"I really don't get why, we would have to beat the Gamemaster. I wouldn't want to do it even if I'm forced, that's why I have decided to play this till the end and when the final level comes, I would defeat all the players trying to defeat the Gamemaster." Kaoru beamed, this had to be the longest sentence this player had ever said with such enthusiasm.
Zhihao chuckled as he heard such fanatic words, "I wouldn't go as far as to protect him, but instead, if there was to be a player who has to beat him, I'd rather, it be me."
"How can you do that?"
"I probably can't, but I'll just close my eyes and do it. I won't let someone else beat him."
Kaoru frowned, "I guess that makes you my rival."
"I guess so."
The two fell silent. The atmosphere was cold and silent, not even the wind daring to blow. There was clearly mutual respect between the two. People are different and they have different feelings and thoughts. When faced with the same decision, they follow different methods to go about it. This was normal and the two knew that one day they'll stand on opposite sides of a fight, but that did not stop them from sharing this feeling of goodwill and respect for each other and their opinions.
"Rooorooo."
Zhihao's eyes went wide as he heard that all too familiar teasing sound, It was the sound of the treasure he was after, the fox spirit, RoRo.
He looked around not knowing where the sound was coming from, a few seconds passed, but there was no follow-up sound. It was like the sound had just been a mirage, an illusion that his mind had created.
Kaoru, "Mastermo, look ahead. I think there is something there."
Zhihao followed the direction Kaoru pointed at, only to realize that there was certainly something there, hiding behind the leaves, but it didn't seem like a beast at all.
Zhihao moved closer to it and pushed the branches aside, what he saw could be deemed as a new discovery.
It was a fresh spring with sparkling water flowing beautifully, hidden from the rest of the forest.
Kaoru was awestruck as he looked at the beautiful hidden scene, but when he tried to move closer to the spring, he was stopped by Mastermo.
Zhihao forwarned him, "Be careful, it may be dangerous."
It very well may be so. This spring seemed to have water so crystal clear that one would not be able to believe that it was water at all.
Zhihao was naturally skeptical about it. Weren't the most dangerous traps always disguised in such aesthetic beauty?
This was a level that messed with one's mind; this conclusion was based on his personal experience, starting from the illusion owl to the fox spirit to the crying eagle, hidden cave, and the dazzling lilies. Nothing beautiful here seemed to be just that simple, and this spring could very well be considered dangerous. Maybe the water was a chemical, a deadly one.
Zhihao, "System, Is this normal water?"
[Answering player's question: This is completely normal water.]
"....."
Or maybe Zhihao had just overthought.
Kaoru moved forward and crouched down near the shore, he put his hand out and touched the water. Nothing happened. This was indeed normal water.
Zhihao was still not satisfied with this development, still feeling that there was something up with it.
This gut feeling was the instinct that he had developed from playing numerous games and becoming a pro-gamer; it was the instinct of a pro-gamer.
Kaoru, "I would want to drink this water, just in case it has healing abilities."
Zhihao, "You can try."
Kaoru chuckled as he sat by the side and started playing with the water, this came out as odd to Zhihao, who found it to be pointless.
Was there really nothing to it?
But just then, as he was pondering over what could possibly happen next, he heard a shriek, it was Kaoru.
"What's that?" Kaoru jolted up and pointed at the water but when Zhihao looked over, he found nothing.
"What are you talking about?"
Kaoru, "That moved! The ground moved!"
Zhihao looked over once more but all he could see under the water were stones with moss on top.
Kaoru took a step back, "I swear, the ground moved."
Zhihao thought about the most likely possibility, finding it almost enjoyable that his gut feeling was once again right on spot, "I believe you, but that's no ground."
Zhihao summoned Shuang and tried to stab the bottom floor of the spring, however, the sword bounced back, unable to poke through the ground.
Zhihao felt an odd rush of thrill, his guesses were indeed right.
If there was normal soil under the water, the sword would be able to poke a hole in it and even if it was a stone, Shuang would have been able to cut it in half, but the sword, neither poked a hole nor cut it up and instead it bounced back, this was no natural ground.
The water started moving, splashing around and they could now see it clearly, whatever it was, it moved and hid deeper inside the water. Just a few seconds later, the huge thing covered in moss disappeared from sight.
Kaoru felt a shiver run down his spine, "What the hell was that?"
"Why don't we go and find out?" Zhihao beamed.
Zhihao changed his armor into one more adapted to conditions underwater and Kaoru also followed suite. The two players got well equipped and directly jumped into the water.
From the outside, the spring seemed to be small in size, but when they jumped inside, they found out that this spring was nowhere near small, it was deep and wide. Inside was a cave, another cave that Zhihao was excited to enter inside.
Since the first time they entered a cave had been very beneficial for them, Zhihao was sure that this cave would also lead them to some new discovery.
They swam around deeper and deeper. The creature that had ran away was nowhere in sight and from the quick sight they got of it, the only thing that could be determined was that this creature was huge in size, hence, there was no way it could easily hide and so the only possible explanation for its disappearance was the cave.
