Two months had passed since I came here. I guess.
Ten days ago I was already the strongest in the middle region, although that does not imply I was physically strongest.
Although I said that I was the" strongest ", that doesn't mean that I could one-punch the second strongest, instead, I was only strong enough that I was sure, I wouldn't be killed by him, in most feasible scenarios.
Ten days ago to strengthen my physical body even more I stopped wielding weapons, rather I used my fists, kicks, and my whole body to fight.
Even though I was bare-handed, I tried to materialize my spear technique on my fist. Spear and punch techniques are very closely related after all.
While doing that I also trained baijquan but found it very hard to level up, it seemed I had no talent for this kind of technique, but even so, I persisted, Afterall What is Talent?
Talent is a special Privilege, that a small group of people have, thus making them somehow slightly special, just like when some people are born rich while others are born poor.
This privilege makes one who possesses it, learn most things he wants to comprehend, In an exceptionally fast period, which would make most weak-willed and fainted-hearted people lose their motivation to learn and become hopeless.
They say, "something we would require a year to learn, but [The Talented], only need less than a month to understand, So why should we even work hard anymore after seeing that, it's meaningless"
One once said "Hard work betrays none", I don't know who said it, but one thing I am sure of is That he/she is very optimistic about life.
This sentence shows that the person who said it is someone who is pursuing ideals, going as far as he can from the truth we live in, or at least we used to live in.
Just because an individual worked hard does not signify what he will meet is a success.
Studying all one's life, getting a degree, thus getting a job to earn some money for living. Is a beautiful thought, but after all, That is just Ideals, and hopeful thinking, not reality.
One might not even go to school and get a high-paying job through some connection, doing that means that somebody who is more deserving of the said job and had worked harder had lost his chance of getting it
Oh, I seem to be getting out of the topic a little bit. Anyway, talent only means the ability to learn at a fast speed, so as long as an ordinary one works hard enough they will reach the genius level sooner or later, since everyone and everything has a limit.
No matter how genius one is, at some point his growth speed will become the same as others and at one point it will even stop, giving the chance for the ordinary to reach him.
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Today I decided to go to the center region, at least to see how is it. after finishing off my preparation, I immediately skipped to action.
After fighting through the Road to the Middle region. I finally found the mountain range that stood as the natural Boundary separating the middle and the centre region.
After strapping my wooden spear to my back, and some food to eat as well, I started to climb the 200+ meter high mountain before me. After ascent to its peak, I saw several other high peaks that were separating me, from the cloud-reaching, fantastic tree.
"1,2.....17 peaks wow. It seems I won't be able to return to my hut today. Fortunately, I did bring with me some food to eat.", As Leo mutters, he starts descending from the first mountain.
{Unfortunately, I didn't have any previous climbing knowledge, otherwise, I would have been able to climb easier and faster. }, As Leo thought of that, he started to climb the second mountain.
He started when the sun was at its apex when he climbed on the 17th and the last, only two hours left before sunset.
After descending the last peak, he saw a view that he would only usually see in a well-known beautiful wallpaper.
Green was all he could see for the several miles that his eye field could view
Green and full of vitality plants, shading the ground leaving no gaps to be seen. All those plants surrounded the ultra-huge tree that was touching the clouds.
As Leo was looking at this breathtaking scenery, he was also looking around cautiously, looking out for beasts's attack.
But no matter how much he lingered, he wasn't attacked, he also didn't see any cues of the beast around. This made him ever more wary.
{There is no beast here, but how is that possible, shouldn't my greatest challenge to finalize this quest be here.... }, Peeking at the quest in the system window, he found that the quest was still undone.
Seeing that Leo's eyes got sharper as he inspected his surroundings while advancing toward the Great Tree.
Unexpectedly without any alarms, a tree branch grew from the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye, stabbing toward Leo's left leg.
Leo who discovered that late, could only dodge a little even so, the branch still stabbed through his leg.
"—", Uttering a silent scream, Leo quickly tried to pull his leg away. As he was nearly successful in doing so, a second branch came from the ground stabbing toward his leg again, but this time although he was slightly surprised he quickly dodged.
After getting some distance from the area where he got hit, he thought, {A branch suddenly coming from nowhere? What is that magic? I would like to say believe in science, but after all that happened, I can't. }
As he was treating his injured leg, he gritted his teeth from pain, as he withstood the thought of applying {Indifferent} with his willpower.
