Chapter 21 - Exhaustion and Relaxation

Taking a deep breath, Finn pushed the thoughts aside and focused on refining his control.

He could've easily allocated points to his fire affinity and to his attributes from the monsters he'd defeated, but that felt like cheating. He had promised himself to push his limits, so he held off on upgrades until they returned to camp. Yukha had even complimented him on the decision, saying, "You're starting to think like a warrior." Finn took it as high praise from someone like him.

Six tries later—and a good chunk of wasted mana—he finally landed a clean hit.

It turned out controlling the flame's speed, spin, and extended range was far harder than he had anticipated, especially while maintaining the pebble-sized flame hovering above him.

His first attempts failed spectacularly. The flame either spun out of control, veered off course, or lost momentum mid-flight. But on the sixth try, everything clicked.

The flame shot forward with a sharp whip, piercing clean through the floater before it even realized what was happening. The creature exploded instantly, leaving a fiery burst in its wake.

To Finn's amazement, the flame continued on, cutting through the air like a missile, a laser, and a shooting star combined. It left an orange afterimage as it streaked forward, finally dispersing when he lost control of it.

Beautiful, he thought, watching the last traces of light fade. He had succeeded. Now, he just needed to replicate it consistently.

"I'm not even surprised anymore," Yukha said, sipping his coffee.

Finn smirked. Yukha had begrudgingly rushed to find a floater for Finn's test, ensuring the mana wasn't wasted.

"Have you noticed something, though?" Yukha asked, his tone shifting. "The farther north we go, the more of those things we're running into."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, his brow furrowing. "They were way more spread out earlier."

"The wind's getting stronger—and colder," Yukha said, exhaling a warm breath into his cupped hands, then briskly rubbing them together to chase away the chill.

Finn felt it too. While Julian's coat shielded his body from most of the chill, his face and hair were fully exposed. The biting wind tugged at his hair, whipping it in every direction.

"We need to be careful," Yukha continued, his voice steady but tense. "I think we're approaching a strong corrupted wind elemental's territory."

He materialized his own form of protection—a long cloth that didn't resemble a coat but served the purpose. Wrapping it tightly around his body, he braced himself against the growing gale.

As they pressed on, the wind intensified. The gusts grew more forceful, and with them came an unsettling increase in the number of floaters. Where before they had to walk some distance to spot one, now they appeared in clusters. The creatures drifted together like a pack, lazily hovering but exuding a quiet menace.

The clusters had their advantages, though. Finn's newly improved mini fireballs weren't easy to control at long distances, but the grouping of enemies allowed him to pierce multiple targets without adjusting his trajectory too much.

Soon, the wind escalated to near-typhoon levels, snapping at their clothes and howling like a living beast. Finn's coat fluttered wildly, threatening to tear away.

"Want to turn back?" Yukha asked, his voice raised to be heard over the roar of the wind.

"Not yet," Finn replied. "I want to see where this is coming from."

The gale grew fiercer as they advanced, stinging their eyes and forcing them to shield their faces. But then, almost as abruptly as it had started, the wind began to ease.

The wild gusts softened, giving way to a strange, rhythmic pattern—a gentle pushing and pulling, like the ebb and flow of ocean waves. The change was jarring, the calm almost eerie after the chaos. It was like they've reached the eye of a typhoon.

"This pattern..." Yukha murmured, slowing his pace. "I've felt this before. Let's move carefully."

The tranquil atmosphere felt wrong. As they continued, the sight ahead made Finn's skin crawl.

In the distance, floaters—dozens, maybe hundreds—spread out across the air.

"Hide," Yukha hissed, pulling Finn down behind a jagged rock.

The two crouched low as the floaters floated lazily in different directions, their movements dictated by the gentle, wave-like breeze. When Finn had first seen one of these creatures, they seemed deceptively harmless, almost cute. But seeing so many together now evoked an entirely different feeling.

"Disgusting," he muttered under his breath. It was like the unnerving sight of insects clumped together—something primal and unsettling.

