Chapter 235 - The Third Day

After spending what seemed like forever harvesting plant roots, Rynold straightened his arched back.

'Damn it,' he cursed, 'I can't believe it took me so long to do this. And, the worst part of it is, I'm still not done!'

Having spent hours doing this task, Rynold realized that he barely covered half of the entire forest. No, he spent a long time just trying to harvest the ones he had uncovered using his initial excavation. Right now, Rynold had managed to grab a lot of plant roots. But, that was nothing compared to what remained in the entire forest.

That said, Rynold wasn't willing to spend his time over back-breaking menial tasks. The tediousness of harvesting what he had already gathered was enough for him. Any more of that, and he might have gone insane.

Nevertheless, though, Rynold had no other plans as of this moment. Even though he hated gathering any more plant roots, that seemed to be the only viable task for him to do.

There was nothing else in the hollow mountain with him. And, there wasn't much else to do.

Rynold felt like he had wasted some time in the hollow mountain. Maybe it was some wishful thinking, but Rynold genuinely thought he could've done much more.

'The challenge isn't over yet,' Rynold came to the realization that he had one more day to make use of, 'I need to get out of this place. But, since I can't go up...'

Turning his head to the nearest mountain wall, Rynold couldn't help but think that what he was about to do was a bad idea. Even then, he didn't seem he had much of a choice to do anything else. Rynold needed to deal with this now; otherwise, he'd just be stuck in here and waste an entire day.

With the plant roots secured in his inventory, Rynold walked to the nearest mountain wall. From there, he looked around and found the most hollow point — the path of least resistance for his escape.

'Don't fail me now.'

Rynold extended his drill to its full extent and activated Mana Infusion. A thin veil of Mana wrapped around the weapon as Rynold whirled it to life. He then proceeded to break through the mountain wall, his eyes full of determination.

The sound of crumbling rock echoed throughout the white forest as Rynold pushed harder and harder. With his drill doing most of the heavy lifting, Rynold made easy work of the hollow mountain. And, soon enough, he reached the other side, greeted by a blanket of snow.

'I'm guessing this is the other side of where I climbed, huh?' Rynold looked around as he dusted the dirt off of him. 'Kind of surprised that there really isn't much of anything out here.'

As Rynold randomly picked a direction, a familiar sound emanated from the top of the mountain.

Caw! Caw!

Rynold couldn't believe that he would have to face the snow bird again. He looked up, expecting the sizable bird to crash down on him. But, to his surprise, there was nothing there.

'Am I just hearing things?' Rynold's eyes narrowed as he looked towards the sky, wondering where the snow bird was. He doubted himself, thinking that he had misheard it. But, not long after the first one, another loud caw came from above. 'I definitely heard that one.'

With the sound of bird caws getting louder, Rynold wondered which direction the bird had gone. Every caw that Rynold heard got louder and more centralized at one point. It raised some concerns, Rynold thought, as he soon sought out what was happening.

'What the hell is going on over there? No. Why the hell are they there in the first place?!'

Making his way around the mountain, Rynold saw his campsite from below. The one that he had only used for one night. Only this time, the place was swarming with other people. In which these people were fighting against the snow bird.

'Okay,' Rynold calmed himself down as he analyzed the situation. Using logic, Rynold didn't take long to reach a conclusion. Unfortunately, that one conclusion managed to make him click his tongue in disappointment.

'Can't believe I have to climb this thing again.'

Rynold shot his grapple upward the mountainside and started climbing. Each step he took got him closer to the campsite. And, soon enough, Rynold managed to get a much better glimpse of what was happening.

'You're kidding me,' Rynold thought to himself, disappointed, 'There's no way these people are thinking straight. What sort of backward reasoning did they have to climb up here?'

Having reached the platform where his campsite was, Rynold's eyes dotted around the place. He counted five people there, all of which were other Candidates. They were fighting against the snow bird to a standstill. And, to Rynold's pleasure, the other Candidates presented their abilities.

"Hah!"

'Oh,' Rynold quickly shuffled to the side as he watched the fight unfold, 'This dude's kind of buff looking. Fire Infusion? Not bad, not bad.'

Rynold watched as one somewhat burly man cloak himself in a coat of fire. The Fire-Attributed skill was an Equip-spell, from what Rynold could tell, and it was an intermediate spell at that. Rynold nodded in approval as he acknowledged its extravagance.

That said, the other Candidates didn't fall short either. They each had their own abilities, making Rynold reconsider his earlier impressions of the others.

Regardless, the burly man charged first, using his cloak of flame as a shield for the snow bird's natural cold aura. He served as the tank of the party, throwing himself forward. The other four, in the meantime, attacked relentlessly.

'Okay, one of them is using Earth magic. Nothing I haven't seen before. That one over there is using some buff skills. Huh. It must be nice. Okay, that one's pulling all kinds of stunts. Pure Mana Conjurer? Interesting, interesting. Last but not least, that guy is using..., Enchant magic?'

