Starting from Zero

Book 4, Chapter 6

The Wonder Mount

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"Is this your companion too?" Hawk looked at Rosa and shuddered. "But aren't you a warrior?"

"I mentioned I'm Soul Manipulator too, right? It's an alternative class for Tamer. Now you know why I can bring more companions. Alright, Rosa, put them down."

Rosa released the couple gently and went back under.

"More companions make your work easier, don't you think?"

"Yeah but...this is more than just 'more companions'! I can't believe this! Two...dragons, two trees, a nightmare, a parrot..." Hawk went over my team members one by one. "Oh, and the ten friends behind you. Introduce us please?"

"Correction. They're Phantom Knights, my servants. The 'trees' are two tentacles from one of my companion, not two. And he's not a tree. He's called a Creeper. The one who bumped your tree is Lucky. He's big, but quite the gentleman if you get to know him. And that's Loong'er floating in the sky. You don't have any problems with this symbolic Chinese creature right? This is not a parrot on my shoulder. She takes the form of an Aurora Heaven Bird when not fighting but..."

I tossed Phiona upward. Boom, she turned into a fireball, then the grand black avian blocked the sunlight above our heads.

"Be gentle next time!"

"Oh, sorry...If anyone is dangerous, it's her. So don't get fooled by the look of that beautiful pet parrot. Next. Phantom, come out."

A lump a black mist appeared in front of me.

"Phaaantom here. Orders, master?"

Elfy seems about to faint. "Do you have any idea how much you need to pay for companion eggs on the market??"

"They sell them on the market? No I never checked. So how much?"

"But--wait--are you even a real player?"

Interesting. I never knew Hawk could open his eyes THAT wide.

"Listen, companion eggs are super hot merchandise out there, especially good ones. Do you know why they won't allow you to change companions? This is a typical psych test designed by the developers."

"Psych what now?"

Elfy explained. "Simple. The game company set up a giant headache for all the players. First, most people have really few companion slots. They need to think carefully before getting a companion. If they find a low level companion first, they will lose the chance to get other better ones in later stages; but if they try to wait for later stages, they will have a hard time reaching that stage without a companion in the first place. Besides no one is sure they can get a high level companion even if they level up."

"There's a 'Loyalty' for companions right? I heard that companions with low Loyalty can get captured by other players. Why don't people take a weaker companion first, then find someone to take it away?"

"Of course someone already tried that!"

"And?"

"The guy deleted his character and started anew." Hawk took over the topic.

"Why would he do that?"

"Guess what, when your companion is taken by someone else, the slot is still occupied. Suppose someone has two slots and lost a companion to another player, he will only bring one companion for the rest of his career. You get the point?"

"Oh shit. Thank god I didn't actually do it."

Hawk looked around the companion army. "I think...we should choose somewhere else to level up."

"Do we have to?"

"Definitely." Elfy pointed behind my back.

I turned around and like "Fuuuuuuu--"

The area behind me has already turned into a slaughterhouse somehow. Lucky is still picking out the remaining boars one by one, sometimes another one would get dragged away by a plant vine and go missing for good.

"Now I didn't give the order! Guys! Stop it!"

Lucky tossed a torn corpse behind his back and looked around in a "I didn't do nothing" way. Although the blood around his mouth gave him out.

"...Do you know any other places we can use?" I glanced around the now lifeless forest.

"Oh! I get it!" Elfy jumped.

Hawk seems to have something up his mind as well. "Are we thinking about the same thing?"

"That's what I mean! What do you say?" Elfy is smiling wide as if she won the lottery.

But I'm in the dark here. "A little explaining please?"

Hawk: "The Wonder Mount not far from here. It's full of monsters with levels around 470 or 480. Sometimes level 500 bosses would appear among them. Should be just the right place for us."

"So...what are we waiting for?"

"The problem is the monster spawn can be troublesome."

"Too many?"

"Um, no. They are just, endless. Normally, monsters respawn after some time when you clean them out. But on that mountain, any monster you kill will immediately respawn inside its belonging area. You may hold them back but they will keep gathering up in your location, until there's not enough space for you to move a single step. We've been there twice. The first time we just quited, and second time...yeah, we were drowned."

Now that sounds fun! "Why do the monsters move like that, have you considered about it?"

"Huh? No. Why?" Hawk is confused.

Elfy caught my answer though, as expected. "They're trying to prevent players from reaching the top."

"Bingo. There has to be something up there. The monsters located on the mountain are not for grinding, but to repel any intruders."

Hawk held up his chin. "I see it now... So there are really treasures."

"Then let's hurry! Go go!!" I'm already on Night Shade's back. Oh lord Jehovah, Maria, Hades, Yeshua, or whatever is watching me, please please let it be golds, or a treasure vault or something so I can pay my debt! I can't even sleep well with that in my mind!

"Let's go!" Hawk and Elfy are already riding on Sunlight while I was doing my silly prayers. Their positions is...a little bit strange though. Only Hawk is sitting on Sunlight. Elfy is seated on Hawk's right shoulder.

We galloped towards the Wonder Mount, while I kept observing the couple from behind. I'd say that's quite some skills. The path in the forest is far from smooth--our mounts would hop and turn from now and then. But they can actually keep a posture like that without any trouble.

Yeah, Hawk deserved that body shape. Elfy is small but is still a human weight, yet Hawk carried her like holding a rubber duck.

We reached our target. Before we can get into the mountains, we still need to pass a lake splitting the two locations. From a close look, the mountain occupied a large area but isn't really high on the vertical level. A layer of lavender colored mist is floating around the mountain, sometimes giving out some shiny light reflections.

"It looks beautiful enough." I tried to lighten the mood, because the two people beside me are already in an escaping stance.

"The danger is well hidden."

"Just like your phoenix, the scenery is just meant to cover the true malice that may take your life anytime."

"Um, you don't have to be THAT careful right? Just follow from behind. I'll go first." I pointed forward. "Lucky! Go!"

Lucky roared and jumped ahead.

Splash!

He disappeared under the lake.

After several seconds, a giant water pillar rose from the lake, with Lucky and a mess of monsters falling from it.

"Huh, I didn't expect the lake to be so deep." I looked at the now water-soaked Lucky.

In theory, a lake about 20 meters wide should be no deeper than 3 meters but...I guess common sense doesn't work in here.

"I told you not to get fooled by the looks of them. Last time we fell deep under the water. We were lucky that we can swim fast or those piranha swarms would have turned us into skeletons."

"Is there a bridge?"

"Nope. But there is a narrow point, our companion mounts should be able to jump over."

We came to the mentioned point. It's about...6-7 meters far from the other side.

I gave Night Shade a pat. "Can you do it?"

Without a word, he just leaped over the lake with ease. He even gave me a defying look and a snort.

Ok, I really should be careful not to offend this guy. I wonder how fast his Loyalty drops if I try anything funny.

"Hawk, go for it!"

He asked Sunlight to move a bit away from the bank, before they charged and successfully made it. The distance should be no problem for a unicorn like that, even with two people riding on him.

Hawk pointed at the path towards the mountain. "Avoid any visible paths and routes. No matter who you are, they will always send you back to the starting point. That's what happened to us last time. The only thing about the paths is that they're safe--monsters will not attack anyone who walks on them."

"That sounds tricky. You two should lead the way. I can't really do anything before we actually meet any monsters."