'This is going to be a long night,' Nero thought, his teeth chattering from the cold as he clenched his jaw, feeling his energy slowly drain while he fought against the extreme pain.
Things only got worse as time passed, as the freezing winds chilled him to the bone, and less than two hours later, he was shivering with his arms clasped around his knees.
The cold felt terrible, but it did help ease some of his muscle pain, as his senses went numb in the first hour.
As there was nothing else to do but sit in silence and contemplate, Nero began to ask himself questions, and the answers made him quickly get comfortable with the fact that if he wanted to achieve his dream of great power and influence, going forward, things were only going to get harder.
Nero was abandoned at birth, and the only home he knew was an orphanage that gave him warmth and a chance at a normal life, teaching him a lot, including the bottomless greed and cruelty of people.
Nero had learned long ago that in a world run by power, the weak were the only ones who suffered, and being a victim of power and greed himself, he understood that the only way to escape it was by growing stronger.
So now that he had the opportunity, which probably no one else in history had received, he was willing to do everything, to go to any lengths to make full use of it.
Nero spent the entire night shivering in the cold and hoping that no creature would come to attack him, making the already bad night worse, and thankfully, no beast came looking for him.
The second day began with Draven taking control and Nero falling asleep as he was mentally exhausted. After meditating for nearly two hours to dispel the cold and rejuvenate his muscles with mana, Draven also began to move.
It took him less than an hour to exit the embrace of the green jungle and enter the rocky terrain of the mountain range that also separated the outer and inner belt of the Elderwood jungle on the southeast side.
The inner belt was crawling with death, with first and second-rank magical beasts being a common sight. Draven had come prepared to make the nearly seventy-five-kilometer journey into the inner belt to avoid dying at the hands of a random beast.
The potions he bought from Lady Elincia would keep him safe, as each invisibility potion would last for ninety minutes, essentially giving him around ten hours of invisibility with ten potions.
While he had bought ten potions since he was going to use them one after another, their base effective time was going to go down slowly as he consumed more and more, but ten of them should still give him ten hours more than enough time to do what he needed to do.
Draven entered the rocky terrain and, without wasting any time, drank one of the invisibility potions, a vial full of crystal-clear liquid before he stripped completely naked and put everything inside the space ring.
The potion would only make his skin and hair invisible, meaning every external piece of clothing had to be removed, including the space ring, which could be easily hidden inside a closed fist.
It was not enjoyable to run naked for multiple hours, especially in the fast winds that swept through the mountain ranges, but since he could only use gradeless potions, this was the best result he could get, and he had no issue with it.
Draven began to move, going straight toward the towering mountain peak far in the distance, which was the territory of the Crysindora Arachna, the spider queen who ruled the crystal mountains of the Southeast.
The following four hours were just spent sprinting toward the mountain at his top speed, allowing him to easily travel the seventy-five-kilometer distance.
He stopped once he was near the base of the crystal mountain that housed the Arachna queen. He was welcomed by the breathtaking beauty of the massive mountain, which stretched nearly four kilometers in height, its peak hidden beneath a layer of white clouds.
The mountain was a colorful wonder, the lower section showing jagged crystals with sharp edges protruding out from the stones.
But the real beauty began halfway up, as nearly a third of its surface was nothing but crystals that shined in a kaleidoscope of colors, painting the sky and surroundings in calm crimson and blue shades.
But hidden beneath this beauty was the sight of thousands of spiders, both big and small. Their bodies were cloaked in colorful shells, making some of them even indistinguishable from the mountain itself.
The spiders ranged from a mere few centimeters in length and width to a few meters in size. Their multiple legs were as sharp as blades, and their bodies were covered in thick crystalline exoskeletons, which gave them immense protection.
They feasted on the crystals, their jaws slicing through the hard stones with ease. The sound of munching and clicking of their legs rang through the surroundings in a menacing rhythm.
There were hundreds of spiders, with many of them being Third Rank ascended, creatures who, even with all his preparation, Draven would struggle to slow down, let alone kill.
Draven began observing the landscape, quickly locating multiple areas away from the spiders' sight and range.
'Now, I just need to set some explosion to attract these vermins away from the mountain so I can see if the queen is present, and then I can get to work,' Draven thought as he moved to the area located beneath a protruding cliff.
Draven needed to reach the summit of the mountain, where a hollow peak opened to the sky, home to the Arachna Queen. She should be meditating there, attuning herself to the elemental laws to further her understanding and power.
If she was not present or was not in deep meditation, then Draven had to leave. His plan required an hour of work, which would be ruined if the spider queen left the area or sensed the disturbances before his work was fully completed.
So before he could begin crafting the array needed to take her life, he had to confirm her presence, ensuring she was present.
The entirety of Crystal Mountain was crawling with crysindora spiders, and getting anywhere near it meant death since every spider could feel the earth's vibration and even feel the difference in air current, so being invisible would be of little help.
So before he could confirm the queen's existence, he needed to lure away the spider covering the mountain, and he came prepared to do it.
Draven reached the first location and quickly began to draw an array, a simple trap array that exploded after gathering enough mana from the surroundings.
In the first array, he used four mana crystals and the corpse of one of the monkeys he killed as the catalyst, increasing the number of mana crystals by two in every other array.
Since he did not have to worry about the blood clots in his veins, Draven could really push his body to its limit, completing all six arrays in less than twenty minutes.
He set their time apart by simply making each array absorb mana at a different speed because he needed distraction once he climbed down after he confirmed the queen's presence.
After everything was ready, he went to the far right area, where there were the fewest crystals and spiders, and began to wait for the arrays to do their work.
"BOOOOOMMMMM"
The first array detonated two minutes later, tearing the land apart and unleashing shockwaves that rippled through the area. Chunks of stone were propelled into the air, raining from hundreds of meters above.
The explosion shook the spiders accustomed to peace. The small ones quickly gathered in groups or escaped into the tunnels, while the larger, stronger ones left their food and sprinted toward the source of the explosion.
"BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM"
A minute later, another explosion went off, much louder and stronger than the first, and this time, those even at the top were quick to leave their place and rush down, giving Draven the chance he needed to begin his climb.
Draven began his climb to the top of the mountain, being quick but also careful of his surroundings. Even with the massive disturbance below, many spiders were still covering his path, but he had come fully prepared.
As he climbed, he took out explosive bombs and threw them around himself, creating additional disturbance and allowing him to move without worry.
The small spheres of crystals filled with crimson liquid cracked as they touched the ground. The liquid ignited into an explosion, creating fiery explosions that disrupted the air and sent shockwaves through the ground.
The bombs helped Draven mask his footsteps and the air disturbance, making the few spiders in his path rush to the area of disturbance or not feel his presence at all, allowing him a smooth path to the top.