{ But why did it stop when I ran? Is that it's range, so it can't attack outside it? And What the heck is IT anyway?}, "Let's get healed first then try again later"
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Thud~!
Thud~!
Thud~!
wood clashing with other sounds, as Leo was deflecting the slightly strong but overwhelmingly fast onslaughts that came from the tree branches that appeared on the ground as he was running toward the Great tree.
This was his third try. After being heavily injured again, he went to rest as the sun had already set. After only his third try his body was full of wounds.
After making a simple hut, from his previous experience, he laid his back on the ground, while glancing at the sky that was full of stars, unlike Earth's modern environment where you won't most of the time see stars.
In the night sky, Leo can see three moons, instead of one like Earth, the only disappointing thing is that none of them are red.
"It would have been great if I could see the legendary red moon, now thinking about it, days on this island or in this world are longer than the days on Earth, they are about 28, or 29 hours a day, and that is perhaps because of the those three moons? I am also fairly sure that the sun I see every day is not the sun from the Milky Way, its colour is slightly different, and its size as well, but on this last one, I am not sure maybe instead of the sun here is bigger it's only closer making it appear bigger"
As I was looking at the stars, I twisted my head toward the meat that was on fire beside me, finding that it was already fully ready to be eaten.
"I wish, I had now some kitchen utensils and some spices, even though the meat alone is very delicious spices are also good." After wolfing it down, I slept.
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———pov leo———
THE Second day in the centre region.
I could only get to the distance of 500 meters away from the tree. The closer I become to the tree, the more branches will attack me. Every time I walk on its road, my body is full of wounds and blood.
When I run out of meat to consume, I would have no choice other than to return to the middle region, which takes me another half a day to climb the 17 mountains.
After getting a lot of fresh meat to eat, as I couldn't take out the meat I put in the store, I took a rest and then departed the next day.
But before that I used the last potion I had, the level 5 potion, to improve my odds of succeeding in reaching the great tree.
So on my third attempt on the fourth day, I was able to cross another 250 meters of distance, but the number of the branches increased again, I could not dodge nor defend against them so I ran again.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Days passed As I attempted again and again, I became better at dodging and my physical status rose, but I couldn't cross the 100-meter mark no matter how much I tried.
As I dodged the branch that was aiming at my head, I kicked the ground as I ran a few steps back, dodging another attack that came from the ground, then quickly moved to the right before another branch stabbed my back.
My right arm swung my wooden spear parrying two branches that came from the right, as I did that, I found couldn't move beyond the hundred-meter mark no matter how much I dodged.
It was not my body that was holding me back, but my senses, my eyes, ears, and other senses couldn't keep up with those attacks.
Even so, I still tried my best.
When I arrived at the 37th attempt, I stopped, not giving up, but trying to find a way to breakthrough through this problem, I found that just trying wouldn't help much at least for a short time, so I tried to meditate.
{How can I break through from there? If only my senses were stronger I could, but it's not like I can make my senses grow enough to put up with this challenge in the following 20 days which is the time limit of the quest, So what should I do? }
After a long season of meditation, I came up with a conclusion!
"Hmm, although I will sure go through hell of pain, but that is at least better than not growing at all....", As I muttered that I started getting ready for my new hellish plan.
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The next day, The eleventh day since I am trying to conquer the centre region.
as usual, I started to climb the first mountain of the seventeen mountains that separated the regions. As I climbed the first ten meters, an accident took place.
I fell!
Falling from a height of ten meters was nothing for the current me, But even when I climbed the mountain the first time, I didn't fall, so this should be considered a problem.
But I who fell thought of this as a natural thing, since I had blindfolded myself?
Even If I was blindfolded if I used my hand strength I could make my fingers piece through the rocky mountain enough to make me incapable of falling, but I didn't do that, because this would help me in training, which would help me overcome the challenge of the great tree.
So— "Ouch..., although I know this would happen it seems that I ought to amplify my resolve more for the coming pain.... ouch, falling from the height of thirty meters is sure a lot of pain I am sure my leg bones were about to break this time"
I had climbed this mountain several times before, I still remembered most of it at the moment, but I was still falling.
This was already my third time falling.