Yukha's eyes narrowed, studying the strange, hypnotic way the floaters were being pushed and pulled by the rhythmic gusts. "I was right," he said grimly. "This is the work of a Shredder."

"A what?" Finn asked, confused.

"Look past the wind drifters," Yukha said. "Focus your eyes. There's something jutting out of the ground."

Squinting, Finn scanned the area. At first, his view was obscured by the floating creatures, but as the rhythmic wind pushed them aside, he finally saw it.

At the center of the drifting monsters, something strange protruded from the earth. From a distance, its shape resembled a small well, but it expanded and contracted in perfect sync with the wind's pattern, almost as if it were breathing.

On top of the construct, glowing red letters floated ominously in the air:

[Shredder] lvl. 30

"Let's head back for now, Finn," Yukha said. "We need to regroup. It's getting darker by the minute, and soon it'll be too hard to see. We'll return tomorrow. Besides, you need rest—you've been pushing yourself nonstop since we got here."

The moment Yukha mentioned it, Finn's body seemed to agree. The adrenaline that had kept him going began to fade, leaving behind the ache of exhaustion. His legs felt heavier, his shoulders tense from the constant strain of running, fighting, and experimenting.

"You're right," Finn admitted with a sigh. "It's probably time to allocate my points from all the levels I've gained anyway. I don't think I can handle this many monsters with my current stats—not to mention that shredder."

The memory of the strange construct elicited a creeping sense of unease. It wasn't the red name or even its size that unsettled him—it was the unknown. It didn't look as grotesque as the Tentacles, just an unassuming well-like structure that seemed to breathe. But that simplicity made it all the more terrifying. What could it do? How dangerous was it?

"Let's walk back for now," Yukha suggested. "You've had enough running for today."

Finn frowned, an odd sense of defiance bubbling up. "No, we'll run."

He couldn't miss the irony—he'd despised all the running earlier, but now that Yukha offered him a reprieve, he felt the urge to push through. Was it stubbornness? Pride? Reverse psychology? He couldn't tell.

"If you insist," Yukha said with a shrug.

Before setting off, Yukha handed him the flask of invigorating water he'd filled earlier. Finn drank deeply, feeling a refreshing burst of energy course through him, just enough to fuel the run back to camp.

The cold night air brushed against his skin as they ran, its crispness invigorating rather than biting. Above them, the sky stretched wide, dotted with countless stars. There was no moon at all, absent like the earlier sun, but the stars were radiant enough to make up for it. Finn glanced upward, marveling at the sight. Whoever had designed this world—whatever higher force governed it—clearly had an eye for beauty.

"This is nice," Finn said, breaking the silence as he jogged alongside Yukha.

Yukha slowed his pace slightly, matching Finn's speed—a subtle but appreciated gesture. "What is?"

"Running," Finn replied. "I didn't like it earlier, but there's something about the night that makes it peaceful."

"I agree," Yukha said, his gaze flickering toward the starry sky. "The night has a way of calming things down, doesn't it?"

By the time they reached camp, Finn felt surprisingly at ease. The run had been almost meditative, the night air and starlit sky soothing his mind.

The camp was just as they had left it—quiet and untouched. The tent stood firm, and the area showed no signs of intrusion. Finn collapsed onto the grass, gazing up at the stars as he caught his breath. Beside him, two small wooden chairs had appeared, facing each other with a neat stack of unlit firewood between them.

He raised an eyebrow. "You bought chairs? And firewood?"

"From the shop," Yukha confirmed nonchalantly. "Ice chairs wouldn't be very comfortable, would they?"

Finn chuckled at the practicality. For a realm designed to test their survival, it sometimes felt oddly mundane—almost like a camping trip.

"Want me to light the fire?" Finn offered, gesturing toward the firewood.

"Please do," Yukha said.

Finn directed the pebble-sized flame hovering above him toward the pile. The firewood caught quickly, crackles breaking the quiet as warmth began to radiate from the growing flames. Finn instinctively pulled the little flame back toward himself, as though afraid it might be lost to the fire. The gesture made him smile—he was getting attached to the tiny thing. Maybe he should give it a name.

