Chapter 1. A Mysterious Encounter (3)
"Ohhh!"
The man was waving his arms around as he jumped like a rabbit.
His dying visage from before was currently nowhere to be seen. Instead, the man seemed to have taken on the appearance of a god of greed.
"Tsk, they're not going to go anywhere, so maybe I should leave the moon hunting(?) for later…"
After having given up his jumping approach, the man decided to take the time to explore the cave.
"Maybe it's a treasure vault? Puhehehehe!"
If something as rare as light pearls were used to light a hallway, logic would say that there were better things inside. Maybe it was the tomb of an ancient king, or a rich bastard's secret vault.
The man's face was full of anticipation as he walked further in
Inside, he discovered a desk made of stone.
On top of it were a few books as well a small stone container.
He picked up one of the books out of curiosity, and read the title out loud.
"The Sword of Twelve Changes?"
The man's eyes widened as he dug through more of the books. Behind that book was one called the "Cultivation Technique of Change" and the rest of the pile was filled with other books of the sort.
"Whoaaaaa!"
The man no longer thought of this cave as a treasure vault, but one of those mysterious encounters that those martial artists kept talking about.
He set down the book to open the tiny box next to it.
"Huuuup! Haaaaa…"
The man took a deep breath before letting a slow but prolonged exhale, his voice carrying a hint of pleasure.
He had only opened the lid of the box, but doing so let out enough fumes to clear his lungs completely.
These fumes were being released by the tiny rabbit dung-sized pills that filled the entire container.
"F-food!"
The man's face brightened, but quickly shook his head to return to a more serious approach.
"…Is this what they call a spirit pill?"
The man looked at the container and the books with a momentary daze before grinning yet again.
"So it's expensive food."
He was practically grinning ear to ear.
But right then, the wall in front of him moved.
Grrrrr!
"W-what's this?"
He could see more light pearls glowing inside, which lit up the inside of the room with early morning sunlight.
Closing the lid of the container, he moved inside slowly.
The room was massive, with each side of it easily reaching 60 meters long. In the middle of the room was a small pool of water with a bunch of moss growing around it.
Seeing this, a thunderous noise came from the man's stomach.
Growwwwl!
"Oh! Fresh veg!"
The man ran in with no reserve.
Putting aside his fatigue, he had been stuck on a cliff, nearly starving to death in the process. He was restraining himself earlier since those pills seemed expensive, but this was just moss, so he doubt anyone would care if he helped himself.
The man dunked his head into the pool and gulped, being just as thirsty as he was hungry.
After temporarily satisfying his thirst, he ripped off a fistful of moss and shoved it into his mouth.
As the handfuls of moss crumbled under his teeth, they made a heavenly sound.
Crish, crunch!
"Yes, this is it…"
The man let out a satisfied smile as a fresh taste seeped into his taste buds.
He was reacting like he had just bitten into the freshest of vegetables, the taste of which was indescribably satisfying.
And the water?
There was a coolness about it that seemed to be able to affect his entire body. It was as if it could relax his entire body.
After taking a few more bites out of the moss, the man stopped.
"Yeah, I should probably save up."
He wanted to ration it.
The water? He could probably drink plenty of it, since it seemed to have a source somewhere underground. For the moss, however, for which he only had a limited supply of, made him a bit more cautious about eating it.
As he ate the last bits of moss stuck between his fingers, the man shifted his attention elsewhere.
"Aha! There's a bed too!"
Although it was made of a rock, there was indeed a place for him to sleep.
"Woah, this is cool."
When he laid down, his back was warmed rather nicely.
The cave had felt a tad cool before, but the rock raised his body temperature right back up.
"Ah, so warm. This must be a treasure too."
A rock that emitted warmth truly was rare enough to be called a treasure.
In the past few days, the man was constantly under the threat of danger. The peace he had found now finally allowed himself a moment of relaxation.
"Yeah… this is the life."
At this, he fell into a deep sleep without even realizing it.
"Snore."
As his snores rang throughout the quiet cave, the entrance of the cave slowly started to close.
Drrrrr!
When it finally closed, silence reigned over once more.
Only the man’s snores lingered in the cave.
Chapter 2 p1