At this moment, Rynold squinted to find out more. He didn't really know what kind of use Enchant magic had in battle. But, with Mechs and an active enough imagination, anything would be possible. Case in point, the guy he was watching right now.

The Enchanter seemed to have two floating crossbow apparatuses that fired crossbow bolts at specific intervals. They even reloaded on their own, without any necessary external help. The Enchanter just had to stand by and watch.

Rynold, truthfully, was impressed.

As much as he enjoyed crafting weapons and items that directly boosted combat ability, Rynold still felt lacking. He had yet to make a Mech of his own. The closest he had of making one was the Accord Spheres. Even then, he was still far from making a real Mech.

With that in mind, Rynold couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Even though he had done his best thus far, Rynold felt lacking as a Mech God Candidate. The worst part of it was his talents in Augment magic weren't great for his craftsmanship.

Letting out a deep sigh, Rynold continued to watch as the scene unfolded. The battle continued, and the Candidates didn't let up at all. But, despite their best efforts, the snow bird wouldn't go down. No, it was as though the sizable creature didn't feel the damage.

Rynold felt as though that the snow bird was deliberately holding back. The creature didn't deal as much damage as it was capable of doing. Not when it fought against Rynold, nor did it do so right now. Rynold watched as the five other Candidates continued their attacks, and the snow bird defended with its massive wings.

After delivering yet another series of blows, the snow bird suddenly cawed. The caw was loud enough that it threw its assailants back, leaving some space for the bird to take off.

"Everyone alright?" the Enchant Magic User asked as the two crossbow apparatuses descended to his sides.

"Fine, but a little tired," one of the other four answered.

"It ran away," the burly man said, disappointed, "And our target isn't even here. We came all the way out here for nothing."

'They were after me?' Rynold thought to himself, unsurprised. Rather than making himself known, however, he just continued to eavesdrop.

"It's fine," the Earth Caster reassured, clearly uninterested, "If he's not here, then so be it. Let's relax for a bit. No need to rush."

"I'm ignoring that," the Enchanter said as he turned back to the group, "Even if the guy's not here, he can't be too far. We're at his campsite, after all. He should be at least within walking distance."

"Or, he might have gone down that hole," the Conjurer added, pointing at the hole at the side of the mountain.

The group turned to the hole on the mountainside and doubted the possibility. But, even so, it was possible nonetheless. Rynold, obviously, wasn't going to say anything to make himself known. Not until he had a good reason to do so.

That said, Rynold watched as the group continued to elaborate on what to do further down the line. Rynold was getting antsy watching them, but he remained patient despite that.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Rynold finally snapped. Rynold only did so after he realized that the group wasn't a well-functioning unit. They fought amongst themselves, more so than any opponent. Rynold couldn't hold it in any longer and genuinely felt tired hearing them bicker.

"Enough!" Rynold shouted as he stood up from his hiding spot, "Tell me what the hell you're after; I can't handle it anymore. I'm not going to sit by and watch grown ass people bicker like children."

"Oh, there he is," the Enchanter, who appeared to be the leader of the group, greeted Rynold with open arms. "I was wondering when you'd show up back here."

"I'm assuming this is some kind of social visit, then," Rynold scoffed, "If that's the case, why don't you tell me why the hell are you all here? I gotta say, my patience is running thin."

"Really?" the Enchanter mocked, "You're going to act all tough against the four of us? You sure about that? You know, I didn't peg for you to be so stupid. But, I guess first impressions can be wrong."

"What the fuck are you talking about? You think I care about any of you? I just want to know why you're here. That's the only thing that concerns me, alright?"

"Straight to the point guy," the calm Earth Caster commented, "Might as well tell him what we want."

"Fair enough," the Enchanter agreed, "We're here for the resources you've gathered. As you know, this challenge is to compete for better resources. There's not going to be enough for all of us. So, you better give us what we want, or you won't have a chance in the other rounds."

Rynold sighed and shook his head. After which, he then chuckled, followed by a full-scale hysterical laugh. The other five Candidates in the area thought that Rynold was crazy.

"Really?!" Rynold asked with a surprising amount of vigor, "You're here to steal from me? My god. You guys should really do your research before getting all the way up here."

After saying that, the group of would-be thieves looked at each other with a confused expression. They didn't know what Rynold had meant, which prodded him to explain further.

"It's really, really simple. I'm not here to win. In fact, you can keep the whole Chosen title to yourselves. I don't care. At all. What I'm here for is to do what I can to get stronger. Other than that, you can all have it for yourselves. I won't fight for the things you already have. Or even give the Mech God any reason to consider me as his Chosen."

Rynold then took a sharp breath as he looked at his assailants with a threatening gaze. He didn't even bother holding back his intent for killing.

"But, I sure as hell am no pushover."