Upon waking up, I could feel my entire body aching from yesterday's exercise, but I didn't have time to waste.
After doing some stretching exercises I had learned in my previous life, I put on my jacket again and moved the rocks out of the way so I could leave.
Looking down at the ground from my resting spot, the scenery was jaw-dropping. I had never been hiking before I died, but I guess I was missing out.
The bright blue lake, illuminated by the sun's lights, the countless harmless birds flying around in the gigantic forest, and the bright blue sky that brought it all together. It was hard to believe that these beautiful mountains could be considered dangerous.
I returned to the artificial trail and headed further up the mountain, more specifically, to the right. After walking for an hour, I finally saw the end of the path up ahead.
That meant that the actual search was going to begin.
However, there was one big issue; I was sweating and hyperventilating like I just ran a goddamn marathon. After finding a spot with shade, I sat down and looked up at the sky for a bit.
Even since I entered this book world, I have been constantly on the move, with barely any time to think.
Since the book had a happy ending, I decided that interfering with the storyline would be useless. So, how would I live? Living off my father's money was no longer a choice.
After thinking it over for a bit, I decided that my first goal would be to graduate from the academy, as from there, I could go into any field I wanted to.
But if I wanted to live nicely, I would have to graduate from Class A. Sure, it would be complex and time-consuming as I was ten years behind every student academically, but some time at the library should solve that, right?
After resting a bit longer, I got up and began searching everywhere. The only hint was that it was on the upper right side of the mountain range, so I looked in every cave.
It took me around 10 minutes to find the first cave, and to no one's surprise, the cave was empty.
"This is going to be a pain, isn't it?"
Why can't I be the damn protagonist who stumbles on whatever item he's looking for after 10 minutes of walking around?
After searching three caves with no results, the light was already diminishing, so I entered one last cave for the day.
Looking at the cave in front of me, I noticed a lot of noise coming from within.
That could either me there were a shit ton of monsters, and I would die, or it would mean the Dragon's eye could be tDragon'sll; it's a 50/50 chance! Either I get the Dragon's eye in this cave, or I Dragon'sd move on to another one tomorrow.
I quietly walked along the cave walls and slowly inched further into the cave. I could feel the presence of more mana within this cave, and my body seemed to heal as I walked further into the cave.
*DRIP*
Suddenly, I heard the sound of running water further into the cave.
Back in the village, I picked up most essentials, such as food and water. Still, I severely underestimated the amount of exercise I would be doing, so I was halfway through my rations on only the second day.
I grabbed some empty water bottles from my pockets and walked closer to the sound; then I heard some footsteps, not regular footsteps.
If there's water, that means there had to be creatures nearby who drank and used that water.
Right now, I was in no position to even look at a monster, so I carefully backtracked my way to the entrance of the cave,
I would need to return when I inevitably ran out of water, but that would be a problem for me in the future.
As the sun set, I headed back down the trail toward my spot from earlier. After some time looking around, I found the pebble path I had left behind to indicate my sleeping location.
Exhausted, I collapsed onto the hole's cool, rough floor. Uncomfortable or not, I was happy that my legs finally got a break.
After only a few minutes, I gave in to my exhaustion as I fell asleep.
*TICK*
*TICK*
The sound of a clock ticking woke me up. What the hell, am I hallucinating now because I exercised too much?
Focusing on my ears, I once again tried to hear the sound that woke me up, but to no avail; it was no longer there.
Propping myself against the wall, I peered out of the spot's entrance and saw it was pitch black. Going outside to search right now would be a death, so I simply looked up at the dark sky.
After a few minutes, my body started aching again, so I once again laid down on the floor.
However, as soon as my head touched the cave floor, the clock ticking started playing again.
Are the gods playing some trick on me? Is this funny to you higher beings? Is torturing a defenseless reincarnate some pastime for them? If so, it's working very well...
Ignoring the clock's ticking sound, I closed my eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but the clock conveniently disrupted me every time I grew closer to falling asleep.
I stood up again and attempted to find the source of the noise, but the cave was completely empty beside me. Returning my head to the floor, the sound of the clock ticking immediately reappeared.
After taking and removing my head from the cave floor a couple of times, I realized that the sound could only be heard when my ears were close to the floor.
Like an animal, I got down on all fours with my head touching the ground and followed the ticking sound. However, when the ticking sound got louder, and I noticed I was getting closer, my head bumped straight into the end of the cave.
Somehow, it seemed like the sound's source was inside the mountain. Right now, I was too far into this mystery to give up, so I placed my head on the wall that blocked me from going any deeper into the mountain, and sure enough, the ticking sound was even louder.