Yukha, however, didn't sit by the fire as Finn expected. Instead, he disappeared behind the tent.

"Where are you going?" Finn called out.

"You'll see," came Yukha's reply.

Moments later, a low rumble echoed through the camp, accompanied by tremors that made the ground quiver. Finn shot up, alarmed, and hurried around the tent.

To his surprise, Yukha stood beside a wide, shallow hole in the ground, a satisfied grin on his face.

"Did you do this?" Finn asked, incredulous.

"I did," Yukha said with a smile. "But I'm not done yet."

Yukha extended his arm over the hole and clenched his fist, his brow furrowing in concentration. For a few moments, he stood still, then exhaled deeply, the tension in his body dissipating.

"What was that?" Finn asked, watching intently.

A satisfied smile played on Yukha's face, though from Finn's perspective, nothing seemed to have changed in the hole.

"I compressed the soil as much as I could to prevent water from seeping away," Yukha explained. "Luckily, the soil here has a clay-like texture, so it's not too porous. Whoever designed this realm really knew what they were doing."

Finn still had no idea what Yukha was trying to accomplish, but he watched with growing curiosity.

Yukha swept his arm to the side, gathering dust and loose soil into a compact clump, which he then tossed effortlessly out of the hole. With another motion, a strong gust of wind blew across the pit, clearing out any remaining debris.

Unfortunately, some of the dust blew into Finn's face, sending him into a fit of coughing.

"Ah, my apologies," Yukha said with a sheepish grin.

Finn waved it off, though the display of elemental manipulation reminded him that Yukha could wield more than just water. He'd almost forgotten, since that was the element Yukha used most often.

Next, Yukha conjured a large sphere of water, hovering it above the hole. He poured it in, swirling it around like someone rinsing out a glass. After a few moments, he expelled the water, sending it splashing far from the site.

"That should do it. Nice and clean," Yukha declared, stepping back.

Finally, it dawned on Finn what Yukha was doing. A makeshift spring.

Another pool of water materialized in Yukha's hands, which he carefully poured into the now-clean hole. He stopped when the water reached near the brim, the surface already beginning to steam in the chilly air.

As Yukha's armor began disappearing piece by piece into his inventory, Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Why not just set them aside instead of putting them into your inventory? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Yukha chuckled. "Not really. By putting them in my inventory, I can re-equip them instantly. Otherwise, I'd have to put each piece back on manually."

"Fair point," Finn admitted. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

When Yukha was down to just a cloth around his waist, he crouched beside the spring and dipped a hand into the water.

After a moment, steam began to rise more visibly, curling lazily into the night air.

"Perfect," Yukha murmured, standing up with a satisfied nod.

He then summoned a torrent of water around his body, letting it cleanse him before dispersing. Without hesitation, he dashed toward the hot spring, shivering from the cold night breeze, and submerged himself with a contented sigh.

"Ahh, that's so much better," he said, his head barely peeking above the water.

"You should join me, Finn. This will feel amazing after the day we've had."

Finn hesitated. He'd never had an outdoor bath before, but the steaming water, Yukha's euphoric expression, and the sticky sensation of dried sweat on his skin were persuasive enough.

Without further delay, he began removing his clothes, following Yukha's advice to store them in his inventory for convenience. When he was down to just his boxers, he shivered violently in the cold night air.

"Do that water-cleaning thing to me too!" Finn yelled, clutching his arms around himself. His teeth chattered from the biting breeze.

"On it!" Yukha replied with a grin, summoning water to rinse Finn clean.

The moment it was done, Finn bolted for the hot spring, nearly slipping in his haste. He landed face-first into the water with a loud splash.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, lifting his head. "This feels insanely good!"

"Doesn't it?" Yukha replied smugly. "I'm also maintaining the temperature, so no worries about it cooling down."

Finn leaned back in the warm, soothing water, feeling his muscles relax for the first time all day. The crackling campfire nearby and the starry night above only added to the surreal tranquility of the moment.

************

Author's Note

Read up to chapter 32 on Pat reon:

pat reon. com/Cinnamoon23