It had entered the cave, followed by Zhihao and Kaoru who were cautiously moving forward. It was dark and not much could be seen, the only source of light—once again—came from the sword as it glowed brightly, this bright glow was due to the close proximity of a beast with high yin energy. The closer and stronger the yin energy, the more brightly the sword would shine.
Kaoru, "This cave seems to be going too deep. What if this is a trap?"
Zhihao, "What are you afraid of? Weren't you the one who said that you wanted to protect the Gamemaster? If you are scared of such a mere beast, forget about that dream of yours."
Kaoru was silent for a minute, "Let's keep going."
Zhihao smiled in satisfaction.
The previous cave Zhihao had explored was filled with carvings on the stone walls but this cave seemed to be a bit plainer in comparison with almost nothing to see except for the thick moss that covered the walls and the aquatic plants that flowed with the current.
Zhihao, "Kaoru, When did you start playing games?"
Kaoru, "Its been a couple of years since I took it seriously."
Zhihao nodded, "Then can you tell me something weird about this cave that you might have noticed?"
"Huh?" Kaoru looked at the man with shock, what answer was he hoping for?
"Just say whatever you have noticed that can not be noticed by noobs."
Kaoru thought about it seriously for a minute before answering, "The current."
"The water current is going deeper into the cave. It's going the opposite way." Zhihao agreed, "There might be an opening at the end of it, we can rest assured that we won't be trapped."
They went deeper into the cave, and so far, all they could see was floating plants and some tiny fishes that swam around.
They felt the stream getting stronger and stronger, till the point that they didn't have to swim anymore, they were being carried by the strong current.
Zhihao, "Be on your guard, there might be danger."
"....."
The two were thrown out of the cave, but unlike what Zhihao had thought, the cave didn't have an opening to the outside, it opened up to another cave. This was a much wider cave with all sides closed off. Inside this cave was a stream of a waterfall by which the two players had fallen into this cave.
There were stones on the edges; on top of which, the two players could stand. In between the cave was a natural pool of water.
Kaoru, "System, where are we?"
[Answering player's question: You have entered the cave of the immortal turtle.]
Zhihao felt excited as he heard this; after having walked for nearly 30 minutes with no monsters to kill or mysteries to solve, he was dying to feel this kind of excitement.
Zhihao, "System, Who is the immortal turtle?"
[Answering player's question: The immortal turtle is a mystical beast categorized under treasure.]
Upon hearing the system's answer, Kaoru looked around delightfully.
This sudden show of enthusiasm caught Zhihao by surprise, "What are you looking for? You know this beast?"
Kaoru nodded, "This beast should be the treasure we are after. A turtle."
Zhihao, "An immortal turtle? Sounds oddly familiar."
Kaoru smiled, "Mastermo is certainly very lucky. We have been looking for this thing for ages but with you, I found it by pure chance."
Zhihao tilted his head in amusement, "Why thank my luck? I think it's you who lucked out."
Kaoru eagerly nodded as he looked around a bit more.
Zhihao, "But please don't forget this, we need to break the seal first. After we do that, you can come back to catch the beast, till then you'll have to wait."
"Kaoru glanced back in confusion, "Why can't we catch it now?"
"Not worth it."
"But, why?"
Zhihao shook his head, 'I don't know. Perhaps, my gut feeling?"
Kaoru squinted his eyes, "What if we can't find it again?"
Zhihao smiled, "Then I'll be held responsible."
Kaoru looked at the man with suspicion, although they were now in a squad together, they were still from different teams so what if this man had just wanted to trick them at this moment? But when Kaoru looked at Zhihao's smiling face, there was not a trace of lie laced in it, so he decided to trust the man. It was all up to chance, if Zhihao was to betray them, then they'd just have to suck it up and blame it on their bad luck.
Kaoru, "So what are you planning to do now?'
"Well I wouldn't let you catch the beast yet but we can still go and see what's under that." Zhihao spoke as he pointed at the pool of water, a deep pool with no visible floor under it.
Kaoru agreed, a bit too easily, this was because of his trust in Mastermo, no matter what happens, this man would certainly not make bad decisions.
The two players jumped and swam to the bottom, only to realize that this was another underwater cave.
They kept on swimming till they saw something, or at least when they thought they did; What they found was nothing more than fishes that hid in the dark and weed that flowed with the water.
Kaoru stopped as he noticed something,"Mastermo, look over there."
When he looked over, what Zhihao saw was nothing more than moss but when he blinked, it was gone.
Kaoru, "There is something wrong with this place."
Zhihao nodded, "I don't think this is moss."
The water moved with force and the two players were forced to look ahead, there was a tail, not long but extremely huge. The owner of the tail was in front of them, turning a corner and leaving them behind.
There was no doubt about it, this was the tail of that immortal turtle but Zhihao didn't chase after it nor did Kaoru, what they found more interesting was the fact that the moss sticking to the side of the cave wasn't a moss at all, they were some type of creatures that looked like moss.
When Kaoru moved closer to the wall of the cave and put his hand forward to touch the moss, the creatures moved away, extremely fast and the players could now clearly see what was hidden under these creatures.
It was the carvings. The exact same carvings that they had seen in the previous cave.