Why the hell is there a clock inside this mountain?
Placing my hand on the smooth surface of the wall, I tried to find a secret lever or something to open the wall, but this wasn't some spy movie, so nothing worked.
Next, I formed a fist with my hand, and with all my strength, I punched the wall. However, the wall remained fine while my fist felt like it had just shattered into a thousand pieces.
This single wall inflicted more pain on me than the rest of the mountain within less than 10 minutes... the bump on my head and bruises on my fist.
I angrily walked back to the cave's entrance, and since I could not sleep with that sound, I decided to stretch until the sun came up.
I removed the rocks I had placed to block monsters from entering the cave and walked outside. Looking up at the sky, I saw a yellow half-crescent moon and what seemed like a million stars shining at night.
Now, alongside hiking, stargazing was another thing added to my list of things to do if I ever returned to my original world.
As I started stretching outside, I noticed a slight light coming from inside my sleeping cave.
When I turned around and looked into the small cave, I saw the back wall shining. Not the entire cave, just that back wall seemed to shine.
Then, the cave shook briefly, and a small opening was revealed at the bottom of the back wall.
Was it the light? No, then it would have opened from the sun. Was it the moon?
After glancing at the beautifully starry sky, I silently thanked it for ending my mystery.
Staring at the small opening in the wall, I internally swore when I got my hands on that clock, shit was going to get real.
Not only did it keep me up in the middle of the night, it also gave me two injuries.
I crawled through the small opening in the wall, ignoring that my academy uniform was now essentially covered by dirt.
If my "father" saw me in such a state, I wondered what he would think. He would probably go crazy and try to execute me for ruining his God-blessed family name.
As I walked further into the secret cave, I noticed that I could hear the ticking sound even when my head wasn't on the floor.
I no longer had to act like a wild animal trying to find food to hear the ticking sound!
The secret cave path was not straight and level; it led me downwards, and there were turns and twists every 10 feet, which increased my suspicions.
This cave definitely could not have been created by nature; it was far too unnatural. There was no way a naturally formed cave would suddenly turn right, left, and right again.
So, did a man make this cave? How did he get that secret entrance to work? Even after reading over 1500 chapters of the book, I had never heard of magic activated by the moon's light.
Finally, I reached the end of the cave, and like in a horror movie, a pedestal sat awaiting me. On that pedestal was also a small golden orb, still emitting the ticking sound that had caused me so much pain.
The pedestal resembled one at a museum. However, the orb was not protected by a red cushion.
From all the horror movies I had watched, my instincts told me that the orb was terrible news.
However, my curiosity got the best of me. Someone had made this cave, and this someone had left behind a golden orb.
Was it the Dragon's eye? Had I searched in the Dragon'sg area, or was it some item never mentioned in the book?
Searching the entire right side of the mountain range was impossible, so I hoped my luck or something would lead me to the Dragon's eye.
Was my luck finally into play?
As I walked towards the pedestal, I could feel my ears about to burst as the sound of ticking was way too goddamn loud from this distance.
In a swift motion, I stepped toward the pedestal and grabbed the orb with my right hand, stopping its ticking sound.
What was going to happen now? Was the cave going to collapse because I stole the treasure it protected? Was some person going to come out of the orb, thank me for awakening them, and then kill me?
However, none of that happened. The cave and my surroundings stayed precisely the same.
Anticlimactic much?
Looking at the orb in my right hand, I tried to recall the description of the Dragon's eyes, Aragon. The book Dragon mentioned nothing about its appearance except that it was a ball.
Well, one similarity is enough for me. After the moon activated this secret path and made that ticking sound, this item had to be remarkable.
Looking at the pedestal in the cave for any hints, I noticed a small picture inscribed on the metal.
The picture displayed a feast, and the golden orb I was currently holding was present on each of the plates on each of the plates.
...Am I supposed to eat this?
Sighing, I placed the orb in my mouth and swallowed. After savoring its sweet taste, rivaling a gummy worm from my world, I left the secret cave and returned to my sleeping spot.
What would happen now? I had just randomly trusted some picture drawn on a pedestal...
Crawling through the small entrance to the secret cave again, I was relieved to see the familiar sight of my sleeping spot.
Walking through that secret cave twice while not fully recovered took a lot out of me, so I laid back on the floor.
After a few minutes of lying down, I confirmed the ticking sound was no longer there, so I drifted back to sleep without worrying about the world.
It was all worth it! That damned sound was gone!
[A/N: Do you like this novel cover better or the other one?]