to create unnecessary trouble.
Taking a different route from last time, he ran into small creatures such as lizards, bats, and rodents. And again, on the third day he ran into the pack of wolves. However, this time he was behind them.
'Well, this is interesting. Let's see, what are my options... I could try and sneak away, or just book it. I could also try and set up some kind of trap and lure them into it. Booking it wouldn't work, this body is too weak, so that leaves sneaking and trapping. Trapping would waste time, so let's try sneaking away first'
And that is exactly what our her-, er villain did. But in all honesty, he didn't do much, just walked slower and paid extra attention to foot placement. After all, crouching like in video games doesn't make one sneaky. Sure, it can make you harder to see, but that is very situational. And besides, they track using scent.
Time passed slowly as he left the wolves behind. Eventually, after turning a corner, he noticed the increase of light. And the scent of sulfur. This made he excited, he might finally be free of the underground. But the smell of sulfur dampens this excitement.
It can't mean anything good, especially since this world is "dominated" by the evil system. Granted, he can say he's seen anything he would define as "evil". But maybe that's just it, what is good and what is evil is subjective to the viewer. Like, maybe if someone like Hitler didn't go all genocidal and just kept his racist and antisemitic views to himself, he could have just been an "asshole politician". Possibly comparable to Vlad the Third (Vlad the Impaler), who is a national hero for his defense, albeit horrific, against the ottoman empire.
No way, that couldn't happen. He was too far gone; There must have been some kind of mental issue. Don't get me wrong, I'm nationalist. But I'm not going to burn down another nation or wish it upon them. Wait, can I even be a nationalist anymore? I'm nowhere close to being on earth. What nation would I even belong to anymore?
After stopping and having a random thought that turned into a self-discussion, Aaron shook his read to rid himself of the distracting thoughts. And then made his way to the light. He sees a cave opening, which is where the light is coming from. Sadly, it's too bright for his darkness adjusted eyes to see past.
He rushed towards the opening. Finally reaching the opening, he can't see anything, blinded by the light. But he can feel high temperature, and the smell of sulfur is strong. Slowly his eyes adjust to the light. The first sight that greeted him, confuses him. It looks like the bottom of the ocean floor, near hydrothermal vents. Pillers bellowing black smoke, lava rivers, green grass lands?
All Aaron could think was "How the hell is grass growing along a river of lava?". This contradicts his limited knowledge of biology. To his knowledge, only something like Ohia Lehua from Hawaii can grow in a lava flows. But that's after like, 40 years or something. He never looked deeper than some superficial information; And even then, he only looked it up due to curiosity.
Further down the river he spotted what could only be described as a village. One from a generic fantasy RPG. Only difference is that the wood used is orange-ish red color instead of the typical browns, with maybe red hues. And the stone is black, almost like obsidian, but it doesn't have the shine, or reflectiveness that obsidian has. If anything, it looks like stone that's been painted with venta black.
Faces with everything he sees; he now needs to make a decision. Go to the village, or wander is some other direction. While debating on what to do, he takes a step outside the cave.
'Ding! Mission partial completion. Completed: Reach the Surface. Uncompleted: Start conditioning. Time Remaining: 3 Days.'
Aaron groaned. The fact that the mission was partially completed gave him the feeling that he had to go to the village. He knew that whatever was waiting for him at the village was going to make him hate being chosen. Not that he doesn't already hate it to begin with. So, with seemingly no real choice, he heads towards the village.