Cave 2

I woke up to someone shaking me. Struggling to open my eyes, I saw that the protagonist was shaking me.

"Looks like the fall knocked you out, unlike me. I even treated my arm while being half-conscious" the protagonist said with a chuckle.

His words made me want to break his jaw.

Why did I even bother rescuing him, no matter where we ended up? I was starting to feel the fatigue both mentally and physically.

Knowing that I had neither the strength nor the desire to argue with him, I simply waved my hand and asked, "Any thoughts on how to get out of here?"

"Oddly enough, yes. I have an artifact I acquired from some aggressive bureaucrat. Brrr, trying to forget that part of my life" he replied.

"Don't lose heart, buddy! Haha, we'll get out of here now" he added, pulling out a small beetle-like artifact.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, asking, "And what's that bug?"

"This isn't just a bug; it's an artifact that helps locate an exit in situations just like this. It finds the shortest path from enclosed spaces to open air. I happened to come across it by chance, and as you can see, it's come in handy" he explained.

Following the beetle-like artifact, we headed in the direction the protagonist knew.

Protagonist:

Xia Tao is pretty weak, I even managed to treat myself and carry him while half asleep. Well, as my future assistant, I'll make sure he becomes stronger. I'll have to train him, yes! I'll discuss it with him later.

As we continued walking through the cave, guided only by the sound of the beetle's legs and the occasional profanity muttered by Xia Tao behind me, I couldn't help but think about his struggles. Well, as his mentor, I should ensure he becomes strong. We'll address his weaknesses later.

The caves were certainly uncomfortable, but at least they were adorned with luminescent mushrooms. I noticed Xia Tao had collected a few; I wonder why he gathers all these plants. Oh well, everyone has their quirks.

After an hour or two of walking, we heard some sounds that resembled mooing. I turned to Xia Tao and suggested,

"Our path is to the left at the fork. But those sounds are coming from the right. Shall we go check it out?"

"Sure, let's do it" he replied.

We sneaked into the opening where the sounds originated and witnessed a surreal scene.

A goose, roughly waist-high, was tied to a stone. The stone was slowly heating up with coals beneath, apparently keeping the goose warm. The poor bird could only stand on slightly bent legs; whenever it sat, it was on the hot stone. Its beak was gagged with a cloth, and a rope bound its body. Strangely, its head was firmly fixed in a metal contraption, and water was dripping onto its head every few seconds.

Ha, what a twisted torture for a goose!

*Ding*

Random Quest Activated: Save the Goose!

You love animals, so why not save the goose? There's probably an interesting story behind it.

Options:

1. Free the goose.

"No goose shall suffer in my presence!"

Result: Goose saved, it's grateful.

2. Cook the goose.

"What do you mean save? I'm hungry!"

Result: Delicious goose, mm yammi, hatred from the goose tribe in the future, likely death within a year.

3. Walk past the goose.

"What goose? I saw nothing, heard nothing!"

Result: None.

Seeing the pleading expression in its eyes, I decided to set it free. Xia Tao stood there like a statue, observing the scene.

I quickly dismantled the metal parts and untied the goose. When its beak was freed, it shouted

"Holy gods balls, I am free, Fuck Yeah!"

When we heard this phrase, Xia Tao and I froze in confusion. With my eyes wide open, I watched the goose, Wow, he's really saying that!

Then goose turned his head towards me and sarcastically said,

"Did you just hatch, kid? Haven't you ever seen a talking goose before? ... Why are you staring at me like that? Are you a have some strange thoughs or something? No, no, no, I'm not swing that way, shooo shooo, go away."

"Haaaa?"

I heard a sharp sound of a slap, and as I turned around, I saw Xia Tao rubbing his cheek and saying, "No, I'm not dreaming this, it's real."

"Who are you?" I asked the goose, "And where's the 'thank you'?"

"Who am I? I'm Elder Swiftwing. Thank you? Well, I practically escaped on my own. I just rattled the mechanism enough for it to fall apart with a sneeze, duh" the goose replied.

"Alright, since you did the final step, I'll become your mentor! We'll conquer the world together! Listen up, kid, follow my lead and you won't go wrong!"

As I was processing what was happening, wild laughter erupted behind me, gradually transitioning into snorts.

"Oh, yes, Elder Swiftwing, he definitely needs a mentor. Look at him, all battered and broken! Hahaha!" Xia Tao collapsed onto the ground, chuckling and muttering, "I can just picture the Great Goose and his apprentice Ye Chen taking over the world! Hahaha!"

I blushed, turning towards the goose, "Uh, well, I already have a mentor in my sect..."

The goose interrupted me, "Pff, everything is nonsense except for bees, and come to think of it, bees are nonsense too, essentially! I don't like bees, sneaky little fuckers. Brrr. Anyway, now you're my apprentice. You'll thank me later! By the way, where are we?"

"Uh, well, we wanted to ask you that. We sort of fell into these caves in the desert," I explained.

"Really ? Hmmm, strange. The last thing I remember, I was deep in the woods and some bald fagot stepped on my foot as he was running. It still hurts" the goose reminisced.

Exchanging glances with Xia Tao, we finally turned back to the goose. "So, we're not sure exactly. We ended up here from the desert above" I added.